[Editor’s note: Our guy Eric Johnson was able to sit down with Garrett Marchbanks before the opening round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross at Anaheim 1. We already know how that race went for Marchbanks, but EJ was able to dive into the Utah native's Marchbanks return to Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki, the team he started his pro career with. What are the feelings like in his first day back racing with his old team? Let's find out.]
After beginning the 2024 AMA Pro Racing season with the Muc-Off/FXR ClubMX Yamaha organization, a season launched with back-to-back 250SX West podium finishes at and San Francisco and San Diego, Garrett Marchbanks suffered a thumb injury at Nashville and then missed the AMA Pro Motocross opening round at Fox Raceway in Southern California due to a press day crash. His outdoor season thrown into something of a rough and tumble affair, in early July word came down that the racer out of Coalville, Utah would be returning to his former team, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki for 2025. The curtain dropping on his Muc-Off/FXR ClubMX Yamaha outfit ride after a four-race run aboard a Yamaha YZ450F in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship, Marchbanks once again lined back up with the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki race team beginning with the 2024 Unadilla National.
Welcome to the 2025 AMA West Region 250SX West Supercross Championship where Garret Marchbanks will race for the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki race team he last competed for from 2018 through 2020. The morning of the 2025 season opening Angel Stadium supercross, Marchbanks sat in the Pro Circuit pit area and talked about the racing season ahead.
“I feel good,” said Marchbanks over the harsh din of revving motorcycles, hissing air guns and clanking T-handle wrenches in the frantic Angel Stadium paddock. “Usually, I always kind of struggle in early practice at A1. It’s a little bit of the nerves. There is the bike setup. A lot of times, like during the last three and a half or four years, I was training back east and then you go to the west coast and it just wouldn’t really gel for well with the bike chassis setup sometimes. So, this year training 250SX West Region and racing the 250SX West Region, it really was nice. The bike felt pretty similar to practice days. The Anaheim track was pretty good, and I look forward to San Diego.”
In the Friday afternoon press conference at Angel Stadium, Marchbanks, when hit with questions and observations from various journalists and industry representatives, came off both relaxed and confident with the 2025 task at gloved hand.
“This year I feel really good,” continued Marchbanks. “I think to be honest, not to say that I have not been honest, but I truly feel like this year was the year I finally did all the work. It wasn’t like in years prior that I never did it. It was more like I think I always came into the new season hesitating like, ‘Did I do enough? Did I do this, this and that.’ This year I trained with Jason Anderson, one of the best guys out there in the entire world, a 450 supercross champ, and I trained with him on and off the bike and all the work we did. It was like, ‘Okay, if he’s confident, why can’t I be confident?’ I think just training with him, he’s really helped me understand what to do better on race day and on practice day. He’s been a huge help for me and I’m very thankful to be training with him. No, it’s been great and I’m very excited for this year.”
After a three-year run with Yamaha, and despite posting up solid and consistent race results, Marchbanks has been thrilled to be back with Mitch Payton and his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki organization.
“Yeah, I missed it,” said Marchbanks of the Pro Circuit relationship. “I missed it a lot. There were days I’d sit there in my cabin out in South Carolina. There would be rainy days and we’d be sitting there, and I have pictures all over my wall, like pictures of me winning at Daytona and pictures of me with Mitch Payton, and I would go, ‘Man, if I could get back on THAT bike… If I could just get back with Mitch Payton, I want to turn it around and win the title. I want to do what I know I’m capable of.’ I remember the day he called me to come back and ride for him. I just remember that I was sitting there looking at those pictures and I was like, ‘Holy crap. I’ve made a full circle to do it again.’ I was very thankful for that and it’s a dream come true to do it again.”
So, can Garrett Marchbanks win races and compete for a title on the Kawasaki KX250F?
“I truly think I can. I think for me for the past three years, I’ve put this image in my head where it is like, ‘I’ve got to be at this level, or I’m a bad rider and racer and you’re just not good enough.’ And for me and this year, it is like, I just want to go out there and do what you know you can do. I’ve told myself that before and I’ve won heat races, and I’ve won a main event and that I just need to ride like I do in practice. I’ve done what I can do. I feel like for me this year is just to ride the best I can, and it will come to me, I told myself, ‘On your good nights, be a podium guy and on your bad nights, be a top three to five guy.’” [Editor’s note: Garrett was on track to meet his goal, running third place for most of the main before getting passed by Jordon Smith and then going down, eventually finishing in ninth.]
Sixth overall in the ’24 version of the 250SX West, Marchbanks is looking for bigger and better performance come the clank of the gate in Angel Stadium dirt.
“Last year was kind of a weird year because some of my bad races were more like falls, or getting hit, or getting cleaned out,” explained Marchbanks of his up-and-down ’24 season. “There were just kind of random mistakes. Last year I felt like I was really good. I could have stayed right there in the top three a little bit longer, but this year I definitely feel like I can be a bit more consistent. Last year my rounds at Anaheim 1 and Anaheim 2 weren’t the best. Those were rounds I just struggled on. If I could have just avoided those mistakes and stayed in the top five, or would have podiumed, I would have been right there in the title hunt. Those are things I just have to fix and I’ll be right there.”
Garrett Marchbanks won the Daytona round of the 2020 250SX East title chase. His lone triumph in the classification, the Utah pilot will be looking for the top step of the podium once again come Anaheim.
“For me it has been five years now, which is crazy to think, and I got so close last year to finally getting to win again and missed it with two laps to go, which sucked,” said Marchbanks, referencing the 2024 San Diego supercross where he placed a fighting runner-up. “I feel like everything is there for me to do it again and I feel like my endurance is great and my speed is great. I feel like if I just get some good starts, ride right there and do what I’ve been doing these past eight weeks, there should be no reason why I can’t win more races this year.”
“Yeah, it’s not like football where you’ve got however many guys on the field,” continued Marchbanks, citing the reality that only one guy can win a supercross main event. “Yeah, we’re a team here in supercross, but only one of us on the team wins the race. For me to just get a taste of winning again would mean the world. I mean five years is a long time. Even five years ago I thought it was going to come easier and just kind of go back-to-back. We’ve gotten close a couple of times, but I think now I know what I need to do now. It would be amazing to get another win”
Dispatched to the West Region for ’25 by Pro Circuit overlord Mitch Payton, Marchbanks, despite some reticence, is fine with competing in the West Region stadiums.
“For me, and I’m from the west coast, I’m from Utah, I hate the west coast,” pointed out Marchbanks. “I never liked the blue groove hardpack stuff. I’ve always been an east coast guy. However, you look on paper and I’ve podiumed six times. I podiumed three times in the west and three times in the east. It doesn’t really matter. You should be able to podium in either coast and no matter what, when you go 450, you’re going to have to rode both coasts. For me, I’m good with it. Honestly, this year has been the best I have rode west coast dirt, so I think I’m just fine. And the 250 I’ve been riding has been great. Mitch’s bike has been great. I mean the 2024 was amazing, but the 2025 is just even better. I didn’t think we could make it better and the bike is really good. I sure do like my 450, though. I have nothing against my 450.”
And riding along with Marchbanks all through 2025 will be riding, training and testing partner Jason Anderson of the Monster Energy/Kawasaki 450cc factory team.
“Jason came out to ClubMX last winter right after the Phoenix supercross,” explained Marchbanks. “We rode a couple of weeks together and it was great. We rode out there for five weeks or something like that and it really helped me up my supercross program. I felt like I was getting better every week. Some of my races weren’t good as overalls, but I could tell in my bike endurance and speed that I was getting better. It was great. Jason saw how hard I worked and how hard I pushed day-in and day-out. It just worked out for the better. Jason also helped me get the ride here. He said a lot of good things and it helped me get back over here to the ride and the job I wanted. Jason helped me and I’m very grateful for that. He then asked me to train with him and when I heard that I said, ‘Yeah, I’d definitely love to do that.’ It’s just the two of us training on and off the bike. We get to go on long cycle rides and we do gym sessions. It’s been a good time. Jason has definitely been a guy to help me with all of this. He’s just helped me realize what to do and how to handle things better and what to do on race day. It’s been good. He’s been like a big brother to me.”