Welcome back to the Monster Energy 2024 AMA Supercross Series! After what feels like being away for a whole decade, Supercross is back! I am your favorite Motosports.Com Gear Head Ryan Roberts back again to bring you all the hot takes, along with a few cold takes sprinkled in to keep myself in check.
Anaheim 1 just finished up and you had Jettson Lawrence winning the 450 class and R.J. Hampshire taking home the top spot in 250's. If you stop looking at just who won, A1 seemed cool, calm, and collective seeing as both favorites won, but oh you would be so wrong! Now don't get me wrong, Jett seemed to have everything in complete control and had his usual next gear that he could have gone to if he wanted too, but Cooper Webb was feisty like he had something for him. Webb was all over Anderson, but on a track that passing wasn't very easy, he never was able to get around him and eventually took a trip to Indonesia over the hip jump and finished sixth. You can see that Cooper is going to be a threat to Jett and a confident Coop is a dangerous Coop.
Chase Sexton came into this season holding the number one plate that he brought over from Honda. After listening to several pods talking about his preseason preparation, it did not sound like it was going well at all for Chase. After a few bad starts in the night show and Webb's issue he ended up finishing third, which for him was probably disappointing but with all the preseason issues he had, he is probably glad to have a third. The KTM platform has had a lot of speculation about performance issues and has had several people struggling with it over the past few years and the lack of results supports that assertion. Chase definitely didn't answer any questions this round, but I also wouldn't say he didn't bring up anymore questions either. Chase gets an "Incomplete" grade for this round.
On the 250 side of the championship, there was a lot of Jo Shimoda hype after going to Honda, along with Levi Kitchen going to PC Kawasaki, Jordon Smith finally healthy, amongst many other riders. The 250 race was a more competitive race than the 450 but it also never felt like R.J. didn't have any chance of losing it unless he went R.J. and crashed. Even with R.J.'s win, I still don't feel like he has a firm grasp on the Championship in the 250 class. I think he has a good chance to win it, but I still don't feel like this is going to be a decisive victory for him and he wins it walking away. Maybe I will be proven wrong?
I think Max Vohland was one of the bigger surprises in the race this past weekend. After winning a heat race and looking pretty good in the main, it is good to see him finally start to show what he is capable of this weekend. He has had a long road coming from a promising, almost can't miss amateur, to getting a fifth in a main. After many injuries, not qualifying for mains, and other disasters, it is good to see the change to Kawi is working.
Some other surprises for the weekend, Julien Beaumer getting sixth and showing some serious speed, almost out of nowhere. I have been watching him at Loretta's and some of the Futures races so I knew he was good, but I don't think anyone saw this coming. Aaron Plessinger with a quiet fourth place in 450's was also a really good ride. Dylan Ferrandis on the Phoenix Honda with a fifth coming from a bad start was also out of seemingly nowhere. Jorge Prado surviving his first ever Supercross, going straight into the 450's with a 13th was good to see as he will eventually be coming over to the states.
Well that is it everyone, for the inaugural 2024 Gear Head Hotish takes. Please hit up a Gear Head if you have any questions on anything at MotoSport.com and we will definitely get you hooked up!
