2026 Arlington Supercross Photo Gallery

2026 Arlington Supercross Recap

First time winners highlighted Round 7 of the 2026 Monster Energy Supercross series and the 250 East class began its season on Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX.

The title contenders look ready to run away in the 450 class as they approach the midway point of the series while two riders defied all broken back expectations in the 250 East to take the top two spots which helped overshadow a red light controversy that arguably changed the outcome of the race.

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Well, Hunter Lawrence finally did it. Approaching the (not necessarily that bad to own) record of finishing second without a win, Lawrence took advantage of an under the weather Ken Roczen - managing to avoid crashing into him as he did a week earlier - patiently waiting for the right lines and the right lappers to get the lead, then pulled a gap with about five minutes left on the clock to grab his first checkers in the 450 class.

"I'm pretty happy. We still got a lot of racing left but happy to tick that little box," said Lawrence who has mostly played second fiddle to his brother Jett, not racing because of injury. "I tell you what, even when I get a sixth place it's still really hard. Had cool racing with all those boys. It's pretty cool I'm racing with the sport's legends."

Those "sport's legends" included Roczen, defending champion Cooper Webb and Eli Tomac, all who were in the thick of things for much of the race. Tomac, who opened the season with two wins and his third last week, popped from ninth to fourth on the first lap and looked on point for another victory.

For much of the race, Roczen held everyone in check first with Webb who ultimately gave up second to Lawrence after bobbling in a turn. That set up a back and forth battle between Roczen and Lawrence as Lawrence touched the lead briefly a couple of time to only lose it and watch Roczen build a slight gap.

However, the pass from Lawrence sucked some life out of Roczen allowing Webb and Tomac to pass him near simultaneously a minute later then Tomac used that momentum for a hard-charging pass on Webb which sent him briefly off the track. Tomac held on for second, Webb took third, Roczen fourth and Justin Cooper fifth. Lawrence's win added three points to his slim lead over Tomac in the standings to four.

250 East Class

In the 250 East class, Joe Shimoda and Pierce Brown proved the old adage mind over matter indeed works.

Shimoda fractured and displaced two vertebrae in his upper back and lower neck while training in November. He only returned to riding three weeks ago after given the OK from his doctors and...

He grabbed the Holeshot. Shimoda, the 2025 SuperMotocross Champion for the 250 class, rode no worse for the wear looking like mid-season form. Then he stopped at a red light. At least a California stop. (If you know, you know.) This hiccup erased a sizeable three-second lead over Brown.

Brown, meanwhile, fractured his T5 vertebra at last year's opener in Tampa while leading He was carried off in a stretcher and this year's opener was his first race back. He caught Shimoda with 11 minutes left after Shimoda slowed because the flashing red lights signaled when Derek Kelley crashed. Shimoda rolled a double jump and the Finish Line jump but Brown kept race speed enabling the pass on Shimoda. Though Kelley was already off the track, the red lights clearly displayed for Shimoda, who slowed, as well as for Brown, who took the jumps.

Shimoda's team, Honda HRC Progressive, protested but the AMA ruled no violations and the results stand. Arguably, Jo got schmoded. (A similar happenstance in the 450 class, too, also resulting in no violations.) Shimoda almost made it a non-issue, however, with about 40 seconds left with an attempted tight pass underneath Brown in a corner but he held up to prevent a collision and let Brown by without incident.

"I don't even know where to start," Brown said. "There were so many nights I didn't think this was possible. Missing the year especially with the injury I had. It's a scary thing to come back from and there were a lot of doubts. I don't even know where to start this is amazing."

Though Shimoda finished second, albeit on a bit of controversy, he confirmed just this month plans to race the entirety of the 250 East season.

"Overall it was a good one for me," Shimoda said. "Felt pretty rusty all day but my adrenaline kicks in on the race. Good way to start."

Daxton Bennick finished third. Title contenders Seth Hammaker and Cole Davies both went down at the start and fought to fourth and fifth, respectively.

Daytona Week. Look for MotoSport. Round 8. Saturday. Be there.