Anaheim 1 finally arrived and the 2024 Supercross/SuperMotocross season is out of the gate. A stacked 450 field of former champions took to the track but it was Supercross Rookie Jett Lawrence who topped them all in the end. That might have been predicted by many, but virtually no other aspect of the evening went according to expectations. Jett’s bother Hunter failed to make the main event after a crash in his heat and a lackluster LCQ while former champions Cooper Webb and Jason Anderson put on the best show of the night.
450 HEAT 1
The most critical moments in this heat occurred in the first turn where Vince Friese collided with Hunter Lawrence. Friese stayed up, Lawrence went down and collected Chase Sexton. Ken Roczen, in the meantime, moved into the lead quickly and sprinted out to a sizeable lead. Dean Wilson was second in the early laps, but eventually surrendered to Aaron Plessinger, Malcolm Stewart and Eli Tomac. Sexton was able to charge back up to 6th, but Hunter Lawrence would have to make a trip to the LCQ.
1 Ken Roczen
2 Aaron Plessinger
3 Malcolm Stewart
4 Eli Tomac
5 Dean Wilson
6 Chase Sexton
7 Christian Craig
8 Vince Friese
9 Derek Drake
10 Anthony Rodriguez
11 Josh Hill
12 Devin Simonson
13 Cade Clason
14 Josh Cartwright
15 Jason Clermont
16 Tristan Lane
17 Hunter Lawrence
18 Hunter Schlosser
19 Benny Bloss
20 Logan Karnow
450 HEAT 2
Jett Lawrence was top 450 qualifier at A1. He fell in Heat 2 but still managed to earn 3rd. Photo by David Dewhurst
No one was surprised when Jett Lawrence got the holeshot in Heat 2. It only lasted a couple of turns, though, before Cooper Webb took over. Webb pulled away slightly in the early laps, but soon Lawrence was on his rear fender. It was all for nothing because Lawrence went down with three laps to go. Webb cruised in for an easy win with Jason Anderson second. Lawrence was third.
1 Cooper Webb
2 Jason Anderson
3 Jett Lawrence
4 Dylan Ferrandis
5 Justin Barcia
6 Adam Cianciarulo
7 Justin Cooper
8 Jorge Prado
9 Shane McElrath
10 Justin Hill
11 Austin Politelli
12 Kevin Moranz
13 Kyle Chisholm
14 Mitchell Harrison
15 Freddie Noren
16 Cheyenne Harmon
17 Thomas Ramette
18 Jerry Robin
19 Justin Starling
20 Gared Steinke
450 MAIN EVENT
Jett Lawrence took the holeshot while Ken Roczen, Malcolm Stewart and Dean Wilson fell in the first turn. Jett was never seriously challenged in the following laps, but an intense battle between Jason Anderson and Cooper Webb closed the gap in the middle of the race. Those two tangled a number of times while Chase Sexton rode a lonely race several seconds back. In the closing laps, the Webb/Anderson battle grew more intense until Webb hit the ground. He remounted in sixth, but that allowed Anderson to slow down which, in turn, allowed Lawrence to stretch out his lead to 10 seconds.
1 Jett Lawrence
2 Jason Anderson
3 Chase Sexton
4 Aaron Plessinger
5 Dylan Ferrandis
6 Cooper Webb
7 Justin Barcia
8 Justin Cooper
9 Eli Tomac
10 Ken Roczen
11 Malcolm Stewart
12 Adam Cianciarulo
13 Jorge Prado
14 Justin Hill
15 Derek Drake
16 Dean Wilson
17 Shane McElrath
18 Kyle Chisholm
19 Cade Clason
20 Christian Craig
21 Freddie Noren
22 Vince Friese
250 HEAT 1
Carson Mumford and Jordon Smith had a great race in the early laps of 250 Heat 1. Jo Shimoda looked like we was going to join the party but went down. He had to spend most of the heat trying to catch back up to a transfer position. Smith took the win, Mumford fell back to fourth and Shimoda eventually got into ninth
1 Jordon Smith
2 RJ Hampshire
3 Nate Thrasher
4 Carson Mumford
5 Cole Thompson
6 Hunter Yoder
7 Joshua Varize
8 Anthony Bourdon
9 Jo Shimoda
10 Tj Albright
11 Billy Laninovich
12 Max Miller
13 Kyle Wise
14 Guillaume St-Cyr
15 Carter Biese
16 Geran Stapleton
17 Addison Emory
18 Max Sanford
19 Doc Smith
20 Josh Greco
250 HEAT 2
KTM’s young Julien Beaumer and Max Vohland battled in the early laps while Levi Kitchen went down. Max got into the lead on the first lap and stayed there throughout the race. Kitchen climbed back up to qualifying position in 7th by the end of the race.
1 Maximus Vohland
2 Julien Beaumer
3 Garrett Marchbanks
4 Mitchell Oldenburg
5 Phillip Nicoletti
6 Ryder DiFrancesco
7 Levi Kitchen
8 Robbie Wageman
9 Talon Hawkins
10 Lux Turner
11 Matti Jorgensen
12 Slade Varola
13 Blaine Silveira
14 Julien Benek
15 Tre Fierro
16 Lance Kobusch
17 Braden Spangle
18 Alex Nagy
19 Joey Desimone
20 Hunter Calle
250 MAIN EVENT
Julien Beaumer got into the lead early in the main event and hung on as long as he could. On the second lap, RJ Hampshire took over and set a blazing pace. In the following laps, Levi Kitchen followed Beaumer and his Kawasaki teammate Max Vohland caught up to both of them. The two Kawasaki riders battled back and forth for most of the race. Vohland passed both Beaumer and Kitchen then Beaumer fell. That allowed Kitchen back to Vohland’s rear wheel. Soon aferward, Vohland made a mistake that allowed Kitchen to get ahead. Jo Shimoda, who gated poorly, caught and passed Vohland late in the race. Hampshire finished with a comfortable lead.
1 RJ Hampshire
2 Jordon Smith
3 Levi Kitchen
4 Jo Shimoda
5 Maximus Vohland
6 Julien Beaumer
7 Garrett Marchbanks
8 Mitchell Oldenburg
9 Ryder DiFrancesco
10 Carson Mumford
11 Anthony Bourdon
12 Cole Thompson
13 Hunter Yoder
14 Robbie Wageman
15 Joshua Varize
16 Tj Albright
17 Lance Kobusch
18 Talon Hawkins
19 Julien Benek
20 Lux Turner
21 Nate Thrasher
22 Phillip Nicoletti
450 QUALIFYING
1 Jett Lawrence 1:00.686
2 Chase Sexton 1:00.729
3 Cooper Webb 1:00.748
4 Ken Roczen 1:01.040
5 Justin Cooper 1:01.202
6 Eli Tomac 1:01.502
7 Jason Anderson 1:01.709
8 Hunter Lawrence 1:01.989
9 Jorge Prado 1:02.230
10 Malcolm Stewart 1:02.268
11 Dylan Ferrandis 1:02.424
12 Aaron Plessinger 1:02.552
13 Justin Barcia 1:02.621
14 Christian Craig 1:02.665
15 Adam Cianciarulo 1:02.767
16 Dean Wilson 1:02.786
17 Justin Hill 1:02.909
18 Vince Friese 1:03.045
19 Freddie Noren 1:03.417
20 Benny Bloss 1:03.562
21 Shane McElrath 1:03.886
22 Josh Hill 1:04.281
23 Jerry Robin 1:04.419
24 Derek Drake 1:04.503
25 Kyle Chisholm 1:04.642
26 Cade Clason 1:04.677
27 Justin Starling 1:05.412
28 Anthony Rodriguez 1:05.487
29 Kevin Moranz 1:05.538
30 Josh Cartwright 1:05.604
31 Austin Politelli 1:05.607
32 Logan Karnow 1:05.655
33 Mitchell Harrison 1:05.689
34 Devin Simonson 1:06.003
35 Cheyenne Harmon 1:06.243
36 Jason Clermont 1:06.330
37 Thomas Ramette 1:06.509
38 Tristan Lane 1:06.771
39 Gared Steinke 1:06.874
40 Hunter Schlosser 1:06.960
250 QUALIFYING
1 Levi Kitchen 1:01.398
2 RJ Hampshire 1:01.607
3 Julien Beaumer 1:01.911
4 Jo Shimoda 1:01.933
5 Maximus Vohland 1:02.050
6 Nate Thrasher 1:02.079
7 Mitchell Oldenburg 1:02.143
8 Jordon Smith 1:02.204
9 Garrett Marchbanks 1:02.678
10 Carson Mumford 1:03.489
11 Ryder DiFrancesco 1:03.498
12 Cole Thompson 1:03.996
13 Robbie Wageman 1:04.305
14 Anthony Bourdon 1:04.380
15 Phillip Nicoletti 1:04.817
16 Hunter Yoder 1:05.363
17 Lux Turner 1:05.384
18 Max Miller 1:05.654
19 Talon Hawkins 1:06.124
20 Joshua Varize 1:06.691
21 Slade Varola 1:06.905
22 Tj Albright 1:06.985
23 Lance Kobusch 1:07.326
24 Geran Stapleton 1:07.331
25 Blaine Silveira 1:07.582
26 Max Sanford 1:07.634
27 Julien Benek 1:07.671
28 Josh Greco 1:07.841
29 Matti Jorgensen 1:08.346
30 Billy Laninovich 1:08.795
31 Alex Nagy 1:09.258
32 Guillaume St-Cyr 1:09.734
33 Braden Spangle 1:09.846
34 Kyle Wise 1:09.964
35 Tre Fierro 1:10.422
36 Carter Biese 1:10.560
37 Travis Olander 1:11.446
38 Addison Emory 1:11.510
39 Hunter Calle 1:12.781
40 Doc Smith 1:14.138
