MONSTER ENERGY SUPERCROSS 450SX CLASS CHAMPION: COOPER WEBB
MONSTER ENERGY SUPERCROSS WESTERN REGIONAL 250SX CLASS CHAMPION: HAIDEN DEEGAN
MONSTER ENERGY SUPERCROSS EASTERN REGIONAL 250SX CLASS CHAMPION: TOM VIALLE
PRO MOTOCROSS 450 CLASS CHAMPION: JETT LAWRENCE
PRO MOTOCROSS 250 CLASS CHAMPION: HAIDEN DEEGAN
450 Storylines: Budds Creek Recap
JETT LAWRENCE: Caps his Championship off with an overall win, 9th of his season, 24th of his 450 Class career (5th all-time), 38th of his Pro Motocross career (5th all-time passing Bob Hannah), and 64th of his SMX League* career (7th all-time tying Hannah). The victory was Honda’s 175th 450 Class victory and 382nd Pro Motocross victory, both 1st all-time. Jett claims his 25th 450 Class podium and seeks his 85th podium and 100th top-5 in his SMX League career as the series moves into the Playoffs, where he holds the 2-seed.
HUNTER LAWRENCE: Finished his 2nd 450 Class season runner-up again with 8 podiums and 1 victory. He has 17 podiums in his 22 450 Class start and remains perfect in top-5 finishes. The podium was the 65th of his SMX League career, tied with Justin Cooper, Steve Lamson, and Davi Millsaps for 34th all-time. Hunter will hold the 5-seed entering the Playoffs.
JUSTIN COOPER: Earned 3rd podium of the season, 5th of his 450 Class career, 44th of his Pro Motocross career, and 65th of his SMX League career. He nailed 4th in the points for the 2nd consecutive season to begin his 450 Class career and enters the playoffs with the 1-seed after being one of just 2 athletes to start all 28 regular season events (Malcolm Stewart).
NOTES: RJ Hampshire (4th): Finishes rookie 450 Class season on a 6-round top-5 streak and claiming his 90th SMX League top-5 finish. He impressed with a 5th in the 450 Class Championship and earns the 10-seed in the 450 Playoffs after only racing the Motocross portion of the Premier Class. Justin Barcia (5th): 2nd top-5 overall finish of the season and 7th straight top-10 after missing the first 4 rounds. Climbed to 10th in the points and holds the 9-seed going into the playoffs. Malcolm Stewart (6th): 4th best finish of his Pro Motocross career (45 450/24 250 starts). Back-to-back top-10 point standing finishes in Pro Motocross for first time in his career. Earns 3-seed in playoffs after starting every round of SX/MX. Dylan Ferrandis (7th): Made 175th SMX League start and 80th Pro Motocross start (39th in 450 Class). Valentin Guillod (9th): Five top-10 overall finishes in first Pro Motocross season and finished 9th in points. Clinched 19-seed in playoffs moving him into auto-qualifier status for Main Events. Thomas Welch (38th): First career 450 Class start.
450 Class: Charlotte Facts
- HISTORY LESSON: The first SMX League* round held in Charlotte was on August 7, 1977, at Metrolina Speedway and was solely a 500cc Class event. Bob Hannah (Yamaha) earned the overall with a 2-1 score. Metrolina Speedway hosted 500/125 Class rounds the next two seasons but never hosted a Premier Class round. The first Premier Class SMX League round in Charlotte was Rd. 13 of Supercross on May 12, 1990, at Memorial Stadium and Damon Bradshaw (Yamaha) captured the win.
- MARKET HISTORY: Memorial Stadium and Charlotte Motor Speedway combined to host Supercross rounds from 1990-1998. Memorial Stadium, Charlotte Motor Speedway, and Metrolina Speedway were the only venues to host SMX League rounds in North Carolina before SMX Playoff racing came to the tar-heel state’s zMAX Dragway in 2023.
- HISTORY MADE: Concord’s zMAX Dragway was the first ever SMX Playoff round in 2023 and did not disappoint. Chase Sexton (Honda) swept both motos to take a 12-point Championship lead over Jett Lawrence into the 2nd round. Jett struggled to a 7-2 overall for fourth but rebounded in the double-and-triple point rounds to win the title. Lawrence captured the overall last season at zMAX with a 2-1 overall, bettering Eli Tomac’s (Yamaha) 1-2 score.
- CHAMPIONSHIP %: Charlotte area Premier Class/500cc Class SMX League winners won the title in 5/11 (45%) tries. Jeremy McGrath pulled it off three times (1993, 1995, & 1996). Jett Lawrence added to the total with his 2024 Concord Playoff victory combined with his Playoff Championship.
250 Storylines: Budds Creek Recap
HAIDEN DEEGAN: Clinches back-to-back 250 Class titles while snatching his 7th victory of the season and 14th of his 250 Class career, tying Blake Baggett, Broc Glover, & Jett Lawrence for 9th all-time on the 250 Class list. He potentially caps off his 250 Class career with his 25podiums in 35 starts. He was also making his 70th SMX League start and tied Jeremy Martin and Glover on Yamaha’s all-time 250 Class wins list. Yamaha now has 12 250 Class titles, 26 Pro Motocross titles, and 59 SMX League titles (3rd in all categories). Deegan will seek Yamaha’s 60th SMX League title in the playoffs and his 3rd straight SMX Playoff Championship. Deegan’s 30th SMX League win ties him with Barcia and Pierre Karsmakers for 30th all-time. Deegan will hold the 1-seed in the 250SMX Playoffs.
JO SHIMODA: Had already clinched 2nd in the 250 Class Championship and the 2-seed in the playoffs but caps his 250 Class season with a 3-2 finish for 2nd overall. He tied Mike Alessi to move inside the top-60 in all-time SMX League podiums with 42 and passes Baggett for 16th on the 250 Class podiums list with his 27th. Shimoda also tied Ryan Hughes and Jeff Ward to move into the top-10 all-time in 250 Class top-5 finishes with 41.
LEVI KITCHEN: After 5 straight finishes outside of the top-5, Kitchen nabs his first overall podium since Southwick. He clinches 4th in the final 250 Class standings and holds the 6-seed going into the playoffs. Kitchen nailed his 14th 250 class podium in 46 starts and 27th SMX League podium in 76 starts.
NOTES: Garrett Marchbanks (4th): Earns his highest finish in any SMX League Championship with a 3rd in the 250 Class standings. He made his 120th SMX League start (39 in 250 Class) and holds the 3-seed going into the playoffs. Nate Thrasher (5th): Ties career best Pro Motocross finish and holds the 11-seed going into the playoffs. Cole Davies (7th): Handed his first career moto victory in way of penalty but finished 17th in moto 2. Moves into auto-qualifier position with the 17th-seed in the playoffs. Dilan Schwarts (10th): Makes 70th career SMX League start and clinched auto-qualifier spot with the 19th-seed in playoffs. Landon Gibson (20th): Talented amateur who finished 4th in the SMX Next Championship in Pittsburgh earlier this season makes his Pro Motocross debut. Gavin Betts (31st), Cole Zeller (39th), & Cole Pranger (44th): All made their 250 Class and SMX League debuts.
250 Class: Charlotte Facts
- HISTORY LESSON: The first 250 SMX League round in Charlotte was on August 20, 1978, at Metrolina Speedway and Gaylon Mosier (Kawasaki) swept. Broc Glover clinched the title with a 5-3 score for 4th overall. Mark Barnett (Suzuki) won the next season at Metrolina.
- MARKET HISTORY: Denny Stephenson won the first 250SX Class Charlotte Supercross round in 1990 at Memorial Stadium, where the series returned through 1995. Mickael Pichon and Ricky Carmichael stole the show at Charlotte Motor Speedway from 1996-1998. Jo Shimoda (Kawasaki) won the first ever 250 Class Playoff round, a 4-1 nail-biter over Tom Vialle (KTM, 3-2). Haiden Deegan swept last season’s zMAX Dragway round en-route to back-to-back SMX Playoff Championships.
- 15 EVENTS/27 RACES ROUNDS: There have been 15 Charlotte area SMX League events held since the 1977 500 Class round at Metrolina Speedway: Metrolina- 3, Memorial Stadium- 6, Charlotte Motor Speedway- 3, and zMAX Dragway- 2. Every form of SMX League racing has been held, other than 450 Class Motocross action, scattered across 47 years and 4 venues: 500 Class- 3, 250 Class- 2, 450SX Class- 9, 250SX Class- 9, 250SMX Playoffs- 2, & 450SMX Playoffs- 2.
- CHAMPIONSHIP %: The winner of 250 SMX League racing in the Charlotte Market has won their respective Championships in 5/13 (38%) rounds. Combining all 27 SMX League rounds in the Charlotte Market, the winner has won their respective Championship in 11/27 (41%) attempts. Both zMAX Dragway winners last year won the SMX Playoff Championship.
