But the results haven’t been. Levi Kitchen is a superb rider, and his speed in the first two rounds has been incredible. Unfortunately, his results have been limited by bad starts, and he’s been in the unenviable position of having to come through the pack. The silver lining is that he’s done a great job at salvaging points, but the reality is, he’s now sixth in points, and nine back of Deegan. Kitchen really needs a strong finish, preferably a win, if he wants to keep his championship hopes healthy. -Hansel
We have been watching Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen battle it out in 450 supercross since they both moved up to the class in 2014. We are on season 13 of these two veterans racing each other hard, yet clean. Every year people talk about the young guys yet these two seem to be getting better with age. It felt a bit like Déjà vu watching these two battle yet again in San Diego, but most of us are looking forward to seeing it again this weekend. Could Cooper Webb get into the mix to make it an all 30+ podium? -Sarah Whitmore
Hunter Lawrence came on strong in the second half of the main event in San Diego. After leading the first seven laps he relinquished the lead to Ken Roczen, then Eli Tomac in the same lap. It looked like he would settle in for a podium (only his third 450SX podium ever) until he put on a late race charge to get Roczen and even tried to get Tomac for the lead. His first 450SX win is coming, could it be as soon as A2? -Whitmore
Is the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 450 team hitting the panic button yet? Justin Cooper is sitting on a pair of sixth place finishes which is okay but not what he is capable of, and Cooper Webb has had bad luck with restarts and “crashes” in the main events finishing 7th and 8th in the first two rounds. Will the boys on blue be able to turn things around this weekend? -Whitmore
We will get our first glimpse of the top A level amateur riders at Angel Stadium this weekend, as the first of four qualifying rounds of the SMX Next – Supercross kicks off Saturday. The top amateur riders will run a race day that works within the professional 250SX and 450SX race day schedule, as these amateur will compete on the same track as the pros and also get live TV coverage on Peacock. The A2 entry list has some heavy hitters—Caden Dudney, Kayden Minear, Landen Gordon, Kade Johnson, Landon Gibson, Deacon Denno, and Ryder Malinoski to name a few—so good luck picking the race winner! Give us your predictions in the comments section. Read our season preview and check out the full provisional entry list below (click “full entry list” to view the entire field). -Mitch Kendra