2025 AMA Pro Motocross Recap - Thunder Valley

While not a direct mudder, Thunder Valley saw a lot of rain in the lead-up to the annual National weekend, turning things into a rutty layout just a bit outside of Denver. Interestingly enough in qualifying, neither points leader, Jett Lawrence nor Haiden Deegan, were able to top the speed charts, seeing teamates of theres in the opposite classes do so instead in the form of Chance Hymas, who's looked great early in Motos so far but not much afterwards, and Justin Cooper, who's historically great at altitude. Now, did that matter for either pole-sitter when it came to Moto action? Here's how it went down.

Daytime Program/Injury Notes: 

- Reverse the Schedule this week due to NBC carrying the middle Motos live.

- Pro Circuit Kawi's Seth Hammaker was out this week as he's still in concussion protocol.

- 250 Fastest Qualifier: No. 10 Chance Hymas (2:15.861)

- 450 Fastest Qualifier: No. 32 Justin Cooper (2:10.829)

450 Class Recap

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

Just another day at the office for the No. 18. Even with a suprise late race charge in Moto 1 by Aaron Plessinger, Lawrence ensured that was nothing more than a temporary moment, and he was able to keep Eli Tomac at bay and even got a mistake out of him to secure another 1-1. He's already up 25 points in this Championship, and at this point, I'd expect that gap to continue growing at a pretty good pace.

2nd) No. 3 Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) (3-2)

This is one of the results that doesn't ultimately look as good as it does on paper, in my book. Tomac spent a ton of time in that opening Moto trying and failing to get by Hunter Lawrence for what would've been third, only doing so once the Honda rider went down late. A bad start and then a late tip over himself going after Jett, and the Moto 2 win was the proper gut punch to end this weekend for the home-state hero. His starts have to get consistently better; that's really the beginning and end of it.

13th) No. 70 Jorge Prado (Monster Energy Kawasaki) (8-DNF)

A bike issue ultimately cost Prado what would've been an 8-8-ish day, but sticking on the topic of starts, the World Champion had two starts outside of the top five today, and for a guy who was lights out off the gate in the GPs, these first three nationals have been jarring to watch. Prado has been pretty open about the struggles he's having with this KX450 so far this summer, but I can say I was expecting this disappointing of a season start for him. Jason Anderson is in this boat as well, going 12-DNF yesterday.

450 Class Thunder Valley National Top 10

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

2nd) No. 3 Eli Tomac (3-2)

3rd) No. 7 Aaron Plessinger (2-5)

4th) No. 32 Justin Cooper (5-3)

5th) No. 96 Hunter Lawrence (4-4)

6th) No. 2 Cooper Webb (7-6)

7th) No. 24 R.J. Hampshire (6-7)

8th) No. 28 Malcolm Stewart (10-10)

9th) No. 992 Valentin Guillod (14-8)

10th) No. 17 Joey Savatgy (9-16)

450 Class Points After Thunder Valley

1st) No. 18 Jett Lawrence (145 Points)

2nd) No. 3 Eli Tomac (120 Points)

3rd) No. 7 Aaron Plessinger (117 Points)

4th) No. 32 Justin Cooper (112 Points)

5th) No. 96 Hunter Lawrence (108 Points)

6th) No. 24 R.J. Hampshire (87 Points)

7th) No. 2 Cooper Webb (76 Points)

8th) No. 70 Jorge Prado (72 Points)

9th) No. 21 Jason Anderson (69 Points)

10th) No. 17 Joey Savatgy (67 Points)

250 Class Recap

1st) No. 10 Chance Hymas (Honda HRC) (1-1)

No better way to get over the food poisoning and the result of Hangtown than what Hymas ended up doing in Thunder Valley. Practical wire-to-wire wins, and while Haiden Deegan had to go into bike preservation mode in Moto 1, effectively ending things early since they were out front by over a minute by that point, Moto 2 was all merit, and even with the new motor in for the No. 1, Hymas didn't crack like has had the prior two weeks, and simply executed to perfection. Clean sweep of the weekend too, since he qualified on top.

2nd) No. 1 Haiden Deegan (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) (2-2)

It's not a super big secret that Deegan is a bit rough on his equipment, and unfortunately, that isn't going to fly super well at altitude, and those last five laps of Moto 1 turned into an entire lifetime for the points leader. I don't know how he was able to get regrouped and ultimately lose a grand total of zero positions, but it's hard to overstate how much that would've changed the complexion of this Championship. Instead, he only lost a handful of points to someone who lost a ton last week in California and is still up big three rounds in.

3rd) No. 47 Levi Kitchen (Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki) (8-3)

Not often you get the 8-3 for third overall, but give the Master Chef a ton of credit for rallying late in Moto 2 vs. Jo Shimoda. He took about seven seconds out of the Honda rider's advantage around lap 12, and then he was in business at that point. Kitchen has sneakily been great since that chain issue in Pala, going 3-3-8-3 in his last four Motos.

250 Class Hangtown National Top 10

1st) No. 10 Chance Hymas (1-1)

2nd) No. 1 Haiden Deegan (2-2)

3rd) No. 47 Levi Kitchen (8-3)

4th) No. 16 Tom Vialle (6-5)

5th) No. 30 Jo Shimoda (9-4)

6th) No. 40 Casey Cochran (13-6)

7th) No. 44 Dillan Schwartz (10-9)

8th) No. 107 Mikkel Haarup (7-12)

9th) No. 26 Ty Masterpool (4-15)

10th) No. 92 Max Vohland (12-8)

250 Class Points After Thunder Valley

1st) No. 1 Haiden Deegan (144 Points)

2nd) No. 30 Jo Shimoda (119 Points)

3rd) No. 10 Chance Hymas (95 Points)

4th) No. 47 Levi Kitchen (86 Points)

5th) No. 16 Tom Vialle (85 Points)

6th) No. 36 Garrett Marchbanks (85 Points)

7th) No. 23 Julien Beaumer (81 Points)

8th) No. 26 Ty Masterpool (71 Points)

9th) No. 92 Max Vohland (65 Points)

10th) No. 40 Casey Cochran (64 Points)

Main Image via Honda HRC