Steve Matthes’ Observations from Arlington Supercross

There are bad days, and then there are days like the AMA had in Texas. It's a shame that the AMA's non-rulings at this race overshadowed it, as they refused to penalize riders in the 450 main for jumping on the red cross flag. As we know, the new "lead in" lights weren't on for Eli Tomac, Cooper Webb, and Ken Roczen, but the official was holding a red cross flag. Hunter Lawrence, the leader, saw the red cross flag and rolled the finish like he should have.

Then, the three riders launched the finish with a flag clearly displayed and...nothing happened. The AMA said they couldn't do anything because the lights weren't on (riders not being able to see the red cross flag on top of the finish and then trying to stop and roll once committed to a jump was the reason the lights were brought in, ICYWW). Therefore, the riders received no warning that a flag was out before they were committed to hitting the jump with the flag.

But, no matter that the technology failed, the flag was out, like it's been for the previous 30 years of SX. There was no incident when the riders went by (the initial incident was Jordon Smith sort of laying close to the finish when he crashed on the lane next to the finish landing), so no harm, no foul for the guys that jumped it. But what if there was someone there? What if Tomac or whomever landed on someone who was down? What if Tomac passed Lawrence for the win (like we'll get to) or got right onto the back of Lawrence, pressured him, and Hunter crashed? Still no penalty? You can't jump on a red cross. Period. End of story, especially because that part is IN the rule book, while the lead in lights are not in the rule book.

I get it; the lights weren't working properly, but the flag was out. Three riders jumped on it (or at least two, you could say for sure, although Webb had committed to the jump already while the flag was pulled back last second), and they needed to be penalized. Horrific bad call by the AMA here, which was weird because they had horrific technology problems, and then they doubled down and said, "Nothing we can do."

Weird, man.

There was some (key word: some) understanding on my end about nothing being done in the 250s when Pierce Brown took the lead while Jo Shimoda rolled the double before the finish and the finish line also. The new "lead in" lights (put in after Jett Lawrence and several other riders got docked for jumping the finish line in St. Louis back in 2024) were on, and Shimoda was confused about what they meant. You CAN jump a small double with those lights on, but you need to keep your head up for the finish line as there is a flag out.

But in this case, there was no flag out, and the incident (Derek Kelly jumping into that lane backwards) was long over. But the lights were still on. The lights shouldn't have been on, but also Jo should've known the rule, or someone at Honda should've explained the lights to Jo, who wasn't at the SMX media days when the lights were explained to the riders. I can give the AMA a bit of a pass here, but they needed to do a WAY better job of explaining lead in lights to everyone and also, maybe put them in the rule book (they somehow are not in there?).

Also, to further mess this up, the lights used to be yellow and red, but riders couldn't see yellow in the daytime/bad weather, so the lights are now just red. But also, red is the universal color for "STOP," so that's all Jo had in mind as he didn't know.

As someone close to the AMA told me on Monday, "we screwed up, the lights didn't work...twice." The AMA needed to fall on the sword here, dock the 450 riders for jumping on a red cross flag (which is in the rule book and universally understood as wheels on the ground), apologize for the lights not working, and we move on. Instead, they basically said, "We accept no blame for our equipment not working, our flagman not being alert, and nothing to see here" in that gobblygook word salad statement. So, no penalties in either main event.

Shame on them, really. If I'm Honda, I'm pissed, and it sounds like they are.

Check out Honda’s sternly-worded press release recapping the race weekend if you missed it.

Okay, onto the racing.

As mentioned, what a great 450 main event on a tough track that seemed to break down and change each lap of the race. Each of the four guys, to me anyways, has something to be stoked about and something that impressed me out there.

Hunter Lawrence—well, he won his first 450SX race ever and did it by passing/outdueling the best guys in the class. What a way to do it; he's been a bit snakebitten on the way to get this win. He rode great, his adjustment to the track was superb, and he extended his points lead. What a race.

We had Hunter on the PulpMX Show Monday, and he mentioned that it seemed like his battle with Kenny lasted eight minutes when it was really about 15 minutes, and how he was in the zone so much trying to battle. Great ride!

Eli Tomac—his charge from mid-pack to fourth in just a lap or two was epic. That was pretty impressive, and he rode great to get a second. His wheelie over the table after the end zone double-double was sweet; he couldn't replicate it that much, but when he did, that was awesome. Great ride from ET3!

Cooper Webb—The champ's probably not going to be stoked on leading at one point and getting third (coming off last week when he was leading and got second), but he hung in there a long time and got Roczen late. He probably needed to be a bit more aggressive with Kenny earlier, and it might've turned into a win. When Tomac bumped him off the track (which, Webb was not happy about, ICYWW), he had to repass Roczen. Still, he got the #94 back for the final podium spot. Great ride!

Ken Roczen—I was texting with Kenny a bit after the race, and he told me how sick he was and how hard that was for him. Great bit of defense by the #94, and I guess if he wasn't feeling well, then this fourth and leading laps is pretty good, right? The dude almost won the race! Great ride!

I don't know what's going on with Chase Sexton; this race was a little better than the last couple, I think, but he still got sixth. And he still got a garbage start. Once he got clear of some guys, he was doing 49-second lap times, but that was just the same as the leaders; it wasn't faster. And we've seen him go faster than everyone else many, many times.

ICYWW, I don't believe this quote in the Kawasaki PR from Chase:

"I felt more comfortable going into this weekend, and the bike was working great with the adjustments the team has made."—Chase Sexton

The Partzilla Blaster PRMX Racing guys ride with Chase at Jack Chambers' place in Florida, and they had Kyle Chisholm out there to do some testing for them (don't be surprised to see Chiz racing again with PRMX; like death and taxes, Chiz is eternal), which then factory Kawasaki asked Chiz to ride Sexton's bike setup. Can't hurt to have someone that helped Ken Roczen develop his bike and also rode Eli Tomac's Yamaha a bunch weigh in on what a bike is doing.

I wrote this last week:

"By the way, something I was talking to Oscar Wirdeman over there at Kawasaki (Garrett Marchbanks' crew chief) about was that at some point at RCH with Ken Roczen, they literally had Kenny ride a stock RM-Z450 (when he was struggling to get a setup) and slowly added parts to it to address what he wanted the bike to do. Sometimes you go down rabbit holes and get lost, forget where you started from, and forget that you've taken whatever characteristics the stock bike was designed to have by the engineers and tried to make it do something else. Starting from a stock platform (because each bike DOES have a "feel") gets you back to center, and you don't take a bike that is a franken-bike of feelings, you know? Maybe that's something Kawasaki is doing this week in Florida?"

And that's what Kawasaki apparently did last week with Chase! They took a stocker and started adding parts to it. Almost sort of a refresh for Sexton to start again. (Editor’s note: Wait for Steve to take credit for Sexton’s turnaround because of this article!) We saw the radical bike changes he made for round two, which was pretty amazing considering he had chosen something else and rode with it for months. Anyway, props to Kawasaki for trying to get this right, getting Chiz to ride the bike, getting a stocker going for Chase, and everything else.

It didn't really pay off in Texas, but nothing will work until Sexton gets some better starts.

Pierce Brown's win in 250SX was an awesome story. He rode great to win; his story on the PulpMX Show about team owner Bobby Regan's "speech" after the heat race was amazing. You'll have to check it out. Brown told us on the show that when he crashed at Ironman Raceway last August, his arm went numb; he thought it was related to his back injury from SX and also thought he was screwed. It turned out okay, but he also said that one doctor told him to sit out 2026 as well! He was even talking to Regan about his 2027 contract, which would basically be a ride-for-free deal. He got some second opinions, decided he was going to race, and won his first career SX main event!

It's been a long road for Pierce, and this is awesome. Even if he doesn't win another race in 2026, his year is a success.

I couldn't believe it on the show when he told us he never did the 3-3-4 all day long! I saw he didn't do it in qualifying (still qualified quickest) but assumed he did it in the main a few times? It was 0.4 faster, but nope, Brown said he couldn't get the three in and settled into his line.

Jo Shimoda had six SX ride days before Arlington. I saw him on the track walk and asked him how he was doing. He said, "Racer's race," which is great and reminded me of Nick Wey's influence on him. I then, in my best Gary Bailey type of inspirational speech, told him that because his riding style is so good and his fitness is also great, he should be fine.

And he was! I know he messed up the lights (as did the AMA), but he still would take that second place all day long if you told him that before the race. Great job by Jo-san!

Daxton Bennick is three for three in three straight years for getting on the podium at the opener. Then he's never made another podium at any other round, although to be fair, he's been hurt the last two years. He rode great in Texas, and that's such a weird streak; let's hope he breaks it this year.

Related: Daxton Bennick Has 3 Consecutive Opening Round Podiums, What About the Rest of His 250SX Races?

Cole Davies was probably the favorite to win the 250SX East opener after qualifying. The whoops were big, and he's absolutely the best guy in his class in them. Like, the dude sends it for sure. One veteran racer told me that it's obvious he hasn't had a big one in them yet because he'll slow down once he does! Anyway, Davies ripped to a fifth from dead last after he apparently forgot where his brake was coming into the first turn.

Our guy Travis Marx sent us over these graphics from the two main events showing where the passes were made. Cool stuff to check out!

A few other news and notes:

-Shout out to Joey Savatgy, who has been really riding well all year and did it again in Arlington with another top ten. His teammate Christian Craig finished inside the top ten also, and both guys were pretty happy about it.

-In the 250s, I had no idea five-time AMA Arenacross champion Kyle Peters was still racing! The long-time Phoenix Honda rider picked up a Yamaha, after he rode a Kawasaki in the FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX), and privateered it to Texas. Of course, KP got a top ten! If the ClubMX guys run into injuries, I bet he fills in over there.

-Cullin Park's main event was ruined by a crash in the whoops, but he was very fast all day. Considering he's on a privateer Honda and he's a pretty heavy guy, his speed was impressive in qualifying.