10. AEO KTM had the Worst Night
In sport, (nearly) everyone takes a turn at the bottom of the barrel, and in San Diego it was undoubtably the AEO Powersports KTM team. Talon Hawkins broke his femur and Avery Long crashed out of the LCQ (and caused a red flag) with a scary get off. Then Lux Turner had a mechanical problem in the main and finished last. Brutal.
9. Honda Got Better
After a great debut in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship and the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) Playoffs last year, the 2025 Honda CRF450R did not translate to supercross as quickly for the Lawrence brothers, plus they’re also sorting through new suspension components and other new parts that weren’t there in 2024. Of course, the 11th and 12th for Hunter and Jett, respectively, was way worse than just bike settings, crashes made it worse. Bike settings being off at Anaheim 1 is very, very typical in this sport, but the question was how quickly could they get back in a good place? A week of testing helped. At San Diego Jett was better and Hunter somehow pulled off a top five despite being sick. Said Jett: “A lot of improvement over last weekend, so I’m super-happy. The bike is getting better and better."
8. Kids Rule
When Julien Beaumer was stalking Cole Davies for the lead in San Diego, it was funny to think of him having the experience advantage over the rookie. Beaumer is only 18 years old, only into his second year as a pro, and only scored his first supercross podium last week! But he did have the experience advantage over Davies, who only turned pro last week! Lots of rookie and second-year riders making noise this year in 250SX West, which is a cool sign.
7. Dylan Ferrandis Didn’t Know About Ryan Breece
At Anaheim 1, Dylan Ferrandis crashed in his heat and headed to the LCQ. He tried to make a pass on the outside of Ryan Breece, which is a foolish move when battling for a spot in the LCQ. Breece took him down, Ferrandis missed the main. He was embarrassed to have let down his Phoenix/Factory Connection team and sponsors like that. He rebounded at San Diego to finish ninth. As for Anaheim 1? He told our Steve Matthes after the race that he didn’t know Breece would be that aggressive. “That was my mistake. I didn’t know him, I didn’t race him in the 250 class. He made a big mistake in the whoops, he was out of control and I could have closed the door on him in the sand. But I thought I didn’t have to do that. I’m kind of a nice rider now. Then the next turn he just killed me, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ The team told me they have some history with Kyle Peters in Arenacross. Yeah, it was a mistake from me to not pay attention to the rider, I guess.”
6. Supercross Still Work-In-Progress for Masterpool
Super capable outdoors, Ty Masterpool has struggled big time with supercross in his career, as even just making main events was once a struggle for him in the 250 class. He will improve with the help of Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki, and he was more competitive, speed-wise, in San Diego. But the mistakes were still there, culminating with getting a rhythm section wrong and smashing himself. Now we hear he has broken fingers.
5. Sexton is Still Fast
That was a bad first lap. Not just the crash but getting shuffled back before that by not jumping a triple, which is not for the faint of heart. Take that out, though, and it’s okay, because Chase Sexton showed throughout the event that the Anaheim 1 race-winning level speed wasn’t some weird round one fluke. He’s way better in 2025 than in 2024.
4. Down with the Sickness
It happens every year. Illness starts breaking out in the pits at races in the winter. This round two was dotted with it, Ferrandis, Hunter Lawrence, Cooper Webb, and Jason Anderson all struggling, and they were just the ones who talked about it.
Related: Anderson: "I’ve been sick this week and it got to me by the end of the night"
Webb, who will only say he had an "up and down off-season" is sitting on 4-3 finishes in two races. Coop usually doesn’t start the season on fire (he went 6-11 at the first two rounds last year) so even though he got worked by Tomac and Lawrence in the San Diego main, it’s fine. He’ll be there when it matters.
3. Jo is Tough
Last week Jo Shimoda went a long way toward erasing his rep for starting a series too slow when he won the opener. This weekend he pushed back against criticism that he's not tough enough, riding, unfortunately, with two broken fingers to salvage seventh in the main event. We don't yet know what his status is going forward, but he proved something in San Diego.
“Really proud of that," said Honda HRC Progressive Team Manager Lars Lindstrom. "I think in the past he hasn’t had a reputation for being the tough guy, and I think that his mental toughness is really, really getting there now. I think this was a really huge step for him to take. He’s a Samurai warrior now!”
How did Jo even ride?! 🤯
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) January 19, 2025
(Via Jo Shimoda/IG)#SMX #SupercrossLIVE pic.twitter.com/YoueZ2QUoy
2. Vince Gonna Vince
It’s often perfect crimes from Vince Friese, little sneaky stuff that doesn’t result in a penalty. Well, most of the time. He has been suspended before, put on probation multiple times, and there are even true stories of bribery and pay offs for takeouts. That’s dirty, but more often Vince just does the little things that don’t fall into a rulebook. In the heat race, he calmly slid up the inside of turn one and dragged some rear brake in front of Chase Sexton, which prevented Sexton from jumping the first rhythm and bunched up the entire field. Then he took out Benny Bloss. In the main, Vince, as a lapped rider, rode a wide bike, much to the chagrin of Eli Tomac. Tomac and Lawrence, rivals, got to bond over their stories of lapping Vince. Friese incidents are the one thing every supercross rider has in common. The 2025 season will be no different.
1. The Book of Eli Is Not Fiction
Eli Tomac ripped at off-season races and showed vintage speed at Anaheim 1. But could he truly stamp his comeback from that nearly-career-ending injury in 2023 with a one-on-one win against Jett Lawrence? San Diego was an emphatic yes.
