Round 8 in Daytona Beach

Daytona Supercross

Jett Brings Home the Win!

Lawrence extends points lead with Daytona Supercross win

Section: General Post: Jeremy Hammer

Tomac second as Daytona win-streak comes to an end.

Team Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence has put an end to Eli Tomac’s (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) dominant run of Daytona victories with a commanding win at the eighth round of Monster Energy Supercross, extending his points lead in the process.

It was a dramatic start for Lawrence before the main event even got underway as his mechanics rushed to remove the plastic wrap on his rear tyre, successfully pulling it off a mere seconds before the gates dropped.

Despite the panic, Lawrence still managed to land a strong start inside the top five, but it was reigning champion Chase Sexton (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Tomac who initially led the field.

Overcoming a mistake on lap one, Lawrence was positioned third as the race looked set to be a thriller between the points leader, Sexton, and Tomac, while at the same time, Hunter Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) experienced a heavy fall and ultimately retired from the race.

The three-way battle everyone hoped for wasn’t to be after Lawrence passed both Tomac and Sexton in a matter of seconds, securing the lead before quickly building an advantage.

The main event was largely uneventful as Lawrence stormed to a third win of the season, however a late charge from Tomac aboard his smoking YZ450F saw him pass Sexton with just two laps to go to finish second over the factory KTM rider.

Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s Cooper Webb made a late move on Ken Roczen (Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki) for fourth, the pair locking out the top five. The top 10 was completed by Justin Cooper (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha), Malcolm Stewart (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing), Dylan Ferrandis (Phoenix Racing Honda), Jason Anderson (Monster Energy Kawasaki) and Benny Bloss (Liqui Moly Beta Racing).

Monster Energy Supercross now heads Protective Stadium in Birmingham on 9 March for round nine of the series, as Lawrence holds a 10-point advantage over Webb in the championship standings.

A Look Back...RJ Returns

At 24 years old Rick Johnson was on top of the world in 1989. At this point The Bad Boy was already a seven-time AMA National Champion and the all-time career leader in SX wins before a practice crash with a privateer cost him most of his outdoor season that year. Many wondered if he would be able to race again at all. But Ricky did return, and with a vengeance, returning to the very same track where he suffered the devastating injury the year prior, fighting his way through the field to battle it out with his teammate and defending champion Jeff Stanton. Enjoy this fantastic race-long battle to the finish!

ROGER DE COSTER JOINED DMXS RADIO TO TALK 2024 SUPERCROSS

The first time Roger De Coster appeared on DMXS Radio, he was still the Sobe Suzuki Team Manager and had Travis Pastrana, Sebastian Tortelli, and Branden Jesseman in his stable. A lot has transpired since then, but one thing that never changes is that "The Man" always delivers a great, honest interview every single time. We cover a bunch of topics, including the SX season so far, his future with the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations team, and what still impresses this legend of our sport.

Check it out direct, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Direct link: https://www.dmxsradio.com/181-roger-decoster/

DMXS Radio thanks Dunlop, Racer X, MX Sports, Dubya Wheels, GoPro, OGIO, and Concept2 Rowers for their continued support.

DMXS Radio has been making Bad Billy proud since 2001!

www.dmxsradio.com 

KTM's Tom Vialle

From  MotoOnline.com

Red Bull KTM rider on his journey to a first American Supercross podium.

Words: Simon Makker

He might only be 23, but Frenchman Tom Vialle has already racked up an impressive racing resume on an international scale. And after Saturday’s third-place finish at Arlington – his first in Monster Energy Supercross – it’s very likely he’s only going to continue his rise. He features in our latest Profiled piece.

Four years ago Vialle won his first MX2 World Championship in the shadow of the global pandemic, winning seven grands prix and featuring on the podium at 14 of the 18 rounds.

Two years later, in 2022, the highly-rated KTM rider fended off a season-long challenge from title rival Jago Geerts to capture his second 250 class world title. Despite winning 10 of the 18 GPs, the title chase went down to the wire, and it was only a double-moto win at the final round in Turkey that sealed the deal by just four points.

Last year, instead of stepping up to the MXGP category, Vialle set his sights on an entirely new challenge in the United States. He transferred across from Red Bull KTM in Europe to the American team led by Ian Harrison, sitting alongside Max Vohland as the team’s 250 riders.

Image: Octopi Media.

“I really felt it was the best time for me to try and see if I could make it in Supercross,” Vialle said at the time. “I have a track near my home and there is a supercross tradition in my family. I’m desperate to see what I can do, even if I know it is a big learning curve.”

Despite the dramatic change, Vialle proved he could quickly adapt to the fast-paced schedule of the AMA Supercross Championship. At the third round of the 250SX East series – which happened to be Arlington – he logged his season-best result, coming home in fourth.

Vialle ultimately completed his first US championship in eighth, then continued to show his outdoor prowess in the Pro Motocross Championship, where he finished sixth overall, despite having never ridden most of the tracks before.

The highlight of his outdoor season was claiming his first overall victory at Southwick, where he charged to the opening moto win, then backed it up with a P3 finish in the second race.

A third overall at the season-ending Ironman round, then a classy P2 result at the first of the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) playoffs in Charlotte, capped off a successful debut year in the US, before he then helped Team France win the prestigious Motocross of Nations (MXoN) on home soil at Ernee.

“I think it was one of the biggest races of my life,” he reflected. “It was nice to win with the team, and I also won the 250 class, so it was the best that I could hope for.”

2024 got off to a rocky start for Vialle. At the 250SX East opener in Detroit he was caught in the first-turn pile-up that claimed almost half the field. The number 16 remounted at the rear of the pack and finished a lowly 18th.

Entering Arlington’s second round of the eastern region on the weekend, Vialle desperately needed a good result to get himself back into championship contention, but a heavy crash in practice threatened to derail his season even further.

“It was a similar crash to what Austin [Forkner] had in the main event, but I was a bit luckier than him. He cased a bit more and went to the right, while I went to the left, but I was happy to still be able to line up for the races,” he recalled.

Still feeling the effects from the crash, Vialle completed his heat race in fifth, which gave him 10th gate-pick for the main event. Despite the substandard gate choice, Vialle rounded Arlington’s first turn in fifth and put in a smooth consistent race that saw him tick off another goal of capture his first Supercross podium.

“I had an okay start from the outside in the main event and was next to Austin in the first corner, but I need better heat race results so I can get a better gate pick for the main event – that’s very important,” he said “It was a long main event – I think it was about 20 laps – but it’s amazing to get my first Supercross podium. I’m pretty excited about it.”

With his first 250SX podium now to his credit, the latest emerging young French rider is now focusing on backing that performance up with another good result at the famed Daytona International Speedway this Saturday.

“I rode Daytona last year and the track is pretty cool. The rhythm is still pretty steep and tough, but it’s more open – the corners are more like outdoors,” he explained. “We’ll train this week to make the bike as good as possible for the race. I’m pretty excited to be there.”

Coming into this weekend’s third round, Vialle is 11th in the standings with 24 points to his name. However, with how tight the table is now after two unpredictable rounds, another strong result at Daytona will see him make huge strides up the leaderboard.

Daytona Press Day

Bike Week and the 2024 Daytona Supercross are officially underway! Riders took to a condensed version of the massive track built on the infield of the speedway for Friday’s media session, early laps that showed the big rhythms and deep ruts that will develop during Saturday’s historic motos.

Forkner Update

Pro Circuit Kawasaki Austin Forkner is on the mend after suffering a scary crash while leading the 250SX East main event at the Arlington Supercross on February 24. Today Austin Forkner posted his latest update on social media, detailing the struggles he is currently facing. He expresses gratitude for being alive and able to walk again after his most brutal crash.
Forkner said – “Seven/Eight minutes in my left contact lense fell out…it does throw your depth perception off. Your blurry eye takes control over your good eye. Is that why I crashed? I don’t know.” Onto the crash, I came up about 2 inches short, whenever all my weight went forward, I have my bad arm that I had all those nerve surgeries on and it’s weak and I lost all that muscle, which is the arm that blew off and it was game over after that.” I broke my L3 and L4 on my right side, I broke my scapula all the way across the top into my shoulder socket. I had bleeding in my lungs, still coughing up some blood this morning.

They said I was out for 3-5 minutes, I was knocked out for a long time. Those are the injuries I know of right know. I’m going to gey some more MRIs on my shoulder. I may even need another look at my back.” An emotional Forkner then fought back tears saying: “I know I am really lucky and really blessed to come away from that like I did. I watched the crash and jusy broken down and cried because of how bad it could have been.

“I had people texting me ‘are you okay,’ ‘ are you alive,’ ‘can you walk?’ That was probably one of the scariest crashes I have ever had. I am really fortunate and blessed that this is all that did. That I can feel anything below the next or that I am alive in general I am very fortunate and very blessed.”

But that one scared me. That scared me a lot after watching it back. It’s so early but I don’t know what this means for me or my future. Sometimes I always talk to God and ask for signs and ask him to show me this and show me that and maybe this is just another milestone, another thing for me to overcome, it’s just going to add to my story. But at some point you gotta start thinking that maybe he’s trying to show me something. My thought process is I want to be grateful of only having these injuries. And if I jump straight back onto a bike and onto a supercross track, did I get his message, did I get what he was trying to show me? I don’t know…”

McGrath on Ducati

Does Supercross King Jeremy McGrath KNOW why Ducati is entering the sport?

Jeremy McGrath is the King of Supercross. With 72 wins and 7 championships he stands alone as the man inside a stadium. Obviously I am a lifelong fan of MC but it wasn't until recently we got to hang out at Mammoth Motocross where I got to see the secret to all of his success. He really love riding his dirtbike.

SMX Insider

This week on SMX Insider the Jasons look back at the week that was in Arlington: Cooper Webb’s big win, Jett’s mistake and the dramatic crash that cost Austin Forkner so much more than a victory. MX Sports CEO Carrie Coombs Russell talks with Jason Weigandt about the upcoming Pro Motocross season and the growth of the SMX World Championship in year 2. Clinton Fowler drops more Cooper Webb knowledge than you can handle in Fowlers Facts, and also a look ahead to round 8 in Daytona.

Matrix M64's Revolutionary Design

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Be sure to visit Matrix Racing Products for great spring deals!

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