This past weekend, the SuperMotocross World Championship had its eighth race in the championship series in Daytona Beach, Fla., at the renowned Daytona International Speedway.
This is one of the favorite tracks on the supercross part of the SMX World Championship because it takes place during Daytona Bike Week, a week where motorcycle enthusiasts spend a week together showcasing their skills and motorcycle builds.
The 450 class had lots of hype because none of the professional racers who would be lining up had ever won this race.
Eli Tomac was always a favorite at Daytona, with seven wins in eight years. Jett Lawrence could also be considered a favorite since he won Daytona in his first year, beating Tomac. But both of these riders were out due to injury, so Ken Roczen and Cooper Webb became the favorites.
Roczen won the 450 heat one, in a dominant fashion, aboard his RM-Z 450. Heat two had good battles, with Malcom “Mookie” Stewart coming out with the heat win. Stewart has shown a new level of confidence after this heat win and his first ever main event win three weeks ago.
Fan favorite Aaron Plessinger finished second, with Jason Anderson close behind him in third. Webb had some struggles after an early tip over, but he was able to recover to a fourth-place finish.
Notably, Chase Sexton had a common wreck in the first rhythm section of the track, and he pulled off the track with bike issues. He went on to the Last Chance Qualifier, where he won.
In the main event, Roczen got out to a good start and took off to get the win. This was a needed win for his championship run. It was his first win of the season, along with the first win at Daytona.
The race was red-flagged , and after the restart, Hampshire rode to the win with Vialle in second. Hammaker had a comeback race and finished third.
Webb finished in second place after putting a good battle on with Roczen. Plessinger got third place, his season best. Sexton was fighting to get into the lead, but after having handlebar issues, he ended up falling into fifth place on the night.
Roczen rode a victory lap around the superspeedway, giving high-fives to fans in the crowd. Plessinger did a burnout on the pavement next to the fans. Plessinger later said that he dedicated that burnout to Dale Earnhardt, who passed away over 20 years ago, racing NASCAR at this track.
Webb left as the points leader in the class with a 10-point lead.
The 250 class had an interesting night play out for the championship race. Tom Vialle was the favorite going into the main event, after winning at this track last year.
In heat one, Vialle pushed to get the win. Max Anstie finished strong in second place, and Levi Kitchen showed some serious speed in third place. This left fans excited for what would happen in the main event.
In heat two, R.J. Hampshire rode to a dominant win, with Seth Hammaker finishing second. Chance Hymas showed strong bike control in his third place ride.
In the main event, Vialle, Hampshire, Hymas, and Kitchen battled back and forth. With nine minutes left in the race, Kitchen had a nasty wreck and ended up with a couple of fractures in his back and a broken collarbone.
Anstie left with a six-point lead over Vialle. This race was forgettable for Anstie and not a great statistical performance.
Daytona was an eventful race, and fans no doubt left the track happy with the races they had seen.
This weekend, the SMX Championship goes north to Indianapolis’s Lucas Oil Stadium. This will be a 250 East/West showdown, where the best East and West racers will race against each other. Another great evening of racing will be broadcasted live at 7 p.m. Saturday on Peacock.
