The Budds Creek National is the finale for the 2025 AMA Pro Motocross Championship and the last stop before we kick off the third edition of the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) Playoffs. My favorite when I was racing, Budds Creek Motocross Park is a track that most riders like. That’s not a common thing as opinions vary widely on any given track. But, Budds Creek’s bright orange clay and fun elevation give it an edge over most. The one downside to Budds Creek is that it can be very one-lined. Most of the downhills funnel into one inside line and passing can be infuriating to attempt. Overall, though, the good outweighs the bad and most riders enjoy their time in southern Maryland.

The start is critically important for the above reason. Getting into good position on the first lap raises the chances of a good result by multiples. The emphasis on a good start stresses the importance on qualifying by default. It’s not imperative to be top five but it is critically important to be within the top 15 or so. Riders that get stuck outside the box are at a large disadvantage at Budds Creek. The hard left hand first turn doesn’t leave much room for riders to make the outside work. There’s no berm to pivot from out there and the simple math is that the outside gates must cover much more ground. Longer distance to the apex, longer corner distance, and nothing to really pivot from to carry more speed into the corner… tough setup for a bad gate pick.

Usually hot and humid, the weather seems to be cutting the field a break this weekend as highs will only be in the low 80’s. That could be a result of the passing of Hurricane Erin as she absorbs all of the available humidity sweeping along the eastern seaboard. Erin could bring heavy rains on and Thursday, though, if her path swings even a tiny bit to the west. As scary as that sounds, a lot of rain mid-week would leave the track absolutely epic by Saturday. The moisture would penetrate multiple layers of the soil and create deep, soft dirt that wouldn’t harden as quickly as Ironman and Unadilla did. Could we get a goldilocks scenario of plentiful rain mid-week with zero damage and a beautiful Saturday? It’s possible.