Most Impressive: Daytona
March 04, 2025
Image from Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
DAYTONA! Who were the Most Impressive riders from each class? Spoiler: for the first time this year, it’s the two winners! Daytona is a beast… winning it is indeed impressive.
450 Class: Ken Roczen
I’ve said it earlier this year and I’ll say it again: this is the best version of Roczen we’ve seen on a Suzuki (arguably even better than this post-arm injury Honda days). Get this: Roczen started behind Cooper Webb, passed him, pulled away, fought off a classic late-race Webb charge, and pushed all the way to the end for the win. Roczen won Daytona in a fashion that we’ve haven’t seen from him in a long time: dominant. He was the fastest and able to maintain a high speed throughout all 20 grueling minutes.
Webb put down two heaters in the second half of the race and caught up to Roczen. We all thought it was over at that point right? But no! This time Webb made the mistake and Roczen was able to hold on for the win. When was the last time Roczen has held off a charging Webb? Has the curse been broken? Only time will tell… but Roczen get’s his first Daytona victory and in a super impressive fashion.
Here is what he had to say about the race:
“I honestly still can’t believe it… I had some really good lines. When you make those passes you have to put your head down or else they’ll retaliate and come back. I was just charging the whole time, trying to get a gap. Coming out of these turns it was really rutty, and very easy to make a mistake, but I just kept my head down and charged the whole way. I seriously cannot believe that this finally happened... This is a dream come true.”
250 Class: RJ Hampshire
Super happy to see Hampshire get his first win at Daytona. He gave a shoutout to his dad (who recently passed) on the podium and it was a real tear-jerker; big moment for RJ and the family. The ride itself was very impressive: started behind Hammaker, Hymas, and Vialle but quickly got around all three of them and into the lead. No doubt he was the best guy all day: fastest qualifier, won his heat, and won the main (with the fastest lap time). Hampshire mentioned how all the restarts haven’t worked in his favor (this one included), but he persisted nonetheless and held on for the win. Impressive stuff for RJ, especially if you consider the lack of prep time before the season and how he’s still recovering from wrist surgery; he’ll only get better from here on out right?
Here’s what he had to say about the night:
“It’s special. I lost my dad a few months ago and this was his race. Growing up as a kid, this is where I came with him. It was the only Supercross I came to. And he was with us today. Some guy came up to me in the pits and had his old jersey that he raced with back in the day, that was something I never had. He gifted me that and – it just felt different today, man, like my dad was definitely here… Finally got to burn one [a victory burnout on the banked track] down here in Daytona, that was for my dad, for sure.”
250 Class Honorable Mention: Maximus Vohland
It’s been a rough past year for Vohland, and this year hasn’t started great with some bad starts and bike problems. He had another bad start in Daytona, but rode super well to come through the pack and get a top 5. He even pulled away from Anstie after the restart; impressive!
