New AMA Rule in AMA Supercross and Motocross Starting in 2026: No Red Plates at Round One
If you read Racerhead #46 on Friday, you might be confused when you read a section of my entry “The Most Different #1s?” when I dug into some numbers stuff. Particularly, when it came to the part about defending champions not having the red plates at the opening round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross next year in January. I wrote:
“And speaking of Lawrence and Webb, we will see Jett wearing #18 again at the Anaheim 1 SX in January, but it will have purple backgrounds with yellow numbers as the defending SMX Champion. Webb will be #1, but he won't be wearing the red plate backgrounds that defending champions have customarily worn at round one. Instead, the new AMA rule is that no red plates will be worn until there is an actual points leader, which means we will be seeing red at round two.”
I hinted at a new rule, so let me explain.
The new AMA rule in place starting in 2026: there will be no red plate backgrounds at the opening round of AMA Supercross and Motocross. There will no longer be a red plate until someone leads the points, so that means no red until round two. For years, the previous year’s champion in both Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the AMA Pro Motocross Championship have showed up to the first race of the new season with a #1 and the red plate backgrounds. The main image of this post is Chase Sexton's bike at the 2025 Pro Motocross opener as the defending champion. But, this will change for 2026.
So, at the 2026 Anaheim 1 SX, Cooper Webb, the 2025 450SX Champion, will have a #1 with white backgrounds. Jett Lawrence, the 2025 450SMX Champion, will have purple backgrounds with yellow numbers as previous season SuperMotocross Champion.
If Haiden Deegan races the 250SX West Division and attempts to defend his #1W plate from this year, then he will have a #1 with black backgrounds on his YZ250F. If he jumps to the 450SX class he will then have a #38 with white backgrounds, just as Webb and the other 450SX riders NOT named Jett Lawrence.
But for the SMX Playoffs, which does have riders enter with seeding (and thus, a points leader), there will still be a rider with red plate backgrounds at the first round.
