Follow Racer X on Social Media

X — @racerxonline
Instagram — @racerxonline
Facebook — @racerxonline
YouTube — Racer X Motocross & Supercross News

Morning Report

Welcome to the Live Race Day Feed from the infamous Daytona International Speedway for Round 8 of the 2026 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship.

It’s a cool, breezy, and overcast Florida day with highs in the mid 60’s. Rain came through the area yesterday evening and into the night, but the SMX track crew covered a lot of the track and the track should turn out perfect once it works in.

The 450SX Championship is heating up between Red Bull KTM’s Eli Tomac and Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence, who is coming off his first 450SX win last weekend in Arlington. The two are separated by just four points coming into Daytona. Cooper Webb and Ken Roczen are still lurking, as well.

Other headlines coming into the event surrounded riders who would NOT be racing in Daytona. Midweek it was announced that Red Bull KTM’s Jorge Prado would miss his second consecutive race due to his shoulder injury suffered in Seattle. Thursday news broke that Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Chase Sexton would miss Daytona due to hip/back injuries sustained in a training crash, and Saturday morning it was announced that Twisted Tea/HEP/ Suzuki’s Jason Anderson would sit the weekend out due to “ongoing medical issues”.

Daytona is the third of five rounds featuring the SMX Next class. In the free practice session, Club Mx’s Jesson Turner led the field around the fresh Daytona Circuit and set the pace early on with a 1:25.0 lap time. As the session progressed, Monster Energy/ Yamaha/ Star Racing Landen Gorden setting the fast lap of a 1:21. 3, over a second faster than Triumph’s Deacon Denno and Team Green Kawasaki’s Kade Johnson. Anaheim 2 SMX Next winner, Kayden Minear had an early crash and lost his rear fender but finished up the session in 8th.

First 250SX Qualifier

In the first 250 qualifying session of the day, it was a pair of Monster Energy
Yamaha Star Racing bikes leading the field around as Cole Davies and red-plate holder Pierce Brown got out front and set the tone of the session, but it was Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Seth Hammaker who was the first to sit atop the board with a 1:20.267.

That time held for the first half of the session until Seth topped his own time down to a 1:19.9. It was a PC 1-2 with teammate Drew Adams sitting second with a 1:20.6. Then the Star Racing boys got in the mix. Brown put himself to the lead with a 1:19.9 of his own and Davies bested Adams to put himself third in the session.

In the final minute of the session, Hammaker got back to the lead with a 1:19.7.
Brown and Davies had their times hold to keep them second and third, with Adams and HRC Honda’s Jo Shimoda rounding out the top 5.

First 450SX Qualifying

The top three in the series led the field around in the beginning of the first 450 A
Group qualifier. Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence, Red Bull KTM’s Eli Tomac, and
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Cooper Webb looked to not only set the tone for the session, but the night.

Quad Lock Honda’s Joey Savatgy sat atop the board after the first timed lap was over, but Dylan Ferrandis put his TLD Red Bull Ducati to the top for the first time this season with a 1:19.558. Maybe the Ducati loves these conditions? Ferrandis’ time held for a couple minutes but he quickly got shuffled back to sixth and it
was Red Bull KTM’s Aaron Plessinger to the top. Next up was Cooper Webb who had locked into a lap behind Tomac and Webb’s time put him atop the board just ahead of Tomac. At the beginning of the next lap, Tomac went down in the whoops and briefly visited the mechanics' area.

The names atop the leaderboard shuffled all over the pace late in the session but in the end, it was last week’s winner Hunter Lawrence on top with a 1:17.1. Lawrence had just one tenth of a second over Ferrandis, who had his best qualifying session of the season. Again, maybe Ducati has something figured out on this track! Justin Cooper snuck in a late 1:17.5 to grab third in the session ahead of his teammate Webb. Tomac rounded out the top five.

SMX Next First Qualifying  

It was once again Club MX Yamah’s that led the field around the perfectly-prepped circuit. Turner set the pace for the session with a 1:21.1, then Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Minear went to the top on his third lap with a 1:20.5 but was quickly overtaken by his teammate Landen Gordon and Team Green Kawasaki’s Vincent Wey. Wey and Gordon were the only ones consistently skimming the whoops.

With two minutes remaining, the session was red flagged for a downed Jayce Wolf.
The session was restarted with enough time for just one complete lap, but in that lap, Kayden Minear was able to put in a time that moved him up to P2 in the session behind his teammate Gordon. Gordon ended the session fastest by over a second with a 1:18.641. Triumph’s Deacon Denno also put in a lap after the restart to move him up to third. Wey and Turner rounded out the top 5.

SMX Next has one more timed session at the end of the afternoon.

250SX Final Qualifying

Monster Energy/ Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Seth Hammaker got the “fake” holeshot and led the field around for the beginning of the second 250 qualifier, and his teammate Drew Adams was right behind him, meaning the Kawasakis were 1-2 off the "fake" start. That might be a good sign!

Adams has looked spicy all day. He latched on and caught up to the back of Seth to put himself on top of the board early. Jo Shimoda went to the top briefly with a 1:19.048 on his third lap ahead of a trio of Star Racing Yamahas of Dudney, Davies, and Brown.

Adams was still ripping, though, and he topped Shimoda around halfway through the session to go back to the top with a 1:17.917. Meanwhile, his teammate Hammaker had a big crash, slamming
into the face of a wall jump. It was scary, and Seth was slow to get up but eventually got back on his bike and rode off back to the truck.

Adams was not done! He put in another hot lap late in the session topping his previous best with a 1:17.2, seven tenths faster than Pierce Brown, who also put in his best lap on the last lap. Daxton Bennick was third with a 1:18.5, ahead of Dudney and Shimoda who rounded out the top five.

450SX Final Qualifying

Justin Cooper and Hunter Lawrence led the way at the beginning of 450 Q2.
Defending Champ Cooper Webb got tangled up with Quad Lock Honda’s Christian
Craig and the two of them found themselves down on the fake start. Garrett
Marchbanks was also down off the start in a separate incident.

Times have gotten faster in the second sessions as the track has dried up and
worked in. Cooper put his Yamaha to the top early but was overtaken by Hunter Lawrence who put in a 1:15.3. Tomac moved into second, just ahead of Cooper and Ferrandis who were all separated by less than a tenth of a second for much of the session. Ferrandis has looked good all day.

Things got shuffled around in the last couple of minutes with Roczen and Quad Savatgy putting themselves into the top five. In the end, though, Lawrence topped the board once again with a 1:14.4, putting six tenths on the field. Tomac was able to separate himself from the rest of riderswith a 1:15.0 Savatgy, Roczen, JCooper, and Ferrandis were separated by just a couple tenths, rounding out the top six. Webb struggled in Q2 qualifying tenth in the session and tenth overall.

SMX Next Final Qualifying

The Star Racing Yamaha duo of Kayden Minear and Landen Gordon led the way to
start the final SMX Next Qualifying session. Minear led the beginning portion of the
session with a1:22.356, while Gordon had a tipover entering the sand. He got shuffled back to sixth late as Triumph’s Deacon Denno topped the board with a 1:19.9.

Gordon rebounded to get P2 with a 1:20.145 and Vincent Wey third with a 1:20.3.Kade Johnson was fourth and Altus Yamaha’s Kane Bollasina had his first SMX flash by qualifying fifth in the session.

Denno carries the top time in this session but the 1:18 by Gordon from earlier should be top overall.

250 Heat 1

Under the instruction of the Grand Marshall, the King of Supercross Jeremy McGrath, bike fired for the first heat of the night. When the gate dropped it was Yamaha’s Nate Thrasher grabbing the holeshot. The entire top five was Yamahas with Nate Thrasher, Pierce Brown, Coty Schock, Caden Dudney, and Cole Davies completing the top five. Brown made a quick pass to the lead while Schock slipped back to fifth, making it a star Yamaha top four. Brown pulled a small lead while Thrasher came under pressure of his younger teammate Dudney.

Thrasher fended off the pressure from Dudney and then Dudney came under pressure from Davies. On the last lap the two came together putting Dudney on the ground. It looked like the rookie tried to cut underneath Davies in a berm but caught his rear tire and went down. Caden remounted behind Schock to finish up fifth. Behind the top five was a battle between a pair of Phoenix Honda riders as Gavin Towers, Evan Ferry, joined by MX6 Kawasaki’s Derek Kelley, battled it out for the entire heat race.

Gizmo Mods Yamaha’s Valentin Guillod brought it home in the final transfer spot to make his first ever AMA SX main event.

250 Heat Two

Rockstar Husqvarna’s Daxton Bennick grabbed the holeshot in heat two but Drew Adams carried his momentum from qualifying into the night program and quickly took the lead from Bennick. Bennick quickly got shuffled back to fourth by Jo Shimoda and Seth Hammaker who looked strong despite his big qualifying crash.

Shimoda pressured Adams for the lead after Adams made a mistake in the sand but Adams pulled the lead back out, and instead Shimoda came under pressure from  Hammaker.

Adams seemed to have the win under control until he made a mistake exiting the sand causing him to go off track briefly allowing Hammaker to get right to the back of him. In the last turn Seth made a last-ditch effort for the heat win and went down. The crash allowed Shimoda to get by but Hammaker was able to salvage third. Bennick and Phoenix Honda’s Cullin Park round out the top five, while John Short finished in the ninth and final transfer spot to make it two for two main events to start the season. 

450 Heat One

Eli Tomac grabbed the holeshot in the first 450 heat race and began to check out over the defending champ Cooper Webb. Jordon Smith started in third, but Aaron Plessinger got by with Ken Roczen in tow. Then Plessinger went down entering the sand and Roczen inherited the position. From there Roczen caught fire and was the fastest rider on track. Roczen quickly closed the gap to Webb, but Webb responded and held Kenny off.

To the crowds’ approval, Tomac took off with a dominating win ahead of Webb and Roczen. Plessinger made a late race pass on Shane McElrath to rebound from his crash in fourth. Dylan Ferrandis rebounded from a crash of his own and finished seventh, while Gizmo Mods Freddie Noren grabbed the final transfer spot.

450 Heat Two

Hunter Lawrence grabbed the early lead in heat two with Malcolm Stewart in tow. Stewart made a heavy push for the lead in the opening lap, made the pass briefly, but Hunter was able to take the lead back.

That first lap action was great between Hunter and Malcolm, but Stewart began to make a few mistakes which allowed Joey Savatgy to close in and make the pass for second. Savatgy gapped Stewart while Garrett Marchbanks, who had his best

start of the season, ran fourth. Justin Cooper was on the charge from outside the top ten and made two last-lap passes on Marchbanks and Stewart to finish an impressive third. ISRT Kawasaki’s Vince Friese finished ninth, barely edging out Team Tedder’s Justin Hill for the final transfer spot.

SMX Next Main Event

Triumph’s Deacon Denno grabbed the holeshot in the third SMX Next Main Event of the year ahead of Kade Johnson. On lap two, Kaden Minear jumped into the side of Wyatt Thurman trying to make the pass for third and ended up losing ground. On that same lap, Johnson took the lead from Denno and Thurman momentarily closed in on Denno. This was in his best ride of Thurman’s young SMX Next career.

But Denno got it all figured out, finding whoop speed, and then he was able retake the lead from Johnson. Almost immediately after, Johnson went down. Thurman inherited second with Vince Wey third. Landen Gordon was the man on the move coming thru the field and getting by Wey on lap four. Thurman, Gordon Wey and Johson found themselves in an intense battle for second. Gordon made the pass and was able to separate from the group quickly. Wey and Johnson also made their way by Thurman but Thurman was sending it to retake the final podium spot until he got loose in the whoops and went down.

Denno took a dominating win, the first of his SMX Next career ahead of Gordon, Wey and Johnson. Kayden Minear charged back to fifth after his crash early in the race.

250 LCQ

EBR’s Landon Hartz grabbed the holeshot in the 250 LCQ. Jeremy Hand followed in second, with Kyle Peters and Bryton Carroll filling the qualifying spots in the early stages of the race. Peters went down and out of a qualifying spot and it was a pair of MX6 Kawasaki’ of Henry Miller and Marshall Weltin looking to move their way up into a qualifying spot.

Miller charged his way all the way through the field in an impressive ride to pass Hartz for the win late in the race. Hand rode it in for third while Weltin and Carroll found themselves in a battle to the death for the final transfer spot. Weltin blew Carroll over a berm to take the spot on the last lap. Carroll tried to retaliate but went down himself, handing the final spot to Weltin.

450 LCQ

It was an uneventful 450 LCQ for the top three positions as Justin Hill led every lap of the way ahead of Grant Harlan and Mitchell Harrison. Behind them Justin Starling and Scott Meshey found themselves battling for the final transfer spot. The two went back and forth a few times and at one point Starling had the position on lock. Meshey charged back and stole the position back from Starling. Meshey pulled out slightly and was able to fend off a late charge from Starling to make his first main event of the season.

250 Main

When the gate dropped on the 250 main it was Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Seth Hammaker with the holeshot. HRC Honda’s Jo Shimoda ran second ahead of the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing duo of Nate Thrasher and Pierce Brown. Drew Adams, though, was on the move early, making quick passes on Brown and Thrasher to put himself in position get his first career podium. Adams had captured top qualifying honors earlier and won his heat race, so he had momentum. Drew continued to charge to the back of Shimoda.

Meanwhile, Thrasher who ran third early, got shuffled back to sixth. His teammate Cole Davies was the man on the move coming from ninth, to get to the back of his teammate Brown. The two teammates had a close call when Davies jumped off the outside of the off camber and their lines came together. Davies eventually made the pass and controlled the position until he made a mistake in the sand that allowed brown pull alongside him again. Brown could not make the pass and Davies regained control of fourth.

From there, Davies regrouped and went after Adams, until another mistake let Adams get free, briefly. Davies really ramped it up, he became the fastest rider on track by over two seconds on lap 7. That lap allowed him to make the pass on  Adams and go after Shimoda. Shortly after getting passed by Davies, Adams’ career day came to a crashing halt after a big crash in the whoops. Like his teammate Hammaker earlier in the day, Adams did get back on his feet and on his bike, but he too rode back to pits.

Davies was up to third and tried to get to Shimoda, but it looked like the top three were locked in until Shimoda went down in the sand, dropping
him back to fourth behind Brown. This allowed Davies to get to second.

After a big crash and appearing to be banged up in qualifying, Hammaker rebounded in incredible fashion, leading every lap of the main event and taking his first win of the season with a comfortable four second lead at the finish. Davies and Brown rounded out the podium. Brown’s third allows him to keep the red plate as the series’ heads to a triple crown in Indianapolis next weekend.

450 Main

The top four in the 450SX Championship stole the show in the 450 Main Event.
Points leader Hunter Lawrence grabbed the holeshot and early lead, but similar to last weekend, Ken Roczen stole the lead right away. Roczen led for several laps, while Lawrence had a shaky first couple laps. Eli Tomac started around fifth but made quick moves, including one to get around Cooper Webb, to get to third. Then he started to close in on Lawrence, his current title rival.

On lap six Tomac dropped the hammer and a 1:17.2 lap time, over a second
faster than anybody else’s fastest lap at that point in the race. That lap allowed Tomac to not only make the pass on Hunter, but Roczen as well. The crowd erupted as Tomac set his sights on his eighth Daytona SX victory.

Meanwhile, Lawrence regrouped from his rough opening laps and began to reel in
Roczen. Lawrence made the move and began putting in his best laps of the
race. By the time the white flag flew, Tomac’s lead had shrunk to less than three
seconds. Lawrence did his best lap of the race on the final lap, but it wasn’t enough to make a pass for the win. Tomac continued his Daytona legacy with another victory and closed his points deficit on Hunter back down to just one point.

Roczen hung on to third ahead of Webb, who got somewhat dropped by the top three. Quad lock Honda’s Joey Savatgy continued his impressive 2026, matching a season best fifth. Aaron Plessinger was sixth and Garrett Marchbanks got his season moving in the right direction with a season-best seventh.