Welcome to Racerhead and Happy Halloween! It’s the last day of October, and after a couple of mostly quiet weeks in the SMX world, things are starting to pick up speed. Some team announcements are coming up, including Red Bull KTM on Tuesday morning at their HQ in Murrieta, California, and a chance to see what #3 looks like on an orange bike. KTM was decimated toward the end of 2025, with Chase Sexton and Tom Vialle both on their way out the door, Aaron Plessinger sick, and Julien Beaumer injured, to the point where they don't seem to have a 250 rider yet for Monster Energy AMA Supercross. And, of course, we will probably get to see the new #26 there—that's the number Jorge Prado earned in 2025, and has to wear in '26.
World Supercross is a week away, with its kickoff set for Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then the following week in Vancouver, Canada. The first race will mark the international debut of Haiden Deegan, as well as his professional debut on a 450, and the second will mark Tomac's first race on a KTM since he was a 65cc rider back in the early '00s. Deegan's Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate, Justin Cooper, is doing each of the first two rounds, but Deegan himself is also doing the third round in Australia, though not the second in Canada. They are all three listed as Wild Card riders, which means they are doing selected rounds, but not the whole series.
Among the riders who are doing the whole five-race WSX series in SX1 are Ken Roczen, who has been a regular since this new version of FIM WSX began, and his new Pipes Motorsport Group Suzuki teammate, Jason Anderson, as well as Quad Lock Honda's Joey Savatgy and Christian Craig, Venum Bud Racing Kawasaki's Justin Hill, and the electric Stark Varg lineup of Vince Friese and Jorge Zaragoza. The SX2 class includes Shane McElrath, Max Anstie, Kyle Peters, Coty Schock, and more.
As far as any free agents left out there, eagle-eyed readers spotted a social shot of Ty Masterpool sitting on a Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing YZ250F at the GOAT Farm (now Star's practice facility). Stay tuned on that as well.
Back to Deegan and Star Racing. The 250 side of the team is contracted to THOR for gear, while the 450 riders get to make their own deals. As a result, #1 Cooper Webb wears Fly Racing now, and #32 Justin Cooper wears O'Neal. With Deegan planning to ride a 250 in SX and a 450 outdoors next summer, he was in a gray area regarding whether or not he could make a gear deal that was different from the rest of the 250 team. So the team did what Kawasaki did years ago with both Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart when they were in the 125 class, which was to move them out from under their partner Mitch Payton's tent (Carmichael in '99, Stewart in '02-'04) and put them under the factory team tent instead. As a result, both were able to sign with Fox Racing, rather than wear what the Pro Circuit riders were wearing. Well, Deegan will now be under the same 450 tent with Webb and Cooper, whether he's on a 250 or a 450, and like Ricky and James before him, Haiden will be wearing Fox Racing, head to toe, for at least the next three years.
The Troy Lee Designs/Ducati program is coming together, though with at least one surprise: Ducati is very tight with Monster Energy in Europe with their MotoGP programs, as well as Antonio Cairoli on the development of the MX bike. But Troy Lee's time with Red Bull goes back even further, and it will continue with the U.S. SMX team he's pulling together. They will announce their two riders in the coming days, almost certainly Justin Barcia and Dylan Ferrandis.
Another brand in the process of developing its U.S. program is Triumph Factory Racing, which has had a strong start in the 250 class and will field a 450 rider for the first time next summer. Danish import Mikkel Haarup, who rode well all summer long in a last-minute move to America, was rewarded with the 450 ride for next summer's AMA Pro Motocross Championship, though not for Monster Energy AMA Supercross. For that, it sounds like the team may be calling up Jordon Smith from the 250 class. He's already in the history books as the first winner for Triumph in America when he won the Glendale SX last winter.
For more on one of these changes, here’s JT…
Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)
This week we received the inevitable press release announcing Eli Tomac’s run with Yamaha is coming to an end. It has been a good five-year run with two titles that really should have been three, minus an Achilles injury. His next move will be to an orange bike. The questions for me will be around adjusting to a very different motorcycle. Is it competitive? Of course. Is it different from anything he’s ridden? Also, yes. Ask any factory racer about switching to an Austrian bike after years of riding a Japanese model, and they’ll tell you it’s not necessarily better or worse, but it is different. Different frame metallurgy, hydraulic clutch (maybe not), WP suspension versus Japanese (KYB or Showa), and different staffing to adjust all of the above. Tomac is also a rider who wants a fire-breathing monster underneath him. The Yamaha has power to burn, and he wanted all of it. Can KTM turn up the juice to match? Can Tomac find “comfort” when the track conditions go sideways? Not having any prior data to work from can be challenging in this aspect. Every nuance will be a learning curve. If things are going well, it won’t seem like a big deal. It’s when things get hard that these new dynamics feel insurmountable. Eli’s skill is never in doubt. But as he’s gotten older, he needs things to be in a very specific window to tap into the magic. When everything is new and different, will it be easy to navigate the optimal window? Time will tell.
Change is always unpredictable. It can be a breath of fresh air or a frustrating chase of the tail. It will be interesting to see how Eli adapts to arguably the biggest change of his career.
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Align Media
Off-Season (Matthes)
The off-season is here and there’s not much going on, but next week we'll see the first photos of Chase Sexton and Garrett Marchbanks on their Kawasakis, Tomac and Prado on their KTMs, and Deegan going Fox head to toe, so just calm down until then, people. We're coming into some interesting times here with the Paris Supercross coming up, AUSX Open, and the WSX kicking off. I've been trying to get someone from WSX to talk to me about the series, but schedules aren't quite lining up right now. I do wonder, though, when it comes to fans reading this, are you guys more entertained by WSX? Do you care about the racing? Because up until now, I'm not sure the average U.S. SX fan has cared all that much about the racing/results the WSX guys have had. I've been to a couple of the events, and they're fun; the racing has been good, and fans have shown up, but in my sense of interest, in terms of social comments, DMs, and discussions on my various shows about WSX, I don't see a lot of focus on the actual competition.
More racing is a good thing, though, and more riders making money is always fine with me. Guys like McElrath and Savatgy have profited well by doing these races. But I'm thinking that after 31 SMX races that are intensely followed by the fans here, maybe the fans themselves need a bit of a break to ramp up to Anaheim 1? I dunno, man, just a thought.
We had AMA HOF member Chad Reed on the PulpMX Show, along with Eric Peronnard of the Paris SX, and as always, it was interesting to get their perspectives on the sport. We also did an Energy Drink Shootout with Lewis Phillips and Kellen Brauer, and let me just say that no one saw BANG Energy Cotton Candy coming. It’s the Cole Davies of energy drinks! You'll have to listen or watch for yourselves over on Pulpmxshow.com.
I talked to Brian Barnhart about getting off the road after almost thirty years of driving semi-trucks for Kawasaki, KTM, and Team Chaparral HERE.
75-Day/Jersey Countdown to Anaheim 1 (DC)
Our friend Josh Gagnon has been a prolific jersey collector for some time. As a way to share them on his social (@alwaysbelieve331 on Instagram), he does an annual jersey countdown to the Anaheim 1 opener, which takes place on January 10, 2026. This year, Josh decided to begin the countdown at 75 days, starting this past Monday. Here are the jerseys he has posted so far in his 75-Day Countdown to Anaheim...
GNCC Finale (DC)
The 50th season of the Progressive AMA Grand National Cross Country Series came to a conclusion with the Ironman GNCC, the 13th and final round of the series. It was also once again the biggest, as a record 2,881 entries made up of all the motorcycle and ATV classes. And for the eighth time this season, there was a different winner as Indiana's own Mike Witkowski of the Phoenix Racing Honda team notched his first ever overall win. And it was no easy day, either. First, Witkowski hit a spectator who ran across the track in front of him on the first lap, an unfortunate reminder of the “mud fleas” pioneers who used to line the riverbanks at the Blackwater 100 to try to help the riders up the banks, and later on Howard’s Hole at Snowshoe. Witkowski was fine, but he ended up in the ambulance with an injured leg. Then he had to spend nearly three hours battling with both the XC1 (450) and XC2 (250) contenders, winning by just 13 seconds in elapsed time over XC2 winner Cody Barnes, who happens to be his teammate. In winning, Witkowski became the first 450 rider to win an overall in the last seven rounds. Altogether, seven races were won by 250 riders, an all-time record in the four-stroke era.
However, the 2025 GNCC overall championship went to FMF KTM Factory rider Ben Kelley, who finished tenth on the day at Ironman but had a nice cushion to work with. This marked the second career title for Kelley, who last won in 2021.
Some quick Win Ad news: For his championship, Kelley landed on the front cover of this week's Cycle News, and KTM featured him in a championship win ad. Kelley also shared an FMF ad with Korie Steede for her WMX GNCC Championship, and Husqvarna, in turn, hooked her up with a championship spread.
With his win, Witkowski joins these previous GNCC winners from 2025: XC2 champion Grant Davis (4), Ben Kelley (2), Stew Baylor (2), Nick Defeo, Johnny Girroir, Josh Toth, and Kailub Russell.
Hall of Fame Nights (Mitch Kendra)
I did not get to whip this together last week, but it was an awesome night at the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Class of 2025 induction ceremony on October 23. This was my third time attending the induction event, as I first covered James Stewart’s induction in 2022, then the SX/MX-stacked class of 2023 (Ryan Dungey, Grant Langston, Travis Pastrana, plus GNCC Racing legend Barry Hawk and MX Sports’ Rita Coombs), and now this Class of 2025, highlighted by Chad Reed. These Hall of Fame induction nights are just special. Truly. Family, friends, and colleagues from different times, teams, brands, companies, and locations across the country—you name it—all gather to celebrate the inductee for their hard work and passion that led them to be among the all-time greats. Each new inductee’s dedication to two wheels from a young age turned them into lifelong legends, now cemented in the sport’s history. They not only helped shape the progression of the sport of motorcycling to what it is today, but they are also inspiring the next generations for years to come.
The room is filled with smiles, hugs, and laughs as countless memories, both good and bad, are recalled. As a member of the media, it’s cool to be a fly on the wall, especially in these kinds of moments. Learning about both the new inductees and the longtime HoF members is simply amazing. To me, that’s what makes this night extra special. I became interested in journalism in high school because everyone has a different story to tell, and I wanted to help tell those stories. On a night like the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame induction night, I learned not only a lot about Reed but also about the other inductees as well. Colin Edwards, who was inducted for his career in road racing, said he was next in line behind Damon Bradshaw as an amateur Yamaha moto kid. One day, as a teenager, he switched from moto to road racing, and the rest is history! Chris Carter, who founded the Motion Pro company of tools we all use, said he was watching On Any Sunday and eventually was racing with one of the film’s legends.
Carter got emotional in his speech when he said, ‘I didn't think a few years later I'd be riding the [International] Six Days with my hero, Malcolm Smith!’
Side note: not only is that Bruce Brown film extremely well done, but it might possibly go down as the single biggest influencer the sport of motorcycling will ever have. Often, the generation that grew up when that film first came out gets into motorcycles as a result, then passes their passion and love for the film down to the next generation and so on, my own dad included, and DC’s as well.
So, not only learning about Reed’s career but also learning about Edwards, Carter, Dana Bell, Joe Kopp, and Ryan Young’s careers as well was very interesting. The amount of knowledge, passion, and success these individuals all put into their craft was inspiring.
And while the night is all about the inductees, on a personal note, it is damn cool to be able to cover an event like this. From growing up watching Stewart, Dungey, and Reed on TV at home to being able to cover their induction into the Hall of Fame is something special and something I do not take for granted. On Friday morning after the ceremony, I went back to the Hall of Fame to have lunch and knock out some work for Racer X Online. On one of the TVs, the ESPN 30 for 30 “Motorcycle Mary” about late Hall of Famer Mary McGee was playing in the background in the basement. Needless to say, I got caught up watching several different parts of it as it replayed over and over that morning.
As McGee said so well at the end of her film, ‘Anybody can win. Anybody can win, really. It’s no shame even if you come in last. I think, to me, you’re participating in life. That’s what I think. I think you’re a participant in life.’
Congrats to the entire Class of 2025.
Related: Chad Reed on Supercross: “My passion for it. Like, that never went away”
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TM (Keefer)
A 300 four-stroke motocross bike isn't very common here in the United States, but I had the pleasure of swinging a leg over TM's 300Fi machine at Glen Helen this week and came away impressed. Sure, it doesn't have all the torque you would want from a "big bore" type machine, but it does rev out well for a 300 four-stroke. The TM 300 has a unique centered-style fuel tank located under the seat, which gives the bike a different feel than other brands I have ridden. Getting the weight centered and low to the ground is important in the world of motocross, so having the fuel tank centered in the bike allows for an easy-to-maneuver side-to-side feel on the track. For around $12,000, it’s not going to be a high priority for the average American motocross consumer, but if you’re looking for something different and fun to ride, a new TM 300Fi could be a nice option. Learn more about the bike as Simon Cudby and I take you around the hills of Glen Helen here:
New Racer X Magazine (DC)
The December issue of Racer X Magazine dropped this week with Hunter Lawrence on the cover after his dominant day at the 2025 FIM Motocross of Nations, where he went 1-1 and led Team Australia to its second straight win. His little brother Jett, and Kyle Webster, obviously contributed too, but it was Hunter on top of the world for once, not Jett!
The issue contains coverage of the MXoN at the Ironman, as well as the SuperMotocross World Championship finale, in which Jett, not Hunter, ended up on top, though the bulk of, “The Desperate Hours” feature is about Haiden Deegan and Jo Shimoda’s dramatic 250 brouhaha. There is also a feature on Jorge Prado with the telling title, “Season in Hell,” which is self-explanatory. And our man in Europe, Adam Wheeler, sat down with the very fast Coenen brothers, Lucas and Sacha, for his feature, “The Brothers Coenen.” Look for it in the mail, on newsstands, at your local bike shop, or subscribe right now online and get a free pair of our Pro Motocross-inspired PSD underwear:
Racer X Illustrated Motocross Magazine
The December 2025 Issue
Kailub Russell's finale opening lap: IRONMAN GNCC | GoPro |
Carson Brown's Fast-Lap Challenge at the 2025 Michelin Vurb Moto Classic:
NFL legend Marshawn Lynch, the OG Beast Mode, visits Pastrana Land:
Yamaha Star Racing’s Brent Duffe, Haiden Deegan’s mechanic, talks about the GOAT Farm:
Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week
"Lead From The Front – Ohio Lawmakers Have Proposed a Bill to Stop Humans From Marrying AI + Giving AI Legal Personhood"—Barstool Sports
“MTV'S 'RIDICULOUSNESS' CANCELED AFTER 14 YEARS”—TMZ
"Dairy Queen Blizzard Helped End Armed Standoff In Washington State"—The Smoking Gun
Random Notes
Thanks for reading Racerhead! See you at the races.
