Anderson Takes Second | 2024 Supercross Round 1

With all the hype, fanfare and fireworks you could pack into an iconic American Major League Baseball stadium, the 2024 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship opener overflowed with excitement at Anaheim’s (Calif.) Angels Stadium on Saturday, with Monster Energy-backed racers bringing home three of the six available overall podium spots in 450 and 250 class racing.

In the 450 class it’d be former SX champion Jason Anderson (Monster Energy/Kawasaki) guiding his KX450 to the No. 2 position. Anderson rode extremely strong and smart, coming out on top of what proved to be the battle of the night in the late race run for 2nd place between him and Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Cooper Webb. Webb had the speed to catch and pass Anderson, but an error on an angled table-top jump face coming out of a corner sent Webb over the bars – and back to 6th place. Monster Energy-backed Dylan Ferrandis, in his first race aboard the Phoenix Honda bike, would put up a solid 5th place finish in the 450 main.

On the 250s Monster Energy racers grabbed the No. 2 & 3 Western Region Supercross (WSX) podium spots with Jordan Smith (Star Racing/Yamaha) putting on a hard charge for the runner-up spot and Levi Kitchen, in his first event with the storied Pro Circuit/Kawasaki program, placing a solid 3rd.

450 Highlights

• In Heat 2 qualifying Webb topped Anderson (2nd) and main event winner Jett Lawrence (Honda, 3rd). Justin Hill (Monster Energy/Team Tedder) would win the season’s first LCQ. Fan favorite Eli Tomac (Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha), returning from a devastating injury at the end of the ’23 SX season, transferred to the 450 main with a 4th place run in Heat 1.
• Off the start of the main event Tomac, the 2022 SX champ, would get held up a bit through the first corner and came around in 11th on Lap 1. Anderson and Webb both pulled strong start and were in 2nd and 3rd, respectively, following Lap 1 of the 20-lap main. Ferrandis (6th) and Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo (9th) would also start in the top ten.
• Racers would, for the most part, hold close to their start positions throughout the main, with Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Justin Cooper making the biggest move through the pack as he went from a 16th place start to 8th at the checkers.

250 WSX Highlights

• 250 WSX qualifying at A1 saw Smith top main event winner RJ Hampshire (Husqvarna) by .775 at the checkers to win Heat 1. The two had nearly identical best lap times (1:01.910 to 1:01.918 in favor of Hampshire).
• Heat 2 showcased the speed of new Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki racer Max Vohland, topping main event early race leader Julian Beaumer (KTM) by nearly 2.5 seconds at the Heat 2 checkers for the win.
• In hot pursuit of Kitchen and race leader Hampshire, Smith blitzed through the whoop section and cut across Kitchen’s line into the ensuing bowl turn, strongly taking 2nd place – which he held through the checkers.
• Tough night for Nate Thrasher (Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha) at A1. Following an excellent 4th place start, Thrasher would crash out on Lap 9 – in the exact same spot that gathered Webb in the 450 main. Only this time Thrasher was unable to re-enter the race, although he was able to jog off the track on his own.

Notes & Quotes

• Webb’s recovery from his over-the-bars, late race crash was even more impressive when he got up and was able to hold onto 6th. Credit Webb’s furious pursuit of Anderson in giving him enough lead time on the rest of the field to salvage the important points.
• “I definitely didn’t want him (Webb) to pass me,” said Anderson. “I think we kind of slowed our pace down to have that battle for 2nd – and let Jett (Lawrence) get that little 3-second gap. … I think me, Coop and Jett, for a good 15 minutes of that moto, were pretty even.”
• “It’s a little nerve wracking when you come into the first round on a new bike. But when they give us what we want we really want to perform on it,” said Anderson regarding the new Kawasaki KX450 platform.
• “It’s been fine,” said Tomac of his Achilles tendon at the pre-race press conference. “I’ve been on supercross since the 1st of November.”
• “We’re all racing for position, racing for money. So I don’t care, honestly,” Kitchen on his 250 main event battle with Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki teammate Max Vohland.
• “In 2016 I was in podium position at A1, with like five (laps) to go, and I fell,” recalled Smith of his only other A1 WSX start. “First round at A1 you’re even more nervous that the start of East Coast. Got good starts tonight, rode well throughout the day. Really can’t complain with how it went.”
• Speaking of starts, Monster Energy’s Shimoda got off to a difficult one in the 250 main, leading announcer James Stewart to comment (on Shimoda): “Only if he could get a good start, and run up front – he could win these. We saw that last year at the end of the (SuperMotocross World Championship) playoffs when he got on a roll.”
• NBC Sports, Peacock and the SMX League announced over the A1 weekend that all 31 rounds of Monster Energy SX, MX and SMX will be broadcast and streamed on Peacock, NBC, USA Network, CNBC and the NBC digital sports platforms.
• “We’re in a good spot, but we can improve more in the next couple weeks,” said Ferrandis at the pre-race A1 press conference. Ferrandis raced to a solid 5th place finish in his first time aboard the Honda CRF450R. 

Up next…

Monster Energy AMA Supercross caravan hops on the I-5 and heads north to San Francisco’s Oracle Park for round two of the series, continuing the WSX swing, on Saturday, Jan. 13.