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Morning Report

Good morning, race fans! Welcome to the great outdoors. After an epic Monster Energy AMA Supercross season, we are kicking off the 11-round AMA Pro Motocross Championship. We should be set for a fun, wild, exciting, and unpredictable summer of racing. We should set up for a beautiful, sunny day at the racetrack, with a high of about 81° F.

You know most of the big storylines: how will Jett Lawrence do after his injury, how will Hunter Lawrence do after his agonizing defeat in supercross, how will Haiden Deegan’s first 450 Pro Motocross race go, will Eli Tomac land on the podium, how about Jorge Prado, which Chase Sexton shows up this summer, etc. Well, today, we will learn the answer to some of those questions. Everyone said on Friday they were feeling great and ready to go, but today we will truly find out. The hay is in the barn; it is time to go racing.

As for the 250 Class, we will crown a first-time Pro Motocross Champion by season’s end. So, who will it be? We have an idea of who might be in the conversation of title favorites—Jo Shimoda, Chance Hymas, and Levi Kitchen seem to be the leading names at the moment—but it really does seem like this title fight is wide open for the taking. Could we see a handful of different winners emerge in the first few rounds? Yes. Could one rider step up and run away with this thing? Also, yes, although we cannot who will win the title today but instead who could lose it today. Give us your race winner and season champion predictions in the comments section below!

Check out the injury report for today.

Watch our press day recap below.

As always, riders' meeting starts at 7:15 a.m. with Pastor Jake, then bikes on are track at 8 a.m. Here we go!

First Qualifying Sessions

250 Class

And just like that, bikes are on the track here in California. Pro Motocross is underway! The track is the usual wet (from early watering) and tilled deep but so far so good. Riders will pack in the track with their lines and the sun will harden the track up a ton by the time the afternoon motos are racing. Ideal conditions today, really!

Jace Allred topped the 250 B group in the first session on track.

In 250 A, it was Lux Turner who had the early fast lap—a 2:25.075. Then, Julien Beaumer and Levi Kitchen put in hot laps to pass the BarX Yamaha rider. Kitchen’s 2:23.678 was the top time as Dudney slotted into third with a 2:24.070 ahead of Turner as Chance Hymas’ 2:26.430 rounded out the top five. Kitchen bested his time down to a 2:22.717 on the final lap! Jo Shimoda was 17th fastest in the session. Nate Thrasher was 24th in the session, his positioning nearly matching his ’26 national number.

450 Class

Once the first 450 session got underway, Haiden Deegan led the field off the starting straight... and he led the field on the results page! Deegan's 2:22 was the fast time early on. Chase Sexton, Jorge Prado, and Hunter Lawrence all put in great laps of their own to move ahead of Deegan. At the checkered flag, it was Hunter Lawrence's 2:19.540 that topped the session. Deegan was fourth fastest, followed by Justin Cooper. Prado's 2:19.724. Jett Lawrence looked fast on the eye test, but his best full lap was a 2:25.785 ,which was 14th. Have to imagine he will move up in the second session.

Cornelius Tøndel topped the 450 Class group B session.

Second Qualifying Sessions

250 Class

The second qualifying sessions got underway, and Jeremy Fappani topped the session with a 2:26.386.

In the second 250 Class group A session, it was Levi Kitchen who was fastest again, although his time was several seconds better than his first session as the track got worked in more and the sun continued to beat down on the track. Max Anstie had a big crash in the early laps of the session and unfortunately it ended his session early. Watch his big get off in the dragon’s back section after the second turn.

As far as qualifying, Kitchen going P1 in both sessions puts him in the overall. Seth Hammaker was second in session two and his 2:21.451 from the second session is P2 overall over Julien Beaumer (2:22.656), Cole Davies (2:22.896), and Carson Mumford (2:23.015), who turned some heads with a great qualifying time.

Other qualifying riders to note include: Chance Hymas sixth overall, Caden Dudney eighth, Casey Cochran tenth, Lux Turner 11th, Jo Shimoda 14th, Anstie 27th, Deacon Denno 28th, and Marshal Weltin took the 36th and final automatic qualifying spot. Russell Buccheri and rookie Aden Keefer and on will be racing the 250 Class LCQ here shortly.

It is warm out but not overly hot and it should only get a handful of degrees warmer, so this afternoon should be perfect. Still not be easy for these riders with today being the first truly hot conditions they will have faced all year to date. Expect the track to be its usual hard come the motos, the track will be hard-packed.

450 Class

In the premier class, it was Hunter Lawrence and Jorge Prado going P1 and P2, respectively, just as they did in the first session. Jett Lawrence led the field Hunter Lawrence’s 2:16.832 was the best lap over Prado’s 2:17.461, which just beat Jett Lawrence’s 2:17.514 as he put in a much better lap as we expected him to. Justin Cooper and Garrett Marchbanks rounded out the top five as Haiden Deegan (who went out very last in the session) was sixth overall, then Chase Sexton, Aaron Plessinger, Mikkel Haarup, and Eli Tomac rounded out the top ten.

Other notes include: Cornelius Tøndel 11th, Kyle Webster (Quad Lock Honda fill-in for Joey Savatgy) 16th, Dante Oliveira 23rd.

First Motos

250 Class

The gate dropped on the first moto of the season, and it was Seth Hammaker out front with the holeshot and early race lead as Caden Dudney shuffled into second! Hammaker’s teammates Nick Romano and Levi Kitchen both got around Dudney to take over second and third, respectively. At one point, it was three Kawasaki teammates—Hammaker, Kitchen, and Romano—leading three Yamaha teammates—Dudney, Cole Davies, and Landen Gordon! Hammaker led the first half of the race, before Kitchen moved around both Romano and Hammaker to take over the race lead after a mistake for Hammaker sent him off the track and put the #47 into the lead. Kitchen cruised to race win with a small gap as Hammaker brought home second. Cole Davies battled Romano late and claimed the final spot on the podium. Jo Shimoda charged forwards as he finished fourth after a last-turn pass! Romano came through fifth.

Austin Forkner and Max Anstie had tough motos, Forkner suffering a crash that knocked off his visor and left him and his bike banged up. He pulled off early. Then, Anstie came around and went to the mechanics area as well to pickup his mechanic as well as both riders suffered DNFs.

450 Class

The first 450 moto of the summer got underway, and it was the #31 Triumph machine of Mikkel Haarup with the holeshot! Haarup lead Hunter Lawrence and Jorge Prado, who would both get by the former MXGP competitor. On the opening lap, Eli Tomac and Garrett Marchbanks collided, sending both to the ground in a racing incident. Marchbanks got up and his bike needed work so by the time he came around the mechanics’ area, he stopped for some maintenance from his team. Unfortunately, Tomac never came around. A few laps into the race, an Alpinestars medical cart went by me with Tomac on a stretcher with a neck brace on. Brutal start to the season for the #3.

As far as the action, Hunter Lawrence lead Prado out front as that duo broke away. Jett Lawrence and Haiden Deegan had to work through the field and they did just that, together. It was the moment everyone has been waiting for! I caught a close call between them when Deegan went to the outside and Jett Lawrence went to the inside in the turn before the tunnel roller leading into the mechanics section. Jett cut in front of the #38 and they almost collided! They continued to charge forward but from there, Jett Lawrence would not allow Deegan to get close enough for a pass attempt. He even put a few riders between them, first Christian Craig, then RJ Hampshire, then Chase Sexton, then Haarup. In the end, it was Hunter Lawrence taking the first 450 moto win of the summer! Prado came through second with Justin Cooper a great third. Then it was the duo of Jett Lawrence and Deegan rounding out the top five in what was the first—of hopefully man—great battles between the #1 and the #38 this summer. Hampshire finished sixth, Sexton seventh, Plessinger eighth, Dylan Ferrandis ninth, and Haarup tenth.

In terms of conditions, we are still dealing with perfect conditions with a beautiful, sunny (and not too hot) day. The track crew did some work and put down some water here during halftime. The track is becoming rough, so the first test of the summer will be these second motos. Here we go!

450 Class

The fourth and final moto of the day was set to begin and everyone wanted to see battles all moto long—and luckly, we got just that! The gate dropped and it was Hunter Lawrence with the holeshot over Jorge Prado and Aaron Plessinger. Prado got into the race lead as they blasted through the rollers for the first time! So, it was Prado, Hunter Lawrence, Plessinger, RJ Hampshire, Dylan Ferrandis, Chase Sexton, Cooper Webb, Jett Lawrence, Mikkel Haarup, and Haiden Deegan rounding out the top ten. Then, the very next lap, Hunter Lawrence repassed Prado in the rollers the #26 passed him on the opening lap!

The battle from second to fifth was close, with Plessinger having his hands full with a handful of fast riders behind him. Sexton tucked the front end on the top of the Monster Energy double hill, handing over a few positions as he remounted in eighth behind Haiden Deegan. That moved Hampshire to fourth, Jett Lawrence to fifth, Ferrandis to sixth, and Deegan to seventh. That mistake by Sexton would put Jett Lawrence into an overall position as his 4-5 finishes ran third overall. Then, Jett Lawrence got by Hampshire to take over fourth, taking him to 4-4 finishes. Garrett Marchbanks made his way into ninth following a pass on Ferrandis in what was a great ride by the #36 (especially following that rough first moto following his collision with Tomac).

Jett Lawrence got into third and Deegan got into sixth, making the running order Hunter Lawrence, Prado, Jett Lawrence, Plessinger, Hampshire, Deegan, Sexton, Justin Cooper, Marchbanks, Ferrandis. The #1, the #38, the #32, #36, and more were moving forward, so at the checkered flag the order was Hunter Lawrence, Prado, Jett Lawrence, Deegan, Sexton, Cooper, Hapshire, Marchbanks, Plessinger, and Ferrandis. Jett Lawrence was just 0.463 seconds behind Prado at the checkered flag, and Sexton was just 0.922 seconds behind Deegan as he was pushing towards the #38 down to the checkered flag.

In terms of the overall, it was Hunter Lawrence’s 1-1 for the overall win, Prado’s 2-2 for second overall (his first overall podium and his new best moto/overall finishes), and Jett Lawrence’s 4-3 landing third overall. Jett Lawrence’s 8-for-8 streak here at Fox Raceway at Pala has come to an end, but it was still a very strong day when you consider he is returning from this serious foot injury.

Justin Cooper’s sneaky good 3-6 were fourth overall and Haiden Deegan’s 5-4 finishes were fifth overall.