Jett Lawrence Withstands the Pressure at Thunder Valley to Open Pro Motocross Championship with Third Straight Win

Chance Hymas Breaks Through with First 1-1 Performance
in Honda Sweep

The Pro Motocross Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, left the state of California for the first time this summer for Race 3 of the 2025 campaign, where the mile-high altitude of Colorado’s Thunder Valley Motocross Park provided near-perfect conditions amidst an extended period of rainfall in the region. The Toyota Thunder Valley National signified Round 20 of the SMX World Championship and showcased an incredible battle in the 450 Class that saw multiple racers challenge Team Honda HRC Progressive’s Jett Lawrence over the course of two motos. Despite the threats, Lawrence withstood the pressure to prevail with an impressive 1-1 sweep and his third straight win to open the season. In the 250 Class, Team Honda HRC Progressive’s Chance Hymas made it a clean sweep for the “Red Riders” with his first ever 1-1 performance in which he went wire-to-wire in both motos.

450 Class

Moto 1

The first moto of the afternoon got underway with the top five riders in the championship leading the way, with Team Honda HRC Progressive’s Hunter Lawrence emerging with the Pro Motocross Holeshot, only to give way to his brother, Jett Lawrence. Behind Jett, multiple riders jockeyed for position, with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Aaron Plessinger settling into second ahead of Hunter Lawrence and the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammates of Eli Tomac and Justin Cooper.
 
Jett Lawrence was able to assert his control of the moto, but Plessinger showed impressive pace to keep the Honda within striking distance. Meanwhile, a tense battle for third unfolded between Hunter Lawrence and Tomac. Their fight helped bring them closer to Plessinger, which allowed Lawrence to seize the opportunity and make the pass for second. He then gave pursuit to his brother. Halfway through the moto the top four were separated by just four seconds.
 
A sibling battle took shape approaching the final 10 minutes as Hunter closed to within a second of Jett, but the younger Lawrence inched away and reestablished a margin of around two seconds. With just over five minutes to go things changed again as Plessinger surged forward and reclaimed second from Hunter Lawrence. Plessinger then charged onto the rear fender of Jett Lawrence and made a pass for the lead with three minutes remaining. Jett regrouped and battled back to reclaim the position. The fight wasn’t over as lapped riders slowed Lawrence’s pace enough to allow Plessinger to get alongside once more, but the Honda rider fended off the pass. Lawrence sprinted on the final lap to pull away and grab his fourth moto win of the season by 3.3 seconds over Plessinger. Hunter Lawrence went down while running third, which handed the position to Tomac, and remounted for fourth. Cooper followed a distant 45.8 seconds behind the leader in fifth.

Moto 2

The second moto started with the Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha of Coty Schock out front with the Pro Motocross Holeshot ahead of Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Cooper Webb and Hunter Lawrence. Both Jett Lawrence and Plessinger started outside the top five, while Tomac was mired outside the top 10. As Schock continued to pace the field a lot of moves were made behind him as Hunter Lawrence moved into second, Cooper into third, and then Jett Lawrence and Plessinger all making their way around Webb.
 
An aggressive Hunter Lawrence was able to wrestle the lead away from Schock as Cooper followed through into second to initiate a battle for the lead. Jett Lawrence made additional passes to slot into third. Back out front, Cooper made the pass for the lead as the Lawrences battled for second. Behind them, Plessinger and Tomac got by Schock and looked to close in on the lead trio.
 
As Cooper continued to pace the field Jett Lawrence was able to get around his brother for second. Not long after, Tomac charged his way into third. With half the moto remaining Lawrence mounted his attack on Cooper. The Yamaha rider kept the Honda at bay for a while, but Lawrence used an outside line to slip past and take control of the moto with a little more than 10 minutes to go. Meanwhile, Tomac got by his teammate for second and faced a deficit of about two seconds to Lawrence.
 
As he closed in on Lawrence and appeared to have the pace to apply pressure Tomac tipped over, which ended the threat. Lawrence carried on to take his fifth moto win of the season by 11.1 seconds over Tomac, with Cooper in third.

Overall

Lawrence’s second 1-1 effort of the season, and the 15th of his career, resulted in the Australian’s 18th career premier class victory in 19 starts, which moves him into a tie for 10th on the all-time wins list. Tomac earned his second runner-up effort of the young season (3-2), while Plessinger made it back-to-back podiums in third (2-5).
 
Lawrence added to his lead in the championship standings, which now sits at 25 points, one full moto over Tomac, who reclaimed second. Plessinger dropped to third and sits 27 points out of the lead.
 
The overall SMX regular season standings have Webb maintaining his hold of the top seed after 20 rounds, with a 47-point margin over teammate Cooper with eight rounds remaining. Cooper sits 21 points ahead of Plessinger, the current third seed.

1st Place: Jett Lawrence, Team Honda HRC (1-1)
“[Today] was a combination of working hard and being patient. Justin [Cooper] and Eli [Tomac] were riding well [in Moto 2] and I was able to capitalize on mistakes from everyone else while not making many of my own. This track made it easy to do so. I could hear Eli behind me, but then I heard the fans and knew something had to have happened. They made it tough on me today, but happy to be back on top.”
 
2nd Place: Eli Tomac, Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing (3-2)
“It was back and forth. We [Lawrence and I] had our spots on the track to gain time and lose time. The turn after I went down was the spot where I thought I could get him, but I rushed the prior corner. It’s a bummer, but it was a good race. We’ll try again next weekend.”
 
3rd Place: Aaron Plessinger, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (2-5)
“I had a great first moto, luckily, because I didn't do too good in the second moto. I made some changes to the bike and should have just left it alone. All in all, it was a good day. I’m happy with our progress and always glad to be on the podium. We’ll keep going and hopefully we’ll win one of these someday.”

250 Class

Moto 1

The first moto began with the fastest qualifier, Hymas, leading the way to the Pro Motocross Holeshot, followed by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Tom Vialle and Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan, the defending champion and points leader. As Hymas took advantage of the clear track to establish a gap on the field, Deegan went to work on Vialle and made the move for second. 
 
The lead duo soon settled into their respective positions while Vialle went down while running third and lost two positions, moving Triumph Factory Racing’s Mikkel Haarup into third and Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ty Masterpool into fourth. This pair then engaged in a battle for third, from which Masterpool was able to move into podium position.
 
Back up front, the gap between Hymas and Deegan started to shrink as the moto entered its final 10 minutes, with Deegan logging the fastest laps on the track. The Yamaha rider continued to inch closer, but as he did his motorcycle appeared to encounter issues. Messages from his mechanic via the pit board confirmed the concern as Deegan was instructed to focus on saving his Yamaha. That ended the battle for the lead as Hymas pulled away in the closing stages and took a wire-to-wire moto win by 45.6 seconds over Deegan, who nursed the bike home in second, while Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Garrett Marchbanks made a torrid charge over the second half of the moto to finish third. Masterpool was fourth, with his rookie teammate Drew Adams fifth. 

Moto 2

The final moto of the afternoon saw Hymas sweep the Pro Motocross Holeshots for the day, fending off Deegan, who was passed by Vialle for second. A few moments later, the Frenchman bobbled and gave the position back to Deegan. After the first couple laps, the top three settled in while Team Honda HRC Progressive’s Jo Shimoda slotted into fourth.
 
Hymas was able to establish a multi-second lead early on and proceeded to manage that advantage through the opening 10 minutes. Soon enough, Hymas and Deegan were more than 10 seconds clear of Vialle in third and Shimoda in fourth, which set the stage for a head-to-head battle for the win between the budding rivals. Meanwhile, the battle for third saw Shimoda get the better of Vialle to move into a podium spot.
 
As the moto entered its final 10 minutes Deegan made a push to try and close the gap to Hymas and made some inroads before going down. He remounted quickly, without losing a position, but dropped more than eight seconds behind. Further back, Vialle lost another position to Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen, who continued his late-race charge onto Shimoda’s rear fender to initiate a battle for third in the closing laps. Shimoda held him off initially, but Kitchen’s persistence paid off with two laps to go.
 
Hymas wrapped up a perfect afternoon with another wire-to-wire moto win, 11.1 seconds ahead of Deegan. Kitchen finished more than 43 seconds behind in third.

Overall

Hymas’ dominant effort showed his blossoming progress as a pro and resulted in the second win of his career at the venue where he enjoyed a breakthrough outing one year prior. While Deegan’s undefeated start to the season came to an end, he minimized the damage with a runner-up effort (2-2). Kitchen’s incredible charge in the final moto was enough to place him third (8-3) for the second week in a row.
 
Deegan added more to his lead in the championship standings, which now sits at 25 points, a full moto over Shimoda. With the win, Hymas vaulted six positions into third, 49 points out of the lead.
 
The overall SMX regular season standings have Deegan firmly in control of the top seed after 20 rounds, holding an 83-point lead over Jo Shimoda with eight rounds remaining. Shimoda sits 12 points ahead of the current third seed, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Julien Beaumer.

1st Place: Chance Hymas, Team Honda HRC Progressive (1-1)
“Today was a perfect day. I was fastest in both qualifying sessions, led every lap in both motos, and got both holeshots. I really could not have asked for a better day. I’m so happy to finally get the monkey off my back and have a day like this.”
 
2nd Place: Haiden Deegan, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing (2-2)
“It took me a while to find my flow today, which is fine. If 2-2 is a bad day for me then I’ll take it. We faced some adversity but overcame it and I’m really proud with how the team and I responded.”
 
3rd Place: Levi Kitchen, Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki (8-3)
“I was in a dogfight the whole day. I got a bad start in the first moto and fell. The second moto went better. My fitness is good and I feel great right now. I just need to start up front with everyone else in order to have a shot [at a win].”