The Washougal National delivered the first new 450MX winner of the 2025 Pro Motocross Championship, with Chase Sexton claiming the overall victory after 1-2 moto finishes. In 250MX, Jo Shimoda secured his second overall win of the year with 2-1 results. Hear from both riders in Debrief as they spoke with the media following the race.

450MX

Image: Octopi Media.

Chase, a moto win and the overall for you here in Washougal. We saw a first bump over the line for both, which one means more?

I don’t know… the first moto was nice, just to get a moto win – I knew the job was far from done. Winning the overall felt better, obviously. It would have been unfortunate to come out without the win after winning the first moto. It’s been a while since I’ve won a race, it’s been since Salt Lake City, so it was nice to get that monkey off my back, and we’ll go into this break and try to get better. I’ve still got a few things I think I can be better with, and a little more speed. My speed was better today, I was able to qualify better, but I think there’s a little more room to get better still. I’m just happy to click off a win and go into the break with some confidence.

In that second moto, you were attacking at first, then it seemed like you settled in. Was that a conscious decision to make sure you brought it home for the overall?

We had a really good pace going, and obviously Eli [Tomac] was right there, so I didn’t really have any room to back off. Jett [Lawrence] started upping the pace and I was trying to go with him, we started to get a little gap, but on this track – especially up against someone as good as Jett – it’s really hard to even think about a place to make a pass. So I just cruised it back to bring it home, it’d be stupid [to crash going for the race win]. I already did that in Dallas, trying to go for a win when I didn’t need to, and I made myself look like an idiot. So today I didn’t want to do that.

Obviously you come back with the goal of wanting to win, and you did that here today. Would you say you’re on schedule with your expectations?

I do enjoy this track, it’s unique. I would say I’m ahead of schedule, last week I got beat by 48 seconds in the second moto, so I feel like that was a pretty big bridge to gap. Coming in here, I made a lot of bike changes this week to the rear end, and they were quite a bit better. I had a really good day on Wednesday, and I felt like I was getting back to being close to where I can compete for at least a race win. I feel like I’m a little ahead of schedule, my whole goal was to get myself to where I feel like I’m ready to go after SMX, that’s kind of why I came back when I did. Like I said, I feel like I’m ahead of schedule, but at any given time, there are so many good guys that, when you feel like you’re on, you have to make it work. I feel like that was today.

With all of your teammates out this week, did you feel extra pressure to perform?

I don’t know. Yesterday I was sitting over there thinking that I had a lot riding on tomorrow, cause there are two trucks here for one guy. Like if I didn’t perform, we’re probably going to lose a lot of money. I honestly told them this week, let’s just bring the van. I have a motorhome for myself, we could just put an easy-up on the side and just pit out of there, but they wanted to bring both trucks, and yeah, everyone was here for me today. It was actually good, because Tom [Vialle]’s mechanic Pedro was helping me today with a lot of video and stuff. So just to be able to see what’s going on with the bike and how I’m riding, stuff like that – there was just a lot of extra help. It worked for me today, so it was nice to kind of go out there and at least perform and get a win. If i would’ve been off the podium, I feel like I would’ve gone home with my tail between my legs. It was nice, but I also miss my teammates.

What were your thoughts on the track today compared to previous races here, and also compared to the past three rounds that have been softer dirt?

I felt like this morning, they didn’t have a lot of water on it in practice, and it was like a rail everywhere – which was fun. I like this track, I think it’s unique, a lot of the tracks now are kind of going in a similar direction, I feel like. This one does really stand out, especially with all the trees and stuff like that. I wouldn’t want to race on it every weekend, just because it is a lot different, it’s more of a road racing style track – it’s not as rough and you can’t be as creative. I wish they wouldn’t have built up the drop off going into the switchback, cause that thing was scary. Otherwise, the triple was cool, but that drop down was a little too big for my liking.

Any plans for the two weekends off?

It’s nice to have a break. I’ve only raced – I think this is my third race in a row, so these guys have been racing a little longer than me this summer. For me, going to take some time off, probably going to go see Coldplay next weekend in Miami, which I’m excited about. Then, I’ll probably go to Loretta’s for a day, but yeah there’s not much going on – kind of just golfing and hanging out. I don’t know, I’ll probably try and get a little head start on some SMX, otherwise just some stuff we don’t normally get to do.

250MX

Image: Octopi Media.

Jo, congratulations on the win! Last time we spoke after your RedBud win, you said you were sticking to your same plan. It’s worked, but I know the team came down to Florida this last week and you made some good progress. How much of that was a factor today?

When the team came to Florida, it was right after Southwick, actually. I went one day to the Dogg Pound and worked on the starts, but other than that, same thing. Super stoked.

This win compared to RedBud. Haiden [Deegan] obviously faced some problems there, but now you’re facing a healthier Haiden, so how does this feel compared to RedBud?

A win is a win, right? It doesn’t matter who is in second, I was just trying to focus on winning the moto. So yeah, same win for me.

Can you talk a little bit about what has changed on the bike? We heard maybe some gearing or transmission, what was different for you after the team came and tested with you?

Nothing major was changed, we really just did one tuning, and it was on point. I haven’t touched anything since after Southwick.

You’ve spoken publicly about figuring out your plans for next year, how good does it feel to put Honda on top, and what does this make you think about for 2026?

Well, I haven’t signed any deals yet. I’m riding really good right now, so yeah!

This year, the track was unique compared to the last few rounds. How do you think it ranks on the roughness scale compared to the softer tracks you’ve been racing?

For me, I think the track is really narrow and one lined. You don’t really have an option to go anywhere, you have to stick with your line. Especially coming down the hill after the drop-off, the left-right, you can’t really do anything about it. It was very rough though, for sure.

Your early aggression was really good today, especially in the second moto. Is there anything in the past week, or recently, that you’re doing to try and really improve that early aggression in races?

I don’t know. During the week, I try to put down some fast sprint laps, but I’m just trying to find better lines in the early laps – which Haiden is really good at.