SuperMotocross Weekly presented by Kawasaki: San Diego

Image via Ned Leone

Follow along with the biggest stories in SuperMotocross every week with SuperMotocross Weekly presented by Kawasaki!

This Week: Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, CA

When to Watch: Saturday, 10PM ET, USA and Peacock; Monday, 1AM ET, CNBC

Last Year’s Winners: Chase Sexton (450SX), Michael Mosiman (250SX)

Last Race: The man with the number 1 plate in 450 gets to take it into the second round of the season, as defending champion Eli Tomac kicked off the year with his long-awaited first Anaheim 1 victory. Tomac initially lost the early lead due to an awkward crash, but regained it in the closing minutes as a rough track forced mistakes from most of the top riders. Cooper Webb and Chase Sexton completed the 450 class podium, while Jett Lawrence’s return to 250SX West saw him lead every lap of the feature. Last week’s planned round at Oakland was postponed to February 18, originally an off weekend, due to severe weather in California.

Race Preview: Thanks to multiple Supercross titles to join his legendary run in Pro Motocross, Tomac’s storied career checklist had few remaining boxes unticked going into Anaheim 1 two weeks ago. Winning that race was one of the only major ones left, and now he’s got it. So much for the rumors of retirement that we’d been hearing all offseason. He wasn’t the only member of the old guard to impress, though; Ken Roczen’s switch to Suzuki saw him produce some magic of his own, as the defending A1 winner came out of his first round on the new bike with a top five.

In 250, Lawrence’s competition already got a little thinner after a massive crash for Austin Forkner off the start line took the oft-injured rider out for the remainder of the indoor season. RJ Hampshire and Cameron McAdoo, who joined Lawrence on the podium, are the likely top challengers at this point. Meanwhile, defending San Diego winner Michael Mosiman won’t be there this year as he prepares to chase the 250SX East crown.