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2026 Daytona Supercross Research

By Brett Smith

Welcome to the World Center of Speed!

Daytona is the the only event on the Supercross schedule to run uninterrupted for the entire 52 years of the championship and it’s dirt bike history pre-dates the series.

  • The Daytona Supercross is being held in February for the first time ever.
  • 1974: The first round of “The Yamaha Super Series of Motocross”, what we now know as the Monster Energy Supercross Championship. Pierre Karsmakers won.
  • 1973: Daytona was the opening round of the Pro Motocross Championship. Bob Grossi (250) and Pierre Karsmakers (500) were the winners.
  • 1971: First race. A motocross, the “Daytona M-X” was the final round of the Winter-AMA Series.

450 Rider Facts

  • Hunter Lawrence got his first win in his 26th start. 19 of the 70 premier class Supercross winners got their first win after start #26, including champions Cooper Webb (28), Johnny O’Mara (33), and Jeff Emig (66)
  • Rex Staten, Jeff Stanton, Rick Johnson, Marvin Musquin, (and now Hunter Lawrence) all got their first premier class win on exactly their 26th start.
  • Chase Sexton hasn’t gone this long without a podium since the very beginning of his 450SX career (2021).
  • Sexton earned his first podium in his 7th premier class start (Atlanta 1, 2021, 2nd). He’s now gone 4 straight rounds without a top 3 finish, the longest drought since his 2021 debut.
  • Sexton’s career Daytona finishes: 8-3-3-3-5.
  • Sexton is a 2-time Fastest Qualifier at Daytona (2023, 2025)
  • Hunter Lawrence set the fastest lap of the main for the the first time this season and his career.
  • Ken Roczen is 4th in points (-18), yet he has led 61 laps in 2026, most of all 450SX riders.
  • Cooper Webb has two consecutive main event holeshots for the first time in his career.
  • This is the 8th consecutive year with at least 5 winners. The longest 5-winner streak is 9 (1977-1985)

250 Rider Facts

  • Pierce Brown won in his 37th career start – only 5 riders have got their first win after their 37th start (see below for more details)
  • Yamaha has won all 7 250SX main events this season. They won 10 in 2021 (most ever in a season by Yamaha)
  • Yamaha has not won the Daytona Supercross (250SX) since 2016 (Jeremy Martin). Before that, it was 2002 (Chad Reed)
  • Nate Thrasher’s career opening round finishes: 11-12-15-21-8-11. He averages 13th at the opening round.
  • Thrasher’s round 2 average is marginally better (10th) but he at least has three top 5s in his second round appearances.
  • Daxton Bennick’s career opening round finishes: 3-2-3 Round 2, however: 10-DNS (concussion).
  • 4 of the 7 “Hard Chargers” in the 250 class were Star Yamaha riders: Cole Davies (+13 to 5th), Nate Thrasher (+9 to 11th), Caden Dudney (+6 to 13th), Pierce Brown (+2 to 1st)
  • Seth Hammaker and Pierce Brown are the only current riders in 250SX East to have ever been on the podium at Daytona.
  • Hammaker has a pair of thirds (2024-2025) and Brown was third in 2021

Seeing Double: Two First Time Winners

Pierce Brown (250) and Hunter Lawrence (450) each earned their first career wins in their classes.

Two riders getting their first career victory on the same day is rare.

  • The Arlington wins mark the 11th time in 42 years (more than 650 events) that first time class winners have won on the same night!

It’s almost as rare as a rider leading the premier class series without a victory.

Remember, Hunter Lawrence and Jeff Matiasevich are the only riders to ever do that… and come to find out, both Hunter and Jeff’s first wins in the premier class were with a first time winner in the small bike class! Hunter Lawrence got his first with Pierce Brown while Jeff Matiasevich got his with none other than The King Jeremy McGrath.

First Time Winners on the Same Night

The Unlikely Winner – Pierce Brown

Controversy aside, Pierce Brown won his first 250 main event in his 37th start (7th season). There are only 5 other riders who got their first win after their 37th start.

Notable: Doug Henry got his first win in his 37th start (Atlanta) in 1993 and went on to win the East division title in his 5th season. Can Pierce Brown repeat this feat 30 years later?!

First 125/250 SX Win After 37th Start

Eli Tomac’s Dominance @ Daytona

Like Cooper Webb in Arlington, Eli Tomac has been dominant in Daytona. He’s won 7x in 11 starts. While not all of his wins were done in the same fashion as his first back in Daytona victory in 2016 (fastest qualifier, won his heat, holeshot main, led every lap, and won), we’ve seen beast mode a LOT in the unique layout of Daytona.

  • Eli Tomac is 1 of 3 riders with 5+ wins at 3 or more venues (MC 7 venues, RC 3 venues, Eli 3 venues)
  • 5 wins in a row from 2019-23. To put this in perspective…
    • There’s only 12 riders with 5 or more wins at a specific location
    • There’s only 36 riders in the history of the sport with 5 or more wins.
    • He has more wins at Daytona than 42 of the 70 premier class winners have in total.
  • He only led 4 and 3 laps in 2020 and 2022, respectively. Notably these were his championship seasons.
  • While he’s led 80 laps at Daytona, it’s only the 5th most at a venue. He’s led more at Glendale (122), Anaheim (115), St Louis (95), and Arlington (82).
  • Hasn’t won since 2023. Second to Jett Lawrence in 2024 and missed 2025 due to injury.
Tomac Daytona Finishes

The thing about Eli and Daytona, he’s been 1st or 2nd in 10 of 11 starts. If he doesn’t win, he’s finishes 2nd. The one time he finished off the podium was his final season racing 250’s.

  • Eli Tomac hasn’t finished worse than 2nd since becoming a full-time premier class rider!
Most 450SX Wins at a Single Venue
  • Similar to Cooper Webb last weekend, Eli Tomac has an opportunity to move into a tie with MC/RC/Stew/Reedy for 2nd most wins at a venue.

Cooper Webb is ALSO Good @ Daytona

You can argue that Cooper Webb is better at Daytona than Arlington – he’s averaged a 2.5 finish in 8 starts vs. Arlington where he’s averaged 3.8 in 12 starts. The difference… he’s won 7x in Arlington and not once in Daytona and he’s well aware of it. Daytona is one of those races he really wants to win.

Webb – Arlington vs. Daytona
Webb Daytona Finishes
  • He’s never won at Daytona.
  • He finished 2nd three years in a row 2021-23
  • 2022 is his most notable 2nd place finish. He got the holeshot and led the first 15 laps of the race only to succumb to Eli Tomac with 3 laps remaining.
  • His only finish off the podium was 2024 when Jett Lawrence won and Eli Tomac and Chase Sexton rounded out the podium.

SMX Next Returns to Action

Last year, Landen Gordon won the Daytona SMX Next race over Enzo Temmerman and Jesson Turner. He got the holeshot and led all 3 laps. It was his second consecutive win in his then 4th SMX Next indoor start. This seson, Landen Gordon has finished 3rd at both Anaheim 2 and Houston.

  • Caden Dudney had gone 2nd and 1st at the first two SMX Next indoor rounds this season and just finished 13th in his pro debut last weekend at Arlington.
  • Vincent Wey has 5 career SMX Next indoor starts with a best finish of 4th at Anaheim 2. He was running upfront in Houston as well before a crash in the whoops set him back to finish 12th.
  • Keep an eye on Jesson Turner – he’s finished 3-6-6-4 in his 4 career SMX Next indoor starts. His best of 3rd was here at Daytona in 2025.
  • Deacon Denno has 4 career starts in SMX Next indoors including a best finish of 2nd in Houston.
  • Kade Johnson (6 SMX Next indoor starts) has finished 16th and 22nd (crashes in both) in his 2026 SMX Next starts, but he previously won in Foxboro 2025.

Milestones

450 Achieved Last Week
  • Hunter Lawrence became the 70th rider in Supercross history to win.
  • Eli Tomac (191) is now 5th all-time starts and just one shy of tying Nick Wey (192) for 4th all-time.
  • Ken Roczen (256) tied Heath Voss for 10th all-time SX+MX.
  • Cooper Webb (80) tied Ken Roczen for 7th all-time SX podiums.
450s
  • Eli Tomac…
  • Eli Tomac (296) needs one more start to tie Larry Ward (297) for 5th all-time SX+MX
  • Ken Roczen (80) needs +1 podium to tie Mike LaRocco for 6th all-time.
  • Ken Roczen (6,472 pts) needs just +9 points to tie Ryan Dungey (6,481 pts) for 6th all-time SX+MX.
  • Cooper Webb and Ken Roczen (80) needs one more podium to tie Mike LaRocco (81) for 6th all-time SX.
  • Cooper Webb (32) wins SX+MX needs one more to tie Jett Lawrence (33)
  • With 296 SX+MX starts, Justin Barcia is 4 starts shy of 300. He’s ranked 6th all-time now. +1 start and he ties Larry Ward (297) for 6th and +4 starts and he joins 4 other riders to start 300 in the history of the sport.
  • With a win, Jason Anderson would be the 12th rider to win on 3 OEMs.
  • Jason Anderson (53) needs 1 more podium to tie Jeff Stanton (54) for 13th all-time.
250 Achieved Last Week
  • Jo Shimoda (3,069 pts) passed Erik Kehoe (3,066 pts) for 7th all-time SX+MX.
250s
  • Jo Shimoda (39) needs 1 more podium to tie Dylan Ferrandis, Guy Cooper, and Mark Barnett (40) for 15th all-time SX+MX
  • Jo Shimoda (906 points) needs 7 to tie Christian Craig (913 pts) for 17th all-time.
  • Notable that Jo Shimoda has the most starts (52 – tied 36th all-time) of all riders in the East division.

Trivia

  • Who was the 2025 Supercross champion? Cooper Webb.
  • Who was the 2025 250 West Supercross champion? Haiden Deegan.
  • Who was the 2024 250 East Supercross champion? Tom Vialle.
  • How many wins does Eli Tomac have in Daytona? 7.
  • How many wins does Cooper Webb have in Arlington? 7.
  • Who won the main event last week in Arlington? Hunter Lawrence.
  • Who won Daytona in 2025? Ken Roczen.
  • How many Supercross wins does Eli Tomac (2nd all-time) have? 56.
  • How many consecutive years has Eli Tomac won a premier class Supercross race? 12.
  • How many years has Ken Roczen won a premier class Supercross race? 11.
  • 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 last week in Arlington? Eli Tomac.
  • How many premier class Supercross titles has Cooper Webb won? 3.
  • Who won the 250 East division main event last weekend in Arlington? Pierce Brown.
  • Was Max Anstie the oldest rider to ever win a main event at Anaheim 1? Yes.