Round 28 of the SuperMotocross World Championship, Round 11 of Pro Motocross, at Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana, will decide all three outdoor titles, but the fiercest of these is the 450 championship between the brothers Hunter and Jett Lawrence.
Hunter enters Ironman with a one-point lead over Jett. Both riders have made a few mistakes along the way, but they can ill afford another if they want to win the championship. The slim lead is fitting as handicapping these two riders comes down to art instead of science.
This is one of of Hunter’s best tracks where he won his first Motocross overall last year, finishing second in both motos. He has arguably been the much stronger rider all season. But Hunter has succumbed to pressure a few times this year, and that may make the difference.
Jett is perhaps the best rider in the field under pressure—normally. This season as he continues to race with the effects of a foot and ankle injury, he’s ridden over his head a few times. If he gets even a modest start and keeps his bike upright, it’s going to be hard to keep him out of the lead.
This is the second time this season that Hunter enters a finale with a one-point differential to the lead. He was one point down to Ken Roczen at Salt Lake City in the Supercross ender. He crashed in that race while chasing the championship.
Jett’s fourth-place overall finish last week was only the third time in his career that the defending champion failed to earn an overall podium. Notably, one of the two other times came in this race last year when he was penalized a complete lap for fouling the gate in Moto 1; he won the second moto and was scored sixth overall.
Jorge Prado and Haiden Deegan have easily been the two best riders behind the Lawrences. They have one more opportunity to win a moto or the overall, which would complicate the math for Hunter and Jett. Should those riders tie in points, Hunter has the tiebreaker already secured.
Last week, Eli Tomac showed some flashes of speed. If he can put together a complete moto, he could also play the role of spoiler. Tomac has three wins and seven podiums in 10 Ironman starts to lead the league.
Last week was the sixth time the 450 red plate has been exchanged this week, which is a record according to WeWentFast.com. Jett hopes to extend that by one this week. Neither Jett nor Hunter have held the red plate in more than two consecutive races and that will not change regardless of Saturday’s outcome.
250 Notes
Cole Davies will celebrate his 19th birthday on race day this week. He hopes to give himself a 250 Motocross championship as a present. With a 14-point lead, Davies can afford to be a little conservative if he needs to be.
Davies can clinch the title if he wins Moto 1 and Kitchen finishes eighth or worse or if he finishes second and Kitchen is 11th or worse,
Levi Kitchen remains the only 250 rider to finish in the top five overall in every Motocross round.
Jo Shimoda is the only active rider to have won at Ironman, so it’s safe to say that we will have a new 250 victor this week
WMX Notes
The WMX series is the one most likely to be clinched in the first moto. Lachlan Tuner has a 21-point lead over Charli Cannon, so LaLa wins her third title if she gains four points.
Cannon has finished worse than second only twice in 10 motos this season, so she has a solid chance to push the battle into Saturday’s race.
Mayla Herrick and Cannon are the only riders other than Turner to win a moto this year.
Between them, Turner and Cannon have swept first and second-place this year, four riders have stood on the third-place box. Mikayla Nielsen was third in the season-opener at Hangtown and last week at Budds Creek. Taylah McCutcheon finished third at Thunder Valley, Lotte van Drunen at High Point, and Herrick at Unadilla.
Tune in to watch Friday’s race live on the SuperMotocross YouTube channel!
2026 SuperMotocross Top-10 finishers
450s
Hunter Lawrence (11 wins, 21 podiums, 23 top-fives, 26 top-10s) [15 Moto wins]
Ken Roczen (5 wins, 11 podiums, 15 top-fives, 17 top-10s) [3 Moto wins] *
Eli Tomac (4 wins, 9 podiums, 11 top-fives, 13 top-10s) [1 Moto win]
Jett Lawrence (4 wins, 9 podiums, 10 top-fives, 10 top-10s) [8 Moto wins]
Chase Sexton (2 wins, 3 podiums, 9 top-fives, 15 top-10s)
Cooper Webb (1 win, 8 podiums, 12 top-fives, 21 top-10s)
Haiden Deegan (7 podiums, 8 top-fives, 10 top-10s)
Jorge Prado (6 podiums, 12 top-fives, 18 top-10s)
Justin Cooper (4 podiums, 10 top-fives, 16 top-10s) [2 Moto wins]
Malcolm Stewart (1 podium, 3 top-fives, 12 top-10s)
Lucas Coenen (1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Garrett Marchbanks (5 top-fives, 14 top-10s)
Joey Savatgy (4 top-fives, 11 top-10s)
RJ Hampshire (3 top-fives, 11 top-10s)
Dylan Ferrandis (2 top-fives, 19 top-10s)
Justin Hill (2 top-fives, 7 top-10s)
Jason Anderson (2 top-fives, 3 top-10s)
Aaron Plessinger (1 top-five, 10 top-10s)
Justin Barcia (1 top-five, 6 top-10s)
Mikkel Haarup (1 top-five, 5 top-10s)
Jordon Smith (6 top-10s)
Shane McElrath (5 top-10s)
Christian Craig (4 top-10s)
Dean Wilson (3 top-10s)
Colt Nichols (2 top-10s)
Benny Bloss (2 top-10s)
Valentin Guillod (1 top-10)
Jed Beaton (1 top-10)
*Supercross Champion
250s
Cole Davies (10 wins, 15 podiums, 16 top-fives, 17 top-10s) [12 Moto wins] +
Haiden Deegan (7 wins, 8 podiums, 10 top-fives, 10 top-10s) [3 Moto wins] **
Seth Hammaker (2 wins, 8 podiums, 11 top-fives, 12 top-10s) [3 Moto wins]
Levi Kitchen (1 win, 10 podiums, 18 top-fives, 19 top-10s) [3 Moto wins]
Jo Shimoda (1 win, 6 podiums, 9 top-fives, 10 top-10s) [1 Moto win]
Chance Hymas (1 win, 5 podiums, 5 top-fives, 11 top-10s) [2 Moto wins]
Julien Beaumer (1 win, 3 podiums, 6 top-fives, 12 top-10s) [1 Moto win]
Max Anstie (1 win, 3 podiums, 5 top-fives, 9 top-10s)
Nate Thrasher (1 win, 2 podiums, 4 top-fives, 11 top-10s) [1 Moto win]
Pierce Brown (1 win, 2 podiums, 3 top-fives, 3 top-10s)
Sacha Coenen (1 win, 1 podium, 2 top-fives, 2 top-10s) [3 Moto wins]
Ryder DiFrancesco (5 podiums, 12 top-fives, 16 top-10s)
Cameron McAdoo (3 podiums, 5 top-fives, 5 top-10s)
Daxton Bennick (2 podiums, 6 top-fives, 11 top-10s)
Michael Mosiman (2 podiums, 4 top-fives, 9 top-10s)
Landen Gordon (2 podiums, 2 top-fives, 3 top-10s)
Devin Simonson (1 podium, 1 top-five, 7 top-10s)
Nick Romano (1 podium, 1 top-five, 6 top-10s)
Caden Dudney (1 podium, 1 top-five, 4 top-10s)
Kayden Minear (4 top-fives, 9 top-10s)
Carson Mumford (3 top-fives, 9 top-10s)
Maximus Vohland (2 top-fives, 9 top-10s)
Coty Schock (2 top-fives, 8 top-10s)
Henry Miller (1 top-five, 5 top-10s)
Casey Cochran (1 top-five, 3 top-10s)
Hunter Yoder (7 top-10s)
Dilan Schwartz (5 top-10s)
Drew Adams (5 top-10s)
Parker Ross (4 top-10s)
Derek Kelley (4 top-10s)
Lux Turner (4 top-10s)
Cullin Park (3 top-10s)
Avery Long (2 top-10s)
Jalek Swoll (2 top-10s)
Maximus Vohland (2 top-10s)
Kyle Peters (2 top-10s)
Marshal Weltin (2 top-10s)
Josh Varize (2 top-10s)
Anthony Bourdon (1 top-10)
Luke Neese (1 top-10)
Izaih Clark (1 top-10)
Gavin Towers (1 top-10)
Robbie Wageman (1 top-10)
Francisco Garcia (1 top-10)
Brodie Connolly (1 top-10)
** Supercross East Champion
+ Supercross West Champion
[Moto wins include Feature wins from the Supercross series.]
Recent Ironman races
450s
2025: Hunter Lawrence (followed by RJ Hampshire, Eli Tomac)
2024: Chase Sexton (Aaron Plessinger, Eli Tomac)
2023: Jett Lawrence (Chase Sexton, Aaron Plessinger)
2022: Chase Sexton (Eli Tomac, Aaron Plessinger)
2021: Eli Tomac (Dylan Ferrandis, Cooper Webb)
250s
2025: Haiden Deegan (Jo Shimoda, Tom Vialle)
2024: Tom Vialle (Chance Hymas, RJ Hampshire)
2023: Jo Shimoda (Haiden Deegan, Tom Vialle)
2022: Jett Lawrence (Jo Shimoda, Hunter Lawrence)
2021: Jett Lawrence (Jo Shimoda, Justin Cooper)
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