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Morning Report

Good morning race fans. Today's 12th round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross should be another good one! We had a shakeup in the 450SX championship last weekend when ultra consistent-Hunter Lawrence crash in the whoops handed the points lead back to Eli Tomac. Plus, Ken Roczen picked up the Detroit SX win and closed up within 15 points of Tomac. That championship seems to be far from over now! Plus, the second of three 250SX East/West Showdowns brings us both 250SX divisions once again inside The Dome at America's Center in what will be the final indoor venue of the 2026 SX season. 

As mentioned, Lawrence lost the points lead to Tomac, although the Honda rider was lucky to not get injured in the crash. And while Tomac is back in the points lead depicted two weekends looking “off,” he assured our Tom Journet yesterday during press day that he is not injured.

"Yeah, physically I’m fine," said Tomac to Journet. "I’m good, I’m good. Birmingham I was just a little bit under the weather if I want to make an excuse about anything. Last week? Just not great riding."

Chase Sexton looked great in his return to racing last weekend. Although he said his goal was to not get in the way of the title fight but to be up front, he easily has the speed to steal points here from the top four guys in the championship. Look at last week when he bested Tomac, Cooper Webb, Lawrence, and well, everyone else but Roczen. Roczen looks like he still is motivated as ever to keep his chances at that elusive 450SX title alive for as long as possible. Will Lawrence's Detroit crash cost him the title or will he be able to rebound and still win his first 450 title? Will Tomac stay strong here and claim another 450SX championship? Could Roczen somehow pull this title off? There is a handful of races left to decide who gets the #1 plate and the drama will surely have everyone glued to the TV and on the edge of their seats watching every second of it.

While the 450SX title is far from over, Haiden Deegan could actually leave today's East/West Showdown with the ‘26 250SX West #1 plate. If the Yamaha rider wins and his teammate Max Anatie finishes fifth or worse, Deegan wraps up the title at the eighth round of the ten-round championship. Anstie, Levi Kitchen, and the rest of the 250SX West crew—as well as the 250SX East field of Cole Davies, Seth Hammaker, Jo Shimoda, and more—would like for that not to happen today. Deegan is looking to be in his best 250F form so it will be hard to top him today, as he showed in Birmingham a start outside the top ten still resulted in a win.

While Cole Davies is credited with a three-race win streak and he has a nine-point gap on Hammaker and a 14-point gap on Shimoda, the 250SX East Division title is still up for grabs because today’s race is just the sixth round of their championship. As Hammaker and Shimoda both noted after the Detroit SX, this could be a big swing in points their way.

And here is today’s race day schedule, plus the broadcast schedule.

St. Jude Love Moto Stop Cancer Race

This weekend's race is the St. Jude Love Moto Stop Cancer Race, as Monster Energy AMA Supercross continues the relationship St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, so we will see riders with unique jersey and bike graphics that will be auctioned off next month. All of the funds raised will go to the children of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Gage Linville Returns, Makes Debut with Triumph

Gag Linville is back in action this weekend as he makes his debut with the Triumph Factory Racing team. Linville had a pre-season injury before the 250SX East Division Championship opener in February, which sidelined him for the first five rounds. Then, with Jalek Swoll (250SX) and Austin Forkner (450SX) injured, Linville gets a fill-in ride for the team. Props to the Dirt Legal DBDRacing WMR KTM team and team owner Max Schwartz (and his crew) for allowing Linville to exit his contract for this year in order to pursue the Triumph ride. The DBD team helped Linville the previous three years and when a factory team ran Linville’s phone, Schwartz had no problem giving Linville the green light to take the opportunity. Props to them! As for Linville, he has one career podium (in the 2025 Foxborough SX mudder about a year ago this time) but getting right back into racing at an East/West Showdown will not be an easy feat. Still, it is great to add riders later in the season when we typically lose a few riders due to injury. Keep an eye out for the #74 today!

Read our full injury report for more updates.

Bikes will be on track soon!

Ayden Shive Gets Fill-In Ride with Gizmo Racing Yamaha

Ayden Shive will join CJ Benard and Benard and Keegan Rowley under the Gizmo Racing Yamaha tent this weekend as he signs on with the team for the final three rounds of 250SX West. Shive said in the team's release:

Haiden Deegan Can Clinch the 250SX West Title Tonight

Deegan sits with a 42-point gap over Max Anstie and a 47-point gap over Levi Kitchen. If Deegan wins the main event tonight and Anstie finishes fifth or worse (which has happened five times so far this season), Deegan will be handed the 2026 250SX West Division #1W plate at the end of the night tonight. A win from Deegan also eliminates Kitchen (and the rest of the field) no matter what. Keep an eye on this tonight as Deegan looks to close out his 250SX career here with a stamp before he shifts focus to the 450 Class in the upcoming AMA Pro Motocross Championship in late May.

First Qualifying Sessions

250SX

In the 250SX overflow first qualifying session of the day, it was Ryder Floyd’s 56.884 that topped the session.

In the 250SX East Division first qualifying session, it was Seth Hammaker (54.740) and Cole Davies (54.756) leading the board early. Then Jo Shimoda put down a 54.731 to move into P1 before Hammaker put in a 54.683 to move back into P1. Championship leader Davies was blasting the whoops and pulled off the double over the first turn. Hammaker’s 54.683 topped the field, followed by a 54.730 from Shimoda, and a 54.736 from Davies. Daxton Bennick (55.146) and Nate Thrasher (55.280) rounded out the top five.

In 250SX West, it was championship leader Haiden Deegan with a 55.204 over Hunter Yoder’s 57.421 and Max Vohland’s 57.427. Levi Kitchen put together a good lap to move into fourth behind Vohland, his 57.561 bumping Ryder DiFrancesco and Max Anstie back one position. Then, DiFrancesco put in a heater to go P2 with a 56.581 as Lux Turner put down a 57.108 to move into P3! Deegan bettered his time to go 54.856, nearly two seconds fastest than DiFrancesco’s 56.581.

Dilan Schwartz was down in a rhythm section, which brought out a red cross flag and the red flag to pause the session for the Alpinestars medical crew time to tend to the #42.

The session was resumed with four minutes and 25 seconds left on the clock as Deegan led the field. Deegan was also hitting some big lines, including the double coming back over the first turn, and a triple over the big jump in the rhythm section that followed.  DiFrancesco went for a hot lap but missed a few whoops with his front wheel, which caused him to back it down and back out of the hot lap. Kitchen, who had two tip overs so far in the session, put down a 56.023 to move into P2 behind Deegan. Deegan immediately finished a 54.676 to better his time as he was already P1. Deegan, Kitchen, DiFrancesco, Hunter Yoder, and Turner rounded out the top five.

450SX

When the 450SX group A session got on track, it was pretty rutted and tricky. Eli Tomac’s 56.624 was top time early, as the #3 was followed by Malcolm Stewart with a 57.090 and Cooper Webb with a 57.891. Ken Roczen tipped over but got up going again no problem, although he had yet to put in a true heater yet. Tomac went 56.353 and then Chase Sexton also went 56.353—the exact same time! But then Jorge Prado went 56.048 to move into the top of the board! Sexton moved into P2 with a 56.088 with Hunter Lawrence in third with a 56.220. When the checkered flag waved, Prado, Stewart, Sexton, Lawrence, and Tomac round out the top five as the top ten were all in 56-second lap times. Good luck on trying to guess who will win tonight!

In 450SX group B, it was Justin Bogle who topped the session with a 58.671.

In 450SX group C, it was Joan Cros who topped the session with a 1:02.524.

Second Qualifying Sessions

250SX

In the 250SX overflow second qualifying session of the day, it was Marcus Phelps' 57.859 that topped the session.

The qualifying order swapped this session, so it was the 250SX West Division session first this go round. When the second 250SX West Deegan holeshot got the fake holeshot off the practice start and started to attack the rutted-up track. Deegan put in two back-to-back laps, really picking it up for the second lap, which ended up being a 54.494. Levi Kitchen was second with a 55.706, followed by a 55.936 from Hunter Yoder. Deegan put in another heater lap…and went 54.047! Six of the top eight riders were Yamaha riders (Deegan, Yoder, Anstie, Turner, Vohland, and Ross) with just Kitchen (Kawasaki) and DiFrancesco (Husqvarna) being non-Yamaha. Deegan ended up with a 53.799 to top the session. will it stand as the top overall qualifying time of the day?

Cole Davies, Seth Hammaker, and Jo Shimoda—the top three in the championship—were out front off the practice start gate drop in 250SX East Division. Davies put down a 56.129 as Daxton Bennick moved into second with a 56.821, followed by a 57.663 from Coty Schock. Hammaker had a fast lap where he tripled the entire long rhythm section pretty cleanly until he came up short on the landing of the final jump. Still, despite the case, Hammaker ended up with a 57.002. Jo Shimoda was 15th with a 1:03.570 with a few laps to go in the session, although that is where he would end the session. Davies’ 56.128 would top the field in the session, but it was Hammaker’s 54.683 from the first session that was the fastest 250SX East time of the day. Luckily for Shimoda, his 54.730 from the first session was second-fastest 250SX East time on the day.

This is how the 250SX fields will pick their gates in their respective heat races.

450SX

After the final 250SX session of the day, the SMX Track Crew/Dirt Wurx did some track maintenance here before the final 450SX sessions. Similar to the 250SX East second session, the top three riders would start up front in this 450SX group A session, with Ken Roczen, Hunter Lawrence, Malcolm Stewart, and Eli Tomac out front off the practice start. Roczen put in a 55.100 to move into P1 in the session and overall, topping Jorge Prado’s 56.048 from the first qualifying session. Tomac was second with a 56.469, then Cooper Webb with a 56.509. Roczen improved his time down to 54.539 as Chase Sexton moved into P2 with a 55.664. Hunter Lawrence was seventh with a 56.165. Sexton bettered his best lap to a 55.126 to still sit second as a Stewart hot lap jumped to third with a 55.344. Roczen, Sexton, and Stewart would top overall board in qualifying, then Justin Cooper and Prado. Webb was sixth overall, then Tomac, Garrett Marchbanks, Hunter Lawrence, and Joey Savatgy rounded out the top ten.

Cole Thompson (450SX Group B) and Jared Lesher (450SX Group C) topped their respective sessions.

(In case you were wondering, Deegan's 53.799 was the fastest time of the day).

Night Show

Heat Races

250SX Race One (West Division)

The first heat race of the night began, and it was Haiden Deegan with the holeshot…and that was the last time anyone saw him. Deegan would check out for the race win, taking the checkered flag by 13 seconds! Lux Turner and Maximus Vohland battled for second before Turner dropped back a few positions to Hunter Yoder, Levi Kitchen, and Ryder DiFrancesco. Deegan cruised to the win as Vohland, Yoder, Kitchen, DiFrancesco, Turner, Max Anstie, Joshua Varize, and Parker Ross will also transfer to the showdown main event directly from the 250SX West heat. Anstie was outside of the top ten but moved forward to transfer.

250SX Heat Race Two (East Division)

The 250SX East Division heat race dropped the gate, and it was Cole Davies and Seth Hammaker out front. Unfortunately, Jo Shimoda was collected in a collision with a few riders in the first rhythm section, which send the #30 to the ground hard as he was favoring his left leg. It looked like his left leg got clipped by Luke Clout as the riders navigated the first lap chaos. The red flag came out, pausing the racing action to allow the Alpinestars medical crew to tend to the #30. Shimoda was helped onto the back of the medical cart as he sat up and, again, favored his left leg as the medical cart drove off. His status for the LCQ is TBD at the moment.

The other riders went back to their respective gates for the full restart. Once again, it was Hammaker and Davies when the gate dropped! Hammaker had the lead this time, as Davies was shuffled back behind Coty Schock. So, Davies had to pass Schock and catch the #10. But he did just that! Davies blew by Hammaker in the whoops section to take the lead. Davies then took the race win by over five seconds. Teammates Simonson and Schock were side-by-side, just like the main event last week, before Simonson made a pass into third behind Davies and Hammaker. Unfortunately, Simonson would make a crash late in the race, dropping back outside the top five but still in a transfer position.

Davies, Hammaker, Schock, Nate Thrasher, Nick Romano, Henry Miller, Devin Simonson, Caden Dudney, and Clout all transfer out of the 250SX East heat race.

Shimoda went to the medical truck and his status for the LCQ is TBD.

450SX Heat Race One

The gate dropped on the first 450SX heat and it was Justin Cooper out front as Chase Sexton went down in the first turn! Sexton would rip through the field no problem, as he was up inside the top ten quickly then made his way into a transfer position, then into the top five. Cooper Webb ran second behind Cooper as behind those teammates, Honda teammates Shane McElrath and Joey Savatgy battled over third place. Sexton got by both Quad Lock Honda riders to move into third place in a great charge forward. Savatgy, McElrath, Garrett Marchbanks, Dylan Ferrandis, Colt Nichols, and Grant Harlan rounded out the transfer positions, as Harlan and his boss (Kevin Moranz Racing team owner) Kevin Moranz came up short in tenth place.  

450SX Heat Race Two

The gate dropped on the second 450SX heat and it was Hunter Lawrence with the holeshot! Lawrence led Justin Hill, Ken Roczen, Malcolm Stewart, Jorge Prado, and Eli Tomac early on, before Roczen blasted by Hill in the whoops to take over second. Then, just as quickly, Roczen caught and passed Lawrence to take the race win! Stewart came through third, then Prado, then now championship leader Tomac, who again, did not look great. Hill, Christian Craig, Jordon Smith, and Mitchell Harrison rounded out the transfer positions, as Vince Friese came up short in tenth.

Jo Shimoda OUT for Remainder of St. Louis SX

We received an update from the Honda PR squad: Shimoda is officially out for the night with a left ankle injury in the 250SX East Division heat race.

LCQs

250SX LCQ

Daxton Bennick took the 250SX LCQ race win by over ten seconds as Derek Kelley, Kyle Peters, and Brandon Ray took the final three transfer spots, with Justin Rodbell coming up short in fifth. Again, Shimoda did not race as his night is over following the heat race crash that resulted in a left ankle injury.

450SX LCQ

Vince Friese holeshot the 450SX LCQ and he led Cole Thompson, Kevin Moranz, and Jeremy Hand, as Tristan Lane and Cade Clason ran just outside of transfer positions. Friese made a mistake over the double before the finish line that forced him off track. He dropped from the race lead back to fifth, behind Hand. Friese got back into a transfer position with about a minute and a half left on the clock as he got around Hand. Lane was running inside the top four when he made a mistake that sent him to the ground! Friese and Hand both bumped up, with Friese taking over third and Hand being gifted the final transfer spot. Hand made a pass he did not need to make—and almost went down doing so!—on Friese to take over third. Thompson took the race win as Moranz, Hand, and Friese took the other three transfer positions.

The main events are up next!

Remember, Deegan can clinch this 250SX West Division title tonight with a win and a fifth or worse by Max Anstie. Does Deegan get it done?

Main Events

250SX East/West Showdown Main Event

The gates dropped and it was Cole Davies, Nick Romano, and Seth Hammaker. Davies led the first few laps as Haiden Deegan started around sixth and began charging forward. Romano made a mistake and Deegan made a two-for-one pass on both Kawasaki teammates Romano and Hammaker to take over second. Then, he went after Davies out front. A few laps later, Deegan was able to make a pass and check out. Max Anstie was running eighth, then dropped back to 11th. He then ran into an issue and dropped back to 15th place, this bumped Levi Kitchen up to second in the standings and also gave Deegan the gap he needed. Deegan pulled off another statement ride, taking the race win by over 15 seconds as he took the checkered flag AND the 2026 250SX West Division title! Davies and Hammaker, both from the 250SX East Division, came through to round out the podium. Nate Thrasher and Ryder DiFrancesco rounded out the top five. Kitchen came through seventh and Anstie came through 15th, giving Deegan more than a 50-point gap, which saw him get the #1W plate early, stamping himself as a two-time 250SX West Division Champion.

450SX Main Event

The final 450SX race was out of the gates and it was Hunter Lawrence and Jorge Prado out front. Lawrence got the holeshot, but Prado quickly took over the race lead with a block pass. Then, Ken Roczen joined the party! The trio went over a triple three-wide! Roczen put a block pass on Lawrence that dropped the #96 back to third as Prado snuck by into second. From there, Roczen checked out and similar to Deegan, he was not seen again by the 450SX field. Justin Cooper was charging forward as he got by Eli Tomac (who started around ninth place) and kept going forwards. In the middle of the race, Chase Sexton had a big case in the long rhythm section. It looked as if he messed up the lines and went to jump one too many, which caused him to go too long and case hard directly into the face of the next jump. Sexton stayed on his bike on impact but then fell over, feeling the result of the incident immediately. The #4 would eventually pull off early, scoring 22nd.

Cooper and Lawrence battled with Prado, with Cooper finally getting by the #26. A few laps later, Lawrence was able to get next to Prado, put on a block pass of his own on the #26, and the blast away. A little further back, Cooper Webb made a pass on Tomac to take over fifth, bumping the #3 back to sixth in what again seemed to be an off ride where he was not fighting back like he was earlier in the season.

Lawrence was going after Cooper but then made a mistake in the long rhythm section—the same one Sexton made his mistake in earlier—that caused him to back it down some. Then, a few sections later he fell over in the first of the back-to-back 180-degree turns after the mechanics area. Luckily, Lawrence did not lose any positions in either incident. Out front, Roczen took the race win by over 13 seconds, stamping back-to-back wins after his Detroit SX win last weekend. The win closed him up within ten points of the championship lead…which is now a tie between Lawrence and Tomac! cooper and Lawrence rounded out the podium as Prado and Webb rouned out the top five.