After a muddy and chaotic first round of the playoffs, the SuperMotocross World Championship moves to the Los Angeles metro area for Round 30 in Carson, California, for the second playoff round.
Disastrous first motos for Hunter Lawrence in the 450 division and Cole Davies in 250s changed the order at the top of the standings, but with the SMX League offering double points for the second round and triple points for the finale, no one is fully out of contention.
According to WeWentFast.com, eight of the top 10 riders shifted position last week; four of them by five or more positions.
Hunter was the most notable of them as he dropped five positions to sixth.
Deegan improved from the seventh seed to second. Notably, Jett Lawrence was the No. 6 seed in 2024 before winning the title and that remains the lowest seed to be successful.
Ken Roczen improved from the 11th seed to land fourth on the chart, eight points behind Prado.
Last week, Haiden Deegan became only the fourth rider to win a 450 playoff race in a series that has been dominated by the Lawrence brothers. He also became only the second rider, along with Hunter, to win in both divisions.
Deegan dominated the Columbus race, winning both motos by more than 17 seconds. Of course, it’s difficult to draw any conclusions on a track like the riders faced last week, but the lingering affect is the confidence that win engendered in Deegan.
With Lawrence possibly suffering from a wrist injury, Deegan may well be the favorite now.
Four riders have competed in all 10 SMX Playoff rounds now: They are Roczen, Dylan Ferrandis, Cooper Webb, and Shane McElrath.
Roczen quickly made himself part of the playoff story with his 2-2 finish last week. He has been second overall in four of his 10 playoff starts.
Prado’s third-place finish last week makes him the only rider this year to stand on the podium in each opening round. He finished third in Supercross’ Anaheim 1 and was third at Fox Raceway in the Motocross series.
Ten points separate first from sixth in the standings entering Carson, so it’s likely there will be a new points leader if Prado struggles whatsoever.
Ferrandis and Aaron Plessinger provided some fresh faces at the front of the field.
Ferrandis finished fourth and ninth in the two motos for sixth overall. He is now fifth in the standings, which showed a lot of moxie since he started Moto 2 in 22nd.
Plessinger improved 15 position in both motos and moved up the ranks from the 15th seed to eighth.
250 Notes
Finishing second in both motos last week and scoring the overall win, Levi Kitchen has the SMX Playoff red plate for the first time in his career, bettering a second in Concord, North Carolina, in 2024
While significant points can be made up in the SMX format, Jo Shimoda dug a big hole for himself last week in Columbus. Finishing 12th and 13th, he earned points for a 13th-place overall. Until last week, he had never finished outside the top five in an SAMX Playoff race.
Kitchen and Shimoda are joined by Ryder DiFrancesco as the only riders to have started all 10 playoff races.
Shimoda’s fall from the No. 1 seed to 11th is the biggest drop by a top seed in either class in the four-year history of the playoffs.
2026 SuperMotocross Top-10 finishers
450s
Hunter Lawrence (11 wins, 21 podiums, 24 top-fives, 27 top-10s) [15 Moto wins] &
Ken Roczen (5 wins, 12 podiums, 16 top-fives, 18 top-10s) [3 Moto wins] *
Eli Tomac (4 wins, 9 podiums, 12 top-fives, 14 top-10s) [1 Moto win]
Jett Lawrence (4 wins, 9 podiums, 10 top-fives, 11 top-10s) [8 Moto wins]
Chase Sexton (2 wins, 3 podiums, 9 top-fives, 15 top-10s)
Cooper Webb (1 win, 9 podiums, 14 top-fives, 23 top-10s)
Jorge Prado (1 win, 8 podiums, 14 top-fives, 20 top-10s) [2 Moto wins]
Haiden Deegan (1 win, 8 podiums, 9 top-fives, 12 top-10s) [2 Moto wins]
Justin Cooper (4 podiums, 10 top-fives, 16 top-10s) [2 Moto wins]
RJ Hampshire (1 podium, 4 top-fives, 12 top-10s)
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, 16 top-10s)
Joey Savatgy (5 top-fives, 12 top-10s)
Dylan Ferrandis (2 top-fives, 20 top-10s)
Justin Hill (2 top-fives, 7 top-10s)
Jason Anderson (2 top-fives, 3 top-10s)
Aaron Plessinger (1 top-five, 12 top-10s)
Justin Barcia (1 top-five, 6 top-10s)
Mikkel Haarup (1 top-five, 6 top-10s)
Jordon Smith (7 top-10s)
Shane McElrath (6 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
& Motocross Champion
250s
Cole Davies (10 wins, 15 podiums, 16 top-fives, 19 top-10s) [13 Moto wins] +
Haiden Deegan (7 wins, 8 podiums, 10 top-fives, 10 top-10s) [3 Moto wins] **
Levi Kitchen (2 wins, 11 podiums, 19 top-fives, 20 top-10s) [3 Moto wins]
Seth Hammaker (2 wins, 8 podiums, 11 top-fives, 12 top-10s) [3 Moto wins]
Julien Beaumer (2 wins, 4 podiums, 7 top-fives, 13 top-10s) [2 Moto wins]
Jo Shimoda (1 win, 6 podiums, 9 top-fives, 10 top-10s) [1 Moto win]
Chance Hymas (1 win, 6 podiums, 6 top-fives, 13 top-10s) [3 Moto wins]
Max Anstie (1 win, 3 podiums, 5 top-fives, 9 top-10s)
Nate Thrasher (1 win, 2 podiums, 4 top-fives, 12 top-10s) [1 Moto win]
Pierce Brown (1 win, 2 podiums, 4 top-fives, 4 top-10s)
Sacha Coenen (1 win, 1 podium, 2 top-fives, 2 top-10s) [3 Moto wins]
Ryder DiFrancesco (7 podiums, 14 top-fives, 18 top-10s)
Daxton Bennick (3 podiums, 7 top-fives, 12 top-10s) [1 Moto Win]
Cameron McAdoo (3 podiums, 6 top-fives, 6 top-10s)
Michael Mosiman (2 podiums, 4 top-fives, 10 top-10s)
Landen Gordon (2 podiums, 3 top-fives, 5 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, 5 top-10s)
Kayden Minear (4 top-fives, 10 top-10s)
Maximus Vohland (3 top-fives, 10 top-10s)
Carson Mumford (3 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)
Drew Adams (7 top-10s)
Dilan Schwartz (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; Pro Motocross champion
[Moto wins include Feature wins from the Supercross series.]
Recent SMX Playoff races
450s
2026 Columbus: Haiden Deegan (Followed by Ken Roczen, Jorge Prado)
2025 Las Vegas Motor Speedway: Jett Lawrence (Hunter Lawrence, Eli Tomac)
2025 Dome at America’s Center: Hunter Lawrence (Jett Lawrence, Eli Tomac)
2025 zMax Dragway: Jett Lawrence (Chase Sexton, Eli Tomac)
2024 Las Vegas Motor Speedway: Jett Lawrence (Hunter Lawrence, Eli Tomac)
2024 Texas Motor Speedway: Hunter Lawrence (Chase Sexton, Jett Lawrence)
2024 zMax Dragway: Jett Lawrence (Eli Tomac, Chase Sexton)
2023 LA Coliseum: Jett Lawrence (Ken Roczen, Cooper Webb)
2023 Chicagoland Speedway: Jett Lawrence (Ken Roczen], Chase Sexton)
2023 zMax Dragway: Chase Sexton (Ken Roczen, Dylan Ferrandis)
250s
2026 Columbus: Levi Kitchen (Daxton Bennick, Ryder DiFrancesco)
2025 Las Vegas Motor Speedway: Jo Shimoda (Seth Hammaker, Tom Vialle)
025 Dome at America’s Center: Jo Shimoda (Seth Hammaker, Nate Thrasher)
2025 zMax Dragway: Haiden Deegan (Seth Hammaker, Jo Shimoda)
2024 Las Vegas Motor Speedway: Pierce Brown (Haiden Deegan, Jordan Smith)
2024 Texas Motor Speedway: Haiden Deegan (Tom Vialle, Jo Shimoda)
2024 zMax Dragway: Haiden Deegan (Julien Beaumer, Levi Kitchen)
2023 LA Coliseum: Haiden Deegan (Jo Shimoda, RJ Hampshire)
2023 Chicagoland Speedway: Hunter Lawrence (Jo Shimoda, Haiden Deegan)
2023 zMax Dragway: Jo Shimoda (Tom Viall, Haiden Deegan)
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