Hangtown Motocross 2025 preview: Top finishes, previous winners, historic results, who to watch

NBC Sports

4 days ago

Fitness will be put to the test this week at the Hangtown Motocross Classic in Rancho Cordova, California, with Round 2 of the 2025 Pro Motocross season, as temperatures are forecasted to exceed 100 degrees on race day.
With five editions of the Hangtown Classic run before Pro Motocross took over the sanction, this is the oldest race on the schedule. Saturday will mark the 56th running of the event. The only time since 1974 that Hangtown failed to host an event was in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
More questions surround this race than fans have had in recent seasons. Last week at Fox Raceway in Pala, California, Eli Tomac initiated 'Beast Mode' in Moto 2 and challenged Lawrence for most of that race. Near the end, Lawrence found his optimal line and stretched the advantage, but frankly, it's the most competition the 2023 champion has had in two years on an outdoor track.
Jett Lawrence's crash at Hangtown in 2024 was the only time he failed to win a Pro Motocross overall. - Align Media
Align Media
Moreover, this is a track on which Tomac excels, having won three times in seven 450-class starts and once on a 250. No other active rider has more than a single 450 win.
One reason for that is Lawrence's crash in last year's Hangtown Classic, which opened the opportunity for Chase Sexton to take the overall victory. The accident, on a downhill portion of the track, ended Lawrence's perfect start to his motocross career with 12 consecutive wins.
On this track, Tomac is at his best in the second race with six Moto 2 wins in seven attempts, according to WeWentFast.com.
Dan Beaver,
Tomac's last Hangtown victory came in 2018, so he needs to dig deep into his bag of tricks to become the first rider to outperform a healthy Lawrence on an outdoor track.
Even with that last Hangtown victory coming half a decade ago, the field remains in awe of his accomplishments at this venue. His 2015 performance was legendary, featuring being the fastest qualifier by more than two seconds, leading both motos flag-to-flag, and winning Moto 2 by more than a minute and a half. In the post-race conference in Pala, Lawrence recalled watching this race as a 15-year-old phenom.
'I have this image of Eli smoking everyone by over a minute or something,' Lawrence said after last week's race. 'Right now, I'm going to have to go wipe my brain and make sure I get that out of my head and be confident.'
Lawrence has never raced Tomac in the Hangtown event. In fact, until last week, the two riders had never raced one another in Pro Motocross due to injuries.
Lawrence's overall domination continues. After leading every lap of Round 1, he has now done so in 65 percent of his attempts. Statistics such as those tend to put the competition on their collective back wheels.
With the competition devolving into who will be positioned to run second to Lawrence, Justin Cooper tossed his hat into the ring. Last week's second-place finish in Moto 1 was a career-best for him after running third six times in 2024. He could be one of the most pleasant surprises of the first half of the season.
SuperMotocross teams are notoriously reticent to alert the media to injury, so midway through the week, it is uncertain if Chase Sexton will line up this weekend. Regardless, he holds the distinction of being the rider with the worst record of any champion who lined up for Round 1 in his title defense. Sexton's crash in Moto 1 injured his shoulder and kept him from racing in Moto 2. He failed to earn a single point.
In the 250 division, Haiden Deegan picked up where he left off in 2024 by sweeping the motos at Pala for the second time in his career. But that was the only time in his career that Deegan swept the weekend, although he finished first or second in every moto of the following four rounds. He lost one of these rounds when Ty Masterpool scored the tiebreaking second moto win at High Point Raceway in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania.
Jo Shimoda's second-place overall finish and runner-up results in both motos marked his best start to a Motocross season. Earlier this year, he had a career-best start in Supercross with his Anaheim 1 victory.
The Women's Pro Motocross (WMX) season continues into Round 2 at Hangtown, and it is likely to be a battle between La La and Kay Kay.
The defending WMX champion, Lachlan Turner, finished second to Mikayla Nielsen in Round 1. Both riders won a moto in Pala.
Motocross 2025 Top-10 finishers
450s
Jett Lawrence (1 win, 1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10s) [2 moto wins]
Eli Tomac (1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10s)
Hunter Lawrence (1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10s)
Aaron Plessinger (1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Justin Cooper (1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Jorge Prado (1 top-10)
Jason Anderson (1 top-10)
Joey Savatgy (1 top-10)
RJ Hampshire (1 top-10)
Benoit Paturel (1 top-10)
250s
Haiden Deegan (1 win, 1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10) [2 moto wins]
Jo Shimoda (1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Tom Vialle (1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Chance Hymas (1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Julien Beaumer (1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Garrett Marchbanks (1 top-10)
Seth Hammaker (1 top-10)
Michael Mosiman (1 top-10)
Max Vohland (1 top-10)
Ty Masterpool (1 top-10)
450s
2024: Chase Sexton [1-1] (Followed by Hunter Lawrence [2-4], Aaron Plessinger [5-2])
2023: Jett Lawrence [1-1] (Dylan Ferrandis [2-3], Cooper Webb [4-2])
2022: Jason Anderson [1-3] (Chase Sexton [2-2], Eli Tomac [4-1])
2021: Dylan Ferrandis [1-3] (Eli Tomac [4-1], Cooper Webb [3-2])
2019: Ken Roczen [1-2] (Eli Tomac [4-1], Jason Anderson [2-5])
250s
2024: Haiden Deegan [1-2] (Tom Vialle [4-1], Levi Kitchen [3-3])
2023: Hunter Lawrence [3-1] (Justin Cooper [2-2], Haiden Deegan [1-4])
2022: Jett Lawrence [3-1] (Justin Cooper [2-3], Hunter Lawrence [4-2])
2021: Justin Cooper [1-1] (Jo Shimoda [4-2], RJ Hampshire [2-6])
2019: Adam Cianciarulo [2-1] (Justin Cooper [1-4], Colt Nichols [5-3])
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