Those who have managed to finish every main event of 2023 so far.
The 2023 Monster Energy Supercross Championship has been packed with entertainment, but unfortunately as we enter these latter stages of the season, we’ve seen a mixture of riders drop out of the series due to injury once again. MotoOnline lists those who have gone the distance in 450SX and evaluates their season to date.
Image: Octopi Media.
Rider: Eli Tomac
Rating: A
Rundown: After starting the season off winning four out of the opening six races, it was clear that Tomac was the title favourite once again. But, this year we’ve witnessed a slightly different version of the experienced, two-time champion – holding back in races, content to take top-fives and gather points without letting panic set in. We’ve only seen two real mistakes from the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider this year, which both came at Triple Crown races, and ultimately worked in his favour due to the Olympic scoring system used at those rounds. There have been tough races where it seemed like maybe his season was starting to derail, but in true championship form, he’s bounced back each time. The 30-year-old once again has one hand on a third premier class crown with only two rounds remaining.
Rider: Chase Sexton
Rating: A-
Rundown: Team Honda HRC’s Sexton has been arguably the fastest rider this year, but unforced errors many times over find him 18 points behind defending champion Tomac heading into the penultimate round in Denver this Saturday. Despite crashing out of the lead on more than one occasion, Sexton still has been able to rack up the second-most wins of the season with four and has consistently been a top-three guy week in, week out. However, barring something going drastically wrong for Tomac, 2023 will be a case of what could’ve been for the number 23.
Image: Octopi Media.
Rider: Justin Hill
Rating: B
Rundown: The younger Hill has been slowly building solid form in 2023. He started the season showing impressive speed, despite not racing Supercross since 2020, but his lack of race time would eventually catch up as he would start to fade towards the end of the main events. All credit to Hill and Team Tedder though, because he’s been there every race and built a solid foundation, finding himself a season-best P5 in Nashville last weekend to go along with six other top 10 results and he currently sits P8 in the standings. It’s been confirmed that Justin will race World Supercross for Bud Racing Kawasaki, so his American Supercross season should play as the perfect building block heading into WSX come mid-year.
Rider: Dean Wilson
Rating: B
Rundown: It’s no secret that this might be Wilson’s final season racing 450SX full-time and we’ve definitely seen a more relaxed, casual approach from him this year. Wilson looks like he’s really out there to enjoy what he’s doing without adding that pressure to perform on himself. He currently sits in a solid 10th place in the 450SX standings, racing to a season-best seventh place in Nashville last weekend and sees himself on a four-race streak of top 10 finishes. The Fire Power Honda rider currently sits five points behind Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy Kawasaki) heading into the final two rounds of the championship.
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