Another night of racing took place over the weekend in Anaheim, and the action was about as wild and intense as it gets in Monster Energy AMA Supercross! It also left us with plenty of questions, which we sent to former pro and NBC on-track analyst, Jason Thomas.
After sitting in the warm, southern California climate for two weeks and getting compacted by monster trucks last week, we expected the dirt at A2 to have a rock hard base with loose and slippery top layer. It sure didn’t look like traction was hard to find out there though. What did the track crew do to achieve this dirt?
They caught a break with the weather, no doubt. On Thursday, rains swept across the area and got a lot of moisture into the dirt that would have been otherwise difficult to attain. The soaking that rain provided left the dirt wetter through multiple layers than watering would have. The SMX track crew are miracle workers but the rain gave them a boost this time around.
The track had two spots with different inside and outside options. One was right after the finish line, the other was in the sand, with both sections having a longer outside line with a big hump located on the inside. Did either line in either section offer any specific advantages? What were they?
For the section after the finish line, this stayed consistent throughout the day and night as to which was faster. The outside was faster by .2 or so and that gave incentive to take a longer route. The SMX track crew made constant adjustment there during the afternoon trying to ensure the ideal contrast.
For the sand, this changed significantly from day to night. The inside was a little better in the qualifying sessions and most stuck to it. When the track crew reworked the track in the evening, though, they built a nice berm that encircled the outside of the track. Riders could then hammer the berm and carry a ton of momentum. Watch Hunter Lawrence in the early laps of the main event. He didn’t realize that line had formed and got passed a few times there.
Levi Kitchen had a seriously wild crash in his heat race, literally doing a front flip and somehow coming out unscathed, and still qualifying. Have you ever seen anything like that?
This was about as fortunate as one can get in a big crash. The face of that jump had softer dirt in it from the rebuild and when riders sat into the face, they went much deeper into the stroke and then rebounded violently. This type of thing is always a risk with the first heat. Subtle changes to the jump face, whether dirt or angle, can have disastrous consequences. Orlando 2006 and Daytona’s whoop changes come to mind with this type of scenario. Kitchen caught a huge break to escape uninjured.
Speaking of Kitchen, he exited the race after his starting device didn’t come loose. What could have caused that to happen?
The starting devices are pushed to extremes nowadays. The metal grates provide excessive traction so the bike wants to wheelie more than dirt. To counteract that, riders are pulling their front end down to ranges that have never been seen. To unlock that, a hard compression needs to be enacted (lower than the locking point). If a rider has a mellow first corner or if there is any hitch in the mechanical side, it can stay locked. It doesn’t happen often but it can. The fix is to hit a jump or braking bump to get that compression needed (assuming there isn’t a mechanical issue).
Chance Hymas got collected in a first-turn pileup. What caused this situation?
This was just a racing incident. Hymas didn’t get the jump he wanted and that always ups the risk for bad things happening to you. In this case, Avery Long high sided in the first corner over another bike and started a chain reaction toward the outside. That collected Hymas and down he went. There is so little room for error in the first corner and this type of thing is very common.
Michael Mosiman has always been fast, but this year he’s leveled up. At A2 he took his second podium of the season, led laps, and moved into second in the points. What’s he doing differently in 2026?
He has talked about how long it’s taken him to rebuild both mentally and physically. He’s had several injuries over the years and some heavy hits to his noggin, too. Momentum is a very underrated aspect of racing and when you are constantly injured, it’s easy to fall behind the pack as it relentlessly progresses. He looks to be back to his 2022 self.
What got into Jason Anderson? He’s a great rider and a former champ, but he looked better than he’s looked in a long time on Saturday night. Was there something about this track that suited him well?
The start is so critically important in the 450 class. The pace is similar for many of the riders, so positioning can mean everything. Anderson wasn’t so different than this at A1 but he didn’t get the holeshot like he did at A2. He mentioned after the race that he struggled to hold that pace at the very front, as he’s not gotten a taste of it in a while. What he’s alluding to is the all-out sprint that those guys are maintaining for several laps. The intensity for the leaders in the first few laps is no joke.
Eli Tomac was aggressive early, passing Hunter Lawrence, but Lawrence got him back later while Tomac was working on Anderson. Tomac didn’t fight back after that. Did veteran wisdom cause him to settle in for third, or did he just not have Lawrence’s pace?
Tomac didn’t seem to have that extra edge that he had at the first rounds. It could be the added traction or the other guys could have just improved. I tend to think it’s the first option but if your lesser days are still on the podium, it’s going to be difficult to top the guy. Eli’s poor days in past seasons have looked more like sixth to 12th, so this would be a big coup. It’s still a week-to-week dynamic with sorting the bike in new conditions so this will be a theme to watch.
Chase Sexton got his first win of the season out of the way at A2, in just his third race with Monster Energy Kawasaki. Is this a sign that he’s got things ironed out and is ready to be a force in this championship?
This was a huge step but it’s hard to think everything is perfect and he won’t face more challenges. His crashes in both qualifying and the heat race show that it can still happen at any time. He is arguably the fastest racer in the field but I don’t have high confidence that he can avoid critical mistakes on a consistent basis. It feels very boom/bust right now.
Cooper Webb looked defeated afterward and referenced an incident with Jorge Prado on the start that put him behind immediately, saying it was something he’d have to look out for when starting next to Prado in the future. What was he talking about?
It looked like there was a bit of chaos on the start. Lawrence got the jump on Prado and moved over a bit, which forced Prado to make evasive moves, too. I think that interfered with Webb, but unintentionally. Webb wouldn’t have known that it was a chain reaction that pushed Prado to his right and into Webb. I did notice that Prado braked very early for the first corner also and Webb had to push around him to the outside. The battle for elbow room in the first 20 feet is everything.
