In the 2026 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship, the 450 class championship is going to be winner-takes-all in the finale at Salt Lake City.
Hunter Lawrence took the win in Denver over Ken Roczen last weekend. Lawrence took his points deficit from four points to one. They are tied with five wins on the season.
The last time the championship points differential was one point going into a final race was 20 years ago, where Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart, and Chad Reed were battling for the title in 2006. Carmichael won with a two-point lead over Stewart and Reed, who tied for second.
If Roczen is able to win the title, this would be the first in 16 years for Suzuki, with Ryan Dungey having won the title in 2010.
Roczen has been a fan favorite for years, and with a grueling career filled with injuries, this would be the final accomplishment he has wanted to earn.
If Lawrence wins the title, it can help to prove that he is just as good as his brother, Jett Lawerence. Hunter has lived in the shadow of Jett since they turned pro, and this championship can prove that Hunter is one of the best.
Undeniably, these two make up one of the best sibling duos in all of professional sports right now. Their skill level in their sport compares to the likes of Venus and Serena Williams, and Payton and Eli Manning.
Between the 250 and 450 class, the brothers have 12 titles. Jett holds 10 and Hunter has two. If Hunter wins on Saturday night, he can add another title to his career and boost the brothers’ combined number to 13.
In Denver, Lawrence checked out relatively quickly in the main event going on to win by 13 seconds. Roczen clawed back from a fifth-place start to finishing second in the main.
Finishing in third place was Colorado native Eli Tomac, who rode a solid comeback race after sitting out in Philly for a hip injury sustained two weeks ago in Cleveland.
The last minute of the main event was chaos, with the fourth- through eighth-place racers battling for position. Sixth place Justin Cooper and seventh place Dylan Ferrandis came together in the sand section, leaving both of them on the ground. Ferrandis went on to finish 10th and Cooper took 13th.
On the same lap, Cooper Webb and Jorge Prado, who have had their share of beef this season, came together in the corner. Prado stayed on the bike, but Webb took himself out trying to make the pass, leaving himself in 11th on the night. Prado eventually dropped to sixth to finish the night.
This allowed Malcolm Stewart and Chase Sexton to be able to come up to fourth and fifth, even though two laps before, they were in eighth and ninth.
In the 250 class, Haiden Deegan dominated the night to no surprise, with Levi Kitchen in second and Ryder DiFrancesco in third. With Deegan winning, his team, Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha, has 15 wins on the season.
This is now the best season for any 250 team in the history of the sport. They have only lost one race this season, and they won both the 250 East and West titles. With the final race of the year being an East/West shootout, it is likely that Star Racing could win again and set the bar at 16 out of 17 wins on the season, which would be a hard record to defeat.
This Saturday, the finale takes place in Salt Lake City. Qualifying starts at 1 p.m. Eastern and the championship pre-race show starts at 6:30 p.m. The racing action will kick off at 7 p.m. With the 450 championship coming down to this race, fans should tune into the action, live on Peacock to watch history be made.
