SuperMotocross playoffs start this weekend with one hot hand and many unknowns

Then there's one known quantity: At this very moment, everyone is chasing Chase.

But before we get to that, since many Common Tread readers aren't hard-core motocross fans, you might be asking: What's this SuperMotocross thing again?

SMX 101

Begun last year after promotion of both the Monster Energy AMA Supercross and outdoor Pro Motocross Championship came under the same entity, the three-round SuperMotocross World Championship is the equivalent of post-season playoffs in other sports. The top 20 riders in the combined points from the indoor Supercross stadium races and the outdoor motocross races automatically qualify for the playoffs, while the next 10 riders have a chance to make the 22-rider field by competing in a last-chance qualifier.

So why is it a big deal? Because more than half of the $10 million purse up for grabs during the entire year is doled out in the playoffs. Plus, the points structure is rigged to make sure the dash for cash goes down to the wire. The top 20-ranked riders enter SuperMotocross with the number of points they'd get for one race, so 25 points for the first-ranked rider down to one point for the 20th rider. The first of the three rounds pays regular points, the second pays double points, and the final round pays triple points.

The first race happens Saturday at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., then the following two weekends at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth and Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Chasing Chase Sexton

While the unknowns are many, the one known fact is that the rider entering SuperMotocross with both the points advantage and the momentum advantage is Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Chase Sexton. After finishing third in Supercross behind champion and Honda HRC rider Jett Lawrence and Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing's Cooper Webb, Sexton came on strong in the outdoor season as his competitors either fell to injury or couldn't match his pace. Sexton enters SuperMotocross having won the last six overalls and never finishing worse than second in any moto during those six rounds.

So Sexton has momentum, but that doesn't mean he's relaxed. As any champion will tell you, winning that title doesn't end the pressure. It's just a short moment of satisfaction and then — this is the nature of the highly competitive people who can win at the top level of professional racing — you start thinking about winning the next one. Sexton said as much in an interview with VitalMX after his Pro Motocross championship. As soon as he wins, he starts thinking about winning the next weekend.

"There's never a point where, OK, I'm content," Sexton said. "I think that's a good thing. It's also a sickening thing, because there's never going to be enough wins."

That kind of pressure that comes from within is only accentuated in the compressed and abbreviated playoffs schedule, where most of the rewards are on the line.

The unknowns: Who's healthy, who will be strong

There are more unknowns than knows, going into the SMX playoffs. And some of the biggest names in the sport fall into that category. Even by motocross standards, there has been a lot of attrition this year. Among those who have missed action this year due to injury: six-time motocross and Supercross champion Eli Tomac; two-time motocross champion Ken Roczen; two-time Supercross champion Cooper Webb; and, maybe most intriguingly, rising young star Jett Lawrence, who completed a perfect season in Pro Motocross last year, his first year in the 450 class, followed it up with SMX and Supercross titles, and was fighting for this year's outdoor title until he injured his thumb. Lawrence has been aiming for a comeback at the first round of SMX.

A small crash during a practice session led to a torn ligament in Lawrence's thumb, forcing him to sit out the rest of the outdoor season to try to prepare for SMX. Webb had the same thumb injury and missed most of the summer and a different kind of thumb injury during a training session knocked Tomac out of action. Roczen was sidelined by fractures in his leg and foot from a crash during the Supercross season.

Tomac raced the final two outdoor motocross rounds and finished seventh and third overall in the 450 class, while Roczen made his comeback in the 250 class at the final round and finished ninth overall.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by eli tomac (@elitomac)

Jett Lawrence has been so strong since he moved up to the 450 class that naturally a lot of attention will focus on whether he's fit and can defend his title. Despite missing several outdoor nationals, he's still ranked sixth on total combined motocross and Supercross points, so he begins the playoffs at just a nine-point deficit to Sexton, ranked first. But while Lawrence will get a lot of scrutiny, he's far from the only one coming back from injury. And the real story of SMX will be answering the question of who will be strong and ready to chase the final and biggest prize of the season over three straight weekends.

How to watch SuperMotocross

All three races will be shown live on Peacock, the NBC streaming service, and will be aired later on broadcast TV. See the schedule below. A Spanish-language broadcast will also be available on Telemundo Deportes.

SuperMotocross broadcast schedule
zMAX Dragway	Live on Peacock 3 p.m. Eastern, September 7	Encore presentation on NBC 4 p.m. Eastern, September 8
Texas Motor Speedway	Live on Peacock 3 p.m. Eastern, September 14	Encore presentation on USA Network 6 p.m. Eastern, September 14
Las Vegas Motor Speedway	Live on Peacock 10 p.m. Eastern, September 21	Encore presentation on NBC 1 p.m. Eastern, September 22