Detroit, MI
Supercross Round #5 Recap | Detroit | February 3, 2024 – Supercross Live
Team Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence became the first Monster Energy AMA Supercross repeat-winner in 2024 with an impressive victory in front of 52,961 fans inside Ford Field in Detroit.
Ford Field, the first covered stadium to host a Supercross race in 2024, provided great action for the Michigan race fans. Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Chase Sexton, the defending series champion, took over second place on the opening lap and held it throughout the 20-minute plus one lap Main Event. Progressive Insurance ECSTAR Suzuki’s Ken Roczen recovered from a mid-pack start to work his way up on the rutted track and earned the final spot on the podium. When the scores were tallied Chase Sexton took over the championship points lead by a single point over Jett Lawrence. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Aaron Plessinger now sits third in the standings just a one point behind Lawrence. The Detroit round kicked off the Eastern Regional 250SX Class championship with Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Austin Forkner riding smooth, steady, and fast to grab the win and the points lead in the 9-round championship.
First place 450SX Class – Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
“I think the biggest difference for me is more this [points to his head]. My decision making, the past few weeks, it’s been kinda not as good… My speed’s been not too bad, but it’s just more poor executing and that stuff. So I think what I mean [when I said on the podium ‘Jett Lawrence showed up’ is] …more just kind of mentally, decision wise.” – Jett Lawrence, when asked about his podium comment, “I think Jett Lawrence just finally showed up to a race.”
Second place 450SX Class – Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
“It’s nice to have the red plate but it really only matters… who ends with it. So it’s nice to have it back, we’re all pretty close in points, but tonight was one of my best rides on the new bike, I think. We’ve had so many mud races, last week it was a Triple Crown, and this week it was our first real main event [since the opening round], and I felt pretty solid in the conditions. I didn’t have a great heat race and after seeing the 250 start, I was pretty far outside [on my gate]; I was a little bit nervous that if I didn’t get a good jump I was going to get pushed off the track. So I got a good start and I had some good speed, [made] some mistakes obviously, but it was a good main event and looking forward to build off that.” – Chase Sexton
Third place 450SX Class – Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
“I’m not the kind of guy that plays the ‘I can’t catch a break’ type thing. It’s just part of racing … I had a streak of, you know, if you want to call it bad luck, that can happen to anybody. And you know, we fought our way back to the podium. And I know we have everything that it takes to be on the top step, but… before I think about winning all the time, I want to get some consistency and being on the podium [regularly]… I just really want to get a little bit further up to the front in the point standings.” – Ken Roczen, when asked how he’s dealt with a string of unfortunate events at the past three races.
The Eastern Regional 250SX Class’ Main Event started with a first turn pile up that ensnared nearly half of the field. Austin Forkner was ahead of the crash and set sail for a decisive win to earn his 13th Supercross victory. Fire Power Honda’s Max Anstie got a decent start and battled his way into second place on the challenging track. Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s rookie Daxton Bennick made an impressive debut and brought home a third place finish from his first pro Supercross race.
First place 250SX Class – Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
“I just made it kind of a point to surround myself with people who are there to lift me up, basically. I feel like that’s just really important in this sport. You can have one good race and be on top of the world and you can have a bad one and get so down. So having people around you that keep you on the right track and keep you focused on what you need to be focused on, I think is really important. I’ve done that this year. Also the mental change was trying to have more fun riding. Obviously anybody knows, injuries in any sport… you don’t want to do it as much. You start being scared of what you fell in love with, essentially, and that being dirt bikes for me. To ride a dirt bike scared, at this level is – you can’t do it. So [we also worked on] just keeping the whole preseason [work] fun… We did quality work over quantity so much, and we kept it fun and kept me in a good mental space coming into this season, and I think it shows.” – Austin Forkner on how he approached 2024 after missing all of 2023 with an injury sustained at Round 1.
Second place 250SX Class – Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
“It took me a little longer than what I would’ve liked to get around Chance but, you know, at the end of the day he’s riding great. …as soon as I got around him, I thought, ‘All right, let’s stretch my legs a little bit.’ But I got caught with a few lappers the wrong way, and honestly Austin was riding really well. I kinda wanted to go, and then I was like, ‘I’m not going to take the bait and drag a footpeg up some of these rhythm sections [and crash],’ and just kept it solid.” – Max Anstie
Third place 250SX Class – Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
“I was definitely going fast at the [pre-season] test track, but that’s one thing, racing’s a completely different thing. I didn’t know how it would be on Saturday. The nerves were high, for sure, and I knew I just had to keep calm. And we had that replica [of the Detroit track layout] at The Farm [team training facility] so I just had to, you know, imagine I was at The Farm. And once I got I think into fourth, I saw Chance in third and I started laying my laps down. I felt really strong at the end, so that was also a thing – I didn’t know if I was going to be strong at the end of the moto ‘cause I’ve never raced a full pro moto. So yeah, check that box and I’m really happy with it.” – Daxton Bennick, when asked to comment on rumors he was fast at the test tracks coming into his debut rookie pro race.
The series heads back west for Round 6 inside State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on February 10th. The schedule returns to night racing, with the opening ceremonies commencing at 8:00 PM EST. Each Monster Energy Supercross race also pays points for the 31-round SuperMotocross World Championship. The SuperMotocross League brings together the thrills of the 17-round Monster Energy AMA Supercross season, the 11-round AMA Pro Motocross season, two Playoff Rounds, and one Final to determine an overall winner for both the 450SMX and 250SMX classes.
450SX Class podium (racers left to right) Chase Sexton, Jett Lawrence, and Ken Roczen. Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
250SX Class podium (racers left to right) Max Anstie, Austin Forkner and Daxton Bennick. Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
The Michigan Wolverines are the last Michigan team standing in college hockey as both Western Michigan and Michigan State lost in the round of eight.
Michigan will face Denver, while Wisconsin and North Dakota face off in the other semi-final game this week.
No Kings protesters march down Woodward Ave. in Detroit
Hundreds of protesters take Woodward Ave. to protest the Trump administration on March 28, 2026 as part of the No Kings day of action.
For some passersby in Detroit, the thousands of people who took to the streets on Saturday, March 28, to denounce President Donald Trump and his administration’s policies were a comfort. To others, they were an annoyance or worse.
But across the state, protesters sought to catch their eye and share with each other encouragement and concerns on the third so-called No Kings Day in a year protesting the president.
Crowds gathered in Holland, Adrian, West Bloomfield and Lansing. One sign in Ann Arbor read, “I’m tired of this, Grandpa,” and one in Battle Creek read, “End The War.” In Romulus, politicians rallied against the potential for an immigration detention center to be built there, and in Dearborn, a lawyer once detained by such agents called for the dismantling of their department. In Detroit, a teacher described the empty chairs of detained students, and a mother held up a painting of an explosion taking place in front of a child, symbolic of American military actions.
In a statement released ahead of the protests, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson made little of the efforts.
“The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them,” she said.
Onlookers, politicians and participants weighed in during conversations with the Free Press.
Onlookers
Jackee Oliver, 37, of Detroit, made her way back from her neighborhood store with her mom and 11-year-old daughter sporting stickers that read, “I Stood Up For Democracy Today,” and included a symbol of a crossed-out crown.
They’d been running their errand when they passed through the No Kings gathering about 11 a.m. on the east side of Detroit bordering Grosse Pointe on Mack Avenue between Cadieux and Neff roads. Oliver said she didn’t realize the protest was happening but hoped to come back out to join.
It was “a good thing,” she said, with her mom, Devita Williams, 58, of Ypsilanti, adding her thoughts on the Trump administration: “I’d like to get them all out the White House.”
Community members eyeing the crowd of roughly 200 people who marched through their Southwest Detroit neighborhood west of Clark Park on Saturday afternoon offered differing takes on the matter.
One man, translated by his nephew, said it was good and should be everywhere. Another said the group probably didn’t live in Southwest Detroit. Still others called it awesome or said the group should take their protest elsewhere.
In downtown Detroit, as at least a couple of thousand protesters marched along Woodward Avenue, several people headed to see the band the Black Label Society at The Fillmore said they got stuck in backups because of the march.
Shawn Roy, 49, drove from the Lansing area on his birthday with his son for that concert, he said while stuck behind a police SUV blocking Woodward for the marchers.
Roy is a Trump supporter but said he didn’t take issue with people using their right to protest. He just didn’t think their tactic was reasonable with so many events in town.
“This wouldn’t sway my mind even if I was on the fence,” he said.
Shortly thereafter, as the marchers started to depart, Milan Anderson-Whitfield, 19, of Northville, strolled up with her teenage little sister to see a group of drummers still playing and learn more. She held a sign she’d been given that read, “Keep your theology off my biology.”
She was tearing up as she spoke to a Free Press reporter, she said.
She’s anti-Trump. Seeing the gathering means a lot when you “don’t have anyone to talk to about this,” she said.
Elsewhere in the region, U.S. Rep. John James, a GOP candidate for governor, attended the Michigan Republican Party endorsement convention and called the demonstrations “just another manifestation of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
War, immigration, high costs and hope
Speakers across three rallies in Detroit spoke about not giving into despair, how immigration enforcement is causing harm in their view, their concern for voting rights, and how they disagree with Trump’s moves to attack Iran, remove Venezuela’s leader and to eye Cuba as “next.”
Speakers called for local policy change too. Faith leaders spoke, as did union members, activists and politicians such as Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, a Democrat who is a candidate for Michigan secretary of state, and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit.
In Clark Park, with more than 600 people listening, speakers called for Detroit police to release unedited video in use of force situations. They also called for college and city institutions to divest from businesses with ties to Israel.
The fight for immigrant rights and the fight against wars are interrelated, said Daniel Weber Alatorre of the Wayne State University chapter of Students for a Democratic Society.
“We create atrocities over there, immigrants come here and we beat them,” he told the crowd.
As those from the Clark Park rally marched, they chanted, “Trump wants war, Trump wants oil, hands off Iranian soil.”
As those at Detroit’s downtown Grand Circus Park marched later in the day, they chanted, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has got to go.”
Before the start of that rally, Rubina Javed, 60, of Warren, held up a painting her daughter had made. It showed a child looking out at the site of an explosion, an apparent bombing of sorts. It represents Iran, Lebanon and beyond, and Trump lied when he campaigned on no wars, she said.
“We don’t need bombing,” Javed said. “We want peace, dignity and love.”
She urged others to join the cause of protesting Trump, saying more voices can make change.
Kristen Schoettle, who said she works as an English as a second language teacher at Western International High School in Detroit, also told the crowd to act after sharing her story of five students being taken by immigration agents. It’s harmed fellow students, too, she said.
She called on people to push back against police cooperation with immigration agents or do whatever else they can, whatever that may look like.
Metro Detroit protests
Robin Gillis and her husband, Michael, both 73, of West Bloomfield, braved the cold in their town with temperatures in the 20s and a dusting of snow on the ground to talk about the Iran war, the economy, worry for upcoming elections, and the president’s imperious tone.
“He likes to label people so he can denigrate them, humiliate them, and make them feel less important,” said Michael Gillis, who was among more than 100 people out on Orchard Lake Road.
In Macomb County, Susan Diliberti, 69, of Clinton Township, walked among hundreds in Sterling Heights with a sign saying “juntos somos América” on one side with the translation “together we are America” on the other.
She came out to the protest at Hall and Schoenherr roads because she’s worried about future generations and wants to fight for everyone to have the right to accessible, quality public education, universal healthcare and the environment, she said.
“I’m hoping that we’re going to have hope to move into something that is even better than what we had before all the chaos happened,” Diliberti said.
The war in the Middle East affects many Dearborn residents with loved ones overseas, said Dearborn Democratic Club recording secretary Diane Hall.
Her group organized the No Kings gathering of about 300 people Saturday at the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn. It featured speakers from Arab Americans for Progress and the ACLU of Michigan, among others.
“This is hitting hard for the people in Dearborn, and we want to be able to show our support, but also express our rage, and our grief, and our optimism, that we can come together, elect candidates that will stand up against the war, stand up against the regime, and make the pain stop,” Hall said. “So, it’s political, but it’s also moral for us. It’s life. It’s a question of life and death.”
A site of controversy
Bubbles floated in the air, music played and an organizer handed out chalk for demonstrators to leave messages for immigration agents at a Romulus No Kings protest.
By 3:30 p.m. roughly 300 people had made it out to the event at the site of 7525 Cogswell St., a property the U.S. Department of Homeland Security purchased with plans to make it a detention facility.
Demonstrators of all ages joined local politicians including U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit, and Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit at the rally. Tlaib made an appearance in Romulus, at least her third protest of the day, along with U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, and Wayne County Commissioner Allen Wilson.
The Romulus protest differed from some others in Michigan because it demands specific, local, achievable action, said Chris Boyd, a member of organizing group Coalition to Shut the Camps.
Boyd said the recently developed group has already sent letters to companies and governmental organizations that would need to approve utilities for the facility.
His group has asked those institutions not to collaborate with the facility and more, and will hold those institutions accountable, he said.
There isn’t a clear timeline for the detention center’s construction. DHS officials previously said the facility’s construction and operation would lead to more than 1,400 jobs and create millions in tax revenue. On March 24, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Romulus officials announced they are suing DHS to prevent the opening of the planned facility.
Boyd said many protests show solidarity with groups being harmed by ICE, but few explore strategies to prevent people from being harmed. He said it’s going to take a shift to preventative strategies to stop harm.
“It’s not bad but it’s not sufficient,” Boyd said. “It’s OK to bring moms from Ann Arbor to go hang out with each other and hang out in the park and sing protest songs. That’s beautiful. It’s wonderful. It doesn’t change our outcomes. So we have to come up with other strategies that are sufficient and I think that’s what this is an example of.”
That said, he called the collective No Kings protests a powerful message and said the energy of such actions often fuel the practical work that follows.
Staff writer Paul Egan contributed to this story.
Detroit, MI
Ken Roczen wins second race of 2026 in Detroit, Hunter Lawrence crashes and loses points lead
DETROIT, Michigan: Ken Roczen won the second race of the 2026 season at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, as Hunter Lawrence and Eli Tomac struggled. With this victory, Roczen is firmly in championship contention with a 14-point gap to the leader.
Chase Sexton secured second in his first race back after suffering an injury in a practice crash prior to Daytona. Sexton continued to get stronger during each session as he climbed his way through the ranks.
Malcolm Stewart secured his first podium of the season one week after getting his first top-five in Birmingham.
Justin Cooper stole a point from Tomac in the closing laps, but Tomac’s fifth-place finish along with Lawrence’s problems gave him the championship lead by four.
Tomac had to fight hard to stay in the top five as Cooper Webb challenged on the white flag lap. Webb crossed under the checkered flag in sixth.
450 Feature Results
In-Race Notes
Jorge Prado has been hot on the gate drop and he earned another holeshot in Detroit.
Meanwhile, Lawrence and Tomac both got poor starts and had to come through the field together.
Roczen stole the lead from Prado on Lap 2, bringing Webb with him.
Webb crashed with Prado and handed second to Sexton.
Incredibly, Lawrence was up to third on Lap 3; Tomac was fifth and gradually losing contact with the points leader. Tomac cannot afford to lose any more ground to Lawrence.
Stewart was the man in the middle of the two points challengers.
Webb settled into eighth. Prado fell to 14th.
Tomac was five seconds behind Lawrence at the halfway mark.
Dylan Ferrandis was in seventh on Lap 7. He was also returning from injury along with Sexton this week.
Lawrence crashed on Lap 10, hurting his bike in the crash. Lawrence had a 12-point lead at the time. Lawrence had not finished worse than fourth all year and was second or better in all but two races.
With the incident, Tomac moved up to fourth in the running. Lawrence was 19th at the time. This would give Tomac the points lead.
Lawrence had to pull into the mechanics area to replace his front wheel.
Roczen was in command of the race on Lap 15.
Tomac didn’t have the pace to fully take advantage of Lawrence’s crash and lost fourth to Cooper on Lap 18.
Roczen finished 7.8 seconds ahead of Sexton.
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