Garrett Marchbanks to Compete in the 450 Class at Daytona Supercross

Vital MX's Take: The Manchild himself, Garrett Marchbanks, will take on the legendary Daytona Supercross aboard a 450 for a one-off experience this season. Marchbanks of course is one of the biggest riders in the 250 class and this will get him the opportunity to test the waters by racing a machine with a bit more power. After this race, Marchbanks will return to the 250 for the remainder of the 250 West region, starting up again at Seattle.

Press Release: CHESTERFIELD, SC – FEBRUARY 24, 2022: It was March 11, 2017 when Jeremy Martin was on break from the 250 Western Regional Championship and decided to try the premier 450 class at Daytona. He had an inspiring third place qualifying time and an unexpected second place overall finish on the night. It is a mystery why other top riders have not tried this idea over the last five years. Perhaps they were in the 250 title hunt or maybe just needed to take a break from the long eight round regional series.

Well, it is time that someone took a chance and did it again and Garrett Marchbanks is the man for the job. Some oddities in the regular series currently have him sitting outside the top five in overall points and he loves to race his dirt bike so ... why not try Daytona. Daytona is the perfect race to do this for a variety of reasons. Marchbanks is a past Daytona winner so the place has special meaning to him. He will get some time off his regular schedule before and after the Daytona event. Daytona is an amazing venue with a wild atmosphere. And it is close to the ClubMX homebase in South Carolina. All of these factors lean towards this being a good idea.

“The season has not progressed like I imagined it would to this point so given the opportunity to add Daytona to the list is something I am very interested in. Brandon (Haas) and the team have been very supportive of me all season so the thought of adding this race to the calendar seemed fun for everyone.” said Marchbanks.

Team owner Brandon Haas is known for his vision and support of the riders and echoed Marchbanks’ comments: “We will be fielding a big team at Daytona and we drive to this round, so it made sense to add Garrett to the roster. We all know that Garrett has the skills, he just needed a bit more luck to fall his way this season. We are a very nimble team so given the opportunity to bring him with us to Daytona on a 450 seemed like a logical choice. He practices on a 450 during the week so it should come naturally to him to race one. As the biggest racer in the 250 class he is always searching for more power and moving to a 450 is the easiest way to get there. Add to that, he is excited for the opportunity and it should make for a special night.”

At the last race in Anaheim before the schedule break, Marchbanks won his first heat race of the season and then went on to an exciting fourth place overall finish on the night. Not an easy fourth place finish – but one of those storybook races where he goes down in the first corner, falls thirty seconds behind last place and then claws his way back to the front. It was a night to remember and a highlight reel for his resume. The screaming crowd, the electric atmosphere and the racing action all culminated with a shift in momentum for the twenty-year-old. Now he carry that excitement with him to Daytona! 

The event will kick off at 6 pm on Saturday, March 5, 2022 and it will be a night to remember for the ClubMX team. They will field a team of three 250’s and three 450’s at the famed speedway. It certainly gives fans one more reason to tune it. And like that night five years ago, perhaps Marchbanks can strike lightning in a bottle to give people something positive to talk about.

Mike Bonacci
CLUBMX
mbonacci@clubmx.com