Las Vegas (SMX)
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Although Supercross and other one-off events have a rich history in Las Vegas, 2019 was the last time the sport visited Sin City. Its return is the SuperMotocross finale on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Fast Facts
Venue Facts
Like zMax Dragway, The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a four-lane drag racing facility. It opened in 2000 and was converted to a four-wide venue in 2018.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway is in the northeast corner of metro Vegas on Las Vegas Blvd, the same road colloquially known as The Strip (not to be confused with The Strip at the speedway).
In the 2024 250SMX finale, Pierce Brown (2-1) saved his best for last. Brown hadn’t claimed even as much as a moto podium throughout the entire 2024 racing season but he went out a winner in his final race with TLD Gas Gas. This is was Brown’s first professional race win and it came at the end of his fourth season.
Brown’s average holeshot position in SX was 12th and 15.2 in Pro Motocross but in Las Vegas he was up front in both motos right at the start. In the first moto, Brown trailed Haiden Deegan (1-2) the entire moto but didn’t allow Deegan to pull away.
In moto two, Ty Masterpool took the holeshot and led the first six laps before getting passed by Brown who was never challenged.
Deegan started in 6th and worked his way into second on lap eight. He tried to make a run on Brown to keep his perfect SMX season alive but didn’t make up any significant ground. He finished second overall and secured his second SuperMotocross World Championship. Read more about Deegan’s title in the 2024 SMX Race Center.
Brown won the moto by 6.89 seconds (and the overall) and secured third place in the SMX championship, one point behind Tom Vialle (3-8 / 5th in Vegas)
Jordon Smith (5-3) capped off his season with a podium finish in Las Vegas and 5th in the championship.
For the second consecutive year, Jett Lawrence (1-1) is the 450 SuperMotocross World Champion and he did it with two completely new challengers in the field: his own brother, Hunter Lawrence (3-2 / 2nd) and Eli Tomac (2-3 / 3rd).
Jett entered the SMX season as a #6 seed and ended in a tie with Hunter. He owned the tiebreaker because he won two of the SMX events to Hunter’s 1.
Tomac holeshot and led the majority of moto one before Jett made a gutsy on lap 12. Lawrence had the fastest lap of the race (1:36.357) and it came on lap 10.
In moto two, Jett holeshot and led all 14 laps, beating Hunter by just 1.4 seconds. Hunter stayed within 1.5-3 seconds the entire moto but never came close to challenging for the lead position.
Chase Sexton’s (21-DNS / 24th) hopes for winning the championship were dashed on the opening lap of moto 1 when he moved into Justin Barcia’s line through a rhythm section. Barcia landed on top of Sexton’s right hand/shoulder. Neither rider crashed but Sexton pulled off the track and never returned to action. Sexton ultimately withdrew from the Motocross of Nations, citing a bone contusion in his hand. He was replaced by Tomac.