The FIM World Supercross Championship headed to Vancouver’s B.C. Place for round two of the 2025 campaign. There were several storylines to follow coming into the weekend but none bigger than the debut of Eli Tomac on a Red Bull KTM. Vancouver marked the first of two scheduled WSX appearances for the defending series champion, who will also race in Australia in a few weeks.
The Vancouver track was a tough one, and a complete 180 from what the guys saw last weekend in Argentina. There were multiple big rhythm lanes, another tricky whoop section, and even the generic supercross triple and finish line seemed scaled up to what we typically see in America. The Vancouver dirt is famous for its greyish tone and the way it deteriorates throughout the night. Many riders also commented on the amount of rocks that were popping up.
Tomac started out the night perfectly with the fastest lap in both untimed practice and timed qualifying, but Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Justin Cooper came out in super pole and would get the opportunity to have first gate pick.
When the gate dropped for the first SX1 sprint race of the night, Tomac nearly had the holeshot but pushed a little wide and that allowed PMG Progressive Suzuki’s Jason Anderson to sneak around the inside and take the early lead. Anderson improved a lot from his PMG Suzuki debut last week and led for three laps until Tomac was able to make his way by for the lead and ride off with the win.
Behind them, last week’s winner Ken Roczen was making his way through the field. Despite starting around sixth, Roczen was able to tear through the pack on the opening lap like we have seen so many times throughout his career. Kenny was third by the end of lap one and was able to get to the back of his teammate Anderson within a few laps. The pace of the Suzuki duo pushed them close to the back of Tomac by the end of the eight-lap sprint, as Anderson fended off his teammate to start the night off with a second.
Quad Lock Honda’s Christian Craig and Justin Cooper quietly ran fourth and fifth, right behind the podium battle and by the end the top five were only separated by 5.4 seconds. This race also featured the first Vince Friese sighting on the Stark, as he had all sorts of issues last weekend. He ran second early but ultimately faded back to tenth.
SX1 Race Two started out with a Justin Cooper holeshot. JCoop led for a couple of laps but Roczen and Tomac eventually got by and the most anticipated battle of the weekend was on. Roczen led but Tomac got right to the back him a few times. The two pushed the pace and exchanged several mistakes on the challenging Vancouver track. Just before the white flag, Tomac missed a rhythm and that allowed Roczen the gap he needed to take home the win. That gave Tomac a one-point advantage heading into the Main (1-2 versus Roczen’s 3-1) meaning race three was set up to be a winner-take-all for the overall between the two.
Behind Roczen and Tomac, Cooper looked to have third in control until he went down late and ended up finishing last. Anderson inherited the position, and his 2-3 scores had him set up nice for his first overall podium of the series.
Tomac rocketed out of the gate and took a massive race three holeshot. Roczen struggled out of the gate, coming out of turn one around eighth. But Roczen again put in an incredible opening lap charge and was second by the end of lap two! Kenny quickly cut Tomac’s three-second lead down to about one and a half by the midway point of the race, but then things evened out. In his post-race interview, Roczen said he was an “idiot” for reverting to jumping the whoops, which cost him a lot of time and allowed Tomac to pull back away at win race three. At the same time, Roczen also said the slippery conditions are probably the worst for him, so he was happy to get out healthy. The story, though, was Tomac’s win the race and overall, in his KTM debut. Behind Tomac and Roczen, Cooper rebounded from his disastrous finish to race two by taking a lonely third.
It was an all-wildcard podium in race three, so behind them was a potential championship battle. Christian Craig hounded Anderson for fourth the entire race but was unable to make a move. Anderson ended up fourth and his 2-3-4 finishes gave him the final spot on the overall podium, his first podium with the PMG Suzuki team. Craig’s Quad Lock Honda teammate Joey Savatgy had a quiet night in sixth.
After the race Tomac spoke to Kristen Beat on the WSX broadcast, saying, “This is a perfect start for us, for myself and Red Bull KTM. We had some good battling out there tonight. It was just a treacherous track. It was technical enough to make up time but exposed you to certain elements. The first moto was easy, but by the last one it was tough out there. Great weekend for us.”
Roczen remains the points leader, with a 20-point lead over his PMG teammate Jason Anderson. However, it’s still not certain if Roczen will race the whole series or not, as of now he’s listed as a wildcard. This means Anderson could technically be considered the points leader, and he holds a five-point advantage over Christian Craig.
In the SX2 class, it was all Max Anstie once again. Despite battling an illness, Anstie went perfect for the second weekend in a row and is in complete control of this championship. Max was fastest qualifier, won super pole, won all three races, and led every lap of the night.
While Anstie dominated the night on paper, it did not come without some challenges from both Rick Ware Racing Arby’s riders. Coty Schock and Enzo Lopes kept Anstie in check all night. At one point in race three, Schock had closed right to the back wheel of Anstie around halfway but was never able to go for a pass. Anstie was able put a couple seconds between them late, but it was an impressive night, nonetheless. Anstie, Schock, and Lopes went 1-2-3 in all three races.
Behind them was Moto Concepts Racing’s Cullin Park. Park was clearly the fourth best guy, but it did not come without some drama. In race one, Park caught up to Venum Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Cole Thompson in fourth and they got into a game of cat and mouse. Thompson began blocking and crossing over on Park and in the final turn Cullin had had enough and went for the kill. They made heavy contact, but both stayed up and Thompson was able to hang on to the position. The two exchanged words after the race and saw themselves battling again in race two with Park getting the advantage. Park went 5-4-4 on the night.
Another notable ride came from Thompson’s Venum Bud Racing Kawasaki teammate Kyle Peters. The multi-time Arenacross Champion was much improved from Argentina. He got great starts and was a podium contender all night. He was running second in race one before going off the track and losing several positions. He rounded into form for races two and three, going 8-5-5 on the night, including a holeshot in race three.
It was a night to forget for the defending SX2 champion Shane McElrath. McElrath had bike issues before race one and was forced to race his back-up bike which reportedly had a stock engine. The Quad Lock Honda team got the issues figured out for race two and three, but Shane continued to struggle. He went 7-8-6 on the night.
Anstie holds a 16-point advantage over Coty Schock
The series takes a weekend off before heading to Australia for round three on November 29. Round three should be the most star-studded WSX yet as Ken Roczen, Haiden Deegan, and Eli Tomac will return and Cooper Webb will make his WSX debut.
