Skip to content
We Went Fast
SHOP RAG

2026 Southwick Pro Motocross Research

By Brett Smith

The sandbox of the Pro Motocross circuit, The Wick 338 is also known simply as Southwick, the name of the quaint southern Massachusetts town where the course lies. Known for its rough and treacherous conditions, The Wick 338 is the track where locals shine the most.

All-Time Wick Facts
  • Ricky Carmichael (8) is the all-time winner. He never lost a premier class start here.
  • Carmichael also has the most podiums (8) but he shares that accolade with the homegrown legend John Dowd
  • Most premier class starts? John Dowd with 24!
  • American riders have largely dominated the premier class at The Wick but in the last 7 runnings, Australia has won three and France has won 3.
  • Jett Lawrence has won 3-in-a-row at Southwick including 5 of 6 motos. He could tie Jeff Stanton (4 consecutive wins) and he’d be halfway to RC’s mark.
2025 Winners @ The Wick
  • 450: Jett Lawrence (1-1)
  • 250: Haiden Deegan (1-1)
SOUTHWICK HISTORY
An unknown rider rails a berm at Southwick in the 1970s

450 Rider Facts

  • Hunter Lawrence’s 4th career 450MX victory is also Honda’s 200th in the premier class.
  • Jett Lawrence has never lost three 450MX overalls in a row. He went 2nd and 6th at Washougal/Ironman in 2025, then won Unadilla.
  • Jett Lawrence (49) tied Jeff Ward for 5th all-time premier class moto wins. Another 19 and he ties Rick Johnson and Ryan Dungey for 3rd all-time.
  • Hunter Lawrence’s +3 points lead after five rounds is the closest points battle since… 2024, when Hunter had a +3 lead over Chase Sexton and Jett Lawrence (but Jett was out of the championship by then)
  • Antonio Carioli finished 12-13 for 12th overall at the age of 40 years, 9 months, 11 days.
  • Jorge Prado finished a career best 3-2 for 2nd overall at RedBud last week.
  • At The Wick 2025, in his first ever Pro Motocross, Norway’s Cornelius Tondel was two tenths of a second from being Fastest Qualifier.
  • Tondel isn’t in the B Group qualifiers anymore and he made his 8th 450MX start at RedBud. His best overall finish is 13th (Thunder Valley 2026)
  • The top 10 of the 450 class has seen 5 international riders finish in the top 10 at several rounds. With Lucas Coenen returning and Cornelius Tondel sniffing top 10s, look for this # to increase to 6 or 7.

250 Rider Facts

  • Jo Shimoda has 72 starts and will FINALLY hold a Pro Motocross red plate. He’s held the red plate in just two rounds in his professional career: round 2 of the 2025 250SX West division and Southwick.
  • Shimoda’s 4 laps led in the second moto at RedBud were his first laps led since the 2026 Arlington Supercross.
  • Ryder DiFrancesco got his first career Pro Motocross podium. It took him 43 starts. That was also just his 3rd top 5 finish.
  • Ryder DiFrancesco is also the 8th different rider to get on the 250MX podium this season. In all of 2025, 9 different riders got on the box.
  • 9 different riders have been on a moto podium (Caden Dudney’s 2nd at RedBud M.1 was the 9th).

Hunter Lawrence’s Statement

He came within 3 points of winning the 2026 Supercross championship. He’s now won 3 of 5 450MX overalls and 5 of 10 motos at nearly the halfway mark of the season. And minus one last lap tip-over (caused by a clogged chain guide), he’s won 6 of 10 and 4 consecutive!

What’s been most impressive is how he’s winning the last two rounds with incredible speed. In the last two rounds, Hunter seems to have the speed when he wants it, especially compared to the previous two rounds. It speaks to finding something in settings.

  • At Pala, he used great starts and early moto speed to go 1-1 for 1st overall.
  • Hangtown and Thunder Valley he was just ‘okay’.
  • At High Point, he was fastest the whole day and was only beat by Haiden Deegan and Jett Lawrence in the 2nd half of the 2nd moto when he was managing the race win from the front.
  • At RedBud this past weekend he was fastest in the second half of both motos.
Avg Lap Time Rank – Moto Halves

Notable: RedBud 2nd moto, he only set the 4th fastest time, but he was fastest in 6 of 8 laps from lap 6 to lap 14 (there were 16 total laps).

Looking forward, Southwick may be the most pivotal event of the year for him. If he can go 1-1 for 1st overall, that’d give him the clear momentum in the series and at least a 9 point lead. It won’t be a simple task – his brother has beat him in 4 of 4 career motos at Southwick.

Is Haiden Deegan Getting Closer?

Following round 4 at High Point, Haiden Deegan noted that he was getting closer. It was a particularly strong statement considering he’d set the 3rd and 2nd fastest laps in the two motos that weekend. The question therefore presented itself – is he indeed getting closer to Hunter and Jett Lawrence?

The answer = yes, there’s reason to believe Haiden’s getting closer…

  • He’s topped 2 of the last 4 qualifying sessions.
  • He set 5 of the fastest 9 laps to finish moto 2 at High Point, including the fastest lap of the 2nd half of the moto.

Unfortunately he wasn’t able to back up his High Point performance at RedBud after a first turn crash in moto 1 no doubt dampened expectations for the remainder of the day

Jorge Prado’s Resilience

Much has been talked about the motivation (or determination) of the decorated Spainard after a tough first season here in the States aboard a Kawasaki. One specific thing that’s been mentioned is his resilience after a pass. Here’s what we’ve found so far…

  • He’s been passed 6 total times this Pro Motocross season, 5 of them after the opening 2 laps.
  • His lap time rank two laps before a pass is 3rd vs. 5th in the 2 laps following a pass.
Lap Rank 2 laps before vs. 2 laps after being passed

While the sample size this Pro Motocross season is not significant, there’s an early indication that Jorge Prado loses a bit of speed after a pass.

250 Title Contenders

The top 3 in the 250 standings are separated by just 9 points

  • Jo Shimoda has taken the red plate in Pro Motocross for the first time in his career.
  • Cole Davies has now won 3 of the last 4 motos and the last 2 overalls.
  • Levi Kitchen looks to be the odd man out; he’s finished off the moto podium the last 5 motos.
Season Stats

Looking forward…

  • Cole Davies clearly has the momentum and his average first lap position (2nd best) is going to be very important in the last 6 rounds.
  • Jo Shimoda has two things on his side… (1) he’s started in the top 10 in the last 6 motos vs 2 of the first 4 and (2) he’s the fastest rider in the second half of the motos (series leading 1.7 avg lap time rank)
  • Levi Kitchen has 2 moto podiums at Southwick and went a career best at the venue last year with a 2-4 for 3rd overall. He needs to reassert he’s a contender after two sub-par rounds (4th and 5th overall)

250MX All-Time Podiums

  • Jo Shimoda enters top 10 and is tied with Mike Brown and Erik Kehoe (30 each)
  • One more podium and he climbs to a 3 way tie for 8th with Johnny O’Mara and Ryan Villopoto.
  • He could climb to 6th by the end of the season.
125/250MX Moto Podiums

The Wick is Jo Shimoda’s best venue. He has 5 starts there with an average finish of 3.0.

  • Four overall podiums and two moto wins.
  • He has yet to win an overall at The Wick.

Coenen Brothers Coming Back

Belgian brothers Lucas and Sacha Coenen are returning to America for The Wick.

They’ve raced in three more rounds of the FIM Motocross World Championship since competing at the Thunder Valley National (Italy, Portugal, South Africa) and they’re still leading their respective championships.

  • MXGP: Lucas Coenen has a +66 lead over Jeffrey Herlings
  • MX2: Sacha Coenen has a +14 lead over Guillem Farres
Coenens’ FIM Motocross Careers

Thunder Valley Recap

  • Lucas Coenen (2-2) finished 2nd overall in 450MX and set the 2nd and 3rd fastest lap in the motos.
  • Sacha Coenen (14-1) finished 4th overall and set the fastest lap of the day (in moto 2!)

New England Locals

No other track on the schedule favors the locals as much as The Wick 338. It’s the only venue where B Group qualifying is an event on its own because it gets the freshest, smoothest track possible. It’s a battle just to be first on the course!

Southwick Fastest Qualifiers from B Group:
  • 2023, Beverly, Massachusetts’ Jimmy Decotis (250MX)
  • 2024, France’s Tom Guyon (250MX)
  • 2011, Marlborough, Massachusetts’ Michael Sottile (450MX).
Local Heros

While many locals have won motos or finished on the podium in motos, notably Jo Jo Keller, Tony Lorusso, Pat Barton, Jimmy Ellis, Keith Johnson… only two locals have ever won a Pro Motocross at The Wick 338:

  • John Dowd: 1997 (250/450) and 1998 (125/250)
  • Doug Henry: 1993-1994 (125/250) and 1998 (250/450)
  • In 1998, Dowd and Henry swept all 4 motos in New England’s Best Day Ever
  • Current track owner Keith Johnson finished 5th overall in 1998 (4-9)

Milestones

450MX
  • Freddie Noren (139) tied Mike Larocco (139) for 2nd all-time 450MX starts.
  • Justin Barcia (3,594 points) is now 7th all-time 450MX points after passing Rick Johnson (3,577), Jeff Stanton (3,580), and Jeff Ward (3,583). He needs another +105 points to tie Ryan Dungey for 6th all-time.
  • The next first time winner in 450MX is the 72nd different rider to win the class (Haiden Deegan, Justin Cooper, Aaron Plessinger…
450SX+MX
  • Keep an eye on Spring Creek… Jett Lawrence (35 combined SX+MX wins) is 2 shy of Jeff Stanton (37) for 12th all-time.
250s
  • Jo Shimoda (30) tied Erik Kehoe and Mike Brown for 10th all-time 250MX podiums. One more and he ties Johnny O’Mara and Ryan Villopoto with 31 and 8th all-time.