Ken Roczen took the early lead at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona and rode away from the field to score his first win of the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross season. He becomes the fifth winner in the first six rounds of a season marked by parity.
“It’s really hard to put into words,” Roczen told NBC Sports’ Will Christien. “I don’t win that much anymore. I haven’t won much in recent years, so I take these moments in so much.”
Roczen’s last Supercross win came at Indianapolis last year.
Jason Anderson had a strong run in second.
“I’m really excited to walk out of here with second but at the end of the day I felt I left a little on the table,” Anderson told NBC Sports’ Jason Thomas. “I started riding a little tight there for a second. With how gnarly our class is, it’s pretty good to be up here.”
Jett Lawrence took the final spot on the podium.
“It was cool to learn on these slippery conditions especially on these 450s with the power,” Lawrence said from the podium. “I didn’t give myself the best opportunity for the win with a terrible start but it was cool to climb my way through. It was a cool accomplishment to catch and pass Eli.”
Eli Tomac in fourth and Hunter Lawrence round out the top five. Tomac has now alternated top-five finishes with results around the 10th-place mark.
This is the first top-five in Hunters’ 450 career.
After winning his heat, Roczen took the lead early with the other heat winner Aaron Plessinger in pursuit. But Plessinger threw his opportunity away barely two and half minutes into the race. Plessinger fell back to 15th and was only able to recover to 10th.
Click here for complete 450 results.
Click here for 450 points’ standings.
MORE: Click here for in-race updates
RJ Hampshire became the first repeat winner in the 250 class with a great start and a little help from a red cross light that illuminated between his bike and the battle for second.
Hampshire was riding with discomfort after nearly crashing in practice.
“It was a really tough day,” Hampshire told NBC Sports’ Jason Thomas. “I had that case in the first practice. That hurt me quite a bit. I’m getting up there in age; it goes by so fast.
“I executed when I needed to in the Main event. Got a decent start - made those passes pretty quick. I rode my own race. I knew something happened in the back, but I had that gap and managed it from there.”
In the early laps, Levi Kitchen and Jordon Smith swapped the lead multiple times over the course of a couple of laps with Hampshire in tow. But as the two riders who entered Round 6 at Glendale worried one another, Hampshire pounced to take the lead.
On Lap 2, Smith elbowed Kitchen out of his way. Kitchen responded with a pass in one of the rhythm sections and then Smith moved around him again.
A couple of laps later, Smith tipped over and handed the lead to Hampshire.
Hampshire built his lead to six seconds in the middle stages when Kitchen slowed for a red light that illuminated for a crash by Ryder DiFrancesco.
As Kitchen slowed for the red light, Smith did not see it and was forced to jump wide to avoid running over Kitchen. Smith crashed a second time and fell to seventh. Smith rebounded to finish fourth but Kitchen walked out of State Farm Stadium with sole possession of the red plate.
Kitchen currently holds a four-point lead over Smith. With his win, Hampshire is back in the championship conversation one point behind Smith.
In third, Jo Shimoda earned his first podium of the season.
“We’ve been working hard in the week with the team but the results sometime are not showing,” Shimoda said. “In the Main event, it kind of got gifted somewhat but it was some kind of way to start my groove again.”
Garrett Marchbanks continues to have a strong start to his season. He kept his streak of top-10s alive with a fifth-place finish.
Click here for complete 250 East results.
Click here for SMX points’ standings.
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