Aaron Plessinger’s 2025 SMX season got off to a rocky start. A ninth at the Monster Energy AMA season opener was followed by two straight DNFs in California, then finishes of 9-8-9-7 before he finally got on the podium at the Daytona SX the first Saturday in March. In 2024, Plessinger had the 450SX points lead (80 points with one win) after the first four races. This year, he was sitting 15th with just 26 total points after four rounds. Plessinger would knock off four more podiums in SX—including a win in the Foxborough SX mudder—before finishing sixth in the 450SX standings.
The #7 would record overall finishes of 4-2-3-4-7 to start the AMA Pro Motocross Championship (and narrowly miss out on his maiden 450 Pro Motocross overall win at Hangtown) before things started to unravel at the RedBud National. Plessinger was sixth in moto one but would pull off from the second moto after feeling ill. The following weekend in Minnesota, Plessinger would suffer a DNF in the first moto again, then sit out the second moto. That would be his final race of the entire calendar year, as said illness would force him to miss the SMX Playoffs and shift his focus onto next year.
Plessinger talked to Cudby about the illness.
“So, the illness from outdoors, not really diagnosed, but overall, I think, my body was just kind of drained,” Plessinger said. “My adrenals were drained. My cortisol level was at an all-time low. Blood sugar was all over the map. And as I've taken time off, I've got them checked over and over again, and they're on the right track. Maybe one or two are out of place still. But overall, the way I'm feeling right now is a lot better than I've felt in a long, long time.”
“So, I think I was just trying to be a hard head and just carry on when I should have been resting a little bit,” he said on the cause. “So, yeah, but as I'm feeling right now, I'm feeling 100 percent. I've gotten four days on the bike, and I've actually surprised myself with how many laps I can do. And, yeah, all I gotta do is breathe and I'll be a little bit better. [Laughs] But the arm pump is real. Yeah, so, as far as sickness goes, I think I'm back. We're back, baby. We're back on the bike and we start boot camp next week, so I'm ready for it.”
The always-excited Plessinger could not hold back smiles when asked about his new teammates.
“Yeah, so my teammate lineup, I think is one to remember for sure,” he said, “because, I mean, I've been teammates… I'm going to try to name them all. We'll see. I mean, [Justin] Barcia, Marvin Musquin, Cooper Webb, Antonio Cairoli, Ryan Dungey, Chase Sexton, and now Eli Tomac and Jorge Prado. [Laughs] Like, I'm not sure many people can say, they've been teammates with such, like, big names over their career. I don't know, that might just be me.”
“But I definitely think about it because that's cool,” he continued. “Like, I'm still a fan of the sport, so I definitely think that that stuff is really, really cool. And yeah, I think, I think we do feed off of each other especially me and Coop did for sure. Chase was kind of in his zone, on the race days, which no blame, that's just how he how he works, how he operates. So, yeah, I definitely think me and my teammates kind of kind of play off of each other. And it'll be interesting to see how this year shapes up. But I definitely think it's going to be a really, really good year. I think as a whole, we're going to learn a lot from these guys. And yeah, I think it's going to be it's going to be a damn good year.” [Laughs]
As far as ramping up for the new season, Plessinger has not spent a ton of time around his new teammates just yet.
“I just got out here, what was it two days ago,” he said, “so, I haven't really spent much time around these boys just yet. But I'm sure as we get testing, as we get riding together I'm sure stuff will come up that that hasn't came up before. And I'll be like, ‘Oh, dude, why didn't I think of that?’ Like just easy stuff. But I also think there will be more intricate questions or things to test with the bike that I'll be like, ‘Wow, like, this is great. This is great to see happening.’ But yeah, like I said, I think in that in that aspect, I think we're gonna learn a lot and we're going to grow as a team. And I don't know why, but I have a really, really good feeling about this year. And I think it's going to be really awesome. And I think we're going to get along great. And yeah, it's gonna be great. I just have a good feeling about it.” [Laughs]
Watch Cudby's full video with Plessinger , Eli Tomac, Jorge Prado, and Julien Beaumer below.
