In the 250 class, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan put the hammer down, though his competition was a little closer to him than the 450s were to Jett and Eli. It was a home race for Deegan, who grew up in Temecula and said at the Friday press conference that Fox Raceway was his favorite track on the circuit—maybe the first time anyone has ever said that! The track did look fun at first, and then it looked incredibly rough. Deegan’s closest pursuers were Honda HRC Progressive’s Jo Shimoda and Chance Hymas, Red Bull KTM’s Julien Beaumer and Tom Vialle, and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Garrett Marchbanks could be up there with better starts—he was fast and impressive in both motos.

Now we’re ready for round two, but it will happen tomorrow without one of the biggest superstars in the sport, defending 450 Pro Motocross Champion Chase Sexton. With that, I will throw it to Weege on this whole situation, as it’s time to go watch these SMX Next kids out on the track!

Some Karl Bohn shots from Fox Raceway...

Sexton’s Title Defense Done (Jason Weigandt)

The second moto Jett Lawrence versus Eli Tomac battle really saved the day at Fox Raceway. Just about 11 minutes into the first moto, a season with so many questions had produced one key answer: Jett is back. In that first moto, Tomac and Jorge Prado weren’t even close to Jett, and Chase Sexton? The defending 450 Pro Motocross Champion was already out. That was so darned weird. Who can remember the last time a rider up front ditched his goggles that early into a race? Yes, it’s racing and anything can happen, and that includes goggles breaking. The whole way it transpired, though, is so odd. Ditching the goggles was followed by a weirdo crash that was apparently caused by Chase hitting neutral landing a jump. Sexton was unable to get up from the crash and salvage points, then chose not to race the second moto. We’ve seen Sexton get up from much, much worse and still finish. Now, I understand that in sports sometimes injuries happen randomly, and the biggest hits don’t even hurt. So that could be the case here. But last night the word finally came from KTM and Chase that he would sit out of Hangtown, although nothing specific was injured.

“I’m definitely banged up after last weekend’s crash but thankfully there’s nothing broken so that’s a positive,” Chase commented in a press release. “I’ve made the decision to sit out this weekend’s race and focus on getting back to 100 percent.”

That then ends any chance of defending his 450 Pro Motocross Championship. It seems so odd to me that Chase didn’t try to salvage something in these first few motos, especially knowing recent history. Stay in it, salvage points, and you never know what could happen. Look at what happened to Lawrence and Tomac in supercross, for example. If Chase had really broken something, then it would all make perfect sense but seeing one of the toughest and most durable riders on the track fail to finish the first four motos of the season (at least) doesn’t compute.

We might not know for a while, but is this break just as mental as it is physical? This sport is taxing and thanks to his own durability, Chase hardly misses races. He missed the first half of the 2023 Pro Motocross campaign but raced everything last year, and this season’s Monster Energy Supercross battle with Cooper Webb took a lot out of both riders. Webb has it easier outdoors, mentally, though. He’s racing in the bonus, just having a good time with zero expectations on winning. Chase, after just going to the wall in supercross, is now expected to defend his #1 plate against a fresh, fired up Jett, Eli, Hunter, Jorge, etc. Also, let’s not forget that the last two years Chase, again thanks much to his durability, entered the SMX Playoffs as the number one seed, only to see that not help him enough against riders who were fired up, fresh and motivated. Heck, Chase crashed out of the triple-points final each season, so that’s two bitter endings. Maybe this time he wants to be the guy that comes in fresh? I wouldn’t be surprised. The question is, when?

Maybe that’s just too much for him and a break is what he needs.

Whither Team USA? (DC)

The first round of Pro Motocross might have offered a preview of the Team USA we might see at the 2025 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations, which will take place in early October at Ironman Raceway, and it might very well be all blue. Haiden Deegan would be the obvious choice for the MX2 (250) slot, as the closest riders to him in the final results were from Japan (Jo Shimoda) and France (Tom Vialle). And Eli Tomac must be the early and sentimental favorite for the MXGP division, or even Open division, based on his excellent showing at the Fox Raceway opener (and of course Jett will be riding for the defending champions from Australia). Chase Sexton was the obvious other favorite but he’s suddenly a question mark now, give what Weege just explained above. There’s also the idea that he might be changing teams as soon as SMX is finished in Las Vegas in September, though the same could be said for Tomac.

KTM’s Aaron Plessinger looked good in the final moto at Fox Raceway, passing Hunter Lawrence for the third and final podium spot. But was he better than Justin Cooper looked in taking second in the first moto? And Jason Anderson rode an inspired second moto to pass Jorge Prado at the very end, but his off-season could also involve a team change. As for Cooper Webb, we don’t quite know where he is in regard to his outdoor form as he stayed focus on supercross all the way through the finale so that he could nail down that third title. He also suffered a breakdown in the first moto at Fox Raceway after trying to nurse his steaming bike to the finish. His second moto seventh was right about where I figured he would be in the opener and then start building on his speed and outdoor game.

If Roger De Coster had to pick a team right now, it might very well be Tomac, Deegan, and either Justin Cooper or Cooper Webb—all on Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing bikes. Just some food for thought.

On the Mason-Dixon Line (Mitch Kendra)

While there is a lot of excitement for the Hangtown Motocross Classic out west—and rightfully so—here on the East Coast we have our second “home” race of the year this weekend: the Mason-Dixon GNCC. The Progressive Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Racing season is back in action this weekend on the Pennsylvania/West Virginia line for the Mason-Dixon GNCC that takes place at the Matthews Farm, across the street from High Point Raceway. Literally across the street from the historic Pro Motocross venue, the Mason-Dixon GNCC starts on the banked hill where the Pro Motocross will call tent and parking is located, goes up and over many of the powerline hills, over into the West Virginia line, and back into Pennsylvania for the finish line. If you are free this weekend, come check it out! If you are not on site, tune into RacerTV.com for the free live broadcast of both PM races (quads on Saturday at 2 p.m. Eastern, bikes on Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern). The racing has been awesome, with XC2 rider Grant Davis taking the physical overall win at the last round Hoosier GNCC (at Ironman Raceway) two weeks ago. This Mason-Dixon GNCC round is typically a dusty, dusty round so maybe this is an extra, extra dose of track watering? Lots of top racers have had DNFs at this round in recent years, even despite attempts to conserve air filters. I might take my YZ250F out for the Sunday AM amateur race but if it keeps raining hard like it is here now into tomorrow and Saturday night, I will remain a media guy on Sunday and watch the action from behind my camera lens. Either way, excited to have another home race so close, with our third one coming up at High Point Raceway’s Pro Motocross round on Father’s Day weekend in just two weeks’ time.

Pro Motocross Watch Party

Hey Pro Motocross fans! Join us for the first ever SMX World Championship official watch party is coming to Primanti Bros in Wheeling, West Virginia this Saturday. Enjoy the Hangtown Motocross Classic live on Peacock at 4 PM E.S.T. and enjoy the best food and drink deals in town as well as merch and ticket giveaways.

Ducati Desmo 450 MX Launch (Keefer)

Ducati had a few media members out to Bologna, Italy for a quick factory tour as well as one day test of their new Desmo450 MX motocross machine. Desmo is short for Desmodromic, which is a form of valve train actuation that uses positive opening and closing of the valves without the need for valve springs. This technology is the first of its kind in motocross machines. The very first production Ducati Desmo450 MX bike came off the of the assembly line the day we were there, and it was an emotional day for a lot of the staff at Ducati. In the evening, we had a quick presentation of the machine as well as the company, a walk around the historic museum and then we headed out to 04 Park- Monte Coralli for a full day of testing on a true Italian farmland facility. Although we are under embargo about giving you any info about the machine at this time, you will be able to watch a full breakdown of the 450 Desmo June 3rd at 7 a.m. PST right here on racerxonline.com. I also did some other behind the scenes stuff from the launch that will be up over on the Keefer Inc Testing YouTube channel that I think you will find interesting. 

Antonio Cairoli as well as Alessandro Lupino were also on hand to ride and speak to us about the R&D process of the Ducati moto machine. To see an iconic brand like Ducati getting into our sport is such a pleasure and from what I witnessed they are here to stay. A lot of passionate motocross fans work in the halls of the Ducati factory in Bologna, Italy and they are ready to see their machine take the track in professional motocross racing in America come 2026. 

Winners/Advertisers (DC)

Checking out this week’s Cycle News win ads, Honda got back in the game with both Jett Lawrence and Mikayla Nielsen getting wins—very cool that Honda is supporting “Moto KayKay” and the revitalized WMX. Jett got the cover too, shot by our buddy Browndog Wilson. And Yoshimura hooked Jett up with an ad that featured his eight straight wins at Fox Raceway. And Yamaha of course did up #1 Deegan’s 1-1 win in the 250 class.

MXGP (DC)

After a robust French round in Ernee last weekend with a massive crowd, the FIM Motocross Championship (MXGP) is headed to the Teutschenthal circuit in Germany. Last weekend the French crowd got to cheer on their favorite son as Romain Febvre took a very popular win over Belgian KTM rider Lucas Coenen, with the Swiss rider Jeremy Seewer rounding out the podium on the Ducati. Kawasaki’s Febvre and Coenen traded moto wins, so it was kind of a push, but Romain had the better second moto and thus the MXGP overall win. He still has a sizable points lead on Coenen (47 points) and Tim Gajser, despite having missed the last three rounds with his season-ending shoulder injury, still holds third in the standings, by three points over Fantic rider Glen Coldenhoff.

In the MX2 division Germany’s Simon Langenfelder took advantage on the struggles of Kay de Wolf. The KTM rider swept both motos and how has an 11-point lead on his teammate Andrea Adamo (who finished second in both motos) and a 25-point lead of de Wolf, who crashed a couple of times in Ernee. It was a Red Bull KTM MX2 podium sweep with Langenfelder, Adamo, and Sacha Coenen scoring first, second, and third, respectively. Langenfelder now gets the same home crowd boost that Febvre got last weekend, as the German fans will be out in droves to cheer their best title hope since Ken Roczen moved to America.

And Jeffrey Herlings continued his slow progress of getting back up to speed. The Bullet missed the first three rounds as he was still recovering from an injury, got his first podium in the second moto, six races into his comeback. He’s 11^th in the rankings. Look for him to really start showing speed when they get the sands of Kegums in Latvia next weekend.

Hey, Watch It!

3 Sections, 3 riders at the 2025 Fox Raceway National

The Brothers Lawrence are back, and so is This is Lawrence:

Beyond the Gate with Yamaha Star Racing and Haiden Deegan:

Dirt Shark was on the prowl at Fox Raceway:

Jo Shimoda was a guest on the PulpMX Show:

The Cowboy gets back to the great outdoors:

Beta Motorcycles USA Aerial of Headquarters