After a summer siesta, the 2024 AMA Pro Motocross National Championship Series is back, and that means it’s time to get in your RMFantasyMX.com picks. A few potential spanners are in the works, so let’s try to make sense of it all with our 2024 Unadilla Motocross fantasy picks.
- Chase Sexton remains the prohibitive favorite. He is on a seven-moto win streak, and won the 2022 Unadilla National with a 1-1 performance. No one is looking like they will challenge the series leader, so he’s the easy pick for the winner.
- The battle for P2 is going to be a tough one, and there are five riders who can take that spot—including a returning Cooper Webb. So, we’ll have to break the riders down one at a time based on their spots in the standings.
- Hunter Lawrence is returning from injury. Lawrence went 5-4 at the Washougal National, putting him 28 points behind the streaking Sexton in the standings. Where Lawrence is in the recovery process is unknown. If you think he’s fully recovered, Lawrence is an easy P2 pick. If not, then you’re in best-guess territory. So, gamblers can put him in P2. I’ll play it safe until he has a race under his belt. I have Lawrence in P5 for the Unadilla National.
- Justin Cooper is a tricky call, as he’s not entirely consistent or a P2 finisher. Cooper is P3 in the standings without finishing a moto higher than P3 this year. He is on a 6-5-3-3-7 run, which doesn’t make him a good P2 pick, unless you think Lawrence won’t be 100 percent. Cooper manages to do just what it takes to get on the podium as often as Aaron Plessigner, but has an edge in top-five finishes. So, I am cautiously picking Cooper for his first P2 finish. Again, if you have faith in Lawrence for P2, you’ll want to drop everyone down from my picks.
- Aaron Plessinger and Jason Anderson have been going back and forth all year. Plessinger is on a 4-2-3-5-2-3 run compared to Anderson’s 5-3-4-4-4-2 score over the same period. That’s close. However, Plessinger has three overall podiums this year, compared to just one for Anderson. So, that puts Plessinger in P3 and Anderson in familiar P4 territory.
- Cooper Webb is a complete unknown. He hasn’t ridden a moto since Round 4 last year at High Point and is coming back from injury. Webb certainly could be on the podium, but there’s no way to know how fully recovered he is or what his conditioning will be. Given that, I’m leaving Webb out of the top five until we see where he’s at. If you want to make up some ground in your fantasy motocross league, Webb is an excellent dark horse pick, but it’s a risk.
- The Wild Card is P14, and we all know how tough that call is. Riders with two P14 moto finishes this year include Grant Harlan, Justin Hill, Derek Kelly, Shane McElrath, Cullin Park, Anthony Rodriquez, and Marshal Weltin. Keep in mind that I picked Weltin for a P13 Wild Card, and he went 13-13, which wasn’t P13 overall. So, you just never know. Pick one of those riders and cross your fingers. Weltin is P14 in the standings, so I’ll consider that a tiebreaker and make him my call. He has to come through for me sometime!
- The regular television schedule applies to the 2024 Unadilla National. Race Day Live starts at 7 a.m., and racing begins at 10 a.m. It’s all streamed on Peacock. Non-fans can watch the rebroadcast on Sunday night on CNBC. If you need any details, check our 2024 Pro Motocross Television Schedule.
2024 Unadilla Motocross Fantasy Picks
- Chase Sexton
- Justin Cooper
- Aaron Plessinger
- Jason Anderson
- Hunter Lawrence
Wild Card P14: Marshal Weltin
Photography by Align Media, Octopi Media, et al
2024 AMA Pro Motocross National Championship Series Standings (after 8 of 11 rounds)
- Chase Sexton, KTM, 360 points (4 overall wins, 7 overall podiums, 7 overall Top 5s)
- Hunter Lawrence, Honda, 332 (7P; 8 T5)
- Justin Cooper, Yamaha, 284 (3P, 7 T5)
- Aaron Plessinger, KTM, 281 (3P; 6 T5)
- Jason Anderson, Kawasaki, 261 (1P, 4 T5)
- Dylan Ferrandis, Honda, 237 (2 T5)
- Malcolm Stewart, Husqvarna, 213
- Jett Lawrence, Honda, 210 (4W, 4P, 4 T5)
- Christian Craig, Husqvarna, 161
- Justin Barcia, GasGas, 148 (2 T5)
- Freddie Norén, Kawasaki, 139
- Phil Nicoletti, Yamaha, 125
- Harri Kullas, KTM, 120
- Marshal Weltin, Yamaha, 118
- Grant Harlan, Yamaha, 105
- Shane McElrath, Suzuki, 82
- Romain Pape, GasGas, 71
- Derek Kelley, KTM, 70
- Cullin Park, Honda, 66
- Garrett Marchbanks, Yamaha, 50
- Kyle Webster, Honda, 45
- Kyle Chisholm, Suzuki, 41
- Anthony Rodriguez, KTM, 38
- Justin Hill, KTM, 35
- Dean Wilson, Honda, 28
- Lorenzo Locurcio, GasGas, 23
- Alvin Östlund, Honda, 20
- Jerry Robin, Yamaha, 18
- Broc Tickle, Kawasaki, 17
- Gert Krestinov, Honda, 15
- Henry Miller, Honda, 13
- Max Miller, Suzuki, 13
- Jeremy Hand, Honda, 11
- Scotty Verhaeghe, GasGas, 9
- James Harrington, Yamaha, 8
- Bryce Shelly, Yamaha, 5
- John Short, Kawasaki, 5
- Trevin Nelson, Yamaha, 5
- Ryder Floyd, Honda, 4
- Carson Brown, Yamaha, 3
- Tristan Lane, KTM, 3
- Jake Masterpool, GasGas, 3
