2025 Hangtown Motocross Research
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SMX Round 19: Hangtown Gonna Be Hot
The 19th round of the The 2025 SuperMotocross World Championship and round two of the Pro Motocross Championship visits one of the most historic events in America, the Hangtown Motocross Classic, which predates the series.
Operated by the Dirt Diggers North (DDNMC), it’s the only race on the schedule still run by a motorcycle club.
It’s also often a hot one and this year’s predicted triple digit raceday forecast is 16° above average and just a few degrees below the record high (2021).
Recent Hangtown Diversity
- 6 different riders have won the most recent 6 450MX overalls at Hangtown.
- And 6 different riders have won the most recent 6 250MX overalls at Hangtown.
- Combine the winners from both classes and 11 different riders have won the 12 overalls since 2018.
- Jett Lawrence is the only rider with two Hangtown wins since 2018.
More info in the Hangtown Venue History page.
All-Time Hangtown Wins (all classes)
450MX Facts
- Jett Lawrence’s double digit points lead (+10) after round one is the largest in 20 years. In 2005, Ricky Carmichael went 1-1 to Chad Reed’s 3-3 for 2nd overall and a +10 points pad.
- With 16 wins in just 17 450MX starts, J. Lawrence has tied Jeff Emig for 11th on the all-time premier class wins list.
- Eli Tomac has 4 wins at Hangtown (3 450MX, 1 250MX)
- Eli Tomac has won 6 of 7 second motos in 450MX at Hangtown!
- It’s been 1001 days since Eli Tomac won a 450MX moto (and an overall)
- A defending 450MX champion has never scored ZERO points at round 1 of a title defense.
- Jett Lawrence has competed in 34 450MX Motos. He’s led every single lap in 22 of them (65%).
- Justin Cooper’s 2nd in moto 1 at Fox Raceway was a career high. He had 6 third place motos in 2024.
- J. Lawrence’s fastest lap in moto 2 at Fox Raceway was 1.032 faster than Eli Tomac’s and 3.577 faster than Cooper Webb’s (3rd fastest of the moto)
- J. Lawrence has been Fastest Qualifier 15 times in 17 tries. The only riders to beat him are Ken Roczen (High Point 2023) and Chase Sexton (The Wick 2024)
- Freddie Noren has 11 250/450MX Hangtown starts. He’s in a four-way tie for most in the 250/450 class (Nick Wey, Mike LaRocco, John Dowd).
250MX Facts
- Jo Shimoda’s 2-2 for 2nd was his best ever 250MX season opening finish (6th try)
- Haiden Deegan’s fastest lap in moto 2 at Fox Raceway came on lap 9, later than any other top 10 rider.
- First career top five for Julien Beaumer (5-4/4th). The 4th in moto 2 tied a career best moto fin.
- Haiden Deegan had the 4th fastest lap time in moto 1 and 3rd fastest in moto 2.
- Three different countries went 1-2-3 at Fox Raceway (USA, Japan, France).
- The 1-1 at Fox Raceway was (only) Haiden Deegan’s third career 1-1 performance. He has yet to do it twice in a season.
- Julien Beaumer set the overall fastest race lap at Fox Raceway, .743 faster than the closest time. It was the first O/A fastest lap of his career (that was his 13th start).
- Jo Shimoda had the fastest lap in moto 2. That was the 7th time in Shimoda’s career he’s had the fastest lap in a moto.
Eli Tomac is Very Good at Hangtown
Eli Tomac has won 9 of the 14 450MX motos he’s raced at Hangtown. The other 5 motos? Oddly, all 4th place finishes!
The best moto of them all came 10 years ago this month.
On May 16, 2015, Eli Tomac won the Hangtown Motocross Classic (1-1), his second career 450MX win. It was a ROUT right from qualifying where he topped both sessions:
- Fastest Qualifier by over two seconds
- Two wire to wire moto wins.
- Won moto two by 1:31.181 (that’s one minute, 31 seconds)
- His fastest lap time was 5.35 seconds faster than the next fastest lap.
- His average lap time was nearly 6 seconds faster than second place’s average (R. Dungey)
The 2015 beatdown was so noteworthy that even Jett Lawrence remembers watching it as an 11-year-old.
“Don’t ask me trivia questions about dirt bikes but I remember this. I remember going, ‘I gotta race this guy who’s done this,” Lawrence said in the 2025 Fox Raceway press conference. When asked what he thinks about racing again at Hangtown, Lawrence continued:
I have this image of Eli smoking everyone by over a minute or something. Right now I’m going to have to go wipe my brain and make sure I get that out of my head and be confident.
–Jett Lawrence on watching Eli Tomac’s Hangtown 2015 ride.
Eli Tomac @ Hangtown (450)
In March, Tomac interviewed with Racer X about Hangtown 2015:
“I wouldn’t say I love Hangtown. It’s not like I just can’t wait to get there, but for me, it’s one of those tracks where I can separate myself if everything is going the right way. Like body feels good, bike’s working good. I mean, that’s what happened in 2015, like my bike set up, my body, everything was just right.”
It should be noted that it’s been 7 years since Tomac last won at Hangtown.
Chase Sexton and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Many defending champions have failed to score points in the opening round of a 250/450 Pro Motocross season… because they didn’t race at all.
- Eli Tomac 2023
- Dylan Ferrandis 2022 (he didn’t race till round 9)
- Ken Roczen 2017
- Ryan Villopoto 2012 AND 2014
- James Stewart 2009
- Grant Langston 2008… and a few more…
But Chase Sexton’s 39 (DNF) and DNS is the first defending (450MX) champion to line-up AND score ZERO points.
Here are some notable ‘rough’ 250/450 title defense openers.
- Jeff Emig: 1998, 7-33 for 14th overall at Glen Helen (Mechanical DNF in moto 2)
- Mike LaRocco: 1995, 1-36 for 7th overall at Gatorback (broken hub in moto 2, DNF)
- Doug Henry: 1999, 17-12 for 14th overall at Glen Helen
- Zach Osborne: 2021, 13-5 for 10th overall at Fox Raceway
- Ken Roczen: 2015, 19-5. Came to Hangtown with a sore back and struggled in the first moto.
Charting Jett Lawrence on the Wins List
Jett Lawrence’s 16th career 450MX win ties him with two-time premier class champion Jeff Emig, which is funny because on media day we asked him if he even knew who Emig was. He told a great story about Emig coming to Australia and giving a motocross school.
Jett didn’t understand why people wanted Emig’s autograph after the school. He didn’t know Emig was a former champion. He thought he was just the Supercross commentator guy.
All-Time Premier Class Wins
Includes 500cc 1986-1993.
Jo Shimoda’s Best Start – Again
Just 4 months ago, Jo Shimoda kicked off round 1 of the 2025 250 West division with his 3rd career Supercross win. By far his best start to a Supercross season – he previously averaged 5.8 in opening rounds from 2020-2024. Unfortunately, he broke two fingers on a competitor’s pit board during qualifying at the very next round.
Deja Vu, Jo is now off to his best Pro Motocross start ever!
Shimoda’s 125/250 Pro Motocross Round 1 Results
Good news for Jo – Hangtown is his second best venue of the Pro Motocross series. While he has not won a moto or overall, he averages 4.3 overall and has finished top 5 in 6 of 8 motos.
Steve Lamson: Hangtown Grand Marshal
Two-time 125cc Pro Motocross Champion (1995-1996) Steve Lamson will serve as the grand marshal of the 56th running of the Hangtown Motocross Classic. Lamson is the all-time leader in starts at this race.
- First pro start was Hangtown 1988, just three days after his 17th birthday.
- Last pro start was Hangtown 2007 at 36 years old.
- Lamson has four Hangtown wins: 1992 (first pro win), 1996, 1998, 2000 (last pro win)
- No rider is even close to him on the career Hangtown starts list and none of the five riders immediately behind him on the list have a win. Winning at Hangtown is hard!
Most Hangtown MX Starts (All Classes Combined)
- Lamson is one of the greats of 125cc Pro Motocross racing. He’s top 10 on all 5 of the all-time 125/250 milestone lists (see chart below)
- 25 years after his last podium, he still owns the most in the class (47)
- His 20 overall wins are still 4th most all-time (tied with Jeremy Martin)
Steve Lamson 125/250MX Class All-Time
Fun Fact: Lamson raced every single discipline in his career: 125SX/MX, 250SX/MX and 500MX and he got multiple podiums in all of them. Lamson career snapshot (all classes)
Steve Lamson Career (All Classes)
Meet The Turners
Lachlan “LaLa” Turner
- Age: 18 March 8, 2007
- 2024 WMX Champion (4 wins)
- Missed rounds 1 and 4 of the 2024 WMX season (broken back and shattered heel)
Lux Turner
- 2nd year as a pro. Was riding the 125C class less than 5 years ago!
- Age 20, May 24, 2005
- 10th overall 2025 250SX West Division (9th in Arlington, carer best)
Turner & Turner
“My sister is straight up a badass,” Lux said of his sister, Lachlan in an interview with Trey Stire. We have definitely pushed each other to get where we are now. Our whole lives, it’s pretty much been me and her riding in the hills, pushing each other.”
WMX Stats and Info
The Women’s Motocross Championship is back for its second year of a revival period, and this time it’s a six-round series in conjunction with Pro Motocross National Championship events.
- Each round takes place on Fridays in a two moto format, 15 minutes +1 lap each moto.
- Same points distribution as Pro Motocross.
- In 2024, the WMX Championship returned after a five year hiatus.
- Four different riders won in 2024: Hannah Hodges, Turner (4 rounds), Joran Jarvis, and Kyleigh Stallings (2 rounds).Europe. The other four won FIM title(s) first.
- Lachlan Turner won the championship, winning 4 of the 8 rounds. The 4 races she won were 1-1 sweeps.
Round 1 Winner: Mikayla “Kay Kay” Nielsen
- Age 19
- She’s a two-time champion in the National Grand Prix Championship Series (Pro Women)
- Undefeated through five rounds in 2025 NGPC Racing.