2025 AMA Pro Motocross Recap - High Point

Jack Gaffney
Jun 15
6 min read

We've now reached the stretch run of the Motocross tilt away from the West Coast, which kicked off yesterday at the High Point National. Not as hot as it was at Hangtown, but everyone is chasing the red-hot Haiden Deegan and Jett Lawrence after three rounds. While perfect season bids for both had been snapped in recent weeks, both riders' points leads were very secure coming into round four of this Championship. What couldn't be secured, however, was a clean day weather-wise. Definitely some clouds in the area all day, and oh boy, did it start hellaciously pouring at the worst possible time for the 450 guys: Maybe a clean 10 seconds into the final Moto of the day. Outside of that, here's how things went down at Mt. Morris.

Daytime Program/Injury Notes:

- Chase Sexton was back on the bike earlier this week, presumably putting him on track for a return at Southwick or Red Bud.

- Jalek Swoll made his 2025 debut this weekend (Achilles Rupture the week of A1) and qualified sixth in the 250 class.

- 250 Fastest Qualifier: No. 1 Haidan Deegan (2:02.798)

- 450 Fastest Qualifier: No. 32 Justin Cooper (2:01.772) (First ever instance of Jett Lawrence missing out on back-to-back poles in 450 Motocross)

250 Class Recap

1st) No. 1 Haiden Deegan (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) (1-1)

At no point were either of these Motos in doubt, for better or worse. In a series where starts have been more important than ever before, Deegan continuously puts himself in great spots to succeed, and keeps mistakes to a minimum. As such, he's nearly full round up on everyone else, and he's now 100 points up as it relates to the SMX 1 Seed.

3rd) No. 47 Levi Kitchen (Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki) (2-6)

Another solid day for the No. 47, and while he caught a break on the last lap to get on the podium once again, it's now three straight third-place Overall finishes for Kitchen. He said post-race that he's felt a lot better physically since that Daytona crash as of late, and now he's about to get a week off to boot. In a class that isn't exactly must-see TV at this juncture, how Kitchen can improve on an objectively great stretch will be a fun midseason storyline.

4th) No. 10 Chance Hymas (Honda HRC) (5-3)

Things aren't looking super hot on the Hymas front after Saturday. He coughed up second on the final lap of Moto 2 to Tom Vialle and, worse off, signaled right after he got to the pits that he hurt his right knee. Of course, Hymas has dealt with ACL injuries in back-to-back years, and while you'd not like to assume the worst-case scenario, we saw him in the Honda rig after the second 450 Moto ended early, and he didn't exactly seem upbeat.

10th) No. 22 Jalek Swoll (Triumph Factory Racing) (14-8)

We finally got Jalek Swoll in the mix for the first time this year, and for a kid about 5.5 months removed from Achilles surgery, he looked pretty sporty in that second Moto before ultimately fading back to eighth and a top-10 day. Given the circumstances, I could think of far worse outcomes, and it's just nice to have him back. I had some pretty decent expectations for him coming into this year, but injuries are what they are, unfortunately.

250 Class High Point National Top 10

1st) No. 1 Haiden Deegan (1-1)

2nd) No. 16 Tom Vialle (4-2)

3rd) No. 47 Levi Kitchen (2-6)

4th) No. 10 Chance Hymas (5-3)

5th) No. 36 Garrett Marchbanks (7-4)

6th) No. 30 Jo Shimoda (6-5)

7th) No. 56 Seth Hammaker (3-14)

8th) No. 40 Casey Cochran (11-9)

9th) No. 41 Nate Thrasher (10-10)

10th) No. 22 Jalek Swoll (14-8)

250 Class Points After High Point

1st) No. 1 Haiden Deegan (194 Points)

2nd) No. 30 Jo Shimoda (152 Points)

3rd) No. 10 Chance Hymas (132 Points)

4th) No. 36 Garrett Marchbanks (132 Points)

5th) No. 16 Tom Vialle (125 Points)

6th) No. 47 Levi Kitchen (124 Points)

7th) No. 40 Casey Cochran (88 Points)

8th) No. 26 Ty Masterpool (88 Points)

9th) No. 23 Julien Beaumer (87 Points)

10th) No. 92 Max Vohland (82 Points)

450 Class Recap

1st) No. 18 Jett Lawrence (Honda HRC) (1-3)

There's lucking out, and then there's Jett Lawrence opting not to pit for a new set of goggles/tear-offs and still taking home an overall win, effectively at the buzzer, over his brother of all people. Not exactly the start he was looking for at all in that second Moto by any means, but to lock and pick guys off as the heavens quite litterally opened up over high point was pretty impressive; becuase by no means did that track look easy to ride with rain in some areas and not in others the deeper we go into things.

As far as Moto 1 goes, there was never a point where I thought he wasn't winning that Moto after the stall, of which he put on himself for being a gear or two too high. There was way too much time left at the point, and he didn't lose much time in the grand scheme to begin with.

2nd) No. 96 Hunter Lawrence (Honda HRC) (2-2)

Hunter had some rough bridesmaid outings last year, but this was quite literally the best shot he's ever had at a 450 Overall win. He's been uber consistent these last two summers, but that's simply not going to get it done in class with Jett and Eli, and then Sexton before he got hurt. On a final note, since I thought this was interesting: Hunter is closing in on a top-five overall finish streak of nearly two years. If he can get through Southwick and RedBud clean, his last two sub-top five days in the great outdoors (both were due to bike issues), he's home free.

3rd) No. 3 Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) (5-1)

Continuing the topic of frustrating days/missed opportunities, Tomac absolutely had the speed to take home the overall today, but once again, a horrendous Moto 1 start and failure to capitalize on a golden chance to go from fifth to third late, quite literally, cost him this one. Granted, his Moto 2 start was perfect, but it feels like we're back to Kawasaki-era Eli starts more often than not now, and that most definitely isn't helping him out.

17th) No. 70 Jorge Prado (Monster Energy Kawasaki) (12-23)

Mark the date: June 15th, 2025. We've aggressively tapped the panic button several dozen times in the case of Jorge Prado. He took a holeshot position of third in Moto 1 and then dropped nine spots over the course of 30 minutes plus two laps, the second-worst fall among factory guys behind only Malcolm Stewart, who took a handlebar straight to the jawline, which ended his day prematurely. Moto 2 was effectively the same story: a nine-position freefall, only there he started in the teens instead of a podium spot.

I understand that the bike is probably not to his liking (I'm not going to act like an expert on the learning curve going from a GP-style bike to an AMA bike), but this was simply a horrendous outing by Prado. A guy of his caliber shouldn't look this out of place, and I'd hope for his and everyone over at Kawasaki's sake that they can use this off-week to their advantage.

450 Class High Point National Top 10

1st) No. 18 Jett Lawrence (1-3)

2nd) No. 96 Hunter Lawrence (2-2)

3rd) No. 3 Eli Tomac (5-1)

4th) No. 7 Aaron Plessinger (3-4)

5th) No. 32 Justin Cooper (4-5)

6th) No. 17 Joey Savatgy (8-6)

7th) No. 21 Jason Anderson (7-7)

8th) No. 24 R.J. Hampshire (6-8)

9th) No. 37 Coty Schock (10-9)

10th) No. 2 Cooper Webb (9-11)

450 Class Points After High Point