I could drill down on all that's going on with the 450 title chase, but the other guys will weigh in on that below. What I will say is that it really feels like we're in for quite the title run, as there is just so much seesawing going on with the top guys—Kenny is streaking, Hunter is still trying to bounce back, and what the heck is going on with Tomac? Add in the struggles of both defending champion Cooper Webb and former champion Chase Sexton, plus the recent rise of Justin Cooper, and even the mercurial Jorge Prado's continuing education in supercross, and we should be in for quite a stretch run. And then we get to see Jett Lawrence and Haiden Deegan join the class for the AMA Pro Motocross Championship, and this has all of the makings of an epic endgame. That's the 450 class; the 250 class is a much different story.

Has there ever been a season where a single brand—let alone a single team—dominated like Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing has in 2026? In the premier class, yes. In 1996, the King of Supercross, Jeremy McGrath, had the single most dominant SX season ever, winning the first 13 rounds in a row on his Honda CR250, then losing to Kawasaki's Jeff Emig in St. Louis. Jeremy then won the final round in Denver for a 14-for-15 season, which was one better than Ricky Carmichael's 14-for-16 season of 2001, when he clinched his first AMA Supercross Championship. However, in the 125/250 SX class, the Star boys are definitely within striking range of claiming the "best-ever" season. Between Haiden Deegan, Cole Davies, Max Anstie, and Pierce Brown, Star Yamaha has won 11 of the first 12 rounds so far (the only non-Yamaha win was Seth Hammaker’s Daytona SX win on Kawasaki). The next closest was Kawasaki in 2004, when James Stewart was riding a KX125 for the Kawasaki factory team in the East and Ivan Tedesco rode for the Pro Circuit Kawasaki team in the West aboard a KXF250. Each won seven times on their way to their respective titles. Stewart almost certainly would have had a perfect season if not for a concussion during practice at the Indianapolis round, which opened the door for Yamaha of Troy's Josh Hansen to get his first-ever win. Tedesco's only blemish came in San Francisco when Nathan Ramsey got a historic first-ever win for Honda's CRF250.

Weege will have more on the whole program below, but I wanted to give Haiden Deegan his props right here. He's done nothing but deliver so far in his 250 career, with the exception of last year's SMX Playoff run, which went sideways in St. Louis after his run-in with Levi Kitchen and then stayed sideways in the Las Vegas Finals when he pulled out all the stops in trying to claw back points on Jo Shimoda, who won St. Louis. This time back, it was Deegan who did the winning (and Jo's now unfortunately out with a fractured fibula). He added his second 250SX title to the two 250 MX titles and two SMX World Championships he already has. And while he will not reach James Stewart's all-time SX wins record of 18 in this class, he will have more 250 four-stroke SX wins than anyone. Throughout his 250 career—from his shaky start at the end of the 2022 season in the last couple of outdoor nationals through last weekend's early title-clinching ride—he's shown improvement every step of the way. When he does go to the starting gate to begin his full-time 450 career, I think it's safe to say he will be more than ready.

On a related note, going back to his losing that sixth straight win at the Birmingham SX due to a penalty, but still putting out "6-for-6" merch anyway, and now going one better with the St. Louis win, I found this riff on "7-for-7" from back in 1998 when Ricky Carmichael won all seven 125 SX East rounds to record the first perfect season* in SX history. It was RC's second full season as a professional, riding for SplitFire/Pro Circuit Kawasaki. He had lost the title as a rookie to Suzuki's Tim Ferry after a bunch of highlight-reel crashes, but by his sophomore season, he had figured it out in supercross. He would go on to add the East/West Shootout win in Las Vegas to make it 8-for-8, which I think we can all imagine is also on Deegan's very short list of things left to do in this division. He's got Denver in three weeks, which is the last stand-alone 250SX West round left, which would be his own unofficial 8-for-8, and then the Salt Lake City finale, which is an East/West Showdown.

(* It's also the only first one if you don't count Can-Am's Jimmy Ellis winning all four rounds of the nascent championship in 1975, but it was only four rounds total. Old-schoolers will argue that doesn't matter—he won them all!)

Some 2024 Nashville SX throwback photos by Mitch Kendra.

Star Yamaha’s Takeover (Jason Weigandt)

On Thursday, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing announced rookie Caden Dudney was coming off the SX road to focus on Pro Motocross prep, and Landen Gordon was getting called up to professional supercross for the next few weekends. I think Dudney has the talent, grit, and potential to be the team's next big thing, but these first few SX outings have been filled with crashes. We'll see how Gordon does. Have we ever seen a team give two up-and-comers a co-shot at supercross in the same year? Probably not, but Star thinks differently and pushes the envelope.

I spoke on this for this week's Wednesday Weege Show. Star was once a team we laughed at, usually signing kids to one-year deals and then letting them go when they didn't meet owner Bobby Regan's expectations. Teams like GEICO Honda and Kawasaki Team Green already had most of the top talents locked up, so there wasn't much for Star to get, anyway. They found two discarded gems in Jeremy Martin and Cooper Webb, though, and then Yamaha finally produced a modernized YZ250F with fuel injection and the radical backward engine design in 2014. Star and Yamaha, and Martin and Webb, all made history from there.

Star kept making moves, the biggest being the purchase of Ricky Carmichael's GOAT Farm in Georgia and adding a race shop to the facility. This made Star really the first team to house the test track, race shop, and staff all on one piece of property, and I think this will ultimately be seen as the model all other teams will have to follow. The success proves it. For a long time, it seemed like Star just won by having fast 250Fs. That perception changed when Yamaha handed its 450 factory team over to Star, and fortunes turned immediately. The YZ450F, much maligned for that same engine design that worked so well on the 250, suddenly became a winner with Dylan Ferrandis in 2021, and then Eli Tomac switched over in 2022 and kept on winning.

This 450 program has given Star the full pathway, from amateur to 250 to 450. Justin Cooper rode through that system, and Webb did as well, outside of his five years with KTM in between. Now Haiden Deegan, as dominant as can be in the 250s, will smoothly transition right over to the 450 side full-time soon. If you're the parent of a fast prospect, is there any doubt what pathway you want to follow? You want what Deegan and Davies did, just to name a few. The game has changed. Who else will follow?

FIVE TO GO (Matthes)

We've got a tight points battle in the 450SX class, and what a time for the sport to have a couple of races on the main NBC network, right? I can only wish that Friends was the lead-in, but we'll take it, I suppose. As a season goes on, we usually start to see a rider or riders emerge and become sort of bulletproof to getting podiums, but this year's been a bit different. Whatever the opposite of bulletproof is, that's what we've got going on in the 450 class right now.

For example, co-points leader Eli Tomac: what the hell has been going on? Hurt? Setup issues? Fatigue? There's something happening with Eli right now, and it ain't good. Lackluster rides the last two weeks (even that third in Birmingham was a bit off, right?) have all of us wondering what's going on, as he's not looked one bit like the rider he was at the first nine rounds.

Now Hunter Lawrence has a wrist injury from the crash in Detroit. "People" around him say it's not a big deal, but Hunter mentioned it after last week, so one would think it does bother him out there in spots, right? He rode well in St. Louis, but not that well. So, is this a late-season lull? IDK, maybe he's not practicing as much due to the wrist and isn't as sharp?

Ken Roczen has zero questions about himself right now. #94's on a roll on his basically eight-year-old RMZ450 and is looking to make a comeback for the ages here. Starts, sprints—he's got it all right now. There's a train coming, and it's called Yellow Magic!

Chase Sexton... Can he get in the middle here and steal points away from the top three? Yeah man, there's not enough space on the internet to get to all the answers about what's been going on with the #4. But just like he did in his return race at Detroit, he can still fly.

Justin Cooper's got his starts back, he's happier with his shock now (Gilly's back!), and he's been riding much better lately. We have fewer questions about him right now other than, What happened earlier this year, J-Coop? Can he get in there and steal some points? Well, duh, he just did!

"When it's your year, it's your year," is what Cooper Webb told me last weekend after the race. So far, it's not been the year for the defending champion, but he's been a gamer each week trying to get to the front. Maybe he needs Justin Cooper's clutch setup or something because his starts have been there lately. He's crossed the finish line first just once this year, in a heat (remember he didn't win a race in his only overall victory, which was a Triple Crown), and although it's not looking like he can get into the mix and affect this title fight, it's Cooper Webb—I'm not saying no to this guy, ever.

Finally, a storm is brewing out there in central Florida that could throw a wrench in this thing. Good Gawd, that's Jett Lawrence's music playing!!! The Wunderkid is back on a bike this week, starting out slow, but in four weeks' time, could he show up to help big bro? Never say never, I suppose.

Good series we've got going on here. Stick around and watch the must-see TV.

Pro Perspective (JT)

Cole Davies has extended his lead to 11 points as the 250SX East series heads to Nashville. He had a three-race win streak until finishing second to Deegan in St. Louis, and it "feels" like he's in firm command. For Seth Hammaker, the ask is clear: stem the momentum and turn the tide on the championship direction. "Can he do that?" is a question to be asked each Saturday. I am more interested in the "how" he will go about it.

On the podium in St. Louis, I asked Hammaker what the plan was from here to close the gap. He mentioned he might have to raise his risk level and take more chances. That is a clear change from what he's been working on for the last two seasons. That higher-risk approach didn't seem to pay dividends, as it often resulted in big crashes and subsequent injuries. It brought speed and intensity, but not in a sustainable way. Now, faced with a points situation going in the wrong direction, Seth is pondering a return to that riskier approach. The likely thought behind this is a slight move back toward that past version, maybe just a half measure. Going full noise in that direction seems like a bad bet, and one I would think he didn't necessarily mean. The trick, and a lucrative one, would be to introduce a bit more risk but in a calculated, well-timed way. I say trick because it is indeed tricky by nature. Knowing how much more aggression to allow, how much more to let the front tire push, and when to back out of things when your crash alarm is a blaring code red... that's the tough part. There is no magic button to push on how to get it right. Seth already had big crashes in Daytona and Indy that, thankfully, didn't do too much harm. If that was the "measured" approach, what does it look like if he really uncorks the crazy?

I think there are two basic approaches here. First, stay the course and try to claw back points methodically while also leaving the door open for a Davies mistake. Rack up podiums and keep the pressure on. The proverbial "trust the process" may not seem to be enough, but that is why trust is needed; if it were the easy route to adopt, trust would be unnecessary. Second, turn up the risk ratio and get a little nuts. This will likely work right up until it doesn't. Is that this weekend, or in Philly, or does it work all the way to Utah? It's impossible to know, but anyone with experience will tell you that taking a lot of risks is a "when, not if" scenario. Can Seth find the magic equation of sprinkling a bit more intensity without crossing the Rubicon? That, my friends, is why we watch every Saturday.

Triumph's Woes (Keefer)

The Triumph Factory Racing team has been having a tough time recently due to injuries affecting most of their riders. Jalek Swoll is out with another Achilles tendon injury, Austin Forkner is still sidelined with a hand injury, new fill-in recruit Gage Linville had a practice crash and is out while he heals from a concussion, and recently Jordon Smith had a big one leading up to Nashville while practicing, leaving him banged up (though at the time of writing this, he is still in for Nashville). Smith has been riding well as he builds back his speed after some time off the bike and shows good speed, but we haven't seen what he is capable of on the 450.

Basically, the only team rider who is healthy right now is Deacon Denno, and he will not be racing until SMX Next returns in Philly. Triumph isn't the first team to have bad luck (Honda HRC lost all four contracted riders in 2025 before Dean Wilson filled in for the final five rounds), and sometimes it seems that you'll never dig out of a hole, but I know the team is committed to getting their riders healthy and making them more comfortable on the bike. I have been at the facility and have seen how much work goes into each rider and each bike they are riding. With Jordon Smith winning in Arizona last season on the 250, the team had high hopes for the 2026 SX season, but it just hasn't quite gone the way they wanted.

Outdoors, the Triumph squad will have more of a full team lineup with Mikkel Haarup (450), Smith (450), and Deacon Denno (250) lining up to start the outdoor season. Mikkel is a top-five threat, and his off-season speed has been impressive from what I have seen. Denno will surprise some people during the outdoor season, but it is unknown if he will race the whole season or head back to Loretta's to finish off his amateur career. Either way, look for a rebound this summer from the factory Triumph squad.

Jeffrey Herlings' "Off" Weekend (DC)

The FIM Motocross World Championship (MXGP) was on a break last weekend for Easter, but that did not mean a weekend off for Jeffrey Herlings. The Honda HRC PETRONAS rider raced in two different championship series—in two different countries. Herlings lined up on Easter Sunday in the ACU British Championships at Preston Docks, winning both motos. Then, on Monday, he went back across the English Channel to his home in the Netherlands to race in the Dutch Masters event at Heerde. There, he had an epic battle with fellow sand master Kay de Wolf as well as MXGP World Champion Romain Febvre but still ended up winning both motos. The race was a great tune-up for this weekend's return of MXGP, which will race in the sand dunes of Sardinia, an island off the west coast of Italy. In that series, Herlings is currently third behind Red Bull KTM rider Lucas Coenen and his Honda teammate Tom Vialle, winner of the last round in Switzerland (Vialle’s first 450 win). It was at that race that both Herlings and Coenen DNF'd in the first moto after the same rock in a deep berm knocked the chain off each of their bikes. Coenen managed to get going again but was DQ'd afterward for outside assistance.

In MX2, defending MX2 World Champion Simon Langenfelder of Germany is the points leader. The Red Bull KTM rider has been consistently fast over the first three rounds, finishing on the podium in all six motos. Spanish Triumph rider Guillem Farres, who raced here in the U.S. briefly with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna but never really got going due to injuries, is second, having won a moto in each of the last two rounds. If not for a DNF in the second moto in Spain due to a broken transmission, Farres would probably be even with Langenfelder, not 22 points down. Currently, third in MX2 points is Sacha Coenen, the twin brother of Lucas.

The MXGP of Sardinia will have its qualifying motos tomorrow and the actual Grand Prix on Sunday. You can watch it stream live on MXGP-TV.com or watch the second motos (slightly delayed) on CBS Sports Network.

Pastranaland Golden Ticket Day (Cody Darr)

For any moto kid, there's one dream trip above all others: a visit to Pastranaland. Thanks to Travis Pastrana and Jeff Cernic from Pleasure Valley Raceway, that dream becomes a reality for a lucky few each year.

Every fall, racers from across the country compete in the Travis Pastrana Pro Challenge at Cernic's PVR near Johnstown, PA. The top ten riders in each youth class earn a candy bar—one that might contain the coveted Golden Ticket. Just like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, that ticket unlocks a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Pastranaland in Maryland.

From the moment you arrive, Travis sets the tone, personally greeting everyone and bringing his signature energy. The day kicks off with a full breakfast—pancakes, bacon, and sausage—courtesy of "Chef Jeff," making sure everyone is fueled for what's ahead.

Then the action begins.

Riders jump into Can-Am side-by-side sessions with the Channel 199 crew, led by Travis, Banksy, and Gray Leadbetter, getting adrenaline pumping early. After that, it's time to hit the motocross track and ride alongside Travis himself—an unforgettable experience for any young rider.

Cruising through the woods, you pass the legendary "Ramp Graveyard," a surreal reminder that freestyle motocross history was made right there. It's the kind of moment that gives you chills.

But the highlight of the day? Backflips into the foam pit.

Before anyone hits the ramp, Travis makes sure they can safely flip on his trampoline. Once approved, it's go time. He provides the bikes, gives tips, and then lets the kids send it. Watching these young riders overcome fear—or show none at all—is incredible. Their excitement says everything.

Travis treats every kid like royalty, and the experience leaves a lasting impact. These aren't just rides—they're lifelong memories. Huge kudos to Travis and Jeff for creating something truly special.

Check out Cody’s full gallery from the day.

Note: Cody was there photographing the event but even got to throw a few flips himself!

Big E Podcast (Simon Cudby)

I was lucky enough to be invited recently by Big E at Yoshimura to do an episode of their new Pivotable Podcast. It was great to catch up with my old friend Big E and share some photo shoot stories from over the years.

THIS WEEK'S WIN ADS (DC)

It was a busy week of racing around the dirt bike world. Here's a shortcut to see the big winners, according to the win ads in cyclenews.com.

Hey, Watch It!

2026 St. Louis Supercross Cinematic Recap

Back-to Back Supercross Titles: The Deegans

This is Lawrence and the “Brutal Track!” at St. Louis:

Title 24’s Ricky Carmichael and Ryan Villopoto drill down on the Eli Tomac questions:

Racer X’s Injury Report, hosted by Sarah Whitmore:

MXA wrap-up from the Annual Two-Stroke World Championships at Glen Helen:

Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week 

"Mayor’s state ethics case over a $912 dumpster cost Harrisburg taxpayers $32,000"—ABC 27

"No one at Waffle House remembers FEMA official who says he teleported in"—NY Times

Jo Shimoda on his ankle injury on Instagram: "The good news is that luckily it’s not severe"
Honda PR title for Shimoda update: "Shimoda Diagnosed with Fibula Fracture Following St. Louis Crash"
A broken leg Seems kinda serious, Jo!

"AMPUTEE MURDER SUSPECT SNORTS OFF DOLLAR BILL, SHOOTS GUN OUT WINDOW" -TMZ

Random Notes