First Qualifying Sessions:

In the first 250 qualifying session it was the Belgium Sacha Coenen claiming the fast time of the morning with a 1:56.691, nearly two seconds faster then Venum/Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Jake Cannon who took advantage of the smooth circuit in 250 B group. Cannon topped New England local, Larry Fortin by just 0.001 seconds as Fortin rounded out the top three overall.

Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen was the first of the title contenders, qualifying fourth overall with a 1:58.530. Monster Energy/Yamaha/Star Racing’s Cole Davies was sixth, and the championship leader, Jo Shimoda sits 11^th overall after the first qualifying session.

Other notables from the session include Star Racing’s Kayden Minear in fifth. The Aussie is rumored to be a sand specialist and so far, so good. The NESC Champions Kyle Murdoch and Joe Tait sit 16^th and 18^th overall respectively.

It was more of the same at the top of the first 450 Qualifying session, as Red Bull KTM’s Lucas Coenen dominated the session. Coenen set the tone early with a 1:54.416, nearly a second faster than the Lawrence brothers. Jorge Prado and Jett Lawrence got close to Coenen’s time setting a 1:55.1 and 1:55.2 lap time midway through the session but Coenen responded, dropping his time down to a 1:53.903. Coenen’s time gave him a 1.2 second gap over Prado in second. Jett Lawrence was third, with Hunter Lawrence and Haiden Deegan rounding out the top five.

Kosak KTM’s Roan Van De Moosdijk put in an impressive time, sitting sixth after the first qualifier. As expected, it was a foreign takeover, with just three American riders in the top eleven. Expect these times to hold up, as the track will be much slower in the second session.

Qualifying session two is coming up, and those times may be a better indication of what we will see in the motos later this afternoon.

Second Qualifying Session:

The second 250 session threw quite a wrench in the 250MX title fight as HRC Honda’s Jo Shimoda went down. Shimoda tucked the front in one of the more technical sections of the track and was favoring his shoulder. Jo was attended to by the Alpinestars medics but eventually got up and slowly finished his lap before riding off. We have heard Shimoda has broken his collarbone. A heartbreaking turn for Jo whose injury riddled 2026 continues.

Soon after Shimoda’s crash the session was red flagged for Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Nick Romano. Romano swapped up the face of the finish line jump and went down hard. He was down for a while but did get up and ride back to the truck.

At the end of the session, it was Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Cole Davies who topped the charts in session two. The track is holding up better than we typically see at Southwick and several riders dropped their times from session one. Davies dropped his lap time from a 1:58.9 to a 1:57.2 to top the session and now sits second overall behind Sacha Coenen. Coenen was second in the session with a 1:58.6 ahead of his Red Bull KTM Teammate Julien Beaumer and Star Racing’s Michael Mosiman, who also dropped their times from the first session. 

 With Shimoda out, Davies and Levi Kitchen have the opportunity leave The Wick with the red plate and championship momentum into the second half of the series.

 In the 450 Class it was Red Bull KTM’s Jorge Prado who put up the fastest time in Q2 with a 1:55. 897. He was followed by Jett Lawrence, Lucas Coenen, Haiden Deegan, and Hunter Lawrence rounding out the top five. Times were much closer than in the first session as the top five were only separated by 1.3 seconds. Mikkel Harrup put solid time of 1:58.2 for sixth in the session.

Coenen’s time from the first session will hold up for the Overall fastest time and he will have first gate pick heading into moto one.  Haiden Deegan was the only rider in the top five to improve his time from the first session but still sits fifth overall.

Updates

Consolation Races

In the 250 LCQ it was Jonathan Getz taking the win ahead of Krystian Janik, James Harrington and Aden Keefer. Phoenix Honda’s Aden Keefer led the majority of the race, but played it safe, settling for fourth after coming under pressure from the pack behind him. With Shimoda officially out for the day with a broken collarbone and concussion, Hayes Edwards will also sneak into the motos with a fifth-place finish.

In the 450 LCQ it was Joey Crown leading from Start to finish. Crown is the in-house suspension guy for Club MX, but has lined up the last couple of weeks for some race testing! Behind Crown was Tyler Stepek, Jace Kessler and Bryce Hammond who will round out the fast 40.

250 Moto 1

When the gate dropped for 250 moto one it was Red Bull KTM’s Sacha Coenen grabbing the holeshot and taking off. Sacha put in one of the most dominant performances we have seen in recent years. At the end of the moto his lead had ballooned to over 33 seconds over Levi Kitchen. The 33-second margin of victory is the largest in a 250MX moto since Unadilla 2018.

Kitchen started around sixth but fell on lap two and dropped back to ninth. From there, Kitchen charged through the pack and got by Rockstar Husqvarna’s Ryder DiFrancesco with a few minutes left in the moto to claim second. DiFrancesco rounded out the podium for his fourth moto podium of the season. Ryder D spent most of the moto in a heated battle with HRC Honda’s Chance Hymas, who had his best moto in a while. Hymas ran fourth for most of the race but was passed late by Red Bull KTM’s Julien Beaumer who had a nice bounce back moto after a disastrous Red Bud.

Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Cole Davies started the moto in second. He was running comfortably in the runner-up position until he went down around halfway. It took Davies a bit to get regrouped and by the time he had got going, he had fallen back to tenth. Davies charged back to sixth but was passed late by his Star racing teammate Kayden Minear, who caught fire late in the moto. Another notable result was Venum/Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Francisco Garcia, the current EMX 250 points leader, who finished an impressive ninth in his Pro Motocross Debut.

This Moto marked the official halfway point of the season, and with his runner-up finish, Levi Kitchen has regained a hold of the points lead.

450 Moto 1

The 450’s took to the track next, and it was Jett Lawrence taking the early lead with his brother Hunter and Haiden Deegan in tow. Meanwhile, the fast qualifier, Lucas Coenen, was down in the first turn.

The top three paced each other with a couple seconds between them for the early parts of the race while all eyes were on the Belgian. Coenen ripped through the pack and by the 20 minute mark had made his way past his Red Bull KTM teammate Jorge Prado to move into fourth. By that point, the top three had separated themselves from the rest of the field and it looked like Coenen would have to settle for fourth. But a few laps later Lucas had a bike malfunction over one of the tunnel jumps, sending him over the bars. Coenen got up quick, signaling that he was okay, but was unable to reenter the race. 

Meanwhile, at the front of the field, Hunter Lawrence began to separate himself from Deegan and close to the back of Jettson momentarily. Jett was able to respond and dropped two seconds on lap ten to regain the time he had lost. But with three laps to go, the same turn that claimed Jo Shimoda earlier in the day claimed Jettson. In a very similar crash to Jo, Jett knifed the front and handed the lead to his brother. Hunter would go on to claim another moto win and extend his points lead. Jett and Haiden Deegan rounded out the podium with Jorge Prado finishing a distant fourth.

The race was red flagged on the last lap for Quad Lock Honda’s Christian Craig. No word on his condition at the moment.

Update

250 Moto 2

Monster Energy Star Racing’s Cole Davies grabbed the holeshot in the second 250 moto of the day. He fended off Sacha Coenen for half the moto, but Coenen eventually closed to back of him and was able to make the pass around halfway.

Sacha began to pull away but, it wouldn’t be the full Sacha Coenen experience without some drama. With a fifteen-second lead, he landed in some breaking bumps and went for a wild ride. He got up in time to maintain the lead, sans goggles, and began to pull back away from Davies once again. Sacha held on for the win but immediately began favoring his shoulder after crossing the finish line. He even skipped the podium to get tended to and his mechanic stood on the podium and held his first place trophy.

Davies held on for second and his 7-2 result gives him third overall on the day. Davies’ rookie teammate Kayden Minear had another impressive ride, passing Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen late in the moto to take his second moto podium of the year. Kitchen finished fourth, fending off a late charge by Julien Beaumer. Kitchen’s 2-4 result gives him second overall. Davies now holds a two-point lead over Kitchen in the championship standings.

HRC Honda’s Chance Hymas ran up front for a majority of the moto but faded back to seventh. However, he did spend much of the day battling for a podium position, which is a step in the right direction for what has been a rough start to the series.

The surprise performance of the day has to be Bud Racing’s Francisco Garcia who backed up his moto one finish with another top ten. His 9-8 results give him eighth overall. Not bad for someone who is technically still racing in the amateur ranks of Europe!

450 Moto two is coming up next, and the Red Bull KTM Team has announced that Lucas Coenen will not be lining up after his moto one crash.

450 Moto 2

When the gate dropped for the final time, it was the top four in points running 1-2-3-4. HRC Honda’s Hunter Lawrence grabbed the holeshot ahead of Haiden Deegan, Jett Lawrence, and Jorge Prado. The group stayed stagnant for a few laps as they let the race sort itself out, but Jett Lawrence eventually began to pressure Haiden Deegan and made the move into second as he and Hunter started to separate themselves from Deegan and Prado.

Jett was able to get close to Hunter but never close enough to make a pass attempt. However, the script was flipped for moto two, and with a handful of laps remaining, Hunter would go down and hand the lead to Jett. Hunter fell back to fourth as Jett took off with the win. Lawrence was able to maintain a four to five second lead over Deegan and his 2-1 gives him his third overall of the season and possession of the red plate once again. Hunter hung on for fourth in the moto and second overall on the day.

Jorge Prado made a late attack on Haiden Deegan but was unsuccessful. Deegan’s 3-2 put him third overall, with Prado in fourth with 4-3 finishes.

One minute and thirty seconds behind Jett Lawrence was Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Garrett Marchbanks. Marchbanks had a great day, going 5-5, taking “best of the rest” honors for the day. Cooper Webb also had his best moto of the Pro Motocross season finishing behind Marchbanks in sixth and getting a fortunate sixth overall with 10-6 moto finishes.

Overall and Championship Points