2025 Las Vegas SMX Research
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Round 31: The Finals
The 2025 SuperMotocross World Championship Final takes place in the Silver State but silver represents 2nd place, right?
A more fitting message comes straight from Nevada’s flag where the state motto “Battle Born” is written across a scroll, referencing its inclusion into the Union in 1864, near the end of the Civil War.
- 29 rounds of Supercross were held in Las Vegas between 1990-2019
- James Stewart clinched the 2009 Monster Energy Supercross Championship in Las Vegas
- Ricky Carmichael clinched the 2003 and 2006 SX titles in Las Vegas. The 2006 title was against Chad Reed and James Stewart.
- This is the second consecutive year the SuperMotocross World Championship Final has been held in Las Vegas.
For 2024 Finals Results…
450SMX Facts
- 9 different riders have earned holeshots in SMX Playoff races. Jett Lawrence has the most (5)
- Jett Lawrence is undefeated at the SMX Finals. He’s won all four motos held since 2023.
- Honda is now 8/8 in SMX Playoff overall wins.
- Only one time in the 8 SMX Playoff events has the Fastest Qualifier gone on to win the overall (Jett Lawrence, 2024, Las Vegas).
- Coty Schock had the highest positive points position gain (+8) after St. Louis (see more below)
- The highest finishing unseeded rider in 450 SMX Playoff history is Phil Nicoletti (12th in 2023 points). Unseeded Benny Bloss is currently 12th.
- Eli Tomac is in a better position entering the Final than he was in 2024 when he was ranked 4th (-21). In 2025 he’s third (-16)
- Brutal: But if Tomac had passed either Ken Roczen (for 2nd) in St. Louis Moto 1 or Jett Lawrence (for 1st) in Moto 2, he would have won the overall and been (-2) in points, creating a three-way winner-take-all scenario for the Final.
250SMX Facts
- Haiden Deegan, Jo Shimoda and Nate Thrasher(!) are now the only riders to race all 30 rounds in 2025.
- This is Nate Thrasher’s second career complete season. He raced all 22 250SX+MX rounds in 2022.
- Jo Shimoda has yet to finish on the podium in a Playoff Finals moto (4-4-4-5).
- 6th overall was Haiden Deegan’s WORST finish since the 2024 Nashville Supercross (6th). He had 38 straight top 5 overall finishes heading into St. Louis.
- Neither of the St. Louis moto winners even made the podium! Remember the 2023 SMX Finals? Levi Kitchen (10-1) and Jordon Smith (1-10) finished 5th and 6th overall!
- Tom Vialle is the 7th different 250 rider to win one of the 15 SMX Playoff motos run since 2023.
- The highest finishing unseeded rider in 250 SMX Playoff history is Cameron Mcadoo (10th in 2024 points). Unseeded Ty Masterpool is currently 7th.
Playoff Career Bests
250SMX
- Tom Vialle got his first ever Playoff moto win. Previous best was 2nd (twice).
- Nate Thrasher (6-4) got his best ever moto scores AND third overall, which was his best O/A finish. (21-22-22-23-9 were his previous best moto scores!)
- Ty Masterpool (7th) matched his career best overall. He had a 7th in 2024 and a 7th in 2023 (in the 450 class!)
- Justin Rodbell qualified for his first Playoff and he scored a point! (21-22 for 22nd O/A).
450SMX
- Joey Savatgy: 9th again but 7th in Moto 2 was his best ever moto score.
- Benny Bloss: 12th overall (14-13 motos) in his 2nd Playoff start matches his finish in Concord.
- Coty Schock: 13th was 5 positions better from Concord, which was his first career 450 Playoff start.
- Mitchell Harrison: 17th was 4 positions better from Concord, which was his first career 450 Playoff start.
Triple Points: Important Gaps
The potential to make up, or lose, a lot of ground is on the line in Las Vegas. Here are the key points gaps to remember:
- The difference between 1st and 2nd = 9 points
- The difference between 1st and 3rd = 15 points
- The difference between 1st and 4th = 21 points
- The difference between 1st and 5th = 24 points
- For the remainder, simply add 3 points…
450 Clinch Scenarios
- Separated by just 6 points, it’s winner-take-all between Jett Lawrence and Hunter Lawrence.
- Eli Tomac needs to finish 1st and have Jett Lawrence 4th or worse and Hunter Lawrence 3rd or worse.
- Chase Sexton needs to finish 1st, have Eli Tomac 2nd or worse, Hunter Lawrence 4th or worse, and Jett Lawrence 5th or worse.
While the championship is likely out of reach for the rest of the field, there are some critical battles to keep an eye on…
- 4th thru 8th (Chase Sexton, Cooper Webb, Justin Cooper, Ken Roczen, and RJ Hampshire) are separated by 7 points. 4th place pays a $200K championship bonus vs. $100K for 8th place!
- 9th thru 11th (Dylan Ferrandis, Joey Savatgy, and Justin Barcia) are separated by just 1 point.
- 12th thru 16th (Bloss, Guillod, Hill, Schock, and McElrath) are separated by 9 points. They’ve nearly battled for these exact positions each round.
How Ties will be broken in SMX points
Below is a screenshot directly from the 2025 SMX Playoff rulebook. b. through g. is the most important to read/memorize.
450 Points Movement
- Every single rider within the top 10 shifted around except for the leader, Jett Lawrence. J. Lawerence, however, gave up some of his advantage.
- Hunter Lawrence moved from 5th to 2nd and simply needs to win in Las Vegas to secure the 2025 SuperMotocross World Championship.
- Justin Cooper has tumbled again. He’s now 6th.
- Joey Savatgy posted another 9th place finish to move from 14th to 10th in the standings
2025 450SMX Points Standings (after Playoff #2)
450 Unseeded Spotlight
- Benny Bloss posted another 12th place finish and has moved from 17th in points to 12th. He has a 17-pt. gap to close to catch Justin Barcia and Joey Savatgy.
- Bloss is the highest ranked Wildcard/unseeded rider. In 2023, Phil Nicoletti finished 12th in the points, which is still the highest an unseeded rider has ever climbed.
- Coty Schock is beaten up from several crashes in St. Louis but he saw the biggest positive positions gain (+8). He went from 23rd after Concord to 15th!
- Bloss, Valentin Guillod, Justin Hill and Schock are all paying close attention to the 11th and better points positions because of the championship bonus pay increments. 13th pays just $1,000 less than 12th but 11th pays $15,000 MORE than 12th and 10th pays $25,000 MORE than 11th.
- Bloss has mentioned in interviews that an extra $15,000 is highly motivating for him.
- FWIW: Bloss had four top 10 finishes in the 2025 450SX series.
250 Clinch Scenarios
- Jo Shimoda needs to finish 1st or 2nd to win the 2025 250 SMX World Championship title.
- Haiden Deegan needs to win and have Jo Shimoda finish 3rd or worse.
- Seth Hammaker needs to win and have Jo Shimoda finish 3rd or worse and Haiden Deegan 2nd or worse.
- Remember those 5 points that Hammaker lost in Concord for jumping on the Red Cross flag? If he could get those back, he would be 2nd (-9) and control his destiny.
- Tom Vialle has to win and Jo Shimoda finish 6th or worse, Haiden Deegan finish 4th or worse, and Seth Hammaker 3rd or worse. It’s a long shot, but never say never in Vegas.
250SMX Points Movement
Jo Shimoda (+10) is the SMX World Championship points leader for the second time in his career.
- In 2023, Shimoda entered as a #4 seed, won the Concord opener and came to Playoff #2 as the points leader (He owned the tiebreak over Haiden Deegan at that point).
- If Haiden Deegan wins The Finals, Shimoda needs a 2nd place or better to win the 250 SuperMotocross World Championship.
- Shimoda, however, has yet to finish on the podium in a Finals moto: 2023 (4-4/2nd); 2024 (4-5/4th)
2025 250SMX Points Standings (after Playoff #2)
250 Unseeded Spotlight
- Ty Masterpool was the biggest positive mover in the standings. He skyrocketed from 15th to 7th.
- The difference between 15th and 7th is only $8,000 in championship bonus money but the difference between 5th and 7th is $32,000! Masterpool is -16 from 5th.
- The highest finishing unseeded rider in Playoff history was Cameron Mcadoo, who placed 10th overall in 2024.
Deegan vs. Shimoda (2023 all over again)?
Remember when Jo Shimoda smashed Haiden Deegan in Moto 1 of the 2023 250 SuperMotocross World Championship Finals in Los Angeles?
That was for fourth place in the moto! Shimoda finished 4th and Deegan 5th in that moto.
Shimoda wasn’t far behind the leaders in Moto 2 but he couldn’t execute like he did in Moto 1. He finished 4th again and narrowly lost the overall AND the championship.
In 2025, Deegan is in a must-win situation but he needs Shimoda to get third.
Shimoda Shines in 2025
- Jo Shimoda has finished 1st or 2nd 10 times in 2025 but, more importantly, 7 times in the last 8 races (going back to his RedBud MX win.
- 5 total wins in 2025. This despite breaking his hand at Round 2!
- Shimoda is one of two riders to win two SMX Playoff rounds.
- No Japanese rider has ever won an SMX League championship.
- Notable: Shimoda hasn’t led a lap in a Playoff moto since Chicago 2023, Moto 2.
Jo Shimoda 250 SMX League Career
The Ironmen of Moto
Justin Cooper is proving to be a resilient and durable force in the 450 class. He’s only been in the class two seasons but this weekend in Las Vegas he will make his 60th consecutive start, having missed just one SX main event: the very muddy 2024 San Francisco Supercross (DNQ).
He owns the longest (active) premier class streaks.
But if he has eyes on Larry Ward’s all-time “Ironman” record (137 straight starts!), he’ll need to line up for every round between now and round 16 of 2028.
As of today, J. Coop is in a 3-way tie for 20th longest premier class start streak. Another 19 starts ties him with Chad Reed for 11th all-time (yup, Reedy is 11th in consecutive SX+MX starts).
Most Consecutive SMX League Rounds Raced
This is premier class unless noted. SX+MX+SMX is tallied together and we did take into consideration the riders who raced 250SX+125MX or 250SX+250MX+500MX in the 1980s and 1990s.
*RC Raced 125MX in 1999 (the same season he competed in premier class SX). He also raced the 2001 125MX finale in Steel City after clinching the premier class title early. If you have a problem with this, take it up with The GOAT!
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.