Stark Future’s electric VARG made the loudest possible start to the 2026 FIM World Supercross Championship in Calgary, claiming the brand’s first-ever WSX overall podium — and dominating the start gate along the way, taking five of the six holeshots across SX1 and SX2 combined.

The season opener at McMahon Stadium was eventful even before the Starks’ start-line advantage became the story. Cooper Webb won the SX1 overall on his full-time WSX debut, Max Anstie swept every race he entered in SX2, and the night ended early when a storm forced officials to red-flag and abandon the SX1 Main Event.

What happened

Michael Hicks delivered Stark’s breakthrough result, finishing second overall in SX2 with a third and a second in the two sprint races — notable given he was racing on a sprained ankle from a crash the previous week. Teammate Brian Hsu, making his first WSX start after switching from a factory Suzuki program, topped SX2 qualifying outright. In SX1, Vince Friese and Jorge Zaragoza brought Stark home fourth and sixth respectively. According to Racer X, team manager Sebastian Tortelli had flagged before the round that the team was working on better starts after managing only a single holeshot across the whole of last season — a target the team comfortably beat in one night.

The electric dirt bike angle

The holeshot count is the number worth sitting with: five from six, including a clean sweep of all three SX2 starts. Part of the explanation is straightforward physics. McMahon Stadium sits roughly 1,045 metres (about 3,500 feet) above sea level, where reduced air density cuts into the output of naturally aspirated combustion engines. Electric motors aren’t affected by oxygen availability in the same way, and FIM’s control-fuel rules add a further variable working against the gas bikes at altitude.

Dean Wilson, filling in for the injured Joey Savatgy on Quad Lock Honda, was blunt about it in a post-race interview with Vital MX, saying of the Starks: “They don’t even have to shift off the start. They don’t have to worry about elevation.” He wasn’t the only one asking questions — Konsky Motorsport Group boss Yarrive Konsky has since gone public raising concerns about parity between the electric and combustion classes following Calgary, a signal this isn’t just one rider venting.

It’s worth being careful with the conclusion here. Calgary is one round, at one specific altitude, and WSX has consistently capped Stark’s bikes at a fixed power output specifically to try to keep things level. Five holeshots from six starts is a striking number, but it doesn’t by itself prove an unfair advantage — it proves the VARG is very good off the gate, at altitude, on this particular weekend.

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What to watch

The real test of how much of Calgary was altitude versus raw bike advantage comes when WSX moves to venues closer to sea level later in the season — if the Starks’ start-line dominance holds up there too, the parity conversation gets a lot more serious. For now, the result stands on its own: Stark’s first WSX podium, a top qualifying time, and a start-gate performance good enough to get rival teams talking. Whatever the cause, Calgary made clear the VARG isn’t just capable of lining up in world-level Supercross — it’s capable of leading it off the start.