As the 2025 Pro Motocross Championship comes to life this weekend, expectations are growing as to how the contenders will stack up when the gates drop at Fox Raceway. Three Things takes a deeper look with a form guide entering round one.

Image: Octopi Media.

Title contenders

It’s not right to start these pieces by mentioning anyone other than the defending champion, so Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Chase Sexton sits atop the title contenders list. The 25-year-old is entering Pro Motocross with a wave of Monster Energy Supercross momentum and the number one plate on his machine. The narrative around Sexton’s titles at times can highlight the absence of the very top contenders, which brings us to the returning Honda HRC Progressive rider, Jett Lawrence. Was it easier for Sexton to claim last year’s 450MX crown without the 2023 champion on the gates for the entire series? Certainly. However, you’ve got to be in it to win it, and Chase was there holding the title once the dust settled. Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) returns, and it sounds like he’s had one of the better outdoor preparations of his career. Eli appears ready to roll, along with the likes of Jett and Chase, and if his health remains intact throughout the season, we could be in for an all-timer between these three. In the 250MX category, this title is defending champion Haiden Deegan’s to lose. The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider has made it no secret that outdoors is his forte, and riders like dual MX2 world champion Tom Vialle (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen are going to need to fire an early shot to stop the Deegan dominance.

Image: Octopi Media.

The next wave

The next wave is where the depth increases, because outside the title contenders, these Pro Motocross classes can be so much fun. A rider who notches a sixth in one moto can easily post a 16th the following race, and that just speaks to how tight the racing is. In the premier category, we’d look for Aaron Plessinger (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Justin Cooper (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing), and Hunter Lawrence (Honda HRC Progressive) to fill those slots as the next riders, with dashes of Cooper Webb and Jason Anderson sprinkled in between. The 250MX class is wide-open from positions four onwards, as has historically been the case in this division. Throw in names like Seth Hammaker, Nate Thrasher, Garrett Marchbanks, Ryder DiFrancesco, Chance Hymas – these are the riders who could podium one weekend, and be outside the top five or even 10 the next. This is the exciting area of a championship, however, don’t overlook one or two of these riders to leap closer to the title contenders. It has a tendency of happening at times, and we’d look at Cooper and Hammaker as two who may have made strides towards the front since prior seasons.

Image: Octopi Media.

Dark horses

This could draw criticism, although defending MXGP champion Jorge Prado is in the dark horse category. The reason is that there’s no telling what we’ll get out of the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider, because his ceiling is ultra-high, which the GP audience will tell you, but there could be an acclimation period to both the United States circuits/schedule and the intensity of racing. Could he come out and blow the doors off everyone? Maybe. Could he struggle for consistent top-five results in his first year? Maybe. Prado is a true dark horse. Another smokey is RJ Hampshire (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), who makes his full-time 450MX debut this weekend at Fox Raceway. It’s interesting to picture RJ with 200 more cc’s of power, which means that this may be the definition of a wildcard season for him – either way, it’ll be a fascinating watch! In 250MX, Julien Beaumer (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) will be one to look out for, to see whether the gains he made in Supercross this year will translate to Pro Motocross. Ty Masterpool (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) seems like he could be a full-timer on Dark Horse Island, given his potential outdoors but difficulty sealing the entire deal. These are the names that stick out as being able to surprise us at times – whether it be Prado going 1-1 at the opener, or RJ’s bike being shot directly up into outer space and being the first motorcycle to orbit Earth… Who knows. Pro Motocross always comes at a great time of year, to re-rack the field and fire up another two championships.