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RedBud Motocross 2025 preview: Top finishes, previous winners, historic results, who to watch

RedBud Motocross 2025 preview: Top finishes, previous winners, historic results, who to watch

NBC Sports2 days ago
RedBud MX Park in Buchanan, Michigan, is arguably the most iconic track the Pro Motocross Series visits. Continuously hosting races since 1974 and on the Fourth of July weekend since 1978, this round holds special significance for the field. It is the oldest active track on the circuit.
In 2024, this was the first race Jett Lawrence missed after injuring his thumb in a midweek practice crash. His absence cleared the way for Chase Sexton to win his second round of the season, making this only the second time a race was won by someone other than Jett since the Australian rider joined the division. Sexton would use his 2024 sweep of the RedBud Nationals motos to establish dominance and walk away with the title.
Dan Beaver,
This weekend will also mark the debut of Ducati to the Pro Motocross series with Antonio Cairoli making his first of two starts in the United States in 2025. He will also mount up the following week in Millville, Minnesota.
Missing from the lineup since the season opener at Fox Raceway in Pala, California, Sexton returns this weekend, which adds one more top-tier rider to challenge Jett. And if he wins RedBud, he and Jett will remain the only two riders to win a Motocross round since the start of 2023.
There is a lot on the line for the remainder of the field if they want to become relevant in motocross.
The Search for Relevance
Sexton is an unknown entity this week, which means the two riders with the most podium finishes are the likeliest to challenge Jett. Sexton won this race last year, but his average finish is fourth.
Statistically, this is not a great track for Eli Tomac, according to WeWentFast.com, but his numbers are skewed by a disastrous outing in 2018 when he finished 39th in the first moto and ninth in the second race to combine for 15th overall. What Tomac has riding in his favor is that he has more top-level experience than the field, making his 100th Motocross start.
As with most venues the series visits, Tomac enters the week as the winningest active rider with three. His most recent overall victory came in 2022 when he swept the weekend.
Hunter Lawrence has three podiums in 2025 with several runner-up moto finishes, but RedBud has not been particularly kind to him in either the 450 class, with a best finish of third last year, or in 250s with a best of second in 2022. He'll contend this weekend, but it's difficult to imagine he will take this opportunity to seriously challenge for the victory.
RJ Hampshire is one of the riders to watch. He won back-to-back rounds in 2019 and 2020 in the 250 class. This may give him an opportunity to get his first podium of 2025 — or at least earn his first overall top-five. Hampshire came closest to the top five last week when he finished sixth overall with results of eighth and fourth.
The encouraging news is that RedBud is egalitarian. Six riders have won the last six rounds. Notably, the overall winner was also the Moto 1 winner in each of those rounds. The last three winners, Sexton, Jett, and Tomac, swept the motos as did Zach Osborne in 2020.
250 Notes
Jett's dominance factors into the 250 storyline as well, raising speculation that Haiden Deegan might climb aboard a 450 as early as the final round of 2025 if he has already clinched the title in order to challenge the foreign-born rider. That is not an unexpected result as he enters the weekend with more than a full round's worth of points ahead of Jo Shimoda. Deegan's lead is current 58 points and the phenom shows no sign of slowing.
Deegan's lead is the largest at this stage of the season since Ryan Villopoto dominated Ryan Dungey in the first five rounds of 2008 to amass the same 58-point advantage.
With his sweep of the motos last week at the sabulous Southwick track, he passed Jett in career 250 moto wins. A moto win this week will tie him with Tomac for 13th on the list. That raises the confidence level and increases the itch to challenge those riders head-to-head.
This week is the anniversary of Deegan's first win. He's come a long way since eking that result with a 2-3 moto score.
Motocross 2025 Top-10 finishers
450s
Jett Lawrence (5 wins, 5 podiums, 5 top-fives, 5 top-10s) [8 moto wins]
Eli Tomac (4 podiums, 5 top-fives, 5 top-10s) [2 moto wins]
Hunter Lawrence (3 podiums, 5 top-fives, 5 top-10s)
Aaron Plessinger (2 podiums, 4 top-fives, 5 top-10s)
Justin Cooper (1 podium, 5 top-fives, 5 top-10s)
Jorge Prado (1 top-five, 3 top-10s)
RJ Hampshire (5 top-10s)
Cooper Webb (4 top-10s)
Jason Anderson (3 top-10s)
Joey Savatgy (3 top-10s)
Malcolm Stewart (3 top-10s)
Benoit Paturel (1 top-10)
Valentin Guillod (1 top-10)
Coty Schock (1 top-10)
Justin Barcia (1 top-10)
250s
Haiden Deegan (4 wins, 5 podiums, 5 top-fives, 5 top-10s) [8 moto wins]
Chance Hymas (1 win, 1 podium, 3 top-fives, 3 top-10s) [2 moto wins]
Levi Kitchen (4 podiums, 4 top-fives, 4 top-10s)
Tom Vialle (3 podiums, 4 top-fives, 4 top-10s)
Jo Shimoda (2 podiums, 3 top-fives, 5 top-10s)
Garrett Marchbanks (3 top-fives, 5 top-10s)
Julien Beaumer (2 top-fives, 2 top-10s)
Michael Mosiman (1 top-five, 3 top-10s)
Ty Masterpool (4 top-10s)
Mikkel Haarup (3 top-10s)
Seth Hammaker (3 top-10s)
Dylan Schwartz (2 top-10s)
Casey Cochran (2 top-10)
Jordon Smith (2 top-10s)
Max Vohland (1 top-10)
Nate Thrasher (1 top-10)
Jalek Swoll (1 top-10)
450s
2024: Chase Sexton [1-1] (Followed by Aaron Plessinger [4-2], Hunter Lawrence [2-4])
2023: Jett Lawrence [1-1] (Dylan Ferrandis [3-2], Chase Sexton [2-3])
2022: Eli Tomac [1-1] (Chase Sexton [2-2], Justin Barcia [8-3])
2021: Dylan Ferrandis [1-2] (Eli Tomac [4-1], Aaron Plessinger [3-3])
2019: Adam Cianciarulo [1-3] (Blake Baggett [6-1], Zach Osborne [4-2])
250s
2024: Chance Hymas [4-1] (Ty Masterpool [1-5], Jo Shimoda [5-2])
2023: Haiden Deegan [2-3] (Levi Kitchen [7-1], Justin Cooper [4-4])
2022: Jo Shimoda [1-3] (Hunter Lawrence [2-2], Stilez Robertson [3-5])
2021: RJ Hampshire [2-2] (Justin Cooper [4-1], Jett Lawrence [1-6])
2019: RJ Hampshire [2-3] (Dylan Ferrandis [5-2], Shane McElrath [1-10])
Motocross Previews
Southwick | High Point | Thunder Valley | Hangtown | Fox Raceway
Supercross Previews
Salt Lake City | Denver | Pittsburgh | New Jersey | Philadelphia | Foxborough | Seattle | Birmingham | Indianapolis | Daytona | Arlington | Detroit | Tampa | Anaheim 2 | San Diego | Anaheim 1
More SuperMotocross News
RedBud betting preview
Chase Sexton set to return at RedBud
Southwick 450 results | 250 results
Motocross community mourns the death of Aidan Zingg
Jett Lawrence sweeps Southwick for fifth win of 2025
Haiden Deegan earns truly perfect round at Southwick
Jett Lawrence runs away from field in Southwick Moto 1
Haiden Deegan wins Southwick Moto 1 by 25 seconds
Justin Barcia to return from knee injury in Southwick
Drew Adams sidelined with broken finger
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