1. Kenny Goes Back-to-Back
Ken Roczen dominated for the second straight weekend taking back-to-back wins for the first time since sweeping the Indianapolis residency in 2021. He has now dropped the points deficit from 31 down to five in just two weeks and gone from “out of title contention,” to arguably the title favorite. IF Roczen could pull this off, it would be one of the greatest stories in the history of the sport. The 31-point comeback, the comeback from his arm injuries, the career resurgence with the Progressive Insurance Cycle Gear Suzuki Team, Suzuki itself; there are so many headlines in the making. For now, let’s not count our chickens before they hatch and just enjoy the allure of a version of Ken Roczen, we didn’t think we would ever see again.
2. Deegan Clinches Two Rounds Early
There is not much to say about Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan that has not already been said. These two East/West Showdowns have proven that he is by far the best 250 SX rider on the planet. He seems to raise his game week in and week out and St. Louis was another iteration of that. In the second qualifying session he was TWO seconds faster than Levi Kitchen, 2.4 faster the Cole Davies’ best time in the East session, and even 0.7 seconds faster than Ken Roczen. Yes, the track in St. Louis deteriorated quickly so Deegan having the fresh track contributed to that, but they did a rare track prep before 450A group, so maybe there is some validity to that time? Deegan will look to pad his stats in Denver and Salt Lake before moving up to the 450 for Pala. With his recent domination, the anticipation of Haiden’s 450 debut continues to rise. Can he win straight away?
3. Hunter Lawrence Rebounds
Hunter Lawrence admitted to having a sore wrist after his crash in Detroit, so he was quite happy with his performance in St. Louis. Hunter bounced back with a third, and although he was not his best self on the weekend, he was able to take advantage of another wierdo Tomac night and regain a share of the points lead. Lawrence claims the wrist is not broken, just “sore and swollen in the joint,” so he should be able to regain his Indy/Birmingham form before the end of the season. Unfortunately for Hunter, there’s more than just Tomac to fight for this title with as Ken Roczen has joined the chat. If this wrist issue does linger, it could prove costly.
![Hunter Lawrence regains the [shared] red plate for Nashville.](http://rxi.iscdn.net/2026/04/326231_lawrence-halignmediasx26stlouis044.jpg)
4. Justin Cooper Raising his Stock
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Justin Cooper’s season has been underappreciated. He got a career-tying- and season-best second in St. Louis and again worked his way into that position. Throughout his career, Cooper’s forte has been getting holeshots and sprinting early, but this season he has proven that he does not need good starts to finish up front. Rarely do you see a perennial start-dependent rider learn to come through the field, so he deserves some credit for that. His start in St. Louis was decent, coming around lap one in fifth, but he had to make his way passed the likes of Jorge Prado and Hunter Lawrence to get there.
J-Coop has shown a new level of aggression in 2026, something that only comes with confidence and a sense of belonging at the front of the field. A win is possible, albeit unlikely, but what is likely is that Justin will continue to be up front and could play a role in how this championship turns out. He will be one of the most sought-after riders in free agency and it will be interesting to see where he lands. Would he benefit more from a new environment where he may be higher on the totem pole, or should he continue to build off his platform at Star?
5. Tomac Slumping
Red Bull KTM’s Eli Tomac mystery midseason slump continued in St. Louis. On press day, Eli was adamant that he was physically fine so we will have to take his word for it. He tested with the team in SoCal leading into St. Louis so maybe he is telling the truth. He was in the mix of the Prado/Cooper/Lawrence battle for the first half of the race but fell drastically off that group in the second half.
This “slump” is simply mind boggling and fans and media will continue draw up every conspiracy theory under the sun until Eli either admits something is up or he is back to battling for wins. Tomac is extremely fortunate to have the red plate after three subpar weekends, but he is almost guaranteed to lose it if he does not turn it around in Nashville.
6. Davies Goes into Championship Mode
The battle between Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammates Haiden Deegan and Cole Davies battled was set up perfectly in St. Louis, but it was not meant to be. Deegan was simply too good and Davies acknowledged that after the race saying, “I felt like there was not really any reason to push it today, Haiden was riding unreal in the main, so I felt like the risk reward there, it wasn’t really worth it for me.”
Cole surrendered the lead to Deegan on lap seven and while Haiden may have gone on to win by 15 seconds, Davies had nearly the same gap on his East Coast division title rival Seth Hammaker. Seth is giving an honest effort, but Davies has had him covered the past couple of weeks. With Honda HRC Progressive’s Jo Shimoda crashing out of the heat with an ankle injury (now confirmed as a fractured left fibula as of this afternoon), the East Coast title is now a dual between Seth and Cole.
Related: Jo Shimoda Provides Update: Out for Remainder of SX
7. Nate Thrasher Returning to Form
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Nate Thrasher came into the 250SX East Championship favoring a shoulder injury and struggled through the first four rounds. He showed his first flash in Detroit, grabbing the holeshot and leading for a few laps before a huge crash in the whoops took him out of the race. Fortunately, Nate was all good for St. Louis and put in his best ride of the season in fourth, narrowly missing the podium.
Thrasher is regaining form just in time for his home race this weekend in Nashville. He should expect nothing less than podiums for the rest of the season, but a win is always in play. In fact, Thrasher has won a supercross race every year since his debut 250SX season in 2021. He will be looking to keep that streak alive, as he heads into free agency.
8. Husky Boys Trending Up
The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna duo of Ryder DiFrancesco and Daxton Bennick is an interesting one. Both riders have had similar careers up to this point. Highly touted amateurs with slow starts to their pro careers but with enough periodic flashes to know there is something there, DiFrancesco and Bennick find themselves under the Husqvarna rig trying to establish themselves as future race winners and title contenders.
They have had remarkably similar season as well. Ryder D has two podiums to Dax’s one, but both have found some consistency in their results. In St. Louis they came through the field together to finish fifth and sixth with Ryder getting the better of the two. At this point in the season anything off the podium should be a disappointment. Regardless, Ryder D and Dax are here to stay.
9. Romano’s Resurgence
Nick Romano is three weeks into his fill-in and his progression over the three races is impressive. Romano barely qualified for the Birmingham East/West Showdown and two weeks later in St. Louis he ended up ninth. He ran second for a couple laps and had the third fastest lap of the race.
What is impressive is this is not just Nick becoming relevant again, he is already as good as he ever has been in supercross. Romano was the sixth best East Coast guy in St. Louis and his previous best result for Star Yamaha was a sixth in Indy in 2024. If he can continue this trajectory, he should certainly be able to crack the top five and maybe even battle for a podium.
10. Sexton Brain Farts
After a few weeks off following a training crash, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Chase Sexton had a solid return to the series in Detroit claiming his second podium of the season. But the rollercoaster ride that is Sexton’s 2026 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season continued with a DNF in St. Louis. Chase rode great during the day, qualifying P2 and after going down in the first turn of his heat race, he put in an impressive charge back to third, turning the fastest lap of either 450 heat races in the process.
Then things went south in the main event. Chase started around tenth and made his way up to sixth, on the back of the Prado/Lawrence/ Cooper/Tomac freight train, but went down on lap five, dropping back to tenth. As he began to come back through the field, Sexton lost track of where he was in one of the long rhythm lanes and accidentally went for a quad that had not been done all day. He came up WAY short, went down, and was slow to get up. He eventually rejoined the race but ultimately pulled off.
Sexton gave an update in an Instagram post saying, “I knocked the wind out of myself and had to roll around for a few laps. By that point I was going to be in the way of the leaders and decided I had to call it early.” Sexton confirmed he will be in Nashville to give it another go.
