Four rounds into the 2025 Pro Motocross season have solidified expectations, produced surprises, and shown moments of exceptional racing across the eight motos contested so far. In this edition of Rated, MotoOnline assesses how each of the top three riders in points has performed so far, with the action set to recommence this weekend at Southwick.

Image: Octopi Media.

Rider: Jett Lawrence
Rating: A
Rundown: Lawrence has returned to rule the 450MX category after four rounds of Pro Motocross this year, having won all but two motos so far, and claimed all four overall victories to lead the field by 28 points entering Southwick on Saturday. It’s been as clinical as ever, with the 21-year-old cleverly dissecting these motos moment-by-moment, understanding when he needs to push, to conserve, and where each of his competitors are on the racetrack. It’s bottomless how good the Honda HRC Progressive rider is at this point, and having weathered the infamous ‘Beast Mode’ by Eli Tomac on two occasions now, perhaps the final boss has been conquered, and the era of unequivocal Lawrence domination is upon us. It’s an easy ‘A’ for Jett, if not otherwise even better.

Rider: Eli Tomac
Rating: A-
Rundown: We collectively entered this season with one last question on our minds in regards to Lawrence, and that was, ‘How does he stack up outdoors against a fully-prepared Eli Tomac?’ It didn’t take long for us to get our first answer, with the duo going toe-to-toe during Fox Raceway’s second moto, which was a classic that will be talked about for years to come. Was it somewhat of a – albeit late – passing of the torch? Maybe. We saw another instance of this at Thunder Valley, where it was once again the Lawrence and Tomac show out front in moto two, with Jett overcoming the storm brewing behind him. For his part, 32-year-old Tomac has been stellar otherwise, and is clearly the second-best rider, and the only one to have claimed race wins – one at Hangtown and the other at High Point – in the series. It’s great to see Eli back in the mix, and the four-time 450MX champion is a thorn in the number 18’s side, with still plenty of racing left to contest outdoors.

Image: Octopi Media.

Rider: Aaron Plessinger
Rating: A-
Rundown: This is a good, possibly great start to the 450MX season for Aaron Plessinger, who holds P3 and has been right in the mix on multiple occasions during the first eight motos of the year. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing lost its marquee rider in Chase Sexton shortly into Fox Raceway’s opening moto, and the Austrian brand now has to be thrilled with the representation they’re getting with the number seven. He’s been ultra close to claiming a maiden 450MX moto win, with the 29-year-old expecting that it is right around the corner, due any moment now. Even though the P3 placement is the same as the last two seasons, AP has been better, with the intensity and expectation that he wants to be a title contender. It’s good to see, and is there a ceiling to how far he can take it? It’s a tough ask wanting to compete with Lawrence straight up, but who knows – maybe the former 250MX champion can do it.

Rider: Haiden Deegan
Rating: A
Rundown: Dangerboy has been so good this year that, as per the latest on his social media, he’s been in the Hollywood Hills between rounds, mixing it with some of California’s finest. The 19-year-old has decimated the 250MX field up until this point, having broken the hopes of his nearest rivals only four rounds in, with his High Point masterclass just another twist of the knife. We weren’t sure how much better he could be after last year’s triumph, having wrapped up the title a round early, but evidently there was more potential to unlock, and the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider looks well on his way to yet another number one plate in the 250 category. Deegs earns an easy ‘A’ also – he’s on fire.

Image: Octopi Media.

Rider: Jo Shimoda
Rating: B+
Rundown: Honda HRC Progressive’s Jo Shimoda has been pretty good so far in this year’s Pro Motocross campaign, and that was particularly the case across the opening four motos, where he earned four second-place finishes in a row and had Deegan in sight. Since then, the wheels have slowly come off the wagon, with two sixth-place overall finishes at Thunder Valley and High Point seeing him sit 42 points back from Deegan. He still comfortably holds P2 by 20 markers over teammate Chance Hymas, which shows that the top of the 250MX division is quite spread out after four rounds. It’s hard to say if this is exactly a good or bad placement for Jo – once upon a time, he was considered a genuine championship threat, although this expectation has slowly transformed into a race-winning contender when the conditions are right. The ‘B+’ rating seems fitting, as P2 is no joke in a stacked class.

Rider: Chance Hymas
Rating: B+
Rundown: Hymas experienced a gut-wrenching moment on the final lap of High Point’s second moto, where a leg dab resulted in one of the worst possible outcomes – tearing his ACL and being out for the season. What makes it all the more devastating was that he was clinical at Thunder Valley, earning a 1-1 moto scorecard and was clearly the rider to beat on that weekend. So that sucks, but the expectation was that Hymas would be a serious threat to Deegan’s title this year, and that is about as far as it can be from the truth. A bout of food poisoning at Hangtown was already all but the nail in the coffin of his title hopes, with the number 10 set to regroup and have another crack at it next year. It’ll be intriguing to see whether he falls into the Shimoda category of ‘fast at times’, or whether he can climb to be a 250 class champion in the future.