Blow by blow reports from the 250-450 AMA SX Glendale Mains

2024 AMA Supercross Championship

Round Six – State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona

250 Main

Levi Kitchen scored the holeshot followed by the two championship leaders, Jordon Smith and RJ Hampshire.

Second lap in Smith got the better of Kitchen for the lead, but the Kawasaki rider came right back at him, stealing that lead back. Meanwhile RJ Hampshire was watching on only around six bike lengths behind.

Next lap around Smith got the better of Kitchen once again and this time made it stick, adding further insult to Kitchen was RJ Hampshire, the Husqvarna man pushing him back to third.

As they approached the halfway mark though Jordon Smith went down while leading! There to take advantage was RJ Hampshire and Levi Kitchen.  Jo Shimoda had worked his way up to fourth by this juncture, six-seconds behind the race leader.  That was until Jordon Smith threw it away again!  This time around Smith was demoted right back to seventh, he went down after almost jumping into the back of Kitchen who had slowed for a yellow flag.  Ryder Di Francesco also went down hard just after the halfway point and was looking hurt.

With five-minutes left on the shot clock Hampshire led Kitchen by six-seconds, and Jo Shimoda was a further three-seconds back in third. Julien Beaumer fourth ahead of Mitch Oldenburg and Jordon Smith. Two-minutes later though Smith was back up fourth.

And that is how it remained to the flag.

Levi Kitchen leaves Arizona with a four-point lead over Jordon Smith, but RJ Hampshire is now only a single point further behind.

Nate Thrasher didn’t make the Main after crashing earlier on in the night. 

Five rounds still to go in the 250 West Championship, which next reconvenes at Lumen Field in Seattle, more than a month way on March 23.

250 Main Results

RJ Hampshire – 1

“Glendale was awesome.  The ending was especially awesome, but I felt really good at the beginning of the day, and then had a big case in the first timed qualifying. I was in a lot of pain from that, although I knew I needed to pull it together for the Main, and that was when I rode my best. I made a couple of quick passes, then saw I had a bit of a gap after the others made mistakes, and just managed it from there. Really stoked and am looking forward to some time off before Seattle.”

Levi Kitchen – P2

“I’m glad we walked away healthy from this one, and I’m so stoked to go into the long break with the red plate.  When I saw the flashing yellow, I wasn’t sure if I could jump and errored on the side of caution. I didn’t want to get docked any points with a points battle this close. I’m thankful to put together some good races for the team. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without all the support behind me. We’re going to keep up the intensity over the break and cheer on my teammates in the east.”

Julien Beaumer – P7

“It was a good day for me here in Glendale, qualifying fourth and then fighting my way into fourth for the Heat Race also. The Main Event was good also, started in 10th and charged my way to fourth, before a couple of small mistakes with my timing on this big track put me back to seventh in the end. I’m happy with my day and am ready to get back to work during the break!”

250 West Championship Points

450 Main

Chase Sexton led Jett Lawrence by a single point heading into Glendale and the pair were together on the start line. Neither of the pair got away well though, both outside the top ten through the first turn.

Jett had got off the line well but was squeezed on the entry to turn one and had to play it safe.

No such drama for Ken Roczen, the Suzuki man taking the early lead ahead of Aaron Plessinger, Jason Anderson, Vince Friese and Eli Tomac.

While trying to make up ground on lap two Jett Lawrence had his nose cut off by Cooper Webb, the 28-year-old sending the youngster off the circuit.  Jett lost a few positions but not too much time.  Webb then put a harder move on Vince Friese.

Up front Aaron Plessinger was trying to stick with Roczen, but a fall just over two-minutes in saw him slip from second place all the way back to 19th.  Ken Roczen was in the groove and pulling away from Jason Anderson.  Eli Tomac was a few seconds further back in third with a decent gap over Cooper Webb. 

Fifth and sixth were HRC team-mates and brothers, Jett passed Hunter with ease to claim fifth place and closed rapidly on Cooper Webb before losing a fair bit of time after coming up short on a jump. He was lucky to get away with it.

Jett recovered and went up the inside to pass and get clear of Cooper Webb, Hunter then followed him through to demote Webb to sixth place.  Chase Sexton had worked his way up to seventh place ahead of Dylan Ferrandis and Malcolm Stewart.

Up front lapped traffic was slowing Roczen a little, which allowed Jason Anderson to stay within three-seconds.  Eli Tomac was a further five-seconds back, with five-seconds over Jett Lawrence, the young Aussie was quickly reeling him in though…

By half-race distance Roczen led Anderson by five-seconds, who in-turn had six-seconds on Eli Tomac. The fastest man on track though was Jett Lawrence, now within two-seconds of the legend that is Eli Tomac. Hunter Lawrence was still fifth, Dylan Ferrandis sixth and Chase Sexton seventh.

Jett got Tomac with five-minutes left on the clock, but Jason Anderson was a further seven-seconds ahead of him in second place, with Roczen a further six-seconds down the track.

Ken Roczen led every lap on his way to a dominant victory to move from seventh place in the championship up to sixth, and is now only 15-points behind new championship leader Jett Lawrence .  Roczen also recorded the fastest lap of the race.

Jett Lawrence managed to pull a few seconds back on Anderson but never got close enough to challenge for that second position.  The Kawasaki rider had good speed and his fastest lap of the race was faster than Jett’s.

Eli Tomac came home fourth ahead of Hunter Lawrence and Dylan Ferrandis.

Chase Sexton injured his hand during practice in the week but still collected good points for a ninth place finish.  Sexton was running seventh late in the race, but lost positions to both Cooper Webb and Malcolm Stewart over the final two laps, presumably due to that hand injury giving him grief. The defending champion took the flag 37.5-seconds behind victor Roczen, his outright speed not there tonight, his quickest lap more than 1.3-seconds slower then that of the top finishing quartet.

Aaron Plessinger also kept himself in the championship hunt by clawing his way back up to tenth after and early fall to bag 12-points and stay in the top three on the points table. Plessinger clearly had good pace, his fastest lap of the race just over three-tenths from the outright fastest lap of the race, and faster than the five riders that finished in front of him.

The top five are still only covered by 11-points, and there are 11-rounds still to go… Five different winners across the opening six rounds, only Jett has won twice. Next stop Texas in a fortnights time.

450 Main Results

Quotes

Malcolm Stewart – P8

“Glendale went fairly well for me. Qualifying was decent with P6, then we finished with P2 in the Heat Race, which felt really good to be up there. Main Event, not a great start, so I just had to pick my way through the field and got all the way back up to P8. My riding was great, although you need to get the start in this class, so we’ll work on those heading into Arlington.”

Chase Sexton – P9

“I did what I could tonight to salvage points toward the championship after hurting my hand this week. The week was rough and I wasn’t even sure that I’d be able to race this weekend, but we got through the day and I’m just grateful that we have a scheduled weekend off coming up next week, so that should really help the healing process a lot. The way the results went tonight, I didn’t lose too many points, so I’m still right in the title fight.”

Aaron Plessinger – P10

“I’m just really annoyed about dropping it in the Main Event! I was riding good all day, holeshotted the Heat Race and then went wire-to-wire for the win. Entered the Main feeling good, got a good start there too and was right behind Kenny [Roczen], putting the pressure on, and then had a bonehead move where I tucked the front. The field was still bunched up at that time, so I went back to P22 and came back to 10th. This one stings, but we’re still in the championship hunt heading into Arlington.”

450 Championship Points

250 Qualifying Results

250 Heat One Results

250 Heat Two Results

250 LCQ Results

450 Qualifying Results

450 Heat One Results

450 Heat Two Results

450 LCQ Results

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