In terms of the 250SX East Championship, we are only one round in, so round one winner Max Anstie enters with the red plates on his #31 YZ250F. Daxton Bennick, second last weekend at the opener was docked five championship points after jumping on the red cross flag but that is not significant as Bennick is out for today’s race with a concussion suffered in a practice crash earlier this week. It is actually Cameron McAdoo, third at the opener last Saturday, who enters the day P2 in the standings. Remember, McAdoo (#50) is nursing a torn left ACL in his knee. Seth Hammaker (#56) enters the day third in standings ahead of Bennick and 2024 250SX East Champion Tom Vialle. But do not count out Chance Hymas, Levi Kitchen, 2024 250SX West Champion RJ Hampshire, Austin Forkner, and more. Forkner won the opener here last February and actually also won here in mid-February 2019 at the Triple Crown that year.

In terms of the 450SX Championship, well unfortunately, we have two more factory riders out for this weekend. With Jett Lawrence exiting the series after the Glendale SX due to a knee injury that needs surgery, Eli Tomac—broken left fibula (lower outside leg bone)—and Hunter Lawrence—torn labrum in shoulder)—are both out for the remainder of supercross with injuries that require surgery. Malcolm Stewart enters with some momentum after standing in the center of the podium for the first time last week. Chase Sexton enters with the red plates on his KTM 450 SX-F. Cooper Webb comes into today rubbing his hands together exactly what he wants to be: the hunter. Webb jumped up to second in the standings at the end of the Tampa SX. Maybe today the #2 gets his first win of the season? Ken Roczen looks to rebound from his DNF and Jason Anderson has been fast and solid to start this season, earning three podiums so far. There really are a ton of storylines to follow so far this season! For more from press day, watch our preview video below.

Stay tuned into this post, as well as our social media pages for more updates throughout the entire day.

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Check out the full race day schedule below. Times are Eastern.

Again, with the early start, bikes will be on track soon!

Free Practice

250SX

Championship leader and opening 250SX East Division leader Max Anstie topped the 250SX group A free practice over Tom Vialle and Chance Hymas. Anstie and Vialle were the only two riders to go sub-50 in the session.

450SX

Malcolm Stewart, winner of the Tampa SX last weekend, topped the first 450SX group A qualifying session as he and five other riders went sub-50. The track is going to be fast today with short lap times compared to last week.

First Qualifying Session

250SX

Max Anstie topped the board as Levi Kitchen, Cameron McAdoo, Tom Vialle, RJ Hampshire, and Chance Hymas all went sub-50-second. Austin Forkner had a get off that deployed his Alpinestars Tech-Air MX chest protector when he hit the ground. Luckily, it was not too bad of an impact, and he appears to be okay.

450SX

Benny Bloss and Joey Savatgy both had two separate crashes almost one after another a handful of laps into the first 450SX group A qualifying session. Bloss flipped over the bars at the end of the whoops section but got up and eventually rode off the track and up through the tunnel, favoring his right hand/wrist. Savatgy ejected off his Honda CRF450R over the quad before the whoops section, landing hard as his bike flipped a few times, bending the bars significantly. The #17 was walking around on his own after talking with the Alpinestars medical crew but his session was done too. Him and his mechanic rode off through the tunnel. He put on Instagram his hand blew off the throttle. 

Second Qualifying Session

250SX

Off the fake gate drop to begin the second 250SX group A qualifying session, it was Cameron McAdoo and Gage Linville out front. Levi Kitchen slowed up and rolled the first three sections of the track, getting some clean track ahead of him before starting his hot laps. McAdoo put in a 49.823 on the first full lap. Seth Hammaker’s 48.3380 was second as Tom Vialle’s 48.971 was third fastest. Hardy Munoz went down in the whoops at the end of the session but got up and rode off the track as the checkered flag waved. Kitchen tops the 250SX qualifying as he looks to rebound from a ninth place at last weekend’s opener in Florida.

“Just the whole day so far,” Kitchen told TV reporter Chase Cook on the podium. “Tampa didn’t quite go so smooth… Really happy with that lap, too. If I can ride like that going into the night show, we’re in a good spot. Need to execute my start.”

450SX

In the final A group session of the day, Chase Sexton, Justin Barcia, and Shane McElrath were leading the field after the gate drop fake start. Cooper Webb, who was blitzing the whoops last week and said him and the team needed to shift to blitzing the whoops, was trying both blitzing and jumping. He had a big jump line, going 4-4-1 through the section. A few laps later, the #2 had his rear end kick out in a run while blitzing, although he stayed up. On the top of the board, it was Sexton and Ken Roczen both rolling and going into the 47s. Both Joey Savatgy and Benny Bloss, who had separate crashes in the first qualifying session earlier this morning, were back and putting in fast laps, which was good to see. Webb used a few fast laps to jump to third behind Sexton's (47.353) and Roczen's 47.669. Justin Cooper and Jason Anderson rounded out the top five.

Night Show

Heats

250SX Heat 1

The first race of the night got underway, and it was Nate Thrasher out front. Cameron McAdoo made his way up to second place and was battling Thrasher for the lead until he tipped over in the sand on the final turn. Thrasher held on for the race win as Chance Hymas charged to second, Seth Hammaker finished third, and McAdoo came through fourth. Tom Vialle, who tipped over in fifth while running alone and was able to keep the position, came through fifth. Austin Forkner and Crockett Myers collided in the turn after the whoops, sending them to the very back of the field. Forkner came through tenth, just one spot out of a qualifying position.

250SX Heat 2

Max Anstie made it to holeshots for Yamaha as he got into the race lead early in heat two. Levi Kitchen bumped the championship leader wide and took over the lead. While Anstie was keeping Kitchen honest, the #31 was not able to make a pass attempt. He fought to the checkered flag though, coming through just 0.58 seconds back of Kitchen! RJ Hampshire charged to finish third ahead of Carson Mumford and Cullin Park. Nick Romano was up front early but drifted back to finish tenth. Max Vohland pulled off early.

450SX Heat 1

Justin Cooper and Dylan Ferrandis were out front early on but a little back and forth allowed for Jason Anderson to take over the race lead after a two-for-one pass! Anderson checked out with some blazing fast laps out front. Ken Roczen moved into second and even though he had the fastest lap of the race, he was not able to get close enough for a pass attempt on Anderson.

450SX Heat 2

The second 450SX heat got out of the gates and it was Aaron Plessinger out front, with Cooper Webb and Chase Sexton not far behind. Sexton was all over his teammate before he blitzed by the #7 and into the race lead! From there, that's the last anyone saw of him. Like Anderson, Sexton was rolling out front as he checked out. As Sexton got into lappers, three riders got the blue flag, and all pulled off the track for a moment in the short rhythm section in the endzone at the end of the starting straight. Late in the race, Malcolm Stewart was finally able to pass Plessinger to take over second and quickly, Webb followed suit as he got by the #7 as well. Sexton hit the supercross triple and gave a look over to the crowd as he whipped the rear of his bike out towards the fans. Justin Barcia rounded out the top five. The fastest lap of the second 450SX heat was a 47.592 by Sexton on lap two.

LCQs

250SX LCQ

Austin Forkner took the holeshot and the race win in the 250SX LCQ. Maximus Vohland, who had clutch issues in his heat race, which caused him to pull off early. Took second ahead of Trevor Colip, and Mark Fineis, with Fineis making his first pro 250SX main event. Bryce Shelly charged forward but came up just short in fifth place.

450SX LCQ

Grant Harlan got out front and was untouched in the 450SX LCQ. Harlan qualifies for his first main event of his season. Michigan’s own Mitchell Harrison came through second ahead of Kevin Moranz and Justin Starling. Jeremy Hand charged forward but came through fifth, just missing the main event.

Main Events

250SX Main Event

The 250SX main event got underway and it was Max Anstie out at the front of the field as the championship leader got the holeshot and started to check out. Levi Kitchen charged up to second and was trying his best to gain on Anstie but had no luck. Cameron McAdoo tipped over and lost five positions, going from fourth to ninth. RJ Hampshire and Tom Vialle were going back and forth for the final spot on the podium. Suddenly, McAdoo had a huge get off in the whoops, catching his face on the handlebars as he crashed. With a seven-second lead out front for Anstie and just seven seconds left on the clock, the race was red flagged for the Alpinestars medical crew to tend to McAdoo. The Kawasaki rider was placed in a soft neck brace and helped to his feed, then onto the medical cart.

The AMA announced the race would be red flagged and it would have a stagged restart. The field would have a green flag, white flag, checkered flag situation seen in NASCAR. After the restart cut Anstie’s lead from seven seconds to Kitchen being on his rear wheel and Hampshire being on Kitchen’s rear wheel. The race got restarted and immediately, Kitchen was going for it. After a few attempts, Kitchen was able to make a pass stick and then kept Anstie behind him to take the checkered flag. Kitchen took the win as Anstie came through second and Hampshire rounded out the podium, not forcing the issue and grabbing third. Nate Thrasher came through fifth in a solid race with a broken finger from earlier this week. Chance Hymas came through sixth for the second straight week as Austin Forkner (250SX LCQ winner) came through seventh. Carson Mumford, Max Vohland, and Henry Miller rounded out the top ten. Cullin Park was riding solid but had a crash after the restart, which cost him a few positions.

450SX Main Event

Aaron Plessinger got the holeshot in the 450SX but had Ken Roczen all over him. Off the gate drop, Chase Sexton got stuck in the gate! Roczen made his way into the lead as Cooper Webb charged up to second place. Roczen and Webb went back and forth, block passing, squaring up, you name it. This was another vintage Webb vs Roczen night. Webb got the better of the Suzuki rider, taking his first win of the season. Roczen fought to the end but the #2 was just better. Somehow, Sexton charged all the way up to fourth, flying around the track without his helmet visor. After a few block passes from Jason Anderson, Sexton made a pass stick and claimed third. Anderson was running in fourth until a late crash dropped him back to sixth when he came up short on a triple and hit the ground. Malcolm Stewart and Justin Cooper snuck by Anderson to round out the top five. Plessinger eventually came through ninth.