The final round of the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship had the potential to get wild, and it definitely delivered in the 250SX East/West Showdown. That, and the way the 450SX main event played out, left us with plenty of questions, which we promptly loaded into an email and fired off to former pro and NBC pit reporter, Jason Thomas.
The sun was beating on the dirt all day, not unlike last week in Denver. Was the racing surface in Salt Lake City hard and slick like Denver, or were there differences between the two?
Yes, but with nuance. The SLC dirt has more loose dirt on top. Both were hard and slippery but the loose surface soil makes the “feel” a bit different. Tires skate on top of the SLC dirt where Denver is more compact. They are both slippery but in slightly different ways. The rear tire will spin through the loose dirt before getting to the base and catching traction in SLC where it immediately spins on the blue-grooved adobe in Denver. Both terrains demand ultimate focus and precision but they have different characteristics for the riders.
What was your take on the whoops? They weren’t taking guys out left and right, but not everyone was able to blitz them at light speed either. Were they a good balance, or were they a tad on the easy side?
I thought they worked pretty well. Both jumping and blitzing was reasonably effective. When you see riders going back and forth between the options and unsure what’s better or more sustainable, that’s the hallmark of a good set. Some would argue that huge blitzers are the ultimate set of whoops but that typically ends up with multiple riders in the Alpinestars Mobile Medical Unit.
The 250SX West Division riders raced at elevation last week, while the 250SX East Division riders experienced it for the first time this season in Salt Lake City. Do you think last week’s exposure gave the west riders any advantage over the east?
I do think they had an edge but mostly with familiarity. They were able to work through gearing changes, ECU adjustments, and also acclimating their bodies to a heavy workload with less oxygen. It would be difficult to assign a value to it but there had to be some sort of marginal edge.
Cole Davies made a mistake in a rhythm lane during qualifying and rolled the next two jumps. Unfortunately, Jordon Smith was already in the air with nowhere to go except straight into the back of Davies, which took them both out of action for the day. Was there something Davies should have done to avoid this horrible crash, or is this just an example of how fast things can get ugly in this sport?
I think there is likely blame to be assigned on both sides. First and foremost, Davies cannot slow to a roll there if at all possible. He’s in the race line of a big rhythm and riders are trying to put in qualifying laps. That’s very problematic and a mistake he won’t make again. Second, Smith could have seen Davies at a crawl and checked up. He was likely on a heater and didn’t want to ruin the lap, hoping Davies would be out of the way. It was a bummer all the way around and both riders could have made different decisions in hindsight but like with all things hindsight, easy to say now. Huge bummer for Davies, as he will now have to go heal up and start the recovery process to get back to 100 percent.
The 250SX main event was all kinds of crazy. Let’s start with Julien Beumer. After passing Seth Hammaker and gapping him, he was suddenly back to within striking distance of Hammaker. When Hammaker passed him, Beaumer immediately threw a hard block pass on him in the next corner. Did it seem like Beaumer might have been doing what he could to try to help his teammate, Tom Vialle, or do we just need to remove our tinfoil hats?
I would surmise that’s exactly what was happening. Beaumer did Vialle a solid and it’s hard to see it a different way. He didn’t do anything illegal or unjust, but if I’m Hammaker or anyone wearing green, I am still pissed. If Beaumer stays uninvolved, it’s very hard for me to see a scenario where Hammaker is not champ. Ifs and butts, but that’s the way I see it.
The wildest moment of the race came when RJ Hampshire put a pass on Hammaker that cleaned them both out and put the championship back in Vialle’s hands. What did you think of the pass, and what do you think was going through Hampshire’s mind when he realized he was going down with Hammaker too?
Well, the math said that simply passing Hammaker wasn’t enough. He needed to pass and also get more help. He wasn’t going to catch Deegan and the only other alternative was for more riders to separate them. So, in that light, in an all-or-nothing mindset, knocking Hammaker down was the unpopular solution. I don’t necessarily love the move, there’s not much to like about it, really, but I do understand the motivation. Would you knock someone down for $600K?
Hammaker reloaded and went back after Vialle, but spun as he was preparing for a heroic run through the whoops on the last lap. If he hadn’t lost traction there, do you think he would have passed Vialle
I think the real problem was a lap prior, he missed the big rhythm. He lost nearly a full second and let Vialle have relatively low pressure on the final lap. He did make another mistake entering the whoops but he would have had an entire lap to take shots at Vialle if he didn’t miss the triples in the rhythm. He was rushing everywhere and throwing caution to the wind so it’s not shocking that mistakes happened. He had no alternative, though. Being cautious wouldn’t have gotten him to Vialle in time.
Up until the unfortunate pass attempt on Hammaker, Hampshire seemed like he was in the zone after getting a bad start. What did you think of Hampshire’s ride before he went down?
He was going for it! He knew the only answer was to forget risk management and just send it everywhere. Falling down would be the same result as riding cautiously. Neither would win the championship. It’s easy to see he fouled up that pass on Hammaker, but to the question’s point, he had an incredible ride going up until that.
Cooper Webb came out of the gate pretty hard in his heat race. Was most of this just motivation to get a good gate pick for the main event to help guard against getting buried on the start?
Yes, he really wanted to stay ahead of the game. Qualify well in the afternoon, get a good gate pick for the heat, qualify well in the heat and get a good gate pick for the main, get a good start in the main, and stay out of trouble. This was the recipe and he executed it to perfection, too.
Chase Sexton isn’t known for being dirty, but were you at least a little surprised when he didn’t hassle Webb at all when he passed him for the lead in the main event?
Not really, honestly. He checked up a little when he passed him to see if he could bait him into a battle but Webb wasn’t going to engage in that. Sexton is too classy for nonsense. It was a very unlikely equation for Sexton to be able to win the race and also manufacture a situation where Webb gets sixth or worse. He would need to slow the race to a standstill, get Shane McElrath, Joey Savatgy, and others involved and then hope Webb makes a critical mistake. It was just too much to ask. Pittsburgh was the pivotal moment in my mind. Webb changed the math that night and the rest was history.
Justin Cooper seemed like he wanted absolutely no business in going by Webb in the main event, but when Malcom Stewart went by both of them Cooper decided it was go-time and passed Webb. Do you think this was to ensure Stewart didn’t surpass him for third overall in the points?
J-Coop was hoping that Malcolm wouldn’t close that gap for the first half of the race. He would have sat on Coop’s rear wheel the whole race or at least until the very end if needed. Once Stewart went by and Webb had a big gap to fifth, he understood it was safe to make the move. Everything about that race was managing the situation for Webb and J-Coop. They both knew the scenarios and were making decisions accordingly. Denver was a master class of management, but J-Coop and SLC was more of the same. I’m sure he would have liked to land on the podium in SLC but he and Webb are tighter than the podium bonus. It wouldn’t shock me if Webb sent a thank you gift in the form of a third place bonus, either. Webb knows that J-Coop checked up more than anyone else. Those types of decisions are remembered and appreciated.
