As the 2025 Pro Motocross Championship draws to a close, this year’s American summer was another display of some of the fastest 450MX and 250MX talent going head-to-head for title success. In this edition of Rated, MotoOnline takes a closer look at the form of a selection of riders throughout the season.

Image: Octopi Media.

Rider: Jett Lawrence
Rating: A
Rundown: An A is the minimum rating for what has been a stellar 450MX campaign for Honda HRC Progressive’s Jett Lawrence, who sealed his second premier class title outdoors in emphatic fashion one round early at Unadilla. All questions have been answered by now, with a consensus there that the 22-year-old is the future of the sport and is set to usher in a brand new era of racing in the United States. This was sort of understood, although it all happened so fast that there wasn’t enough time for minds to fully calibrate, however, his championship this year – with everyone on the start line – seems to have really nailed this point home. It wasn’t perfect, as per 2023, but it was the next best thing, so A is fully deserving.

Rider: Hunter Lawrence
Rating: A-
Rundown: The second and elder Lawrence brother – Hunter – made substantial gains this season to really earn his place as the second fastest rider all summer. Was this on our bingo card coming in? Not necessarily, because as was reflected early in the piece, Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing), his teammate Justin Cooper, and Aaron Plessinger (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) were all jostling for that spot, with the results flip-flopping as such during the first quarter. Eventually, it was Hunter who took the reins and really solidified himself in that position. Plessinger’s teammate, Chase Sexton, is probably still that little faster in outright pace than Hunter – as shown by his Washougal National overall and moto one win at Ironman – although when you consider everything, the number 96 was that next best guy during the outdoors. An A- grade is also very deserving here.

Rider: Eli Tomac
Rating: B+
Rundown: This Pro Motocross season was what we were all anticipating regarding four-time 450MX champion Tomac, to see if he could continue to defy the hands of time and reclaim his throne as the fastest outdoor racer in the United States, as was the case in 2022. That was the asterisk next to Jett’s first – and perfect – triumph the following year, however, in 2025, it appears that we have officially seen a generational shift, marked by Jett Lawrence’s victory count over Eli’s. There were moments, three in particular, that allude to the changing of the guard. One was their second moto, epic duel at the season-opener in Fox Raceway, with Tomac shadowing Lawrence for almost the entirety of the race, only to concede over 10 seconds by motos’ end. The second moment was race two at Hangtown, where the number three went down while hastily climbing through the field, exhibiting a sense of urgency to get to the front before the 18 waved goodbye. And lastly, Colorado’s second encounter, where the same thing happened as he went down while doing all he could to make a move on Jett. It’s these instances in sport that you look back on to see where the shift officially occurred, and we’d say that these moments defined the official handover. Still, Tomac is legendary and ultra-fast, so a B+ is fitting.

Image: Octopi Media.

Rider: Chase Sexton
Rating: B-
Rundown: For 2024 450MX champion Sexton, things really didn’t go to plan this season, which was the case from the first gate drop at Fox Raceway’s opening round. A freak goggle incident was followed directly by a crash that resulted in a ‘banged up’ situation that kept him out of the first half of the season, only to successfully contest a couple of rounds before a fall at Ironman ended his campaign altogether. It’ll go down as one of the stranger title defenses, because during both the Washougal National and Ironman’s opening moto, Chase was the class of the field as he took the overall win, and the race victory by fending off a vigorous challenge from Jett. He is kind of the one rider who has the outright speed and talent needed to challenge at the very front, however, putting it together consistently seems to be the thorn in his side.

Rider: Haiden Deegan
Rating: A
Rundown: Guns were blazing for Deegs from the get-go of the Pro Motocross series, with the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing pilot firmly demonstrating why the number one was on his machine after earning the 250MX title the season before. He said that he likes and prefers the outdoors over Supercross, and he wasn’t lying – any challengers that arose during the indoor season were largely obsolete in Pro Motocross, save for a late-season surge from Honda HRC Progressive’s Jo Shimoda. Not to discount Shimoda’s resurgence, but Deegan did have a pretty handy lead entering the final quarter of the championship, so there is the possibility that he was in conservation mode at times. Thankfully, the 19-year-old is stepping up to 450MX next year, because he seems to have well and truly outgrown the 250s, especially outdoors. His season was absolutely worth an A after sealing his second 250MX crown.

Rider: Jo Shimoda
Rating: A-
Rundown: Although Deegan was managing a large points lead, it doesn’t mean that Shimoda wasn’t impressive, because he really was during the latter parts of this summer. In fact, the same was true at the beginning, where he powered to 2-2-2-2 moto scores to open the season, keeping the number one within sight despite his dominance. A difficult run from Thunder Valley to Southwick Nationals really put a dent in his championship fight, although a 1-1 at RedBud’s sixth round was a nice rebound in form. He finished the final four events with 1-2-1-2 overall results, and was clearly the second-best guy in the series. With Deegan exiting, can he be the class front-runner in 2026? Time will tell, but A- is a good reflection of Jo’s campaign.

Image: Octopi Media.

Rider: Garrett Marchbanks
Rating: B+
Rundown: Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Garrett Marchbanks was a quiet achiever during the whole Pro Motocross season, and it went so well that he earned himself another contract with the decorated Southern Californian-based team for next year, which he deserves. It’s weird because things didn’t go so well during their first partnership, but Garrett has done a lot of growing during the time in between, to where he seems like the type of rider who perfectly fits Pro Circuit’s needs right now. Someone consistent, up front, and who can really be a future championship contender. He is a bigger guy, which means they’ll be forever up against it in extracting performance out of their KX 250s to help Marchbanks off the line, but the potential is there for him to develop into a serious title threat. We’ll see how this unfolds, but for this year, it was a great run, which ended in P3 overall.

Rider: Tom Vialle
Rating: B
Rundown: Like 450MX teammate Sexton, it was a strange season too for two-time MX2 world champion Tom Vialle, who was the runner-up in 250MX last year. That wasn’t the case this year, as the Frenchman was largely off the pace – the same could be said in Supercross – and things just never really seemed to click. We’ve since learned that the team had been dealing with a suspension drama throughout the year, which came to light after a candid post from Tom in the aftermath of him surprisingly electing to sit out moto two at Budds Creek, with the team citing no other reason than general discomfort. We’d say it’s good timing for him to switch pastures to help lead Honda HRC’s MXGP class entry – which he is heavily linked to – as his time with the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing outfit seems to have run its course. Still, P5 in the standings and a couple of podiums show he is highly capable, and B is a fair representation of this.