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2026 Unadilla Pro Motocross Research

By Brett Smith

“The place to race since 1969,” upstate New York’s Unadilla MX is one of America’s original motocross tracks, hosting the biggest events in sport history, including USGPs, the Motocross of Nations, Pro Motocross, Trans-AMAs and more.

The former dairy farm lies within the Unadilla River Valley, six miles north of the town of New Berlin and between Syracuse and Albany. Unadilla is an Iroquois word that means “place of meeting.”

  • Name of Facility: Unadilla MX (originally, Unadilla Valley Sports Center)
  • This is the 35th running of the Unadilla National
All-Time Facts
  • Ricky Carmichael is the all-time 450 wins leader with 6 victories in 7 starts. He also has the most podiums (7/7)
  • James Stewart is the all-time 125/250 wins leader with 3 victories in 3 starts
2025 Notes
  • 450: Jett Lawrence (1-1) won the overall over Hunter Lawrence (2-2)
  • 250: Jo Shimoda (1-1) won the overall over Haiden Deegan (2-3).
    • Shimoda won M1 by 39.8 seconds!
UNADILLA HISTORY

450 Rider Facts

  • Jett Lawrence has never lost a 450 moto at Unadilla (4/4)
  • Hunter Lawrence now has 11 premier class wins (SX+MX). That’s the same as 1980 Supercross Champion, Mike Bell and 1998 Pro Motocross Champion, Doug Henry.
  • Washougal 2026 will go down as the race where Haiden Deegan earned his first 450MX Fastest Qualifier AND his first 450MX holeshot.
  • Freddie Noren is now ranked 2nd all-time with 140 premier class Pro Motocross starts.
  • Hunter Lawrence has now led laps in 11 of 16 motos for 127 laps led – both series leading.
  • Jett lawrence has lost positions in 4 motos (-7 positions total) this season. Prior to this season he had lost positions in 3 motos (-4 positions total).
  • Haiden Deegan is averaging 10.8 on the first lap. He has 4 motos with +10 positions or more this season – not uncharacteristic for a rookie season.
  • Jorge Prado is the only other rider to lead laps (16) other than the Lawrence brothers (248 laps).
  • Justin Barcia is heating up. He has 4 top 10 moto finishes in the last 4 motos – he only had 3 top 10 moto finishes in the previous 9 moto starts this season.

250 Rider Facts

  • Levi Kitchen has led just 9 laps and leads the series by 7 points. He’s not led a lap since round 3 Lakewood moto 1. There are 8 other riders that have led more laps than Levi this season!
  • Cole Davies is just -7 points behind Levi Kitchen with 6 motos to go. Impressive considering he has a moto DNF (Spring Creek moto 1).
  • Cole Davies was en fuego in Washougal! He was fastest in 21 of 36 laps en route to going 1-1 for 1st overall. He’d only been fastest in 32 total laps in the previous 14 motos this season.
  • Levi Kitchen is averaging 11.6 on the first lap. Cole Davies has a series-leading 5.6 L1 position. With 3 rounds and 6 motos remaining, spotting Cole 6 positions will not lead to a championship.
  • Julien Beaumer has a series-leading 11 top 5 moto finishes.
  • Chance Hymas has 2 overall podiums this season – the last two rounds at Spring Creek and Washougal.
  • Chance Hymas shows finishing 32-36 for 38th overall in his only Unadilla start (2024), but he was fastest qualifier that day and led 10 laps of moto 1.
  • Ryder Difrancesco set career best moto and overall finishes at Washougal (2-2 for 2nd).
  • Ryder Difrancesco hasn’t finished top 5 at Unadilla in his career. Best is 11-8 for 8th (2025).

2026 Red Plate Holders

A holeshot, leading laps, a podium and a win are an impressive feat. But holding the red plate, especially multiple rounds, is not simple. You’ve got to execute seamlessly round after round. With 3 rounds remaining in the 2026 regular season, here’s who’s held that coveted red plate.

450 SX+MX
  • Hunter Lawrence (13) has held the red plate the most of anyone and is the only premier class rider to do so in both Supercross and Pro Motocross.
  • Amazing that Ken Roczen only held the points lead in 3 rounds before securing the 2026 Supercross title.
  • Weird to see Eli Tomac held the red plate for 6 rounds in Supercross after his 14-14 for 14th overall finish at Washougal.
250 SX+MX
  • Cole Davies is the only 250 rider to hold the red plate in both series.

Red Plate History – Disappointment & Celebration

Most often you’ll hear riders say the red plate doesn’t change anything. Alas, the red plate ultimately means winning the title or not. Here’s a look at the heartbreak and celebration of holding the red plate…

  • Bob Hannah is the only rider to hold the red plate the most in both series and win neither (1983). To be clear, he tied David Bailey with red plate rounds in Pro Motocross, but it ultimately was Bailey who won both titles. Hannah broke his wrist at the Six Flags Atlanta Pro Motocross round, but this is when the two series schedules overlapped and that one injury derailed both series titles.

Looking at Supercross…

  • In 2023, Eli Tomac led the series 13 rounds but it was ultimately Chase Sexton who won the title after ‘only’ holding the red plate for 4 rounds.
  • There has been 10 red plate sweeps in the history of Supercross.
  • The rider that held the red plate the longest in Supercross has won in 42 of 53 seasons (1 tie – 2002 RC & Vuillemin)
250/450SX – Most Red Plates Without Title

There’s 12 years where the rider who held the red plate the most didn’t win the title…

Shifting to Pro Motocross…

  • In 2011, Chad Reed led the Pro Motocross series for 7 rounds but it was ultimately Ryan Villopoto who won the title after ‘only’ holding the red plate for 5 rounds.
  • There has been 24 red plate sweep sin the 53 year history of Pro Motocross
  • The rider that held the red plate the longest in Pro Motocross has won in 49 of 54 seasons (2 ties)
250/450MX – Held Red Plate Rounds Without Title

To balance the disappointing series…

  • Ricky Carmichael held the red plate for 71 consecutive rounds of Pro Motocross (2001 Rd 4 to 2007 Rd 5, RedBud).
  • Jeremy McGrath held the red plate for 57 consecutive rounds of Supercross (1993 Rd 4 Seattle to 1996 Rd 15 1996 Denver).

To put RC and MC’s streaks in perspective, there’s only 4 riders (Dungey, Tomac, RV, and Reed) that held a red plate more than 57x in their career and 2 riders more than 71x (Dungey and Tomac).

One more for good measure…

  • McGrath held the red plate for 51 consecutive SX + MX rounds (1995 Rd 1 Orlando to 1996 Rd 10 Spring Creek). A nearly full two year reign of the sport as a whole!

Lawrence vs. Lawrence – Venue Strength

With 3 rounds remaining, Hunter Lawrence holds a +12 point lead with 150 points still available. Hunter’s won 7 of the last 10 motos and seems to have the momentum on his side as Jett’s lost positions in 4 of the last 10 motos.

Season Stats

Looking ahead, this is strength vs. strength…

  • Hunter Lawrence has been off the moto podium just 1 of 12 motos in his career at the remaining venues.
  • Jett Lawrence has delivered 4 Perfect Days (fast q and won both motos) across 6 days at the final 3 venues. He’s won 10 of 12 motos in his career at these last 3 venues. Note Ironman 2025 moto 1 Jett was docked a 1 lap penalty for jumping the gate that skews his stats.
Remaining Venues – Avg Finish

450SMX Projections

  • Hunter Lawrence clinched the #1 seed after the first moto at Washougal. He’ll enter the SMX World Championship Finals with 25 points.
  • Cooper Webb (#2 seed) has a +36 point advantage over Jorge Prado (#3 seed). Bad news for Webb – Prado cut the gap by +37 points in the last 3 rounds. At this pace, Prado will be the #2 seed.
  • Jett Lawrence has gone from the 10th seed two rounds ago to the 5th seed leaving Washougal. We anticipate he’ll pass Dylan Ferrandis and be the 4th seed. Notably, Jett Lawrence won the 2024 SMX World Championship as a 6 seed (via a tie).
  • Haiden Deegan was the 17th seed 3 rounds ago and is now the 10 seed (projected to finish 8th). This assumes Justin Cooper returns for the final 3 rounds though. So it’s possible he moves into the 7 seed (if J. Coop doesn’t return).
  • Ken Roczen (currently 6th) and Chase Sexton (currently 10th) are expected to drop to 11th and 13th with neither expected to lineup before the end of Pro Motocross.
  • Other Noteworthy Riders to Watch…
    • Mikkel Haarup moved into 20th position at Washougal and is expected to finish 16th.
    • Justin Barcia sits 19th now and is expected to finish in 15th.
    • Justin Hill sits 18th right now and will likely drop to 21st.
    • Mitchell Harrison sits 21st and is projected to finish 19th… but he needs to score +37 points over the last 3 rounds. He’s scored more than that twice in other 3 round periods this season.

250SMX Projections

  • No surprise, injuries are factor in the 250s as well. Seth Hammaker is out and will drop from a high of 2nd at rounds 19 and 20 (Hangtown and Thunder Valley) and finish 9th.
  • Reigning SMX World Champion Jo Shimoda went into last weekend sitting 5th. Assuming he doesn’t return to Pro Motocross given the most recent news of his collarbone break, we expect he’ll finish 11th.

Riders to Watch:

  • Cole Davies has the potential to clinch the #1 seed at Budds Creek. He currently holds a +47 point lead and needs to add another 3 in the next 2 rounds to do so.
  • Julien Beaumer and Chance Hymas are currently tied with 268 points. Beaumer owns the tie breaker with more 2nd place finishes this season (they each have 1 win). They’ll both pass Hammaker and Shimoda who are out with injuries.
  • Kayden Minear (currently 11th) is projected to finish 7th. Whether he can be 6th seed is on him delivering Southwick/Spring Creek results vs. a meh Washougal showing.
  • Casey Cochran (currently 21st) is expected to finish as a 17th seed.
  • Drew Adams (currently 24th) is projected to finish as the 21st seed but a mere 2 points off the injured Nick Romano. Watch this space to see if he can break into the top 20.

Note there’s a lot of potential battles between 14th-25th seeds and given the inconsistency of the riders this season, there’s likely to be some great battles for the top 20 in the last couple rounds of the SMX League regular season.

Women’s Pro Motocross – RD4

At Unadilla, the Women’s Pro Motocross championship returns for its second half. Here’s a brief recap of where we are:

  • Lachlan Turner opened the season with four straight moto wins and extended her overall win streak to 7 (it stretched all the way back to RD2 2025 (Hangtown)
  • At RD3 (High Point), Mayla Herrick won the opening moto (on the day of her 17th birthday) but crashed out of moto 2 and caused a red flag restart. Herrick was treated for a concussion and bruises. She said she’s planning on racing Unadilla.
  • In a dramatic second moto at High Point, Charli Cannon earned her first career WMX overall win. Lachlan Turner (feeling sick at High Point) crashed while leading moto 2.
  • Lachlan’s 3-2 earned her 2nd overall, her first loss since May 2025 (Fox Raceway)
2026 WMX Results
WMX STATS (After 3 of 6 rounds)
  • Lachlan Turner (132 points) has a +9 points lead over Charli Cannon (123 points).
  • Cannon fractured a shoulder blade racing in Australia in mid-July.
  • 3 different riders have been Fastest Qualifier (Charli Cannon, Lachlan Turner and Lotte Van Drunen)
  • Lachlan Turner has set the fastest overall lap at all three rounds and the fastest lap in 5 of the 6 motos (Charli Cannon is the other fastest moto lap)
  • Five different riders have been on the podium this season; Turner and Cannon are the only riders on all three podiums.
  • Lachlan Turner has led 26 laps this season, Charli Cannon (9) and Mayla Herrick (7).

Milestones

450MX
  • Freddie Noren (140) passed Mike Larocco (139) for 2nd all-time 450MX starts.
  • Eli Tomac (32 wins) needs one more to tie Rick Johnson (33 MX wins) for 3rd all-time.
  • The next first time winner in 450MX is the 72nd different rider to win the class (Haiden Deegan, Justin Cooper…)
  • Justin Barcia (3,677 points) is just 22 points shy of Ryan Dungey (3,699 pts) for 6th all-time.
450SX+MX
  • Jett Lawrence (36 combined SX+MX premier class wins) is 1 shy of Jeff Stanton (37) for 12th all-time. He needs another 9 to catch Jeff Ward for 11th all-time.
Both Classes, SX+MX
  • Justin Barcia is 2 starts shy of Kevin Windham… on current pace he’ll tie them at Budds Creek.
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. We hope for a Jo return ASAP!