Round 12 of the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross Championship saw Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) take another historic win in 450SX and reclaim sole possession of the red plate at Glendale, while Jett Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) stood tall in 250SX West to mark his first Triple Crown victory. Both riders were available to the media following the races for this Debrief feature.

450SX

Image: Octopi Media.

Eli, excellent starts for you. You looked extremely comfortable tonight.

Yeah, the starts were key for me tonight, it was very important to be upfront, as it always it, but this one in particular. The track was really high speed, dry and hard pack. I don’t remember a track that has been as hard as this, maybe Las Vegas back in the day. So, it was cool, it was a change-up from what we’ve had. All three motos were pretty solid, had a lot of pressure in moto one and in moto three and then obviously Chase [Sexton] rode really solid in the second one. This was good for me, my first two Triple Crowns were not good at all, I crashed in both events so I came into today focused on trying not to crash in any of these motos.

You started from outside the dog house like last year. Is that something you figured worked last year, so you would test it again?

Yeah, it was a very long straightaway with a sweeping 180, so for me, that’s worked well and I did think about last year too. The ruts were really bad outside of the gates, and to be honest, it was tough to pick a gate cause they were so beaten up outside of the gate.

You look ecstatic after the win. Was that because of the win, or because you took the red plate back?

I was pumped because I had crashed in the last two Triple Crowns, so to win is very important, so is getting those points towards the championship and staying off the ground.

250SX

Image: Octopi Media.

Jett, it must feel good to finally get a Triple Crown win in what is potentially your last attempt in the 250 class.

It feels great, it’s also cool cause Hunter won here last year at the Triple Crown, so it feels good, I’m super pumped to finally get one and lift that curse.

What went through your head with the red flag?

It’s not too much of a big deal, it’s not too bad, it doesn’t phase me much. It was just good to get another good start.

Is it hard to replicate that good start and hitting your marks with the quick turnaround?

No, I was just focused on hitting my lines, I knew the track and my lines already so I just had to get out front and make sure I could get a lead and out of the carnage.

The next time you guys race is the East West Showdown, what are your expectations for that?

It’s a cool little showdown to see who’s the better coast, so it’s always an exciting one cause we don’t get to race any of them until the main event, so it’s exciting and we’ll see how it goes.

If you can get far enough in the points and wrap the championship up early, is there any chance we see you race a 450 at the final round?

It hasn’t been discussed yet, but if we do get it early, I think we’ll still wait for outdoors, that’s the bigger picture at the moment.