Unadilla Valley Sports Center in New Berlin, New York plays host to round 10 of the 2025 AMA Pro Motocross Championship. This is the penultimate round of the series and both the 250MX and 450MX titles have a chance to be wrapped up today as Haiden Deegan and Jett Lawrence continue their championship hunts.
Both Jett Lawrence and Jo Shimoda swept the day with 1-1 results, earning Lawrence the 450MX crown one round early.
450 MOTO 1
The first 450 moto set the tone for the day with the top six riders battling it out at the front during the opening laps. Jorge Prado crossed the holeshot line first but was quickly overtaken as RJ Hampshire led from the start.
Hampshire is fresh off his first overall podium and led the first two laps with both of the Lawrence brothers closing in. Jett eventually made the pass for the lead but Hampshire stayed close and actually re-passed Jett once he shot off the track just before the finish line. Hampshire later slotted into second but fell at the bottom of the “The Wall” turn and eventually finished fourth.
Once Jett Lawrence took over the lead it spelled trouble for the rest of the field. He had one minor miscue but recovered nicely and quickly reclaimed the lead from Hampshire. Once Jett settled down he crossed the line in first, seven seconds clear of second place. This win puts him one step closer to clinching the title one round early.
Hunter Lawrence finished second in race one. He followed his brother Jett to the lead and looked good in the early stages of the moto. During the mid-section of the race, Hunter’s pace slowed up and Eli Tomac closed in for second place. Lawrence then dropped his lap times and broke away from Tomac to take second.
Tomac held on for third. The former champ’s intensity looked up to par today as he battled with Ken Roczen off the start. He closed in on Hunter Lawrence towards the end but never got close enough to seal a pass or steal the position away.
After the fall, Hampshire still crossed the line fourth followed closely by Ken Roczen who rounded out the top five in his first appearance of the year.
450 MOTO 2
Hunter Lawrence grabbed the final holeshot of the day but Jett moved from fourth to first in the second turn and put his Honda HRC machine into the lead. The two brothers duked it out for the first few laps before Jett dropped the hammer and broke away.
Jett led every lap of the second moto and clinched the win by nine seconds over Hunter. With the win, he sealed the deal on the 2025 Pro Motocross Championship, the second 450MX title of his career. Hunter Lawrence finished second and will likely take second in the overall championship next weekend.
“It didn’t seem possible [after the ACL injury in Supercross]. You work so hard for this and then it’s taken away from you in an instant,” Lawrence said. “Going 1-1 on the day and finally wrapping up the championship feels amazing. HJ [Hunter] put a lot of pressure on me in that second moto, so it definitely wasn’t easy, but I’m really thankful for my team and everyone who’s helped me get to this point.”
“I’ve always considered myself as a top contender, so it’s good to be here,” Lawrence said. “I gave it my all both motos, but it wasn’t good enough. Congrats to Jett, he’s been riding awesome all season. We’ll see if we can get him in the playoffs.”
Eli Tomac made the math easy with 3-3 results. The Yamaha rider circulated inside the top five for the first half of the moto but made a charge at his teammate Justin Cooper to take the final spot on the podium. Tomac looked back up to 100% health and his intensity was apparent even late into the race. A pair of thirds put him back on the box.
“It was a solid day for us here at Unadilla,” Tomac said. “As a whole, I rode really well and found a really good flow in both motos, specifically in moto one. I was comfortable and felt really good. I just wasn’t quite as fast as the two brothers and missed out a little bit on the starts.”
Justin Cooper held on for fourth in the race but fifth overall with RJ Hampshire rounding out the top five and taking fourth overall.
“Another solid weekend in Unadilla, leading my first 450 class laps,” Hampshire said. “I wish I would have felt a little better up front, but that’s all part of the learning, and I’ve always struggled at this track so all-in-all P4 was a solid day. We keep learning a lot each weekend, and my speed is continuing to get better, which we are tuning the bike toward as we go along.”
Justin Cooper rounded out the top five and still leads the overall SMX points. “I messed up my start in moto one and came back from around 20th to sixth,” Cooper said. “In the second moto, I had a good start, almost got the holeshot, and was third on the first lap. I ran there for quite a while, then Eli got around me and kind of towed me around, and I finished right behind him in fourth. It was a good day overall— better than last weekend—and my riding’s been good.”
Ken Roczen did not finish the second moto after an impressive top five finish in race one. Unfortunately his day ended with Roczen pulling off the track just four laps into the second moto, resulting in 5-38 scores for 13th overall.
“Overall it was a pretty decent weekend I think,” Roczen said. “Second moto I had about 15 minutes in me. I was pretty gassed at that point. The intensity [of] racing is always at another level than at home. The track was hard pack and super fast, bumpy and it all kind of beat me [up]. I was cramping so bad in my obliques and under my rib cage I literally couldn’t inhale anymore it was like a knife in there. I have never actually had that happen to that extent. I obviously wanted to finish the race. I only had 3 laps to go but it was such strange pain and not being able to inhale…I ended up going back to the rig and called it a day.”
450MX OVERALL RESULTS (Top 10)
| 1. | Jett Lawrence | (Hon) | 1-1 |
| 2. | Hunter Lawrence | (Hon) | 2-2 |
| 3. | Eli Tomac | (Yam) | 3-3 |
| 4. | RJ Hampshire | (Hus) | 4-5 |
| 5. | Justin Cooper | (Yam) | 6-4 |
| 6. | Dylan Ferrandis | (Hon) | 7-6 |
| 7. | Malcolm Stewart | (Hus) | 10-7 |
| 8. | Justin Barcia | (GG) | 9-8 |
| 9. | Kyle Webster | (Hon) | 8-9 |
| 10. | Valentin Guillod | (Yam) | 11-10 |
250 MOTO 1
Jo Shimoda absolutely dominated the first 250 moto. The Honda HRC rider made a series of passes on the opening lap and took over the lead just before the finish line. This move around early leader Tom Vialle, put Shimoda into the top spot as he sprinted away from the rest of the pack. By the halfway point he had opened up a lead of more than 10 seconds and continued to stretch it while leading every lap of the race.
Haiden Deegan still crossed the line second. He pushed into P2 on the second lap but never got close enough to make a run at Shimoda. Deegan’s second place actually sees him lose points to Shimoda which could delay the title from being clinched today.
Seth Hammaker took third in race one. The Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider started up front in the lead group and quickly slotted into third after battling with Tom Vialle and Haiden Deegan. Vialle upped the pace late in the race but Hammaker answered the call and held on to the final spot on the box.
250 Moto 2
Once again Jo Shimoda found himself up front off the start of the second 250 moto. The Honda HRC rider pushed to the lead on lap two and never looked back. His gap wasn’t as far this time as Tom Vialle kept him honest for most of the race. Still, no one could touch Shimoda as he swept the day with 1-1 results. More importantly he delayed Deegan clinching the title until next weekend at the series finale.
“Two good motos for me and I got two more good starts,” said Shimoda. “I just kept with the consistency. I’ve been riding much better. This was a good one today.”
Tom Vialle grabbed the holeshot in race two and led the opening lap. The French rider quickly had his hands full with Shimoda as the moto one winner passed for the lead. Vialle stayed close but never remounted a charge. 4-2 puts him third on the day.
“The goal is to finish this year’s Pro Motocross season strong, and this was another good step towards that,” said Vialle. “We made some good bike changes for moto two this weekend and I was riding much faster in that race with more comfort and confidence to push the speed. The goal is to keep improving next weekend and be prepared to fight for the SMX title in September.”
Haiden Deegan started well outside the top 10 but slowly chipped away in the early stages of moto two. He eventually found himself in fifth but continued to make passes and finally caught Seth Hammaker for the final spot on the podium. A third in moto two earned Deegan second overall but forces him to wait one more week for his championship celebration.
“It’s hard to push the edge when you have a championship to win,” Deegan said. “I think that’s how I got to where I am, being patient. I never felt very comfortable today, but credit to Jo [Shimoda], he was ripping. We’ll go take care of business next weekend.”
250MX OVERALL RESULTS (Top 10)
| 1. | Jo Shimoda | (Hon) | 1-1 |
| 2. | Haiden Deegan | (Yam) | 2-3 |
| 3. | Tom Vialle | (KTM) | 4-2 |
| 4. | Seth Hammaker | (Kaw) | 3-6 |
| 5. | Julien Beaumer | (KTM) | 6-4 |
| 6. | Garrett Marchbanks | (Kaw) | 5-5 |
| 7. | Jordon Smith | (Tri) | 8-9 |
| 8. | Ryder Difrancesco | (GG) | 11-8 |
| 9. | Nate Thrasher | (Yam) | 13-7 |
| 10. | Levi Kitchen | (Kaw) | 10-10 |
QUALIFYING
450MX
Jett Lawrence set the pace early in the day as his best lap in Q1 was two full seconds faster than anyone else. He was second in Q2 but his time held up to put Jett on top going into the motos. Justin Cooper set the quickest time in the second session but times were much slower as the track roughened up. Cooper was second overall with his teammate Eli Tomac in third.
450MX OVERALL QUALIFYING (Top 10)
| 1. | Jett Lawrence | (Hon) | 2:11.757 |
| 2. | Justin Cooper | (Yam) | 2:13.444 |
| 3. | Eli Tomac | (Yam) | 2:15.438 |
| 4. | Ken Roczen | (Suz) | 2:15.539 |
| 5. | Jorge Prado | (Kaw) | 2:15.770 |
| 6. | RJ Hampshire | (Hus) | 2:15.967 |
| 7. | Hunter Lawrence | (Hon) | 2:16.556 |
| 8. | Dylan Ferrandis | (Hon) | 2:16.785 |
| 9. | Malcolm Stewart | (Hus) | 2:17.265 |
| 10. | Kyle Webster | (Hon) | 2:18.153 |
250MX
The 250MX title fight comes down to Haiden Deegan and Jo Shimoda as the Japanese native is technically the only other rider who has a mathematical shot at the championship. However neither of those two contenders topped the qualifying charts. Instead it was 250MX rookie, Drew Adams, who grabbed the fastest lap – half a second quicker than his teammate Seth Hammaker. Hammaker was fastest in Q1 but second overall. Julien Beaumer looked good as his time held up for third going into the motos. Garrett Marchbanks and Haiden Deegan rounded out the top five overall.
250MX OVERALL QUALIFYING (Top 10)
| 1. | Drew Adams | (Kaw) | 2:14.282 |
| 2. | Seth Hammaker | (Kaw) | 2:14.767 |
| 3. | Julien Beaumer | (KTM) | 2:15.069 |
| 4. | Garrett Marchbanks | (Kaw) | 2:15.562 |
| 5. | Haiden Deegan | (Yam) | 2:15.825 |
| 6. | Mikkel Haarup | (Tri) | 2:16.187 |
| 7. | Tom Vialle | (KTM) | 2:16.245 |
| 8. | Jo Shimoda | (Hon) | 2:16.327 |
| 9. | Dilan Schwartz | (Yam) | 2:16.470 |
| 10. | Michael Mosiman | (Yam) | 2:16.474 |
Unadilla Notes:
- Lachlan Turner won the WMX overall with 2-1 finishes, trading moto wins with Charli Cannon
- Ken Roczen is making a cameo appearance in the 450MX division
- Chase Sexton is out for the remaining rounds of Pro Motocross after crashing out of the second moto at Ironman
- Cole Davies makes his Pro Motocross debut today in the 250MX class
- Ty Masterpool returns under the Pro Circuit Kawasaki tent
- Jalek Swoll is out for the remainder of 2025 due to a torn calf
- Landon Gibson and Caden Dudney make their professional debuts
