Observations from RedBud

Jett Lawrence, after going 1-1-1-1 in rounds two and three, seemed to have everything figured out. It was just going to be a matter of time as he and his wonky ankle got better, right? Well, since then he has, for the first time in his career, got beat straight up in two motos at High Point by Hunter and this week he, got a gift in moto one after being caught and passed. Then he crashed twice in moto two. He was still third overall and no one is pressing the panic button here on The Jett but it’s curious for sure. “We” thought Jett would just get better as he practiced more during the week and the ankle got better. But nope, it hasn’t worked out like that.

Have you ever seen first and second place more upset after a moto than the Lawrence brothers? Jett was pissed that he got passed by big bro, his ankle was still bugging him, and he may or may not have been pissed at his bike’s performance. Hunter, well that was obvious, he threw away the win when he thought his bike had cut out. It was sort of funny to see the top two guys SO mad for different reasons after going 1-2! Hasn’t happened in motocross history for sure.

Lars Lindstrom of Honda called into the PulpMX Show Monday. He told a funny story where, after Hunter crashed, they looked at the data on the bike and didn’t see anything obvious. Hunter said it just cut out, but nothing on the data showed it. So, without knowing what it could be, they decided that they needed to change, in Lars words “everything.” Just as they were about to start swapping engines and electronics, Darren Lawrence walked over and said it was just a rock in the chain and the bike is fine. Dazzy watched the TV broadcast back and deduced that! So they went back to the TV, zoomed in and saw the chain super tight as the rear wheel locked up and they all came to the same conclusion. The bike didn't cut out, nothing needed to be changed, and it was just dumb luck that cost Hunter the moto win. Darren Lawrence= the human data machine!

I’m sorry man but Jorge Prado has got to win the second moto. Everything was set up! He got third in the first moto behind the Aussies after leading a bunch of laps and hey, that wasn’t too bad because he kept them closer than he had since round one. Then the second moto, he holeshot, Jett fell and Hunter was in sixth. We know Jorge is a front runner and he was running in the front! This was it; he was going to go 3-1 to Hunter’s 2-2 and Prado’s climb back from the depths of green hell were going to be complete. What a story.

But then…he didn’t. Prado blew a 9 second lead at halfway to end up 11 seconds down of Hunter by the end. It was shocking really, everything was set up for him. Yes, he seemed to struggle with getting by lappers as easily as Hunter but in the end, he needed to be more fit.

It wasn’t like Lawerence went “Chupacabra” mode either where was setting his fastest laps late in the moto. Nope, Hunter dropped off from his 2:11’s to 2:13’s and 2:14’s (shoutout though for his one 2:11 on the 9^th lap though!). Prado though, yeah, he lost 1.5 on lap 8 and then never recovered from there. It can't just be the lappers, also, because once Hunter passed Jorge the Spaniard had nothing left to fight him with. 

Again, this is a guy that expects himself to win. He has said that. It was all set up perfectly to win! He’s got to be kicking himself about this weekend. Prado had the fastest lap of the moto by over a second but in the end, maybe it was too fast for too long?

Cole Davies won again. The Kiwi kid has shown that he’s not just a SX whoop guy with his ever-evolving MX skills. Yes, he got caught and passed by Jo Shimoda in moto two but (a) he had the overall and (b) Jo’s raced this class for, checks notes, 63 years while Davies is in his 8^th career national (I just guessed that and am too lazy to look up the official number but it’s around there) (Editor’s note: actually RedBud was Davies’ seventh Pro Motocross start). Give Cole a break here. His attack/lay back/attack on teammate Caden Dudney in moto one was veteran-type stuff. He’s now won four out of the last seven motos in case you were wondering.

Now one of his mentors, Ben Townley has said publicly that he’s worried for the heat for Davies in his first full year racing outdoors here. It was something Ben had to deal with and something that they just don’t get in NZ. JT said on our review show that Cole was throwing up after the race so while that could be a number of things, it could also be from the heat. Something to keep an eye on here as we move more into the summer months. Yes, I know these guys ride in Florida but that doesn't mean RedBud wasn't tough!

So, it’s been ten motos and I would say that we finally saw the best Jo Shimoda of the 2026 MX series? The second moto, he came up from fifth to win it, his average lap was almost a second better than Davies and he looked great. The Honda guys are always amazed by Jo’s fitness, he never seems to get tired, and it looked like it at Redbud. Great ride for Shimoda and he takes over the red plate from Levi Kitchen.

Are we seeing the two guys emerging here? Levi Kitchen’s had four so-so motos with starts and crashes hurting him, his red plate is gone. Jo won Lakewood, Davies won High Point (Jo was third) and now Davies wins Redbud (Jo got second).

I said on the PulpMX Show that Jo’s fast at Southwick which then got me a DM saying he’s never won there implying that I’m an idiot. Well, his last three visits there he’s gone 10-2, 9-1 and 6-1 so if he stays out of trouble, he’s very good at MX338.

Super cool that Ryder DiFrancesco got his first podium at Redbud with 6-3 rides. He’s really been riding well this outdoor season and even had a podium at Lakewood in his grasp with a lap to go. Well, he got it done in Michigan with steady rides. There’s still that certain something he’s missing to be there each and every moto, he’s a bit start dependent but to me, he’s close to breaking through. 

Some other news and notes:

-Super cool to have Roan Van De Moosdijk there. The Dutchman was stoked with his day despite a first moto DNF mechanical. That forced him to ride a stock motor for moto two, he went down in the first turn and ripped through the pack to an 11^th! He set fast lap times as well and qualified seventh OA despite being in a qualifier where the track was rougher.

- Then you have ISRT's Cornelius Tondel going into the top ten before blowing up his bike in both motos. The series has some real international flavor. Tondel is creeping in the top ten, Moosdijk rips through the pack from basically last and gets near the top ten. Like, you look at these guys MXGP results over the years and they’re not great. We can debate the depth of the two series for sure but I, for one, always think of the AMA one as being deeper but with these guys results, maybe not? I don’t know, embrace the debate I suppose!

-By the way, as I tweeted earlier last week it looks like Tondel is going to get a shot on the factory Kawasaki for Southwick. Yes, a ride on Chase Sexton's actual Monster Energy Kawasaki bike. He’s in SoCal now testing and I imagine it’ll go well. Cool deal for the Norwegian!

-Justin Barcia is back? Bam went 9-9 this weekend, his best moto finishes this year and he had the second fastest lap of moto two. And he fell in moto one as well. So, this is an encouraging step for the #51 right?

-His teammate Dylan Ferrandis told us on the PulpMX Show he’s got an autorenewal with Ducati for a top five in the points (he’s 24 back now) but in any case, both sides are talking things over for 2027. Dylan said that if they can’t come to an agreement, he’ll probably retire because he doesn’t want to go backwards to a non-factory team.

-We also had Casey Cochran on the PulpMX Show and he’s looking for a ride for next year but man, the last two races, he’s shown something right? Led laps at High Point and got a fourth, this weekend he was all over the top five both motos with a 5-4. Nice kid also, the bad thing for him is he’s only raced really one supercross over the last few years in a sport that values SX a lot. But either way, if he keeps this up, he’ll get on a good team.

-Shout out Carson Mumford, he’s been really solid this summer for the most part. AEO has to be stoked on what he’s doing.

-Nick Romano went backwards bad in moto two, he didn’t appear to crash but said on his IG that he got cramps. After his high point of Lakewood (where he got third), he’s had a rough three motos and one seventh.

-RJ Hampshire told me he never jumped the leap in the first moto because he felt like something was up with his bike. Second moto, motor swap and he aired it out. RJ rode great, it was just a lonely 4-4 for him.

-Poor Benny Bloss. If you know, you know.

-Super awesome to see 40-year-old Tony Cairoli out there. I’ll be honest, I was worried TC222 might get beat pretty bad, he hasn’t been racing and, yeah, he’s 40! The last few years when he jumped into AMA races, he was also doing races in GPs and Italian Nationals, but this time he had not raced since last year! But fear not, Tony finished 12^th and was more than competitive. He’s a legend and I don’t want to see any Willy Mays moments out there, ok? He’ll be at the next two rounds as well for the Ducati guys.