2024 San Francisco Supercross | Kickstart Recap

The move by Supercross from Oakland to San Francisco had its share of pros and cons. Having everything on the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum property, from pits to parking to dirt storage, were perks of the East Bay, and the rental fee Feld Entertainment paid to have SX and Monster Jam was said to be very, very low. However, the area around the aging venue can be downright dangerous, and the last few visits were marked by stories of car break-ins and stolen property. There's no denying that Oracle Park is an upgrade in terms of amenities and location, but a significantly higher rental fee, restrictions of being in the middle of the city, and the distance between the track-pits-parking were new challenges that had to be overcome.

San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood continues to boom, thanks to the recent completion of the Chase Center arena and ongoing construction of high-rise condos. The former industrial district was converted into a residential area through a redevelopment project started in the 2000s, with rent for a new and very nice apartment averaging about $4000. Because active construction sites are where the pits were in 2010, the venue let Supercross take over Pier 48, a 200,000-square-foot "multipurpose venue" that can be both a covered parking lot and an upscale banquet space (https://giantsenterprises.com/oracle-park-edge/pier-48/). We thought it was cool that most of Fan Fest and the factory pits were inside an old building, but now that we know it was one of the trendiest event spaces in the city, we're more impressed, and measures like pressure washing in the stadium make more sense.

Much-deserved props to Dirt Wurx and the setup crew for their week of work at Oracle Park. The heavy equipment operators went straight from Anaheim One to San Francisco and, with poor weather forecasted to hit midweek, cranked out most of the build in a 17-hour shift on Monday. "Being in the middle of the city made logistics for the pits, parking, and where we can put equipment pretty crazy," Alex Gillisie of Dirt Wurx told us. "The dirt being in here already with the equipment was a huge help. The build was, for the most part, pretty easy, but once the track was finished, the operations crew still had to come in to build the finish line and manager's tower and set the Tuff Blocks. There was still a lot of driving around on the floor while it was raining, which compromised the floor, but we did our best to get the mud off and will cap it on Saturday morning with some dry dirt."

We were excited to see the kinked first base rhythm section jumped in the dry. Another production detail from the weekend that was interesting to learn was about the dirt, which was hauled from its storage location in Oakland to Oracle Park, because Feld owns the material and had it screened and sifted for debris and rocks a few years ago.

Kachow. Jett Lawrence's status as incoming point leader and reigning SMX champion was signified with a new set of stickers on his Team Honda HRC CRF450R. The numbers on his bike will be yellow throughout 2024, with an 18 in SX and a 1 in MX and SMX, and it will be back on the purple background for San Diego.

RJ Hampshire's Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing FC 250 was done up with red plates for the first time ever. Hard to believe that Hampshire, a perennial contender for wins and small-bore titles, has only two Main Event victories to his record and had never led the points until recently.

AP and LK.

Track walk style varied in San Francisco. You could tell who packed for the mud from others who didn't check a bag on their flight.

John Short will spend the season's first month with Liqui Moly Beta Racing as a fill-in for Colt Nichols. The rider spent the week between rounds with the team in Paso Robles and got to do more Supercross laps on the 450 RX. A true DIY-er, we watched Short expertly prep his helmet, goggles, and gear for Saturday's mess.

Who you robbin', Benny?

Admittedly, we didn't pack for the mud, and with only a pair of all-terrain Adidas on our feet, never crossed the start straightaway or strayed from the outer edges of the track when taking photos. How much different did the guys look rolling all the jumps from the infield?

Boston Beer Company, the producer of Samuel Adams, launched the original "hard tea" through its Malt Beverages department in 2001 and created a category that adds more than two billion dollars to the global alcohol industry (https://www.swapmotolive.com/big-business-companies-that-sponsor-supercross-motocross/features/latest-news/). Billy Grotto, the special events manager that helped get the brand in MX and a personality known within the company for his passion, is the guy driving the Twisted Tea football helmet in the company's new TV advertisements.

Do you filter your fuel?

Intervals at different heart rate zones are part of the warm-up Davi Millsaps has Julien Beaumer go through on race day. Not sure if doing it barefoot is part of the program, though.

Chase Sexton mentioned changes that he and the team made to the forks on his 450 SX-F Factory Edition between A1 and San Francisco, saying in the press conference, "I was looking forward to a dry race because we did make some big changes with the forks this week, that was the part I was struggling with. We were really comfortable on Thursday, and I had two of the best days I've had on a KTM and felt like I was even better than I was last year."

You know conditions will be bad when mechanics swap the bikes' fluids. EVANS Waterless coolant is the go-to for factory teams.

It's a wild-looking bike, man. On Friday, we were tipped off that Pirelli's motorcycle line has a new boss and that their trip to San Francisco was part of a plan by the Italian tire company to regain a more significant stake in the US market.

No, Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing is sponsored by the new "Ghostbusters" movie, not SmarTop/MotoConcepts/Honda. The MCR mechanics wore white overalls at the San Francisco race, an eye-catching sartorial choice that protected their Original Penguin-issue team attire from mud.

What are the height and age differences between Team Faith teammates Robert Hailey and Billy Laninovich? Hailey is 20 years old and 6' 7", while Lainiovich is 40 and 5' 10".

Don't let the Pasadena hometown on the results sheet fool you; Max Sanford is an East Coast guy. The privateer knew that conditions wouldn't get much better during Timed Qualifying than they were in the first practice session, and he fired off three good laps, with the best being a 1:06.236. This put Sanford at the top of the B Group and second overall in the combined times for the 250 West Region. He will fill in for Dylan Walsh at Host/Grindstone/Kawasaki team for San Diego, Anaheim Two, and Glendale.

Swag rags.

Anthony Bourdon is one of three Frenchmen in America this year. A hard slam during Timed Qualifying twisted a few parts on the BARX/Redlands Toyota/Suzuki RM-Z250 and prompted a visit to the Alpinestars Mobile Medical Unit for a possible arm injury. Bourdon was cleared to race the night show and finished an impressive sixth in the Main Event.

Swag rags.

Compared to the 450 Main Event, this looks pretty good.

Justin Barcia is always a favorite for a win in the mud, but a week of illness kept the Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing rider from being his usual self in San Francisco. Sick days happen to racers, too, and Barcia had to deal with everything from a full body rash, low energy, and extra laps on the track via the LCQ (plus a two-position penalty) on his way to a seventeenth-place finish in the 450 Main Event.

Justin Hill told us that he was in agony with sciatic nerve issues in his lower back on Saturday morning and that he'd decide to race during Timed Qualifying. A single lap during practice was enough for the Monster Energy/Team Tedder/KTM rider to make the call, and he scratched for the rest of the day.

The two rookies. Justin Cooper and Hunter Lawrence faced the same ups and downs through the first two rounds, as both have a top-five overall in Timed Qualifying, a top-ten Main Event finish, and a DNQ on their record. Cooper has a two-point advantage over Lawrence in the championship standings, with Cooper ranked 14th with 14 points and Lawrence 15th with 12 points.

Socked in by the bay.

Support your local street meat cart.

The half-mile haul from the pits to the stadium took riders down a fenced-in path between apartment buildings and over the 3rd Street Bridge. The parcel of land used for the privateer paddock was shared with a Cirque du Soleil tour that will perform in a tent for the next month.

San Francisco's Oracle Park is one of two baseball diamonds on the Supercross tour, with the other being Angels Stadium in Anaheim, and both visits happen in January for a reason. Why's? MLB is out of season, and their buildings are open. Meanwhile, the NFL is entering the playoffs, and the unpredictability makes booking potential locations like Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara difficult.

Yeah, well, you know, nine-dollar latte night.

Josh Grecco, ready for battle. The privateer was twentieth overall in Timed Qualifying.

Riders seemed split about setting their holeshot devices or letting the forks stay unlocked at the start. Why do either? Having the front end pulled down was consistent with the rider's starting technique and kept the bike from wheelieing when the gate dropped, but the bike's handling was affected while going through the mud, as well as a chance the part may not unlock under braking.

Many people think Josh Varize is a SoCal native from his years spent in Riverside County, but the AJE Motorsports rider is actually originally from Redwood City, and that made San Francisco a "true" home race. Varize finished the 250 Main Event in seventh place and is now tenth overall in the 250 West Region championship standings.

The biggest shoutout goes to the Bay Area fans for showing up early and staying all the way to the checkered flag. There were significant concerns that turnout would be light on race day, but NorCal's core crowd showed up with ponchos, waterproof jackets, and trashbags and filled the lower bowl of the stadium, the most important spots for the TV cameras.

Didn't know it rained in Bakersfield. Ryder DiFrancesco is only two weeks into his SX career, and the rookie checked a big box by leading every lap of 250 Heat Race Two and crossing the line 19 seconds up of the competition. The Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing rider was thrilled with the win, as he took a moment to celebrate after the flag, then thanked all his family and friends on the TV interview.

Davi Millsaps Fan Club

Half the gate in 450 Heat Race One. Eight of the ten riders shown here advanced directly to the 450 Main Event.

Any lingering thought that Jorge Prado wasn't coming to the US in 2025 was erased by his win in 450 Heat Race One. The Spanish rider's mud riding skill was a big topic through the weekend, as many thought of him as an expert in the slop, but he told us at the end of the night that he'd never ridden anything like those conditions before. "It's funny because everyone was saying, 'Yeah, you're European,' and all of that, but I've never ridden in anything close to this," noted the defending MXGP champion. "I got a bit more used to the format and feel like I was more ready in the Heat Race and the Main Event."

The last lap battle between Vince Friese and Dean Wilson in 450 Heat Race One was awesome. The cheer from the fans is what got our attention, and when we saw that it was for the final transfer position, we got just as hyped as they were seeing it play out. The bitter rivals traded close passes in the mud, and though Friese countered all of Wilson's moves to hang on to the spot, he was docked multiple positions for going off the track at the start of the race. This penalty promoted Wilson to ninth.

Defend your vision.

Aaron Plessinger's first lap in 450 Heat Race Two is exactly how you should do it in the mud. The Red Bull KTM rider was fast and loose as he claimed the holeshot and put four seconds between himself and the rest of the pack, a gap that eventually grew to 10.4 seconds by lap four.

Dirt Wurx made significant changes to the track twice on Saturday. The first alterations happened after Timed Qualifying and cut the triples down to doubles, while the mid-race work removed the difficult and water-filled whoops.

Gared Steinke really had to wring out his two-stroke in the mud and it ended with a DNF in the LCQ. We're not quite sure what Mr. Nice Cream is, as his website and Instagram show some artwork and clothing for sale, but it's cool to see someone with a following flowing money and product to riders in the pits.

We didn't see how Aaron Plessinger lost so much time in the final laps, and neither did the camera crew, but Dylan Ferrandis made a big push to catch the leader, cut seven seconds from AP's gap, and got by on the last lap to earn the first 450 Heat Race win of his career.

Even the checkered flag got wet and muddy in San Francisco.

Matti Jorgensen buried his AJE Motorsports GASGAS MC 250F in a deep rut early in the 250 Main Event. Jorgensen is a native of Denmark who has lived in Florida for most of his life and followed the typical American amateur program of racing marquee events and doing time at different training facilities. The rookie eventually unstuck the bike and climbed back to finish in 13th.

Jordon Smith explained in the A1 post-race press conference that he sees his 10-year career having two different eras, with his early days at GEICO Honda and TLD KTM, the low points of injuries with Pro Circuit Kawasaki, and a rebuild with Fire Power that eventually got him to Star Racing Yamaha. The last time Smith won a Main Event was the 2018 Daytona Supercross.

Levi Kitchen could be the 250 West Coast Region championship variable. The Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider has two podium finishes to start the year and went six seconds faster than Smith on the final lap, a charge that put him within a second of the leader at the finish line. He is five points down to Smith in the championship standings and four ahead of Hampshire.

The biggest air a Main Event winner got over the finish line in San Francisco. Congrats, Jordon.

Phil Nicoletti's chance at a podium got taken away by lapped traffic, mistakes, and Garrett Marchbanks. The Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX riders have forged a close friendship over the past few years, as they've watched each other come back from injuries and work with the team in South Carolina to improve themselves and the motorcycle.

Smith's Star Racing YZ250F will be outfitted with the red plate at San Diego. The last time the rider led a championship was going into the 2017 Las Vegas finale, a chaotic race that saw Smith crash hard in the sand and come down to a late pass between Savatgy and Osborne.

Everyone is talking about Chase Sexton's reaction to the gate drop, but really, we were more impressed by his reflexes and skills to save this high-speed swap going into the first turn. The rider regained control of the Red Bull KTM, hooked it left into the rhythm lane, and repassed Ken Roczen's stalled bike, a sequence of moves that ultimately determined the Main Event.

We didn't know Justin Rodbell was going to race San Francisco, and really, it doesn't sound like he thought he would, either. The rider broke his wrist at an Arenacross in early December, but after a few days with Next Level Racing, he decided to file an entry and make the trip to round two. The hasty decision proved wise, as the HVAC man made it straight out of the Heat Race and finished 18th in the 450 Main Event.

Vigilante assistance. Malcolm Stewart's bike was stuck STUCK on a Tuff Block in the 450 Main Event, a messy matter that he and a nearby track worker couldn't exactly figure out. Luckily for both, a fan from the stands put down his beer, hopped the barricade, and helped free the Husqvarna. Stewart was not docked by the AMA for outside assistance, as the time it took to get going put him multiple laps down. He finished 22nd, and under the new point system, he received no championship points.

Chase Sexton's first Main Event win with the KTM means a lot for himself and the team. The rider revealed much more about the struggles he experienced during the offseason on the bike, including confirmation of repeat trips between Florida and California and praise for the team when he said in the press conference, "I have to give a big shoutout to the team. They have put so much effort and hard work into getting me back to where I need to be… They put a huge effort in and are really willing to try anything to get me comfortable. And that's what I've been looking for…. It's a completely different motorcycle. It feels nothing like what I was on before."

We feel you, JBone.

Eli Tomac's podium result was good, but the Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha rider clearly wanted more, as he popped the top on the celebratory champagne, poured the drink on the ground, and passed the mostly empty bottle to his crew for transport back to the pits, without anyone taking a swig.

That's one weekend we'll remember for a lifetime. Thanks for reading Kickstart.