Charlotte (SMX)
zMax Dragway
Charlotte Motor Speedway’s zMax Dragway was etched into the record books on September 9, 2023 when the first ever round of the SuperMotocross World Championships ran up and down the lanes of the drag strip. The Queen City is no stranger to Supercross or motocross and it now holds a special spot in the sport’s history.
Fast Facts
Venues
zMAX Dragway was established in 2008 and is the first ever drag strip with four racing lanes and it’s that width that makes a SuperMotocross course possible. The track is adjacent to, and a sister venue to Charlotte Motor Speedway and The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
zMAX was the original, planned venue for one of the two USGPs in 2016, but was moved to The Dirt Track.
On a hybrid track that caused suspension techs to sweat and riders to make critical bike setup decision, Chase Sexton (1-1) played it masterfully to win the first ever round of the SuperMotocross World Championships in the 450 class.
Sexton couldn’t beat his Honda teammate Jett Lawrence (7-2) during the Pro Motocross season, but started the playoffs perfectly as Lawrence struggled to his first ever loss on a 450.
The top four in the overall results were represented by three different nationalities, as the American Sexton was joined by Germany’s Ken Roczen (3-3) in second and France’s Dylan Ferrandis (2-4) in third. Australia’s J. Lawrence was fourth.
Notably, pure privateer Ty Masterpool (11-12 for 11th) who delayed an appendectomy to race the SMX Playoffs, pulled both holeshots at zMax.
Star Racing Yamaha’s Haiden Deegan (1-5) owns the trivia question answer of “who scored the first ever SuperMotocross moto victory”.
After Seth Hammaker (5-8) grabbed the first ever holeshot, Danger Boy tracked down his teammate Levi Kitchen (2-11) and led the final six lap en route to the win.
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Jo Shimoda (4-1) won the second moto to take the overall victory, which paired nicely with his Ironman MX win two weeks earlier.
Tom Vialle (3-2) led 10 laps of the second moto but missed out on the overall win by one point. Hunter Lawrence (9-7) had a rare bad day. He struggled with a pair of early crashes in each moto and finished 8th overall.
Below you’ll find three interactive table: All-time Leaders, Venue Winners, and full Race Results from the Charlotte SuperMotocross round. Each table has several filters. Get in there and get dirty! On mobile, slide left to access more columns.