2025 Tampa Supercross Preview

The upcoming round of the Supercross season commences this weekend
at Raymond James Stadium, in Tampa, Florida, for round five of the season. This also marks the
opening round of the 250SX Eastern Regional Championship. Let’s look at some of the big injury
news that has been released this week, and how the premier title contenders have fared in their
previous visits to Tampa.

The big injury news that broke earlier this week from the Lawrence camp, was that defending SX
champion Jett Lawrence will undergo surgery to fix his torn ACL and meniscus, sidelining him
for the remainder of this season. Although Jett hasn’t been as dominate as most predicted
heading into the season, his absence from the championship will give the likes of Sexton,
Roczen, Webb and Tomac a lot of confidence from here on out.

Chase Sexton heads into round five with the red plate, after clinching his second victory of the year in Glendale. The Red Bull Factory Racing rider has been significantly better to start the season, already tying his win tally in 2024. The 2023SX champ has raced at Raymond James Stadium twice in his career, finishing second on both occasions. All the momentum is rolling with the #4 as we head into the first east coast venue of the year.

Ken Roczen is looking to build on his consistent start to the season. Although Kenny is yet to win an overall main event thus far, three podiums in four rounds has put the ECSTAR Suzuki rider second in the series standings, just two points off the summit. Could we see the #94 on the top step of the podium, in Tampa?

2025 is the last full race season for Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Eli Tomac, and the 32- year-old has been incredibly fast to start the year. Small mistakes and some inconsistency out the gate have limited Tomac, resulting in only one visit to the podium across the opening four rounds (#3’s sole podium finish this year was his victory in San Diego, and his 53rd 450SX main event victory!). Tampa has been a racetrack ET3 has found great success on in years past, picking up the victory in 2018 and 2020. Tomac is currently third in the series standings, nine points off the leader Chase Sexton.

Cooper Webb has put himself in a great position as the series heads east. It is no secret that Coop’s best performances have come on east coast terrain, and he in fact won at Raymond James Stadium in 2023, when the series last visited the venue. Currently fourth in the points and ten points behind the lead, I think everyone should keep an eye out for the #2 to come out swinging in Tampa and make a statement.

One rider that should be on your radar is Justin Hill. Who can forget when he made his 450SX debut at Raymond James Stadium in 2018. The #46 won his first ever 450 heat race and battled for the lead in the opening stages of the race before falling, finishing in sixth. Justin Hill is another rider to certainly have your eye on in Tampa.

Who are your podium picks heading into Tampa?

- Edward Heather

Photo by Pearce Adair