2024 Supercross Team Preview Monster Energy Kawasaki

Welcome to Morning Espresso, an awesome piece presented by MotoSport.com. Go check out RDRCO (pronounced “rider-co”) as the company’s exclusive riding gear. This new gear line offers an affordable option for weekend riders and the casual racer.

Welcome to the offseason and our new ongoing “Team Previews” column. Every week from now until the Monster Energy Supercross season starts in January we will be profiling a big team in the sport. We’ll go through the changes that have been made, analyze results, and give each team a grade on all of their offseason moves. This week we have the Monster Energy Kawasaki team and you will find the full schedule below.

The Biggest Question Mark: Which Jason Anderson will we see in 2024?

Who’s In:

#9 Adam Cianciarulo (450SX/MX)
#21 Jason Anderson 450SX/MX)

Who’s Out:

The team’s roster remains unchanged for 2024.

Last Season’s Supercross Results:
Adam Cianciarulo – 9th (450SX)
Jason Anderson – 6th (450SX)

Last Season’s Motocross Results:
Adam Cianciarulo – 5th (450MX)
Jason Anderson – 9th (450MX)

Best 2023 SX Finish:
Adam Cianciarulo – 3rd (Denver)
Jason Anderson – 2nd (Anaheim 2)

Best 2023 MX Finish:
Adam Cianciarulo – 3rd Overall (High Point)
Jason Anderson – 3rd Overall (Washougal, Budds Creek)

Offseason Grade: C

The Rundown:

With the roster staying the same at Monster Energy Kawasaki for 2024, you can expect more of the same from the riders that you saw in 2023. It’s not a bad thing by any means. Kawasaki fields two of the most marketable and well known riders in the game. Both Cianciarulo and Anderson come with huge fan bases and they also put in the results.

The reason that their team grade is a C is that while both of these riders are the best in the world, they aren’t projected to win any titles next year, nor are they expected to win races. That being said, they definitely have the skill to do so, so it wouldn’t be a shock if they did. The 450 class just got more difficult with the Lawrence brothers moving up and that’s also no secret.

Here’s what you can expect from the guys in green this year. You can expect them to be inside of the top ten at all times indoors and out. You can expect the occasional podiums as well. We get it, you already know that, here’s a deeper dive.

Cianciarulo is coming off an incredible rebuilding year. He raced 28 races in 2023, which is almost as many as his 33 races that he raced from 2019 to the end of 2022. AC is also still dealing with an arm issue and he’s racing through that. It’s nice to see Adam take a different approach to racing. He’s now the consistent guy who is racing all the races opposed to the guy who would send it so hard to be the fastest guy in the class. Those times bit him more often than not. This new and improved AC should continue on with his current game plan because he’s more valuable at the races than being out hurt.

With Jason Anderson, it’s hard gauge which one of him shows up to the races. Do we get the guy that just went on a championship run in 2022 SX against Eli Tomac? Anderson won seven main events that year and he was in peak form. Or do we get the guy that showed up this year? This year wasn’t bad by any means. Jason had only five total races where he finished outside of the top ten, but after his 2022 title contending season it was a bit head scratching. He didn’t get any wins and had two podiums indoors. Still, a great season by JA, as he only had five races the entire season where he finished outside of the top ten. Look for the 21 to have a season like this again in 2024. One thing is for sure, Anderson is a dog and will definitely give it his best every time out on the track.

2024 Rider Projections:
Adam Cianciarulo – He’s a weekly 5-10 guy with the occasional podium mixed in indoors and out.

Jason Anderson- In SX Jason will battle inside the top five most of the season with podiums throughout. Come outdoors he’s a 5-10 guy that will go on a hot streak and contend for podiums at some point.

Thanks for reading my series of team previews for the coming season. If you’d like to talk about these or any of the other stories that I’ve written you can email me at [email protected] You can also reach me on Twitter/Instagram: @troydogvurb