Looking ahead to next Saturday, we know who is racing in the 450 division and who is not—Jett Lawrence is at the top of that list. What we do not know is much about the 250SX West Division opener, as several teams have not signed up nor announced which coast their riders are participating on just yet. What we do know is that Red Bull KTM won’t have anyone out there, as their lone 250 rider on the factory team, Julien Beaumer, is out for the SX season following his crash at the first SMX Playoff round in September. But we can also assume that #1 Haiden Deegan will defend his title, and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammates will likely be Max Anstie, according to Max himself in a recent interview, and Michael Mosiman (who hinted toward this in a recent Instagram video). As always, Mitch Payton has not committed which two of his four guys—Levi Kitchen, Cameron McAdoo, Seth Hammaker, and Drew Adams—will be racing next Saturday night. We expect to see both Chance Hymas (Honda HRC Progressive) and Ryder DiFrancesco (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) race A1. Jo Shimoda is out with injury for the immediate future but Hymas said he will be racing West this year after several years of 250SX East. DiFrancesco’s plan is to race West while Casey Cochran and new their newest teammate, Daxton Bennick, plan to race 250SX East.

This annual guessing game gets frustrating for most fans, myself included, but I also get the strategy of having every rider get ready and see who is healthy when the time comes to commit, which is something I believe the AMA should look into defining with a solid preseason date, even something as close as seven days out. Some teams have committed, including ClubMX Yamaha (Max Vohland and Hunter Yoder) and others we know are racing West due to being West-Coast based (Toyota Redlands BarX Yamaha, AEO Powersports KTM), but not everyone. Our senior online content manager Mitch Kendra did a post right before Christmas to note which riders we expect to see race which division. Check that out if you missed it!

Another question is the weather. If you’re a college football fan, you may have noticed how it was raining at the Rose Bowl yesterday, and while it stopped for the Indiana vs. Alabama game, it was still on a very soggy field. Southern California has been getting hammered by rain, but it looks like it will be done by next Tuesday. In speaking with some of the gang at Feld Motor Sports yesterday during the game, I know the dirt base is already in at Angel Stadium and is covered by tarp, and they are hoping that they get a dry window beginning on Monday to build out and then recover the track in case the rain starts up again.

Needless to say, we will have updates all week long from the Big A regarding the weather, the riders and teams, track conditions, and more. It’s going to be a busy week as we will be seeing the introduction of the new Troy Lee Designs Red Bull Ducati Factory Racing Team, a Fox Racing get-together, the annual preseason press conference on Friday, plus the AIME Motorcycle Trade Show at the nearby Anaheim Convention Center. And remember, qualifying starts early on Saturday, as the actual night program will start at 4:00 p.m. local time, which means 7:00 p.m. ET. All of the SX races will start at 7 p.m. Eastern this year, except for the ones with a live NBC airing—those will start at 3 p.m. Eastern.

View the full 2026 SX broadcast schedule

The end of each year means our annual New Year’s Eve requiem, The Lives They Lived, which went up earlier this week. It’s where we remember some of the moto folks we lost in the previous lap around the sun. Every death is sad, and some are downright tragic. In case you missed it, here is The Lives They Lived 2025.

Unfortunately, in this past week, there was also the passing of a couple of old friends from Canada, former professional SX/MX rider Jason Frenette and longtime mechanic/team semi-hauler driver Brad Lockhart. We don’t have the details of the passing of either, but we do know that there was a time when everyone called the very funny Frenette “the people’s champion,” as he privateered it around the U.S., earning three top-100 numbers along the way, often with Steve Matthes as his mechanic. And Lockhart was the younger brother of Ryan “Newf” Lockhart. He loved being at and around the races. Both deaths were something of a shock to the extended Canadian motocross family. Chris Pomeroy of MXP wrote about both in this column from earlier in the week.

One thing to add about Frenette. Just before Christmas, Matthes contacted me looking to ID a cool Chris Hultner photo from the 1988 World Mini GP of a Kawasaki rider with “Attack” on the back of his MSR gear and #27 on his bike. He thought it was either Brian Swink or maybe Joel Albrecht, but it turned out to be Jeff Dement. But while trying to help locate the rider’s ID, I went into the Cycle News archives for the ’88 race and found a photo of the participants in the Kawasaki Race of Champions, which pitted the best minicycle racers in the world on identical KX80 minicycles (and before that, it was the Yamaha Race of Champions). The first rider on the left side of the photo? Jason Frenette. Neither of us had any idea that Frenette was fast enough as a kid in Canada to get an invite to the KROC…

Racer X reader Boris O'Bannon added this remembrance for Marlyn Klunder, who was a nationally ranked flat tracker who turned to promotions when his racing days were over. He promoted several disciplines in Minnesota, all sponsored by Schmidt Beer. North Star Speedway hosted motocross and half-mile racing under the lights in the early '70s. Tommy Benolkin was blazing fast on his “home” track, sometimes borrowing motorcycles to win multiple classes. Marlyn also brought the exotic speedway bikes to Midway Stadium in Saint Paul.

The Klunder-promoted events that people still talk about decades later are the short track races at the Armory in downtown Minneapolis. It was widely believed that Coke syrup was used on the concrete, but this is an urban myth. Marlyn started a bike show in St. Paul, which turned into the nationally known Donnie Smith Bike Show. He also owned the Wall of Death for a while.

Marlyn was in his 90s when he passed away in August.

And our social media friend Josh Gagnon (@AlwaysBelieve331) has his annual countdown up and running; here are this week's entries, as Anaheim is now 15 days away. Look for Josh's page on Instagram and give him a follow...

MXGP: The Upside Down (DC)

The usually quiet New Year's Day turned out to be a very strange one over in Europe. Sure, everyone knew the two big team changes were coming for the two biggest stars of MXGP in Jeffrey Herlings and Tim Gajser, a pair of five-time FIM World Champions with more than 160 combined Grand Prix wins and very, very long tenures with their respective teams—16 years at KTM for Herlings and over a full decade at Honda for Gajser. It was only announced now because contracts run differently in MXGP compared to the AMA, where most contracts are up in October. The MXGP season does not begin until March of each year, so the contracts over there run to December 31 for the most part. Tom Vialle’s AMA contract with Red Bull KTM ended as soon as the ’25 season was over, which is why he was on his HRC Honda in November. Also, Herlings has been wearing Alpinestars forever, longer than anyone ever has in motocross. So, it was weird to wake up on January 1, 2026, and see The Bullet in red Honda gear made by Fox Racing (with a Bell helmet). And then at almost the exact same time there's Tiga in Yamaha blue, but not wearing Fox gear after who knows how long? And Herlings without a Red Bull logo anywhere? He’s been a Red Bull athlete forever, but it looks like that may also be over. The only things that didn't seem to change overnight were their very familiar trademark numbers, #84 and #243.

The last time Herlings was on anything other than orange was the Suzuki RM80 he raced as a kid—with Ken Roczen as his teammate! The last time we saw Gajser on anything but red was 2013 when he rode a KTM as an MX2 rookie.

"Obviously this is a big change for me, but honestly, I am so excited to join Honda HRC and ride a CRF450R,” said Herlings in the New Year’s Day press release. “Having been around the paddock for a long time, you get to see how different teams and people operate, so once I found out that they were interested in signing me, it wasn’t a hard decision to make because I knew that I’d be joining an extremely professional and organized operation that does everything it can to help a rider succeed. From today to the MXGP of Argentina is just over two months, so I don’t have a lot of time to adapt to this brand-new machine, but we are going riding right now, and I’m like a kid at Christmas, just waiting to unwrap a new toy. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be in this position, but now that I am, I can’t wait to get started as a factory HRC rider."

"I’m really excited to join the Yamaha family,” said Gajser in his Yamaha team’s PR. “After more than a decade with the same brand, it's exciting to be entering a new chapter in 2026, and a change like this brings fresh motivation. I can't wait to get on the new bike! My first priority will be getting comfortable with it as quickly as possible. Not being able to ride until the new year gives us limited time to prepare—but honestly, I’m looking forward to the challenge. Once the season begins, the most important thing is to stay healthy, be in good shape, and enjoy the racing. I'm ready to give it my all and hope we can fight for the title.”

Of course, both will be chasing after the actual FIM Motocross World Champion, Kawasaki’s Romain Febvre, as well as KTM’s impressive teenager Lucas Coenen, the 1-2 riders in 2025.

Honoring Sheriff Chris Davis (DC)

We would like to congratulate Sheriff Chris Davis, named 2025's Tennessean of the Year. Sheriff Davis has been a huge supporter of the Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn Ranch from the very beginning. Davis was actually a caution flagger for a few years as he was growing up in Humphreys County before joining the Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office as a dispatcher and jailer in 1986. In recent years, he has led the community through two separate catastrophes, first the flood in 2021 and the munitions plant explosion of last year. And he's been a steadfast supporter of the races, as well as all of the racing families that travel to Loretta Lynn's Ranch every summer. Read more on Sheriff Chris Davis here. 

One Single Photo (DC)

High Point Raceway on New Year’s Day 2026, shot by Melissa Holbert.

Hey, Watch It!

HRC Off Season SX Testing: Trey Canard and Chance Hymas

HAPPY HOLIDAY GRIND | YES CHEF Levi Kitchen

Who are the favorites in the 250 Class for 2026?! Cole Seely joins for the Supercross Preview Show

Carson Brown Visits Pastranaland for the Backyard Tour

SMX with Hunter Lawrence 
Watch the full conversation between champion James Stewart and current SuperMotocross star Hunter Lawrence! In this exclusive 13+ minute interview, Hunter shares insights on the upcoming season, his mindset, and what fans can expect. If you loved the season preview, don’t miss this extended version packed with behind-the-scenes stories and expert analysis.

Day One - Jeffrey Herlings

Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week 

“Perfect Game, Perfect Nickname: The Rapid Rise of Drake 'Drake Maye' Maye”—Wall Street Journal

"Photos show $40 million motorcycle collection tied to Ryan Wedding, Olympic athlete-turned-alleged-drug-kingpin"—CBS News

“$400,000 worth of live lobsters stolen from shipping facility in Massachusetts”—WGAL

“Parents Are Going Broke From Their Kids’ Sushi Obsession”—Wall Street Journal

Random Notes

Ohio privateer Cade Clason at the Browns vs Steelers week 17 game at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, Ohio, where the Monster Energy AMA Supercross will race in late April in the series' return to Cleveland for the first time in three decades.

Here’s Justin Hill’s bike in the lobby of his team owners Matt and Christine Tedder (and that’s Christine doing some part-time modeling!)

Congrats to former pro and regular contributor Willy Browning for his new role with the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) as the Motocross Manager, where he will lead the lead the AMA amateur motocross program.

VIP tickets are now on sale for the 2026 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations in Ernée.

A lot of passionate, creative people work to make Racer X the best it can be, but our biggest source of inspiration is, quite simply, you! All of us at Racer X would really appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to complete our Readers' Choice survey. The better we know our readers and audience, the better we can make everything we do. For completing the survey, you'll receive a free 3-month digital subscription to Racer X Illustrated! Oh, and you'll also be entered to win a NIU XQi3 WILD bike, a VP Racing Fuels prize pack, a Bob the Cooler 75qt hard cooler, 5 Bob the Cooler 40oz tumblers, 3 Renthal control kits (bars, bar pads, grips), a Risk Racing starting gate, and a SHOEI VFX-EVO Sparkle helmet and bag! Winners will be announced on February 2nd. (Subscription confirmations will be sent after the survey is finished.)

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Happy New Year! Thanks for reading Racerhead! See you at the races.