We are back! This off season flew by, at least to me it did. With a stacked 450 field and a host of 250 West competitors that are mostly dominated with veterans, this should be one of the best years to be a fan of SX. I spent most of the day Saturday walking around the pits looking at bikes to see what has changed from the previous year and studying riders so here is what I took away from the BIG A!
Jett Lawrence: Watching Jett pick apart the track with precision during the day shouldn’t be a big surprise, but it honestly looks more crisp in 2024. Compared to the 2023 SMX rounds, Jett looked to increase his corner speed, but since we haven’t really seen his true whoop speed since he’s been on 450s, that as well was un-REAL! If you haven’t got to watch this kid in real time, do yourself a favor and get a ticket ASAP! I know we all witnessed him winning Saturday night and that might be scary for some of us race fans the want a battle, but I truly believe that this kid is more satisfying to watch than Stew was. I know this is a bold claim but I went through the MC, RC, Stew years and they were all great in their own right, but watching this kid do what he does with all the “little” things on a track is unlike those other three GREAT riders. Jett moves around on the bike very subtle and makes the bike work for him rather than the other way around. One example was in Q2, after the last whoop section, the dude rails a deep right hand rut, over jumps the double on purpose and then bunny hops the wall that leads to jumping out into a single. It started a frenzy as others tried to do it like Jett, but riders could only manage to wheelie over the hump/wall. It wasn’t as clean, but it’s stuff like this that is unlike others at this time. These kind of things are happening 3-4 times a lap! Ok, I’ll stop sucking this dude off, but as a guy who actively rides, it’s really fun as well as amazing to process.
Jason Anderson: What a difference a bike change makes. The new KX450 (from what I hear) is much better for JA. There is more control for Anderson as well as the whoop comfort is more consistent. The shock is a huge upgrade from last year’s BFRC that Anderson ran for a while and with the new chassis comes more front end contact that Anderson didn’t feel like he had last year. It shows in his riding and even though the stock 24’ KX450 feels slow, this factory bike looks to have a ton of rear wheel connection, unlike last year. Anderson is now also training with John Wessling at Troll Training so looks like (so far) it is working. He held off a pesky Webb for a long time and forced him into a mistake! Not easy to do!
Chase Sexton: The number 1 has been vocal about not being completely happy with his bike, but on Saturday it looked pretty damn good! The whoop speed isn’t quite there like it was last year, but I think this is a work in progress. Sexton has a better “whoop stature” than Webb did last year so maybe this will NOT be a problem like it was for number 2 last year. Chase was gifted a third place on Saturday but I expect a better KTM machine for Chase by round three. From just looking at number 1 and number 7’s bikes, there looks to be A LOT of differences. I am going to find out FOR SURE what these changes are so stay tuned. I don’t want to get in trouble, yet!
Cooper Webb: He’s back! Yes, he didn’t win, but Webb is A LOT better than where he was last year at this time. He is more frisky on the bike and his whoop speed is A LOT better on the Yamaha than the KTM. Also, I tweeted this out, but Webb has lost nearly 25 pounds since Paris SX. We all sit back and judge riders appearances and how they ride but what about the sacrifices these “non genetic gifted” riders make to get their bodies as light and fit for these main events. Webb is no Roczen when it comes to naturally genetically gifted bodies, so it takes him some effort to lose or maybe keep weight off. I say this because this is something we ALL can relate to on a human level. In order for him to come into Anaheim ready to go and fit says something about his diligence post Aldon! Webb is going to be a pain in the ass for Jett, I feel. His mistake late in the main looked to be more of a frustration mistake, that he couldn’t find a way to get around Anderson. He clearly was faster but finding a way around proved to be difficult. I said before A1 that if Webb was in the top 5 after Saturday night, we are in for a good series! The Star Racing Yamaha Cooper Webb is BAAAAAAAAACK!
Dylan Ferrandis: A quiet top 5 for the French rider. His Phoenix Honda CRF450R has evolved a little since the beginning of his venture with the team as he seems to be on factory triple clamps and other little factory tidbits sprinkled in (ZOOM IN). I think Honda will feed him more parts as the season goes if Ferrandis continues on this top 5 path. Let’s give this another couple rounds before we hop on this French train.
Riders Who I Thought Would Be Better: Eli Tomac and Adam Cianciarulo are riders who didn’t really have a visible issue during the main but didn’t fare well. Tomac sat in 8th place most of the race until Justin Cooper caught him, which is crazy to even type and AC just didn’t look comfortable at all. I am not jumping the gun on these riders but with the way the class is stacked in 2024, there are bound to be a couple BIG NAME riders who are in this weird 8-12th place spot.
RJ Hampshire: I expected RJ to do this. He is on a similar setting as last year and is the wisest out of all of the racers in the west. Jordan may be the only exception to this but to me, RJ has been in more “race winning” type situations than Jordan so to me, he has the most experience when it comes to clicking off these wins in order to win this title. RJ looked in more control than last year through the whoops and his bike looks to have more low end grunt than where he left it last year. The rhythm before the first set of whoops where you needed to three in, the only other bike that looked better at getting over that was the Star Yamaha. RJ was Rockstar’s Husqvarna saving grace.
Jordan Smith: What is crazy is that Jordan and RJ are the elders of this class but they are also some of the loosest on the 22 man gate. Jordan and RJ will die trying in order to win any given night so this makes me a little skeptical on their consistency over the course of an eight round series. Jordan was my pick to win A1 and RJ was my pick to win the series, but Jordan needs to get out in front early if he wants to beat RJ. I think RJ has more in the tank late in the moto. Jordan needs to win races in order to keep this factory ride going in 2025. He is capable, he just needs starts to make his life easier. He is on the bike to do it, that’s for sure!
Levi Kitchen: I thought Levi would be better. I know he got third but I thought he would be up near RJ a little more. I know he loves his bike and has told people that he feels he can get out of the gate more consistent on the PC bike, but he will need a little more raw speed to catch the two in front of him.
Julien Beaumer: Surprise of the night would be this guy. I have seen this kid a lot since I am at these amateur races all the time with Aden. I didn’t feel like he was that special when observing his style/speed at these amateur motocross events we have gone to. Watching Ju-Ju handle the A1 track was something else. His entrance to the whoops is impressive and he looks like he genuinely doesn’t give a crap who is behind him or lined up next to. To be able to come in and handle the pressure of A1 as well as be top three in times all day is really special. He also led a lap in the main which is another check off a goal I am sure. Oh and did I mention he is the only one on the new 2024 KTM 250 FE frame? Yep…
