1. Hunter Lawrence Makes a Statement
Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence got his second career 450SX win in Indianapolis. While Lawrence’s first win in Arlington resembled ticking off a box more than anything, Indianapolis felt bigger than just win number two. This was Hunter Lawrence asserting himself as the man to beat in this championship. In race one, Larence’s championship rival Eli Tomac made quick work of him in the early laps, but Hunter caught a tow and began to find his flow as the race progressed. Just when it seemed like Tomac had his number, Lawrence turned it around and made a late pass on Eli.
Lawrence salvaged a fourth in race two after what could have been a disastrous run in with Team Solitaire’s Cole Thompson. He came into the final race one point behind Tomac. With the pressure of needing to beat Eli to retain the red plate, Hunter grabbed the holeshot and withstood pressure from Red Bull KTM rider for much of the race to take the race and overall win. He extended his points lead to four points and more importantly took the momentum into the first off weekend of the season.
Every time it feels like Tomac is going to steer the momentum into his direction, Lawrence has stepped up. If Lawrence does end up the 2026 450SX Champion, Indianapolis will be one of the championship defining races of the season.
2. Tomac Makes Post-Race Headlines Again
Last weekend, Red Bull KTM’s Eli Tomac won the Daytona Supercross for the eighth time, but it was his incident with the trophy taking out his tooth that made headlines. It even made an appearance on Inside Edition. On the press day Weege Show, Eli broke the news that he took the broken tooth home and was able to get it repaired!
Tomac had a good race in Indianapolis, but again it was his post-race that is stealing the headlines. In the post-race press conference, Tomac voiced some frustration with lappers and how he thinks the issues should be resolved. Eli suggested slimming main events down to 15 riders saying, “If the promoter wants to potentially lose championship contenders, I mean, then let’s keep it the way it is.”
Tomac doubled down on his comments Tuesday on X. He talked about how lappers would not be better if everybody were on stock equipment, and that he feels the production rule should be clipped for the 450 class. “IMO 450 class needs to be non-production based, with the baddest works bikes on planet Earth," Tomac explained. Tomac rarely voices his opinion like this but sure gets people excited when he does.
People saying we wouldn’t deal with lappers with if we were all on stock bikes. It’s quite the opposite of the truth. The 450 class is actually easier to be competitive in its current state compared to the 250 class. Want to be competitive throughout a whole season with a do it…
— Eli Tomac (@elitomac) March 10, 2026
3. Kenny’s Coulda Shoulda Woulda
The 2026 version of Ken Roczen may be the best Ken Roczen we have seen since his big arm injury in 2017. The Progressive Insurance Cycle Gear Suzuki Team rider has proven to have the speed to win several times this year, but small mishaps have his title hopes slipping away. Roczen has been historically great in Triple Crowns and Indianapolis, and he dominated the field in race one.
However, after a mid-pack start in race two, Ken made a mistake in a rhythm section, causing him to get out of sync with the riders behind him. Roczen immediately knew he was in trouble and began looking for clear track and avoid the riders behind him. Unfortunately, he got collected with Aaron Plessinger and the two went down in a heap. Ken remounted quickly and charged back to tenth. As for Plessinger, the crash put him out of the race and the remainder of the night. Report is that AP is banged up, but otherwise okay.
Roczen rebounded for a third in race three and fifth overall, but it sure felt like another missed opportunity to snag a win for the 94.
Read: Roczen on Crash with Plessinger: “You definitely see everything kind of flushing down the drain”
4. Prado’s Return
Red Bull KTM’s Jorge Prado returned in Indianapolis after missing the past two races due to a shoulder injury suffered in qualifying in Seattle. Arguably the surprise of 2026 SX, Prado picked up right where he left off. He qualified fourth overall and grabbed the holeshot in race one. Prado was solid, going 6-6-6 for sixth overall.
After the race, a few riders voiced some frustration with Prado’s defensive riding. Hunter Lawrence specifically called Prado out for letting his teammate Eli Tomac by and then making it extra difficult for Lawrence to go by moments after.
“If he is just coming back to get in the way, then yeah, I am going to give him some body English. You know, maybe Jett will come back and do the same,” Lawrence explained at the press conference. Prado and Lawrence certainly have a distaste for each other and Prado later made a comment about the situation on Instagram saying, “Hahaha, wait till I start doing it on purpose, will use some “body Spanish” lol.”
Prado’s return is a breath of fresh air for the series. It was a solid comeback ride, and he should only be better after the weekend off.
5. Justin Cooper’s Breakout Ride
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Justin Cooper has a handful of 450SX podiums, but he showed what he is truly capable of in Indianapolis. Cooper got the holeshot in race two and led for a few laps before getting passed by Eli Tomac. Seemed pretty part for the course to that point except this time Eli did not pull away! Like Hunter Lawrence in race one, once Tomac made the pass, Justin was able to latch on. After a few laps behind Eli, Cooper found an opening and made a surprisingly aggressive pass back on his former teammate. J-Coop went on open a small gap and win the race in the most impressive way possible.
It’s ashamed Justin won’t even see a podium bonus after getting a race win. He battled to the death with his teammate Cooper Webb in race three for the final spot on the overall podium with Webb ultimately getting the better of him. At the end of the night his 5-1-5 results put him fourth overall, but his race two win should not be overlooked. If that version of Justin Cooper can show up in a traditional 20 minute plus one lap main event, look out.
6. Davies Whoops Em’
The most surprising part of Cole Davies’ Indianapolis win is that it took three races for him to get it done. Cole swept the Indianapolis Triple Crown, and it really was not that close. Every time it felt like Jo Shimoda or Seth Hammaker could be a threat, they would get to the whoops. It was at this race last year where Davies’ advantage through the whoops became evident, and this year was no different. Cole was the fastest rider through the whoops nearly every lap of the night, consistently gaining anywhere from half a second to a full second per lap in that segment. Jo Shimoda even admitted on the podium that Cole was “way too fast” in the whoops.
The win gives Davies the red plate heading into the East/West Showdown in Birmingham. He holds a one-point advantage over Seth Hammaker, with Pierce Brown and Jo Shimoda just one point behind Seth. Aside from the tight points battle, a lot of attention in the Birmingham showdown will be turned towards the rematch between Davies and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Haiden Deegan.
7. Seth Salvages a Podium
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Seth Hammaker topped both 250 qualifying sessions, but the night show did not go quite as smoothly. Typically, a great starter, Hammaker struggle to get out of the gate. He had a quiet third in race one, but it was race two that was the highlight (or lowlight) of the night for the #10.
Hammaker got his best start of the night, starting just inside the top five, but went down in the whoops on lap two. It took him a while to get back going and when he did, he was back in 21st position. It took him two laps to begin making passes and on lap six Hammaker got together with Phoenix Racing Honda’s Gavin Towers. The two were out of sync in one of the rhythm lanes and Hammaker ended up landing on the back of Towers. In some sort of miracle, Seth managed to keep it on two wheels and work his way up to ninth. Towers was not as fortunate and was down for some time. Thankfully, in an Instagram post, Gavin shared that he was “for the most part okay.” That incident could have easily ended Hammaker’s championship run.
In race three, Hammaker put in an impressive ride, coming from 12th to second and salvaging a third overall on the night. Despite an eventful evening, Seth left with the same points deficit as he entered the night with, just to a different rider.
8. Consistent Dax
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Daxton Bennick got his traditional opening round podium in Arlington, but we are seeing a much more solid Dax in 2026. He has backed up his round one result with a pair of top five finishes.
Dax went 4-4-7 for fourth overall in Indy, two points shy of another podium. Had it not been for a clutch issue in race three, he very well may have gotten it done. Like his teammate Ryder DiFranceso, Bennick is beginning to string consistently good results together for the first time in his career and building towards becoming a race winner and title contender soon.
9. The Simonson Project
ClubMX Yamaha has taken on several “projects” over the last several seasons, taking riders to the next level in their racing career. Devin Simonson may be their most impressive career turnaround yet. Simonson was a longtime journeyman out-of-a-van type privateer. He even had a small stint in the FIM Motocross World Championship (MXGP) trying to find his path to a successful racing career. Ultimately, he ended up back in the U.S. and after some time training at Club, he was given an opportunity to race a few rounds of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship, which turned into a SX-only ride in 2025. Simonson broke his wrist in the pre-season, returned late in the season and was probably not as prepared as he would have liked, but managed to get some good results and another one-year, SX-only contract.
In his home race, Simonson got a career best sixth overall. He briefly led race three and was in position to land on the overall podium for over half of the race. In the end, Simonson went 7-6-6, making a name for himself in the process. Brandon Haas has certainly found himself a diamond in the rough with this one.
10. Invisible Thrasher
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Nate Thrasher has found some consistency in his 11-7-10 finishes this season, but not in the way he would like. Thrasher has been a non-factor through the first three rounds, lacking any flashes of speed or late race charges that would indicate things may change.
Nate posted on Instagram after Indianapolis saying, “I’ve been struggling with some shoulder issues but doing everything I can to push through.” Thrasher is in a contact year, so hopefully the weekend off can allow his shoulder to make some progress and he come into Birmingham swinging. It would be so Nate Thrasher to be completely off anybody’s radar and win a showdown.
