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2026 Carson SuperMotocross Research

By Brett Smith

Welcome to Carson, California…. where it’s sunny 260-280 days a year!

Carson, California is an independent city 13 miles due south of downtown Los Angeles.

  • Population: 95,000
  • The “Jewel of the South Bay”, Carson is 9 miles north of Long Beach.
Venue Facts

Dignity Health Sports Park houses several venues, including the soccer stadium (SMX race site), a tennis stadium, a track and field facility and a velodrome. The facts below are for the soccer stadium:

  • Capacity: 27,000
  • Opened: June 2003
  • Main tenant: LA Galaxy, one of the 10 charter members of Major League Soccer.
  • The LA Galaxy have won 6 MLS Cups, most of all teams (recent: 2024)
  • DHSP is 12 miles south of LA Memorial Coliseum, site of the 2023 SMX Finals.
  • DHSP will be the 5th different SMX League venue in the LA area (Anaheim, LA Memorial, Rose Bowl, Dodger Stadium
2028 Olympics

DHSP will host five different events in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics:

  • Rugby Sevens and Archery will be in the main soccer stadium.
  • Tennis, Track Cycling and Field Hockey will be in their sport-specific venues at DHSP.

450 SMX Rider Facts

  • Haiden Deegan joins Hunter Lawrence as the second rider to win in both classes in SMX playoff history.
  • Yamaha earned its first ever 450SMX overall win with Haiden Deegan, breaking Honda’s SMX win streak at 9.
  • Haiden Deegan’s +17s moto win margins were the largest in 450SMX history
  • Haiden Deegan (26) has the 5th most laps led in SMX playoff history, 11 more laps led than Ken Roczen (15)
  • Just 4 riders have competed in all 10 SMX Playoff rounds: Ken Roczen, Dylan Ferrandis, Cooper Webb and Shane McElrath
  • Jorge Prado is the only riders to finish on the podium in all 3 opening round races in 2026 (SX+MX+SMX).
  • 10 total holeshots for Jorge Prado this season.
  • Cooper Webb did what he does – finished 9-3 for 4th overall and sits just -4 points behind Prado. He had 5 laps inside the top 25 fastest in moto 2.
  • Dylan Ferrandis quietly had a good day in Columbus. He went 4-9 for 6th overall and now sits 5th in the standings. Notable considering he was 22nd at the white line in moto 2!
  • Aaron Plessinger made up +15 positions between the 1st and last lap across both motos. He came in a 15th seed and is now ranked 8th.
  • Joey Savatgy was at home in the mud – he was 5th and 4th fastest across the two motos and ultimately finished 5th overall.

250 SMX Rider Facts

  • Levi Kitchen is the SMX series leader for the first time in his career. His previous best was 2nd in Concord 2024.
  • Until Columbus, Jo Shimoda had never been outside the top five in an SMX moto.
  • There are just 3 riders who have started all 10 SMX 250 playoff races – Jo Shimoda, Levi Kitchen, and Ryder Difrancesco.
  • Cole Davies (22) and Daxton Bennick (4) are the eleventh and twelfth riders to lead laps in SMX playoff history. Davies now has the 5th most laps led!
  • Daxton Bennick’s M1 win at Columbus was a first for him and Husqvarna in the SMX Playoffs.
  • Julien Beaumer had a disastrous day in Columbus, dropping 5 positions in the standings. He could only muster 16th and 19th fastest in each moto and mistakes cost him -17 positions from 1st to last lap.

SMX Career Bests

Columbus winners Haiden Deegan (450) and Levi Kitchen (250) were just two of the many riders who earned career bests in the mud. The list below is for SMX Playoff bests.

450s
  • Ken Roczen has now finished 2nd overall in 4 of his 10 career SMX playoff starts.
  • Shane McElrath (8th overall) gets his career best SMX playoff finish in his first race aboard Beta.
  • Note Haiden Deegan (1st), Jorge Prado (3rd), Jordon Smith (9th), Cornelius Tondel (20th), and Mikkel Haarup (21st) all had bests but it was also their first 450 SMX start.
250s
  • It was just Levi Kitchen’s second overall podium in 10 SMX playoff starts.
  • The top 4 riders all had career best finishes in Columbus.
  • Ryder DiFrancesco (3rd) earned his first podium and just his second top 5 SMX overall finish in 10 starts.
  • Note Caden Dudney (6th), Landen Gordon (8th), Marshal Weltin (14th), and Kayden Minear (15th) all had bests but it was also their first 250 SMX start.

Deegan Dominated

Haiden Deegan has won his first career overall in his 12th premier class start and in his first SMX start (Chase Sexton is the only other rider to do that in the first ever SMX race).

Sure, it was a mud race, but the facts show he didn’t have a weakness. Tough to argue that starts would’ve been impacted by mud and he was top of the class in both of them…

The fact that he won the race isn’t entirely surprising given he had 7 podiums in 11 Pro Motocross starts this summer. What’s more impressive is how he won…

  • Won both motos by 17 seconds over Ken Roczen – biggest victory margin in SMX playoff history.
Largest Moto Win Margins – 450SMX
  • Averaged 1.5 position on lap 1. He was 2nd in moto 1 and 1st in moto 2.
  • Moto 1 Speed
    • He was fastest rider on the track
    • He set 5 of the 10 fastest laps of the race
  • Moto 2 Speed
    • He was second fastest on the track
    • He set 6 of the 10 fastest laps of the race
  • He led 26 of of the total 27 laps.

450 Points Movement

Eight of the top 10 riders in the 450SMX standings moved around, four of them by five (or more) positions.

  • Noteworthy #1: Hunter Lawrence, -5 after Playoff #1, is the biggest tumble ever for a #1 seed (450SMX)
  • Noteworthy #2: Haiden Deegan and Ken Roczen came into the Playoffs as the #7 and #11 seeds. Six (6) is the lowest seed to win this title (Jett Lawrence 2024)
  • If Hunter Lawrence wins in Carson, Jorge Prado keeps the points lead with a 2nd.
  • If Hunter Lawrence wins in Carson and Deegan finishes 2nd, Deegan take the points lead.
  • +6 and 4th in points is huge for Ken Roczen’s title hunt. He was the #11 seed in 2025 but only moved to 8th after Playoff #1.
Championship Points Movement after Playoff #1 (450SMX)

#1 Seed Woes

The #1 seed has won the SMX World Championship in just 1 of 6 series dating back to 2023 – Haiden Deegan, 2024.

  • After the first round this year, the #1 seeds have dropped to 6th (Hunter Lawrence) and 3rd (Cole Davies).
Hunter’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Hunter Lawrence summed up his round 1 with, “It sucked. I sucked”.

  • He didn’t have his customary great starts: he was 9th and 17th on the first lap.
  • He didn’t have great speed: he was 19th and 9th fastest in the motos.
  • Hunter’s fastest lap in M1 was the 118th fastest lap overall. That was 13 seconds slower than Haiden Deegan’s fastest lap.
  • Not all was terrible… he did rally in moto 2 when he went from 14th to 8th in the final 2 laps of the race.
  • It should be noted that had he stayed in 14th place, he would have finished 20th (2 pts.) instead of 15th overall (7-pts.) and be 8th in points instead of 6th.
Haiden vs. Hunter: Playoff #1

His (two) wrist injuries have been talked about but in the same post-race interview that he said his day sucked, he talked about his bike not working optimally in wet conditions all season.

Looking forward to what is sure to be dry conditions in Los Angeles, Hunter has a lot of reasons to be happy.

  • He is 3-0 at Playoff #2.
    • 2023: 1-1 @ Chicago (250SMX)
    • 2024: 1-3 for 1st @ Forth Worth (450SMX)
    • 2025: 1-3 for 1st @ St. Louis (450SMX)
Cole’s Meh Day

While Hunter Lawrence didn’t have much to be excited about, Cole Davies dominated (aside from that pesky mechanical).

  • He averaged 1st on the 1st lap.
  • He set the fastest lap in each moto.
  • He set 6 of the 10 fastest laps in each moto.
  • He set the 5 fastest laps in moto 1!
  • He led 22 of 26 laps – every single lap that his bike was running

His challenge now is a 10 point deficit – the delta between 1st and 3rd overall at the double points round two.

250 Points Movement

Every single rider in the top 10 of the 250SMX standings moved around, four of them by five positions or more.

  • Levi Kitchen leads the SMX Standings for the first time ever.
  • If Cole Davies wins in Carson, Kitchen keeps the points lead with a 2nd. They would be tied if Kitchen finishes third.
  • Fun Fact: Kitchen, Davies and Nate Thrasher all have points totals that match their riding numbers.
  • Biggest mover (+): Max Vohland’s 4th moved him from 18th to 9th!
Championship Points Movement after Playoff #1 (250SMX)

Levi Kitchen

2-2 for 1st overall has an inglorious feel to it but Levi Kitchen isn’t going to grovel about how his first 250SMX win happened.

  • NOTE: Overall wins are the top tie-breaking tier in the Playoffs (Moto wins are the tiebreakers in MX)
  • This was the second time this season that Levi Kitchen finished 2-2 for 1st overall (Hangtown National)
  • Kitchen has one 250SMX moto win (Los Angeles 2023, M2).
  • Major silver lining for Levi were his starts in Columbus: he was 3rd in M1 and 5th in M2, far better than his regular season averages (see below)
Levi Kitchen 2026 Regular Season

SMX NEXT World All-Stars

  • There are two active riders with wins in SMX World All-Stars and both led laps last weekend…
    • Kade Johnson has now finished 6th (Concord ‘25), 3rd (St Louis ‘25), and 1st (Columbus ‘26)
    • Ryder Malinoski has finished 22nd (Vegas ‘24), 25th (Concord ‘25), 1st (St Louis ‘25), and 14th (Columbus ‘26).
  • Kade Johnson is the only rider with more than 1 podium in SMX World All-Star events.
  • There are 5 active riders with at least 1 podium in SMX World All-Star events…
    • 2 – Kade Johnson
    • 1 – Ryder Malinoski, Carson Wood, Vincent Wey, and Wyatt Thurman
  • Jesson Turner was fastest qualifier last week in Columbus but finished 8th in the moto. He has 2 podiums in SMX Next – Daytona and RedBud 2025 (3rd)
  • Landon Gibson has the most SMX Next starts (17) and is tied for most podiums (5) among active riders. He finished 4th in Columbus.
2026 Standings