250 Title Math

Jo Shimoda did himself a solid last week by going 1-1, which kept him in the championship hunt all the way to the final race of the season. His chances of getting his hands on the actual title are pretty bleak, however, as Haiden Deegan holds a 43-point advantage over him. As long as Deegan doesn’t give up more than 18 points to Shimoda in the first moto, the title is his. In other words, if Deegan finishes fifteenth or better, he’ll wrap things up with a moto to spare. If he somehow crashes out or has a mechanical DNF in the first moto and scores no points, and assuming Shimoda wins, Deegan will still hold an 18-point lead, which means a 15th or better in the second moto would still be good enough to clinch, no matter what. -Hansel

Deegan – Free of Charge

If you read the entry above, you know the chances of Deegan wrapping up the championship in the first moto are pretty good. After all, when’s the last time you saw Deegan finish outside of the top 15? If he gets it done in the first moto, which he almost certainly will, the interesting part will be seeing what he does in the second moto when the pressure is off and he no longer has a championship to manage. Will he let loose and go on a rampage? -Hansel 

Impressive Debut

Caden Dudney made his pro debut last week at Unadilla and all we can say is, holy smokes! Dudney was beyond impressive in his first race as a pro. He was seventh in the first moto and was running fifth deep into the second moto until he had a small tip-over and eventually finished thirteenth for 11th overall. If Dudney was that good in his debut, how good will he be this weekend at Budds Creek? -Hansel 

Fast Qualifier

Drew Adams has improved steadily over the summer, and he was especially good in qualifying at Unadilla. In fact, he was fastest in the 250 Class! He struggled a bit in the motos later in the day on a track that had changed quite a bit, going 18-12 for 15th overall, but that doesn’t make his qualifying time any less impressive. If he’s fast again early on at Budds Creek, can he keep it going in the motos this time? -Hansel 

SMX Points

For those at the top SMX points are pretty much wrapped up, further back riders may shuffle a position or two, but it is Coty Schock who sits 21^st, just out of a seeded position that has the most to gain. He is eight points behind Valentin Guillod, eleven behind Mitchell Harrison and twenty-three behind Justin Hill who is not doing outdoors this year. If Coty can have a good race at Budds, can he avoid the LCQ (or wild card race) at SMX? -Sarah Whitmore

WMX

WMX lines up again this weekend for two motos on Friday and then one moto (to make up for the one that got cancelled at Thunder Valley) on Saturday. WMX has been a big hit with the fans in it's return, and it helps that riders like Lala Turner and Charli Cannon are having some amazing battles. At Unadilla they made multiple last lap passes back and forth. Will we see more action from this duo at Budds Creek? -Whitmore

View the weekend WMX schedule in this finale preview.

Podium Pursuit

It seems funny after he won multiple supercross races this year, but Seth Hammaker has yet to finish on the overall podium (he does have moto podiums) in AMA Pro Motocross. This is Seth’s last chance to make it happen in 2025, can he get good starts and be consistent for both motos this weekend to make it happen? -Whitmore