With the 2027 Monster Energy AMA Supercross rulebook released, we noted the key changes that were in the bulletin of updates to the rulebook. So, why were these changes made? Let's dig in.

View the full 2027 AMA Supercross rulebook.

The minimum age required to race pro for 2027 is 18 years old, and chest protectors are required by every rider. The 18-year-old rule really comes down to insurance, as it is much harder to get race promoters to get insurance on minors at the professional level. Yes, there are SMX Next athletes under age 18 competing at some of these races but they are not considered "professional" and yes, insurance companies really consider this a massive difference.

The chest protector rule change simply comes down to rider safety. 

The sound limit change is NOT a requirement stadiums or from Feld Motorsports (the race promoter). This rule came from the manufacturers themselves. Tracks in Europe keep getting shut down due to sound, so the brands came together and said they needed quieter bikes. The FIM and Infront Moto Racing over in MXGP began enforcing this rule a few years back. For AMA racing, an agreement was put into place that the 109 rule would not go into effect until stock bikes were engineered with this lower sound limit in place. This is designed to help privateers pass the test. Also, the manufacturers have said they will provide help to privateers at the races to help them pass the test. Now that stock bikes are within the limit, the AMA was able to lower the sound limit from 112 dB to 109 dB.

If you want to get technical, the rules will actually allow 100.9 dB as a margin of error. Last year the sound limit changed from 112.9 to 112.0, so the final different between 2026 and 2027 is 2.1 dB.

This year, 80 total riders could sign up for a single class in supercross, before the "Fast 40" would qualify for the night show and the top 22 riders (between heat races and the LCQ) would race the main event in said class. For 2027, there will only be 66 total riders that can sign up per class, which is set because the AMA only wants 22 bikes on the track at one time, and they can only fit three different qualifying groups (A, B, and C qualifying sessions). In reality, rarely did an event get close to 66 entries, anyway, so we're told this is not a big change.

The bigger change? Then, the "Fast 40" "Fast 38" will qualify for the heat races, where:

• 19 riders will race in a heat race in 2027 (instead of 20 in 2026)
• the top eight riders from each heat race will transfer to the main event for 2027, instead of the top nine riders in 2026.

Four riders will still transfer from the LCQ races, so there is no change there. But instead of 22 riders in a main event, in 2027 there will only be 20, meaning two fewer lapped riders. We are told this was to help with the on-going lapper situation and less track deterioration. The AMA said this is for rider safety.

Why switch from 40 riders in the night show to 38? Because with a 40-rider field, taking 8 riders into the main out of each heat would leave 24 riders going to the LCQ. There are only 22 gates. So, two fewer riders in the night show gets the field back to 22 riders for the LCQ.

With only 20 riders in a main event, that leads us to the next point: how will the points be paid?

The 20-rider gate and 20-rider point structure is a return to a formula supercross had used for decades.

The new, slightly adjust points structure: