Chase Sexton rolls into town more confident this weekend after picking up his first win of ’26 at the Anaheim 2 SX following battles with Jason Anderson, Hunter Lawrence, and Eli Tomac. Tomac continues to lead the championship so he will again have the red plate backgrounds on his #3 KTM 450 SX-F here today. Lawrence’s strong start to the years (4-2-2 finishes, respectively) has him second in the standings as Sexton, Ken Roczen, and Anderson round out the top five. Cooper Webb earned his first top-five finish of the year last weekend, finishing 7-8-5 to start his title defense. Webb and Sexton both had tough nights at the opener but Sexton has a podium/win, whereas Webb’s results have not taken him to the top three yet, so he sits sixth in the standings. A little further back, do not count out the following three riders: Justin Cooper, Joey Savatgy, and Jorge Prado. The three are each off to a solid start and with today’s shorter, more sprint races, this trio could find themselves in the mix for podiums/race wins. The guys that get great starts repeatedly—Lawrence, Prado, Cooper, Roczen, etc.—all will be ones to watch with today’s three-race format. Thinking back to last year’s first Triple Crown event of the ’25 season (the Glendale SX), there were three different riders that won the three races (Webb, Roczen, then Tomac) and a fourth different rider won the overall (Sexton). Glendale was the fourth round last year, just like today’s first Triple Crown of ’26 is. Maybe we see similar results with several different races winners?
And in case you missed it, Ty Masterpool is racing today. After racing with the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki squad in 2025, the Texan will be on the line for the first time on his private #44 YZ450F in Houston. How will his season debut go? While he has a ton of raw speed, qualifying for the 450SX races is not a guarantee. With Masterpool, you never really know!