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2026 Columbus SuperMotocross Research

By Brett Smith

Welcome to Columbus

Columbus is the capital city of Ohio and the most populous city in the state with just over 900,000 residents.

  • Nicknames: The Arch City (historic); The Discovery City (modern)
  • Fun fact: In 2020 there was a push to rename the city “Flavortown” in honor of celebrity chef and Columbus’ own Guy Fieri.
  • Home to The Ohio State University and its more than 67,000 students, one of the largest universities by enrollment in the United States.
  • The American Motorcyclist Association’s headquarters (and the Motorcycle Hall of Fame museum) are located 17 miles east of Historic Crew Stadium.
Historic Crew Stadium
  • Capacity: ~20,000
  • Opened in 1999 as Major League Soccer’s first purpose-built stadium
  • Today it is home to the Columbus Crew 2 (MLS Next Pro League) and the Columbus Aviators (UFL)
Famous athletes born in Columbus
  • Simon Biles: 7 Olympic gold medals in gymnastics
  • Jack Nicklaus: Winner of 18 golf majors
  • Jesse Owens: Track and field legend. 4 gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
  • Archie Griffin: 1974 and 1975 Heisman Trophy winner (only player to do it twice)
  • Buster Douglas: If you knock out peak-Mike Tyson, you’re famous.

SMX Purse Facts

  • $16M+: purse money earned by riders in 3 years of SuperMotocross World Championship Finals racing.
  • 5: athletes who have earned over $1M – Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence, Haiden Deegan, Jo Shimoda, and Ken Roczen.
  • Top 450 Purse Earners: Jett Lawrence $3.7M, Hunter Lawrence $1.4M, and Ken Roczen $1.0M.
  • Top 250 Purse Earners: Haiden Deegan $1.3M, Jo Shimoda $1.1M, and Tom Vialle $495K.

450 SMX Rider Facts

  • The #1 seed has yet to win the 450SMX championship.
  • Jett Lawrence won all three 450SMX titles as a #3 (2023), #6 (2024) and #2 (2025) seed.
  • Hunter Lawrence’s overall race finishes in 450SMX are identical: 4-1-2 in 2024 and 4-1-2 in 2025.
  • Honda has won all 9 450SMX overalls between Jett Lawrence (6), Hunter Lawrence (2) and Chase Sexton (1)
  • After finishing 2nd overall at all 3 Playoff rounds in 2023, Ken Roczen didn’t find the podium in any rounds in 2024 and 2025.
  • 7 riders have competed in all 9 450SMX rounds but only 5 will make it to Columbus: Ken Roczen, Dylan Ferrandis, Cooper Webb, Shane McElrath (Wildcard) and Dean Wilson (Wildcard)
  • Dean Wilson (32nd in combined points) will be called in. He raced 5 rounds of SX with a best finish of 8th (Philadelphia)

250 SMX Rider Facts

  • #1 seed, Cole Davies will attempt to do something that neither Haiden Deegan or Jett Lawrence have done: The SMX hat trick: SX+MX+SMX championships.
  • Davies had a miserable run in the 2025 SMX Playoffs (8-11-23 overall finishes). Much more info below.
  • Defending champion, Jo Shimoda was a #2 seed in 2025; he only won a single moto en route to the title but was on the podium in all 5 motos and won the overall at Playoff 2 and The Finals.
  • Jo Shimoda’s worst Playoff round overall finish is 4th (twice). In fact, he’s been top 5 in all 17 motos run (2 moto wins, 11 moto podiums).
  • Jo Shimoda = good in playoffs: career overall SMX fnishes: 1-2-2-4-3-4-3-1-1
  • Ryder Difrancesco, Levi Kitchen and Jo Shimoda are the only active 250 riders who have lined up for every 250SMX round (9).
  • 4 different riders won the 5 motos in 2025 but Haiden Deegan won 5/6 motos in 2024.
  • Ryder Difrancesco has just one top 5 finish in a Playoff round. He’s yet to finish in the top 10 in the overall standings.
  • Despite Haiden Deegan’s presence in the first three years of SMX, 8 different riders have won the 17 motos run.
  • There will be a first time SMX fastest qualifier in Columbus.
  • Among active riders, only Jo Shimoda (3) and Pierce Brown (1) have overall wins.
  • Among active riders, only Jo Shimoda (2), Pierce Brown (1), and Levi Kitchen (1) have moto wins.

Hunter Lawrence’s Career Year

Hunter Lawrence has been the most steady and consistent 450 rider of 2026, to the point that he clinched the #1 seed for the SMX Playoffs with SEVEN motos left to run in the season. 7 motos = 175 potential points.

  • He was one of just two riders to line up for all 17 main events and 22 motos (Cooper Webb)
  • In his third season in the premier class, Hunter won 11 regular season rounds was on the podium in 21 of 28 events.
  • He finished runner-up in the 450 SuperMotocross World Championships in both 2024 and 2025.
  • Before winning the 450 Pro Motocross championship, Hunter Lawrence had finished 2nd overall in five of the seven 450 series he had competed in.
Hunter Lawrence Through 28 rounds in 2026

450 SMX Contenders – Reasons to Believe

Hunter Lawrence is the clear favorite – he finished 2nd in Supercross, won the Pro Motocross title, and is the #1 seed with good reason. But there’s a few others that will do their best to keep him from taking another title…

2026 Combined SX+MX Stats & Career Highlight
  • Jorge Prado started (A1) and finished (SLC) the Supercross season with podiums and he finished the Pro Motocross season with a 1-1 performance. Maybe most important – speed – he was the fastest rider on track in 5 of the last 6 motos.
  • Cooper Webb is a 3x Supercross champion and just podiumed in his final career Pro Motocross race. What stands out most is his starts: he has the 4th best 1st lap position in both Supercross and Pro Motocross.
  • Haiden Deegan finished 3rd in Pro Motocross with 7 overall podiums and 12 moto podiums in his rookie run. He had speed (2nd or 3rd fastest in 15 of 22 motos) but he’ll need to clean up his starts (outside the top 10 in 5 motos) to contend for race wins.
  • Eli Tomac is one of the all-time legends of the sport – the only rider in the top 10 for wins, podiums, points, and starts (all classes, both SX + MX). The only thing he’s not won is a SMX Overall or Championship.
  • Ken Roczen is the 2026 Supercross champion. He was a series-leading 6x fastest in the mains and had the 2nd best 1st lap position that resulted in 5 wins and 12 podiums. He’s won 49 SX + MX events – 10th most. He’s always a threat.

450 SMX Seeding Notes

  • The #1 seed has yet to win the championship. In 2023-2024, Chase Sexton was the #1 seed. It was Justin Cooper in 2025.
  • The lowest seed to win the championship is Jett Lawrence in 2024 when he was a 6 seed.
  • Notable that Haiden Deegan (7th), Eli Tomac (8th) and Ken Roczen (10th) are all below a 6 seed.
#1 Seeds

450 SMX Past Championships

2023
  • Jett Lawrence (#3 seed) won the inaugural championship and two of three overalls.
  • Chase Sexton entered the final round with a +2 point advantage but crashed in the final moto in LA.
  • Ken Roczen finished top 3 in all 6 motos and second in the championship.
2024
  • Jett Lawrence (#6 seed) won the championship again after winning rounds 1 and 3.
  • It was a winner-take-all finale between #1 seed, Chase Sexton, Hunter Lawrence and Jett Lawrence.
  • Jett delivered a 1-1 in Las Vegas and tied Hunter (3-2 for 2nd) in points, but won the title based on 3 moto wins to Hunter’s 1 moto win.
  • Justin Barcia landed on Chase Sexton in Las Vegas, ending his championship run.
  • Notable, Eli Tomac went from #11 seed to 3rd in the series standings. He went 2nd, 4th, and 3rd overall with 1 moto win (Charlotte M1).
2025
  • Jett Lawrence won the opening moto in Concord. The second motos were canceled (weather). Jett headed to St Louis with a commanding +12 point lead over Hunter Lawrence and Eli Tomac.
  • Hunter Lawrence finished 1-3 for 1st overall in St Louis and sat just 6 points behind Jett Lawrence headed to the finale in Las Vegas.
  • Jett Lawrence went 1-2 for 1st overall at the finale and won his 3rd consecutive championship.
  • Eli Tomac beat Hunter Lawrence in the first moto and that was crucial to the final outcome.

Cole Davies’ Career Year

The 3rd youngest rider ever to win 250SX+MX titles in the same year, Cole Davies is having a stellar sophomore season, which is detailed in the chart below.

  • Davies will next attempt to do something that even Haiden Deegan wasn’t able to accomplish: The SMX hat trick, 250SX+MX+SMX World Champion.
  • The only rider to ‘beat’ Davies in any category in 2026 was Haiden Deegan who competed in 250SX West and got one more win than Cole and led 16 more laps.
  • Davies beat Deegan in 2 of the 3 E/W Showdowns.
Cole Davies 2026: 250SX East and 250MX

Davies 2025 SMX Recap

Davies’ SMX 2025 Recap

In short, it was kind of a Disaster (capital D). Two weeks after winning a moto at the Budds Creek Motocross, Davies was expected to at least be in the mix with the front runners.

With crashes and bad luck he was almost inivisble through the Playoffs

  • Best overall finish: 8th (Charlotte)
  • He crashed at all three rounds, even DNF-ed M1 at Las Vegas and didn’t compete in M2.
  • Tore UCL in his thumb in a crash at Charlotte and re-aggravated it in a qualifying crash at Las Vegas. Had surgery on the thumb on Sept. 22.
  • Moto finishes in SMX 2025: 8-7-11-22
  • Overall finishes in SMX 2025: 8-11-23
  • Cole entered 2025 as the #17 seed

250 SMX Contenders

  • At 25, Levi Kitchen is the 5th oldest rider lining up in the class. He’s got the experience but can he put it all together? Leaving round 7 of Pro Motocross he had a 24 point lead. In the last 8 motos he averaged 20th on the 1st lap (eventual champion Cole Davies averaged 2nd)!
  • Julien Beaumer is one of a few riders who’s had great success in both Supercross and Pro Motocross, finishing 2nd in both 2025 250 SX West and 2026 250 Pro Motocross.
  • Chance Hymas was 1st or 2nd in the last 5 motos of the Pro Motocross season. Momentum is on his side! Note: he only has one SMX start (Charlotte 2024: 16th overall)
  • Ryder Difrancesco just finished a career year – career bests 4th in 250 SX West and 5th in Pro Motocross.
  • Jo Shimoda has been plagued with injuries since winning the 2025 250 SMX World Championship:
    • Shimoda injury #1: November 2025 – fractured and displace vertebrae in his upper back/lower neck
    • Shimoda injury #2: April 2026 at the St. Louis SX – non-displaced left fibula fracture (missed rest of SX)
    • Shimoda injury #3: July 2026 – broken collarbone @ The Wick while he was the 250MX points leader!

250 SMX Seeding Notes

  • The #1 seed has only won the series once (Haiden Deegan in 2024).
  • The lowest seed to win the championship is a 2 seed – Haiden Deegan in 2023 and Jo Shimoda in 2025.
  • Keep an eye on Julien Beaumer who enters as a 5 seed as a result of missing the entire Supercross season with a back injury.
  • Notable: Nick Romano just misses a direct transfer each week after dropping to the 21st seed in the final moto of the Pro Motocross season.
#1 Seeds

SMX Next World All-Stars

These future stars will line-up at both Playoff 1 in Columbus and then again for their Final in Carson. A few of the favorites heading into the first round include…

  • Landon Gibson has 5 podiums in his 17 SMX Next regular season starts. He went 5-1 for 2nd overall at Ironman.
  • Ryder Malinoski won the St Louis finals after qualifying 3rd fastest. He’s got 11 regular season SMX Next career starts with 1 podium (3rd Birmingham) and 2 top 5s.
  • Carson Wood finished 2nd at Charlotte in 2025. Carson won 3 of 4 motos (and both overalls) in the SMX Next outdoor rounds this year.
  • Kade Johnson finished 3rd at St Louis in 2025. Notably, Kade won the 2025 Foxborough mud race and was 2nd in Birmingham this year.
  • Vincent Wey has 9 total SMX Next regular season starts including a win in Birmingham earlier this season along with 2nd at Daytona.
2026 SMX Next Finishes