Arlington marked the first round for the 250SX East Division riders and once again Daxton Bennick landed on the podium. That makes three years in a row where Bennick has been on the podium in the opening round, starting with a third at his first ever Monster Energy AMA Supercross race in Detroit in 2024.
Starting a series off-strong has never been a problem for Bennick, it's been staying healthy once the season gets going. Last year he suffered a concussion in the week following his second place in Tampa. Not to make something out of nothing, but it is unusual enough that they were calling him “Mr. Round One” on the broadcast! Bennick was asked about it in the post-race press conference:
“I mean, I feel like today I struggled pretty bad all day," he said. "In the heat I was horrendous, so I turned it around in the main event, which, obviously, when it counted. But I feel like I've always had a really good strong off-season into the first round and then I've had some trouble after that, so hopefully we can just keep the ball rolling and stay healthy.”
Bennick started off the main event in third and was able to withstand pressure from Seth Hammaker, while also applying pressure on Jo Shimoda in second. In fact, he was less than a second and a half behind Shimoda at the checkers. All on what was a very difficult Arlington track.
“Yeah, dude, first the track broke down gnarly. I raced here in 2024, but I don't remember it being this gnarly. It was tough. Like I said, I had a hard day all day really. I fought the track, but I knew if I could get that three in and then get the four out [rhythm], no one else in front of me was doing it. So, I thought maybe that was an opportunity for me, I was definitely making time a little there and then I was jumping the whoops pretty good. Probably clean up some of the turns. But it was probably the roughest main I've been a part of for sure.”
Though a strong opening round has not changed for Bennick, pretty much everything else has. Daxton has changed teams from Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing to Rockstar Energy Husqvarna for 2026. This includes working with Nathan Ramsey and riding at the Baker's Factory. Note, Bennick was a long-time KTM amateur rider and trained with Aldon Baker years ago. But his final amateur season and first few pro seasons were spent on a Star Yamaha YZ250F. So, this change to the Husqvarna (under the KTM Group umbrella) is kinda a homecoming of sorts.
“I mean, I can just focus on myself a little more," he said. "At Star, obviously there's a lot of good 250 guys and it was a battle every day. So, I feel like that's really the biggest difference. As far as training, it's somewhat similar. Of course they have their differences, but I feel like this program's really good, and I feel like, I did work with Aldon in the past, but it's changed a lot to be honest and in a really positive way.”
"Me and Nate's worked together before but at a completely different level, obviously," Bennick said on his current team manager. "In amateurs, it was a lot different. It wasn't serious and maybe not in depth, but now I feel like it's just at a higher level obviously and more like a day to day type thing, like he's checking in obviously during the week and stuff. And then I have Murph [Sean Murphy] too at the Baker's Factory every week, which is nice. And yeah, it's a really good group of guys that are around me with Aldon, Justin, and the whole crew. So, I feel like it was a good environment change to be honest and it's been going good."
To put things in perspective, Bennick’s teammate in 250SX East is Casey Cochran who fractured his collarbone before round one, leaving Bennick as the sole 250 rider. That is a big difference from his former team who had four riders on the track this weekend. Could all of this personalized attention elevate Bennick from an opening round to an every-round podium threat?
