Round two of the SuperMotocross Playoffs took place in Fort Worth, Texas, which is basically Dallas, but for some reason, some people in Fort Worth get mad when you call it Dallas. Anyway, this round was double points, so it was, say, double the importance of last week’s round in Charlotte. And this weekend it’s Las Vegas, which is triple points!
I’m on the record as saying I’m not a fan of the single, double, and triple points, as it sort of cheapens the series a bit. There’s a lot of money on the line here and Feld Motor Sports brings out SMX champion banners to every supercross round. Let’s say this weekend Haiden Deegan crashes out of one moto or has a bike issue. So, he goes from dominating four motos to a 1-DNF and he loses the 250SMX title due to triple points when we all know he’s the best guy? And here’s the thing, the reason the powers that be did the single, double and triple is to heighten the finale, to make it anyone’s race, and to make sure there’s no laying up in Vegas. That’s fine, but if we just counted every single moto for regular points, we’d have the following standings (which include the seeded points, which are earned after 28 races).
By Moto
Chase Sexton 106
Jett Lawrence 105
Hunter Lawrence 103
Eli Tomac 97
And then if you did them without counting every single race, just counting the overalls, you’d have this going into the final.
By Overall
Chase Sexton 67
Hunter Lawrence 65
Jett Lawrence 61
Eli Tomac 51
See! Single, double, triple is not needed! Let’s lose the gimmick, okay?
Okay, well I’m going to try to not be too negative here about this Dallas SMX race, but it’s never going to be held up as a crown jewel of the series and that’s too bad. We’re told the SMX three race thing is cool, we’re told it’s different from SX, and last year we had the cool LA Coliseum venue. We’ve also got a neat hybrid track in Charlotte (that left the teams and riders scratching their heads which is a good thing!), we got Friday practices, open pits, a Yamaha TTR race, a podcast mash-up, two main events, etc. etc. In short, the SMX series is supposed to be special and what we got this weekend was not special at all. It seems that with Charlotte, Dallas, and Las Vegas all owned by the same Speedway Motorsports Group, the gang at Feld is beholden to use these tracks? Not sure but I can’t think that’s not a coincidence, right? The track in Dallas was a poor man’s speedway track, we’ve seen better ones at Daytona, Atlanta, and even last week in Charlotte when they added a bit of an outdoor section. Add in the 100-degree weather, the poor dirt that couldn’t be shaped or moved at all, and this event was lacking a lot from being anywhere near “cool.”
Because of the dirt, temperature outside, and various other factors, we saw a lot of crashes this weekend. Like, a lot. Heck, the takeoff and landing of a simple double into the rhythm section probably claimed 20 riders over the weekend. It was brutal, and because the dirt was too baked from the sun, the track crew couldn’t water it, they couldn’t shape it because it would fall apart, and there wasn’t much they could do.
Why didn’t Feld truck in the dirt that they use at the SX and mix it in with the local speedway dirt? That’s a great question, a lot of riders were asking that as well.
Here are some of the quotes I got from riders after the race:
Chase Sexton
“The dirt, I think they dug it out of the asphalt, to be honest. It was pretty bad. The second moto, I actually thought the track was better. It was rougher and more separation, but it was just really slippery. I don't know how many crashes we’ve seen in the last two weekends on these tracks with how fast they’ve been, and then also this dirt with how slippery it was. It was probably the most slippery track I’ve ridden, on the face of the jumps, that I’ve ever seen.”
Cooper Webb
“I was like, man, this is absolutely horrible. But we all have to race it and that’s what we’re dealt with. I think it was tough. The dirt, as we saw, was terrible. But even the build itself. I know I’ll get a lot of flack, but it was a janky build. They had to fix a lot of the faces today and just stuff like that. I don't know the answer. It’s tough. I know they’re trying to make it hybrid, but I feel like we could get a little bit better than what we had today, for sure.”
Cameron McAdoo
“Honestly, the whole track felt like it had land mines. I try to be one of the guys who’s not just always so critical of the track. Like I’ve said before to you, we can all find everything that’s wrong with everything with the track, with anything around an event. I will say today, the dirt and the track were probably the worst I’ve ridden.”
Marshal Weltin
“It’s hard for me to hear any excuses when they (Dirt Wurx) do fix some (parts) of the track, but the worst parts stay as bad as it is. I have nothing but respect for those guys, their hustle, and their work ethic, and I know they work their butts off. But I wish there was just better communication from a rider to the tracks. It’s not like the riders are making this up to try and make it easier. It really turns into a safety concern. Today it showed, and it’s a bummer. It was a bummer for a lot of guys, like Carson [Mumford] and my teammate Grant [Harland], me, Christian Craig, RJ [Hampshire]. The list goes on. It’s just a bummer that it’s got to get to that point.”
Malcolm Stewart
“Don’t get me wrong, deep down inside I’m not stoked, but I could be laying out there. So, at the end of the day, I’m blessed to leave this track healthy. I’m going to get back on my plane. I’m flying back to Florida and I’m going to regroup.”
Colt Nichols
“I did not expect that at all. I expected some red, good, Texas dirt, and it was not that at all.”
Kyle Chisholm
“I honestly had fun on the track, just riding it, but racing it I’m like, it’s going to suck racing it. Just the dirt. The guys did a fine job with the track and whatever, but just the dirt obviously wasn’t very good to work with. It was like ice. It was so slippery.”
Freddie Noren
“Kind of want to forget about this whole weekend. Just pretend I was not here this weekend. I hope no one saw me.”
So yeah, a lot of grumbling from the riders and teams about this event and as I said on my various shows, there’s no way the operations guys from Feld left the race thinking this event, from a rider standpoint, a fan standpoint, or whoever, they just killed it.
SuperMotocross should be something everyone enjoys, wants to be at, and has fun at and this was not that. Okay, onto the race!
Hunter Lawrence won the damn thing! And he’s in the points lead! Hunter’s first 450 win came the hard way, he earned it. All the heavy hitters but Chase Sexton got bad starts in moto two because of some flinching on the gate, so while Sexton was out front cruising and had the OA, Hunter had to put his head down and earn it. His third place was enough to take home the win, overall, and points lead. If he wins Vegas, he wins the title!
Also, ICYWW, I was wrong about Hunter Lawrence and his rookie season in the big bikes. I thought it would take him some time, like Aaron Plessinger, Zach Osborne, or Ivan Tedesco, to get up closer to the front in the premier class but he’s been great starting about halfway through 450SX. I don’t feel that bad about my predictions though because I was talking to Darren Lawrence and he told me he thought the same thing!
I posted this on social the other week, but Hunter Lawrence has scored the highest percentage of points in 250MX (2022) and the second most in 450MX (2024) without winning an overall. But first in the 450MX category is Jean-Michel Bayle in 1991, who won the title without winning an overall, but he won the title so who cares, right? So, Hunter Lawrence is basically the record holder (since 1985) of best rider without an overall in MX in BOTH classes! The more you know…
Chase Sexton is back??? I don’t know man, I spent about four hours discussing his (to me) sub-par Charlotte SMX round and I told him that I hoped he didn’t listen to anything I said about him (he said he didn’t- WHEW!). He also said he doesn’t care, which is what all these dudes should do. Sexton dominated moto two in a great ride to get second overall, but the getting fourth in the first moto hurt him.
I watched him off the start twice in the first moto and I think he got yarded badly, just because his reaction was bad. I don’t think it was anything else. That has to change if he wants to win this title. But Sexton said they made some bike changes this week and he was much happier. Remember when Tomac told us all that if the ride height of his bike is off, he gets arm pump and sucks? And that explained years of weirdo Eli rides? Well, here’s Chase explaining his weirdo rides also.
“If I feel good on the bike, it’s not hard for me to go out there and put an effort in. It’s not like I’m like, ‘I don't want to try.’ But I’m really just riding with what I’m given. I can only ride if I feel comfortable. It’s hard to ride around that. I ride a lot off of feel. If I don’t have feel, I don’t feel comfortable.”
He’s riding what he’s given, everyone! Oh also, BTW: If he wins Vegas, he wins the title!
The Jett stalled when he got into the lead in moto one. He did his thing where he slowly worked into the lead and it was going to be over, right? Then he stalled, couldn’t get back by Hunter and Tomac, and was not happy about throwing the race away. Second moto he was back there and got into second, but Sexton was gone. Was Jett the best guy? I mean, kind of, based on who he passed and who passed him (no one straight up passed him, only when he stalled) but in the end, he took third overall on the day.
But if he wins Vegas, he wins the title!
I can’t believe Tomac ran a scoop out there in both motos. What an animal! Going off his momentum from last week, he looked great in moto one on his way to a second but in the second moto, he was in the “bad start” group and couldn’t get by Cooper Webb. I don’t know if it was the scoop or not (I really think he’s picking it because of the traction off the grate and he’s just mother effing it everywhere else), but he definitely lacked some of his spark we saw in the first three motos of the season. He can win the title if he wins Vegas, but he’ll need some help.
On a track where the riders couldn’t push that hard and had to really rely on technique, Ken Roczen was very good. His second moto push from a first turn crash to sixth was impressive with good lap times. Afterward Roczen told me that he was stoked on his bike, and even though the weather was hot he still felt good.
Look for Roczen, if he remains at HEP Suzuki, to have an aftermarket electric start on his RM-Z. It’s a must-have for the #94 to sign there in 2025.
RIP “Kickstart” Kenny.
Cooper Webb was much better this week. He got great starts (when you look at the results and the tracks, is SMX the most start-dependent of the three series?) and ran up front which was a big change from last week. Webb’s a gamer man, he’ll figure this stuff out. I thought it was wild when I asked him about bike setup at this round.
“I was full supercross last week. This week we were a mix of shock that was supercross, fork was motocross, chassis was motocross, engine is supercross… Just searching. Then even from there, firming up a lot and softening. So, I’m pretty sure probably everyone is just tinkering and trying to find what works and whatever.”
Yeah man, I mean I was a mechanic for a long time and this setup is something else. But hey, it worked!
All year long Dylan Ferrandis has been kind of invisible. He’s better than the privateers and is usually either behind all the factory guys or maybe beats a Rockstar Husky guy. He’s not a holeshot-and-lead-laps guy, he’s not a fast-lap guy, he’s just…there. Well, in the second moto he got the holeshot and it was time to go for #14! Except, well it wasn’t. I was surprised at how quickly he got shuffled back to ninth where the only factory riders he beat were the TWO Rockstar Husky guys who crashed, and a barely-riding, just-there-for-the-cash, Justin Barcia.
As far as 250s, well it was the Haiden Deegan show this week again. He swept both mains in style, but it wasn’t as exciting as last week because he got good starts. Maybe Feld should make him start backward? That would be awesome. There’s not much to say about the 250 class, really. Neither moto was very exciting, so here’re some random thoughts on the class:
Julien Beaumer rode well again. Not as good as he did in Charlotte, but still a top five for the Jet Ski kid. We had his trainer, Davi Millsaps, on the PulpMX Show and it sounds like Juju really works hard off the bike. I mean he was riding and training with Millsaps in Lake Havaseu, which is basically the same temperature as the face of the sun.
Tom Vialle got second overall, and I mean, that’s good? I don’t know man.
RJ Hampshire being RJ Hampshire was exciting. I’m sure it hurt him a lot to “thrill” us like that, but he’s made of iron so I’m sure he’s fine. RJ never stops being RJ.
Hampshire’s buddy, Jordon Smith, did a beautiful, slide-the-rear-over into RJ’s front wheel and take RJ down pass in the first moto. I’m sure he didn’t mean to, but it was a thing of beauty. I look forward to Hampshire getting him back in the 973rd battle between these two.
Levi Kitchen’s SMX races have been just, ehhhhh, so far.
Jo Shimoda got third overall. He rode really well in the first moto but was perhaps better in moto two moving up.
Cameron McAdoo pulled good starts again from the LCQ with the 14th gate pick because with injuries and no-shows, they took seven out of eight in the 250LCQ. Still, RAM IT is riding well after so long off.
Pierce Brown rode great and was one of the few dudes to make a lot of passes out there. He and Roczen probably win the most passing points on the day?
Max Anstie went with the paddle for moto one, despite not practicing on it because Deegs had it on. That’s ballsy for sure. After a bad start and lots of spinning, he went back to a regular tire for moto 2 and it didn’t really help him. Was there a third choice for a tire for Anstie? Props to Anstie for being maybe the first rider to triple into the rhythm lane on Friday!
Thanks for reading OBS from Dallas, or Fort Worth, or whatever. Hey, they can’t all be classics and in my opinion, the less said about this round of SMX, the better. We’re moving onto Vegas everyone! Email me at Matthes@racerxonline.com to chat about this or anything else.
