Glendale AMA Supercross - 450 SX report and video
By Team TMX on 12th Feb 24
News Supercross AMA Supercross
State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona hosted the sixth round of the 2024 AMA Monster Energy Supercross series with Progressive Insurance ECSTAR Suzuki's Ken Roczen grabbing the holeshot and not looking back to become the fifth different rider to win in the 17-round series so far this season. A record number of raucous race fans – 55,627 to be exact – packed out the stadium to witness Roczen claim victory on his Suzuki RM-Z 450.
Monster Energy Kawasaki's Jason Anderson took over second place soon after the start of the Main Event and was never seriously challenged for the spot. Team Honda HRC's Jett Lawrence fought hard from outside the top 10. He made up time on the slick track and nabbed the final podium position, and with it the lead in the championship points as Red Bull KTM’s Chase Sexton and Aaron Plessinger both hit trouble.
“I haven’t won much in the recent years so I take these moments in so much,” said Roczen after. “My start was really good. I got a super good jump. I may have shut the throttle off a little bit too early, so I almost got swallowed up there. But I had the inside and as I went around the first turn I’m like, ‘This is what I need’…
“The track was really tricky, it just got so slippery. I made so many micro-decisions on the track in certain areas that I picked out; as I ran through some of the first few laps I just noticed some of the key spots that are really tricky and can really bite you. So I just managed the race the whole way... I tried to not look at the time, I just clicked my laps, lap after lap.
“My Progressive ECSTAR Suzuki was working flawlessly out here today. I haven’t made many changes at all and it shows. You know, I’ve got to give it up to my whole team, my crew behind me, Peyton at home, my family, Griffin this is for you. I’ve been telling him the whole time I’m going to bring some trophies home and especially wins, so I finally did it and this is an unbelievable moment for us.”
“I’m really excited to walk out here with second,” enthused Anderson from the runner-up spot. “But at the end of the day, I felt like I left a little on the table. I started riding tight there for a second, but, with how gnarly our class is, it’s pretty cool to be up here… Honestly, this is one of my home races so everyone from the 505 out here, thanks for showing up and supporting.”
“I didn’t give myself the best opportunity to go on for a win today with just getting a terrible start,” said the new series leader Jett Lawrence. “But it was cool to climb my way through. It was a cool accomplishment to catch and pass Eli… So it was a cool accomplishment and just happy I was able to fight back to a podium position. The front boys were gone… so especially going similar speeds here you can’t catch up, you can’t give ‘em that extra gap… It was a good finish to get third, especially with how it started.”
The 2024 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship takes one weekend off and resumes on Saturday, February 24th inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas where everything is bigger, apparently.
