Just seven days after racing in one of the world’s most storied motorsports venues, the Monster Energy SMX World Championship travelled to the most famous racing city on the planet as a huge crowd gathered inside Lucas Oil Stadium for the ninth race of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship.
Race Report and Images by Feld Motorsport
The second Triple Crown event of the 2026 season produced another captivating night of racing as 450SMX Class points leader and Honda HRC Progressive rider Hunter Lawrence emerged with his second win of the year via tiebreaker over championship rival Eli Tomac, which allowed Lawrence to add to his slim lead in the championship.
The first 12 Minute + 1 Lap premier class race of the evening featured an impressive performance by Progressive Insurance Cycle Gear Suzuki’s Ken Roczen, who charged his way to the front early and cemented control to take a pressure-free win by 5.4 seconds. The battle behind him was anything but calm, as several of the championship’s key players duked it out for a spot on the podium. In the end, Lawrence came away with second, followed by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Tomac, who overcame a start outside the top 10. Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Cooper Webb finished fourth after running most of the race in second, while teammate Justin Cooper rounded out the top five.
The intensity picked up in Race 2 and it ultimately ended Roczen’s chances at victory when he mistimed a rhythm section on the opening lap and landed on Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Aaron Plessinger, which took Plessinger out of the race and dropped Roczen to the tail end of the field. Out front, it looked to be Tomac’s win for the taking after an early pass for first around early leader Cooper, but the Yamaha rider recollected himself, found a rhythm, and closed back in. Cooper pulled the trigger on a pass to reclaim the lead from Tomac and carried on to win by 3.5 seconds over his KTM counterpart. Webb followed with an uneventful third place, while Lawrence suffered a costly incident with lapped riders that dropped him from third to fourth.
The third and final race of the night saw Lawrence and Tomac seize the moment to put themselves out front early. The deteriorating racetrack made track position a priority and Lawrence’s holeshot allowed him to settle into the lead by about a second over Tomac. As the race wore on, Lawrence slowly added to his advantage over Tomac, and it continued to grow as lapped riders factored into the race. Behind them, Roczen settled into third, while the Yamaha teammates of Webb and Cooper battled it out for fourth. Lawrence was never challenged when it mattered most and put together a wire-to-wire effort to end the night on top by a margin of 5.5 seconds over Tomac. Roczen bounced back from his difficult second race in third, while Webb kept Cooper at bay for fourth.
Lawrence picked an opportune time to have his best race of the night as it carried him to the overall victory. The Australian and Tomac ended the night tied in points, with seven apiece, but Lawrence’s 2-4-1 effort bettered Tomac’s 3-2-2 performance by virtue of Lawrence’s better result in the Race 3 tiebreaker. It was Lawrence’s second win of the second and the second of his career. Webb and Cooper ended the night tied for third overall at 11 points each, with the edge going to Webb’s 4-3-4 effort over Cooper’s 5-1-5 finishes.
The biggest win of the season thus far for Lawrence allowed him to extend his lead in the title fight to four points over Tomac heading into the lone off weekend of the 17-race championship. Webb sits third, 25 points out of the lead.
Hunter Lawrence – 1st Place – 450SMX Class
“This win means a lot. This is my fifth day riding in-a-row this week testing with the team. Those guys will never give up, nor will I. This is the ultimate thank you for going through the ringer this week, riding five days in-a-row, and coming out and performing [tonight]. This is cool. It’s a Triple Crown, so it’s a tough one.”
Eli Tomac – 2nd Place – 450SMX Class
“I made one mistake [in the final race] and Hunter [Lawrence] pulled out a second or two. I just wasn’t able to bring that back. I had a sketchy moment in the whoops and feel like I lost the race there. I started jumping but got a little squirrely and then started skimming again at the end and it was better. I don’t know, I’m glad to get out of here [with a good finish]. It’s just a tough night of racing here with the Triple Crown and this soil.”
Cooper Webb – 3rd Place – 450SMX Class
“Overall, it was kind of a plateau night for me across the board. I’m bummed because I felt great yesterday and today, so I’m pretty bummed with those results, if I’m being honest. I felt like I could come in and compete tonight, but those two ahead of me were on another level. We’ve got work to do and will try to get better. We’ll keep our head down. There’s a lot of racing left and anything can happen.”
The Monster Energy SMX World Championship and Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship will observe its lone break in action next weekend before returning on Saturday, March 21, for the 10th race of the season from Birmingham, Alabama’s Protective Stadium.
Results
Championship Standings
450 champs Indy
