Words: Simon Makker

The 2024 Monster Energy Supercross Championship is already proving to be one of the most wide-open title fights in the sport’s history. Across 450SX and 250SX, we’ve seen 10 different winners in six rounds, with only Team Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s RJ Hampshire claiming multiple wins to date. In this edition of Rated, MotoOnline takes a closer look at the form of the riders who have won main events so far this season.

Rider: Jett Lawrence
Rating: 9/10
Rundown: Despite being a 450SX rookie, Team Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence came into 2024 with a big target on his back after an incredibly successful 2023. The 20-year-old came firing out of the blocks at Anaheim 1, qualifying fastest, then leading the entire main event to win by a very comfortable 7.2 seconds. A reality check in the mud at San Francisco saw him finish P9, but he bounced back three rounds later to again stand in the winner’s circle at Detroit. When he gets a great start, Lawrence is extremely hard to beat, but at Glendale he also showed his ability to come through the pack, as he pushed forward from ninth on the opening lap to ultimately finish third, catching and passing Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) in the process. That performance also saw him reclaim the points lead.

Rider: Chase Sexton
Rating: 8/10
Rundown: Like almost every rider on the 450SX gate, defending champion Chase Sexton has had a rollercoaster start to this year’s championship. Having moved to a new home at Red Bull KTM this year, Sexton opened his account with a podium at Anaheim 1, then conquered the wet conditions at San Francisco to chalk up his first win with the Austrian brand. A tough time at San Diego saw him get lapped on his way to eighth and after winning one of the Triple Crown races at Anaheim 2 (finishing with a 1-11-2 scorecard), took over the series lead in Detroit, courtesy of a runner-up result. It was short-lived though – a practice crash before Glendale saw him enter round six with an injured hand, but he gritted through the pain to finish ninth. Entering the well-timed week off, Sexton is just six points behind his former Honda teammate.

Rider: Aaron Plessinger
Rating: 8/10
Rundown: 2024 has already been a memorable one for Red Bull KTM’s Aaron Plessinger, who has shown he’s a legitimate Supercross championship title contender. After opening his campaign with two valuable top-five results, The Cowboy mastered the tricky, wet conditions at San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium to win his first-ever 450SX main event. It was an emotional victory after his late crash while leading at Detroit last year, and a popular one with the fans. Plessinger carried the red plate through the Anaheim 2 Triple Crown night and into Detroit where a P6 result saw him slip to third in the points. A crash early in the Glendale main event saw him plummet from P2 to P18, but he steadily chipped away at the riders ahead of him to finish 10th. He’s still third in the points chase.

Rider: Cooper Webb
Rating: 7/10
Rundown: The interesting thing is that although Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s Cooper Webb hasn’t taken a checkered flag at all yet this season, he’s still listed on the results sheets as the winner of Anaheim 2, thanks to a consistent 2-2-5 scorecard from the Triple Crown format. So far Webb’s season has been one where he‘s regularly threatened to take his first ‘real’ win, but has often found himself around P5-P10 off the start. Aside from his overall at Anaheim 2, Webb showed race-winning speed at San Diego as he put in a concerted charge to hunt down race leader and former teammate Plessinger. Ultimately, Webb got held up by lapped traffic – including Sexton – in the closing laps, which saw him have to settle for second. Webb currently sits fourth, just 10 points off the lead.

Rider: Ken Roczen
Rating: 7/10
Rundown: Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki rider Ken Roczen’s Glendale victory on Saturday night was a memorable one, as he scored a great start and led every lap on his way to a well-deserved win. Until that point, Roczen’s otherwise promising season has been one marred by some unfortunate crashes. He was taken down early in the main at Anaheim 1 and had to fight his way to 10th on a bent-up bike, then he crashed out of the lead early at San Diego while under pressure from Plessinger. Outside of those crashes, the German rider graced the podium at San Francisco and Detroit before his Glendale win. He’s currently sixth in the championship standings, but is only 15 points off the top spot, proving how wide-open this year’s series is.

Rider: Levi Kitchen
Rating: 8/10
Rundown: Of every rider in both the 250SX and 450SX classes, the most consistent this year has been Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s new signing, Levi Kitchen. The 22-year-old has landed on the podium at every round so far, except for in the tricky conditions at San Diego, where he still banked valuable points with a decent P5 result. Kitchen has been one of the fastest starters this year, and that helped him clock up his only win of the season (so far) at Anaheim 2’s Triple Crown, where he blazed his way to a 1-2-3 result from the three races. At its halfway mark, the 250SX West series is starting to boil down to a three-rider race, and Kitchen is currently in the lead by just four points.

Rider: Jordon Smith
Rating: 7/10
Rundown: It’s been a rejuvenated Jordon Smith enter the mix this year, and it’s been the exciting to watch him return to form. Now in his second year with the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team, Smith is looking more comfortable and confident than he has in years. Winning in the San Francisco mud after finishing P2 at the Anaheim 1 was the perfect way to start shutting down any critics, then he backed it up again with another P3 in San Diego. The string of podiums came to an end at Anaheim 2, but he still approached Glendale with the shared points lead. Unfortunately, a string of errors saw him first crash out of the lead, then fall back to seventh, but he still managed to salvage a P4 result, and he’s now four points behind Kitchen.

Rider: RJ Hampshire
Rating: 7/10
Rundown: Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s long-standing 250SX rider RJ Hampshire opened his 2024 season with a statement ride at Anaheim, and has book-ended the first half of the series with another comfortable win at Glendale. The two victories have him marked as the only 250SX rider to have won more than once this year, but the two mud-drenched rounds at San Francisco and San Diego hurt him from a points perspective. Hampshire slid his way to a ninth at Oracle Park, then a sixth at Snapdragon Stadium, but with the points being so close, he dropped down the order to fourth overall. Hampshire regrouped for a hard-earned runner-up at Anaheim 2, before capturing his second win at Glendale, which has seen him again close in on the series lead. He’s just five points off the top spot with five rounds remaining.

Rider: Nate Thrasher
Rating: 5/10
Rundown: So far, no-one has had a more up and down time than Nate Thrasher (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) this year. After crashing out of Anaheim 1, then struggling to 18th at San Francisco, the 21-year-old turned his fortunes around with a breakout victory in similar conditions at San Diego. Another strong podium result – a third overall – at the Anaheim 2 Triple Crown round indicated he wasn’t going to give up on his the 250SX West championship dreams without a fight. Unfortunately, Thrasher crashed hard during his heat race in the long Glendale rhythm section and was carted off the track. He suffered bone bruising and a concussion, but now has a six-week break before the next 250SX West round at Seattle to recover.

Rider: Austin Forkner
Rating: 9/10
Rundown: We’ve only seen one round of the 250SX East series so far, but Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider Austin Forker certainly looked impressive in Detroit. After qualifying third, Forkner avoided the first-turn carnage that took out almost half the field, and controlled the race from the front, winning by 2.5 seconds over Fire Power Honda’s Max Anstie. It was a real redemption ride for Forkner, who crashed on the start straight of the opening round last year, and missed the entire supercross season with a knee injury. The focus now will be to complete the rest of the championship for the first time since 2020, and lift that elusive 250SX trophy come Salt Lake City.