2025 San Diego Preview
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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!
Welcome to San Diego!
Supercross in “America’s Finest City” stretches back to 1980 when Mike Bell closed out the season in front of 40,000 fans in San Diego Stadium. Some fun facts:
- Chad Reed (6 wins) is the all-time leader in San Diego
- Going back to Reed’s final San Diego win (2011), 12 different riders have won in San Diego. That’s 12 riders in 14 events. Only Ryan Dungey and Eli Tomac have two wins in that span.
- Californian born riders won 12 of the first 15 San Diego races (450SX class) but, Jeremy McGrath (1998) was the last Californian to claim victory.
Click the big red button to learn about the iconic moments, all-time leaders at the venue, past winners, and historical race results…
Sexton’s Starts & Speed
Chase Sexton owns the red plate for the 5th time in his career (4th time as the points leader) but now comes the real test; can he hold it for more than one race? It’s something he’s yet to do in his 450SX career. Here’s the list:
- Salt Lake City 2023 (season finale)
- Anaheim 1 2024 (round 1/defending champ)
- San Diego 2024 (round 3)
- Glendale 2024 (round 6)
- San Diego 2025 (round 2)
He’s also off to the best start of his career, having previously finished 3rd at the opening round the last two seasons.
Sexton’s Round 1 vs. Championship Finish, Premier Class
Maybe most impressive is how he did it – a great start and superior speed. These are both things we’ve collectively noted as ‘problems’ since he joined KTM last season. He shared at the A1 press conference “it’s not a lack of power, it’s about where the power is”. Unfortunately he struggled with starts and speed all last year and the question remained entering this year: ‘had he found the solution’?
Aboard a Honda in 2023, Sexton won the title with superior starts and speed (along with some good fortune) which only highlighted the challenge even more. But in the post-race press conference he mentioned he’d found something on Monday – literally – six days before Anaheim 1.
Better late than never.
Starts & Speed, 2023-25
Now, can he hold onto the red plate for longer than 1 round?!
When SX Gives You Lemons: Defending Champ Disasters
Jett Lawrence’s 12th at A1 is the worst finish of his 450SX career (and ties his worst 450 overall: Hangtown 2024). Here’s a list of defending champions who started their title defense on a low note:
Defending Champion Rd. 1 Disasters*
*We’re defining a disaster as worse than 10th
Two defending champions (who were active in their title defense season) finished outside the top 10 at round one and went on to win the championship.
- 2013: Ryan Villopoto, 16th at A1. RV2 had three major mistakes on this night. He went off the track on lap 5; landed on a Tuff Block while trying to pass James Stewart on lap 8; crashed again on lap 15. Villopoto still won the championship by 33 points over Davi Millsaps.
- 2002: Ricky Carmichael, 20th at A1. RC crashed out on lap 5 and scored a single point. He clawed back and wrapped up the championship a round early. It’s the biggest comeback from a round 1 deficit in Supercross history.
Disaster to Champion Stats
Most recently, Eli Tomac started the 2021 season with a 13th in Houston after TWO(!) altercations with Vince Friese.
Tomac finished THIRD in the championship.
Eli’s Epic Day
Fifth place for Eli Tomac does not tell the whole story of how the rest of his day went. For the first time in nearly 3 years (Indianapolis, March 2022), Eli Tomac was fastest qualifier. And he proved it wasn’t just one lap; he topped both qualifying sessions at Anaheim 1 2025. It was an impressive showing that many had predicted, given his productive off-season preparation.
He backed up his fastest qualifier speed with the 2nd fastest lap across both heats and the 3rd fastest lap (behind Sexton and Roczen) in the main event.
In the final, he was 3rd on the start, into the lead by turn 3 and on his face in turn four, where he got run over and remounted in 21st.
But then he charged back to 5th. His speed and aggressive pace helped him salvage valuable championship points. But the visible head shake getting up after that crash showed his frustration.
MILESTONE ALERT! Speaking of points, he passed Jeremy McGrath for 3rd in all-time Supercross points scored. If he continues as he did at round 1, he’ll pass Mike LaRocco for 2nd all-time at round 15.
All-Time Supercross Points Scored
We spoke with Tomac about his performance and longevity prior to the A1 pre-race press conference and he said “it’s all mental”. Its clear he’s mentally prepared!
It’s all mental.
–Eli Tomac before A1.
The Jo-Jo-Jo Shimoda Show
Jo Shimoda won A1 for the first time in his career. But looking at this even deeper, it was the first time Jo was on the podium at the first round he lined up for in a supercross season. This is his 6th season of 250SX.
He started the day 7th fastest in qualifying and he was 4th in his heat with a lap time that ranked 6th overall. Simply, he hadn’t shown the speed in qualifying or his heat that would have even put him on top in the main event.
That all changed with a 2nd place start AND he set the fastest lap (!) of the main event. Starts and speed. Just like Chase Sexton in the 450s.
Notably, Jo’s also the only rider from Japan to ever win a Supercross race. We’ve seen many international stars have great success – Chad Reed (Australia), Ken Roczen (France), and Jean-Michel Bayle (France) all rank in the top 20 all-time.
While Jo Shimoda has yet to rise to their level, his 3 wins pave the way for future generations. Most impressive, Jo moved to the US as a teenager not speaking English and has now grown to the pinnacle of SuperMotocross, recently taking control of communications with Honda HRC crew members.
International Supercross Winners: 125/250
International Supercross Winners, Combined Classes
Beaumer’s Breakout Day
Julien Beaumer had a career best finish of 6th place (4 times) in 2024, his rookie season. That’s right, he never broke the top 5.
The 18 year old sent a message early on Saturday as the fastest qualifier, then won his heat, and then got his first career Supercross podium. Impressive day for the second youngest rider in the main event. He also showed maturity well past his age.
Julien Beaumer to Vital MX’s Lewis Phillips after the Anaheim Supercross:
I was like, ‘I’m going to go for it when we got halfway’. I saw halfway come up on the pit board–last year’s Ju Ju would have sent it and probably done something he shouldn’t be doing. So I thought to myself, ‘It’s A1, let’s just settle for second.’ We’re three points back now.
–Julien Beaumer after A1.
Much was hyped about the freshly 19 year old Haiden Deegan, but it was another teenager that shined at A1. Now can Beaumer replicate one race for an entire season?
Trivia
- Who was the 2024 Supercross champion? Jett Lawrence.
- Who was the 2024 250 West Supercross champion? RJ Hampshire.
- Who was the 2024 250 East Supercross champion? Tom Vialle.
- Who has the most victories in San Diego (all stadiums)? Chad Reed.
- What active rider has the most victories in San Diego? Eli Tomac.
- Who won their first career Supercross here last season? Aaron Plessinger.
- How many Supercross wins does Eli Tomac (2nd all-time) have? 52.
- With 124 Supercross and Pro Motocross premier class wins, what rider has the most all-time wins? Ricky Carmichael.
- Can you name the 3 rookies that have won the premier class Supercross title? Jeremy McGrath, Ryan Dungey, and Jett Lawrence.
- Who qualified fastest 9x in the premier 450 class last year? Jett Lawrence.
- How many consecutive years has Eli Tomac won a premier class Supercross race? 10 (tied most all-time)
- Who won the 250 West main event last weekend in Anaheim? Jo Shimoda.
Milestones
450s
- With a win, Jett Lawrence or Chase Sexton would break a tie for 20th all-time and have 24 combined SX+MX wins.
- With a win, Eli Tomac will break a tie with James Stewart for most consecutive years with a win in the premier class.
- Eli Tomac needs 1 podium to break a tie with Ryan Dungey for 3rd all-time Supercross podiums.
450 Milestones Achieved at Anaheim 1
- Eli Tomac passed Jeremy McGrath for 3rd all-time in SX points.
- Cooper Webb passed Ricky Carmichael for 13th all-time in SX points.
- Chase Sexton (10) moved into a tie with Broc Glover, Mike Larocco, and Marvin Musquin for 22nd all-time.
- Jason Anderson (51) broke a tie with Marvin Musquin (50) for 15th all-time and is now tied with Rick Johnson (51) for 14th all-time.
250s
- Jordon Smith needs 1 more podium to tie Shane McElrath and Martin Davalos (26) Supercross podiums and 3rd all-time.
- Jordon Smith needs to finish 2nd or better to move into 6th all-time Supercross point.
- Jo Shimoda needs 30 points to move into the top 20 in combined 125/250 SX+MX points.