10. Max Anstie is Flying at the Race Track:
For the past couple of seasons, there’s been a lot of Max Anstie, “flying at the test track” talk in the off-season. Although he’s grabbed some wins and showed occasional glimpses of speed that could warrant that hype, the real goal now for his new team is to deliver championships. Fast forward to Tampa and a switch to the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing, and it seems an off-season at the farm may be just what Anstie needs to contend for this 250 East title. He was dominant in the series’ opener completing the trifecta of pole position in qualifying, heat race win, and main event win. Can he string together results worthy of making a title run?
9. 2025 is Testing the Lawrence Camp:
It is no secret that Jett and Hunter Lawrence have not had a great start to 2025. After a terrible A1 for both the brothers on the track, two weeks later off-track news made headlines with news of a breakup between them and their longtime agent Lucas Mirtl. Jett shook all that off with a win, only to tear his ACL last week in Glendale, sidelining him for the season. Hunter had been slowly gaining some momentum, stringing together three fifth place finishes in a row. Tampa put a halt on that momentum. The elder Lawrence went down hard in a big heat race crash, putting him out for the night. Early reports are a hit to the head and is day-to-day, but it is possible there will not be a Lawrence on the gate next weekend in Detroit.
8. Pierce Brown Can Get Starts:
Pierce Brown went out with a bang last year at the SMX Finals in Las Vegas. The Utah native finally put himself up front and got his first professional win in his last race of a five-year tenure with the Red Bull TLD GasGas team. Brown has spent much of his career coming through the pack but now had one race with good starts—and a win—to show what he could do if he started up front. Would a switch to the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing fix the starts? The one race test shows us yes. He got out front early in his heat and led before the restart. In the main he got out front early and led for six laps before a violent crash in the whoops took him out of the race. Pierce has since updated us in an Instagram post, saying the crash left him with a broken T5 vertebrae and he has already had surgery. Get well soon PB, and here is to picking up where he left off when he returns.
7. Eli Tomac and McAdoo are Gnarly:
At the pre-race press conference for Tampa, Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Cameron McAdoo announced that a recent crash (that was out of his control, which usually means was caused by a bike failure) left him with a torn ACL. He is planning to race through it, and so far, so good. He was solid all day and was able to gut out a podium finish. Eli Tomac wasn’t able to put in a result like McAdoo, but his ride was equally gritty. After an awkward dab of the foot in the second qualifying session left him looking at the sky and riding immediately off track, everyone feared the worst. Luckily, he did not reinjure his Achilles,’ but early reports of a calf bruise forced Eli to suffer through the night to salvage a 17th place finish and five championship points. A Yamaha press release indicated a sprained ankle and severe bruising. At times, he was going through the whoops with one leg! Unbelievable rides by both guys.
6. Forget Everything You Knew About 250 East:
It is rare that we have both divisions previous year’s champions face off in the next season’s 250 SX championship the following year, but that is what we have in 2025. Tom Vialle and RJ Hampshire will face off in a battle of defending champions in this 250 East Series. Throw in Levi Kitchen who nearly beat Hampshire for the title in 2024 and surely one of, if not all three will be on the podium right? Wrong. Vialle was the highest finisher of the bunch, with a fifth!
“I had a big crash through the whoops in qualifying, so I was lucky to get away with that one,” said Vialle in a KTM PR. “I didn't feel great in practice or qualifying, although felt a bit better for the night show and P5 for our first Main Event of the year. It's not bad, and although it's not where we want to be, we'll build from here and get better for next weekend."
"Qualifying wasn't great, but it wasn't bad," said Kitchen in a Kawasaki statement. "In the Heat Race, I had to make a quick stop in the mechanics’ area with a bike issue, and that set me up for a poor gate pick. I did not execute my start in the main, and then I crashed in the sand section, so I was quite a ways back. I just tried to make do with what I had. I’m not really happy with my performance. I do feel like I'm riding pretty well right now, so I just have to put this one behind us and go to the next.”
No podiums for this group. We’re left scratching our heads at what to expect this weekend in Detroit.
5. RJ is gonna RJ:
The one thing you can count on with RJ Hampshire is that he will never short you of effort. The reigning 250 West Division Supercross champion came into the series under prepared after struggling with the wrist injury he suffered on Press Day at Pala Raceway before last year’s Pro Motocross opener. Despite his preseason struggles, RJ was able to qualify P2 and win his heat race. After a mediocre start to the main, the Rockstar Husqvarna rider jumped onto a tough block in a rhythm section and was tangled up for over a lap! He charged the entire main despite being a lap down but was only able to get up to 18th. Hampshire needs to rebound in a big way in Detroit.
4. Sophomore Jump:
Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s Daxton Bennick started his rookie season in 2024 with a podium finish in Detroit. That was the best we would get from Dax, as his season slowly trended downwards, and he was even benched for the last couple of Pro Motocross events and the SMX Playoff’s. Bennick pointed to illness as the cause of his issues and after a quiet off-season, he put his #34 machine on the podium at the opener once again with a second-place finish. Dax rode amazing, even keeping his teammate Anstie in check the entire way. Is 2025 the year he breaks out or is he just a round one specialist?
3. Lightning Can Strike Twice:
Tampa Supercross 2023. Chase Sexton leads for twenty-one laps only to throw it away in the whoops with four to go. Cooper Webb took advantage of Chase’s mistake and went on to win the race. Fast forward to 2025, and Sexton gets a rare holeshot in the main and leads the first eighteen laps only to throw it away in the whoops. Nearly a carbon copy of 2023. Webb didn’t win this time, but he did get by and was able to cut the deficit to Chase in points in half. Is this a strange coincidence, or cause for concern?
2. Cooper’s Webb:
Cooper Webb is heating up. Webb admitted that Jett’s injury opens an opportunity to win this title, and he was fired up all day in Tampa. He was fast in qualifying and dominated his heat race. He may not have won the race, but all his title rivals took hits last weekend and he smells blood in the water. This is scary territory for his competition, but Coop still needs to win a race. Is Detroit the place he puts his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing machine on the top step of the podium?
1. Hometown Hero
Malcolm Stewart’s 10-7-9-10 scores to start the season were okay, but certainly didn’t warrant any reason to predict a charge through the field and taking home his first career 450 SX win. Hometown atmosphere and a gnarly set of whoops were just what the doctor ordered for Mookie, and nobody is mad about it! Raymond James Stadium gave off Denver/Eli Tomac vibes as their cheers followed Malcolm around the track during the last laps of the main event. Malcom was just as fired up as the fans after the race and it was refreshing to see emotion and gratitude like that after a win.
