The Monster Energy SuperMotocross World Championship came to Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday night with one job: sort out who arrives at next weekend's Final with a real shot at the title. It did that. It also handed out a bounce-back win, a flat tire, a hard crash, a piece of veteran-level scoreboard math from a 250 rider, and a teammate-on-teammate incident that has a factory team shouting at each other in the truck with one round left in the season.
Start with the man who left Carson on top. Julien Beaumer qualified P1 and won the overall — the best possible answer to a summer interrupted by injury. The Southern California dirt at Carson is hard-pack and slick, the kind of surface that rewards a rider who can carry corner speed on a shiny, blue-groove line instead of leaning on a rut to hold him up. Beaumer, a Lake Havasu kid raised on exactly that kind of ground, looked like the only rider all night who was genuinely comfortable.
Two Motos, Two Different Races
Moto 1 belonged to Jorge Prado, who continues to do the thing that has made him the points leader heading into the finale: he does not make the mistake. Ken Roczen was excellent in the opener too — genuinely one of the best riders on track for large parts of that moto, which is remarkable given this was his first race weekend back after sitting out most of the summer. The rust showed later. Roczen faded in moto 2, which is exactly what a rider who has not raced in months does over the back half of a second 20-minute moto.
Levi Kitchen had the strangest night of anybody. A flat front tire on the sight lap sent him to the gate already compromised, and what followed in moto 1 was a flat, low-intensity seventh that looked nothing like a rider with a championship to chase. Then the gate dropped on moto 2 and he was a completely different person: out front, gone, moto win. If you want a case study in how much of this sport lives between the ears, Kitchen's two motos in Carson are it.
Seventh in the first one, first in the second one, same track, same bike, same guy. Some nights the intensity just shows up late.
Carson · SMX Playoff 2Davies Down
Cole Davies had shown real speed in qualifying and then had a rough night that ended badly. In moto 2 he crashed hard and alone on a fast single — the takeoff berm had been beaten to pieces by that point in the race, and the jump that had been routine all day stopped being routine. Davies pulled out of the race. It was the most sobering moment of the evening and a reminder of what a second moto on a deteriorating hybrid track actually asks of these riders.
DiFrancesco Does the Math
The Davies incident caught out Ryder DiFrancesco, who lost a chunk of track position and had to come back through the pack. What he did from there is the reason he is still in this championship. Mid-race, DiFrancesco checked the stadium screen, worked out that he needed one more position to swing the overall, went and got it by passing Landen Gordon, and locked in a tie for second overall on the night.
That is not just fast riding. That is a rider racing the scoreboard instead of the guy in front of him, under fatigue, with a tiebreak on the line. Whatever happens next weekend, DiFrancesco earned the right to show up with a legitimate shot.
Positions beyond those confirmed on the broadcast are listed by result order without official point totals.
The Webb–Deegan Flashpoint
And then there is the thing everybody actually left talking about. Late in moto 2, Haiden Deegan made an aggressive, decidedly not-clean pass on his own Star Racing Yamaha teammate Cooper Webb and put him on the ground. Webb, who had run 5-5 on the night and was already unhappy with his own speed, was furious on the broadcast afterward — he called out what he saw as a lack of respect and said flatly that he would make sure Deegan does not win the SMX title next week.
It did not end at the podium. Cameras followed a heated Webb back toward the Star Racing truck, and there were raised voices behind the doors. This is one team, two riders, one round left, and a championship in play. We have the full story of the incident and the fallout in a separate piece.
Where It Leaves Us
Prado leaves Carson with the points lead and Webb roughly 20 points adrift — a gap that is not fatal in a two-moto finale but requires help. Beaumer has momentum and a win. DiFrancesco has a tiebreak, a clear head, and a shot. Kitchen has the speed if he brings the version of himself that showed up for moto 2. Roczen has one more weekend of race fitness in his legs than he had Saturday morning, which matters more than it sounds.
There is also the context that makes the Webb situation sting a little extra: Steve Matthes has reported that Webb is headed to Team Tedder on a Husqvarna for next season. Webb himself has not confirmed it, and nothing has been officially announced — but if the reporting holds, Saturday night may have been one of his last races as a factory Yamaha rider, and the guy who took him down is the team's future.
One round left. The SMX World Championship Final is next weekend, and everything gets decided there.