We've hit the midway point of the 2025 Monster Energy Supercross Championship in one of, if not the best racing cities in America; Indianapolis, Indiana. On the heels of Daytona, this weekend marked the first of three, yes, three, 250 East/West Showdowns this season, but injuries have decimated some of the top end depth in the 250 class in the last week. Cam McAdoo and Levi Kitchen of Pro Circuit Kawasaki are out for the foreseeable future, on top of the several other notable names we've lost to this point; notably Jalek Swoll, Pierce Brown, Ryder DiFrancesco, among countless others. Even still, this was our first chance of the year to see guys like Haiden Deegan, R.J. Hampshire, Tom Vialle, and more go head to head with points on the line.
Last week in the 450s was a bit of a roller coaster ride with Chase Sexton's heat race crash hampering him for the rest of the evening, but Cooper Webb couldn't fully capitalize thanks to an excellent outing for Ken Roczen. 16 points separated the three, with the No. 2 holding a 10-point lead coming into the ninth rounds of the year. The good news for Roczen and Sexton was that they outpaced Webb in qualifying, but we've seen that you can throw those times out the window for him when it gets to gut check time. Would Saturday be any different?
Daytime Program/Injury Notes:
- I'm not touching the Carmichael-Blair-Diffey situation with a 100-foot pole, I promise you.
-- Kinda surprised that three showdowns haven't been the norm for years. Would ensure that the east and west guys both run an equal amount of times in a 17 race schedule.
- Colt Nichols got the chance to do some promo stuff with Pat McAfee on Friday, if you didn't see.
- Cameron McAdoo is done for SX after opting to get surgery on his torn ACL.
- Right back to sub-50 second lap times in my glorious sport after Daytona. I hate it here
- 250 Fastest Qualifier: No. 38 Haiden Deegan (49.044)
- 450 Fastest Qualifier: No. 94 Ken Roczen (48.728)
250 Class Recap
1st - No. 56 Seth Hammaker (Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasak)
Finally Mitch Payton and the Pro Circuit boys catch a well-deserved break. Loved how Hammaker kept things nice and simple on the start going underneath Vialle in that first corner, and that plus the drag race to and through the tunnel was essentially all she wrote. Injuries greatly factor into this anecdote, but this was the Pennsylvania native's first Supercross win in nearly four years on the dot. That was the first of three Dallas rounds in 2021 where he outran Hunter Lawrence and Cameron McAdoo. Also now, Hammaker is only 11 points out of the lead in the east with two showdown rounds to go. He's very much alive in that title fight with that in mind.
3rd - No. 38 Haiden Deegan (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha)
Even on a night when he had to literally ride through the Steve Matthes Memorial Nets™, Deegan still came home a huge winner, effectively doubling his points lead over West Coast title rival Julien Beaumer with a respectable third-place outing. I will note that it shouldn't be lost that the two riders he lost to were 250 East guys, given the whole "ducking" allegations thrust onto several riders around A1, but I digress.
3rd - No. 100 Cole Davies (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha)
Especially in a year where there are many bummer situations and injuries in the sport, it's nice and refreshing to have an exciting young guy like Davies who impresses in every outing. Indianapolis being no different. He showed off some tremendous mental toughness and elite racecraft to get from eighth to third after his early tip over in the sand, even getting some praise from Jett Lawrence up in the booth when he was on the charge. I'd have to imagine the title is out of the question, but if Beaumer continues to slide, it'd be hard to envision Davies not overtaking him for second in the 250 West standings at some point; potentially sooner than later.
12th - No. 83 Austin Forkner (Triumph Factory Racing)
This weekend being a showdown round didn't help matters, but I was very alarmed over the fact that Austin Forkner was struggling to get out of the 250 LCQ and wasn't even close to having top-ten speed in last night's Main Event. For context, his best lap time was 53.124 on lap five; 10 of the 11 guys who finished ahead of him were in the 51-second bracket or better, the lone exclusion being Max Anstie, who finished seventh. I don't want to come off too harsh here given everything he's physically gone through over the last half-dozen years, but it's been pretty bleak so far outside of that seventh in Tampa for Forkner.
250 East/West Showdown Indianapolis Top 10
1st No. 56 Seth Hammaker
2nd No. 1[E] Tom Vialle
3rd No. 38 Haiden Deegan
4th No. 24 R.J. Hampshire
5th No. 100 Cole Davies
6th No. 30 Jo Shimoda
7th No. 31 Max Anstie
8th No. 23 Julien Beaumer
9th No. 34 Dax Bennick
10th No. 92 Max Vohland
250 East and West Points after Indianapolis
450 Class Recap
1st - No. 2 Cooper Webb (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha)
Yeah that feels about right for Webb. He was good, but not great in qualifying, goes down in his heat and then goes wire to wire in a dominant fashion to really create some distance in the standings going into these final eight rounds. I have a tough time seeing him not do well in some of these smaller East Coast stadiums where lap times are quick and the track gets broken down super quick. And it just so happens that four of the next five stadiums on the schedule are outdoor east coast spots, and he won the next West Coast venue on deck, Seattle, last year in spectacular fashion over Sexton.
After 2023 nothing is over until the fat lady sings, but we're as close as humanly possible to this being over. Webb is an absolute dog and is more than deserving of the distinction of being a three-time SX Champion if he can pull this off.
2nd - No. 32 Justin Cooper (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha)
Not to be outdone by his teammate, this is JCoop's fifth consecutive top-five finish and his first runner-up result since Salt Lake City last spring. I don't see him having the late-race speed to contend for wins in this field, even with all the injuries, but his early-race stuff has historically been great, and on a track like Indy that broke down so quickly, that's a great trait to have.
3rd - No. 4 Chase Sexton (Red Bull KTM)
I don't know what didn't gel for Sexton in that Main Event, but this is another brutal outing for him. At least the crash at Daytona is a more than valid excuse for how things went that evening, but he lost touch with Webb way too easily for the position he's in, and yet again we have another mental mistake tip over to talk about. I doubt there's a fix at this point, but it's beyond frustrating. Sexton has the speed to be in contention for wins every week at this point and it's something new every week that takes him out of it.
7th - No. 94 Ken Roczen (HEP Progressive/Ecstar Suzuki)
It's a shame that Roczen went down through no fault of his own in turn one, because he has some excellent speed all day Saturday. That, and his title hopes are looking bleak now being close to 30 points out. To think he's probably right in the thick of things if it wasn't for what happened at Tampa and last night. Super raw deal for a guy who's been just as good as Webb this year, if not better in spurts.
450 Class Indianapolis Top 10
1st No. 2 Cooper Webb
2nd No. 32 Justin Cooper
3rd No. 4 Chase Sexton
4th No. 51 Justin Barcia
5th No. 7 Aaron Plessinger
6th No. 27 Malcolm Stewart
7th No. 94 Ken Roczen
8th No. 14 Dylan Ferrandis
9th No. 46 Justin Hill
10th No. 12 Shane McElrath
450 Points Standings After Indianapolis
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