Key points to watch nearing the halfway mark of the 2025 season.
The second half of the 2025 Pro Motocross Championship is almost upon us, with the first portion delivering a range of interesting storylines. As the series enters the final six rounds, beginning with RedBud this weekend, MotoOnline takes a closer look at the Top 10 topics to follow.
1. Jett Lawrence heads 450MX:
Such a topic will probably read true in five years, with 2023 450MX champion Jett Lawrence putting on a clinic at the head of the field this season. There’s not much to say outside of what’s been documented, but this version of Jett – even though he’s not perfect in moto scores this year – is potentially even better than previous seasons, which is scary for the rest of the field. He looks more complete, more poised, and due to a recent ego battle with Haiden Deegan, we might’ve got a glimpse of where his speed truly lies after Southwick, as the ‘managing’ went out the window en route to two victories that were over double digits to elder brother Hunter. It seems that when business needs handling, Jett switches on the afterburners, and the rest is history, which makes for a deflating proposition if you are on the same start line. We’ll see if it’ll be much of the same in the second half.
2. Defending champ returns:
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Chase Sexton is a phenomenal talent and is always in the fight when he lines up. In fact, he’s probably one of the select few who can challenge Jett on his day, with the defending champion handling Hunter with relative ease once last year was all said and done, putting 42 points between him and the Australian. Hunter has been good this year, so does Chase slot back in ahead of the number 96 or the number three of Eli Tomac? It’s hard to say at this point, as no one knows where or what Chase has been up to as of late. Either way, it’s good to have the 25-year-old back in the mix, and he will be on a lot of riders’ minds come RedBud this weekend. Where does he finish from here on out? Time will tell.
3. 250MX is Deegan’s:
This is the same story as Jett in the 450s, as Deegan is making the rest of the 250 division look like a different class in comparison to himself right now. Having dropped only one round and two motos to Chance Hymas at Thunder Valley, the 19-year-old has otherwise been on a trail of destruction, and holds a sizable 58 points over Jo Shimoda in second place. Southwick was another masterclass, with the defending champion never really challenged across a convincing dual moto sweep. The talk has shifted to his premier class debut because there’s not much left for him to prove in the 250 series, as it well and truly belongs to him with five rounds contested so far in 2025.
4. Vialle, Kitchen, and Shimoda next in line:
It’s been a valiant fight from double MX2 world champion Tom Vialle, Levi Kitchen, and Shimoda, but ultimately, the challenge has fallen a ways short at the season’s mid-point. We’d be lying if we said there wasn’t a higher expectation placed on these riders prior to the opening round gate drop, and from a race-winning standpoint, each has failed to fire so far. Vialle hasn’t seemed to have had the pace across the entirety of the 2025 season – even in Supercross – while Kitchen’s starts have left him buried in the pack regularly. Shimoda has been there or thereabouts, although inconsistency has cost him, and as a result, this trio is watching Deegan walk off into the sunset with another number one plate. They’ll need to bridge the gap to Dangerboy if they’re to claim a moto and any overall wins this season.
5. AP and J-Coop so far:
It’s been both good and bad for Aaron Plessinger and Justin Cooper. The good is that each rider – AP in a couple of motos, Cooper largely in qualifying – have shown speed, although it hasn’t necessarily translated into what they are chasing, results-wise. There’s a bubble from P2 to fifth place, with each of these riders having rotated throughout the first five rounds, and both Plessinger and Cooper now find themselves as fourth and fifth, with Tomac and Hunter Lawrence, at least for now, the two with the upper hand in this group. No stranger to being able to throw down a hot lap, Cooper has qualified fastest three of the five times so far, although again, this form hasn’t translated into the motos, while Plessinger was adamant early in the season that he wanted to contend for the title. It’s not to say these two riders have been bad in any real way, but perhaps compared to their expectations, there is still a piece of the puzzle to solve.
6. Surprise packages:
450MX newcomer RJ Hampshire has been surprisingly strong at the halfway mark of this year’s campaign, having been the rider behind that aforementioned bubble on most occasions. He sits in what appears to be a pretty comfortable P6 overall, 19 markers clear of Cooper Webb. ‘Solid’, ‘consistent’, and so forth are not usual adjectives used when describing RJ, so this is a welcome change and perhaps the turning of a page in his career. Garrett Marchbanks and Mikkel Haarup are P5 and P8, respectively, in 250MX, which were likely not on most people’s bingo cards entering the season. Haarrup is taking a very measured, methodical approach to his racing, riding within his limits as both he and the Triumph Factory Racing team continue to dial in his machine. As a result, he’ll likely get sneaky good as the season progresses, so keep your eyes on the Danish rider.
7. Tomac is trying:
Few things are certain in this life, and they are death, taxes, and Eli Tomac giving maximum effort and attack every time he is on the race track. Tomac has such an unorthodox style, particularly when contrasted to Jett Lawrence. The 32-year-old has mastered the art of going all-out for the full 30-minute plus one lap moto, bouncing off ruts, landing wide-open, and just putting an absolute beat down on the track while he is out there. He actually destroyed a berm at Southwick in qualifying, that’s how hard he hit it, and we’ve got to think that circuits cry in agony while the number three is out there. Nevertheless, this technique may have worked to beat Ken Roczen, Ryan Dungey, and Chase Sexton, but Lawrence’s fluidity is seemingly his kryptonite, with the four-time 450MX champion yet to win an overall so far. Keep an eye out for Tomac, though, as mentioned, he’ll never not give it his all.
8. The Prado factor:
Things are going sideways for Jorge Prado, with both results and his outspoken nature surely not the ideal PR scenario for the Monster Energy Kawasaki team. Southwick was much better, with the Spaniard placing P5 overall, but still, he has since indicated that he is not happy and that he should’ve won Southwick given his prowess in the sand. This was always going to be a huge project, and here’s why: He’s facing an all-new bike and an all-new team, in an all-new country. Plus, he completely missed the 250 division in the US, which is a major developmental milestone, especially for riders coming from overseas to acquaint themselves with the tracks and style of racing. Have both he and the team turned a corner following the ‘Wick on the weekend? Maybe. For the team’s sake, they would be hoping that things are trending in a better direction, as it’s been a rough one for them this summer.
9. The SMX bubble:
The race for position in the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) Playoffs, commencing in September, has been an underrated storyline in terms of intrigue and interest, as it brings in a range of riders who are on the bubble, with the top 20 from each class qualifying for the postseason. In the 250 division, Parker Ross is in P20, with Haarup 19th, Drew Adams 21st, and Ryder DiFrancesco in 22nd. The action is heating up there, and it will be a storyline to watch in itself. As for 450s, Prado jumped to P19, with Benny Bloss holding position 20, and Coty Schock is on the rise in 22nd. Once again, this is an interesting narrative to follow throughout the remainder of the season, as riders fight for the final position.
10. Hunter’s progression:
Hunter Lawrence has improved over the first five rounds, so much so that he’s kind of solidified his position as the second-best rider in the 450MX series. Tomac is still firmly in this conversation as a multiple moto winner, but after two second-place overall results at both High Point and Southwick, Lawrence currently holds the momentum. Watching him throughout this season, early race intensity has been lacking, with a perfect example being High Point’s second moto, where Tomac made a second corner pass and went on to win. Hunter addressed this in the press conference following Southwick, explaining that he hasn’t been comfortable pushing at that level as he continues to develop the 2025-spec CRF450R. Both he and the team are making progress, though, so this will be a story to follow closely over the next six rounds.