Main image: Tom Vialle, photo by Simon Cudby
It was too good for too long. An entire off-season of Monster Energy AMA Supercross prep reeled off with hardly a peep about crashes or injuries, leading to the usual #deepfield in both the 450 and 250SX West classes. In the month since Anaheim 1? The bottom dropped out. The 450 class has lost talent like Malcolm Stewart and Marvin Musquin, but the 250SX class has been devastated. But it’s out with the old and in with the new, as the injury news has been met with an equal number of surprise fill-ins and pro debuts.
Here's a brief guide on what to see:
Hunter’s Hunt:Hunter Lawrence kept it close to Christian Craig in last year’s 250SX West division, showing continued improvement each year in supercross. Hunter also took second in the ’21 250SX East battle, too. With back-to-back runner ups, the Honda HRC rider would get the best odds in Las Vegas of winning this title.
Mosi is the Man?: Hunter got second in points to Craig last year, but Michael Mosiman can boast that he was just as fast as either of them. He just crashed too much. The Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas man can easily win races. Can he log the consistency for a crown?
Blue Boys: Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing will try their old veteran move by bringing Jordon Smith onto the team. Smith has won races and battled for this 250SX East title numerous times, but the last few years have been injury-filled. Star certainly has the power to bring him to new heights, like the team did with Craig. Also, Nate Thrasher rolls in on one of the weirdest resumes in supercross history. He doesn’t do well in every race, but when he does do well, he wins! Can he find some consistency to go with that?
New Debuts: Speaking of Star, mega-high profile amateur Haiden Deegan is pretty much pro now, going from Supercross Futures last week to 250SX East now. Deegan hype will be high, but this is a learning mission. The wins aren’t expected yet.
There’s more. AMA Nicky Hayden Horizon Award winner Caden Braswell is debuting with Phoenix Racing Honda. And when Jalek Swoll went down with injury, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna moved Talon Hawkins from Supercross Futures to Supercross pro. Plus, throw in Honda HRC’s Chance Hymas, who won the 2022 AMA 250SX Futures Championship last May and raced the 2022 Pro Motocross finale. Hymas is expected to race select 250SX East Region races so this weekend we will see a handful of new talent. Although not this weekend, Nick Romano will make his pro 250SX debut at a near 250SX East Region race. Lots of new faces!
The Champ Is Here: Red Bull KTM is importing Frenchman Tom Vialle into supercross, he of two FIM Motocross World Championship MX2 titles. French riders often take to supercross quickly, but we’ve heard Vialle is a thinking-man’s rider, and he doesn’t have the same supercross background as some others from his nation. This could be a slow build, but still, a successful one with time.
Shopping at J-Mart: Big, big move for Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha, which is not a factory team, to get a proven champion like Jeremy Martin in its truck. Jeremy, of course, has two AMA 250 Class Pro Motocross Championships, and he also has six supercross wins. On the right day indoors, he has beaten the best, but he has also missed a ton of races due to injury. Martin’s teammate Garrett Marchbanks is out with an injury, replaced by young Preston Kilroy. Kilroy had a rough debut in supercross in 2022, not making a single main event and getting banged up in the process.
Houston - 250SX East Entry List
February 5, 2023| Number | Rider | Hometown | Bike | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 |  Jeremy Martin | Millville, MN  | Yamaha YZ250F | |
| 29 |  Nate Thrasher | Livingston, TN | Yamaha YZ250F | |
| 31 |  Michael Mosiman | Sebastopol, CA | GasGas MC 250F | |
| 50 |  Marshal Weltin | Ubly, MI | Suzuki RM-Z250 | |
| 57 |  Chris Blose | Phoenix, AZ | Kawasaki KX250 |
Close with Blose: Poor Mitch Payton, poor Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki. Austin Forkner went down at Anaheim 1. 250 East riders Seth Hammaker and Jo Shimoda went down last week with practice crashes. He nearly lost Cameron McAdoo last week in qualifying! Young talent Jett Reynolds is still healing from last year’s injury. And SX Futures and soon-to-be full-time pro Ryder DiFrancesco is sidelined with an injury of his own as well. So, the team turned to veteran Chris Blose, who said he retired after last season, but he did race FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) on a Kawasaki KX250, and because he’s been around, he knows what he’s doing. So, Blose finally gets the factory bike he didn’t have pre-retirement. Injuries suck, but at least there’s a cool story brewing here.
Middle Men:Max Anstie (Fire Power Parts Honda), Marshal Weltin (HEP Motorsports Suzuki), Cullin Park, Coty Schock, and Jace Owen all of Phoenix Racing Honda with the aforementioned Braswell are a few riders right in that middle ground of not privateers but not quite factory teams. Anstie was set to race 250SX West before a back injury. Moving back down to the 250cc division after two years in 450SX could shake up the results. Weltin was on a privateer YZ250F last supercross season but broke out with HEP Motorsports Suzuki on an RM-Z450 in Pro Motocross. Unfortunately, a torn ACL in the off-season limited his training but he will aim to be a solid competitor week after week.
Park won the 2022 AMA 250SX Rookie of the Year award with a strong debut season as he returns for year two. He raced Kicker AMA Arenacross to prepare for his first SX season so he is more experienced than his AMA SX results show. After having a rough initial go at supercross in 2020, Schock has shown an impressive amount of progress since then, grabbing four top tens in 2021. He is coming off a knee injury that sidelined him for basically all of 2022 though. And Owen is making his return to the Honda-backed team after competing with ClubMX Yamaha. The #62 is a veteran that has been around the circuit for handful of years.
Wild Cards: The 250 class is nuts. Watch last week’s Anaheim 2 Supercross Triple Crown for a crash course in carnage. What you’ve just read is words on a screen, and they could be meaningless once the gate drops in Houston on Saturday night. That’s what makes this class so interesting!
