Reigning FIM World Supercross Championship SX2 champion, Max Anstie, has expressed his desire to compete in the remainder of the series’ 2024 season after making a Wildcard appearance at the WSX Canadian GP last weekend.

Anstie, who has been a dominant force in WSX’s SX2 250cc class in recent seasons, was previously set to miss the 2024 campaign after leaving Fire Power Honda to join Star Yamaha in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship.

The Briton was named as a Wildcard entry for the WSX Canadian GP in the lead up to the event alongside Lucas Dunka, Cade Clason, and Preston Boespflug, and was immediately on the pace onboard his Yamaha YZ250F by winning SuperPole.

Anstie ran away to win GP Race 1 at BC Place in Vancouver and recovered to second in GP Race 2 after fighting through the field following a poor start, with a late slide ultimately costing him another shot at victory.

From GP Race 3 onwards, his night started to unravel, however, with crashes on laps one and eight in the penultimate race relegating him to ninth, while in the SuperFinal he finished sixth after crashing out from an early lead. Despite a series of incidents, Anstie still came away with second place on the evening to secure his fifth WSX SX2 overall podium.

“Tonight I learned that I need to be a little bit sharper,” said Anstie. “Everything was going well with practice, qualifying, and Super Pole, and the first GP race we executed very well. In the second main I didn’t have the best start but got into second, caught up to Shane [McElrath] but slid out in one turn and knew that I’d take second. In the third race, I hit neutral coming out of one of the turns and when I hit the landing it went back into gear, and I looped out. At that point, I knew that my night was becoming hard work. I made hard work for myself with that one and then in the SuperFinal I thought that I could make it back up somehow, got into the SX2 lead, then Shane threw it down the inside, I tripled, and I went to give him room on the outside of the track and I just slid out.”

Despite a difficult event, Anstie holds second in the SX2 Riders’ Standings, tied on 79 points with Cole Thompson, while sitting just 10 points shy of 2022 champion, Shane McElrath, who won the SX2 event overall.

As a Wildcard entry, Anstie was scheduled to only race in Vancouver, but after a strong start and with a desire to learn and develop his Yamaha YZ250F in race conditions, the defending champion is keen to return for Perth and Abu Dhabi.

“I’ve had four days of Supercross on the bike and I feel really good, but there’s nothing like racing and even for me, getting the race fitness up, the sharpness up, I was lacking a little bit,” added Anstie. I was a couple of percent off and I’m happy to come away with the second but, at the end of the day, I would like to do the rest of the rounds and come back fully prepared for the next ones. But at the moment, I’m just a Wildcard for this one [Vancouver].”

The 2024 WSX season will continue on 23-24 November with a historic double-header event at HBF Park in Perth, which will be the site of the WSX Australian GP.