Breaking news here following an off weekend in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship, as Kawasaki has officially announced the return of Garrett Marchbanks to the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit 250 team. Marchbanks turned pro with the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki back in the summer of 2018 Pro Motocross and earned his first Monster Energy AMA Supercross podium in his rookie season in 2019 (second at the muddy San Diego SX). Then in 2020, he earned his maiden pro win at the 2020 Daytona Supercross. Fast forward a few months later when supercross racing resumed after COVID-19 shutdowns and Marchbanks was sidelined for Pro Motocross due to injuries in the final rounds of SX. Then, he was off the team.
In late 2020, he joined the Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha team and podiumed in his first race on a YZ250F (third at the Orlando 2 SX). He bounced back and forth from a 250F in supercross to a YZ450F in Pro Motocross but started the 2024 supercross season off with two podiums at the second and third rounds in California, nearly winning the San Francisco 250SX main event before taking second place behind Nate Thrasher. At the Nashville Supercross, he suffered a thumb injury that would keep him out until Pro Motocross, but he re-injured the same thumb in a pileup on the Thursday media ride day ahead of the Fox Raceway National.
His return to racing at The Wick 338 saw him run out of gas with two turns to go in the first moto, then he finished 12th in the second moto for 13th overall. He finished seventh overall (7-8) at the RedBud National, and 21st overall (40-18) at the Spring Creek National. Ahead of the round eight Washougal National, ClubMX announced Marchbanks and the team had mutually agreed to part ways, effective immediately. With reports of Marchbanks’ return to Kawasaki for the 2025 SMX season out there in the paddock for the last few months, we wondered if this early exit from the ClubMX Yamaha team would mean for an early return to Mitch Payton’s Kawasaki team for the SuperMotocross World Championship. Well, that’s exactly what is happening! Kawasaki announced this afternoon that the #26 will make his return to the Pro Circuit team starting at the Unadilla National (August 10). Without SMX, chances are we do not see Marchbanks on a KX250 again until the 2025 supercross season.
So, let’s take a look at the points situation. Through the first 24 rounds of the 31-round SMX Championship, Marchbanks sits 21st in the 250SMX standings, with again, only his supercross results counting as his three Pro Motocross starts this summer were on a 450F in the premier class. He is well within the top 30 for the SMX LCQ cut-off mark, but with three Pro Motocross rounds remaining Marchbanks could make a push to get into the top 20 as he sits only four points behind Suzuki’s Dilan Schwartz. Joey Savatgy, currently 19th in the 250SMX standings at the moment, sits 31 points ahead of Marchbanks, but note that 15th (Coty Schock) and 17th (Nate Thrasher) in the 250SMX standings are not expected to return to Pro Motocross, which could result in Marchbanks taking one of those two spots. The current 250SMX points are below.
And thinking ahead to 2025, Marchbanks had a strong supercross season this year, but he will be back full-time on a 250F in Pro Motocross for the first time since the summer of 2021. It appears Marchbanks, who will turn 23 at the end of August, still has something to prove in the 250 Class. We expect to see Marchbanks alongside Austin Forkner, Cameron McAdoo, and Seth Hammaker in 2025, with the addition of amateur Drew Adams being thrown into the SMX mix in some sort (possibly SX Futures with full-time Pro Motocross debut). Current fill-in rider Ty Masterpool has turned heads this summer, picking up his first ever Pro Motocross win and another podium at the RedBud National, but we heard Marchbanks' contract to return was signed months ago, before Masterpool was even brought onto the roster.
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Qualifying Points | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Haiden Deegan | Temecula, CA  | 649 | 166 |
| 2 |  Tom Vialle | Avignon, France  | 584 | 132 |
| 3 |  Pierce Brown | Sandy, UT | 400 | 131 |
| 4 |  Jo Shimoda | Suzuka, Japan  | 470 | 130 |
| 5 |  Jordon Smith | Belmont, NC | 430 | 124 |
| 6 |  Levi Kitchen | Washougal, WA | 600 | 120 |
| 7 |  Julien Beaumer | Lake Havasu City, AZ | 339 | 108 |
| 8 |  Max Anstie | Newbury, England, United Kingdom  | 270 | 97 |
| 9 |  Ty Masterpool | Paradise, TX | 316 | 88 |
| 10 |  Cameron McAdoo | Sioux City, IA | 120 | 72 |
| 11 |  Ryder DiFrancesco | Bakersfield, CA | 338 | 72 |
| 12 |  Garrett Marchbanks | Coalville, UT | 172 | 71 |
| 13 |  Nick Romano | Bayside, NY | 214 | 55 |
| 14 |  Jett Reynolds | Bakersfield, CA | 99 | 37 |
| 15 |  R.J. Hampshire | Hudson, FL | 260 | 36 |
| 16 |  Talon Hawkins | Temecula, CA | 139 | 36 |
| 17 |  Lux Turner | Gardnerville, NV | 62 | 36 |
| 18 |  Coty Schock | Dover, DE | 220 | 30 |
| 19 |  Henry Miller | Rochester, MN | 83 | 26 |
| 20 |  Chance Hymas | Pocatello, ID | 465 | 23 |
| 21 |  Jalek Swoll | Belleview, FL | 393 | 14 |
| 22 |  Matti Jorgensen | Helirod, Denmark  | 27 | 12 |
| 23 |  Robbie Wageman | Newhall, CA | 71 | 9 |
| 24 |  Daxton Bennick | Morganton, NC | 235 | 8 |
| 25 |  Maxwell Sanford | Pasadena, MD | 26 | 7 |
| 26 |  Ryder Floyd | Paris, TX | 23 | 6 |
| 27 |  Carson Mumford | Simi Valley, CA | 88 | 5 |
| 28 |  Joey Savatgy | Thomasville, GA | 192 | 5 |
| 29 |  Casey Cochran | Portsmouth, VA | 184 | 4 |
| 30 |  Nate Thrasher | Livingston, TN | 169 | 3 |
[Update: 8:30 p.m. Eastern]
MONSTER ENERGY® PRO CIRCUIT KAWASAKI WELCOMES Garrett Marchbanks BACK TO TEAM GREEN
Foothill Ranch, Calif. - Monster Energy® Pro Circuit Kawasaki announces the addition of Garrett Marchbanks to Team Green’s roster, effective immediately. Marchbanks is set to return to the Pro Motocross Championship starting gate at Unadilla and will continue through the SuperMotocross World Championship and beyond.
Marchbanks was a rising talent with Monster Energy Kawasaki Team Green and has shown exceptional promise and skill throughout his career including multiple podiums and a 250SX win at Daytona on his KX™250. The No. 26 KX™250 will look to return to the front of the field with a goal of accumulating points to transfer directly into the SuperMotocross World Championship Finals.
“We are very pleased to welcome Garrett back to the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki family,” said Mitch Payton, Pro Circuit Founder and Owner. “The opportunity arose unexpectedly when his contract with ClubMX expired and Garrett expressed the interest to continue to race this summer. He has shown a lot of potential in the races he’s done this year, and we are ready to see him back on our bike. Our team is committed to providing him with the best support for SMX and will continue that into the off-season for 2025.”
“I am stoked to be returning to the Monster Energy® Pro Circuit Kawasaki team,” said Marchbanks. “We are hopping on the KX™250 about a week and a half before Unadilla and I’m looking forward to the last three rounds of Pro Motocross and securing some points to be able to participate in the SuperMotocross World Championship Finals. I’m super thankful for Mitch and the whole team for the opportunity to start early and be prepared for the 2025 season.”
