Birmingham marked the halfway point of the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX East Championship. Through five rounds, the 250 East Championship could be summed up in one word: Parity. Nate Thrasher marked the fifth winner in as many races in the East Division’s only Triple Crown race but, in terms of current championship contenders it has dwindled down to three. Opening round winner Max Anstie is now eliminated from Championship contention after breaking his fibula in qualifying practice this weekend.
Defending 250 East Champion, Red Bull KTM’s Tom Vialle came into the night with a one-point lead over Anstie, but with Anstie out, the attention turned toward Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Seth Hammaker and RJ Hampshire, who trailed Vialle by eleven and twelve points, respectively. Could one of those guys close the gap on Vialle, and take claim as the defending champ’s main threat?
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Hampshire came out on top among the three in Birmingham. His 1-2-5 scores put him second overall on the night, gaining two points on Vialle and four on Hammaker. Hampshire now trails Vialle by ten at the halfway point of the series, five races remaining.
That’s a net gain for Hampshire, but he could have gained more by winning the race, and it looked like he would after going 1-2 in the first two Triple Crown races. At the same time, though, he actually wasn’t feeling that comfortable on the track.
“All day in practice I had a spark and felt firey, like I could do whatever I wanted on the bike,” said Hampshire. “But, literally from the gate drop of main event one I was just searching, like I couldn’t do things I wanted to do and I just felt off. Yeah, it looked great first moto, but I did not feel good at all. Second moto, I don’t get the start on Seth. I felt like I calmed down a little bit and had a couple good laps, but again I just didn’t have that spark to go. And then all I had to do was hit my start in that third main and I probably would have had the overall.”
Hampshire had a nice points gap, too, as Hammaker crashed early in race one and only took ninth. Nate Thrasher had gone 3-3. Then Hampshire got trapped off the start of the third race.
“I come in there and two guys [get] tangled up, go down right in front of me,” said Hampshire. “I’m stuck with them and right away my mind is just like make up as many positions as you can. And once I saw Tom, I mean realistically my goal tonight is to chip away at the points lead, so you’re going to find where Tom’s at. At one point I was doing the math. I didn’t see where Nate was, and I tried to make a push to go for, I think it was Bennick because I would have gotten the overall if I got him. I put in two good laps and I just didn’t have what it was going to take to catch him. Right then, I kind of just calmed it back down and took what the night gave me. It sucks because I feel like I let one get away from me, but like I said, main goal is to chip away at that point lead.”
Hampshire’s second overall still allowed him to gain two points on Vialle, who finished third overall with 2-5-3 scores.
Hampshire, who started the year coming off major wrist issues and then finished 18th at the opener in Tampa, is down 10 now, and also knows how quickly it can change. Anstie’s fast exit from the series is just the latest reminder, and it resulted in Hampshire not even trying to jump the combination that took the Yamaha rider down.
“Yeah, of course it’s a bummer to see him go down like that,” said Hampshire. “My pit board said to jump the quad the three laps before, so every lap I was trying to size it up, and that lap that he went down I was fully committed to it. It was just literally if you got the lift or not depending on what line you hit. Even Seth in that second main, when I was behind him, dude he almost had four big ones trying to quad it. Just for the risk and reward for that section, I mean I didn’t jump it once all day. But, of course seeing Max go down like that, huge championship hit. It’s racing man it’s tough out there. You feel like you are on top of the world, I mean he started the rounds one and two and he looked like he was going to walk away with this thing. It’s just crazy how fast things can change racing.”
