Round two of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship was up in Northern California for the Hangtown Motocross Classic, and hey, did you hear that it was hot? Yup, full heater up there, and you could see it on the riders' faces after the moto. Heck, Jason Thomas and Jason Weigandt disagreed, but I thought after moto one that Eli Tomac, who’s an absolute animal, looked a bit worked even. Yes, it was that hot.
The second motos were shortened to 25 minutes plus two laps from the regular 30 minutes, and I wasn’t there, so I can’t say for sure how hot it was, but I did see social media discourse (of course there’s social media discourse; there’s social media discourse about everything, even puppies!) about the decision. I know the riders were asked, and I know that no one respects the legends of MX like Jeff Ward more than I do. But when I see a guy like Jeff posting about how they used to race in this heat—and they certainly did—Jeff forgets that they had hour-long intermissions between motos. I know this because I went to those nationals back then.
We had Malcolm Stewart on the PulpMX Show last night, and he told us he got out of the cooling pool after moto one, and the horn for staging the 450MX second moto went off. Which means he had about 10 minutes to suit up and head to the line. I know Bob Hannah was tougher than anyone today, and I know two-strokes were better than four-strokes, and we walked uphill to school both ways back in the day, but we also used to smoke on airplanes, so I think we’re smarter now than we were back in the day. The extra five minutes the guys went wasn’t really going to change anything.
ICYWW, I didn’t go to Hangtown; I decided to try and qualify for Loretta Lynn’s this year in the +50 class, and nope, it didn’t work out. “Too slow,” as one of my friends told me, as I went 6-6 and the top four were picked to go to the ranch. My road to Loretta’s is closed, but I do have some Hangtown thoughts.
Jett Lawrence won again, but he didn’t go 1-1. Nope, the kid went 3-1 on the day, and I know he’s not where he wants to be with the bike just yet, but I don’t want to give him excuses for moto one’s third. He was not far back off the start, and hey, Aaron Plessinger and Eli Tomac were right there. Jett rode well, but they rode better. I think he just got beat, and I know this is Jett Lawrence, but that happens, right? It’s hot, his bike isn’t ideal, he’s coming off ACL surgery, and yeah, man, big deal.
The Aussie got the start in moto two and did his thing out there to get the second moto win in typical Jett style. So yeah, he’s still never lost an overall 450MX race when he hasn’t cartwheeled down a hill trying a double that was changed after practice. And again, I don’t want to harp on this more, but he’s going to get more comfortable on the bike and stronger after ACL surgery, and that means he’s going to get better. And he’s won three out of four motos already to start the year.
I don’t want to talk about the scoop tire anymore, trust me. You don’t want to read about the scoop tire anymore, I know. BUT just let it be known that both Lawrence brothers went with a traditional tire off the start for moto one, and neither one got the jump they wanted to. Jett said he missed a shift, but regardless, the scoop was on for moto two, and wow, look at that; they got the starts they needed!
EVERYONE NEEDS TO RUN THE SCOOP BECAUSE IT'S GOOD OFF THE START, OK?????
Eli Tomac won the first moto, his first moto win in over two years (he only raced four motos in that time), with a great ride to overtake AP with 1.5 laps to go. In the second moto, he blew the start and came from, like, 30th to what was probably going to be a fifth or fourth before crashing again. It’s got to be a bit disheartening for ET3 to have ridden this well to start the season and gone 4-2-1-9, being almost 20 points down to Lawrence already.
We’re heading into ET’s “home” track this weekend; it should be a great battle between him and Jett, right? Looking forward to it, and for Eli, he’s got to cut out the mistakes because he’s not racing a man; he’s racing a machine. Like what I used to say about Ryan Dungey in his 450MX days: the dude just did everything right.
Aaron Plessinger’s had two moto wins at Hangtown ripped from his hands the last two years. He was on the Pulpmx Show saying that he’s not sure why Hangtown is so good for him either, but he’ll take it. He went to a crossbar on his bike this week, but just because of looks, not because of any advantage. He seemed stoked on that in typical AP fashion. Second in points for Plessinger, and he’s been really good to start the year for the orange crew. After losing Chase Sexton until Redbud due to being “banged up,” it definitely has to help KTM to have AP doing this well.
Justin Cooper rode well to take the last spot on the podium, and I do think that although it’s been only four motos and things could change as we head east, when you look at the top five in points/quality of riders, it’s Jett, AP, Tomac, Cooper, Hunter Lawrence (22 back of Jett), and then a gap of 14 points back to Jason Anderson. I’ll give you that Jorge Prado could get better here, but this seems like a cutline for the class, yeah? Top five and then everyone else mixing it up here and there.
Speaking of Prado, he’s four motos in and saying in interviews that he needs a faster motor. He’s a great starter, but so far, he hasn’t gotten one start even close yet, but in Pala, it’s because HE DIDN’T RUN THE SCOOP TIRE. This week he did run it, and in the second moto, he finished fifth. In the first moto, the heat got to him, and he lost a lot of spots late in the moto.
This might be my “IDK man” next week on the show. He rode the bike before he signed, raced two supercross races got hurt, and he’s four motos into his 450MX season, and he’s openly saying he needs a faster motor? He got beat by over a minute in Pala, and with that fifth, he was almost 20 seconds behind fourth. Like, I think there are other “things” to work on at the moment than the motor? Jorge seems like a good dude, but I gotta call it like I see it.
Deegs won again, and his toughest fight to another 1-1 was, checks notes, Casey Cochrane and Lance Kobusch? Yeah, so anyway, with him being in great shape, on a great bike, and the defending champion, this one was going to be predictable for many of us to figure out, and yup, it was. He got “ok” starts and then worked his way up through the pack.
I mean, a perfect season has never been done in 125/250MX before (Mark Barnett came the closest in 1981), so if you’re Deegan, you’ve got to be thinking about that, right? He’s got everything he needs right now to do that, and the one thing in past outdoors that has hurt him a bit—bad starts—doesn’t seem to be there. What could happen to Deegs to lose a moto?
1- He could crash, so there’s that. But it has to be a bad crash. Like, really bad.
2- Duffe (his mechanic) could maybe leave his seat loose or something. But Duffe is a great mechanic, so I don’t know if that’s going to happen.
3- He could miss the start because he’s doing doughnuts in an R8. There’s some precedence for this.
4- Too many photos with fans, and he misses the gate drop? But if this didn’t happen to Pastrana, it’s not happening with Deegs.
So yeah, man, I don’t know. #SummerofDeegs
A great question we had on the Pulpmx Show was who wins more overalls this year, Deegs or Jett? Most went with Deegs because he doesn’t have someone like Eli Tomac to deal with, but me, myself, I’ll go with Jett. Either way, they’re both gonna rack up some big bonuses.
Unlike other years, I think the MXDN is going to be easy and convenient enough for Deegs to attend this year since it’s in the USA, so I look forward to him being on the team. Should be a great USA team of him, ET, and maybe Sexton? Two of the three are switching teams, but I bet everyone could make it work long enough for that race.
If you’re Levi Kitchen, Tom Vialle, or Chance Hymas, you came into the season hoping to battle Deegs for the title, right? Those three might have been 95 percent of pundits' picks to maybe win this thing. Well, all three have already DNF’d a moto, and we’re just four in! Crazy, right? So as of now, Kitchen and Vialle are 48 points down (!!), and Hymas is 55 down!!! Life comes at you quick, huh?
Related: Deegan is Rolling as Several Other 250 Title Contenders Struggle Early in 2025 Pro Motocross
Where have you gone, Jo Shimoda? A lonely nation turns its eyes to you…Shimoda has been the surprise to start the year in either class, I’d say. 2-2-2-2-2 to start the year in the quietest way a guy can go 2-2-2-2, right? We had Jo’s team manager, Lars Lindstrom, on the Pulpmx Show, and he said that it’s crazy that Jo never seems to get tired. He never looks like he’s winded or whatever after a moto.
Nice rebound for “Kitch” with the 3-3. He needed that for sure, and I was shifting through my desk drawer for the panic button after Pala and then the 16th best qualifying time, but I closed the drawer for now after Hangtown motos.
I checked in with Levi about his bike changes after that 16th, and he told me that he “felt good” in qualifying and was pissed about the 16th. So, no bike changes, just him being better in the motos, as he did the same time in the first moto as he did in qualifying, which is definitely a little more sendy.
Casey Cochran led the first moto for a bit before dropping back, and this was after qualifying really well again—second year in a row for him to do that. The 12-12 on paper doesn’t look awesome, but he showed speed in just his second race of 2025. He’s looking for a ride next year, but as we all know, “we can work with speed,” so Casey should get something good if he keeps up the flashes of brilliance.
After a tough first round, the Triumph guys were pretty triumphant in Hangtown! Well, okay, maybe that’s a bit much, but through some fortunate moto scores, Jordon Smith 6th OA and Mikkel Haarup 7th OA is good. Austin Forkner? Still not so much.
I hear next year that the Husky brand will go to off-road only, and we’ll have SX/MX KTM and Gas Gas teams, and that Ryder DeFrancesco is going to stay along with RJ Hampshire and Malcolm Stewart.
Thanks for reading OBS from Hangtown, well, the couch. Email me at matthes@racerxonline.com if you want to chat about this or anything else. We’re onto Lakewood MX, which has been underrated for so long; it’s now properly rated.
