A long two-week break has come to a close, and the time to close out this year's AMA Pro Motocross Championship has arrived. Chase Sexton and Haiden Deegan come out of the break with their toughest test left on route to clinching their respective Championships in the form of Unadila, with the latter having a clinching opportunity next week at Budds Creek if things go well in Central New York. Sexton, out of the break, meanwhile, is now having to contend with Hunter Lawrence, who got some massive upgrades in the form of the 2025 CRF450 model to try and get back into this 450 Championship.
In some other big news, Ken Roczen and Cooper Webb are officially back in the mix for the first time this summer, both looking to gain some extra points going into SMX. What did their insertion back into the 450 lineup do to the current pecking order? Let's find out.
Daytime Program/Injury Notes:
- 'Dilla wasn't immune from the heaps of rain the northeast got earlier this weekend, but Saturday was good on the inclement weather front.
- Garrett Marchbanks 13th quickest in his re-debut with Pro Circuit in 250 class.
- Ken Roczen fifth fastest in qualifying in his 2024 season debut.
- 250 Fastest Qualifier: No. 48 Chance Hymas (2:18.580) (Both Hymas and Joey Savatgy, who ended up top four, ran over two full seconds faster in the second session)
- 450 Fastest Qualifier: No. 4 Chase Sexton (2:11.943) (Justin Cooper was around two-tenths back, then the next closest rider, Jason Anderson, was over two full seconds off the pace)
250 Class Recap
1st - No. 47 Levi Kitchen (Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki) (2-1)
The Championship is undoubtedly out of reach now, but after how Washougal went, this was a phenomenal rebound for Kitchen coming out of the break on a day where he easily could've 1-1'd. You could visibly tell down the stretch that he was better than Deegan in certain spots in that first Moto, but Kitchen couldn't make up the difference when you put a full lap together. Luckily, he made the adjustments in Moto 2, and while it certainly helped that Deegan played the long game and then the unfortunate injury to Jo Shimoda, Kitchen was the best all-around 250 guy on the eye test.
2nd - No. 38 Haiden Deegan (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) (1-2)
Right now at the Star Compound, they have every possible piece of Haiden Deegan Championship team merch ready to go for Budds Creek because, thanks to some smart riding and things happening around him, it would take a ton (realistically) for him not to leave the outskirts of D.C. with the No. 1 plate. Deegan only needs 30 points next week to clinch, and he's scored a minimum of 38 points through the nine rounds of Pro Motocross to this point. Even with how things went there last year, he definitely exercised some demons at 'Dilla this weekend.
12th - No. 30 Jo Shimoda (Honda HRC) (4-DNF)
Taking away that Moto 2 opening corner crash at Millville, Shimoda undeniably turned a corner by the time he won the second Moto at Southwick. Going into Moto 2 today, he finished top five in 7 of his last eight Motos and would've been 8-for-9 if not for an ill-timed crash before the sky shot. It was definitely an innocent-looking fall, but we all saw him writhing in pain in the moments after, and then his left arm in a sling as he was taking the mule ride back to the medical rig. I don't know the exact injury for sure, but you'd have to think this one might be a season-ender for Jo, which is devastating for one of the more fun-to-watch guys in the 250 class when he's clicking.
38th - No. 48 Chance Hymas (Honda HRC) (DNF-DNF)
I don't know if I'll ever know how Chance Hymas was able to ride off on his own after one of the most vicious get-offs I've ever seen while he was leading Moto 1 (and I think it's fair to argue why he was allowed to), but this kid has shown unreal levels of toughness all summer, and this was no exception. The worst part is this happened on what was shaping up to be a career day for the No. 48. Deegan and Kitchen were certainly making inroads on his lead, but he was shot out of a cannon in Moto 1, and I doubt he would make things easy on either of them had the caught up, especially Deegan after his club stunt over the break.
I also have to give Hymas credit for being smart and pulling off when he did in Moto 2. You could tell by where he was and then looking back at his times after the fact that it simply wasn't worth the risk to keep going at that point. Wish some of these displays of toughness and grit could start turning into wins, but that's life sometimes.
250 Class Unadilla Top 10
1st No. 47 Levi Kitchen (2-1)
2nd No. 38 Haiden Deegan (1-2)
3rd No. 33 Jalek Swoll (6-4)
4th No. 26 Garrett Marchbanks (5-5)
5th No. 37 Max Anstie (3-8)
6th No. 39 Pierce Brown (7-7)
7th No. 31 Jordon Smith (12-6)
8th No. 29 Ty Masterpool (9-9)
9th No. 929 Julien Beaumer (8-10)
10th No. 34 Ryder DiFrancesco (10-11)
250 Class Points After Unadilla
1st No. 38 Haiden Deegan (408 Points) (Clinches Championship at Budds Creek with a 30-point day in the event of a Kitchen 1-1)
2nd No. 47 Levi Kitchen (338 Points)
3rd No. 16 Tom Vialle (327 Points)
4th No. 30 Jo Shimoda (271 Points)
5th No. 48 Chance Hymas (275 Points)
6th No. 29 Ty Masterpool (259 Points)
7th No. 39 Pierce Brown (225 Points)
8th No. 33 Jalek Swoll (221 Points)
9th No. 34 Ryder DiFrancesco (204 Points)
10th No. 31 Jordon Smith (191 Points)
450 Class Recap
1st - No. 4 Chase Sexton (Red Bull KTM) (2-1)
I can't remember the last time you could call a Moto over quicker than Moto 2 yesterday with Sexton. He was up 6.488 seconds after lap one, 10.930 seconds after lap three, and 13.5 after lap five. He said he just needed to be better off the start after losing to Hunter Lawrence in Moto 1, and oh man, did he ever take his own advice. Simply a dominant performance on one of this sport's most challenging tracks. While Sexton isn't on title watch next week like Deegan (barring something catastrophic for Lawrence, he would clinch things up after Moto 1 of Ironman if he holds serve these next three Motos (elite save to avoid an FCC violation about 32 seconds into this clip).
2nd - No. 96 Hunter Lawrence (Honda HRC) (1-2)
Chalk up the first live run for the 2025 CRF450, a success with Hunter Lawrence at the helm. Even shy of a 1-1, he led every lap in his Moto 1 victory, instantly shutting down a Sexton lunge for the lead, and overcame a poor Moto 2 start to steal second from Dylan Ferrandis at the buzzer. Hunter stated after his Moto 1 win that he's as close to good health post-RedBud as possible and looked like it. There's no shame in a 1-2 on a weekend like this, never mind a track like this.
4th - No. 14 Dylan Ferrandis (Phoenix Honda) (6-3)
It's been a while since we saw the 2021 Champion run as well as he did on Saturday, probably since the last trip to Unadilla, where he gave Jett Lawrence a handful in Moto 1. Obviously, it's a tough way to lose out on what would've been his first podium finish in a year, but the fact he's competed for the top three more often than not this summer aboard a Phoenix Honda feels like a pretty good testament to both he and that team. Excellent weekend.
7th - No. 94 Ken Roczen (HEP Progressive/Ecstar Suzuki) (7-6)
How quickly things fell for Roczen after running as high as second in Moto 2 was a bit jarring, but I'm not going to sit here and tell you a 7-6 at Unadilla after a multiple-month layoff is the end of the world. That said, I wouldn't hate it if HEP scuttles the plan for him to run a 250 at Ironman after today. It's less about SMX seeding purposes and more so that he's captaining Team Germany's efforts at Matterly Basin. Probably for the best if he can get one more live tuneup in a pure MX setting before then on the bike he'll run.
15th - No. 2 Cooper Webb (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) (8-DNF)
Grand Opening: Grand Closing for Webb in Motocross, it would appear. We haven't seen an angle of the crash itself yet, but we for sure saw the aftermath of him going down and screaming in the direction of a couple of flaggers behind him (nothing we can do to help this!!!). So any progress he made with that eighth in Moto 1 was for nothing, and depending on his injury, that may be a wrap in his 2024 season period. Hopefully, it looked worse than it is because Webb simply being in those SMX races will be interesting on its own.
450 Class Unadilla Top 10
1st No. 4 Chase Sexton (2-1)
2nd No. 96 Hunter Lawrence (1-2)
3rd No. 7 Aaron Plessinger (3-4)
4th No. 14 Dylan Ferrandis (6-3)
5th No. 21 Jason Anderson (5-5)
6th No. 32 Justin Cooper (4-7)
7th No. 94 Ken Roczen (7-6)
8th No. 28 Christian Craig (9-8)
9th No. 27 Malcolm Stewart (10-9)
10th No. 23 Grant Harlan (11-10)
450 Class Points After Unadilla
1st No. 4 Chase Sexton (407 Points)
2nd No. 96 Hunter Lawrence (379 Points)
3rd No. 7 Aaron Plessinger (319 Points)
4th No. 32 Justin Cooper (317 Points)
5th No. 21 Jason Anderson (295 Points)
6th No. 14 Dylan Ferrandis (273 Points)
7th No. 27 Malcolm Stewart (238 Points)
8th No. 1 Jett Lawrence (210 Points)
9th No. 28 Christian Craig (188 Points)
10th No. 22 Freddie Noren (160 Points)
Main Image via Red Bull KTM
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