The opening five rounds of the 2026 Monster Energy Supercross Championship have seen a strong amount of parity so far, featuring a who’s who of the sport in contention for victory over the first five rounds. In this Rated feature, MotoOnline takes a closer look at the form of riders who have won races so far this season.

Image: Octopi Media.

Rider: Hunter Lawrence
Rating: A
Rundown: Okay, so he is yet to stand in the middle of a 450SX main event podium as such, but Hunter Lawrence did win one of the races at Houston’s Triple Crown and holds the red plate, so he’s a worthy inclusion at this point. To say a Honda HRC Progressive bike has the points lead in the premier division is not overly surprising, although what is a little surprising is that it doesn’t belong to the number 18, but instead to the number 96 this time around. Hunter’s finished second now on four-straight occasions, so none of it should come as a surprise, because he has been in the thick of the title hunt during the past two 450SMX post-seasons, as well as in Pro Motocross. He has a championship-winning mentality, and if the number one plate does end up with the 26-year-old this year, then again, we shouldn’t be that shocked. Despite not being able to win just yet, Hunter is deserving of an A and has been exceptional to open season 2026. With younger brother Jett targeting a potential return from injury in April, could we see some Lawrence/Honda cooperation later on down the stretch?

Rider: Ken Roczen
Rating: A-
Rundown: Progressive Insurance Cycle Gear Suzuki’s Ken Roczen is firmly in the era of being recognized as a legend of the sport, with Glendale’s 450SX victory taking his total career tally to 24 – situating him between decorated stars Jeff Ward and Bob Hannah. Results aside, how about the overall influence of the 31-year-old German? He has – along with the Dustin Pipes-led PMG organization – brought Suzuki’s off-road motorcycles program back from the brink of irrelevance, with a significant portion of this being attributable to the number 94. Currently listed P2 in the standings, Kenny already has one victory and three further podiums to his name in 2026, while also posting a P8 recovery ride from the rear of the field at A2. We know Roczen is strong in the early stages of the season, so the question remains, can he carry this momentum all the way into May? Time will tell.

Image: Octopi Media.

Rider: Eli Tomac
Rating: A
Rundown: This year’s Monster Energy Supercross season has largely been a dream start for both Eli Tomac and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – the pair having earned the first two 450SX main event wins, as well as P3 at Anaheim 2. A couple of mishaps have followed, including a spectacular over-the-bars moment in Houston’s second Triple Crown race and a first-turn incident at Glendale, which now has him P3 in the standings. Isn’t it interesting how the sport works sometimes – you consider last year when he dabbed his leg in Tampa and the ensuing injury, or in Denver 2023 when a slight miscalculation resulted in a torn achilles, and yet he arose largely unscathed from his scare in Texas. It again shows that nothing is predictable, however, Eli’s debut in orange has been solid otherwise and warrants an A rating. Hey, he’s the only repeat winner in 2026 so far!

Rider: Cooper Webb
Rating: B+
Rundown: On paper, the results appear worse than what defending 450SX champion Cooper Webb has actually been to date this year. In fact, if A1’s main event hadn’t been restarted, and Webb was able to keep the multi-bike length lead he initially had, then we could have a whole different trajectory unfolding in 450SX after five rounds. Instead, the restart resulted in P7 at the opener, and that type of adversity has followed the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider since then, with uncharacteristic mistakes and collisions resulting in sub-par finishes. He broke through for a win at Houston’s Triple Crown, followed by P3 in Glendale, so everything is fine when it comes to Webb, and as mentioned previously, a 17-round series works on momentum. It’s all about minimizing bad days and maximizing the good days – which is much easier said than actually executed on a weekly basis.

Image: Octopi Media.

Rider: Chase Sexton
Rating: B
Rundown: Any concerns surrounding Chase Sexton’s Monster Energy Kawasaki transfer are seemingly becoming the reality, and while not a fully-fledged problem as yet – he’s still P5 in the standings, 17 points from the lead – it’s trending in that direction, especially if we don’t get a turnaround here, perhaps as soon as Seattle this weekend. We were sold the narrative that the Kawasaki shift might remedy the woes that Sexton had faced in the past – namely, unforced errors –but we’ve seen much of the same to start Supercross 2026 as we have historically witnessed. Couple that with Jorge Prado’s incredible rebound in form at KTM, and the unfortunate conclusion is that neither the motorcycles nor the teams can be entirely to blame. A2 was a perfect example, where Chase had an exceptional main event victory, combined with random crashes in both qualifying and his heat race, which is just how the number four rolls.

Rider: Haiden Deegan
Rating: A+
Rundown: Defending his 250SX West championship has been smooth sailing for Haiden Deegan this year, the 20-year-old Californian recording four-consecutive race victories from San Diego to Glendale after achieving P4 at the season-opener in Anaheim. His Supercross skills have looked significantly improved this year, which is strange to say given he earned the title with one round to spare last season. It has not been pretty for the rest of the 250SX West competition this year, as not only has Deegan put a beat-down on them, he’s also taking every opportunity to taunt the field, too. Seattle’s weather could be a curveball in this series, but if he gets out of Lumen Field unscathed, it could be lights out for the western divisional series. One final note is that he qualified P3 on 250SX and 450SX combined times around Glendale’s high-speed, sprawling layout – in fact, faster than eventual winner Roczen – so do with that information what you will.

Rider: Max Anstie
Rating: B-
Rundown: Has anybody seen the Max Anstie who breezed to the A1 victory lately? Ever since he labelled Deegan’s aggressive move in San Diego as ‘impressive’, we’ve lost the rider who was expected to contend for the title this year. In fact, Glendale’s P8 has seen him tumble to P4 in the standings, and he is now 30 markers behind the number one in the title-race – even if he is the only main event winner other than Deegs himself. It hasn’t been good for the Englishman of late, who entered this year riding a wave of momentum after dominating the World Supercross Championship in SX2 at the end of 2025. There are still five rounds left to run – including three Showdowns – although it’s going to take a major turnaround for Anstie to return to his former self.