Tampa Bay / St. Petersburg
Tampa, FL
Along with Daytona and Orlando, Tampa is the third Sunshine State destination to host a round of Supercross. Tampa has been known for its sandy conditions, challenging the world’s top racers to navigate through the deep ruts. While the city has been on and off the schedule, its first race dates back to 1987.
Fast Facts
Venues
Both of Tampa’s major NFL stadiums have hosted Supercross events since the city first joined the tour in 1987. The original Tampa Stadium was the first home of the expansion Buccaneers and was a frequent stop for SX between 1987-1998.
The new Raymond James Stadium opened for the 1998 NFL season and held its first Supercross in 1999 but then took a nearly 20 year hiatus (returning in 2018).
In 1987, Tampa became the third city in Florida to host a round of AMA Supercross (Daytona & Orlando). Over 45,000 packed into Tampa Stadium and watched Jeff Ward dominate. Wardy led all 20 laps and extended his points lead to 45 with three rounds left.
Ward’s teammate Ron Lechien finished second after battling with Rick Johnson.
Johnson rode with a broken finger on his right hand, which he suffered two weeks earlier in Pontiac.
A hot Tampa night moved Ricky Johnson one step closer to his second Supercross title. RJ conquered a slippery race track and the humid Florida air in the city’s second ever Supercross event.
Jeff Ward started the race in the top spot, but got caught up in the sand and went down. From there, Johnson cruised to a win, throwing no handers and wowing the crowd with a nearly half a lap lead over Ward.
The win put Johnson 15 points clear of Ward in the standings with just two rounds left in the season.
Fresh off winning his first 125SX West championship, Jeff Matiasevich raced the 250/450 class and finished 4th.
The final race in the original Tampa Stadium was a wet and wild affair, with one rider climbing back to the top for the first time in nearly a decade.
As the misty air turned into steady rain, John Dowd got out front early with points leader Jeremy McGrath just behind. Spoiling the party up front was Larry Ward. The Suzuki rider charged to the lead, navigating through the increasingly muddy conditions.
Ward held the top spot for the duration of the race, despite losing his goggles and dealing with pressure from Kevin Windham and later Ezra Lusk. The win was Ward’s second main event victory, his first since the 1990 Seattle SX.
Ward was elated after the win: “I am so happy I can’t even begin to explain it!” The win landed Ward on the cover of the second issue of Racer X Illustrated.
After a dismal 2022 season Cooper Webb broke a 21-race winless streak by winning the 2023 Tampa SX.
Chase Sexton started the night in the lead, holding a one-second gap over Webb through most of the race. Sexton, however, crashed in the whoops with a few laps to go. Webb returned to the top step of the podium and entered the title fight as defending champion Eli Tomac struggled in 5th.
The 250 class also featured a dramatic finish. Nate Thrasher led the first 19 laps and looked to have the race under control, but a late charge from Hunter Lawrence put the two riders in a photo finish. Lawrence edged Thrasher out for the victory by a margin of 0.134 to take his second straight win.
This interactive table details the all-time Tampa leaders. Who has the most starts, wins, podiums and points. Filter by class. On mobile, slide left to access more columns.
All-Time Leaders
Who won Tampa, in what year and what round was this venue? Winners history makes that easy to see.
Winner History
Race Results
Full race results from each Supercross round held at Tampa.