Shop Rag: 2024 Charlotte SMX Research
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Welcome to Charlotte!
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.
zMAX Dragway was established in 2008 as 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.
For last years iconic moments and race results…
SMX Points Structure and Payout
The points structure was built with a few principles in mind; specifically reward riders for the first 28 rounds, keep everyone in the title fight through the last round, and keep it simple for the fans.
Here’s a breakdown of the SMX points system and payout:
- The top 20 riders earn SMX seeding points based on 17 rounds of Supercross and 11 rounds of Pro Motocross.
- The top rider starts the playoffs with 25 points, while the 20th place rider gets 2 points.
In each playoff moto, riders are awarded points using Olympic-style scoring: 1st place gets 1 point, 2nd place gets 2 points, and so on.
The lower your score, the better. The points from Moto 1 and 2 are added together to determine your championship points payout for each race.
IMPORTANT: ties are broken via the better second moto score. Since championship points are NOT awarded per moto (like they are in Pro Motocross), a 2-2 in SMX will beat a 1-3.
During the 3 World Championship Finals races, the stakes increase each round:
- Playoff 1: The points are the same as seeding (aka single) points.
- Playoff 2: The points double—the winner gets 50 points for an overall win and 21st place earns 2 points.
- At the World Championship Final: The points triple! —the winner earns 75 points, and 21st place gets 3 points.
SMX Points System
The rider in each class with the most combined points from Seeding, Playoff #1, Playoff #2, and the World Championship will be crowned SMX Champion.
Also unique to the SuperMotocross World Championship is a lucrative purse paid out over the 3 individual races as well as the championship in each class (note $10M is paid out over 31 rounds and $5M is in the last 3 rounds). The breakdown is as follows…
450 SMX Purse Payouts
- There’s $250K up for grabs in each of the 3 playoff rounds.
- Additionally, there’s a $3M championship fund for the final standings.
250 SMX Purse Payouts
- There’s just under $150K up for grabs in each of the 3 playoff rounds.
- Additionally, there’s a $1.2M championship fund for the final standings.
2024 SMX Seeding
After 28 rounds of racing (17 SX/11 MX), we have final seeding for each class. At this time, the only top 20 rider confirmed to not be racing the playoffs is Daxton Bennick in the 250s.
450 SMX Seeding
- Only four riders raced all 28 rounds: Chase Sexton, Jason Anderson, Malcolm Stewart, and Shane McElrath.
- Just six different riders won in the 28 rounds of racing – 3 riders had multiple wins (J Lawrence, Sexton, Webb) and 3 riders (Roczen, Tomac, Plessinger) had 1 win.
- Jett Lawrence had the most wins through the first 28 rounds. He won 12 of the 22 races he started – a 55% win percentage.
- There were 10 riders with a podium finish this year – H. Lawrence had 11 podiums in 28 races but no main event wins or overall wins. Anderson (5), Cooper (3), and Barcia (1) also had podiums with no victories.
* Note: purse is winnings from all classes
250 SMX Seeding
There’s a few ‘250 titans’ yet also an incredibly deep field.
- The ‘titans’ are the four riders with multiple wins this season – Haiden Deegan (8 wins, 250MX champion, 2nd in 250SX East), Levi Kitchen (6 wins, 2nd in 250 SX West and 3rd in 250MX), Tom Vialle (3 wins, 250 SX East Champion, 2nd in 250MX), and Hampshire (3 wins, 250SX West champion).
- The ‘depth’ equals seven different riders with one win – Jo Shimoda, Chance Hymas, Jordon Smith, Ty Masterpool, Max Anstie, Nate Thrasher, Cameron McAdoo, and Austin Forkner (not expected to compete).
SMX Playoff Berths and Seeding Details
- The top 20 are automatically given a gate for every round. Note, if a rider in the top 20 is injured or opts out of the SMX Playoffs, that opens one more transfer spot in the LCQ but does not give the 21st rider an automatic spot in the motos.
- Anyone that wins a Supercross main event or Pro Motocross moto gets an automatic bid into the LCQs. Keep in mind, they have to race the LCQ every single round of the playoffs to earn a spot in the motos.
- Top 21-30 get a spot on the LCQ gate and have to finish 1st or 2nd to earn a spot in the motos. Keep in mind there will be invitations for the LCQ if riders are injured or opt-out of the SMX Playoffs.
2024 Look Back – 450 SX & MX
Twenty eight races and two champions. Jett Lawrence won the 450 Supercross title while leading nearly every single statistical category. Chase Sexton did the same to win the 450 Pro Motocross title. Here’s a look back at the highlights and iconic moments from each championship.
450 Supercross
- We started the season with record setting parity. We had the narrowest points gap between the top five through round 4 and didn’t get a repeat winner until round 5.
- Jett Lawrence won the opener – the first rookie to win their first premier class supercross but went 9-4-6 at the next 3 rounds and dropped to 4th in the standings. That was the lowest he fell in the standings. He won 7 of the last 12 rounds, including two 3 race win streaks.
- He won at Daytona consistently executing a quad jump. He broke Eli Tomac’s 5 year win streak. Let’s not forget the fire drill before gate drop when his mechanic struggled to lock the start device and then got the rear tire cover yanked less than two seconds before the gate fell.
- He also swept the Indianapolis Triple Crown event, becoming just the second rider in history to do so (Roczen 2020 Glendale and Eli Tomac would do the same at St Louis later in the season).
- Aaron Plessinger was another first time winner (San Diego). He’s the 68th rider to win a supercross main event and the first from Ohio. Plessinger held the red plate for 2 rounds (A2 and Detroit) but ultimately finished 11th in the championship after missing the last 5 rounds after injuring his elbow in Foxborough.
- Cooper Webb proved again that he’s the greatest close finish artist of all-time. He got his 22nd career win at A2 and broke a tie for 10th all-time with Ken Roczen. Then he won his 23rd at Arlington to re-break the tie with Ken Roczen for 10th all-time. He won again in Seattle ( a +0.592 nail biter over Sexton) and Foxborough (+01.098 over Sexton) where he left as the co-owner of the red plate. Unfortunately a torn UCL in his thumb that occurred back at round nine in Birmingham limited his fight in the last three rounds.
- Chase Sexton won in the mud of San Francisco, his first aboard the KTM, but his second win didn’t come until the final round in Salt Lake City. While he was unable to defend his 2023 title, he did hold the red plate for two rounds and was in contention until round 14 in Nashville when he DNF-ed.
- Eli Tomac won his 52nd main event with a clean sweep of the St Louis Triple Crown, adding to his 2nd most all-time tally.
- Eli has now won a supercross main event in 10 straight years tying James Stewart for the longest run in history.
- Eli also became the sport’s all-time podium leader (SX+MX, all classes) and has since extended that total to 219 podiums.
- Ken Roczen won Glendale in dominating fashion – amazingly it was from a 0.2 second advantage in very short, relatively simple section of the track.
450 Pro Motocross
- Jett Lawrence’s moto win streak ended at 24, tying James Stewart for the 3rd longest moto win streak! He won the first two motos of the season (Pala) but his M1 crash at Hangtown ended the streak. He won 4 of the first 5 overalls of the season before a practice crash and torn UCL ended his season.
- Chase Sexton served notice he’s a contender at Hangtown when he went from 40th to 1st after spinning out in the second turn of the second moto. With Jett Lawrence on the sidelines, Sexton won the last 6 overalls (the 7th longest overall win streak in 450MX history). He won his first ever Pro Motocross title.
- Fun Fact: He won a single moto on a 250, no overalls, and a best of 5th in the series before moving up.
- Fun Fact #2: He’s only the 4th rider in the history of the sport to win the premier class title in his 5th or more season in the class (Howerton 1980, Albertyn 1999, Reed 2009)
- Aaron Plessinger finished 3rd in the championship again, but this was a breakout year. Why!? He had 11 moto podiums vs. 5 last year. Maybe most interesting (or devastating) is that 5 of the 11 moto podiums were 2nd place and all to his teammate. He’s still searching for that first moto win in the premier class.
- Justin Cooper earned his first career 450 podium with 3-3 for 3rd overall at Thunder Valley. He finished his rookie campaign 4th in the standings with 2 overall podiums and 6 moto podiums. He was 1 of the 6 riders to lead laps.
- Malcolm Stewart’s first full pro motocross season since 2013 and he finished 6th in the championship, a significant improvement from 13th over a decade ago.
- Consistent with 10 of 11 rounds between 6th to 10th overall (11th at Southwick).
- He tied a career best 4th overall (6-5) at Budds Creek. Interesting enough, his previous career best was also 4th at Budds Creek in 2013.
2024 Look Back – 250 SX & MX
250 Supercross East
- Austin Forkner won the opener but crashed out of the second round in Arlington. He’s onlt raced 1 complete season (2021 Pro Motocross, 7th) in the last 4 years (2021-24). He’s raced 34% (28 of 82) of possible events in the last 4 years.
- Tom Vialle won the title, but it started with a first turn crash and 18th place at the opening round in Detroit. He finished on 7 straight podiums after Detroit and locked up the title with an 8th in Salt Lake City.
- Vialle won his first career supercross at Daytona At the time, he was the 3rd different winner in 3 rounds to start the series. He took back-to-back victories, winning in Birmingham a week later. The last rider to win their 1st and 2nd supercross mains back-to-back was fellow Frenchman Dylan Ferrandis in 2019.
- Haiden Deegan finished 2nd in the championship as a result of relatively inconsistent performances (16-1-4-9-3-1-6-3-1). He started the season like Vialle, on the ground in the first turn in Detroit where he ultimately finished 16th. He won his first career supercross the next week when Austin Forkner crashed and then his second 4 rounds later in Foxborough – a wire-to-wire win.
- Brian (1997) and Haiden Deegan are the second father/son duo to win supercross main events (Mike and Christian Craig) .
- Cameron Mcadoo (who also fell in the first turn in Detroit and ‘showed his world to us’ – props if you know the Dave Matthews Band reference) was the 4th winner and 4th red plate holder in the first 5 rounds when he won in Indianapolis. His season ended in Nashville, one round later, when he and West coast teammate Levi Kitchen collided (both red plate holders) on the first lap and he finished 22nd. Tom Vialle took over the red plate here and never lets go.
- Notable: Max Anstie held the red plate holder for 2 rounds but a 21st at Birmingham dropped him to 8th in the standings. He won the Philadelphia main event (the 3rd first-time winner in the series).
250 Supercross West
- More parity, 4 different winners won the first 4 rounds of this series (Hampshire at A1, Smith in SF, Thrasher in SD, and Kitchen at A2).
- RJ Hampshire opened the season with a win and the red plate but lost it the next week in the mud of San Francisco. He regained the red plate at the Nashville E/W Showdown when Pro Circuit teammates Mcadoo and Kitchen collided and finished 22nd and 14th, respectively. While he and Kitchen entered the season finale tied, Hampshire won the title with a second place finish (Deegan won).
- Levi Kitchen held the red plate for the majority of the series, but a crash in Nashville and a 14th place finish crushed his title hopes. He won 3 races, A2, his home race in Seattle, and a clean sweep of the Triple Crown (including leading all 35 laps) in St Louis.
- Levi’s 21 second victory in Seattle was the biggest victory margin of 2024 (+21.051)
- He’s only the second 250 rider to ever sweep a Triple Crown (Austin Forkner 2019 Detroit)
- Jordon Smith won in San Francisco and held the red plate for 2 rounds, but a 14th in Seattle ruined his chances at the title. He did however finish in the top 5 in 9 of 10 rounds.
- This is the first time in Jordon’s 10-year career that he finished every single race (both SX+MX).
- Jo Shimoda won in Denver, his first victory in 3 years (SLC 1 2021). He finished top 4 in 9 of 10 rounds but a DNF in the San Francisco mud at the second round kept him from true contention all season.
250 Pro Motocross
- Haiden Deegan won his 1st Pro Motocross title, clinching one round (3 full motos) early at Budds Creek. He did so no matter how it started…
- Series leading 6 holeshots, 3rd best at the white line
- He also survived the big mistakes (M2 RedBud and first turn crash at M2 Spring Creek).
- He only had 2 motos 10th or worse – both came after he clinched the title.
- Tom Vialle got his 1st overall of the year at the last round. This was the first time KTM had won both overalls in 10 years (Ironman 2014). Vialle finished 2nd in the championship in his sophomore year (6th professional year).
- Levi Kitchen finished 3rd in the series after taking over 2nd with a dominating 2-1 for 1st overall at Unadilla. Unfortunately a 2-35 for 11th at the season finale in Ironman allowed Vialle to pass him for 2nd. Nonetheless, he had a breakout season with 3 overall victories and 4 moto wins.
- His team also had great success winning their 300th race. Ty Masterpool went 2-1 for 1st overall at High Point to capture that accolade.
- Chance Hymas got his first career moto victory at Thunder Valley and first overall at RedBud and finished 4th in the championship.
- Notable that a few rough motos were very costly to any championship aspirations, specifically 5-40 for 15th at Spring Creek and 32-36 for 38th at Unadilla.
- Keep in mind, he had just 5 Pro Motocross starts entering this season.
- Another cool story was Triumph getting their first podium with Jalek Swoll going 6-4 for 3rd overall at Unadilla. Triumph had 7 top 5 motosvbetween teammates Swoll and Joey Savatgy. Jalek finished 7th in the championship, Joey 12th.
To Believe or Not to Believe – The SMX Title Favorites
Heading into the SuperMotocross World Championships, there are some clear title favorites in each class. To start, let’s look at each of this seasons Supercross and Pro Motocross champions.
Jett Lawrence
- To Believe: Starts and speed. He was the 2nd best starter this year, averaging 4.5 across his 22 starts – nearly two positions better than Sexton. If he doesn’t get a start, he was fastest in 12 of the 22 races in lined up for this season.
- Not to Believe: It’s only been 66 days since his surgery. He got back on the bike in mid-August. That’s just three weeks before SMX #1.
Chase Sexton
- To Believe: Momentum. He won the last 11 of 14 motos and 6 overalls in Pro Motocross. He’s also been the fastest rider in each of those 6 starts since Jett went out injured (but had only been fastest 4x in the previous 22 starts).
- Not to Believe: Starts. He’s not a bad starter – he’s 4th best on the season with a 6.3 at the white line, but that’s nearly 2 positions worse than Jett. With Eli Tomac and Cooper Webb coming back, he can’t spot Jett Lawrence positions early and expect to win with speed coming thru the pack.
Sexton vs. Lawrence, 2024
Haiden Deegan
- To Believe: Speed. He was fastest rider on the track in 9 of his 20 starts, though it’s heavily skewed towards Pro Motocross where he was fastest 7 of 11 rounds.
- Not to Believe: Start consistency. He had the most holeshots (16 of 31), but he’s averaging 7.2 at the white line. Half of his starts in Pro Motocross (11) were outside the top 10!
RJ Hampshire
- To Believe: FSA – Full Speed Ahead Mode. The 250 SX West champion returned for the final two rounds and finished 4-3 for 3rd overall at Ironman. He was also 3x fastest rider in Supercross.
- Not to Believe: Pro Motocross results. He’s never finished better than 4th in a Pro Motocross championship and has only 4 wins in 102 starts.
Tom Vialle
- To Believe: Starts. His 5.9 average white line position is best in class (which led to leading 12 of 32 races in lined up for but he only won 5 of the 12 – 2 mains and 3 motos).
- Not to Believe: Speed. He was fastest 3x in Supercross but not once in Pro Motocross when the field was united.
Levi Kitchen
- To Believe: Speed. He showed speed in both Supercross (3x fastest) and Pro Motocross (2x fastest).
- Not to Believe: Off days. They don’t happen often, but in a 3 round playoff they can’t happen at all. Two fifths in supercross (San Diego and Salt Lake City) and 4 Pro Motocross overalls outside the top 5 (High Point 9th, RedBud 6th, Washougal 6th, and Ironman 11th).
250 SMX Title Favorites
Key Comebacks
Jett Lawrence, Cooper Webb, and Eli Tomac, all had the same injury this season – a torn UCL in their thumb. The difference now is how many days they’ve had to recover from the injury.
- Eli Tomac is likely in the best position of the 3 superstars. He raced the last 2 rounds of Pro Motocross, including an overall podium finish at Ironman (his 72nd career 250/450 podium, 2nd all-time), and looked strong in both motos.
- Cooper Webb had a bit of a setback when he crashed at Unadilla. The question is, how bad of a setback was it!?
- Jett Lawrence is coming back with significantly less time to recover. From the the date of surgery, he’s had half the time to prepare.
Days From Injury
2023 SMX Championships
2023 450 SMX Standings
Jett Lawrence won the title in 2023 by winning when it mattered most – the final, triple points round in LA. He was a #3 seed who finished 4th, 1st, and 1st. While his 7-2 for 4th in Charlotte was an ‘off day’, it was a single points round – he only lost 7 points to then series leader Chase Sexton.
Notably, Ken Roczen came in as an eight seed and finished 2nd at all three rounds to solidify second and take home a total of $650K in purse money.
Seeding and Single Points Still Matter: Cooper Webb came in a six seed with 16 points. He went 8-7-3 for 4th in the SMX Championship winning $200K in championship funds and $233K total. Had he been a second seed and finished one spot better in Charlotte he’d have finished 3rd in the championship and netted an additional $50K.
2023 450SMX Scorecard
2023 250 SMX Standings
Haiden Deegan won the title in 2023 with consistent podium finishes and a strong seeding. He was the #2 seed and entered the 3 rounds with 22 points. He won by 5 points over Jo Shimoda who was a #5 seed and entered 5 points behind Deegan. Ultimately his 5-2 for 1st overall beat Jo Shimoda’s 4-4 for 2nd overall and he won $500K!
Fun Fact: Deegan only won 1 of the 6 motos, the first at Charlotte yet still won the title. Olympic style scoring plus the escalating championship points rewarded consistency in a deep field.
Jo Shimoda finished 1-2-2 for 2nd in the championship, but entering as the #5 seed with only 17 points was a hole he was unable to dig out of.
Hunter Lawrence had a roller coaster 2023 SMX series. He entered as the #1 seed but had a sub-par 9-7 for 8th in Charlotte which dropped him to 3rd in the standings after the first round. He then went 1-1 for 1st overall in Chicago and jumped back into the series lead entering the final round. He then crashed in qualifying at the final round, injured his back, and was out of the series. Instead of a potential $553,000 in purse he went home with $69,000.