If you’re near the top, only the top counts. It’s win or bust at the highest level of sports, so while Cooper Webb could find solace in logging a much better season this year compared to 2022, he’s not going to. You can bet Cooper and his team are not satisfied unless the year delivers the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship.
Deeper in the pack, there are riders with different goals, and that lets us put a spotlight on the hard working riders in the pack who don’t get as much attention. We’re talking guys outside the top 10.
So to really see the landscape of the season, let’s take the points positions from 11-20.
11-20 in 450SX Points
11. Shane McElrath: If you think back three years ago to McElrath battling none other than Chase Sexton for a 250 Supercross Championship, 11th in the 450s doesn’t sound like much. When you think of Shane for the last two seasons, this is much better. Shane was hurt most of his rookie year and took 29th in points (2021) and was 18th last year (season cut short after his team shut down). The Twisted Tea Suzuki team really stepped up the game this year in support of Ken Roczen’s standards, and Kyle Chisholm helped with a lot of testing and development. McElrath benefitted as much as anyone.
12. Christian Craig: Christian was having an okay season as a full-time 450SX rookie and showing some progress until a crash wiped him out at Glendale. It’s a bummer because he would have logged some strong results against the injury-depleted field we saw at the end of the season. But a lot of riders are probably saying the same thing!
13. Josh Hill: How about this guy! Hill was part of the Ryan Dungey/Ryan Villopoto era of riders, and yet he’s still here capable of top 10s even though racing isn’t his only focus. Josh told us he was extra proud of a tenth in Detroit when the field was still stacked. The guy just knows how to ride a dirt bike!
14. Colt Nichols: Your 2023 Supercross Rookie of the Year. Like Craig, though, he really could have benefitted from those late-season events with the depleted field, another top five or even a podium were in reach. That’s would have been helpful since Colt doesn’t have an AMA deal in place for 2024. He races FIM World Supercross next, and we’ll see where he lands in Anaheim next January.
15. Kyle Chisholm: Look, Chiz is gonna Chiz and that’s exactly what he did in 2023.
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Chase Sexton | La Moille, IL  | 372 |
| 2 |  Eli Tomac | Cortez, CO | 339 |
| 3 |  Cooper Webb | Newport, NC | 304 |
| 4 |  Ken Roczen | Mattstedt, Germany  | 304 |
| 5 |  Justin Barcia | Monroe, NY | 267 |
| 6 |  Jason Anderson | Edgewood, NM | 242 |
| 7 |  Aaron Plessinger | Hamilton, OH | 236 |
| 8 |  Justin Hill | Yoncalla, OR | 212 |
| 9 |  Adam Cianciarulo | Port Orange, FL | 210 |
| 10 |  Dean Wilson | Scotland, United Kingdom  | 200 |
| 11 |  Shane McElrath | Canton, NC | 151 |
| 12 |  Christian Craig | Temecula, CA | 150 |
| 13 |  Josh Hill | Yoncalla, OR | 149 |
| 14 |  Colt Nichols | Muskogee, OK | 141 |
| 15 |  Kyle Chisholm | Clearwater, FL | 112 |
| 16 |  Kevin Moranz | Topeka, KS | 96 |
| 17 |  Justin Starling | Deland, FL | 94 |
| 18 |  Grant Harlan | Justin, TX | 94 |
| 19 |  Benny Bloss | Oak Grove, MO | 91 |
| 20 |  Joey Savatgy | Thomasville, GA | 85 |
16. Kevin Moranz: The start master was much improved, logging 16th in points compared to 25th last year. The biggest gain there is in money. The privateers live and die around that 20th spot in points. Twentieth in points pays about 10 grand, twenty first pays zero. For Moranz, the jump from scoring 53 points last year and 96 points this year is a huge jump.
17. Justin Starling: Starling is becoming like a low-key Chiz. Starling gonna Starling? He was in all but two mains this year (15 of 17) and scored 94 points. Last year he scored 103. That’s basically a push. Yes, we’re tracking improvements here, but staying about the same, and well inside that top 20 bonus area, is still good.
18. Grant Harlan. Dude. This is an incredible improvement. Honestly when Harlan showed up on a 2022 Yamaha YZ450F at the 2023 Anaheim opener, I was wondering what he was thinking. Harlan made, count it, one main last year while racing in the 250 class. One main. In the 250s! I even asked him if he had an injury or something to blame, but he said he was just struggling in 2022, straight up.
Yet, at Anaheim 1 this year, against a loaded field in the 450 class, he nailed it and qualified! Still, we sometimes see weirdo Anaheim 1 flukes. Harlan indeed missed the next three mains, but qualified at Houston, and then he just kept making it. Against the deep field, he netted 15th in Detroit and 13th in Seattle. Grant finally got on a 2023 in Nashville, but unfortunately Grant crashed in the whoops there and dislocated his shoulder. He was done, and even called the AMA to get his entry money back for the final two races.
A few days later, he felt better ands decided to re-enter and give it a shot. He then logged the best results of his career, with ninth and tenth in Denver and Salt Lake City. Yeah, lots of dudes were hurt, but so was he! At Salt Lake, he went down early and went from about last to finish tenth. It was an incredible supercross season and he’s coming into Pro Motocross looking for more.
“Yeah I mean, I don’t know…I have no explanation,” he told me after Salt Lake City. “I got on a 450 and I found something. I don’t know. Troll Training! That’s all I got. Shoutout to Alex Martin and John Wessling.”
So a guy who struggled to make 250 mains last year transformed into a guy who made 13 450 races and took 18th in points. I think you know where we’re going with this: Grant Harlan is the most improved rider of 2023.
19: Benny Bloss: Poor Benny. As usual, he showed elite speed and was on a the verge of some breakthrough rides. For example, he started fourth in the mud in New Jersey, and with those giant skis for legs he was likely going to nail an incredible finish. Instead a rock nailed his roll off canister in the first last lap, and the roll offs broke. He had to pull in for goggles and lost a ton of spots. He still netted eighth. Then he got hurt at Nashville. Still 18th in points, so he made some bonus money, but it was another year where the results don’t show the true potential.
20. Joey Savatgy: Privateers want that top 20 in points, and Joey was the Mendoza line. He only raced through Arlington but still scored enough points to stay in and collect a check. Trust me, plenty of guys were figuring out where they stood and what finishes they needed to pass him. (Starling, for example, was aiming for two top tens to end the year, and he indeed went 10-8). In the end, Joey gets twentieth.
Just missing? Freddie Noren was seven points behind in 21st, he was actually tied with Justin Cooper, who was moonlighting. Josh Cartwright (also much improved this year) was two points further back, and Cade Clason was the next privateer.
All of these guys had goals, some met them, some didn’t. But when you look at the numbers, this is pretty obvious: Grant Harlan is the most improved rider in 2023.
