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Morning Report

Good morning race fans. Today, our first 250SX East Division race of 2026 takes place here in Arlington, Texas. While the outside weather today will be a high of 61° Fahrenheit with sun, weather will not be a factor as we have our third indoor venue of the season. AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys National Football League (NFL) team, is hosting today's seventh round of the 17-round Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship.

While the Arlington Supercross has been a Triple Crown race for the last four races in this stadium (2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025), today’s event is a regular format. 

There are a ton of storylines to follow today, with the exciting 450SX championship still a very close battle at the top, and an all-new field of 250SX riders starting their season in the 250SX East Division today. Hunter Lawrence enters today with the 450SX points lead, whereas the 250SX East Division will have all the same backgrounds on their machines except for the purple background, yellow #30 on defending 250SMX Champion Jo Shimoda's Honda. 

And with the departure of two-time 250SX East Division Champion Tom Vialle, there will be a brand-new champion in this division. Nate Thrasher enters with the most wins in the active field with six, then Seth Hammaker with three race wins, then Cole Davies and Jo Shimoda with two races wins each. There are lots of fast riders on the entry list for today. Good luck guessing who will strike first and get the first main event win of the season, this field is deep! Give us your predictions for tonight's winners in the comments section below.

Missing from the 250SX East Division opener will be Ty Masterpool, who posted on Instagram Friday he will not be racing today. His Instagram caption read:

Read the full injury report for today.

Today's Arlington SX layout reminds me of the 2025 Detroit SX layout that we saw last year at Ford Field in Michigan. That race provided some excellent racing in both 250SX East and 450SX that night, so hopefully we can have a similar turnout tonight!

Track walk starts at 10 a.m. local time (Central time) and bikes will be on track at 11:30 a.m. local time/12:30 p.m. Eastern with the first 250SX sessions, then the 450SX groups.

Check out today's full schedule (times local to Arlington, Texas, in Central time zone).

We have a starter whoop and 11 whoops that follow. These whoops will be a key section of the track to watch today, as well as the rhythm section that follows the finish line and mechanics' area.

Bikes will be on track soon!

First Qualifying Sessions

250SX

Rookie Landon Hartz topped the 250SX group C first qualifying session with a 51.392. When 250SX group B began, it was Caden Dudney leading the field around. Dudney would top the session with a 48.683. Aiden Dickens went down in the whoops and was helped to his feet by the Alpinestars medical crew. He walked off, gingerly, under his own power, and went to the Alpinestars medical rig. Valentin Guillod had a bike issue just a few laps into the session. His bike shut off in the turn after the mechanics' area, and he pushed his bike off into the mechanics' area to get it looked at. After a few minutes of inspection, Guillod walked off, with his helmet and goggles still on, as his mechanic pushed his bike off. He was 13th in the session. 

Pierce Brown led the field as the first 250SX group A qualifying session began. Looking for redemption in his first supercross race since the Tampa 250SX East Division opener last February that ended his supercross season early. Brown came out and was on fire from the get-go, and so was his teammate, Cole Davies. Brown's 49.021 led as the first fast lap, then Davies was P2 with a 50.183 early on. A Seth Hammaker heater, a 49.129, took the #10 to P2 over Davies. Then, Brown bested his time down to a 48.932, followed by a 49.154 by Davies. The sophomore was hitting the 3-3-4 line in the rhythm lane before the whoops section, which was big but fast. Davies then went 48.682 to take over P1. But Brown retaliated! A 48.439 from Brown put him back into P1, where he would finish the session. 

It is still early on but Dudney's time from the first qualifying session is currently the third-fastest overall 250SX time. Might be something to keep an eye on as we head into second sessions and figure out overall qualifying for heat race gate picks.

450SX

Jason Anderson led the 450SX group A session on track. Eli Tomac was one of the riders to do a big line: the roll, table over table in the rhythm section after the mechanics’ area. The green flag waved so times started to count for overall qualifying. Chase Sexton’s 48.943 was the first fast lap. Malcolm Stewart and Cooper Webb were some of the riders hitting the triple-triple-quad line that Davies was doing before the whoops section. In his first time on the track in 2026, Jordon Smith was putting in some really good laps. He had a close call in the whoops, but he stayed up. He was inside the top five early in the session, as was Justin Hill. Garrett Marchbanks moved into P2. Stewart moved into P1 with a 48.632.

Second Qualifying Sessions

250SX

The second 250SX group B qualifying session began, and it was Kyle Peters and Caden Dudney out front of the practice start. Valentin Guillod’s struggles in the turn after the mechanics’ area continued as he crashed there this session. He got up and going quickly this time, which was a good sign. Dudney, again, topped the 250SX group B session.

In 250SX group A, it was Jo Shimoda with the early gap on the field as the session started. Cole Davies and Jalek Swoll were right behind him. The heater laps started and Shimoda struggled to find a flow yet, whereas Davies and Pierce Brown picked up where they left off in the first session. Swoll had a big crash in the whoops but lucked out with a solid dismount and came out uninjured. He got up and immediately went back for his bike, which was a good sign. He got going again and started putting down some solid laps. Watch the crash below. Davies’ 48.644 was the fastest in the session for the time being, despite sitting second overall to Brown’s 48.439 from the first session. Seth Hammaker’s heater lap of 48.640 moved to P1 in the session, which would top the field at the checkered flag. But again, his time was not faster than Brown’s first session fastest time, meaning Brown was the fastest overall qualifier on the day. Top five in the session was Hammaker, Davies, Daxton Bennick in his Husqvarna debut, Drew Adams, and Cullin Park.

The top five was Brown, Davies, Hammaker, Dudney, and Bennick Other notables in overall include: Adams sixth, Luke Clout seventh, Coty Schock 13th, Swoll 14th, Shimoda 15th, rookie Landon Hartz 17th, rookie Russell Buccheri 32nd, Guillod 34th, and rookie Jonathan Getz 42nd.

450SX

It was Cooper Webb who led the 450SX group A second qualifying session around the circuit. Hunter Lawrence and Jason Anderson were two of the last riders to get going when the gates dropped, letting the field go. On the results page, it was Ken Roczen leading with a 47.733. Eli Tomac moved into P1 in the session and P1 overall on the day with a 47.688. Lots of guys were unleashing the big quad line in the rhythm before the whoops. At the checkered flag, it was Tomac, Roczen, Webb, Anderson, and Chase Sexton. The overall qualifying top five was the exact order as the aforementioned top five from the second qualifying session. The track was hammered and beat up and these guys were still pushing and scrubbing and ripping around. It's a bummer Jorge Prado is out for today's racing after his shoulder injury last weekend because it would have been interesting to see how he did on this long set of whoops here. 

Tune in for tonight's racing! The pre-race show starts at 6:30 p.m. Eastern with the racing starting at 7 p.m. Eastern.

Heat Races

250SX Heat Race One

The first 250SX East Division heat race of the season dropped the gates, and it was Yamaha teammates Caden Dudney and Cole Davies out front! Davies jumped into the race lead by the second turn and then Dudney cased the triple into the whoops after the third turn, which allowed Jalek Swoll to take over second. Then, it was Luke Neese, Cullin Park, Nate Thrasher, Marshal Weltin, Devin Simonson, and Drew Adams. Dudney was going back and forth with Swoll and Thrasher made a sneaky, two-for-one pass to get both of them! Thrasher took over second, but Davies was gone out front as he cruised to the race win by over five seconds over Thrasher, Swoll, Dudney, and Park rounded out the top five. Adams came through sixth after he could not get around Park, who was riding well. Devin Simonson, Henry Miller, and Marshal Weltin rounded out the top nine automictic transfer positions for the main event as Izaih Clark came through tenth.

250SX Heat Race Two

The start of the second heat race of the night saw three riders collide and go down off the start. Jo Shimoda got the holeshot, but the three downed riders resulted in a red flag since the track quickly comes back down the start straight. However, all three riders—Luca Marsalisi, Hayes Edwards, and Bryce Shelly—were able to get up to their feet on their own power. Marsalisi did not join the fully gated restart, but the others did.

The gates dropped on the restart, and it was Shimoda again with the holeshot! Seth Hammaker quickly made a pass for the lead. Noah Viney and Gavin Towers went down together in the whoops on the opening lap, opening the door for the start of a chaotic remainder of this heat race. Daxton Bennick was running third and uncorked the quad into the turn before the whoops, which almost resulted in him slamming into Shimoda. Evan Ferry went down in the whoops but got back on his bike and was going again. Towers had another crash in the whoops, this time on his own. Pierce Brown charged forward, getting by Bennick to take over fourth. Hammaker took the heat race win.

450SX Heat Race One

The first 450SX heat race of the night began and it was Ken Roczen out front of his Suzuki brandmate Jason Anderson and the rest of the field. Dylan Ferrandis had a close call with two lappers where he almost went down. Ferrandis and Christian Craig were battling for third, but Malcolm Stewart was able to get by both of them. Stewart was going inside, table over table then triple in the section after the mechanics’ area and he used that same line two laps in a row: first to get Craig, then to get Ferrandis. Stewart, who was the fastest rider on the track, was able to charge up to the rear wheel of Anderson, who was keeping Roczen honest. Roczen took the heat race win as Anderson just barely held off Stewart at the checkered flag! Jordon Smith, who had a bad start and was around 13th or so early on, ended up charging to eighth and into an automatic transfer position in his first heat race of the season and his first ever 450SX heat race.

450SX Heat Race Two

The final heat race of the night got underway, and it was Hunter Lawrence that got the holeshot. It was Lawrence, Eli Tomac, Joey Savatgy, Cooper Webb, Aaron Plessinger, then Chase Sexton and Garrett Marchbanks. The Kawasaki teammates were battling back and forth for most of the race, trading positions a couple of times. Tomac was all over Lawrence, but Savatgy was all over the #3, too! Webb was just back enough he was out of striking distance. Tomac made a mistake in the long rhythm before the whoops section, which allowed Savatgy to make a pass into second place. Lawrence took the race win over Savatgy, then Tomac, Webb, and Plessinger rounded out the top five. Sexton bested his teammate for sixth, then Justin Hill came through eighth.

LCQs

250SX LCQ

The 250SX LCQ got underway and it was Gavin Towers with the holeshot, but he went down in the whoops for the third time tonight. He remounted in second to last. Luke Neese took over the race lead ahead of Bryce Shelly, Bryton Carroll, and Jeremy Hand. Valentin Guillod went down in the third turn, and he got up dead last. He rode right to pick up his mechanic, and they rode off through the tunnel. Tough day for the #39 machine. Towers had another crash on his own, his fourth of the night. He was the last rider on track and just skipped the whoops on the final lap, coming through the checkered flag 18th. Brutal day for the sophomore rider. Out front, Neese took the race win over Shelly, Hand, and Caroll as Ryder Floyd came up short in fifth.

450SX LCQ

The 450SX LCQ got underway and it was Zack Williams, who nearly holeshot his heat race, with the actual holeshot this time! Tristan Lane charged up to second and then into the race lead a few laps later as Colt Nichols followed the #711 by Williams. The top four were Lane, Nichols, Williams, and Josh Cartwright as Kevin Moranz ran right on Cartwright’s rear wheel. Moranz hit the quad into the turn before the whoops and caught Cartwright completely off guard! They made contact but, somehow, he stayed up! Moranz took over the final transfer spot then the field got the white flag. Nichols came through with the race win over Lane, then Moranz, and Williams ran into trouble in the whoops on the final lap, resulting in Cartwright making a pass to take over the fourth and final transfer spot!

Main Events

250SX Main Event

The first 250SX main event officially dropped the gates on their first main event of the ’26 season and it was chaos from the gate drop! Cole Davies came in hot from the inside few gates, hitting into Seth Hammaker, making Hammaker a literal ham sandwich as he was sent into Coty Schock in his left. Somehow, Hammaker stayed up while both Davies and Schock got collected in a big, first-turn pileup. The crash also collected Nate Thrasher, Caden Dudney, Bryce Shelly, Luke Clout, and more. Marshal Weltin was also involved in the crash and he did not rejoin, getting back on his bike then riding directly to the mechanics’ area. He was out for race after that.

Out front, Jo Shimoda pulled the holeshot over Pierce Brown. The two would battle back and forth. Jalek Swoll was in the top five mix early on before he went down hard in the whoops, which ended his night early.

Towards the end of the race, the red lights on the double before the finish line were flashing, which resulted in him not jumping the double nor the finish line. Brown, right behind him, jumped both of the jumps and passed Shimoda on the landing of the finish line as Shimoda was rolling the landing. Derek Kelley got cross rutted, sent right, and landed in the space of the finish line double while facing the wrong direction. He used the back of the finish line as a berm and exited the section back to the next lane as quickly as possible. While Kelley had been cleared of the section, the red lights were still out when Shimoda came around shortly after. Then, it seemed Brown jumped with the red lights still on.

Brown would go on to take the win—the first 250SX main event win of his career—as he got redemption from the 2025 Tampa SX crash just over a year ago. Shimoda came through second as Daxton Bennick pulled off his third straight 250SX East Division opener podium in a row! Hammaker came through fourth ahead of Davies, who had an epic charge through the field to land a top five finish. Schock came back to finish seventh, Thrasher finished 11th as Dudney came through 13th.

The AMA will certainly be looking at the red-light situation, so stay tuned for updates.

450SX Main Event

After the chaotic 250SX race, we expected a cleaner battle in the 450SX main event. The gates dropped and it was Cooper Webb with the holeshot but in turn two, Ken Roczen took an inside line and blocked Webb to take over the lead. But then Webb struck right back in the next turn! But Webb bounce “tripled” into the whoops and Roczen got the triple clean, so Roczen was able to enter and exit the whoops with way more speed. Roczen had the lead and started to gain a few seconds on Webb out front. Eventually, Hunter Lawrence and Eli Tomac joined the party out front too after passes on Aaron Plessinger and following a crash from Joey Savatgy, who was riding well. Lawrence was able to get by Webb and go after Roczen but could not make a pass stick. Lap after lap, the #96 tried move after move but Roczen held strong. Eventually, Lawrence was finally able to sneak past Roczen on the outside of the turn into the section before the whoops. Lawrence tripled out of the turn and Roczen doubled, giving the #96 the breathing room he needed to sneak away. Roczen then was under pressure from Webb with Tomac not too far behind. Webb got by Roczen in the same turn Lawrence did, but then Tomac got a two-for-one pass in the following turn entering the whoops. The move put Tomac into second and took Webb wide enough where he had to briefly go off track. That allowed Roczen to go back by him.

Then, Lawrence saw the red cross flag waving on the finish line jump and rolled it, similar to what happened with Shimoda in the 250SX main event when he saw the red lights. Tomac, Roczen, and Webb all looked to have jumped the finish line with the flag waving, which would mean a penalty. Similar to the red-light situation in the 250SX main event, this is certainly going to get looked at.

In the end, Lawrence took the race win, his first 450SX main event in the same venue where he earned his first 250SX main event win. Tomac finished second and Webb was able to repass Roczen for the final spot on the podium. Lawrence continues to lead Tomac in the championship standings.

Updated After the Media Scrum

After the media scrum was over (well after the race done), I checked in the with AMA officials for an update on the situation. I saw team personnel from both Honda and Yamaha meeting with the AMA and waited patiently for them to complete meetings before asking for an update. At this time, the incidents are both under further review, but we will expect to hear more in the next day or two. However, I would not be surprised to learn about a penalty/penalties, upon watching the highlights and checking the rulebook.