On a slick, unpredictable Stockholm circuit, Max Anstie delivered a calm and calculated performance to extend his SX2 World Supercross Championship lead. Despite late-race scares and mounting pressure from rivals Enzo Lopes and Shane McElrath, the British rider now heads to Cape Town with the title firmly within reach.

Max Anstie has one hand on the 2025 SX2 World Supercross Championship after a smart, controlled performance in the challenging conditions of Stockholm.

On a slippery and unpredictable surface inside the 3Arena, the British rider extended his points lead and positioned himself to seal the title in Cape Town next weekend.

Anstie entered Sweden knowing the mathematics were close but admitted afterwards that he had no sense of quite how near he was to a championship-deciding night.

“I actually had no idea how close that was. I was just focused on one race at a time,” he said. “It’s crazy because last week you can think it was a great night and all that, but seven days later we’re in a completely different place, completely different track. Might as well forget everything you knew from last week and figure it out this week.”

Across the first two motos Anstie executed with typical precision, navigating the deep ruts and slick exits as Sweden produced one of the most technically demanding circuits of the season. But the final moto shifted the tone, with several title contenders suffering near misses – including Anstie himself.

“It was so unpredictable and such a tricky track that you just have to take what it gave you,” he explained. “In that last moto Enzo and Shane were riding good, and I got about halfway, four laps to go probably, and I was like: look, I’m not going to risk any more right now and we’ll move on to next week.”

A heavy crash for Coty Schock and a big moment of his own forced Anstie to adjust mentally mid-race: “I saw Coty go down, then I had a sketchy moment – nearly supermanned it – and I thought, ‘okay, I’m going to back it off.’ But when you mentally back off a little bit you actually start making way more mistakes. You’ve got to find that edge. I was looking at his handlebars before the first race, and it said ‘winners find ways’. I thought, all right, I’m going to give that a go – so that was my way tonight.”

Enzo Lopes produced one of his strongest WSX performances to date in Stockholm, pushing Anstie and Shane McElrath throughout the final moto and coming within reach of the overall win.

“For me it’s an honour to be here with these two, they’re amazing riders,” he said. I kind of blew it on the first one, eighth place. If I would have gotten at least a fifth I would have won the overall, which would have been nice. It was an overall better day for me…that last moto was good, definitely at the end Shane was right there. It felt good.”

WATCH THE SOUTH AFRICAN GP HERE