1: Daytomac
Eli Tomac is the King of Daytona, plain and simple. Tomac came into the weekend as the heavy favorite and delivered his 57th career 450SX win and eighth at Daytona, topping NASCAR legend Richard Petty for most "major race" wins at the iconic venue. (NASCAR fans would like to point out that Petty, and others, have won several other races at Daytona to push their numbers higher. But Daytona 500 specifically versus Daytona Supercross, Eli is the all-timer now.)
Hunter Lawrence topped Tomac in qualifying, but Eli found another gear in the night show. The Red Bull KTM rider dominated his heat race, and in the Main Event he worked his way past his three biggest challengers to get into the lead and win the race. He now has four wins in the season before any other rider has two. Yet, he trails Lawrence in the championship by a single point.
Despite the incredible race by Tomac, this win may be most memorable for what happened after the race. On the podium, Eli went to pick the trophy up by the top, it snapped and hit him in the mouth, breaking his tooth! He did not seem thrilled about it at the time, but later made fun of the situation in an Instagram story showing off the tooth writing, “It’ll buff out.”
2: Hammaker’s Gritty Win
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Seth Hammaker fought through some adversity to take home his first win of the season in Daytona. In the second qualifying session, Hammaker had a huge crash in one of the fastest sections of the track, slamming into the face of one of the wall jumps. He was slow to get up but eventually rode off and back to the pits because his bike was mangled. On the PulpMX Show Seth admitted that he was sore from the crash, but that it ended up lighting a little fire under him that helped him lock in for the night show. He led every lap of the main event and looks to carry the momentum into Indianapolis; the race that kicked off his near championship run in 2025.
3: Anderson Out
News broke on race-day morning that Twisted Tea Suzuki’s Jason Anderson would miss the Daytona Supercross due to “ongoing medical issues.” That's legitimate, as some riders that ride with him during the week in Florida have mentioned Anderson has had issues handling a normal riding and training load. Then on Sunday, a mugshot of Anderson from December got leaked, which lit up social media. HEP later announced that Anderson would be out for the foreseeable future and Anderson himself released a statement saying, “I take full responsibility for my actions, and I am truly sorry for the hurt they have caused my wife and family.” As the story has developed, we have learned that the charges were dropped, and Anderson does have those legitimate health issues dating back to last year. When will he return to the track?
4: Deacon Denno Gets Triumph a Win
Thus far, 2026 has been a year the Triumph Factory team would like to forget. Austin Forkner, who got a late call up to debut their 450, is currently out with injury with only two main event finishes to his credit. Jordon Smith returned from shoulder surgery and began his 450-career in Arlington but has struggled to keep it on two wheels. In the 250 division, they went riderless in 250SX West and Jalek Swoll has struggled in the two races in the 250SX East Division. Triumph’s amateur rider Deacon Denno has been the one bright spot for the team. After getting passed early in the SMX Next main event by Team Green Kawasaki’s Kade Johnson, Denno was able to capitalize on a series of mistakes by Johnson and take off with a comfortable win. Triumph has been in a bit of a lull as of late, but maybe the future is bright?
5: Battle of Attrition
We are approaching the halfway point of the 2026 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season and injuries are beginning to take its toll on the 450 Class. Last Wednesday Red Bull KTM announced that Jorge Prado would miss his second-straight race and the following day Monster Energy Kawasaki announced that Chase Sexton would miss Daytona due to back and hip injuries suffered in a training crash. Ducati’s Dylan Ferrandis also suffered a thumb injury in a heat crash at Daytona. Add in Dylan’s teammate Justin Barcia, Husqvarna’s RJ Hampshire, team Beta’s Oldenburg and Bloss, Forkner, and Anderson, and we are beginning to see the effects of eight-straight weekends of racing.
6: Brown Keeps the Red Plate
It is always interesting to see how first-time winners back it up the following weekend. Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Pierce Brown may not have won back-to-back, but he did enough to prove that he is for real in 2026. Brown qualified P2, won his heat race, and got himself back on the podium with a third in the main event. Third was good enough to hang on to the red plate for another weekend. The 250SX East Division is shaping up to be a dogfight between Brown, his teammate Cole Davies, Seth Hammaker, and Jo Shimoda
7: Marchbanks Holds it Down for Kawi
Garrett Marchbanks’ rookie 450 season had more downs than ups through the first seven rounds, but he was able to tap into some 2020 Daytona vibes (Garrett’s lone 250SX win) and get his best finish of the season in seventh. Marchbanks was notably improved all weekend and later credited the improvement to the team staying in Florida for the week and getting in some quality testing, While losing Sexton for the weekend was a massive blow for the Monster Energy Kawasaki team, Garrett’s good result had to be a relief and showed that they may be headed in the right direction with the bike.
8: Drew’s Almost Breakthrough
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Drew Adams has had a good, yet quiet, start to his professional career. He finally had a breakout performance in Daytona as he was fastest in qualifying by nearly three-quarters of a second and had two laps that would have put him on the pole. He backed that up with an impressive heat race win, where he fended off a late charge by his teammate Seth Hammaker. Adams continued his career day in the main event by making some quick moves that put him in position to get his first career podium. But at around halfway he lost third position to a charging Cole Davies and then a couple laps later things unraveled as Drew had a big crash in the whoops. The crash put him out of the race, and he was credited with a 22nd place finish.
After the race Adams revealed that he had injured his thumb in the crash. On Wednesday, Kawasaki released a statement that Drew will undergo surgery to repair his broken thumb and will miss Indy this coming weekend. It is a tough blow to the young phenom who has already dealt with several injuries since turning pro but hopefully can pick up where he left off when he returns. Daytona was impressive.
9: Panic Button for Coop?
For the past two weekends, defending 450SX Champion, Cooper Web, has put himself in great position early in the main event, but has simply lacked the pace to hang with the likes of Eli Tomac, Hunter Lawrence, and even Ken Roczen at times. He now sits 20 points behind Lawrence in points and has not shown much to indicate that a win streak is coming. Indianapolis was arguably Coop’s most dominant ride of 2025 and needs to find that same mojo if he wants to hang in this title fight.
10: Joey Savatgy is Legit
Quad Lock Honda’s Joey Savatgy may be in the best form of his 450 career thus far in 2026. As the season has progressed, good qualifying times have become more consistent, and he has been close to winning his heat race the past two weekends. In Daytona, Savatgy got his second top five finish of the season and is closing in on fifth in points. On the Arlington broadcast, Ricky Carmichael leaked that Savatgy had gotten help from HRC Honda, who supplied him with a factory transmission, and he does seem to be a little better since then. Can Joey find his way onto the podium by the end of the season?
