In what feels like a record time, we’re already going racing again! After a season opener that reaffirmed the difficulty of advancing especially on a surprisingly soft surface in a stacked 450 class, the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series will ramping up for the 2021 Houston Supercross 2 and once again for Round 2 at NRG Stadium in Houston.

International

International viewers can stream the race live and watch on-demand with Supercross Video Pass.

The second round of the 2021 Monster Energy AMA Supercross will take place on Tuesday, January 19, at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. Action will kick off with live qualifying coverage beginning at 2 p.m. EST/11 a.m. PST on Peacock Premium. Peacock Premium will carry live coverage of the opening round night show beginning at 8:30 p.m. EST/5:30 p.m. PST

How to Watch Monster Energy Supercross 2021 Online?

Welcome to the Race Day Feed, coming to you from NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, for the second round of the 2021 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship. From practice reports to the blow-by-blow from tonight’s program, you’ll find it all right here on the Racer X Race Day Feed. Updates are posted in chronological order, so be sure to watch live stream free coverage by clicking here.

If you can’t make the trip to Houston, or just prefer viewing from your couch, fans can catch all of the action from inside NRG Stadium starting at 10 pm EST on their streaming devices for the qualifiers via the Peacock streaming service.

When gates drop for the heat races on Tuesday at 10 pm EST, the competition will be available on the NBC Sports Network as well as continuing on the Peacock streaming service.

Title Defense

Not since Ryan Dungey in 2017 has a champion repeated in Monster Energy AMA Supercross in the 450SX class, and last year’s winner, Eli Tomac of the Kawasaki team, looks to get it done. Tomac is no stranger to repeating, having defended his AMA Pro Motocross series championship back in 2018 in the 450cc class.

In winning last season, he became the fifth rider in history to win titles in the 450SX and 250SX classes of the Monster Energy Supercross and the AMA Pro Motocross classes of 450cc and 250cc. His defense gets started in the Group A qualifiers against a former champion who looks to get back on top in Cooper Webb, the 2018 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 450SX champion.

2021 Monster Energy Supercross Stream Schedule

2021 AMA Supercross Preview

Houston dirt is known for its grip, and riders are expecting it should be drier and less tacky for Tuesday and in Round 3 (which is Saturday). But a fast start likely will be critical again to a solid performance

Winner Justin Barcia led last Saturday night’s opener virtually from start to finish while past champions such as Eli Tomac and Cooper Webb struggled in traffic after being slow off the gate.

Husqvarna rider Dean Wilson battled to a 12th and said the start was his biggest focus for Round 2.

“It’s pretty hectic; there’s so many fast guys,” he said. “You’re in that heat of the battle. I was thinking I was farther up than I was, but there’s just that many fast guys. I was battling outside the top 10 with Cooper. There are so many good guys in this class, it’s crazy. Fast starts are super, super important.”

Fourth-place finisher Adam Cianciarulo said “you can always said it’s hard to make up time … everyone’s really close” but noted the softer dirt combined with ruts getting deeper on the end of corners made passing “exceptionally difficult.

Against the Odds, Justin Barcia Three-Peats Supercross Opener

The Eastern Regional 250SX Class kicked its season off with great racing on Saturday night at the opening round of Monster Energy Supercross at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. Husqvarna’s RJ Hampshire nabbed the holeshot but his time at the front lasted less than one minute as Yamaha’s Christian Craig got past and pulled away to a comfortable lead. Behind, Hampshire battled hard to stay upfront, but Kawasaki’s Austin Forkner got past just after the midway point, and Craig’s teammate Colt Nichols made his way into a podium finish after rounding the first lap just inside the top five.

Amid all the changes during these turbulent times, one startling sports aberration emerged – again – last Saturday night inside Houston’s NRG Stadium. Justin Barcia, on a motorcycle model that didn’t exist one year prior, on a team that’s never fielded a rider, and in a state that hadn’t hosted a Supercross season opener since 1988, won the first race of the season for the third straight year. More surprising to those outside the world of 70-foot triple jumps and steep-bermed bowl turns, these three wins mark Justin Barcia’s only three Supercross wins in the past 85 race starts and eight seasons.

Barcia’s win marked the first time since the series inception in 1974 that a motorcycle brand had debuted with a win. And the victory last Saturday night was no fluke, Barcia led every lap of both his heat race and the championship-points-paying Main Event. He led all 37 of the 37 Laps he rode. He flat dominated the stat sheets in Houston.

Motorsports fans can draw three conclusions: One, the racer can cope with opening round jitters better than his competitors; two, the racer accepts a higher risk threshold to gain an early season points advantage; or three, Justin Barcia is getting along with his new dirt bike and 2021 will be his best year to add a 450SX Class title to his 250SX Class championships.

The question for sports fans is this: will Justin Barcia repeat the pattern and fail to repeat his season win? Or has the 28-year-old racer, far from young on professional Supercross starting gates, been backed into a must-win season and will continue to pull out the stops for the next rounds?