Skip to content

2025 Arlington Preview

By Brett Smith

We’ve got your weekly key stories ready for you. Note that you can always get the latest on a venue’s history via the 2025 SMX Race Center. As always, don’t hesitate to ask questions!


Jerry Welcomes You

Among the original Supercross markets with Daytona, LA & Houston, metro Dallas’ SX history goes back to 1975. Since 2010, Arlington’s AT&T Stadium has been host.

  • This will be the 11th time round 7 has happened in the Dallas area.
  • This will be the 47th round of Supercross in the Dallas area.
  • It will be the 18th time in AT&T Stadium.
  • NOTE: This race is Military Appreciation, A Triple Crown and round five of the 250SX West Division.

Jerry’s Webb’s World

Cooper Webb has found something special in AT&T Stadium. He’s won 6 of the last 8 races held here, including a complete sweep of the 2021 residency AND the 2023 Triple Crown (5-2-1)

What’s new in 2025, is that he’s racing in his favorite building with the red plate, the first time he’s competed in Arlington with (a share of) the points lead.

While it’s not the earliest Webb’s held the red plate – that was round 4 Oakland 2019 – Arlington and red plates hold significance. In both his 2019 and 2021 championship seasons, Webb took final control of the series at Arlington.

  • In 2019, Webb held the series lead at round 4 in Oakland but lost it for two rounds and regained it permanently by winning at round 7 in Arlington!
  • In 2021, Webb didn’t take control of the series till he won at round 10 in Arlington!

Webb has been so good in Arlington, he’s climbing the list of riders with the most SX wins in a single building.

Most 450SX Wins in a Single Venue

Coop vs. Kenny: Ch. 6

Cooper Webb said it best after his Detroit win when he told Vital MX’s Lewis Phillips, “It was an extremely comfortable spot to be in (chasing Kenny).”

Six times now, Webb has run down Ken Roczen to steal a victory. In these six races, 127 laps were run and Roczen led the (very) high majority of them.

  • Roczen led 84% of the laps in these six races (107/127)
  • Webb led just 12% of the laps (15/127)
  • Other riders led the remaining 4% (5 laps).
Webb’s Clutch Wins Over Roczen

Roczen has only returned the favor on Webb once. At Salt Lake City 5, 2020, Webb led the first 3 laps and Roczen the last 26.

Webb admitted after Detroit that getting by Kenny this time wasn’t as easy. “He fought hard and he picked up on some things he used to do wrong,” Webb told Phillips. “He had a lot more fight in him and I mean that in the nicest way possible.”

In 2021 I had a lot of these. I think he would mentally disrupt. I feel bad because it keeps happening to Kenny but I’m dangerous in that position with anybody.

–Cooper Webb after Detroit 2025

Webb now has 26 total 450SX wins. He’s still 10th on the all-time list but one more win would tie him with Bob Hannah for 9th.

The DNA of a Win

Here’s another interesting way to look at how riders have won. The chart below shows laps led against races won. Cooper Webb, for example, only leads 11 laps of every race he wins.

Ken Roczen, on the other hand, leads nearly 19 laps of every race he wins. He’s led 171 more laps and has two fewer race wins.

Kenny doesn’t win when he’s not in the lead early, whereas the majority of Webb’s wins are often late race takeovers.

Wins* (TC Races and Mains) Against Laps Led

*IMPORTANT: Wins in this chart above includes main events and individual TC Race wins, but not TC overalls. We’re listing TC Race wins to completely illustrate HOW riders win.

Getting more granular… (again, these are main events and individual TC Race wins):

  • Webb has 9 career wire-to-wire wins in 29 race wins (31%)
  • Roczen has 18 career wire-to-wire wins in 27 race wins (67%)

Chase Sexton: Comeback Artist

Chase Sexton’s last to third ride was particularly impressive because of two devastating errors on the first lap. Which led us to wonder about other recent comeback rides.

First, we’ll refresh Sexton’s night:

  • On the start, Sexton slammed into the starting gate before it fell. The pack was slightly more than halfway to the first corner before he got free.
  • Coming out of the second corner on the first lap (entering the whoops) he collided with another rider (we think Grant Harlan) and fell. Last again.
  • Somehow, despite all of that, he still managed to finish the first lap in 17th (riders did a lap and a half before a 1st Lap Pos. was established in Detroit).
  • Sexton set the fastest lap of the race on lap 10, over 0.4 faster than Ken Roczen’s fastest lap.
  • Pair up Detroit’s comeback with his 40th-to-1st Hangtown 2024 ride and Sexton is becoming a comeback artist.

Here are some of the biggest SX comebacks (+10 pos-to-podium) since 2013.

Notable SX Comebacks (2013-2025)

Shoutout to a couple of our favorite all-time comebacks:

  • 2002: Ricky Carmichael’s early race high speed loopout in the Pontiac Silverdome left him with a mangle bike and a visor blocking his vision, yet he charged back from 19th place to second. He likely would have passed his teammate Nathan Ramsey if he had just one more lap.
Ricky Carmichael_Pontiac_2002
Ricky Carmichael at the 2002 Pontiac Supercross.
  • 1987: Ricky Johnson got smashed into the haybales in the first turn and finished the first lap in 16th place. Johnson, who couldn’t pass a single rider in eight laps during his heat race, passed them all in the main event and ran down privateer Guy Cooper, who had a 15 second lead by the time RJ got into second and led 18 of the 20 laps. RJ denied Cooper the victory in one of the most exciting races in sport history.
The 1987 LA SX start from the camera of Vern Alary. RJ is about to get slammed.

11 Different Winners in 6 rounds

Eleven different riders have won the 12 points paying overall finishes in the 2025 Supercross season; 5 in 450SX and 6 in the 250SX E/W Divisions. That’s the most ever since the 125/250SX East/West Divisions were created in 1985.

Unique Winners After 6 Rounds

Additionally…

  • 11 different riders have won the 12 LCQs (Gavin Towers is the only repeat)
  • 9 different riders have won the 10 250SX Heat Races (Haiden Deegan is the only repeat)
  • 4 different winners in the 4 250SX West Division races
  • 7 different riders have holeshot the 8 450SX races (Ken Roczen is the only repeat)

With five 450SX winners in the first six rounds, and two key championship hopefuls sidelined with injury, it’s more than reasonable to expect the series to reach 6 (or even 7) unique winners this season.

  • It’s been 10 years since the series saw 6 different winners (2015)
  • The only time the series has seen 6 winners in the first 7 rounds was 1985.
Five Different Winners in First Six Rounds

*In 1985, 6 different winners won within the first 7 rounds of the season, the only time that’s ever happened.

2015: Most Recent 6 Winner Season

Since 1990 there have only been five seasons where (at least) six different winners earn a victory. Those are detailed below.

Six-Winner Seasons (since 1990)

*Round = the round where the 6th different rider got a win.


Triple Crown History and Averages

Unfortunately, Eli Tomac won’t be on the gate, which will END his Triple Crown ‘perfect attendance’ streak (2018-2025 A2). He was the only rider to race every single Triple Crown (18).

Additionally, going back 7 years (9 races), there’s only been two different winners in Arlington: Cooper Webb (6x) and Eli Tomac (3x).

This will be the 4th time (2020, 2022, 2023, and 2025) in the last 6 years AT&T Stadium has hosted the race format. The winners…

  • 2020: Eli Tomac (5-1-1)
  • 2022: Eli Tomac (3-2-2)
  • 2023:Cooper Webb (5-2-1)
  • 2025: = ???

It’s tough to bet against Cooper Webb for the victory here (see above), but especially because he has 4 Triple Crown overalls and 7 race wins (both rank 2nd most all-time behind the injured Eli Tomac).

That said, here’s a bit more history on what it takes to win this format:

  • 1-1-6 = The worst finish in a single race and still won the overall. Eli Tomac did it in 2019 Detroit.
  • 6.2 = the average Olympic points to win. That’s basically three 2nd place finishes.
  • 9 = the most Olympic points scored to win. Cooper Webb went 2-2-5 for the overall at A2 in 2024.
  • It helps to have one great race. The overall winner averages 1.5 race wins.
  • Consistency is key; No overall winner has finished outside the top 3 in more than one race.
  • 3 riders have swept a Triple Crown: Ken Roczen (Glendale 2020), Jett Lawrence (Indianapolis 2024), Eli Tomac (St Louis 2024)
  • 3 riders have won a Triple Crown without winning a single race: Eli Tomac (Arlington 2022), Cooper Webb (A2 2024), and Chase Sexton (Glendale 2025)

All told, there’s been 7 different overall winners and 9 different race winners in the history of Triple Crowns. But the list of winners, both overall and race, are what you’d expect in a traditional main event.

TC Overall and Race Winners

Looking Ahead

Cooper Webb is the clear favorite at AT&T Stadium, but what about the next couple of rounds. Here’s an early look at how the top riders perform in Arlington, Daytona, and Indianapolis. Averages are helpful but can be deceiving so here’s what sticks out…

  • Chase Sexton doesn’t have a single win at Arlington, Daytona, or Indianapolis, but he’s got 7 podiums in 13 starts. He’s likely just looking to get past Arlington…
    • Arlington: 1 podium in 6 starts.
    • Daytona: 3 podiums in 4 starts (3rd three years in a row)
    • Indianapolis: 1 podium in 3 starts, but it’s arguably a home race!
  • Cooper Webb has to be pumped right now. He’s got 17 podiums in 25 starts at the next 3 venues.
    • Arlington: 6 wins, 7 podiums, in 10 starts
    • Daytona: 6 podiums in 7 starts, never finished worse than 4th.
    • Indianapolis: 4 podiums in 8 starts, never finished worse than 7th.
  • Ken Roczen has 6 podiums in 11 starts in Arlington. Amazingly he only has 2 podiums in 10 starts at Daytona. But in Indianapolis he’s got 6 podiums in 11 starts.
  • Jason Anderson has 5 podiums in 11 starts in Arlington (2nd most of any venue after Anaheim). But he’s only got 1 podium in 9 starts at both Daytona and Indianapolis. At media days he commented Indy is not one of his strong points.
Venue Rank – Average Finish (Rank)

Based on riders career 450 average finish at the venue


Milestones

450s
  • Ken Roczen needs +2 points to tie Ryan Dungey for 6th all-time Supercross points.
  • Jason Anderson needs a podium to tie Jeff Stanton for 13th all-time. He’ll also tie Bob Hannah for 15th all-time SX+MX podiums.
  • Justin Barcia needs +15 points to tie Larry Ward for 10th all-time.
  • Cooper Webb needs 1 more win to tie Bob Hannah for 9th all-time.
  • Chase Sexton needs 1 more win to tie Ezra Lusk and David Bailey for 19th all-time.

450 Milestones Achieved in Detroit

  • Kyle Chisholm tied Jeremy McGrath for 8th all-time (173 starts)
  • Cooper Webb tied David Vuilleimn for 20th all-time (129 starts)

250s
  • Jo Shimoda is +11 points from moving into 23rd and +25 points to 22nd all-time Supercross points.

250 Milestones Achieved at Detroit

  • RJ Hampshire tied Ferry, AC, and H Lawrence for 12th all-time Supercross podiums.