The 2024 Monster Energy Supercross season heads into its second half with nine rounds in and eight remaining. As riders jockey for the top spot, storylines deeper in the field take on added importance.
1. From Checkers to Chess
The personality of a Supercross season typically changes at the midway point, but with an odd number of rounds, how to determine the precise center is often difficult.
As it turns out, it doesn’t really matter much in 2024 with Jett Lawrence winning both at Daytona in Round 8 of 17 and Birmingham last week on either side of the divide.
If riders were content to play checkers and maneuver into championship contention, that must stop immediately.
After scoring his fourth win of the season, Lawrence is playing chess, rapidly taking pieces off the board, and if the past two weekends suggest anything, it’s just how dangerous he is once he gets a lead.
No one has been perfect in 2024 but Cooper Webb’s two wins and a low of 11th contribute to his 13-point gap compared to Lawrence’s four victories and worst finish of ninth.
2. Which Momentum Will Prevail in Indy?
Lawrence has the 2024 momentum, but Ken Roczen is known for his success in Indianapolis. He’s won the last four races there after sweeping the 2021 season when Supercross ran the season in mostly three-race pods. Last year, he proved that was not a fluke by winning again over Justin Barcia and Cooper Webb.
Of course, Eli Tomac showed even greater dominance at Daytona while Lawrence was coming off one of his most disappointing performances of the year with a couple of falls in Arlington — and everyone saw what happened there.
Lawrence became the first rider in six years to beat Tomac at Daytona.
Roczen’s podium in Birmingham was his third in the last three weeks of 2024. He has another top-five in that span but three of Lawrence’s wins also came in those five races and he has not finished worse than fourth since he struggled at Anaheim in the Triple Crown format.
Momentum is an intangible that can be hard to define. It only exists when it’s accompanied by strong runs.
3. Jett Gains Altitude, Gets Dirty
One of the biggest questions at the beginning of the season was if Lawrence would dominate in Supercross to the same level as he did in Pro Motocross. His perfect season there as a rookie was historic and opened the door for wild hyperbole that was largely deserved.
When he won the season opener in Anaheim, the storyline for 2024 seemed to be set until Mother Nature intervened and created mudders in San Francisco and San Diego. Now the question changed to would that be Lawrence’s Achilles Heel?
The answer is no.
The other round in which Lawrence struggled this year featured Trip Crown format, however, and he will face that again in Indy.
While Daytona and Birmingham were not full-blown mud races, heavy rains in each of the days preceding those rounds created deep ruts that were reminiscent of the two Sans races. It was a reminder of last year when Lawrence struggled for only only one race during the inaugural SuperMotocross World Championship before dominating the next two rounds.
4. Deegan’s Growing Pains
In this week’s Title 24 Podcast, Ryan Villopoto and Ricky Carmichael break down the incident between Deegan and Seth Hammaker in Heat 1 at Birmingham and discuss Deegan’s role as the new villain of the sport, while conceding his age is part of the equation.
After getting knocked out of 250 East championship contention, Coty Schock philosophically said a wise man told him, “18-year-olds will do what 18-year-olds will do.”
It’s a lesson fans should take to heart as well.
But it’s the accumulation of incidents Deegan may need to worry about. After receiving two penalties in Birmingham, for gaining an advantage while off course and a code of conduct enforcement for his actions in the Hammaker incident, Deegan has been warned or docked four times this year alone.
Ultimately the American Motorcycle Association will determine if he is riding edgy or over the line.
5. 250s Provide Mid-Season Salvation
The 250 divisional championships remain close with the top-three in each region separated by only five points. There are other similarities. Each division has only one rider with two wins as the remainder of the field jockey for position.
What they’ve done with those two wins is another matter.
Notably, Tom Vialle’s pair of wins in the last two rounds puts him at the top of the East while RJ Hampshire has not been able to capitalize on his duo and slots into third. Levi Kitchen leads Jordon Smith with five of their nine rounds in the books.
Indy will be another East round and it remains to be seen if Cameron McAdoo can get his first win of 2024 after finishing second in three straight races.
After Indy, the western riders return and a clearer picture of the SuperMotocross combined points will emerge with both divisions having recorded five rounds.
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