The 2024 Birmingham Supercross was dominated by Jett Lawrence but will be remembered for something quite different.
The gate drop in the premier 450SX class seemed to be going as normal, but when the riders came around to the final corner, they found the Monster Energy-branded 30-second card girl standing on the track.
Card girls are nothing new in supercross or motocross. Just like grid girls in road racing, card girls are essentially there to sell something, in this case, Monster Energy.
Card girls also have a practical role in the start procedure, which is to hold up numbered cards (hence the name, although by now they're electronic boards) counting down to the gate drop. This role means that the card girls are on the race track close to the start of the race. The potential safety issue was highlighted in Birmingham when a card girl was hit by Cooper Webb, who was running second in the 450SX Main Event.
Webb finished the race where he started - second, behind Jett Lawrence, who won his fourth race of the season after managing to go around the startled woman on the first lap - but didn’t mention the start incident in his podium interview.
Fortunately, the woman wasn’t hurt in the incident and spoke to Monster Energy’s Dirt Shark YouTube vlog after the race, in which she explained that she hadn’t done anything differently to previous races when no issues had occurred.
This incident follows one week from the Daytona Supercross, which featured one fan climbing the fence with his pants down, and a significant number of fans invading the track immediately after the winner (again, Jett Lawrence) crossed the finish line but before those just off the podium had reached the chequered flag.
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Image credit: SuperMotocross World Championship.
