SuperMotocross World Championship Final recap
It has been a good playoff run this year for the 2024 SuperMotocross World Championship, and heading into Vegas the stories were set up perfectly. This was the sophomore season for the playoffs, and Feld was trying out two new locations, of which Las Vegas for the Final was the most exciting and requested location by fans and athletes. The 250 class was comfortably controlled by Haiden Deegan but not out of reach for Tom Vialle. The 450 class was a very close three-way winner take all battle between Chase Sexton, Hunter Lawrence, and Jett Lawrence. It would be a new venue for the series, with The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosting things, and the fans turned up in numbers. The stands looked very packed on Saturday evening during the race, and the back outdoor track sections had fans lining the fences watching the action.
250 SMX Class
The world was pretty unified on the fact that Haiden Deegan baring a tragedy was going to walk away the 250 SMX Champion again this year. His performance outdoors was impressive and he only seemed to become more dominant as the outdoor season finished and he carried all that moment into the playoff run. Entering Vegas he was a perfect 4-0 in moto wins and just needed to podium to guarantee a repeat title. The night kicks off with 250 Moto 1 and Deegan getting a great start and grabbing the Progressive Holeshot followed closely by Materpool and Brown. They were both riding well and were able to stay close to Deegan for a while. While trying to make a pass on Masterpool we saw Vialle bump him sending Ty to the ground and back to seventh position. By mid moto, Deegan had a four-second lead and Shimoda was running in fourth place.
In Moto two we saw Masterpool grab the holeshot with Beaumer and Smith just behind him. Early in the moto Brown was running in 5th with Deegan just behind him. In this moto we saw Ty and Tom get together again with Vialle being the one that goes down this time sending him back to sixth place. Around the mid point of the race Brown was pressuring Ty for the lead and Haiden was running in third. In one of the front 180 turns we saw Brown bump Ty and make the pass for the lead and then Haiden passed for second in the rhythm section. Ty was passed three times in that same section which cost him dearly in this moto. Pierce did not have a single podium this year but went 2-1 on the night and taking his first overall 250 win. This win also propels Brown from 7th in the championship points to 3rd overall.
“I'm speechless right now. I mean, I feel like this win has been long overdue. We've been working really hard the last couple of years, and I'm just so stoked we got it done. I can’t thank my team enough; everybody behind me, Will, the whole TLD GASGAS team, I mean everybody. It’s just been a fun run. As our [“Venom: The Last Dance”-themed] gear says, this was the last dance so we ended on top, so I'm stoked.” – Pierce Brown, referencing the GASGAS team that is not returning in 2025.
“It feels good. Back-to-back is definitely a dream come true. I worked my butt off ever since I was a kid to get here, so thank you to my family, my team Star Racing Yamaha, my trainer Swaney, just everyone in my circle. Man, it takes a big team to do this, and a lot of hard work, so thank you, guys.” – Haiden Deegan
450 SMX Class
Beyond where Deegan would finish the bulk of the hype was on the three way race for the 450 SMX crown in Vegas. And for the most part it lived up to the expectations, with the exception of Seton getting hurt on the opening lap of the first 450 moto. In moto one we saw Eli get an excellent start and running up front till the last minute of the moto where Jett zipped past him in the back outdoor style section over the cargo container jump. Jett mentioned on the podium after the first moto that it was very hard to pass on the track and was close to being resigned to accepting a second-place finish. Being a night race at a dragstrip, there was temporary lighting brought in especially for the back sections outside of the stadium but it was mentioned by several athletes that it was still very hard to see in some of those sections. In moto two Jett was able to grab the holeshot and was followed closely by Hunter and in the first rhythm section Eli sends it wildly and big and leaps into third place. By this time the running order was Jett, Hunter, Eli, Aaron, and Cooper and it stayed that way till the end of the moto. Jett won the moto and went 1-1 on the evening, earning him a points tie with his brother Hunter, which Jett possessed the tiebreaker and gave him the SMX 450 Title his second in a row.
“I want to start off by saying it's sucked that we didn't have Chase out there. I don't know what happened, but I hope you have a speedy recovery. I've seen the video [and it] looked like it was just a bummer of a racing incident, so I want to send my prayers to him and hope he has a speedy recovery, or nothing too bad. And, I mean, it feels good [to win]. I sat out the Outdoors with injury, and it sucked, so it's… good to come back and start where I left off. [I’m] super pumped. I'm happy but also it still sucks again because it’s against Hunter, so it's a little harder to swallow but I'm just super happy with the team. This new bike is unreal, as you can see… Thanks everyone. I had to show up because the Australians came out, so I had to make sure I put Australia on top, either it was me or Hunter, so thanks to them.” – Jett Lawrence
“Hopefully we gave the fans what they wanted to come and see, in a good battle all the way down to the wire. So, it was a fun race, regardless of the outcome I still had fun. That was a really good moto, and a huge thank you to the team. You know, they've been working their butts off all year, so thanks so much to everyone that makes it possible.” – Hunter Lawrence
250 all starts
The 250 World All-Stars are the next group that is most likely to be seen racing in the Pro Series next season and gives fans a first-hand peek at what the future could look like. It’s also excellent for preparing these young athletes for their future in the pro ranks. Cole Davies was fastest in qualifying and was second on the start just behind Landon Gordon the holeshot winner. Early in the moto Avery Long was running fourth and was able to work his way up to a second-place finish. We saw Drew Adams get a terrible start running third from the back heading into the first section. With a steady charge forward we saw Drew work his way to a sixth-place finish.
“Yeah, I’ve made some huge gains in 2024. From the first race at RedBud [motocross], that was not great. I crashed four times in one race… but then [at this Las Vegas race] I got off to a pretty good start there, made a pretty quick pass on Landen [Gordon] and just tried to ride it home from there. [I had] a few sketchy moments and stuff like that, but yeah, we got it done.” – Cole Davies, when asked if he’s felt the improvements that the broadcasters had noticed throughout the year’s amateur events.
All photo credit: N. Suhr