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2025 St Louis SMX Research

By Brett Smith

Round 30: St Louis SMX

Once an important fur trading hub, St. Louis is one of the most historic cities in the United States. Mound City welcomed its first Supercross in 1996, a race that will forever be know as the night “The Streak” ended.

  • St. Louis is the 6th different market to host a round of the SMX Playoffs.
  • James Stewart won his 50th and final SX race here in 2014.
  • Ricky Carmichael and Chad Reed are the all-time St. Louis Supercross wins leaders in this building (4 each).
  • RC raced 8 times here, Reed 15
  • Carmichael won his 48th and final SX race here in 2007.

For iconic moments and race results…

ST LOUIS HISTORY
Jett Lawrence holeshot the moto at the 2025 Charlotte SMX Playoff Round. Photo: Garth Milan

450SMX Facts

  • Justin Cooper is now the only rider to start at all 29 rounds of the 2025 The SuperMotocross World Championship series. Malcolm Stewart’s consecutive start streak ends at 59!
  • For the first time, Jett Lawrence is leading the the SuperMotocross World Championships after the first Playoff round (more below)
  • RJ Hampshire (5th in Concord) has been top 5 overall in the last 7 rounds (going back to RedBud!). He’s yet to finish outside the top 10 on a 450.
  • Huh. Only one time in the 7 SMX Playoff events has the Fastest Qualifier gone on to win the overall (Jett Lawrence, 2024, Las Vegas).
  • Going back to moto 1 of the 2024 Las Vegas Finals, Jett Lawrence has led 29 consecutive laps of 450SMX Playoff racing.
  • First timers: Romain Pape, Mitchell Harrison, Coty Schock, Mitchell Oldenburg, Valentin Guillod, Benny Bloss, Joey Savatgy and RJ Hampshire all made their first 450 Playoff starts.
  • Streak over: Kyle Chisholm and Grant Harlan didn’t make it out of the Wildcard race, which ended their perfect attendance in the Playoff motos.
  • Only 7 450 riders have competed in every single Playoff round going back to 2023.

250SMX Facts

  • Just like in 450, only once has the Fastest Qualifier gone on to win the overall in an SMX Playoff event (Haiden Deegan, 2024, Fort Worth)
  • Going back to Charlotte 2023, Haiden Deegan has 7 straight SMX Playoff podium finishes (3-3-1-1-1-2-1)
  • Going back to Charlotte 2023, Jo Shimoda has 7 straight SMX Playoff top 5 finishes (1-2-2-4-3-4-3)
  • 5 different riders have been 250SMX Fastest Qualifier since 2023: (Haiden Deegan (x2), RJ Hampshire (x2), Justin Cooper, Seth Hammaker and Ty Masterpool).
  • Seth Hammaker led the first 10 laps in Charlotte. Only 13 Playoff motos have been run yet he’s the 11th different rider to lead laps.

Show-Me SuperMotocross!

Missouri’s SuperMotocross history started way back in 1972, the first year of the Pro Motocross Championship when the Mid-American Motocross course in St. Peters held the 16th round of the series.

  • Mid-American returned to the Pro Motocross schedule from 1976-1978 under new ownership (and a new name, Cycle World USA.

Missouri’s Pro Motocross history didn’t make it past the 1970s but two different venues have hosted Supercross.

  • Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO held a round for 4 straight years (1980-1983)
  • Since 1996, The Dome at America’s Center has held 26 rounds of Supercross racing, most recently a Triple Crown in 2024.

History Fun Fact: In 1899, Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver said, “…frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I’m from Missouri, and you’ve got to show me,” which is the accepted origin story for why Missouri is known as the Show-Me State.

Beasts from the East. Damon Bradshaw and Cooper Webb collab was too cool. Photo: Octopi

450 Points Movement

Bad news for anyone not named Jett Lawrence; for the first time ever, he owns the points lead after the opening SMX Playoff round.

  • In 2023, J. Lawrence entered the SMX Playoffs as the #3 seed (-5 pts) and left tied with Aaron Plessinger for 2nd in points (-12 pts to Chase Sexton).
  • In 2024, J. Lawrence entered the SMX Playoffs as the #6 seed (-9 pts) and left 2nd in points (-4 pts. to Chase Sexton).
  • In 2025, J. Lawrence was the #2 seed (his highest ever) and now he’s the points leader by +9 points!

Looking forward, +10 points is a critical mark. If Jett Lawrence can extend his lead by +1 point this weekend in St Louis, he would only need to finish second to clinch.

2025 450SMX Points Standings (after Playoff #1)

*Reminder: all columns can be filtered by tapping black column headers

  • Gained Positions
    • Chase Sexton moves +4 positions after setting the fastest lap in qualifying and moving from 4th to 2nd place in moto 1.
    • Eli Tomac moved up but that fall cost him -2 points and another position in the standings.
    • Tally one (or 3) for the 450 rookie, RJ Hampshire, who moved from 10th to 7th in the points and logged (yet) another top five finish.
  • Lost Positions
    • Cooper Webb loses -2 positions but that’s kind of a victory given his return from injury and his comments pre-race interview about the deep ruts and his expectations.
    • Brutal 1: Justin Cooper lost the red plate after an 11th place finish. His race at zMax was an absolute salvage job. He crashed on the opening lap and struggled to get out from underneath his bike. He posted 22nd place for the first three laps!
    • Brutal 2: Malcolm Stewart’s hard fought 3rd in seeding evaporated when he didn’t race because of a sore back. He tumbled to 12th.

450SMX Unseeded Spotlight: Beta

This was Beta’s first ever race in the SuperMotocross Playoffs and Benny Bloss and Mitchell Oldenburg both finished in the top 15.

  • Benny Bloss moves from 24th to 17th after finishing 12th in Charlotte. NOTE: That was Benny’s first ever Playoff round!
  • Mitchell Oldenburg moved from 23rd to 21st after finishing 17th in Charlotte. Mitchell had previously raced one SMX Playoff round (2023 LA where he finished 13th in the 250s).
Beta Rider 2025 Season Stats

250SMX Points Movement

Deja vu: Haiden Deegan leaves zMax Dragway with a perfect 50 points and a +8 lead, the same exactly totals as 2024.

  • In 2024, Deegan had a +8 point lead over Levi Kitchen after he finished 1-1 for 1st overall. Kitchen was the #2 seed and had gone 5-2 for 3rd.
  • Deegan is +8 points in front of Jo Shimoda who came in as the #2 seed and finished 3rd (more below).
2025 450SMX Points Standings (after Playoff #1)
  • Jo Shimoda had speed but it cost him. He set the fastest lap of the moto in Concord (1:56.381), almost +2.4 seconds faster than Deegan’s (1:58.776) fastest time.
  • Seth Hammaker’s penalty (-5 championship points) didn’t make a difference in the standings but he’s now -16 from the lead instead of -11.
  • Levi Kitchen’s penalty (1 position plus -5 championship points) cost him 4th place in the standings.
  • Brutal: the penalties to Hammaker and Kitchen were for jumping on a red cross flag. Their teammate Garrett Marchbanks caused the flag to come out!
  • Big mover: Austin Forkner, whose total SMX Playoff history leading into Concord included ONE start (13th @ Concord 2023), moved from 14th in points to 6th on the strength of his 5th place finish.
  • Big loser: Garrett Marchbanks crashed out on the third lap of the 250 moto and tumbled from the #3 seed to 10th.

250SMX Unseeded Spotlight: Ty Masterpool

Ty Masterpool is 1 of 6 riders to race both 250s and 450s in the SMX playoffs, finishing 10th in the 450s in 2023 and 9th in the 250s in 2024.

  • He finished the 2025 ‘regular’ season ranked 22nd.
  • In Charlotte he was the fastest qualifier and finished 10th. That said, he set the 7th fastest lap time but his 19th on the holeshot and 15th position by lap 1 held him back.

Veteran Spotlight: Austin Forkner

Austin Forkner, who hails from the dot-on-the-map town of Richards, MO (pop. 96!) was once the future of the sport as one of the most highly touted amateurs back in 2015-16. As a rookie, he finished 4th in the 2016 250 Pro Motocross series (including a win at the season finale Ironman) and followed that up with 6th in the 2017 250 West division Supercross (2 podiums).

He held the red plate in 2018 and 2019 but injuries kept him from finishing the series. Unfortunately, injuries have been the theme – 2025 is the first time in his 10 year career he’s competed through an entire season. Note: he raced Foxboro but DNQ (5th in the LCQ).

This past weekend in Charlotte, he tied his season best with a 5th place. You could argue it was his great start (2nd holeshot and 3rd on lap 1) that made it possible, but his fastest lap ranked 4th, showing he also had the speed.

Keep a close eye on Austin this weekend as St Louis is his home race! Richards is 5 hours west of St. Louis.

2025 Season Stats

Rookie Performance: Cole Davies

Davies emerged onto the American scene back in 2023 when he finished 4th at the A2 SMX Next opening round. Since then…

  • He’s won 4 SMX Next rounds (2023-24), including the finale in Las Vegas last year.
  • In 2025 250 West division Supercross, as a rookie, he finished 3rd in the championship after 2 wins and 4 podiums!

Charlotte Recap

  • He’s gone from a 17th seed to now 11th in the standings after finishing 8th. But oh what could’ve been for the 18 year old had he not crashed!

Track Advantages

While the track will have additional sections we don’t see when it’s ‘just’ Supercross, here’s a quick look at who has better or worse finishes on more hybrid track layouts (Daytona, Atlanta, and SMX)

Indoor/SX Advantage

  • Cooper Webb has a great track record at Speedway venues because he’s raced Daytona 8 times and he’s only finished off the podium once. Take out his Daytona finishes and he averages 6.3 at speedway’s vs 4.7 in stadiums!
  • Chase Sexton averages nearly a full position better indoors (5.2) vs. speedways (5.7).

Speedway Advantage

  • Eli Tomac has an incredible record at Speedway/Hybrid type tracks. He’s never finished worse than 4th at a speedway venue!
  • Jett Lawrence has 7 speedway starts and just like Eli Tomac he’s not finished worse than 4th.

SMX Playoff Round Two Highlights

  • Hunter Lawrence has made round two a breakout party in both 2023 and 2024. In 2023 he went 1-1 for 1st to regain the lead in the 250 playoffs. In 2024 he went 1-3 for 1st overall to take his first premier class win.
  • Jett Lawrence’s math don’t math. In Chicago 2023, Jett Lawrence allowed Ken Roczen to pass him for 1st place thinking it’d give him an advantage. It was great racing with some suspect calculations.
  • In 2024, Haiden Deegan went 1-1 for 1st overall and set the longest moto win streak in SMX playoff history. He’d go on to win one more the next week and still holds the record for longest SMX playoff moto win streak (5).
Jett Lawrence left the Charlotte SMX Playoff round with the points lead for the first time. Photo: Garth Milan

SMX Points Structure and Payout (Repeat)

The points structure was built with a few principles in mind; specifically reward riders for the first 28 rounds, keep everyone in the title fight through the last round, and keep it simple for the fans.

Here’s a breakdown of the SMX points system and payout:

  • The top 20 riders earn SMX seeding points based on 17 rounds of Supercross and 11 rounds of Pro Motocross.
    • The top rider starts the playoffs with 25 points, while the 20th place rider gets 2 points.

SMX Playoff Berths and Seeding Details

  • The top 20 are automatically given a gate for every round. Note, if a rider in the top 20 is injured or opts out of the SMX Playoffs, that opens one more transfer spot in the LCQ but does not give the 21st rider an automatic spot in the motos.
  • Anyone that wins a Supercross main event or Pro Motocross moto gets an automatic bid into the LCQs. Keep in mind, they have to race the LCQ every single round of the playoffs to earn a spot in the motos.
  • Top 21-30 get a spot on the LCQ gate and have to finish 1st or 2nd to earn a spot in the motos. Keep in mind there will be invitations for the LCQ if riders are injured or opt-out of the SMX Playoffs.

In each playoff moto, riders are awarded points using Olympic-style scoring: 1st place gets 1 point, 2nd place gets 2 points, and so on. The lower your score, the better. The points from Moto 1 and 2 are added together to determine your championship points payout for each race.

IMPORTANT: ties are broken via the better second moto score. Since championship points are NOT awarded per moto (like they are in Pro Motocross), a 2-2 in SMX will beat a 1-3.

During the 3 World Championship Finals races, the stakes increase each round:

  • Playoff 1: The points are the same as seeding (aka single) points.
  • Playoff 2: The points double—the winner gets 50 points for an overall win and 21st place earns 2 points.
  • At the World Championship Final, the points triple! —the winner earns 75 points, and 21st place gets 3 points.
SMX Points System
450 SMX Purse Payouts
  • There’s $250K up for grabs in each of the 3 playoff rounds.
  • Additionally, there’s a $3M championship fund for the final standings.
250 SMX Purse Payouts
  • There’s just under $150K up for grabs in each of the 3 playoff rounds.
  • Additionally, there’s a $1.2M championship fund for the final standings.

SMX Next Facts (Repeat)

Enzo Temmerman (18) has to be the favorite coming into the two race series.

  • He’s the 2025 AMA Motocross Horizon Award winner. He won 5 of 6 motos in the 250 and Open Pro Sport classes en route to winning both titles.
  • He also went 2-2 for 1st overall in the Ironman SMX Next round.
  • He has 1 win (Birmingham) and 4 podiums in 5 SMX Next indoor starts this season.
  • If that’s not enough, he finished 18th (18-17) at Pala, 35th (24-DNS) at Hangtown, and 13th (14-13) at Washougal.
  • Kayden Minear (18) won the SMX Next (1-1) at Hangtown, raced to 16th (Thunder Valley) and 18th (High Point) in his first two Pro Motocross events, but injured his thumb in qualifying at High Point that ultimately required surgery.
  • Kade Johnson (17) has one SMX Next victory – Foxboro 2025. He also scored his first professional points at Ironman with 34-16 moto finishes for 20th overall.
    • At Loretta Lynn’s he finished 4th (7-3-2) in 250 Pro Sport and 2nd (4-3-2) in Open Pro Sport.
  • Landon Gibson (16) has yet to get that elusive SMX next overall win. He finished 2nd at this years Hangtown and Ironman races. He also finished 2nd in the St Louis SMX Next round in 2024.
    • He finished 3rd (3-2-5) in 250 Pro Sport and 5th (5-11-3) in Open Pro Sport at Loretta Lynn’s.
    • Notably didn’t qualify for the motos at Unadilla but went 23-14 for 20th overall at Budds Creek to score his first career professional points.
Caden Dudney was the Fastest Qualifier for SMX Next in Charlotte. Photo: Octopi
  • Caden Dudney (16) finished 1-8 for 5th in the SMX Next Ironman round and then went on to impress at the final two rounds of Pro Motocross. 7-13 for 11th at Unadilla and 17-13 for 14th at Budds Creek
    • He did not race Loretta’s this year due to injury, but in 2024 he won 5 of 6 motos to take the 250B and Schoolboy 2 (12-17) B/C. He was the Amateur Rider of the Year and won the Oakley Fastest Lap award.
  • Carson Wood (15) has finished 4th (6-5), 7th (10-6), and 7th (3-13) at the SMX Next outdoor rounds this season. Not too bad for one of the youngest competitors.
  • Notable: Wyatt Duff (14) is the youngest competitor in the field. He qualified with a 2nd overall (11-5-3) in the 250 B Limited class at Loretta Lynn’s.
  • Landon Gordon has 3 SMX Next victories this season – Glendale, Daytona, and 4-1 for 1st overall at RedBud. Notably finished 2nd at both Foxborough and Pittsburgh SMX Next rounds.
    • Loretta’s was strong this year with 2nd (2-4-3) in 250 Pro Sport and 4th (2-1-9) in Open Pro Sport.