The 250SX West Division is going pretty much the way everyone expected. After a rough first-night fourth, Haiden Deegan has won the last two rounds and has a nine-point lead on one teammate, Michael Mosiman, and a ten-point lead on his other teammate Max Anstie, the winner of Anaheim 1. One of his primary challengers, Chance Hymas, is now on the sidelines with a torn labrum. For at least the next two months, Hunter Lawrence will be alone under the factory Honda tent.

So where was Tomac at this point last year? He was fourth on his Yamaha and had racked up 13 points less than he has this time around. As for Deegan, he was seven down on KTM's Julien Beaumer, another should-be challenger who is on the sidelines injured.

And it just wouldn't be a supercross without some kind of incident—or incidents, in this case—featuring Vince Friese. He parked Mitchell Harrison in the last corner in a battle over 19th place, then the two tangled in the pits afterward, though not on their bikes. Regardless, Friese was penalized five championship points and assessed two more of those new license points, which are starting to make more sense as the season continues. I'm not sure who needs to have an intervention with Vince at this point, but if this keeps up, he's going to hurt someone at some point...

As far as the series as a whole goes, I would say the 2026 Monster Energy Supercross Championship is off to a great start, with a third straight sellout crowd. Sure, we're missing some big stars right now due to injury, but the fans have turned out, and the racing has been great. Houston is not quite the market that Southern California is, so a fourth straight sellout is unlikely, but with this being a Triple Crown, the great racing should continue.

On to Houston!

Well, not straight to Houston, at least not for me. I was one of the many people heading back east who got stuck with delayed and canceled flights due to this crazy (and ongoing) winter storm, so my route home started at John Wayne Airport at 6 a.m. Sunday, made it to Phoenix, and then ended up spending the night there after Pittsburgh (my next destination) got blasted with snow and ice. On Monday morning, we—I was traveling with my sister Carrie and MX Sports' Tim Cotter—tried a new route and made it to Dallas, only to be stuck there all day. We finally got cleared to fly to Pittsburgh, reunite with our luggage, and then crawled home to West Virginia down a frozen I-79. We had left Anaheim 39.5 hours earlier.

Others had it worse. The AMA's Mike Burkeen and Willy Browning did not get back to Columbus, Ohio, until 2:45 a.m. on Wednesday! When they did get home, it was seven degrees below zero...

One last thing. Men's Journal posted a write-up where an editor got back into riding motocross with the help of Kawasaki test rider Broc Tickle. Check it out below!

I Took Motocross Lessons From a Supercross World Champion—and It Wrecked My Ego

Godspeed, Brian O'Rourke (DC)

Team Faith just posted: "It’s with a heavy heart that we at Team Faith are announcing that we have lost our president and founder Brian O’Rourke this morning to an apparent heart attack. More info to come. He will be greatly missed by so many. 31 years of ministry was served by him. Please keep Team Faith in prayer as we continue forward." O'Rourke was in Houston for tomorrow's Houston Supercross at NRG Stadium. We will have more as details become available. 

Triple Crown Fever (Jason Weigandt)

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Sorry kids, not Christmas, but it's rounds three through five of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, when a bunch of contenders have shed the nerves of A1, used a few races to dial in their bikes, and are now ready to go chase wins. Later in the year, a pecking order will get established, confidence will wane, and (unfortunately) someone will get hurt. That's just how sports work. Right now, though, it's a blank slate, and a ton of riders think their goals are achievable.

At Anaheim 1, Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen were way, way better than everyone else. They're great, but you knew that gap wouldn't hold, as everyone else would get better soon. They have. Chase Sexton is obviously better, Hunter Lawrence is better, Cooper Webb is better, and Jason Anderson is better. Jorge Prado is still good. Even the guys off the podium are better, like Joey Savatgy and RJ Hampshire. Those two had bad A1s but have gotten much faster since. This is how it works.

Webb is in the toughest spot because his improvement hasn't resulted in a big jump in the actual results. Fifth last week after a crash was better than the seventh and eighth finishes before that. Still, Webb has crashed in all three main events this year. That's probably more crashes than in an entire season combined in his title years. Like, for real, I researched this; when Webb first won the 450 Supercross Championship in 2019, he only crashed one time in a main, and that was at a San Diego mudder when he bumped into Marvin Musquin, who was stuck in a rut. That's it.

For Webb, so much of this season seems to hinge on the first start at A1. He had the lead and looked very confident and fast, clearly looking to establish himself and start the season strong for once. Early rounds have been a problem in the past, but he looked determined to fix that until the red flag came out, the race was restarted, and his second start suffered. Since then, it's been mid-pack desperation, which led to bumping Hunter Lawrence at A1 and crashing, getting taken out by Sexton at round two, and crashing trying to get Tomac last week. Rarely is it that the master of race craft is the one on the wrong end of so many incidents.

Webb, in his post-race TV interview, said A2 might have been the nail in the championship coffin. He later clarified that he thought he was down more than 30 points in the standings. When he later found out he's down 24, his mood softened slightly.

I use the Webb situation as an example. He's not out of it; he still has the health, ability, and confidence to go get this. But he must do better over the next few weeks. Houston is a Triple Crown, which makes the proceedings even crazier. Fast starters like Prado, Anderson, and Roczen could be even better here than in the 20-minute format, which will further gum up the works. You have a lot of guys who think they can be the man right now. That leads to great racing. See you in Houston!

PRO PERSPECTIVE (Thomas)

Changes, they are a-coming. After three rounds that feel a bit similar, we are headed towards some variety. This weekend's Houston round is one we haven't visited since 2023. While the dirt should be conducive to what the riders want and like, it's the change that will bring the questions. Different types of dirt, the dome aspect, and the recent weather will all create a bit of variance. Variance doesn't mean that the results will shift wildly; it's simply that there will be more for riders and teams to work through. Next weekend is Glendale, and that will bring rock-hard adobe clay and a search for traction. The following week is up to Seattle, and God only knows what that will bring weather-wise. The riders that have changed teams will have the biggest test. They won't have endless data to draw from as conditions shift. They will rely on educated guessing and anticipation. How well can the rider communicate the desired "feel" or "comfort" that they desire? How well can they adapt when things aren't just perfect? This is where things get interesting. Tomac and Sexton are the obvious riders that will have to sort through newness. Keep an eye on how they improve throughout the day and into the main event.

Factory Bikes (Keefer) 

Simon Cudby and I walked around the pits at A2 to get some details on a few of the factory machines, and we got them posted up for you on Racer X's YouTube channel. I think the most interesting one of the bunch is the Troy Lee Designs Red Bull Ducati Factory Racing Team’s Desmo450 MX of Justin Barcia. The amount of detail is not surprising, but what I think is cool is how they look at the chassis to get comfort, especially when guys like Barcia run their suspension settings so stiff for the rigors of SX. Ducati makes a front engine mount with a bearing inside of it to allow for more flex and front wheel contact. We were told that Barcia and his teammate Dylan Ferrandis can feel a big difference with the bearing-type front engine mount. Ducati makes their parts custom in-house and gives their riders a couple of different options when it comes to chassis parts. We will be doing another round of the factory SX machines once the series heads east, so don't miss one!

REEDY GEAR TO HELP INJURED RIDERS (Matthes)

PulpMX listener Chris donated a set of signed Chad Reed gear from the JGRMX Suzuki days to us, and we're putting it up for auction! All monies raised go to PulpMX Gives Back, which helps injured riders. Get busy bidding, and thanks!

Check it out here on eBay.

A2 Winners (DC)

With his win, Chase Sexton got his first Cycle News cover on a Kawasaki, as well as his first win ads from Kawasaki and Maxima. Sexton also shared a win ad spread with 250SX frontrunner Haiden Deegan, who also got another Yamaha win ad, as well as a 1-2-3 podium sweep ad from FMF that included his teammate Michael Mosiman and third-place Ryder DiFrancesco. And with their sweep of the SMX Next race at Anaheim, courtesy of Kayden Minear, Caden Dudney, and Landen Gordon, Yamaha placed a second spread for their junior varsity team.

Hey, Watch It!

Here’s the first indoor track of the series, Houston’s NRG Stadium:

And here’s the 1986 Houston Supercross:

2026 Anaheim 2 Supercross Cinematic Recap

This is Lawrence: 2026 ANAHEIM 2

Back-to-back for Haiden and The Deegans

SMX Fan Dream A1

SMX Insider – Season 4 – Episode 4 – Houston Triple Crown Preview

Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week 

“Cyclist wins Tour Down Under after being knocked off bike by kangaroo”—CNN

“Chuck E. Cheese Gets Plea Deal In Felony Case”—The Smoking Gun

“Marines In Restricted Military Training Area On Quantico Marine Base Report Seeing A Bigfoot”—Outkick

“Waffle House Accepting Valentine's Day Reservations”—Foxy99.com

“Nearly a third of kids can't use books when starting school - and try to swipe them like phones”—Sky News

“Oscar Mayer’s Wienermobile race is coming back to the Indy 500”—AP News 

"NFL hires Dhar Mann as Chief Kindness Officer for Super Bowl 2026 — and he has shady criminal past"—New York Post

Random Notes