The Monster Energy Supercross season hit the one-third mark with Round 6 at Glendale and it has been an exciting collection of unique winners, massive crashes and thrilling passes. NBC Sports and Peacock collected the best of these in the above video.
None of the top five in the 450 points’ standings have been perfect; everyone has been capable of finding trouble on a given week. Championship leader Jett Lawrence, second-place Chase Sexton and third-place Aaron Plessinger have swept the top 10, but only barely with Lawrence and Sexton each finishing ninth for their low point and outside the top five twice.
MORE: Starts separate 2023 from 2024 for Austin Forkner
Plessinger was sixth or better in the first five rounds until he struggled with a bad start in Glendale.
In fourth, Cooper Webb has an 11th to his credit and fifth-standing Jason Anderson finished 12th once. Both of these disappointing finishes came in the mud at San Francisco.
The season kicked off in Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California with a massive pileup in the first heat in Turn 1 that would set the tone for Hunter Lawrence for the next five weeks. He was not able to recover and climb into the top nine in his heat and lost the guaranteed spot in the Main that would have occasioned. Another incident in the Last Chance Qualifier delayed his first 450 start until the following week in the challenging conditions of Frisco.
But the season was also highlighted by some incredible saves. After finishing fourth at Anaheim 1, Plessinger survived the mud in San Francisco to score his second top-five of 2024 and then proved just how strong he is on a heavy track by winning his first-ever 450 race when mud dominated a second consecutive week in San Diego.
Jalek Swoll predicted he would challenge for a top-five in Triumph Motocycle’s debut. He would have made good on that promise in he had not been taken out in his heat by Pierce Brown.
One of the biggest stories in of the first six weeks was about what did not happen: Austin Forkner survived one of the gnarliest crashes of the season in Detroit before going on to win the 250 East Main. Last year, Austin Forkner’s Supercross season ended before it ever began when he crashed coming out the gate in Anaheim in 250 West competition.
Moving over to the East for 2024, Forkner came within inches of getting cleaned out by teammate Cameron McAdoo.
Unfortunately, most of the field could not say the same thing. Forkner’s tale of two starts was an emotional moment. A clip of this crash can be found at the 5 minute, 15 second mark in the video at the top of this post.
Multiple incidents at Glendale for Jordon Smith as he and Levi Kitchen squared off to see who would take sole possession of the red plate settles into the third position in this week’s video countdown.
After watching the rookie phenom Jett Lawrence produce a perfect season in Pro Motocross, the field began 2024 with a chip on their shoulders. No one wears that chip better than Webb and he showed Lawrence it was not going to be easy to get to the front when he stuck his elbows out in the Glendale 450 Main and made his rival work for the pass.
Watch till the end to find out what was the most dramatic moment of 2024.
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