Detroit,Michigan (Feb 3,2024)-Parity is the guiding force of the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross season so far early in the campaign. Through two dry rounds and two muddy rounds, there have been eight different winners in the 450 and 250 West division combined – and with the 250 East riders taking over this week at Ford Field in Detroit, it is guaranteed that the 250 division will keep their streak alive. Add in the series debut of the brand new motocross bike from Triumph piloted by veterans Evan Ferry and Jalek Swoll the stage was set for some exciting 250 East action in the Motor City!
The burning question making its rounds throughout the paddock is if someone other than Jett Lawrence (winner of Round 1 in Anaheim), Chase Sexton (Round 2 / San Francisco), Aaron Plessinger (Round 3 / San Diego) or Cooper Webb (Round 4 / Anaheim 2) would win in Detroit. Those four riders occupy the top four points’ positions so the next likely candidates to keep the 450 streak alive are Eli Tomac, Jason Anderson and Ken Roczen.
After 3 incredible hours of racing in the 250 and 450 class, the fans finally had the answer;Team Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence would became the first Monster Energy AMA Supercross repeat-winner in 2024 with an impressive victory in front of 52,961 fans inside Ford Field in Detroit.
Round 5 Detroit,Michigan Race Recap
250 Heat One
The first hole shot of the 250 SX East Region went to Chance Hymas, who edged out Cameron McAdoo for the lead when the gate dropped. Jeremy Martin and Haiden Deegan followed in third and fourth place. On the lap 2, Tom Vialle made the pass on Jeremy Martin for fourth place. Meanwhile, Max Anstie was battling for a transfer position after a bad start. Once picking off ninth place, Anstie made quick passes to move into seventh.
Haiden Deegan was now applying pressure on McAdoo for second place as Chance Hymas continued to lead. However, Hymas made a mistake in the sand pit that allowed Cameron to close up right behind. McAdoo then went wide around the outside of the now struggling Chance to take over the race lead. Haiden Deegan made the uncontested pass on Hymas on the following lap to shuffle the former race leader to third.
On the final lap, Jeremy Martin went down hard in the whoop section. Haiden Deegan went hard after McAdoo for the lead as Tom Vialle passed Hymas for third. Cameron McAdoo made it to the checkers first,edging out Deegan to claim the heat race win.
250 Heat Two
The second 250SX start went to Austin Forkner, who was tailed closely by Daxton Bennick and Henry Miller for the first lap until ultimately checking out from the pack. Jalek Swoll riding the new Triumph was in comfortably in fourth place, but Pierce Brown was on the charge and settled in behind him. Pierce slammed Swoll while attempting to pass in turn four, pushing Jalek over the berm and out of a transfer position. Evan Ferry on the second Triumph went down, throwing away the final transfer position and securing a position in the LCQ.
Seth Hammaker made some aggressive passes inside the top-5, as he moved by both Miller and Brown to take over third place. With two laps to go, Jalek Swoll who was now flying after the earlier crash passed Boespflug for the final transfer position. Austin Forkner grabbed his first heat win with the wire to wire ride.
250 LCQ
Evan Ferry grabbed the holeshot and the early race lead as Boespflug and Hoffman duked it out for second place. Marshal Weltin settled into fourth place, just behind Hoffman. Weltin moved past Hoffman a few laps later, as Evan Ferry continued to lead uncontested. Weltin doubled past Boesplug for second place, but nearly went over the handlebars doing so. Evan Ferry grabbed the win in the LCQ, just before Cullin Park stole the final transfer position with a brilliant pass in the last corner.
250 Main Event
When the gate dropped, it was a all out dash into the narrow first corner with catastrophic results for a few contenders. Seth Hammaker and Tom Vialle collided which resulted in a massive pile-up that involved Cameron McAdoo, Evan Ferry, Jalek Swoll, Haiden Deegan, Pierce Brown, and more. Austin Forkner escaped the chaos in the first turn with the hole shot once again and the early lead. Chance Hymas and Max Anstie settle into second and third place after working in tight quarters through first rhythm section.
As riders began remounting from the first turn melee, it was apparent that multiple racers have twisted up bikes, including fan favorite Haiden Deegan. Seth Hammaker, Cameron McAdoo, and Tom Vialle all went multiple laps down attempting to untangle their machines and deal with their individual issues from the crash. Ultimately, Hammaker along with Ferry could not continue and are ruled out of the first East main event of year.
As Austin Forkner once again began to check out from the rest of his pursuers, Max Anstie started applying pressure to Chance Hymas for second place. Coty Schock who escaped the carnage on the opening lap, lingered in fourth place keeping the leaders in his sights. As the laps wound down, a patient Max Anstie finally got a opportunity and cut down low underneath Hymas to grab the second spot.
A charging Daxton Bennick caught a once again struggling Hymas and made a beautiful pass for third the last podium spot. With everyone watching the battles on track for the 2-3-4 positions, Jalek Swoll was turning in a phenomenal ride, moving up to the eighth spot after being involved in the first turn crash. As the clock ticked down to zero, Austin Forkner crossed the checkered flag to claiming the wire to wire victory in Detroit and taking over the points-lead.
450 Heat One
The first one to cross the hole shot stripe of the 450 class of was Cooper Webb, with Justin Cooper and Hunter Lawrence in hot pursuit. Justin Cooper settled into second place after the second corner, as series points leader Aaron Plessinger made short order of Hunter to take over third. Plessinger riding the number 7 KTM then went after Cooper and began applying pressure on the second place rider. Plessinger finally saw a opening and jumped to the inside of Cooper in the rhythm section and took over second.
Moments later, Cooper Webb laid his Yamaha down in the deep sand, handing the race lead over to Plessinger. Webb lost multiple positions, finally remounting in seventh place following his crash. GAS GAS Factory Pilot Justin Barcia, looking to move up to a podium spot, took Hunter Lawrence wide to take over third place. A charging Eli Tomac was moving through the field quickly after a bad start and was making passes look effortlessly inside the top-10, finally passing past Dylan Ferrandis as time expired. Aaron Plessinger crossed the checkered flag to secure the win in 450SX heat one with Cooper,Barcia,Hunter Lawrence and Cooper Webb rounding out the top 5 positions.
450 Heat Two
In what some fans said was the most entertaining race of the night, Jett Lawrence grabbed the quick lead when the gate dropped. A subsequently uncharacteristic mistake by the Anaheim one winner allowed Kawasaki rider Jason Anderson to make the pass for the lead. Suzuki pilot Ken Roczen settled comfortably in the third spot within striking distance of the leaders. Honda Factory Team rider Jett Lawrence then capitalized on a small mistake from Anderson and grabbed the lead once again.
The pair battled back and forth for the top spot with Jason Anderson retaking the lead midway through the heat when he dove low into turn one and beat Jett to the corner apex. The pair fought for the top spot the next 2 laps with Anderson finally gaining the advantage over Lawrence in the sand corner. Jett wasn’t ready to accept the runner-up position whatsoever. Instead he creatively jumped a double-double that allowed him to make a clean pass on Anderson for the final time and go on and build a cushion in the race lead. Roczen and Chase Sexton who moved within striking distance while Lawrence and Anderson battled, now pressured Anderson for second place. Roczen got by Anderson on the final lap to secure the second spot over Anderson. Jett Lawrence took the checkered flag first to claim the victory in 450SX heat two followed by Roczen,Anderson,Sexton and Malcom Stewart rounding out the top five.
450 LCQ
Chyenne Harmon was first out of the gates and early lead, with Mitchell Harrison and Tristan Lane trailing close behind. Mitchell Harrison used the outside through the sand to rocket in front of Harmon and take over the top spot. Cade Clason made the pass for third and then collided with Harmon on the jump face of the Monster Energy finish line, sending him off-track and down hard. Justin Hill made the most of the opportunity, moving up to second place following the collision.
A fast moving Justin Hill made the pass on Harrison for the lead with three laps to go while Lane, Robin, and Noren fought it out for the final transfer positions. Justin Hill hung on for the win, with Harrison, Lane, and Noren securing the remaining transfer spots to the Main Event.
450 Main Event
As flames shot high into the Ford Field, the gate dropped and the 450SX field rocketed toward the hole shot stripe. Jett Lawrence entered the first corner with the upper-hand and grabbed the early race lead. Yamaha rider Eli Tomac and Chase Sexton trailed in second and third place respectively, while Jason Anderson lurked in fourth. Chase Sexton took advantage of a poor line by Tomac and took over the spot before they entered the second whoop section.
A hard charging Dylan Ferrandis made a spectacular pass on Jason Anderson to grab fourth place while reigning series champion Cooper Webb came around in 12th place after a disastrous start. Current points leader and Red plate holder Aaron Plessinger was another victim of a poor start, as he was down in 14th place at the end of the opening lap. Up front, Jett Lawrence continued to put some separation between himself and Sexton. Meanwhile, Ken Roczen was putting on a show for the fans charging towards the front, as he moved up to fifth place following a pass on Anderson.
Husqvarna Factory Rider Malcolm Stewart caught the floudering Jason Anderson for sixth place and just as fast gave the position back as he nearly ran into the back of Anderson in the torn up rhythm section before darting off track. Stewart then collided with a track tuff-block and went down, which dropped him to 21st place. After just a few laps and some aggressive passes, the duo of Cooper Webb and Aaron Plessinger were already up to seventh and eighth place and charging fast.
Ken Roczen continued his controlled ride and passed both Ferrandis and Tomac with minimal contention from the pair, which placed him in the last podium spot place. Cooper Webb, now turning in the quickest lap times, reeled-in Dylan Ferrandis and the pair moved up to the back fender of Eli Tomac. Ferrandis was first to strike, as he cut inside of Tomac after the finish line to take over fourth place. Cooper Webb then cut low on Tomac a lap later to shuffling the previous Detroit winner back to sixth place. Webb went on to catch and pass Ferrandis cleanly for fourth place.
As the time ticked away Anderson caught fire and made a clean pass on Plessinger then went on to hunt down and pass Ferrandis for fifth.
Race leader Jett Lawrence, comfortably in front, nearly went down after casing a triple jump, still had plenty of time to regroup maintaining position to lead the race uncontested.
Justin Cooper and Justin Barcia advanced past a fading Tomac, dropping the struggling Yamaha Pilot back to 11th place after starting in third. As 20-minute clock expired ,Jett Lawrence took the white flag for the final lap, finally crossing the finish line to claim the wire to wire victory in Detroit to become the first two-time winner in 2024.
250 East SX Image Gallery
450 SX Race Image Gallery
Ford Field:
Monster Energy Supercross:
