San Diego, California, the site of Round 2 of the SuperMotocross (SMX) World Championship, has a long history on the stadium series calendar after hosting its first round in 1980. Mike Bell won that event at San Diego Stadium in front of 40,000 screaming fans.
The venues have changed over the years and Snapdragon Stadium, home to the San Diego State Aztecs, is the current Southern California home of dirt bike’s biggest stars.
According to WeWentFast.com, the first 15 events in this market were won by California riders 12 times, but a Californian has not won there since 1998 when Jeremy McGrath was at the top of the podium.
During his career, Eli Tomac has had a tendency to win early and often. His victory last week in Anaheim kept that trend alive, and last year, he was victorious quickly as well. He enters as the defending winner of San Diego. He has won two of the last three visits there after also taking the trophy home in 2023.
The odds are good that he will run well again this week. His average finish in Anaheim is eighth; in the second round of the season, he improves to third.
Last week underscored the international appeal of SuperMotocross. The USA (Tomac), Germany (second-place Ken Roczen), Spain (third-place Jorge Prado), and Australia (fourth-place Hunter Lawrence) were all at the top of the order.
With his second-place finish, Roczen broke out of a tie with Cooper Webb with 77 career box appearances. Webb finished seventh last week and his opening round struggles continue.
Chase Sexton also had a rough start to the season. He finished one spot behind Webb, the rider he battled all the way to Salt Lake City in 2025, and statistically, this should be another tough day. Round 2 is historically his worst with an average finish of eighth.
250 Notes
In the 250 division, Max Anstie has two pervious starts in San Diego. His best finish there was fourth in 2010.
Haiden Deegan got mired in traffic early last week in Anaheim before charging through the field to finish fourth. In this round last year, he also got out of the gates slow and was recorded eighth at the end of Lap 1. He climbed to third at the end of the day.
Widely considered Deegan’s closest competition in the 250 West division, Levi Kitchen also struggled at the start of the season opener. While Deegan completed Lap 1 in 12th in Anaheim 1, Kitchen was way back in 20th. He climbed to sixth at the checkers to recover some of those lost points.
2025 SuperMotocross Top-10 finishers
450s
Eli Tomac (1 win, 1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Ken Roczen (1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Jorge Prado (1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Hunter Lawrence (1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Jason Anderson (1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Justin Cooper (1 top-10)
Cooper Webb (1 top-10)
Chase Sexton (1 top-10)
Dylan Ferrandis (1 top-10)
Aaron Plessinger (1 top-10)
250s
Max Anstie (1 win, 1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Chance Hymas (1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Ryder DiFrancesco (1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Haiden Deegan (1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Michael Mosiman (1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Levi Kitchen (1 top-10)
Maximus Vohland (1 top-10)
Hunter Yoder (1 top-10)
Avery Long (1 top-10)
Dilan Schwartz (1 top-10)
Recent San Diego races
450s
2025: Julien Beaumer (Jordon Smith, Haiden Deegan)
2024: Nate Thrasher (Garrett Marchbanks, Jordon Smith)
2023: Jett Lawrence (RJ Hampshire, Cameron McAdoo)
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