2025 Tampa Supercross | Kickstart News and Photo Gallery

Reminiscing: Team Tedder's Justin Hill has had a standout 2025 already before the series rolled into Tampa this weekend. We cannot confirm or deny, but he may have been staring out to the stadium here trying to channel his incredible ride from 2018 when he moonlighted some East races on a Joe Gibbs Racing Suzuki and battled out front in his heat race and main event, eventually finishing 6th. Throughout the day on Saturday, Hill again showed flashes, but settled for P9 on the night which then became P10 when he got docked for cutting the track.

Airflow: If you've had trouble distinguishing which Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider is which from your couch at home, don't worry, even the AMA has let them know it's hard to tell them apart. One thing that's making matters worse is their decision to run vented front number plates again across all of their machines. Star is not the only team doing it as Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha has followed suit as well.

Airflow continued: However, Club is cutting out the numbers on the plastic making the white parts still really stand out, with the black mesh then being where the air flows in. But Star Racing has taken it further where they take a white mesh and paint the non-number areas black to have a full mesh across the entire numberplate. Why it cuts open around a third of the way down and also has a noticeable sharp square cutout in the bottom right is due to where the bracket mounts are on the backside of the plate that guide the front brake cables coming down the fork tube.

Airflow continued: The air flowing through the plate then runs down behind the fork tube into these inlets above the radiator and then right into the airbox. More air always equals more power, and the Star Racing team has the numbers to back it. So how much power does it add? Well that's like trying to figure out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know.

Ouch: Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha's Mark Fineis crashed hard in qualifying session one on Saturday and landed on his right foot. The diagnosis early was a bad ankle sprain and he was going to try to go out and grind through it the rest of the day. But it proved to be too much of a hamper as Fineis did not qualify for the main event.

Braking News: There was a ton of talk surrounding Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha's Max Vohland and his use of a lever above his clutch lever that is actually his back brake. Vohland went through a traumatic hip injury in 2024 that required multiple surgeries and left him with damaged nerves in his lower right leg. He and the team took the decision once he moved over to Club and got back on the bike to learn the hand brake which he has much more control over than his foot which still has limited movement. He then spent the whole offseason dialing it in. He was also graced with a right handed first corner for his first race back which many argued it gave him an advantage since he could put his right foot out and still use his back brake entering turn one. Regardless, Vohland didn't holeshot either the heat or the main with said advantage. He ran as high as 7th during the main event before a freak clutch issue ended his night, but an overall solid return to racing for the NorCal native.

Power Rankings: 250SX main event winner Max Anstie gave FMF their second win of 2025 in the 250SX class along with his teammate Haiden Deegan's win at Anaheim 2. FMF and Akrapovic now both boast two wins each as the latter brand picked up wins with Julien Beaumer at San Diego and Jordon Smith at Glendale. The other brand to power their way to victory thus far in 2025, Yoshimura, who won with Jo Shimoda at the Anaheim opener which already feels about three years ago.

Las Vegas in Tampa?: If you look closely at the Team Tedder graphics, a replica version of the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign emblazons the Tedder name to the machine they build. It's a neat touch to present the team and even features some poker chips below it. But it does feel out of place 2000+ miles away from Sin City. Perhaps they just want to channel some Vegas luck and turn a roll of the dice with making Justin Hill comfortable into some fantastic results week after week.

Code Red 1234: Red Bull KTM's Tom Vialle entered as the defending 250SX East champion meaning he got to run not only the #1, but also the red plate at the opener. A commonplace thing now is for graphics companies to inlay the riders permanent number into the #1 graphic as you can see here with Vialle's standard #16 set in the bottom right of his #1.

Code Red 1234: Despite the West Regional 250SX championship being on a two weekend hiatus currently, points leader Julien Beaumer's #23 machine was prominently displayed at Red Bull KTM all weekend long to help complete the trio of red plates.

Code Red 1234: Chase Sexton's red four bookended the trio of red plates but he also did something at Tampa that no other 450SX rider has managed to do through five races and that's retain the red plate for back to back weeks. After taking it back from Ken Roczen at Glendale, he kept it leaving Tampa as well with a fifth place finish.

Comfort: RJ Hampshire has an aggressive seat hump on his Husqvarna this year.

Who's That?: Whenever a new season of 250 racing begins, so many riders rocking new numbers can trip people up. Cameron McAdoo landed on #50 this year which is somewhat frustrating from a viewing standpoint because....

Who's That x2?: McAdoo's teammate Seth Hammaker landed on #56. From afar, #50 and #56 looked pretty darn similar and when the entire team runs the same gear, it's even tougher to tell them apart. So key in on this instead. McAdoo is a decent bit taller than Hammaker and rides like it. Hammaker likes to crouch in a racing stance while McAdoo tends to stand over the bike a little more. If you can't immediately tell them apart by the number, just watch the style for a moment and you might be able to pick it up.

Same old: Levi Kitchen got his permanent #47 last year and still has it again this year. He's much easier to spot.

Highs and Lows: Honda brass Brandon Wilson (left) and Lars Lindstrom (right) have had a lot of winning to manage the last couple of years. Now they have a lot of injuries to balance as Jett Lawrence is down with a torn ACL, Jo Shimoda continues to battle broken fingers, Chance Hymas just returned from knee surgery, and now Hunter Lawrence might be sidelined as well (see below).

Changes: Carson Mumford is still aboard a Honda though he left MotoConcepts Racing for Quad-Lock Honda in this offseason. But his biggest change is moving from his home in California out to MTF where he now lives and trains full time.

Jerry!: Privateer Jerry Robin got a surprise holeshot in 450SX heat two and led for about a half a lap. Unfortunately, he experienced the full hero to zero treatment as he crashed in the whoops before the lap was over and then didn't qualify for the main event out of the LCQ either.

Faces: Justin Barcia and new team manager for 2025 Sean Murphy check out the Florida sand together.

Faces: Kyle Peters was on hand in Tampa, but not to race as he continues to recover from a neck injury that pulled him away from his Arenacross title defense.

Faces: Tom Vialle checks out the powdery sand.

Faces: Nathan Ramsey is now a 450SX race winning team manager.

Faces: Justin Cooper talking with Gareth Swanepoel just off camera to his left as they look at the whoops.

Faces: Cooper Webb is often very locked in and focused on race day but he was unusually talkative and chipper throughout the day. Perhaps exuding confidence.

Faces: Eric Sorby (right) chats with Dirt Wurx's Corey Arnold (middle) and Alex Gillespie (left).

Faces: Olympic athlete Erriyon Knighton is a Tampa native and took in the Supercross experience. He finished 4th in the 200m Final at the 2024 Paris Olympics at just 20 years old and factors in to be a favorite in the sprinting categories for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

New Energy: Tampa was our first look aside from photoshoots at Chance Hymas as a Red Bull athlete. After being supported by Monster Energy either through Team Green or more recently as a personal deal for years, Hymas made the switch in the offseason to the blue and silver. With 450SX teammates Jett and Hunter Lawrence already Red Bull athletes, we're just one Jo Shimoda deal away from a Red Bull sweep over at Honda.

Down and Out: Partzilla PRMX's Cade Clason went down hard in the final qualifying session and suffered a clean break of his radius. He plans to get surgery on it ASAP and could return before the season is over.

Showcase: Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha displays Max Vohland's secondary machine high above the pits.

Minty Fresh: The entire Star Racing 250 team ran matching sets of mint/beige all day long in Tampa. Coupled with the aforementioned vented plates, it made it difficult to tell which rider was which at times, especially when all four riders started in the top six in the main event. The kit is certainly unique and stood out, but it also brought comparisons to One Industries similar look worn by Julien Beaumer in Glendale that was pink and brown. Yay or nay on these threads?

Flu Race: Austin Forkner's much anticipated debut for Triumph Racing was severely hampered when he woke up Saturday morning with the flu. He already sounded hoarse on Friday and sure enough, he was full blown ill by Saturday. At no point throughout the day did he look like he was having fun and gritted out a frustrating 17th place finish to start the season. But those around him say this is as fluky as it gets and he should be one to keep an eye on to have a massive rebound in Detroit.

All Smiles: Aaron Plessinger has had a season to forget in 2025 with two DNF's already through five races. Regardless, Plessinger has still been his happy go lucky self week after week as he works through his early struggles. P8 in Tampa was his season best so far and he said post-race that his strong heat race on the night confirmed that he's working in the right direction.

Hometown: Tampa area native Kyle Chisholm is in what he has said will be his last full season of professional racing. Though he said he has not ruled out racing select rounds in 2026, and Tampa could be a round that he comes back for, the Feld Motor Sports crew still rolled out the red carpet for the lovable veteran. Despite not being the traditional top 10 in points to do so, Chisholm came out in opening ceremonies with an emotional video detailing his upbringing in Florida and his many moments racing over the years. He also got to ride the parade lap following opening ceremonies and the crowd gave a very warm welcome to Chiz. Despite a trip to the LCQ, Chiz Chizzed and brought it home a respectable P15 for what could be his final home race.

Grit: Cameron McAdoo tore his ACL just over a week before Tampa and still decided to race anyway. With a ton of physical therapy in the week leading up to the race and even a day riding, McAdoo once again shocked the sport by finishing on the podium at the opener. If you saw him walking on Saturday, you'd be shocked that he wasn't on crutches. But when he got on the bike, he looked almost completely normal aside from not putting his left leg out in the corners. He was extremely happy post-race and thinks it's only going to get better from here.

Parade Lap: We don't see guys throwing Nac-Nacs or Can-Cans on parade laps like we used to anymore, but even the standard whip has seemingly fallen out of practice for many riders. Points leader Chase Sexton demonstrated he still has the goods though during the group hot lap following opening ceremonies.

Pyrotechnics: Tampa is the home race for Feld Motor Sports and either they were just really excited for 250SX East to start, or they went all out for their home race. A bunch of new opening ceremonies elements were introduced this week and probably the biggest fireworks show they've had yet this season kicked off the night. If you were in attendance, you certainly were treated to a great show!

Pit Stop: Levi Kitchen had an issue in his heat race and actually came from the first rhythm section into the mechanics area to get it fixed. He then rejoined in that same rhythm section after. While that's not exactly how you're supposed to do it by the rulebook, Kitchen and the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki team avoided any penalty as Kitchen had already lost several positions with the stop anyway.

Brothers Down: With reigning champion Jett Lawrence withdrawing from 2025 Supercross this past week to get surgery on his torn ACL, Honda HRC Progressive's 450 team was down to just one Lawrence. Well moments into the first 450SX heat race in Tampa, we were left with no Lawrence as Hunter Lawrence landed on the Tuff Blocks before the finish and crashed hard. He would not return for the rest of the night and Honda says he is undergoing further evaluation currently to see if he can return to racing soon or not.

Restarts: We have a handful of staggered restarts every year in Monster Energy Supercross but two in one night is rare. The second 250SX heat race was red flagged for Carter Stephenson but the race was more than three laps completed which constituted a staggered restart. Then Pierce Brown's crash in the main event brought out another red flag, which again caused another staggered restart. They are such a unique looking element of our sport that makes for cool photos, but it's a bummer they always come following a bad crash.

Brutal: This sport can be so cruel sometimes and for Pierce Brown it just feels downright unfair. After winning the SMX Finals in Las Vegas for his first career professional win, he moved over to Star Racing for 2025 and wouldn't you know it, jumped out to the early lead in the main event. He led for about half of it and was being caught by teammate Max Anstie before he clipped a Tuff Block in the whoops and went head first into the ground. The red flag stopped the race and Brown was loaded onto a backboard with a neck brace. He gave the crowd a thumbs up as he was carried off and has since provided an update. Brown broke his T5 vertebrae in the crash and already had surgery on it to, as he says, get back to racing. There is no timetable on his return, but it's certainly a bummer start to 250SX East as a whole to lose a frontrunner like PB.

Back Again: Daxton Bennick started off 250SX East in 2024 with a podium on debut and then never got back up there again. Now he put down a career best second place finish in Tampa to start 2025. The sophomore was adamant all weekend long that his health issues are fixed from Pro Motocross, and he believes he can be way more consistent in 2025. Time will now tell!

Flying Saucer: RJ Hampshire spent almost a whole minute stuck atop those oddly UFO shaped Tuff Blocks in the main event which left him a whole lap down. Even with the restart, he did not get his lap back and was left with P18 on the night.

Practice Track: With the Star Racing team jumping out front in the main event, it looked like another day out at the GOAT Farm for a while with Pierce Brown leading teammates Max Anstie and Daxton Bennick for half the main event before Brown went down. Both Anstie and Bennick, who claimed P1 and P2 on the night, explained how nice it was to have each other to key off throughout the race since it truly did feel like another training day to them.

Two Fingers: Here's a demonstration of Max Vohland gliding through the sand with his index finger nestled on his rear brake while he feathers the clutch with his middle finger. Try to imagine doing this for the first time after riding your whole life with one lever there just for your clutch. Surprisingly, Max says he hasn't had many moments where he mistakenly catches his brake when he means to use the clutch or vice versa.

Foreshadowing: Nate Thrasher and Max Vohland were battling just inside the top 10 here during the main event and moments after this shot, Vohland parked Thrasher before the finish line jump which left Thrasher on the ground. Thrasher would fight back to finish 8th while Vohland had the mechanical DNF as mentioned earlier.

Steady Seth: Just off the podium in 250SX was Seth Hammaker who has made the switch this offseason with his training and riding all now being done at the Lawrence Brothers' Dogpound. Hammaker had a clean offseason, his first one in a while, and felt confident coming into Tampa. He knows he can win, but also knows that going for wins has cost him in the past, and he was very satisfied post-race with P4.

He'll Take It: Tom Vialle had a hellacious crash in the whoops during qualifying and said post-race he hit them so fast he literally missed two whoops which caused him to cartwheel. All told, he was happy to get out of the opener with P5 following the crash.

Take That Factories!: Phoenix Racing Honda's Cullin Park tied his career best with a P7 in Tampa. Not only was he the highest finishing non-factory supported rider, but he also beat a lot of really big names and former winners. Park had a bumpy offseason, was supposed to race 250SX West, and only got back on the bike New Year's Day. Heck of a start for him and his team.

Inches: Look across at the front wheels in the 450SX main event start here. The separation at launch is miniscule thanks to the grates, holeshot devices, ECU settings, launch control, and more. It's no wonder why starts haven't been coming from the same faces over and over this year.

Last Chance?: Shane McElrath is on a six-race deal with Quad-Lock Honda that is set to end after Detroit this coming week. Speaking with Shane post-race, he believed things will come together for him to stay with the program beyond Detroit, but that was going to be the conversation this week with team owner Yarrive Konsky. McElrath put in a season-best P9 finish at Tampa as he continues to improve each week.

Crushing Blow: Ken Roczen went down in the main event when he came together with Jeremy Hand while lapping him in the sand. He crashed spectacularly with Hand and Tristan Lane going down as well which caused Roczen's chain to derail, thus ending his night. Fortunately, all riders checked out okay in the crash, but Roczen went from potentially getting a shot at retaking the red plate, to 18 points back in the blink of an eye.

Whoop Speed: Malcolm Stewart was far and away the fastest rider in the whoops all night long. Was it just old Mookie coming back out or have the Austrian group made big strides with this platform and changes being worked through by WP Suspension?

Jumpin Justin: Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing's Justin Cooper has noticeably not been blitzing whoops this year and he's routinely the first person to start jumping them, even as early as free practice. He said that at the moment, he's simply not comfortable blitzing and had focused on setting up his bike to handle the rest of the track effectively. It's hard to knock him too much as he had a season-best P4 finish in Tampa and was even catching Monster Energy Kawasaki's Jason Anderson for P3 late in the race. With his starts, look out for when we go to even softer rounds like Indianapolis where the whoops will almost definitely be jumpers and JCoop could end up being a real factor.

Top Honda: With both factory Hondas out of the main event in Tampa, Quad-Lock Honda's Joey Savatgy rode to a season-best P7 and was the top finishing Honda rider. Savatgy said he made huge progress with the team this week after a frustrating west coast stint and believes this is only the start of what he can do on this bike moving forward.

Odds: There's a running trend going around that Jason Anderson's best years have come during even years, 2018 SX champion, and 2022 runner up for example. But through five rounds of 2025, he's done all of his damage at odd number races. He's gone 3-13-3-7-3 thus far and has shown real flashes that he could borderline contend for this title, but not yet consistently enough to stay in it. It's an odd trend no doubt, be he really needs to break it in Detroit.

Unbelievable: For about an hour on Saturday, the motocross world held their breath after Eli Tomac slammed his foot on the ground in Q2 and immediately pulled off the track in pain. Yamaha eventually said he was okay and going to race, but he was not okay. All night long after the incident, he look very uncomfortable. He barely qualified for the main event while blitzing the whoops on just his right leg while holding his left leg against the engine case above the footpeg. He then rode around in dead last for almost half the main event and started doubling the whoops. He was one of the first riders to get lapped, and eventually came home 17th. Tomac stated today that it was essentially a high ankle sprain and is working diligently to get it better by Detroit. If there's any silver lining, he only lost 12 points to Chase Sexton on the night and sits 21 points back currently.

Coulda Shoulda: Cooper Webb started with Malcolm Stewart in the main event, but Mookie was able to slice through guys faster than the #2. Webb said post race that he felt if he had been more aggressive early, he may have stayed with Stewart and had a shot at the win still. Alas, he still brought it home P2.

Missed Opportunity: Chase Sexton was probably going to be caught by Malcolm Stewart for the win anyway, but when he crashed away the lead, he also twisted up his Red Bull KTM pretty good. Instead of just bringing it home P2 for good points, he slipped all the way back to P5 and Webb actually gained some valuable ground in the championship. Needless to say, Sexton was not happy after the race.

Victory: This was Max Anstie's third career 250SX victory, and of course, his first with Star Racing. Zero chance anyone would believe you in 2010 after he almost won the 250SX main event in San Diego racing for Star Racing, that it would be 15 years before he got a win for the team, but that's exactly what happened!

Joy: They always said James Stewart had the million dollar smile but Malcolm Stewart's excitement after his first career win might top it. Stewart said post-race that after his knee injury in 2023, he thought that would be it for his shot at winning in 450SX, but he never gave up.

Proud Father: Big James had tears of joy streaming down his face as he embraced his son Malcolm after the race. With Malcolm's win, the Stewarts (James Jr. and Malcolm) become the first brother pairing in Supercross history to each win premier class main events. There was a point in time where this seemed like it would be the trivia answer without question, but remember Hunter Lawrence came within about two seconds of giving the Lawrence brothers this claim to fame when he followed his brother Jett over the line at last year's Denver Supercross. Congratulations to the Stewart family on another piece of history.

Family: Jason Anderson celebrates P3 on the night with his wife and daughter.

Family: Cooper Webb celebrates finishing P2 with his wife and two daughters.

Infamy: A popular win that will likely never be forgotten.