The great outdoors is here, people! Round one of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship at Fox Raceway at Pala in Southern California is done and dusted, and with it, some questions were answered, but many more were not. There’s always so much great bench racing before the opening round of SX or MX; it’s fun to think of the possibilities, and everything seems wide open.
Until it’s not.
You see, although we have some more races we need to see before we get the information we need—I'm always a firm believer that we need until round three or four to really get things set because the two California tracks are so different—we do have some things that are answered for us.
Lucky for you, I’m here to give you some of the questions we had and then the answers we got from round one! Let’s get started, yeah?
Is Jett going to be okay after his ACL surgery?
Uhhh yeah man, Lawrence continued his incredible run of never losing a moto on a 450 at Pala by going 1-1 and looking, well, pretty incredible in the process. The kid led every lap of both motos, and what ACL surgery? We’ve seen this before in 2008 when James Stewart came out at the opener after ACL surgery and won every moto. Jett’s doing this with less time than Stew but with a better surgery (Google ACL mesh surgery. It’s a new way to repair ACLs, and breaking news: it works pretty well!). We’ll get to Eli Tomac, but when we were doing the Racer X preview videos, Weege had mentioned that we need to carve out, say, a 10 percent chance that Jett comes out, wins, and that he’s actually the same as always or better. Yup, that 10 percent chance is here, people. Lawrence was amazing.
And there’s also no doubt after talking to some Honda people that both Jett and Hunter are not 100 percent happy with the state of their 2025 Hondas right now. So, you’re telling me their bikes will get better, and Jett will get better as he gets stronger, and he just went 1-1? Could be a long summer for the 450MX class.
Eli Tomac has only raced two MX races in two years, and he’s coming off a broken leg; how’s he going to look?
Well, tale of two motos for ET3 at Pala. The first moto was a solid fourth and kind of what I expected, to be honest, as Jett, Justin Cooper, and Hunter Lawrence beat him. The second moto, though, was awesome as he pressured Jett most of the way. I was impressed with him reeling Jett back in about 20 minutes in after I thought that was about it for Tomac’s run to the front. But oh no, he showed Jett what was up. I thought early in the moto he adapted some of his lines to what the #18 was doing, which helped as well. Then he made a push again to get the kid. Impressive stuff by ET3 and exciting for the future races as well.
After those two stole the show, what else?
Well, Justin Cooper was good one moto and then not so good—you’re not gonna believe this, but he seemed to be start-dependent. Hunter Lawrence was thought to still be struggling with his shoulder a bit, but he was very good in both motos and reported that his shoulder is 100 percent. Aaron Plessinger was off the pace in the first moto, but then in the second moto, he got a great start and ended up on the podium in a nice ride.
Where was Chase Sexton?
All I have to say was summed up on Monday’s PulpMX Show in a prepared statement by Chase Sexton Inc, read by one Lewis Phillips. Please go to the 6:00 minute mark in this video for everything that needs to be said.
What about the two-time MXGP champion?
Jorge Prado showed up after months off due to an SX injury, and well, you want the good or the bad? In the good department, he looked sharp with his Fox setup on the green bike, and he didn’t crash in either moto. The bad? Well, yeah, he went 6-7 on the day, got beat by over a minute, and somehow was caught and passed by his still-getting-up-to-speed teammate, Jason Anderson in moto two. Not a great day for Prado, and I found it interesting that a guy who ran a scoop tire at every MXGP and won with it (although a different brand) decided to go with a non-scoop when all the riders reported that a scoop was a necessity to get a good start at Pala. This is a guy that’s known to be a good starter and sort of NEEDS a good start to find his pace. (shrugs).
Steve, thoughts on the paddle tire?
All I heard about after the race was paddle tire talk. AP didn’t have a good first moto, didn’t know why he didn’t go with the paddle tire but went with it in the second moto and got third! Justin Cooper doesn’t like the paddle tire but raced with it in moto one to a second, took it off in moto two, and got eighth. Joey Savatgy said he doesn’t care; he hates the paddle tire on the hard pack, so he started 15th in both motos. Prado didn’t run the scoop at all, and although his amazing starting skills got him top ten starts, you have to wonder, “what if?” about his day. I don’t like this; how about we don’t disc the start straights up so much that you have to run the paddle tire? Consider this the old man walking uphill to school both ways rant.
450SX Champ Update?
Cooper Webb seems to be really trying to either A) talk himself into enjoying the outdoors or maybe B) actually enjoying a pressure-free summer. He told me afterward that Yamaha has Tomac and J Coop to go try and win; he’s just here to enjoy himself and get some SMX points. Whatever the case, Webb was pretty good—he was all over Prado in moto two at one point and had a great one-lap time. In the first moto, he was up near the top five when his bike lost coolant and blew up. This could be the summer of fun-loving Cooper Webb!
Haiden Deegan is the favorite in the 250MX class; how did that go?
Yeah man, pretty good. Deegs got top 6-7 starts, worked his way through all his rivals (outside of Levi Kitchen, who did not have a good day at all), and took both moto wins rather easily. He was the man at Pala and did what we all thought he would do.
So, who wins more overalls, Deegs or Jett?
That’s a great question. I think with the unpredictability of the 250 class, I’ll go with Jett Lawrence, but it’s going to be close.
Who gets “cooked” on social media from Deegs?
Well, right now, no one. You have to beat Deegs to get the social media BS from him, and he was great at Pala, BUT if I have to choose, I’ll go with Chance Hymas because of 1) there’s past beef there, 2) Hymas did qualify quickest and also led laps, so I’ll say that at some point, Hymas is “cooked” again on social media.
Who else shined in 250s?
Honda’s Jo Shimoda went 2-2 with great rides through the pack and was a real surprise. He was on the PulpMX Show Monday night and said that he surprised himself with the rides; he didn’t feel like he was 100 percent ready coming in. It also sounded like he’s made his decision on a team for 2026, and to me, it didn’t sound like he was coming back to Honda. JuJu Beaumer led laps, which is a huge improvement over last year; Hymas led laps and said afterward that he and the team aren’t where they need to be with the bike yet. Tom Vialle was Tom Vialle in that he didn’t stand out, but hey, look at that—third overall! Garrett Marchbanks was awesome but stay with me here—he didn’t get great starts and had to work up through the field.
Bad Chef
One of the title guys coming in was Levi Kitchen, and at no point did the Chef look like he was cooking anything up. A tenth in moto one and then a DNF in moto two when his chain came off leaves Levi in a deep hole to start the nationals. Better days lie ahead for Kitch, that’s for sure.
Thanks for reading OBS. I won’t be at Hangtown because of something called the “Regional Qualifier for Loretta Lynn’s” at Pala, but hey, watching Jett out there last Saturday, this stuff looks easy! I should dominate. Anyway, email me at matthes@racerxonline.com if you want to chat about this race or anything else.
