KTM Fox Raceway National, Pala, CA — May 26, 2023
The Monster Energy AMA Supercross portion of the inaugural SuperMotocross Season concluded with championships going to Chase Sexton(450SX), Hunter Lawrence(250SX East), and Jett Lawrence(250SX West).
The halfway point of the 31-race SMX season served as an ideal opportunity to celebrate the successes of the recent Monster Energy AMA Supercross campaign, which saw more than 850,000 fans attend the 17-race stadium season, including four sellouts and record attendance in five additional markets. Additionally, Supercross enjoyed growth in television and streaming viewership from the multi-year partnership extension with NBC Sports and Peacock, which was complemented even further with a significant level of growth from international subscribers to the SuperMotocross Video Pass, which is now available for a limited-time 50% discount entering the Pro Motocross season.
Increased Payouts To Riders
Both Jason Weigandt, NBC Sports and Peacock host, and Davey Coombs, President, MX Sports Pro Racing, took time to bring attention to the historic level of financial investment around the SuperMotocross World Championship, which will directly benefit the racers.
The Pro Motocross Championship will see a purse increase of 42% this summer, while the SMX Playoffs and Final will pay out an unprecedented $5.5 million this fall, which will see $25,000 for the 22nd-place finisher in the 450 division, upwards of six figures for a top-10 finish, and $1 million for the 450 winner. Additionally, it was announced that the points scoring system for the SMX Playoffs will operate under the traditional 25-point scale that has been used for decades in Pro Motocross, was the structure for Supercross for many years, and is utilized as well in other series like MXGP. As a result, the progressive point system for SMX will see 25 points go to the winner of Playoff 1, 50 points to the winner of Playoff 2, and 75 points to the winner of the Final.
It was also confirmed that the series will see the addition of metal starting grates at Pro Motocross events, which aligns with the practice adopted by both Supercross as well as the FIM Motocross World Championship (MXGP) and the annual Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations. Coombs then welcomed the series’ sanctioning body in AMA Pro Racing, in addition to announcing that the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) will officiate Pro Motocross for the first time in more than a decade to offer another layer of competitive consistency to the entirety of SMX.
Special recognition and attention were provided to RedBud MX co-owner Amy Ritchie, who, along with her brother Tim, will celebrate 50 years of motocross at one of the sport’s most iconic venues for the FMF RedBud National, which has formally been announced as a retro-themed race on July 1 during the Independence Day holiday weekend.
Here is the complete broadcast schedule for the Pro Motocross portion of the SuperMotocross World Championship.
Domestically, Peacock continues to be the exclusive streaming home for all SuperMotocross World Championship action, including 11 rounds of Pro Motocross, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, two SuperMotocross playoff races, and then the SuperMotocross World Championship Final.
Playoffs
For the first time in the sport’s 50-plus-year history, athletes have an additional incentive to keep racing as they accumulate points toward the SMX World Championship.
The top 20 athletes in combined Supercross and Pro Motocross points (both classes) will be automatically seeded into the SMX Playoffs and World Championship Final. In addition to racing for the sport’s ultimate title, the best athletes in the world will also be competing for the sport’s biggest prize – $5.5M spread across the final three races ($10M spread across the SMX series).
All roads lead towards the SuperMotocross World Championship as Playoff 1 will take place on Saturday, September 9 at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., and Playoff 2 is set for Saturday, September 16 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., followed by the SuperMotocross World Championship Final on Saturday, September 23 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, Calif.
