2025 AMA Pro Motocross 250 Class Preview

Just a few more sleeps and we'll be officially ready for another edition of the Great Outdoors, the second leg of the SMX Championship slate in 2025. This year's 250 MX class is a bit of a question mark once you get beyond the top three or four guys. Guys like R.J. Hampshire and Coty Schock are making midseason switches to the 450 class, and then you have a number of notables such as Cole Davies, Levi Kitchen, Max Anstie, Pierce Brown, and Cameron McAdoo all out for at least some of this championship, if not all of it in most cases.

It doesn't seem to be in much doubt who the title contenders are this year. Of course, you have Haiden Deegan, who's rocking the No. 1 plate for the first time outside of SMX. Then you have some contenders with punchers' chances, such as KTM's Tom Vialle and Honda's Chance Hymas, but even beyond those three, here are some things I'm looking forward to coming this weekend.

Danish Excursion

Perhaps the most interesting storyline in this Championship is the addition of MX2 veteran Mikkel Haarup, who will join the American Triumph branch, jumping over from the Monster Energy Triumph squad overseas. The catch is that this isn't a permanent jump for the fifth-place finisher in last year's MX2 World Championship, rather just a one-year deal. Haarup would've been forced up to the main MXGP class in 2025 due to age, but the real issue is that Triumph's 450 platform is still not ready on either side of the pond, so this allows him to get legit race reps in before heading back over to run the 450 in 2026.

Now, what else do fans who aren't overly familiar with MXGP need to know about Haarup? He bounced around several teams overseas after initially jumping into MX2 with Factory Husqvarna in 2019. No career GP wins for the Dane, but he had a pretty strong finish to last year's MX2 season from July onwards, and then wound up finishing fourth among MX2 riders in the Motocross Des Nations with a 13-10 day, notably outpacing Cooper Webb, Tom Vialle, and Italian KTM standout Andrea Adamo. Based on an April press release, you can also expect to see Haarup rocking the No. 107. Hard to say what his ceiling is, but I imagine he'll be more than competitive. That Triumph 250 looked really good at times last summer...you know...outside of the half dozen Joey Savagty DNF's via mechanical issues.

Early Call Up

Another notable headline coming into Pala that came out just days ago was that the ClubMX squad would be calling up newly crowned SMXNext National SX Champion Alexander Fedortsov to the pro ranks, forgoing what would've been only his second trip to Loretta Lynns, but the 18-year-old sounded pretty confident about the early call-up based on the ClubMX press release.

I really have nothing more to prove to myself in the amateur ranks, and I feel I can do a good job for the team starting with the outdoor season this year. It’s a bit of a risk but one I am willing to take at this point in my career. The Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX team has always been supportive of my decisions, and I am very thankful for their support into the pros. It is actually a dream come true for me, it is what every kid dreams about and now I get to actually do it. I would like to thank Donnie Luce and Yamaha too. They allowed me to participate in the SMX Next program, and they support my transition to the pros.”

Effectively slotting into Coty Schock's spot in the 250 rig as he jumps up to the big bike this summer, what would be my big worry is either Fedortsov confidence gets shot if things don't go according to plan right away, or he gets hurt ala Max Vohland in 2021 Supercross his rookie year, which he took awhile to rebound from. That said, Fedortsov showed off some legit flashes indoors this year (a flat tire cost him a win a Daytona, and then a late fall a win in Birmingham prior to his Pittsburgh win), and I've been at the point now for awhile where I feel good about the direction of this ClubMX team that I think he'll be fine by years end. I would not be shocked if the first month or so is a struggle. One final note, Fedortsov's first pro number will be No. 784, which you may remember was Jeffrey Herlings' AMA number in the 2017 Ironman National.

Expectations for Chance Hymas?

The ascension of Chance Hymas into a consistent Moto podium contender and eventually National winner at RedBud last summer was one of the better storylines in Pro Motocross, but unfortuneatly for him, things went downhill for him pretty much right afterwards, namely at Millville and Unadilla, then missing Motocross Des Nations, opting instead for ACL surgery in September. A disappointing way to cap off what was a very solid year, but the fact that he was the pick to run for Team USA is a good indicator of his prospects for both last this year and, of course, moving forward.

Now, in a field that's going to be down R.J. Hampshire, Levi Kitchen, and a few other notables, I don't think it's unfair to say that Hymas should be competing for the title and should probably be a lock for top 3/4 in points. He spoke to RacerX and Aaron Hansel last week about how they've been strictly getting ready for Motocross since Pittsburgh, and he and the Honda HRC team feel really good about this summer, so you'd like to think they're going to make good on this preseason talk. I also fully expect Hymas to be the MX2 Rider for Des Nations at Ironman, barring an injury. I can't imagine DeCoster will give Deegan the call after blowing him off two years in a row.

Last Chance for Vialle

Coming off a stunning 250 East Championship victory at Salt Lake City just weeks ago, we now know that KTM's Tom Vialle will be on a 450 come 2026, meaning this summer will be his third and final shot at a 250 Motocross title in the United States. Kind of jarring that he has as many SX titles as National wins, but the big thing that's done him in during both tours of the Great Outdoors has been early-season Moto 1s. If you take the average finish of his first four Moto 1s in the last two seasons, Vialle put up a 13.5 in 2023 and a 4.5 in 2024. Granted, that second-year number is notably better, but if Haiden Deegan is going to bolt out to another hot start, that simply isn't going to cut it, because it certainly didn't last year.

The hope for Vialle in 2025 is that he's now experienced enough on these American tracks so that he knows how things will break down as the day goes on more than he did in 2023, and in turn show the 30-minute and two-lap pace that won him a pair of MX2 Championships. The starts and ability to get out front early haven't been issues, but now it's time to see him control these Motos for 20-plus minutes at a time at the minimum. It'd be odd to have seen him run this Championship three times and not come home with a No. 1 plate, but I think it's on the table.

Back-to-Back?

Another rider likely in his final 250 Motocross season is defending Champion Haiden Deegan, who essentially put things out of reach around RedBud a summer ago. Starts were essentially his only weak spot, and yet he was the only rider in the class to average a finish better than 4.5 (2.6 average finish for those keeping tabs at home), and was one of just two riders to lead at least 75 laps, the other being Hymas.

Even though Deegan will 100 percent go out of his way at some point to tell everyone he's being doubted/no one believes in him (what we call "a lie"), he's the consensus favorite for this title in 2025, and I've seen nothing throughout Supercross that would make me reconsider that. That YZ250 is still as elite a bike platform as ever, and it's justifiably believed that the outdoors is Deegan's bread and butter. Just three times last year did he have a Moto finish worse than fifth, and the latter two were in the final four gate drops of the season, in which he had essentially wrapped things up.

While I think it's fair to expect him not to have as scorching hot of a start as in 2024, where he won five of the first eight Nationals, it's equally as fair to say he's probably going to lead the class in a lot of statistical catagories again en route to a second MX Championship. I'll be fascinated to see the reaction from both he and, probably more so, Brian Deegan, should he indeed get left off the Des Nations team, but that's a bridge we'll cross if/when we get there. For now, I'd expect another big summer for the No. 1.

2025 250 Class AMA Pro Motocross Championship Pick: No. 1 Haiden Deegan

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