Eight Points. That’s the gap between Cooper Webb and Chase Sexton in the 450SX title fight. It was 15 before Birmingham and “we” were talking about how Webb couldn’t possibly finish outside the top three with how good he’s been riding, and how thin the field is. And then, yeah, Coop goes and does just that after a week of us pumping his tires. His crash in the first main, combined with some very consistent riding from Malcolm Stewart and Aaron Plessinger, added up to a fourth for the red plate holder and now we got ourselves a title fight again!

As far as Sexton, he was on it all day. A 3-3-4 section proved to be huge out there and he nailed it for the most part. Only in the third main did he back out of doing it, knowing he had the overall. He told us on the PulpMX Show that he didn’t want to make the same mistake as before (all of us slowly nodded in agreement, BTW) and just decided to check up. Also, he mentioned the sweeping sections before the finish was key to him catching and passing Plessinger twice and yeah, you could really see him carrying so much more momentum than AP through there all night long. Chase admitted he needed the week off badly (although he got sick on Saturday and Sunday during the week off) and made mention he’s a bit of a streaky rider too. So, yeah, I predict the streak is now going to be turned upward and we have a battle on our hands.

Malcolm Stewart had the kind of day that makes you wonder why you got out of bed in the morning. First the fake start got him when Justin Hill got out of control and his bike took Malcolm down hard and then he crashed again later. The dude was in serious pain and as bad as the day was, the night was just as good! Yes, weird like that, right? Stewart rode awesome. He started seventh in the first main and got to third, in the second main he was fourth and got to second, and in the third main he was fifth and rode up to third. A 3-2-3 night for second overall was really good. Malcolm’s been so solid since his win in Tampa. He’s broken out of that group where he was fifth-tenth and has become a podium guy. I also think that he was probably 50/50 to re-sign with Rockstar Husqvarna to start the year and now I do think he’ll be back for 2026 on the same team and bike. Cool story here for sure!

Third overall was Plessinger, who told us his podium at Daytona wasn’t just a Daytona thing and he would be better going forward. He has been, too. Last race he crashed and still got into the top five (pressuring Barcia for fourth at the end) and this week he got great starts, led laps, and got on the box. The Cowboy is back?

Let’s look at 250SX winner Nate Thrasher’s career stats so far:

Years Pro:    Six

250SX races completed:                                               39
250SX wins:                                                                     6
Consecutive years winning one 250SX race:             5
Average position in points in 250SX:                         5.6
250MX races completed:                                             19
250MX wins                                                                     0

Thrasher’s career best AMA Pro Motocross overall is fifth, and he has nine career top ten OA’s.

So Thrasher’s ridden for Monster Energy Star Yamaha for 5.5 years and has raced double the number of supercross races than motocross races (which, when you think about how there were 12 nationals and usually 8-10 250SX divisional races, is hard to do) and seems to pull off a win a year, except for his rookie season when he won two 250SX mains in Atlanta (both after qualifying out of the LCQ!). There’s not a lot there that would make him a guy you would want to pay a lot of money for because he doesn’t make most of the races and he doesn’t get you a ton of podiums. Except there is that not-so-little fact that, he pulls off ONE win a year. Just a bizarre Racer X vault for sure.

This year’s results aren’t all his fault though. He was taken out by a teammate during practice and broke his finger badly, and he’s been toughing it out with some sort of mutant finger and deserves props for that. He won Birmingham without winning a main event, but he was very good all night long. So, he gets the win and he’s clearly getting healthier! Does he get another win? Does he race Pro Motocross? Simon says, based on his stats so far, no. But he keeps getting that win a year!

Two.

That’s the number of laps led for Tom Vialle in this 250SX east division, which, after four races, is shockingly low. But he’s got a ten-point lead and that’s way more important than the number of laps led.

Zero.

The number of eff’s given by Tom and KTM that he’s only led two laps season. Because he’s got a ten-point lead. 

Five.

That’s the number of riders who average between sixth and seventh at the white stripe off the start with no one lower than that in the series. Starts are huge, (DUH) and we don’t seem to have anyone in 2025 who is just nailing them. Here are the top guys’ average starts so far:

Roczen         6.0
Plessinger   6.25
Webb            6.56
Anderson     6.75
Sexton          6.88

ICYWW, Hunter Lawrence, before going out with injury, was the best at an average starting spot of 4.17.

If someone can nail their starts a little better, they could really start to make some gains here.

It’s funny how Cooper Webb and Seth Hammaker’s Birmingham SX races were kind of the same. Well, I guess not exactly, but the point being is, both of their nights were ruined in the third turn when they crashed while up front. Hammaker rebounded a bit better with 9-1-1 finishes, while Coop went 7-4-1, but both were probably on flights home wondering what could have been. Webb’s an all-timer so he’ll be fine, but Sethro, coming off his second career win and his first in four years, probably felt he had a third win in his grasp and that would have been huge for his career.