2025 Daytona Supercross Photo Gallery

2025 Daytona Supercross Recap

Two first time winners highlighted an emotional 2025 Daytona Supercross on Saturday in Daytona Beach.

Round 8 of the Monster Energy Supercross season took place at the famed race track which generally represents the near halfway point of the season. The 250 East class endured another Red Flag staggered restart and the 450 class nearly lost another title contender in a season wrought with injuries.

In the 450 class, Jason Anderson grabbed his first Holeshot of the year and held on to the lead for more than five minutes before a surging Aaron Plessinger got around and briefly was the rider to beat. Little did those upfront realize, Ken Roczen was on rails heading towards them.

Roczen passed Cooper Webb for third after more than six minutes, then overtook Anderson after skimming through the sand about two minutes later for second. And about a minute after that, grabbed the lead. Neither Anderson nor Plessinger had much left in the tank after their early push to battle Roczen this allowed Webb and Chase Sexton an opportunity to fight for podium spots.

The real fun began with about seven minutes on the clock once Webb passed Plessinger for second and began to run down Roczen. Sexton, who had a brutal crash when he slammed into the face of the whoops while leading his Heat race and needed the LCQ to qualify for the Main Event, hung around in fourth after passing Anderson with less than 10 minutes left.

With nearly six and half minutes left, Webb stalled his bike briefly giving Roczen some breathing room which also brought Sexton and Plessinger on Webb's rear fender. Webb never relinquished second but Sexton managed to get around Plessinger for third while a now recharged Webb began to track Roczen down.

Having done so, so many times throughout his career, Webb engaged another opportunity to pass Roczen on the final laps - something he did earlier this year - as he closed the gap looking for his first Daytona win.

But not this time.

A cross-rut mistake in the final minutes gave Roczen a near three-second lead shutting the door for Webb - ending a two-race win streak - and opening the door for Roczen's first Daytona victory.

"I honestly still can't believe it," Roczen said post-race. "I really put my head down had some really good lines...I was just charging the whole time trying to get a gap. The track coming out of some of these turns was really rutty, very easy to make a mistake. But I just kept my head down and charged the whole way. I seriously cannot believe this finally happened. This is a dream come true, for real."

Roczen's first win of the season keeps him in title contention as he sits 16 points back of Webb. Sexton faded down the stretch finishing fifth and though he salvaged points by riding after his Heat crash, lost more ground to Webb and falls 10 points out of first. Plessinger rounded out the Daytona podium.

The 250 East Class returned to action after a weekend off and a Red Flag stopped this one with 7:24 left on the clock. Last time out, Levi Kitchen benefited from a Red Flag thrown with seven seconds on the clock forcing a staggered restart which negated a sizable lead for Max Anstie. Kitchen overtook Anstie and won in Detroit.

This time, it was Kitchen who endured a gnarly get-off (see photos) when he front-wheelied down a long stretch ultimately going over the handlebars, slamming into the ground and, to add insult to injury, his bike got the last word by smashing into him briefly contorting Kitchen's body in an awkward pose. Injuries include a broken collarbone and a fractured back.

The staggered restart for Daytona had little to no effect on the frontrunners as RJ Hampshire already leading after about four minutes into the race, never relinquished. Hampshire, the reigning 250 West Champ held off the reigning 250 East champ in Tom Vialle for the checkers and went full throttle after the staggered restart leaving Vialle no chance of taking the lead.

"It's special. I lost my dad a few months ago, this was his race. This is where I came (as a kid)," Hampshire said post-race, "He was with us today. It just felt different today. Finally got to burn one (tire burn out) down here at Daytona."

Anstie, who went down at the Holeshot line to start the race after trying to ace out Vialle for the lead, worked his way back to sixth salvaging points and even increased his lead to six thanks to Kitchen's DNF. Kitchen entered Daytona in second, five back from Anstie but drops to seventh, 24 points from first. Vialle moves into second, six points behind Anstie. Seth Hammaker rounded out the 250 East podium.

The first 250 East/West Showdown of the season takes place Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN.