The Weekend Breakdown | 2026 San Diego 3

San Diego's Snapdragon Stadium is relatively new to the Monster Energy AMA Supercross tour, yet it's delivered an array of historic moments. The 2026 edition of the annual event was no different. A handful of narratives and critical points have landed in Lewis Phillips' recapitulation.

ELI EXCELS, NEW KTM SITUATION

Whilst the scorecard reflects a similar effort, the differences between Eli Tomac's wins at events one and two are most noteworthy. Different dirt, conditions and race situations ensured that this second victory – one that helped him maintain a perfect start to his season – answered more queries about this KTM move. Consider that he made one pass at Anaheim 1 and was uncontested from there on out whereas in San Diego he had to react to rivals and use lines that were not preferred at points.

The result was, seemingly, a bike that can be flexible or adaptable in race conditions. Even better is San Diego's soil had ruts not too dissimilar to East Coast venues. Again, it all worked.

"It was different, a way different surface," Tomac commented in the post-race media session. "It felt like an east coast track, to be straight up. The dirt pulled way more on the bike both under braking and in acceleration. It was good to put it in that situation, right? It was a much different surface to what we had at Anaheim 1, but my turns were awesome. I was able to move around and lay it over in the ruts. That is why I am so happy with what I am working with right now."

Verdict: This partnership has little left to prove, early on too.

ANSTIE'S ANGST AT FRIENDLY FIRE

With Max Anstie's run as 250SX West leader halted, attention turns to redemption and even retaliation. The shift in momentum appears more catastrophic than the points lost – the narrative does not match the reality of a two-point deficit – but that can quickly turn around as track position is Anstie's clear advantage. Deegan is yet to start in the top three in a main event and was lucky to cross the holeshot line in fourth in San Diego, as his launch out of the gate appeared even worse than Anaheim 1.

There will be plenty of contention and debate in the wake of round two, yet the fact that Deegan was the quickest rider and therefore better than Anstie mustn't be lost. Anstie was even quick to point out that he wanted to let his teammate have the lead – he knew it was counterproductive to defend for the entirety of the main event. It's that element that makes the move more bizarre; Deegan should've known that there was no need as, for the most part, he had Anstie covered. Even Anstie's advantage in the whoops was neutralized, because of the tabletop.

"I thought I was aware, but I overlooked it," Anstie explained. "I did not respect the Haiden Deegan – I don't know – whatever you want to call it. I didn't respect that on the track. Now I'm like, 'Okay, I'm aware. It won't happen again.' I could not really use the whoops to my advantage. They had that tabletop thing – I could not go too fast because then I would end up smashing into it."

Overlooked after the race is that the Yamaha squad asked their riders to 'not race each other hard' for the next month at least, in order to overcome opposition from the likes of Levi Kitchen. The orders that came from the powers that be were clearly ineffective, therefore any feedback from San Diego will likely be as redundant.

Verdict: Max's superb starts confirm that chapter two awaits.

CHASE CHASING CONTENTMENT

Chase Sexton's yet to claim a trophy across two races, yet his name has populated social media channels in every manner possible. Criticism about race craft and bike set-up are common, no matter the color of his steed, but he proved that his hunt for happiness has some merit. Such drastic modifications after just one round prompted many eyerolls. The result, however, was the best version of Sexton that we have seen in years and one that will prompt competitors to sit up and take notice.

Overlooked by the main event's craziness, his push in the heat race was so incredibly impressive (and most likely contributed to him overexerting himself in the main event). The lap times in the main, where he was the best on track for seven of the first 14 laps would have attracted attention from his fiercest rivals in the aftermath. There's therefore no need to question his speed, career decisions (this performance silenced any Kawasaki doubters) and potential. An ability to limit mistakes remains the only point to ponder.

"I think I went the wrong way in the off-season and it was on me. We made a lot of progress with the chassis and stuff but, suspension wise, I was really soft last weekend and the bike wasn't going to be good for 20 minutes, but that was because of the way I pushed it. I think this week… Honestly, the whole team and even Pro Circuit helped a lot. We came together as a family. It's pretty cool."

Verdict: Critical that the speed results in an Anaheim trophy.

PRADO PERPLEXED BY PASSING

Jorge Prado's a superb starter, but that strength masks a limitation. He lacks experience in the middle of the pack, a weakness exposed at Snapdragon Stadium. The trend is consistent with his MXGP career, where only in 2024 did he regularly make forward progress. It's therefore conclusive that Prado's performances are going to be start dependent, as they have been in his ten-year career.

"It is very similar [being in the middle of the pack in motocross and supercross] but I always holeshot," Prado said. "The thing is: I just cannot miss my starts. I even struggled with this in MXGP. It took me years to get better. 2023, and really 2024, was when I could first move through the pack. I need time to gain experience, but hopefully I can start better and holeshot each time. That's my goal."

Prado put it best when he labelled Anaheim 1 "too good" – it was. Now, consequently, fans are judging him against a criterion that is unrealistic. '26' was one position worse than he was at the same event last year, which puts him in the ballpark of his 'normal' performance level and it's that he must build on. Fortunately, the starts will ensure that he is in a position to battle for more trophies. Without starts, however, that is unrealistic.

Verdict: Leopards don't alter their spots, even in new lands.

TAKE OFF TO TALLAHASSEE

In a shock of sorts, Cooper Webb called an audible and returned to Tallahassee immediately after round two. It's a turn from the initial plan to stay in Southern California until after Anaheim 2 and, without doubt, a reaction to a difficult start to his title defense, a task that's proved troublesome since his first crown in 2019. 

Webb's finished outside of the top six at consecutive rounds for the first time since rounds five and six of 2022.

Those numbers have been influenced by some poor luck; he was dealt a bad hand in Anaheim 1's restart and then cleaned out by Sexton in San Diego. Still, he has not looked the same as in championship season despite a return to the trusty 2025 chassis. What remains to be seen is whether his impromptu return to Florida is because of bike struggles. It would be odd, if so, as he barely tweaked the steed last year. Obviously, that worked well.

"It was a bit of a crappy day once again, unfortunately," Webb said in his post-race clip. "Chase cleaned me out. I felt him there and gave him some room, but he ran us high and up top. I guess his Kawasaki doesn't turn very well. We'll get him back though; I am sure of that."

Verdict: Poor luck has not helped a rather mediocre start…

WP'S NEW SYSTEM CIRCULATES

The radically new WP components that the KTM athletes have made use of since late November have started to appear in other areas of the paddock. Unlike Anaheim 1, where they were exclusive to KTM, the Husqvarna duo of RJ Hampshire and Malcolm Stewart made use of the parts. Hampshire was on the fork and shock for the first time, whereas Stewart only had access to the forks.

"I'm on it now! I got it this week," Hampshire shared in my post-race discussion. "I went from air forks and the 2023 factory shock… We pieced things together to give me a setting for Anaheim 1, because I didn't get to test. We took all of that off my bike and it was completely different this week. There is a lot to learn. I just need time on this right now. It's good in some areas and can be better in others."

Verdict: RJ says Indianapolis is deadline for improvement.

PENALTY POINTS' PROMINENCE

The AMA has introduced a new system, license points, that has become a headline item across two rounds of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross season. Firstly, Haiden Deegan was handed one license point after refusing to stop for a television interview in Anaheim. Now, in an unprecedented move, Vince Friese was handed two license points for being oblivious to countless blue flags across the 450SX main event.

Similar to Formula 1, the license points accumulate in a year and carry punishments at certain checkpoints. Five points result in a written notice; ten points strips a rider of their gate pick at the next race and then fifteen's where championship points are removed. It's essentially a streamlined way to monitor rider misdemeanors whereas, in comparison, each incident was isolated in past seasons.

"We went through it in 2025, under the radar, and had one of our guys assign points to riders based on what they did," Ezra Lusk explained at the media event in December. "We studied it, reviewed it and came up with a better program to launch in 2026. You can earn either one, two or three points for an incident. Just one point would be a failed sound test or skipped interview, whereas three points would be jumping on a red cross."

Noteworthy is the fact that the AMA reviewed Sexton's pass on Webb, Deegan's pass on Anstie and Ken Roczen's trip off the track in the whoops. All three incidents were deemed unworthy of license points.

Verdict: A critical step in transparency and professionalism.