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2026 Salt Lake City Supercross Research

By Brett Smith

To the Beehive State!

Salt Lake City, the “Crossroads of the West” hosted its first Supercross in 2001 and has been a series staple since. SLC has been the season finale since 2020.

  • Cooper Webb is the all-time SLC wins leader (4 wins; 3 in 2020 and 1 in 2021)
  • Chase Sexton is looking for his 4th consecutive win in SLC (2023, 2024, 2025)
  • 24 total rounds of Supercross have been held in SLC, 13 unique 450SX winners.
  • Haiden Deegan is looking for his 3rd consecutive 250SX win in SLC (2024, 2025)
  • Salt Lake City, Utah, will host the XXVII Olympic Winter Games (2034), 32 years after hosting the 2002 Winter Games.

450SX Facts

  • Those 5 runner-up finishes Hunter Lawrence had in the first half of season could be the key to the championship (more info below).
  • Prior to 2026, Ken Roczen had not held the red plate past round 9 (2021). He now enters the final round of the season with the red plate and a 1 point lead. How. Cool. Is. That!?
  • Hunter Lawrence hadn’t won a premier class main event until 2026. He’s now won 5 and is just 1 point and 1 race from a sport first: he and brother Jett Lawrence would be the first Supercross championship winning siblings.
  • Ken Roczen was -31 points out of the lead halfway through the season! If he pulls off this title, it’d be the biggest comeback since 1983 when David Bailey was -47 out of first.
  • Notably, in 2023, Chase Sexton was -25 after 12 rounds.
  • Cooper Webb has just 1 win this season – the lowest win total since going winless in 2022. It’s not all bad – he’ll finish top 3 in the standings for the 7th time in the last 8 years.
  • Eli Tomac is now tied for 2nd all-time with Jeremy McGrath with 111 premier class Supercross podiums.
  • You know why we KNOW for certain Eli Tomac is returning next year – he’ll have 199 premier class Supercross starts after Salt Lake City.
  • Justin Cooper’s L.1 position is 9.6 in 2026 vs. 6.3 in 2025. He will likely finish 5th in the standings (3rd in 2025).
  • Chase Sexton has finished 2-22-4-4-7-5 since returning from injury. 1 win and 2 podiums are career lows on par with his rookie 2021 season where he had 0 wins and 3 podiums.
  • Ducati continues to search for a first top 5 finish. Dylan Ferrandis was 6th in Nashville. Justin Barcia was 8th in Denver.
  • Jorge Prado has 3 top 5 finishes this season including a career best 3rd at Anaheim 1. 10th in the standings (missed 3 rounds) is a success for a “learning year”.
  • Joey Savatgy will likely miss the final round with a dislocated wrist and finish 8th in the final standings. He’ll tie a career best in the standings (8th in his rookie 2019 season) even after missing 3 rounds to injury.
  • Justin Hill 9th in the points just +3 points ahead of Factory KTM’s Jorge Prado. He shared in Denver that he’ll be racing some outdoor rounds to keep the momentum going into the SMX Finals.
  • If he makes the main event, Malcolm Stewart (14) will tie Kyle Chisholm (15) for most Salt Lake City 450SX starts.
  • But… if Chisholm makes the Salt Lake City final, he’ll have 16 starts there!

250 Rider Facts

  • 2026 East/West Showdown winners: Cole Davies (Birmingham), Haiden Deegan (St Louis).
  • Haiden Deegan has won 3 of the last 6 East/West Showdowns dating back to 2024 round 17 Salt Lake City.
  • Haiden Deegan is attempting to become the first rider in 125/250SX history to win 4 Showdowns.
  • 4 riders have won 3 East/West Showdowns: Jeff Emig, Kevin Windham, Adam Cianciarulo, and Haiden Deegan.
  • Active 250 East/West Showdown winners: Haiden Deegan (3), Cole Davies (2), Seth Hammaker (1), Max Anstie (1), and Nate Thrasher (1)
  • Levi Kitchen is fighting for 2nd overall in 250SX West. He was 2nd in West in 2024 and 3rd in 2023.
  • Max Anstie is also fighting for 2nd in 250SX West (-7 pts.) 2nd would be a career best. He finished 3rd 2023 (East). This is his 7th season of 250SX.
  • Career Bests @ Denver: Ryder Difrancesco (3rd) tied for career best; Lux Turner (6th); Hunter Yoder (7th), for the fourth time this season!.
  • More career bests @ Denver: Brandon Ray (17th); Keegan Rowley (18th)
  • Of the 3 Star Racing Yamaha riders who raced 250SX this season, Kayden Minear had the best debut (5th). Caden Dudney was 13th in debut and Landen Gordon was 22nd.
  • For the second year in a row, Yamaha has put 8 different riders on the podium. The most by a single brand in a single season is 9 by Kawasaki (1985)
  • Suzuki leads the 450SX points headed into the final round, yet the brand hasn’t had a 250S podium since 2019!

International Mano A Mano

This is winner take all and it’s pretty simple math.

  • If they finish 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th, it’s no tiebreakers necessary. There’s 2 and 3 point differences in these positions and that secures the title for whomever finishes better.
  • If Ken Roczen beats Hunter Lawrence, he wins the title.
  • If Hunter Lawrence beats Ken Roczen 4th vs. 5th (or any other similar combination lower in the field) where it pays a 1 point difference, Hunter will win because he’s he has more 2nd place finishes.

Their seasons are remarkably similar and it’s the moment they collided in Seattle that’s arguably the defining moment of the championship (more below).

94 vs. 96 2026 450SX Season Stats

How We Got Here!

It’s been an incredible season for both Ken Roczen and Hunter Lawrence. Looking at the key moments of 2026, the highs, lows, and shifts in momentum tell a dramatic story. Here’s the recap…

  • Hunter Lawrence finished 2nd in 4 of the first 5 rounds.
  • Ken Roczen finished 8th at Anaheim 2 after battling back from 21st (poor start, crashed on lap 2).
  • Seattle: Hunter Lawrence (running 4th) collided with Ken Roczen (running 3rd) in the sand. Lawrence finished 4th, Roczen finished 10th, an 8-point championship point swing in Lawrence’s favor.
  • Lawrence won 3 of 4 between rounds 7-10.
  • Roczen won 4 of 5 between rounds 11-15.
  • Lawrence / Roczen go 1-2 at Round 16 in Denver.
  • They are now separated by just 1 point entering the final round.

Winner Take All History

Ken Roczen vs. Hunter Lawrence is just the 3rd ‘winner take all’ situation in premier class history.

  • WTA = whoever wins the race is champ. Full stop. The other WTAs were ties:
  • 2006: Ricky Carmichael and Chad Reed were tied headed into round 16/16
  • 1985: Jeff Ward and Broc Glover were locked up headed into round 11/11

Noteworthy: In both 2006 and 1985, none of the tied riders won a race!

  • James Stewart won the Las Vegas 2006. Carmichael (2nd) finished ahead of Reed (3rd) to win the title by +2.
  • In 1985, Johnny O’Mara won the finale held in the Rose Bowl. Jeff Ward (4th) finished one spot ahead of Broc Glover (5th) to win the title by +1
Headed into Final Round: Winner-Take-All Situation
Closest Title Battles Entering Final Round
  • Only once, in the history of the sport, has the outright points leader entering the final round failed to win the championship (1992)
  • Below are the tightest points battles entering the final round.

Yamaha’s Near Perfect Season

Yamaha has officially won the most 250 Supercross division series races in a single season but there’s still something to strive for;

  • Most podium finishes for a single manufacturer in a single season
  • With 3 podium positions up for grabs, Yamaha is currently tied with Kawasaki (2014, 2009) and one behind Honda (1991)
  • NOTEWORTHY: The 1991 season had 18 rounds, one more than the 17 of today.
Most OEM Podium finishes, 250SX

Yamaha has won 15 of 16 rounds. One more opportunity remains to stamp this achievement with authority.

Most 250SX Wins by OEM, Single Season

The Streak

“That was 8 in a row” – Haiden Deegan on the Denver podium.

This is a story of what could’ve, would’ve, should’ve been an 8 win streak and tied for most all-time. Haiden Deegan entered the East/West Showdown in Birmingham, AL with a 5 race win streak and command of the 250 West division.

  • He qualified only 6th fastest but won his heat race (he’s won all of them this season).
  • In the main event he got a horrible start and rounded lap 1 in 10th.
  • Then proceeded to take the lead on lap 16 of 19.

Haiden Deegan won the race but was later docked a position for cutting the track when he crossed markers moving from an outside to inside line. He lost the win; the streak ended.

He wouldn’t re-write the history books (officially). But here’s what it would look like if Birmingham had been a credited win:

Longest 125/250SX Win Streaks

*Reminder that if his Birmingham win had stood it would be 8.

Deegan’s Dominating Season

By measures that are quite obvious, Haiden Deegan has dominated the 2026 250 divisional Supercross season. He clinched 2 rounds early, moved into 3rd all-time 125/250SX wins, and is on the cusp of tying for 2nd all-time.

Here’s one more way to consider how much he’s dominated. In 6 of the 9 rounds he was:

  • Fastest qualifier
  • Heat Race winner
  • Main event winner
  • Note: one of these 9 rounds was a Triple Crown (where he was checks notes also perfect all day)

More perspective…

  • In recorded history (back to 2003), this feat has been accomplished 109 times by 40 different riders or 2.7x per rider.
  • 24 of the 40 riders have done it once or twice.
  • 7 riders have done it 5 or more times…

Most Perfect 250SX Races (Traditional Race Formats)

Bench Racing Debate: If we add in the 2026 Houston Triple Crown, where Deegan was Fastest Qualifier AND swept the Races, he’d have 8 career perfect days already in 250SX.

And maybe most impressive…

  • In 2007, Ryan Villopoto had 7 perfect days.
  • In 2026, Haiden Deegan has had 6 perfect days… with 1 round remaining!!!

Milestones

450 Achieved Last Week
  • Ken Roczen (138 SX+MX podiums) tied Mike LaRocco for 6th all-time.
  • Ken Roczen (8,125 SX+MX points) passed Justin Barcia (8,124 SX+MX points) for 7th all-time
  • Eli Tomac (111 SX podiums) tied Jeremy McGrath for 2nd all-time. Just another 22 to catch the #22 Chad Reed.
450s
  • Ken Roczen (49 SX+MX wins) needs 1 more to join just 9 other riders to reach 50 premier class wins in history.
  • Eli Tomac (380 SX+MX starts) needs 1 more start to tie Kevin Windham (381 SX+MX starts) for 5th all-time.
  • Eli Tomac (113) needs 1 more win to tie James Stewart (114) for the 2nd most wins all-time (all classes, SX+MX).
  • Cooper Webb (32) wins SX+MX needs one more to tie Jett Lawrence (33)
  • Kyle Chisholm (278 SX+MX starts) is just 1 shy of tying Justin Brayton (279) for 8th all-time.

Eli Tomac…


250 Achieved Last Week
  • Haiden Deegan (28 SX+MX wins) broke a tie with Jett Lawrence (27 SX+MX wins) for 4th all-time.
  • Haiden Deegan (14 SX wins) broke a tie with McGrath/Forkner/J Lawrence for 3rd all-time.
  • Haiden Deegan (50 SX+MX podiums) is now tied with Mike Brown for 4th all-time.
250s
  • Haiden Deegan (25 SX podiums) is 1 shy of tying Davalos/McElrath/Hampshire/McAdoo (26 SX podiums) for 4th all-time.