2024 Seattle Supercross Photo Gallery

2024 Seattle Supercross Recap

Behold! Finally, a race to watch.

The 2024 Monster Energy Supercross season ventured up north to soggy Seattle for Round 11 at Lumen Field in Seattle and the old guard, one of them anyway, put on a show for the ages.

The young thunder from down under made a few blunders opening the door to a tighter points race in the 450 class as reigning Champion Chase Sexton and veteran and two-time Champion Cooper Webb pulled out front at the start giving way to an epic cat and mouse. The wet, mushy and rutted track forced plenty of mistakes and it all came down to last rider standing.

Sexton grabbed the Holeshot and pulled away looking like the clear winner early as Ken Roczen tried to run him down. Australian Jett Lawrence, coming in on a three-race win streak and big points lead, got buried outside the Top 5 as did Webb. Both came doubling and tripling through the pack getting into podium spots within five minutes.

Lawrence, in his rookie year, made a few mistakes in earlier rounds negating a win or podium and those issues crept in again as he attempted a pass in the sand on Webb, running in second, and nearly took them both out with less than 14 minutes on the clock. The attempted punt off the track dropped Lawrence to fifth but he only needed maybe three minutes to get back into third. Sexton meanwhile stayed out front with Webb doubling and tripling every jump he could to make up the difference. Turns out he didn't need it.

Sexton's propensity for crashing came through again as he veered right off a jump and landed on the tuff blocks. Craftly, he kept from crashing preventing the mistake from dropping him to second but it closed the gap to a maniacal Webb. By now the two were so hot on the gas they left Lawrence and the rest of the field behind. Then Sexton stalled his bike.

That opened the lead door wide open for Webb who gladly raced out front leaving Sexton in his rearview though this one was far from done. Getting his engine started quickly, Sexton resumed in second without fear of Lawrence on his fender. A few minutes later Sexton caught up to Webb, passed him in the sand and regrouped for the lead. But maybe 15 seconds later Webb retook the lead and another Sexton mistake with about two minutes left, which nearly sent him off the track into the tuff blocks again, gave Webb some breathing room until the final lap and final corner.

Webb, who admitted to having arm pump in the post-race interview, was managing every jump and corner just to get to the checkers as Sexton, trying to erase his mistakes, came close again and again and made the last lap a barn burner in the closest race of the year. Mere feet off his fender the two headed towards the final turn, Webb on the inside and Sexton within arms reach. Webb hot on the throttle after the 180, launched off the finish line jump a mere half a second ahead of Sexton for the win.

"We keep saying it every weekend but by far the gnarliest track I've ridden (this year), it was really tough we were all trying to push the pace, but you had to watch out for all the changing lines, the ruts, the lappers," Webb said. "I'm not going to lie, I got arm pump pretty bad there at the end. It was just surviving."

Webb's third win of the year puts him 16 points back of Lawrence, who took third in Seattle, and a seven-point cushion over Sexton, in third in the standings. Just six rounds remain and Lawrence hardly needs to win out but a few more likely wraps up this Championship early. Just Webb and Sexton remain with a realistic opportunity for the title.

Roczen finished fifth and holds on to fourth in the standings while Eli Tomac, who got buried at the start in 16th, worked his way to sixth and holds on to fifth in the standings. Tomac, the two-time Champion coming off an Achilles rupture that robbed him of the 2023 title, still has not won a round and at this point looks unlikely to stand center podium this year with his chances of winning the Championship all but evaporated.

The 250 class has generally produced the best racing this year but the West finally delivered a yawner and probably a welcome one by fans in attendance.

Pacific Northwest native Levi Kitchen proved the Red Plate rather light from the six-week break as he grabbed the Holeshot and checked out. No one came close. Kitchen carved up the competition winning by more than 20 seconds for his third career win and first non-Triple Crown victory.

"I've been waiting for a night like this for a long time. I finally rode like myself and to do that t in front of the home crowd is awesome," Kitchen said. ":I just felt good on my dirt bike, finally completely myself. It wasn't a pretty race I got really frustrated a few times and just tried to stay with it."

Kitchen holds an eight-point lead over RJ Hampshire who finished second. Jordon Smith, who entered the round just four points back of Kitchen, was safely in second until he came up short on a jump and smashed his head on the crossbar sending him off the bike with about four minutes remaining. Nearly curled up on the ground for what felt like minutes, somehow he managed to remount and get back into the race in 12th place but an inadvisable push to make up spots bit him as he went down hard again when racing Kitchen after being lapped and then fumbled around a third time once he got back on the bike. He finished 14th for the night and drops to third in the standings 21 points back.

With all the energy around Kitchen blowing out the field and Smith's troubles, Jo Shimoda quietly finished third working his way from eighth, midrace. Garrett Marchbanks took fourth.

The Easter break will have to wait as gates drop for Round 12 on Saturday at The Dome of America's Center in St. Louis, MO.