The opening round of the 2025 World Supercross Championship (WSX) took place in Argentina on Saturday night, where the gates dropped on the first-ever Buenos Aires City GP. In this Q&A feature, MotoOnline takes a closer look at all that mattered once the trophies were awarded following the action.

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Q: Did Haiden Deegan over-perform or under-deliver on the 450?

A: This was one of – if not the biggest – storylines entering WSX in Argentina, with multi-time AMA 250 champion Haiden Deegan stepping up to the SX1 ranks and marking his first outing on 450 machinery. The 19-year-old qualified seventh and earned a 4-6-3 scorecard over the three-race format for third overall, which was a pretty solid debut. This can be a challenge to say because of how hyped he is, and one could also expect him to sweep the class in announcing his arrival on the scene, although this is not overly realistic. So for Deegan to remain poised – outside of missing his gate selection, which gave him the last pick for the racing and meant he had to fight his way forward each time out – everything looked convincing for the young Californian. In fact, a debut like this is exactly what you like seeing. Consistency, flashes of speed, and a decent result. It’s for these reasons that Deegan neither over-performed nor under-delivered – he just recorded an incident-free raceday on the big bike. Watch for him to build on this next time out in Australia, with further gains expected from now until then.

Q: Can you give Jason Anderson a pass for fifth?

A: Jason Anderson is another rider who it’d be easy to get caught up in the outcome, being a former Monster Energy Supercross 450SX champion. His signing with Pipes Motorsport Group (PMG) came a little over a month ago now, meaning that time has been limited in acclimatising to the new surroundings and the RM-Z450, plus don’t forget he had a horror second half of the SMX season after exiting Pro Motocross with ongoing health issues. The cards were stacked against him in a way for Argentina, yet still he qualified fourth, made it into superpole, and earned 7-3-4 throughout the racing for fifth overall. All of this considered, a P5 result is fine for his first hit out with the new program, as well as returning from the sidelines. Of course, he’ll be another one to watch closely as to how his form develops over the course of the entire World Supercross series.

Q: Is Christian Craig officially back?

A: There is something very familiar about seeing Christian Craig on a red bike. Despite having spent multiple seasons as part of the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing program – which included a 250SX West championship in 2022 – as well as having a stint at Rockstar Energy Husqvarna, his racing career between 2011-2020 was all with Honda, from the Troy Lee Designs team, to Geico Honda, as well as placement at the Honda HRC outfit periodically. In short, this combination just looks good, and it did so in Argentina, too. Did he light the world on fire? Not exactly, although he was right there in the mix, which we haven’t been able to say about the experienced 34-year-old for quite some time. Second position in the opening SX1 sprint race was a strong indication that Craig is getting back to his previous form, which is good to see because it’s always been the case that he is super-talented on a motorcycle, and maybe Quad Lock Honda is the right program for him to extract both his comfort and speed. It’s not the time to say that he is or is not officially back – we need more data – although the initial showing is promising, to say the least.

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Q: Without the wildcards, how does the SX1 championship actually stack up?

A: At the moment, this point was not overly evident, as Justin Cooper and Haiden Deegan were the two wildcards, with Ken Roczen’s commitment to the entire schedule remaining unclear. Therefore, removing both Cooper and Deegan from the results sheet, you’ve got series competitors Craig in P4, and Anderson fifth, albeit at a double-digit deficit to Roczen at the head of the field. This will become more of a thing as the championship progresses, with Eli Tomac, Cooper Webb, Deegan, and Cooper showing up as wildcards at one or more of the rounds left to contest. This was one of the more interesting plays by WSX this season, as it indeed increases the starpower of each respective round, although it dilutes the SX1 championship in a way due to fly-ins stealing points from the title contenders. As of now, however, removing the SX1 wildcards sees Roczen – pending his commitment to the entire series – lead with 45 points, followed by Craig with 31 and Anderson with 30. For Australian fans, Venum BUD Racing Kawasaki’s Matt Moss impressed considering a lack of seat time in the lead-up, factoring on occasion to 8-9-12 results and securing ninth overall at the season-opener.

Q: What will it take for somebody to challenge Max Anstie?

A: It was pure domination for Team GSM-entered Max Anstie in the SX2 division, with the Englishman having topped qualifying, superpole, and the three races contested as he swept the Buenos Aires City GP. When you look at the results sheet, the only rider who – historically speaking – could genuinely contend with Anstie is defending SX2 champion Shane McElrath, although you’ve got to wonder how much of an impact McElrath’s time on the 450 this year has influenced his ability on a 250. Not to say he’s not capable, although that is a sizeable shift in the way you go about riding and racing, which is especially pronounced when competing against riders who have remained on 250 equipment. Additionally, former title-winner Anstie is a world-class talent and is equipped with arguably the fastest 250 in the world with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing in his corner, so it’s going to take serious form from the rest of the field to pose a threat to the Max. What will it take? Their very best, and perhaps even some misfortune, for the number 99.

Q: As a new market, how do we rate Buenos Aires?

A: By all accounts, it looked pretty good! That’s relative – good by WSX standards, but not to the spec of SMX and likely not close, although that’s where we need to shift how we judge and experience this championship. The makeshift venue was at a smaller scale, and the initial photos looked like a back-alley carnival, with the globe of death and wack-a-mole featuring as the half-time entertainment… This did transform on the broadcast, however – it looked a lot more legitimate – with a strong showing of South American fans lining the grandstands, which is a positive. That’s WSX’s mantra, which it has been from the beginning, to take supercross to new markets who may not be able to see the stars in the United States. To this end, it was a significant success, and if we can continue to expand the sport’s international footprint through events like this, then that is a fantastic thing. However, the comparison with SMX events needs to be curtailed for now, with the celebration being new countries and new eyeballs.

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Q: Why were the Starks so average on debut?

A: Stark has championed being a pinnacle brand – a brand set to take the motorcycling industry into a brave new world – but the team was undoubtedly limited when it came into the rider market for the 2025 season, landing on Vince Friese as their marquee SX1 signing. The polarising American has finished with 3-4-4 overall results across the previous three seasons of WSX as part of MotoConcepts Racing, although his debut with Stark did not go to plan in Argentina, as he crashed in the whoops during practice and again in the first turn of the opening sprint before seemingly missing the final race altogether. SX2 rider Michael Hicks initially posted a strong qualifying time – and P2 in superpole – but was later penalised five positions for exceeding the power output on his bike, which adds a sour taste in the mouth of competition and is something that will need to be monitored closely whenever they are on the line. All-in-all, Stark’s supercross debut was underwhelming, with Friese and Jorge Zaragoza not accomplishing much in SX1, and Hicks alongside Lance Kobush ninth and 12th in SX2, respectively. The combination of results has them listed last in the manufacturers’ standings, but this is season one for them, and having gate drops under their belt will be critical.

Q: What’s changed about WSX since the previous season?

A: Overall, it seems that the fourth season of WSX may be the moment where they begin formulating an identity, which is of critical importance for a series that has been all over the place as to who they are, what they want to do, and how they’re going to achieve it. From the outset, there has been a mismatch in what their intentions are and what they are actually able to deliver, which has led to a flurry of high-profile announcements that have never materialised, and as a result, drastically reduced trust. This is the direction that WSX must go. No one wants to hear – regardless of how spectacular – an announcement that ultimately doesn’t come to fruition, and it seems like Argentina delivered all that was promised. Difficulties with streaming caused outrage online, however, they have since rectified this by offering both reimbursement and refund packages to make up for the technical outages. But from the online presence to the riders who showed up, the fan engagement, racing, and so on, it was a moment that reflected WSX starting to find its feet in the supercross ecosphere. That’s a positive, and the overarching shift in mentality seems different for this year than in previous years.