The PulpMX Yamaha Privateer Challenge returns Friday, May 8, as a 22-rider last-chance showcase held ahead of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross season finale in Salt Lake City. Vurbmoto will produce the event after Steve Matthes persuaded Feld to revive Privateer Island. The field will consist of the top 17 LCQ point earners from the Supercross season plus selected 250-class Wild Card slots to reach 22 riders.

Riders must compete in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship to accrue LCQ points, and riders who make a 450 main receive no LCQ points. LCQ standings mirror Supercross scoring for most positions: the first rider to miss a 450 main receives 25 LCQ points and the next receives 22, after which standard Supercross points apply.

The program includes a practice session following press day, two 11-rider qualifying sessions and two mains that are each six minutes plus one lap. Overall results will use Olympic-style scoring across the two mains, and the second main will feature an inverted staggered restart with the first-main winner starting last. Fans can watch live on the PulpMX YouTube channel at 4:50 p.m. ET / 2:50 p.m. MT; archived replays will be available on PulpMX, Vurbmoto and Racer X channels, and live timing and scoring will be provided through the free Vurbmoto Prospect app (App Store and Google Play). A raffle for a 2026 Yamaha YZ450 will help raise prize-pool funds; payouts have topped $100,000 in each of the past two years, and a final purse total will be announced on the PulpMX Show.

Husqvarna said it will end in-house motocross, supercross and SMX team operations in the U.S. after the SMX season, and beginning in 2027 it will shift to supporting independent teams with factory materials and technical support. The company plans a North American engine-leasing program to make factory engines and suspension components available to select teams.

Husqvarna said it will remain active at events, providing support and a presence at races while changing the structure of its North American factory involvement. The decision directly affects Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing, which fields 450-class riders Malcolm Stewart and RJ Hampshire and 250-class riders Ryder DiFrancesco, Daxton Bennick and Casey Cochran.

Husqvarna and Rockstar said the factory squad will remain committed through the rest of the season, including the AMA Supercross finals, the Pro Motocross season and SMX post-season events. Rockstar did not specify the long-term status of its contracted riders. Husqvarna said the move follows broader KTM Group restructuring tied to last year’s financial crisis and the Bajaj Mobility AG takeover.

Hunter Lawrence won the 450SX main at Empower Field at Mile High on May 2, finishing 13.2 seconds ahead of points leader Ken Roczen. The result trimmed Roczen’s advantage to a single point and sets up a winner-take-all finale in Salt Lake City. The victory was Lawrence’s fifth of the season and left him and Roczen tied with five wins and 12 podiums each.

Jorge Prado took the holeshot while Eli Tomac stalled at the start. Lawrence seized the lead on lap two and extended the gap to nearly 10 seconds midrace as Roczen and Cooper Webb worked their way through the pack. Tomac recovered to finish third, his ninth podium of the year and his 111th career Supercross podium, tying him with Jeremy McGrath for second on the all-time list. Webb crashed late but recovered to 11th, a result that eliminated him from title contention.

Sunday’s program also included 250SX West qualifying, where Ryder DiFrancesco won Group A Qualifier 1 aboard a Husqvarna FC 250 Factory Edition with a total time of 12:44.817 and a fastest lap of 52.688 seconds. Organizers published revised provisional entry lists showing a 46-rider 450SX field, including Cooper Webb, Eli Tomac, Chase Sexton, Jorge Prado, Justin Cooper, Ken Roczen and Hunter Lawrence, and a 38-rider provisional field for 250SX West that included Max Vohland, Haiden Deegan, Ryder DiFrancesco and Max Anstie. Fans were invited to enter the Kickstart for a Cause raffle for a chance to win Roczen’s race bike, with entries open through 11:59 p.m. PT on May 4. SMX Insider and the highlights packages recapped Denver, while preview coverage such as The Weege Show featured interviews with Lawrence, Chase Sexton, Levi Kitchen and others. Justin Hill said he felt “really dang good” after altitude training and targeted the final two altitude rounds at Denver and Salt Lake City.

Love Moto Stop Cancer is offering fans a chance to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and win Ken Roczen’s Supercross race bike. Entries are accepted on the official Kick Start for a Cause sweepstakes site; $1 buys 10 entries and larger donations are also accepted. RacerX urged fans to enter via the official sweepstakes page. The sweepstakes closes May 4 at 11:59 p.m. PT, and all proceeds benefit St. Jude.

SMX League said the annual Love Moto Stop Cancer online auction is live from Ellenton, Fla., featuring nearly 200 unique items and running through May 11 at 8 p.m. ET. Donated racer items include race-worn and autographed jerseys from Eli Tomac, Justin Barcia, Ken Roczen, Ricky Carmichael and Jeremy McGrath; Chase Sexton’s race-worn jersey and helmet; and Malcolm Stewart’s jersey, pants and hand-painted boot.

Partner contributions include autographed Jackson guitars, custom STACYC 16eDRIVE bikes, FLY Racing autographed helmets, custom Oakley goggles, 2025 Pro Motocross autographed checkered flags and a custom St. Jude Tusk Moto toolbox from Rocky Mountain ATV/MC. Last year’s auction raised nearly $150,000. For more information and to view all auction items, visit SupercrossLive.com/stjude.

The Denver Supercross is scheduled for Saturday, May 2, at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado. It serves as Round 16, the penultimate stop of the 17-round Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship.

Qualifying will air on Race Day Live beginning at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT on Peacock. Live coverage, including heat races and the main program, begins at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT on Peacock. NBC will carry replays beginning at 3 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. PT.

The event is being run by the SuperMotocross paddock, and promotional material invites fans to “take a lap around Empower Field at Mile High.” Full participant lists and specific race times are available in the official schedule.

Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha confirmed Australian rider Kayden Minear will make his pro AMA Supercross debut at Round 16 in Denver, Colorado. Minear appears on the official Denver entry list, and the team said the move is part of broader roster adjustments and marks his return to Supercross competition.

Minear arrives in the U.S. 250SX class after a mix of domestic and international results. He won the 2025 SMX Next championship and posted an early-season result at Anaheim 2 that included a win in the Anaheim 2 SMX Next qualifying race. At the Philadelphia SMX Next Championship he qualified third, crashed on the first turn of the main and recovered to finish seventh in a muddy finale. He missed the Houston qualifier with an injury, ran two rounds of 2025 AMA Pro Motocross at Thunder Valley and High Point and scored 23 points before a summer injury sidelined him. Internationally, he finished fourth in the 2024 Australian Supercross SX2 standings. He will race with the national number 99.

Minear is the ninth different Star Racing Yamaha rider to contest 250SX in 2026. The team has four riders entered in 250SX West and five in 250SX East, with Carson Wood the lone amateur among the entries. His debut follows recent pro-level elevations of teammates Caden Dudney and Landen Gordon.

Eli Tomac will return to race the Denver Supercross this weekend aboard his Red Bull KTM after missing two rounds because of a hip injury suffered in a crash during qualifying at the Cleveland Supercross. Tomac sat out the Cleveland and Philadelphia rounds after the crash, which occurred while he was riding through the whoops in qualifying. The Red Bull KTM team announced his entry for Round 16, Tomac’s home race, and he is also slated to line up at Salt Lake City next weekend.

Tomac has fallen to fourth in the 450SX standings after sitting out those races. Reports differ on the exact point gap: one account put him 31 points behind third-place Cooper Webb, who has four wins and carried the red plate through a stretch of the season, while another report listed him 55 points behind “Kenny” and described Tomac as effectively out of the title fight. Tomac has four wins this season at Anaheim 1, San Diego, Seattle and Daytona and led the points chase at various times, and the Denver announcement was framed as an attempt to return to podium form and to rejoin the championship fight.

The decision to race Denver and Salt Lake City reverses earlier expectations that Tomac would skip those rounds to concentrate solely on the Pro Motocross series, which begins May 30 at Fox Raceway. Team members called the move a calculated risk that trades short-term race practice and irreplaceable gate-drop work for longer-term outdoor preparation. Some reports announcing his return did not provide medical details, leaving questions about whether the Denver entry represents a full recovery or a limited effort; fans and stakeholders are awaiting further updates. The outcome in Denver could affect podium positions and point gaps as the series moves toward its final rounds.

Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki confirmed that Levi Kitchen and Cameron McAdoo will return to competition at the Denver Supercross in Denver, Colorado. Sources conflict on the round numbering, with one describing the event as the ninth round of the 250SX West series and another listing it as Round 16.

Kitchen is cleared to race after managing a back injury sustained a few weeks ago. He has three podiums in eight starts this season and sits second in the 250SX West standings.

McAdoo fractured the top of his humerus in a heat race in Seattle and missed Rounds 7 and 8. He is seventh in the 250SX West standings, has two podiums in six main-event starts and recorded a season-best second place at Round 2 in San Diego. The team noted this will be McAdoo’s first race as a new father after he and his wife, Maddie, welcomed a baby girl.

Team manager Iain Southwell said both riders are ready to get laps and show their speed. Pro Circuit Kawasaki called the pair’s returns a boost to the team’s lineup as the championship moves into midseason rounds, and one report framed McAdoo’s comeback as timely ahead of the late-season rounds. The team also said favorable weather is expected in Denver.