450 Storylines: Hangtown Recap
JETT LAWRENCE: Scored the overall win at Hangtown with 3-1 finishes to extend his early season points lead. Lawrence has 17 wins in 18 premier class starts and already sits alone in ninth on the all-time list. He can tie Kent Howerton for eighth all-time at Thunder Valley. Lawrence also broke a tie for 10th on the all-time SMX League* wins list with Jeff Ward. It was Honda’s 370th Pro MX win, 9 more than second place Kawasaki on the manufacturer all-time wins list.
AARON PLESSINGER: Earned his sixth career runner-up finish and 14th podium with a 2-3 effort at Hangtown, still in search of a first career 450 Class victory. Plessinger led the first 15 of 17 laps in Moto 1, but was usurped by Eli Tomac as the 2-lap board was presented. Plessinger has 30 combined Pro MX podiums (16 in 250/14 in 450) and 50 combined top-5 finishes (24 in 250/26 in 450) in 101 total starts.
JUSTIN COOPER: Finished 4-2 for third overall, the third podium result of his brief 450 Class career. He has finished runner-up in at least 1 moto at each of the first 2 rounds and is in a tight battle for second in the point standings going into Colorado. He collected 39 podiums in 70 career 250 Class starts, which is fifth all-time, before making the jump to the 450 Class last year.
NOTES: Eli Tomac (4th): Earned his 85th career 450 Class top-5 finish in addition to his 70th career 450 Class moto win. The Colorado native will now contest his home race for the first time since 2022, when he won the title. He has a pair of 450 Class victories and 5 podiums in 8 starts at Thunder Valley.
Hunter Lawrence (5th): Extended his impressive top-5 streak in the 450 Class, where he’s 13 for 13. He has 43 combined top-5’s in 65 career Pro MX starts (30 in 250/13 in 450).
Jason Anderson (8th): Made his 320th SMX League start (76th 450 Class start) and earned his 62nd top-10 finish in the 450 Class (16th all-time). Jorge Prado (9th): Scored his first top-5 moto finish on U.S. soil and now has back-to-back top-10 finishes to begin his career in America.
450 Class: Thunder Valley Facts
- HISTORY LESSON: Thunder Valley hosted its first 450 Class race on July 24, 2005, when Ricky Carmichael prevailed with a 1-1 outing aboard a Suzuki. That year, Carmichael fell 2 motos short of a perfect season on the way to his sixth title. He also swept the motos in 2006 en route to his seventh and final 450 Class crown.
- THUNDER VALLEY v.20: Thunder Valley Motocross Park has been a part of every season since it joined the championship schedule in 2005. Its 20-year legacy and 21st running of the National this weekend places Thunder Valley behind only Redbud and Spring Creek for consecutive years of hosting a National.
- 2010 MXoN: In 2010, Thunder Valley Motocross Park became the third U.S. venue to host the FIM Motocross of Nations. Ryan Dungey won both of his MX1 motos to carry the Americans to victory. Teammates Andrew Short and Trey Canard were fixtures in the top-10, including Short’s runner-up in the final moto. Since then, RedBud MX added its name to the short list of host U.S. venues, with Ironman Raceway set to become the fifth track to host this September.
- CHAMPIONSHIP %: The winner of the 450 Class at Thunder Valley has won the Championship in 11 times in 20 seasons (55%), but just once over the past 5 years. Meanwhile, Honda is in the midst of a four-year win streak in Colorado, with back-to-back wins each for Ken Roczen & Jett Lawrence. The last non-Honda winner was Tomac in 2020.
250 Storylines: Hangtown Recap
HAIDEN DEEGAN: Scored his ninth career victory with a 1-1 sweep at Hangtown. Will now seek his 10th career 250 Class win and 20th SMX League* win entering Thunder Valley. His 19th SMX League win is tied with Zach Osborne & Grant Langston inside the top-40 all-time. The win was Yamaha’s 260th Pro MX victory and 118th in the 250 Class. Deegan is tied with Dylan Ferrandis for fourth on Yamaha’s all-time 250 Class wins list.
JO SHIMODA: Off to the best start of his career and now sits inside the top 25 all-time in 250 Class podiums with his 21st, tying Alex Martin and Hunter Lawrence for 23rd place. Shimoda’s 4 straight moto runners-up has him just 12 points behind an undefeated Deegan and 21 points clear of third, Julien Beaumer.
LEVI KITCHEN: After a rough 16th-place finish to open the season, Kitchen rebounded with his 10th career podium following a 3-3 effort at Hangtown. He now has 23 podium results in his first 67 SMX League starts. The finish vaulted Kitchen up 11 positions to fifth in the championship standings.
NOTES: Julien Beaumer (4th): Earned a career-best fourth-place finish and now has the first pair of top-5 results of his career to open the season.
Garrett Marchbanks (5th): Made his 30th career 250 Class start and his third career top-5 finish in the class.
Mikkel Haarup (7th): Earned his first top-10 result on U.S. soil in just his second start.
Preston Masciangelo (32nd): Made his first career start.
250 Class: Thunder Valley Facts
- HISTORY LESSON: Thunder Valley hosted its first 250 Class race on July 24, 2005, when Ivan Tedesco swept aboard a Kawasaki. At the halfway point in the 2005 season, Mike Brown had a 16-point lead over Tedesco going into Thunder Valley. Brown went 7-8 in Colorado, while Tedesco’s 1-1 effort vaulted him into the points lea. Tedesco never looked back and went on to win the championship with just 2 victories.
- THUNDER VALLEY v.20: The 250 and 450 Classes share the same history at Thunder Valley, with a landmark 20 races in Colorado. Ken Roczen holds the track record for combined overall wins with 5 and sits tied with Ryan Villopoto for combined moto wins with 8. Haiden Deegan will look to become the third 250 Class rider to go back-to-back at Thunder Valley.
- HISTORIC STREAK: Kawasaki won 7 straight overalls and 14 straight motos from 2005-2011 at Thunder Valley. Since then, Team Green has failed to win Moto 1 a single time but still boasts 4 overall victories. Yamaha has won every Moto 1 at Thunder Valley since 2018 but only has a single Moto 2 triumphs and 3 overall victories during that span. All told, only 3 manufacturers have 250 Class victories at Thunder Valley (Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha).
- CHAMPIONSHIP %: The winner of the 250 Class at Thunder Valley has won the title just 9 times in 20 seasons (45%), but each of the last 3 seasons with the Lawrence brothers and Haiden Deegan. When combining classes, the winner at Thunder Valley has captured the title 20 times in 40 chances (50%).
