2023 Salt Lake City Supercross Photo Gallery

2023 Salt Lake City Supercross Recap

The 2023 Monster Energy Supercross season had one more injury up its sleeve before waving the checkered flag.

With all titles accounted for, one of those not technically wrapped up but really was, fans still came out in droves for the final round of the series on Saturday at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, UT. Injuries to Cooper Webb two weeks earlier and Eli Tomac a week ago, both the heavy favorites to capture the 450 class title all season, meant Chase Sexton didn't even need to show up to capture his first career premier class Championship.

But with a limited field, Justin Barcia and Jason Anderson also out with injuries, Sexton poured on the gas, grabbed the Holeshot and only looked back probably to see just how far he was ahead of the pack. He won. By nearly 20 seconds. No one came close. He stamped his Championship winning season with an exclamation mark.

"I worked my whole life for this exact moment, since I was 4 years old," he said. "It pays off. This season has been up and down but they have 17 races for a reason and you've got to stay strong. I am so proud of how I bounced back this year. That main event got to show I can ride this whole race. It hasn't really sunk in yet."

Sexton escaped the injury bug that infected so many others even when he went down while leading too many races to count this year. His tendency to crash threw away enough potential race wins, Tomac and Webb became the two primary competitors with a toss up of which of the two - both two-time 450 class Champions - would take home a third. Webb suffered a brutal concussion in a Heat race at Nashville ending his season giving way to an easy ride for Tomac during the final two rounds with nothing but a fluke injury getting in his way of a title. So, a fluke injury happened within three minutes after the gatedrop at his home race in Denver when he ruptured his Achilles heal while leading Round 16. Season over.

Ken Roczen became the latest victim when he came up limp on the first lap after putting his left leg down when he lost the control of the front end. Roczen said he hyperextended his knee and felt something wasn't right but wasn't sure since he's never had a serious knee injury. Needing just two points to move into third-place for the season, Roczen said he was going to cruise around the track in the event someone else ended their race early he couldn't do it. A lap later Jared Lesher ended his race. The result prevented Roczen from moving into third-place in the points standings, instead, he ties Webb in points but loses on the tie-breaker because Webb won twice this year. Tomac finishes second for the season and his seven wins, most of any rider, enabled him to move into second-place on the all-time wins list.

Aaron Plessinger finished second in Salt Lake City for his best finish of the season and Justin Hill rounded out the podium, also a season best. With the field so depleted many riders took advantage for season best finishes: Dean Wilson took fifth, Josh Hill took sixth and Justin Starling finished eighth.

2023 450 Class Supercross Final Season Standings

Chase Sexton (372) - 2023 450 Class Champion
Eli Tomac (339)
Cooper Webb (304)
Ken Roczen (304)
Justin Barcia (267)

250 East/West Shootout

Jett Lawrence and Hunter Lawrence rode the #1 plates for their already clinched Championships but that didn't keep Jett Lawrence from fighting for his sixth win of the season in the West class. RJ Hamsphire who got his first win of the season last week grabbed the Holeshot and quickly found his rhythm with Lawrence in tow. Lawrence crept closer an cvlose until he finally made his move for the lead seven minutes later, with an aggressive pass on Hampshire, knocking him off balance in a corner and easily taking the win for the final 12 laps.

"The emotions haven't come out quite yet, the last 250 race and finish out on top," Lawrence said. "It's been awesome. The 250 (class) has been unreal to me. It's started who I am today."

Lawrence and Hampshire finished first and second in the same race six times this season. Hamsphire takes second on the season while Levi Kitchen who finished third in Salt Lake City got the points needed to pass Enzo Lopes for third on the season.

The West proved best on this night as the top three all hailed from the class. Hunter Lawrence overcame a rough start in 14th to finish sixth, his worst finish of the season but his 250 East title already proudly displayed on his bike. Rookie Haiden Deegan took second for the season and Max Anstie finished third just a point behind Deegan.