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2026 San Diego SX Research

By Brett Smith

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 15 events. Only Ryan Dungey (2) and Eli Tomac (3) have multiple 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.
  • Last year we were treated with an epic Eli Tomac vs. Jett Lawrence battle. Tomac ultimately won his 53rd main event and notched a victory in 11 consecutive seasons (breaking a tie with James Stewart for wins in 10 consecutive seasons).

450 Rider Facts

  • Eli Tomac now has 86 premier class wins (450SX+MX). He’s 3rd all-time, 1 win behind Jeremy McGrath (87 wins). See table below.
  • Eli Tomac has won 2 of the last 3 visits to San Diego (2023 and 2025). While Tomac averages 8th at A1, he averages a significantly improved 3rd at round 2.
Eli Tomac’s SD Stats
  • Eli Tomac is the 9th different KTM rider win a 450SX or MX overall.
  • 4 different countries took the top four spots at A1 (USA, Germany, Spain, Australia)
  • Before Anaheim 1 2026, the last time Suzuki had two riders in the top 5: San Francisco 2024 (Ken Roczen/ Shane McElrath).
  • Suzuki has a Top 5 finish 35 times in the last 5 years. 32 are Ken Roczen, 2 from Shane McElrath, and 1 from Jason Anderson (A1 2026).
  • Ken Roczen now has 77 career 450SX podiums, one more than Cooper Webb.
  • Ken Roczen now has 52 heat wins – most among active riders. He extends his lead over Eli Tomac (49).
  • Chase Sexton was fastest qualifier. That was the first time since Rd 6 2024 (Glendale) that Kawasaki (Jason Anderson) has topped qualifying – nearly two years ago!
  • Chase Sexton now averages 6th at the first round. Will he get better at the second round?! He’s historically averaged 8th at round 2 – his second worst round.
  • 8th was Chase Sexton’s worst 450SX finish since Denver 2024 where he finished… 8th.
  • Cooper Webb has averaged 3rd in San Diego since 2019 (moving to KTM from Yamaha). His last 5 San Diego results are 1-4-2-2-3. Expect to see Webb on the podium this Saturday!
  • Big leaps for Hunter Lawrence at A1: 2024 (DNQ), 2025 (11th), 2026 (4th)
  • Aaron Plessinger has won here (2024) and DNF-ed (2025) in the last two years. He’ll be looking to improve upon his 10th at A1 though he’s only been Top 5 once in 6 starts in San Diego.
  • Aaron Plessinger’s LCQ win was only his 3rd LCQ start, 2nd win, and first LCQ since Rd 13 Atlanta 2023 nearly 3 years ago.
  • Last time we had 2 KTM riders on a podium was East Rutherford 2025 with Chase Sexton 1st and Aaron Plessinger 3rd. That combination happened 3x in 2025.
Rocky Rookie Debuts
  • RJ Hampshire (18th) and Garrett Marchbanks (DNQ) had a rough opener. A crash in the whoops left Marchbanks outside of transfer in the LCQ. RJ also had at least one crash in the main event.

250 Rider Facts

  • First podium for Ryder Difrancesco in his 13th 250SX start. Note Ryder D started last season with a 4th (A1) and 5th (SD) before a practice crash sidelined him for the year.
  • The 6 laps led by Ryder Difrancesco at A1 were the first of his career.
Anstie’s Near Perfect A1

  • Max Anstie has 2 starts in San Diego – 2010 (it was his 5th career start) and 2012. His best finish was 4th in 2010.
  • Haiden Deegan was fastest qualifier in San Diego 2025 but went on to finish 3rd in the main event after rounding the first lap in 8th position.
  • This will be Chance Hymas’ first start in San Diego.
  • Change is good; Chance Hymas (2nd) got his second career podium at A1. His first was a win in the Foxboro mud of 2025. Overall great day qualifying 3rd, 1st lap pos in the main of 3rd, 5th fastest lap, and a podium.
  • This will be Levi Kitchen’s 3rd career start in San Diego. He finished 21st and 5th in 2023 and 2024.
  • Yamaha took 9 of the top 15 spots in the A1 main event.
  • Crockett Myers put a Suzuki RM-Z 250 in the main event for the first time since Salt Lake City 2024.

All-Time Eli Tomac

Eli Tomac’s Anaheim 1 win yielded several historical talking points but here’s one to discuss as we head into San Diego (where Tomac has 3 wins and 4 podiums in 12 starts):

  • Tomac is just one premier class win away from tying Jeremy McGrath for 2nd most 450 SX+MX wins all-time.
Most Premier Class Wins All-Time (SX+MX)
More Tomac Magic (450SX)
  • 185 starts: sole possession of 7th all-time (-5 to Larry Ward and Justin Brayton)
  • 54 wins (2nd all-time)
  • 12 straight years with at least one win (1st).
  • One of two riders to win on 4 OEMs (Reed)
  • Laps led: 1,025 (most among active riders)
  • Podiums: 103 (3rd, -8 to Jeremy McGrath)
Eli Tomac and Chad Reed are the only rider to win on 4 brands.
More Tomac Notables

Tomac led all 20 laps at A1!

  • The last 450SX race where Tomac led every single lap was 2024 St. Louis (TC3, 14 laps).
  • The last 450SX main event where Tomac led every single lap: Houston 2023 , Feb. 4. (23 laps)
  • The last time Eli Tomac won back to back 450SX races was 2023, rounds 11/12.

Prado Podiums

This wasn’t supposed to happen and even Jorge Prado would tell you that. In fact, he did, after the race:

I can’t even think about standing on the podium right now,” he said. “This shouldn’t be now, it should maybe be at the end of the year or maybe next year, not Round 1

–Jorge Prado
  • Jorge Prado is the 123rd different rider to earn at least ONE 450SX podium since 1974.
  • 24 riders have a single career podium and three of them (Jorge included) are still competing today.
  • In just his 7th 450SX start, the Spaniard earned a 3rd at the biggest race of the season when he only previously had one top 10 (in the 2024 San Fran muck).
Prado’s Supercross Finishes

250 Title Favorites Falter

Haiden Deegan and Levi Kitchen started the A1 main event with bad starts – both rounded the 1st lap outside the top 10. Deegan was 12th and Kitchen 20th. One of the primary Fast Power Index inputs, starts are critical to success and both favorites put themselves in a hole.

But you can’t take anything away from Max Anstie, he got a good start AND set the fastest lap of the main event. Kitchen was 2nd fastest and Deegan 4th fastest.

And props to the ‘kids’, Chance Hymas and Ryder Difrancesco who delivered great starts and good speed. What’s critical to keep an eye on is whether they can up that speed. If the favorites don’t falter on the start, their speed was just off the pace and likely bumps them from a podium.

Reminder: Dad’s Welcome

This was a story in the Anaheim 1 preview and lo and behold, the ‘old guys’ delivered wins! In fact, the combined age of last weeks A1 winners is the oldest combination in the history of the sport.

Oldest 250 Supercross Winners

Max Anstie’s Anaheim 1 250SX West win broke a nearly three-decade old record.

At 32 years, 8 months, and 16 days, Anstie was exactly one day older than John Dowd was on April 25, 1998 when he won the Irving Supercross at 32 years, 8 months, and 15 days.

Fun fact: Dowd originally set this record on Anstie’s 5th birthday.

Oldest 450 Supercross Winners

Eli Tomac continues to rewrite the record books in a lot of different ways, performance + longevity is one of them.

11 different riders have won 29 main events at the age of 30 or more years. Eli Tomac is 1 of the 11 but represents over one third (10 of 29) wins! Kevin Windham is the next closest with 5 wins at 30 years or older.

Milestones

Achieved
  • Ken Roczen made his 250th SX+MX start at A1. He broke a tie with Jason Thomas (249) for 14th all-time.
450s
  • Eli Tomac…
  • With a win, Hunter Lawrence or Justin Cooper would be the 70th to win a Supercross main event (25th 1x winner).
  • 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 5th and +4 starts and he joins 4 other riders to start 300 in the history of the sport.
  • Ken Roczen needs 1 more win to tie Jeff Ward (45) for 10th all-time SX+MX premier class wins.
  • With a win, Jason Anderson and/or Chase Sexton would be the 10th rider to win on 3 OEMs.
  • Jason Anderson (53) needs 1 more podium to tie Jeff Stanton (54) for 13th all-time.
250s
  • Micheal Mosiman will make his 60th start in 250 Supercross in San Diego – it’s the most among active 250 West riders.