After 28 rounds of SMX racing, the playoffs are set, with the first of three rounds set to take place at zMax Dragway at Charlotte Motor Speedway, in Concord, NC, this Saturday.
The playoffs use a two-moto format that is scored in Olympic style. The points are scored traditionally in the first round, but in the second round, the points are doubled. In the third and final round, points are tripled. The tracks are built to be a hybrid of Supercross indoor and Motocross outdoor racing.
Round Two will take place in St. Louis at The Dome at America Center, with the third round set for Las Vegas at The Strip at Las Vegas Speedway.
To recap the regular season, in the 450 class, Cooper Webb won the Supercross title, and Jett Lawrence won the Motocross title after an impressive comeback from injury. He had torn his ACL in early February, eliminating him from the Supercross title, but he was able to line up to race in May for the Motocross title. He went on to win nine out of the 11 rounds.
In the 250 class, Haiden Deegan had a dominant year, winning the 250 West Supercross and 250 Motocross titles. Tom Vialle won the 250 East title in Supercross.
The format of boosted points for the playoffs should make for interesting racing, especially in the final round.
At the inaugural SMX season finale in 2023, Jordon Smith rode constantly throughout the playoffs, and after a good first moto at the finale, the triple points boosted him into a position to battle for the title. Although he fell to Deegan, who was 2023’s Rookie Of The Year, Smith showed how the boosted points format makes racing for the best position even more important.
Going into this weekend, Deegan is seeded first in the 250 class, and Justin Cooper is first in the 450 class. The playoffs take the top 20 finishers in each class, and anyone outside of that group has to qualify their way in each round through wild card races.
Points seeding is determined by how many points each racer scored throughout the regular season. Then, racers are awarded points based on how they ranked going into the playoffs. These points are based off of a moto win, so Deegan will go into the playoffs with a three-point advantage over second-place racer Jo Shimoda.
Racers like Lawrence or Webb, who were out due to injury, have a points deficit that they will have to make up to win the 450 title. But as with any form of racing or sporting event, anything can change in a matter of seconds.
On Saturday, Race Day Live starts at 9:30 a.m. and the Gatedrop will be at 3 p.m., which will be broadcast live on NBC and Peacock. This has been an exciting season of racing, and the battles will only get more intense until the champions are crowned in three weeks.
