Aaron Plessinger lost some of his cushion over the field last week and Jett Lawrence is nipping at his heels in the NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings, but a heat win helped him hang onto the top spot for the fourth week.
Plessinger has easily been the most pleasant surprise early in the 2024 season with his victory in San Diego, a sweep of the top five in the first four weeks and a sixth at Detroit. It seemed he would keep that momentum alive in Glendale after scoring a convincing heat win A poor start in the Main was too much to overcome. It is not that a 10th-place finish was terrible, but in a season where no one seems to want to hold onto the advantage for long, it dropped him to third in the points as the 2024 SX season nears the halfway point.
This is not how most experts expected the season to go. Jett Lawrence assumed the red plate with his third-place finish in Glendale on the heels of his victory in Detroit. He did not dominate the weekend like he did in Michigan or the season-opener in California, however, and Round 6 might have been a precursor of the remainder of the season. Lawrence has not been perfect in Supercross like he was in the Pro Motocross series, but his pair of wins set him apart from the crowd.
MORE: Ken Roczen becomes fifth winner in six races
With a seventh-place finish at Glendale, it is getting difficult to tell exactly how Cooper Webb’s season will go. He started 2024 with a modest result of sixth and then struggled in the mud at San Francisco. Those extreme conditions could not be held against him and when he rattled off three top-fives in the next three weeks it appeared he’d turned a corner. Seventh is not enough to cause concern but it does raise some questions as to what exactly is to be expected for the remainder of the season.
If not for a 12th-place finish in San Francisco, Jason Anderson would be in the conversation for the points’ championship. He has finished in the top five in all but that one race but has stood on the podium just twice. Anderson is slowly losing contact with the lead and trails by 11 points. The bigger concern is that he has to outrun four riders to get the red plate. In a season full of parity, that’s going to be difficult.
Ken Roczen became the fifth winner in the first six Supercross races and that helped him leapfrog Eli Tomac last week in both the Power Rankings and points’ standings. Even more so than Anderson, this has been a season marked by all-or-nothing finishes for Kickstart Kenny with three podiums versus three efforts outside the top five.
Rider (SMX points rank) 1. Aaron Plessinger (3) | Power Avg. 83.00 | Last Week (gain/loss) 1 (0) |
250 Rankings
Levi Kitchen had one goal last week and that was to head into the long 250 West break with the red plate. He came into Glendale tied in points with Jordon Smith and knew that one of them would have bragging rights in their division over the next four rounds as the 250 East riders take center stage until Seattle in Round 11. It may not sound like much, but domination in a sport is as often mental as physical.
Kitchen got some help from Smith, who crashed twice in the Main. One of these was hardly his fault as he was forced to swerve off track to keep from jumping into the back of Kitchen as a red cross flag was first being implemented. And Smith overcame his mistakes to finish fourth, which keeps him within four points of the lead. He wanted the red plate as badly as Kitchen but will accept that things could be much worse.
RJ Hampshire was last week’s biggest winner. He became the first 250 rider to win multiple races and that helped elevate him one position in the NBC Power Rankings, but he may well be stronger than even that suggests - if not stronger, at the very least, tougher. After overcoming a hard landing in practice that forced him to ride hurt during the entire evening show, Hampshire pushed way the pain and found victory. Hampshire is happy to have the next four rounds off to give his back a chance to recover.
MORE: Garrett Marchbanks sizzles in the mud
Ranked ninth overall and fourth among the 250 West riders, Garrett Marchbanks continues to impress. While he is slowly losing contact with the leaders in points, he is making up for that with three top-fives and a sweep of the top 10 in this division’s five races. Success looks different for teams without the full support of factory manufacturers and Marchbanks is happy to be part of the conversation on a weekly basis.
This has not been the season Jo Shimoda wanted or expected. He had a big seat to fill at Honda and no one thought he would be as dominant as the Lawrence brothers, but it was a nevertheless a huge surprise that he failed to stand on the box in the first four rounds. He finally got his first podium at Glendale and now Shimoda can regroup with his team and find out what has been missing over the course of the next four weeks.
Next week the focus shifts to the East division and we will have a chance to see if Austin Forkner can hold onto his overall ranking among 250 riders.
Rider (SMX points rank) 1. Austin Forkner - E (17) | Power Avg. 95.00 | Last Week (gain/loss) * 1 (0) |
* The NBC Power Rankings assign 100 points to a Main event winner in Supercross and overall winner in Motocross. It awards 90 points for each Moto, Heat and Triple Crown win. The points decrement by a percentage equal to the number of starters in the field until the last place rider in each event receives three points, (five in fields of 22 riders). The Power Ranking is the average of these percentage points over the past 45 days.
2024 Power Rankings
POWER RANKINGS AFTER RD 5 AT DETROIT: Austin Forkner leads 250 East to the top
POWER RANKINGS AFTER RD 4 AT ANAHEIM 2: Eli Tomac is 450’s biggest mover
POWER RANKINGS AFTER RD 3 AT SAN DIEGO: Unique circumstances elevate Aaron Plessinger
POWER RANKINGS AFTER RD 2 AT SAN FRANCISCO: Chase Sexton reclaims red plate
More SuperMotocross News
Jett Lawrence on Eli Tomac | Tomac on Lawrence (August 2023)
Ken Roczen, RJ Hampshire win in Glendale
In-race Updates from Glendale
Power Rankings after Detroit
Starting experiences separate 2024 from 2023 for Austin Forkner
Jett Lawrence is SX first repeat 2024 winner with dominant Detroit
Triumph Motorcycles to debut in the heart of American Motors
Adam Cianciarulo out on week-to-week basis
Detroit by the Numbers
Aaron Plessinger returns triumphantly to Detroit
Jason Anderson, Jett Lawrence fined for SD altercation
