Dylan Ferrandis returns to Daytona SX with SMX title hopes

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Dylan Ferrandis was schedule to return to the Monster Energy Supercross series at Daytona International Speedway after missing three races while he waited to clear concussion protocol following a violent crash in Houston with four of 17 rounds in the books. Another heavy crash on Media Day, (see tweet below), will force him to miss at least one more race as he is not “not feeling 100% after yesterday’s crash,” according to the Star Racing Yamaha team.

Ferrandis returns Daytona — *Dylan Ferrandis returns to Supercross 15th in points and can still lock into the SuperMotocross World Championship. – Feld Motor Sports*

Injuries in the Supercross series in 2022 stymied his results and with the SX title out of reach, he chose to skip the final four races of 2022 to focus on Motocross. That was a luxury he had before the two series unified to create a playoff style format of three races at the end of year called the SuperMotocross World Championship. Ferrandis was also injured in the outdoor series and set his sight on 2023.

“Every season is a reset,” Ferrandis told NBC Sports ahead of the opening round. “You start the first race with everybody at the same point, nobody has a point in the championship so everybody’s on the same page. So, for sure it’s a reset, but you also learn from the past season. I plan on not doing the same mistake and I want be better and the new Yamaha bike is a big step up for me and I’m sure it’s going to help me a lot to be better this season.”

The first three races of the season went remarkably well.

Ferrandis finished sixth or better in each race and was sixth in the standings, trailing Jason Anderson and the top five by a single point. Then came Houston, where the race was red flagged after Ferrandis landed on the back of Ken Roczen’s bike and hit the ground face first.

Ferrandis missed his first race the following week in Tampa.

“I was at my peak,” Ferrandis told NBC Sports as he waited to take return to the track for a second session around portions of the Daytona International Speedway infield Supercross track. “I lost a lot of physical strength and confidence, but we will see. Supercross is a short season, but now we have this SMX so we will see how it goes.”

Accidents are a regular part of Supercross and Ferrandis had another hard crash during Media Day.

Massive crash for Dylan Ferrandis during media day today 😳

(via @RacerXOnline)#SupercrossLIVE #SuperMotocross pic.twitter.com/G2uAANtpB8

— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) March 3, 2023

The original report was that Ferrandis would be okay to race, but after riding practice, he made the decision to stay off the bike one more night.

The creation of the SuperMotocross Series means Ferrandis still has two shots to win a title in 2023.

And as good as Ferrandis is in Supercross, he is arguably better in the outdoor series after beating Eli Tomac for the 2021 title by 73 points, which is a gap of almost three full races.

Even with the four missing Supercross races this season and his next-to-last finish in Houston, Ferrandis sits 15th in the points’ standings entering Daytona, 30 points above the rider 20th in the standings. At the end of the Pro Motocross season in August, the SMX series will guarantee starts to riders who are in the top 20 in combined points.

“It’s good to be back, especially here at Daytona,” Ferrandis said. “It’s such a great race.”

In the past two weeks, Eli Tomac lost his momentum and with it the Monster Energy Supercross red plate to Cooper Webb, but a gutsy performance in Seattle gave him a sixth win of the season as he and the series heads into an off week tied. Tomac is currently tied in the points with Webb.

With this win, Tomac also ties James Stewart for second on the all-time wins list at 50 with six rounds remaining in 2023.

“I needed that bounce back,” Tomac told NBC Sports’ Will Christien. “It was almost like I was in a little bit of a slump in the past couple of weeks; just a little bit off. I’m feeling much better now. That track raced really cool. There were a lot of different lines out there.

“It was obviously very dicey early on. I got passed and then had to make those passes back.”

Tomac suffered with a stiff neck in Indianapolis two weeks ago when he lost the red plate to Webb for the first time in 2023. In that race, he scored his worst finish of the season in eighth. He lost more points in Detroit after finishing a distant third behind Chase Sexton and Webb. This is the fifth time this season that Tomac and Webb finished 1-2 in a race. Tomac has won them all, but Webb has been more consistent.

RESULTS: How they finished for the 450 Main in Seattle

Webb was disappointed to lose the ground to Tomac, but he will enter the Glendale, Arizona race with a red plate and a share of the points’ lead.

“It was overall a great night to get up front and get a second was great,” Webb said after the race. “Those few spots where I would get close to Eli and then make a mistake.

“The track was gnarly. It was no joke. It was cat and mouse as to who could ride the cleanest race and pick the line. I got off to a decent start, but Chase and Eli were ahead of me and I had some catchup to play and got into a good position.”

Early in the race, Sexton was indeed ahead of Webb and the remainder of the field. Another costly mistake sent Sexton to the ground. He battled back to finish fifth but is now 22 points out of the lead and in jeopardy of dropping out of championship contention unless Tomac and Webb have problems.

Rounding out the podium was Justin Barcia, who scored the third-place finish on his birthday

“Awesome ride,” Barcia said. “It was a lot of fun. I’m sure we kept the fans on their feet tonight. The track was gnarly. […] We’re searching; we’re so close to having that speed. We want it so badly. We’ll keep pushing hard and going for that win.”

Sexton’s mistake kept the three top points’ earners of 2023 from sharing the podium for the sixth time in 11 rounds, but the trio finished 1-2-3 in Heat 2 with Webb first, Sexton second and Tomac third.

The 250 West contenders were back in action after giving the last four rounds over to the East riders and Jett Lawrence picked up where he left off in Oakland: In Victory Lane. Lawrence scored his fourth win in five 250 West rounds. Last week his brother Hunter Lawrence tied Jett with 10 wins, but everyone knew it would not take long for Jett to regain the advantage.

Between them, the Lawrence brothers have won all but one race each in their respective divisions.

Lawrence rode a patient race in the Main. He settled in behind Stylez Robertson and concentrated on navigating the ruts mistake-free. He could not afford to be patient any longer when Cameron McAdoo caught up to the leaders. Lawrence found a second gear and gapped the battle for second.

An incident in their main made the battle between Lawrence and McAdoo more dramatic. While racing for second, the pair of riders ran out of room in the rhythm section. Both crashed but had a large enough lead over fourth to maintain their positions.

“It was a very eventful day,” Lawrence told NBC Sports’s Daniel Blair, answering a question about the earlier contact. “[…] It’s good to be back racing. It’s been a while. I feel like I’ve had another offseason. Glad to get out in one piece tonight.”

Lawrence now has a 23-point advantage over the field with four rounds remaining.

😅#SupercrossLIVE #SuperMotocross pic.twitter.com/t6MXgTFl9u

— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) March 26, 2023

Click here for full 250 Main Results

RJ Hampshire finished second in his race and is second in the points after a seesaw affair that produced the final pass for position just before the white flag was displayed.

“I felt like I had a pretty good pace going for a little bit,” Hampshire said. “I closed the gap and then had a couple of big mistakes that almost put me on my head. I backed it off a little bit.

“Cam actually gapped me a little more than I would have wanted. I knew I could get a push there at the end. I thought that was the last lap, which is why my pass was a little more aggressive than it should have been, but I’m stoked to be able to close the gap a little bit.”

McAdoo took the final spot on the podium. This is the fourth time in 2023 these three riders have shared the box and if not for a sixth-place finish in Anaheim 2, he would be mounting a much more formidable challenge for the points’ lead.

“The track was really demanding tonight,” McAdoo said. “It did change a lot and the key thing was to get off the rhythms every time. We were swapping back and forth.”

Enzo Lopes in fourth and Max Vohland rounded out the top five.

Robertson had the early lead but when he lost the top spot to Jett he cross rutted on the next lap, crashed hard and failed to finish.

2023 Race Recaps

Detroit: Chase Sexton inherits win after Aaron Plessinger falls
Indianapolis: Ken Roczen gets first win in more than a year
Daytona: Eli Tomac extends Daytona record with seventh win
Arlington: Cooper Webb wins for second time, closes to two of Tomac
Oakland: Tomac ties Ricky Carmichael with 48 wins
Tampa: Webb gets first 2023 win
Houston: Tomac bounces back from A2 crash to win third race of 2023
Anaheim 2: Triple Crown produces new winners Chase Sexton, Levi Kitchen
San Diego: Tomac, Jett Lawrence double down
Anaheim 1: Tomac wins opener for the first time

More SuperMotocross coverage

Seattle by the numbers
Dylan Ferrandis may return before SX finale
SMX develops “Leader Lights”
Power Rankings after Detroit
Hunter Lawrence defends Haiden Deegan
Results and points after Detroit
Chase Sexton wins in Detroit, penalized seven points

Update: Dylan Ferrandis return to racing delayed after Daytona Media Day crash

Eli Tomac wins Seattle Supercross, ties Cooper Webb in championship points

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