The first round of the 2025 FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) kicked off Saturday night in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This is the fourth year of the series and second year under new ownership. The event was held in a “pop-up” style outdoor venue with an 8,000-person bleacher capacity that was sold out to the Argentinean fans.
The track was highlighted by four rhythm lanes and a long whoops section that was difficult all day and night. The 180 bowl turns were built a bit more open than what we see in the in the U.S. and created great block passing throughout the night. Despite a rainstorm that came through the area on Friday, the track was very hard packed and as the moisture came up throughout the night, it became very slick.
The FIM World Supercross Championship runs a unique race format including a super pole for the top four in qualifying for each class. Super Pole is held in the afternoon right after qualifying. The night program consists of three races per class. The first two races are eight laps and referred to as “sprint” races. The third race is twelve laps and referred to as the “main” race. The sprint races reward 10 championship points to the winner, where the main race rewards 25.
In SX2 it was Team GSM’s Max Anstie (on his Star Racing Yamaha YZ250F) taking the top spot in qualifying. Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Cole Thompson, Rick Ware Racing’s Enzo Lopes, and Stark’s Michael Hicks rounded out the top four and would transfer to the Super Pole. MCR Honda’s Cullin Park unofficially qualified fourth, but lost his fast lap after failing sound, which bumped him back to eighth. Anstie topped Super Pole and secured first gate pick for the night.
Despite dealing with a stomach bug all weekend, Pipes Motorsports Group Suzuki’s Ken Roczen topped SX1 qualifying. He would be joined in Super Pole by Monster Energy Star Yamaha’s Justin Cooper, Quad Lock Honda’s Joey Savatgy, and his PMG teammate Jason Anderson. Super Pole would end up in the same order as they qualified, with Roczen locking in the first gate pick for the night.
The night kicked off with SX2 sprint race one. It was Anstie grabbing the holeshot, but he was quickly passed by Moto Concepts Racing’s Noah Viney. Viney led for a few straightaways, but Anstie was able to make the move back into the lead by the end of lap one and went of for an easy win.
Behind him, Viney begin to shuffle back before eventually going down and Venom Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Kyle Peters ran second ahead of Viney’s MCR teammate Park. Defending WSX SX2 champion, Quad Lock Honda’s Shane McElrath, suffered a terrible start, later commenting that he hit neutral out of the gate.
Park worked his way around Peters to move into second while Peters tried to fend off his Canadian teammate Cole Thompson, as well as McElrath, who was making his way through the field. Shane would eventually get around the pair of Bud Racing riders and finish on the third from nearly a last place start. Thompson and RWR’s Coty Schock rounded out the top five, and Peters slipped back to sixth.
The biggest story coming into Buenos Aires had to Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s Haiden Deegan’s debut on a 450. After a subpar seventh in qualifying, Deegan missed his gate pick for SX1 race one. Gate pick for all three races is based on your qualifying position. The mistake forced Deegan to surrender his seventh gate pick and was stuck with last pick for the entirety of the night.
When the gate dropped for SX1 sprint race one, it was two-time WSX Champion Roczen getting the holeshot. Christian Craig, who was making his debut for the Quad Lock Honda team, was second. Deegan spun off the gate and was twelfth coming out of turn one.
Roczen and Craig sprinted off ahead of Craig’s teammate Joey Savatgy who was able to get around Venom Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Matt Moss early to get into the final podium position. The three of them spaced apart and finished 1-2-3 in a rather uneventful race up front.
Behind them, all eyes were on Deegan as he made his way through the field into fourth. It was an impressive 450 debut ride for the phenom. He even had a battle with his teammate Cooper, who passed Deegan at one point, but then Deegan got back around him in the whoops and made a few quick passes to put time between them. Deegan ended up fourth and Cooper fifth.
Jason Anderson had a rough start to his WSX career and tenure with PMG Suzuki, when he tangled with former MX2 World Champion Jordi Tixier on lap one. Anderson was able to make his way back to seventh.
In SX2 Race two it was Anstie grabbing another holeshot and taking the early lead ahead of Michael Hicks. Hicks ran second for a while but eventually slipped back to ninth. Shane McElrath inherited second and tried to make a run at Anstie. Anstie responded and was able put in some good laps late, pull a small gap, and take 1-1 scores into race three.
RWR’s Enzo Lopes rounded out the podium while race one runner-up, MCR’s Park, went down early and was only able to get back to tenth by the finish.
Roczen nearly grabbed the holeshot in SX1 race two but pushed wide, allowing Savatgy and Cooper to sneak around the inside. Cooper led for a couple laps but Roczen was made quick work of them both to take over the lead. Kenny pulled a gap and managed the rest of the race for the win.
Cooper held on for second, but it was Roczen’s teammate Jason Anderson who was able to get into third after making an aggressive pass on Savatgy. Christian Craig finished up fifth ahead of his ex-trainee Haiden Deegan, who suffered from another terrible start.
The SX2 “main” race may have been the race of the night. Anstie grabbed the holeshot once again with McElrath in tow. It was shaping up to be a battle between the two pre-season title favorites, but it did not take long for Anstie to shut that down. The 2023 SX2 WSX champion pulled away and took off with a dominant win to cap off a perfect night. Instead of battling for the win, McElrath began to fall into the grasp of Rick Ware Racing teammates Enzo Lopes and Coty Schock. Lopes made the move into second and the two went back and forth multiple times. While that was happening, MCR’s Cullin Park was able to get on the back wheel of Coty Schock.
While all of this was happening, Venom Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Cole Thompson crept into the mix making it a five-rider dual for second! Lopes nearly went down in the whoops and went off track which caused him fall back to fifth.
Lopes’ mistake allowed McElrath some breathing room for a couple laps but with two to go Schock and Park had pushed themselves back up to Shane. Schock made the move on McElrath for second and Park looked to do the same, but he and McElrath got together, leaving Park on the ground with two turns to go. He remounted for a disappointing eighth place.
In the end it was Anstie taking the sweep and the GP win. Shane McElrath’s 3-2-3 scores put him second overall, and Coty Schock rounded out the podium with 5-5-2 scores.
In the final race of the night, Roczen took the early lead with Cooper second and Deegan finally getting a good start in third. Anderson and Craig ran fourth and fifth, respectively. It was an uneventful finale as the top five slowly separated from each other and the order remained the same for the entire race.
Joey Savatgy came into race three in the mix to take second overall but got off to a terrible start and never got going. He was only able to make his way up to ninth by the finish.
In the end Roczen pulled out to a dominant 12-second lead to put an exclamation point on a perfect night. Cooper’s 5-2-2 finishes put him second overall in his WSX debut. Deegan’s podium finish in race three secured him the final spot on overall podium in his 450 Supercross debut. In his post-race interview, Deegan talked about how he dealt with clutch issues in the first two races, but was happy with his night, nonetheless.
In his post-race interview with Kristen Beat, Roczen talked about his flawless nice saying, “I felt like I rode really well. There is a fine line between pushing for speed and sliding out and making a mistake. I mean in the whoops if you crack the throttle five percent too much, because of the moisture, that’s when it steps out. If you back it down you hit every single one, so I was experimenting a little bit. But man, I had fun out there, I thought the track was awesome and my favorite part of the track was the whoops, honestly.
Another one of the headlines coming into the event was the series debut of the Stark team. The series has brought the popular electric bike into the series, allowing it in both SX1 and SX2 classes under certain regulations. In both classes the bike must have a minimum of a 57-inch wheelbase and minimum weight of 258 pounds. In the SX2 class the bike needs to be set to a maximum of 57 horsepower and in the SX1 class a maximum of 72 horsepower. Bikes are also required to have specific data-logging equipment and sensors to allow officials to monitor compliance with the regulations throughout the race.
The team rider lineup is highlighted by Vince Friese alongside Spain’s Jorge Zaragoza in SX1. In SX2 it was the American duo of Arenacross star Michael Hicks and Lance Kobusch. It was an up and down debut for Stark. Vince Friese had a dismal day that featured a crash in the whoops that collected Joey Savatgy in the process, a first turn crash in race one, and a bike issue before the start of race three that kept him out of the race. Michael Hicks was the star of the team for the night. Hicks snuck into the super pole after Cullin Park lost his fast lap due to failing sound. Hicks ended up P2 in super pole and ran second for a while in SX2 race two. He ended up with 10-9-7 scores, putting him ninth overall on the night. From what we’ve heard from some insiders, the Starks are good for starts, but have some work to do in the whoops.
The Series heads to Vancouver’s B.C. Place where defending SX1 WSX Champion Eli Tomac will make his KTM debut in his first of two wildcard appearances on the year. Roczen will host the red plate but has been listed as a wildcard for the series despite being one of the two required riders for the team. Reports are that Colt Nichols will replace Roczen at some point in the series and Pulp MX’s Steve Matthes reported a wild report that Nichols may inherit Roczen’s point total when he enters the series. Or will Roczen simply keep racing and go for another WSX Championship? Stay tuned.
