Jett Lawrence and Levi Kitchen made huge steps over the weekend at the Hangtown Motocross Classic, winning their respective classes. Between the two racers, it’s tough to say which win was more important.
For Lawrence, he is coming back from the major ankle injury he sustained back in December. He rode phenomenally and was able to score 1-1 on the day. His older brother, Hunter, rode excellently too, but he was no match for Jett with his 2-2 finish.
This weekend was the most fans have seen Hunter be able to put pressure on his brother. Ultimately, he was unable to make a pass and try to run away with the lead.
Rounding out the podium was rookie Haiden Deegan, with scores of 3-3. This marks his first 450 class career podium. Deegan showed promising skills while racing, but he still needs time to adapt to riding the bigger bike before he can be a race and overall winner.
Also, there has to be a shoutout to Ducati racer Dylan Ferrandis, who went 4-6 for fourth overall, which is the best finish for that bike, which is in its first year of Pro Motocross racing.
Unfortunately, things over at the Chase Sexton camp with the Monster Energy Kawasaki team are not going well at all. Sexton has now tucked his front end, which means he lost traction in the front of his bike, in three out of the four motos this summer so far.
He went 11-4 on the day for seventh place. His teammate, Garrett Marchbanks, beat him with 6-5 scores for fifth overall.
It seems as if Sexton is extremely unhappy with the Kawasaki, just as Jorge Prado was last year. Yet Sexton cannot make excuses about the bike if his teammate is beating him on the same bike.
On a more positive note for Kawasaki, they had first and third on the podium for the 250 class, with Kitchen getting his first Pro Motocross win since 2024. He earned 2-2 scores on the day. Although he wanted a moto win, consistency is going to be key this summer in the class with so many riders able to win a moto.
In second place was Julien “Juju” Beaumer with scores of 4-3. He looks good on his bike, and it is remarkable to see him at this level after he suffered a burst vertebra fracture back in September 2025.
Third place was Seth Hammaker with a score of 1-9. He rode great in the first moto, but chaos broke out at the start of the second moto when nearly 20 riders piled up on the start, leaving Hammaker in the back. He still holds the points lead, but if he did not take part in the pile up, he would have had a better race result.
The WMX – Women’s Motocross – class had some of the best battles on the weekend, with Lachlan “Lala” Turner and Charli Cannon going back and forth. Turner went on to win the weekend, and started her season off on the right foot.
Ryder’s Radar and Results
With school being out on Wednesday, we won’t see any recaps until next school year, which happens to fall at the end of the Pro Motocross season and right before the playoffs start. However, looking at this past weekend, my 250 class predictions were great, as I correctly predicted Kitchen’s and Hammaker’s finishes.
In the 450 class, I had both of the Lawrence brothers in the top three, but I had them reversed. Looking into the future, I think Jett Lawrence is going to continue to amaze fans as he progresses from his ankle injury and ends up winning the 2026 450 class Pro Motocross title for the third time in his career. In the 250 championship, I think Hammaker will come out on top, as he looks the most comfortable and has been the most consistent.
When the summer ends, we’ll look back at these and we’ll see how my predictions turned out.
As for this weekend, racing takes place on Saturday in Colorado at Thunder Valley with the action starting live on Peacock at 4 p.m. Eastern. After Thunder Valley, racing heads to Western Pennsylvania, in Mount Morris at the historic High Point Raceway, where the track is only an hour from the high school. For now, it’s time to race our way through the summer.
