Welcome to Racerhead and the last round of the 2026 AMA Pro Motocross Championship. We are at Ironman Raceway with three titles on the line. Hunter and Jett Lawrence are a point apart in the 450 class, Cole Davies is up 14 on Levi Kitchen in the 250 class, and Lala Turner is 21 points ahead of Charli Cannon in WMX. We've got perfect weather here in Indiana, which is much different than what we had last weekend in Maryland at Budds Creek. We also have the SMX Motocross combine, and they are hopefully going to announce Team USA today, so it's going to be a busy weekend here at Ironman!

I will leave the hype and what-if's to the other guys, as I promised Mitch Kendra to get this one in early so everyone could watch SMX Friday Live, presented by Honda. I will say that while Jett would appear on paper to be the favorite, Hunter goes very well here, as we saw at last year's FIM Motocross of Nations. He's also been able to put big disappointments and challenges behind him quickly, as we saw after he lost the Monster Energy Supercross crown to Ken Roczen, then went out and swept both motos of the MX opener. And just a couple of weeks ago it seemed like he might be out of this championship too after tumbling down Screw-U at Unadilla. One week later he went 1-1 at Budds Creek and here we are again!

And don't forget the charge that Jett put on late in last weekend's race to overtake Jorge Prado for runner-up. That effectively meant Jett controls his own destiny. If he goes 1-1 he wins, no matter where Hunter finishes. Tomorrow should be an epic day!

Today is looking pretty good as well, as the first WMX moto will stream live on the Pro Motocross YouTube channel—and FIM World Championship points leader Daniela Guillen of Spain is here to challenge Lala and Charli and friends, and she just qualified second-fastest this morning—followed by the first moto of the SMX Next Motocross combine, featuring some of our stars of tomorrow: Carson Wood, Tristan Prueitt, Jett Kellogg, Darren Pine, Kade Johnson, and more. Then it will be the brothers riding, along with Cole and Levi and more. Not sure when (or if) Team USA gets announced, but hopefully that will be the bonus!

Finally, here's a thank-you to all who helped make this 2026 Pro Motocross Championship a very successful and entertaining one—the athletes and their teams, the officials and sponsors, the track workers and event promoters, the TV production crew, the media that follows this series, and of course the record number of fans who came out to enjoy Pro Motocross, as well as everyone watching at home, work, wherever!

Thursday, August 27, marked my 25th anniversary working here. My first official day of work was August 27, 2001, just a few days before the Steel City National, the final round of the season. That race was all-time memorable for drama, with Grant Langston's wheel breaking and Mike Brown taking the 125 National Championship, and Ricky Carmichael jumping back down into the 125s to break the all-time win mark in the class. Could this year's finale bring something as crazy?

The potential is certainly there. Hunter Lawrence is the first rider in the history of this sport to enter close, final-round championship fights in premier-class supercross and motocross in the same year. Yes, the first rider ever! Seasons are rarely this close, yet it has now happened twice in one year, and Hunter battled in both—trailing by one point going into the SX final, and up by one point before this MX finale. Only three times has one rider ever finished second in both series in the same year: David Bailey in 1986, Ryan Dungey in 2014, and Marvin Musquin in 2018. But those series weren't as close as this. The Salt Lake City SX was truly winner-take-all, and this one is almost the same—technically, Hunter would still win the title with a 1-2 finish if Jett went 2-1. But he still has to beat Jett in a moto to accomplish that. The pressure is right back on.

To make matters even more interesting, Jorge Prado and Haiden Deegan absolutely do not want to be shut out this summer and won't want to just let the Lawrences settle in amongst themselves. In most seasons that are close, the title guys pull away because they have the extra incentive. I don't think Prado or Deegan are lacking in motivation, so they will try, and they could impact the proceedings.

In the 250s, Cole Davies obviously has an easier path since he only needs two fourths to wrap the title and a big pile of teammates who likely won't get in his way. It's been a crazy season, though, so are we going to see some 2001-style drama? Consider that a lot of the players this weekend weren't even born then. Yeah, I've been doing this for a long time. Check out Weege Show Wednesday (that we posted on Wednesday) on our YouTube channel for some more of my takes. I know the Haiden-versus-Jett title fight is the one everyone wanted, maybe even expected, but Lawrence-versus-Lawrence is historically close, and both brothers have come too far and have fought too hard to just let go easily now. Gonna be an interesting one! Hopefully, I'm still around 25 years from now to enjoy some more!

It all comes down to this for three different championships. The WMX and 250 classes feel a bit anticlimactic, as the points gaps are wide enough to feel inevitable. Disaster could strike, for sure, and Davies has had a few races this season that would ruin this title, but all things being equal, I think we can agree the storyline is in the 450 class. It's what everyone is talking about, and all eyes will be on it Saturday afternoon.

The Brothers Lawrence have dominated this summer. There's no way around that. They have won all 20 motos thus far and have extended their points over Deegs to a point where he was eliminated before we reached the end of the season. That's a far cry from where many thought this season might go. I myself thought Haiden might be a real factor in this fight. He has steadily improved, but on an average time differential basis, he has a lot of work to do to be there at the checkers. It's been all Hunter and Jett and will likely be again at the finale. As for who stands tallest, though, that's an interesting one to try to parse. The math favors Hunter on the surface. His one-point lead gives him the ability to go 2-1 or 1-2 and maintain the title. He can also tie in series points and still win his first 450 Pro Motocross Championship. That's a big coup for the #96 and puts much more pressure on Jett. Little bro needs to go out and win the race, full stop. If trouble befalls Hunter, a la Unadilla, then sure, everything changes. But on a neutral basis, Jett needs to go win.

For me, the questions for the weekend come down to these: Can Jett go out and put a 1-1 on the board when he needs it most? Can Hunter overcome the prior two titles that slipped in this same scenario? And does anyone else play a role (Deegs or Prado) or is this a two-man battle? All of those are championship-deciding questions and great bench racing fodder. They have certainly provided endless debate all week.

In the end, the back-and-forth debating amongst fans of the sport is what it's all about, right? That's what most enjoy doing: hashing out what's likely to happen and then arguing about why and how it happened once the dust has settled. That's been true since Hannah was smashing Howerton in 1981, since RJ and Bailey battled at Anaheim in '86, McGrath and Emig's rivalry in '96, Stew and RC in 2005, Reed and Stew in 2009, RV and Dungey in 2013, Webb and Roczen in 2021, and the friendliest battle of all, Hunter and Jett in 2026. The bench racing is what drives the sport. It happens at the parts counters of powersports dealerships on Monday, group texts all week, and social media 24/7. This family battle is the latest topical edition of our sport's longest running theme. The bench racing by those who love the sport most is the tie that binds us.

Honda HRC Progressive’s Chance Hymas became the seventh overall winner in 250 Pro Motocross this season, joining Cole Davies (4 wins), Seth Hammer, Levi Kitchen, Jo Shimoda, Sacha Coenen, and Julien Beaumer on the list. This is Chance's longest consecutive podium streak of his pro career; his Budds Creek win was his fourth straight podium. Prior to this, his best run was two consecutive races with a podium. If he lands on the podium at Ironman, it would be five straight and a very strong end to the season.

Jeffrey Herlings had yet another 1-1-1 weekend—his fourth in a row—in winning the MXGP of Arnhem in the Netherlands. The Petronas Honda HRC rider has also won ten straight MXGP motos to build a commanding lead of 143 points with three rounds to go: Turkey, China, and Australia.

Herlings has scored the maximum of 240 points over the last four rounds, the most points any rider has scored over the span of four MXGP rounds in the history of the FIM Motocross World Championship.

As we head into the final Saturday of the '26 Pro Motocross Championship, we will hand out championship hardware in WMX, as well as both the 250 and 450 classes. That's right, we are at the 11th round of the championship (sixth WMX round), and no one in these classes has wrapped up their respective championships yet. It will likely come down to the final motos for both the 250 and 450 riders before we start the championship champagne podium showers.

Last week at Budds Creek, we had another shakeup in the 250 Class. Heading into the weekend, points leader Levi Kitchen sat one point ahead of Cole Davies. Not only did Mother Nature play a big role during qualifying and make for an extremely difficult first moto, but as soon as the gate would drop for the 250 Class, there would already be issues for points leader Kitchen, and things would change in a hurry.

Kitchen lined up on the very inside gate of the long, left-handed 180-degree turn. He would end up on the wrong side of the white track markers (technically off the track), but he would re-enter the track and pull the holeshot out of the first turn.

About halfway through the first lap, however, Levi would lose the front end and go down face first in the mud. He would gather himself back up and find himself in 17th place once he got going again. Kitchen fought his way back to a 10th-place finish, but ultimately, he would receive a four-position penalty for what happened off the start and would be credited with 14th in the moto. Kitchen would end the day with a second place in moto two and go 14-2 for fifth overall, while Davies would go 1-3 and end up second overall.

With the way this 250 season has gone, is a 14-point lead going into the final motos in Indiana enough for Davies to wrap up this championship? If we have seen anything from this class this season, it seems that no points lead is safe.

Jett Lawrence would find himself in a similar situation as Kitchen did as the gate dropped for 450 moto one in Maryland. Jett lined up on the second gate from the inside of the left-handed 180-degree turn—despite knowing what happened to Kitchen, and apparently despite the warnings of Haiden Deegan. As the gate dropped, about halfway down the stretch, Jett would get pinched off and find himself wheeling on the grass on the wrong side of the acerbic markers.

But unlike Kitchen, Jett would let off the gas and rejoin the track and come out of the first corner sitting in about 18th position. As a result, he would not receive the same penalty from the AMA as Kitchen did. Instead of a position penalty, he would receive a license point penalty. The AMA explained that Lawrence did not gain an advantage while off track, which was obvious. Jett fought his way back up to fifth in the moto, but older brother Hunter would find himself on the top step of the podium and collect the race win. Just like that, the #96 was back swinging in this title fight.

The overall podium would not have both Lawrence brothers together for the second weekend in a row. Hunter would go 1-1, and even with his second-place finish in Moto 2, Jett would find himself with fourth overall. This would be just the third time in his career that he was left off of the overall podium in 450 Pro Motocross—still one hell of a podium percentage, though!

Hunter Lawrence now finds himself in an eerily similar situation as he was just 16 weeks ago, fighting for the Monster Supercross Championship with fellow competitor Ken Roczen, only this time it's his brother he’s battling.

So here we are at Ironman. The championship T-shirts have been printed, the #1 plates have been stickered, Yoshimura has championship-stamped silencers for each of the Lawrences, and the championship champagne is sitting on ice. There are still two motos in each class left in this wild 2026 season. At the end of the day tomorrow, who will survive and hoist the Gary Jones Cup and the Edison Dye Trophy?

Got a note from our friend Stan the Stump Grinder, who was at the Budds Creek National last weekend—and our publisher Scott Wallenberg of Team Sweden will be thrilled to see this...

I think it's interesting that there were six Scandinavian riders in the 450s:

5.) Mikkel Haarup, Denmark (8-5) Triumph TF 450-X
20.) Cornelius Tøndel, Norway (17-22) Kawasaki KX450SR
25.) Magnus Smith, Denmark (24-25) Yamaha YZ450F
27.) Anton Nordstrom, Sweden (28-26) KTM 450 SX-F
32.) Fredrik Noren, Sweden (27-35) Yamaha YZ450F
36.) Matti Jorgensen, Denmark (31-39) Honda CRF450R

Also, over the MXGP of Arnhem in the Netherlands, Denmark's Nicolai Skovbjerg went 1-1 to beat Spain's Francisco Garcia in the EMX250 race, though Garcia, who raced at Southwick earlier this summer and finished 8th overall, clinched the EMX Championship for the Bud Racing Kawasaki team.

Brandon Croney was getting up close and personal with the top professional riders at the Budds Creek National. Check out some of his best photos!

Kawasaki had us out to Perris Raceway to ride their updated 2027 KX250 Wednesday and I was surprised on how many small (yet significant) updates they made. Check out the full video here: 

In case you missed it, the launch of the ALL NEW 2027 Yamaha YZ250F was introduced to us at ClubMX last week and we have a big breakdown for you. Ripper Rob, Ben Graves, Eddie Laret, and I walk you through the new bLU cRU machine and let you know if it's better than the older version. 

It was a busy week of racing around the dirt bike world. Here's a shortcut to see the big winners, according to the win ads in cyclenews.com.

"Enes Kanter Freedom removed from Sky-Fever game amid WNBA athlete debate"—USA Today

"Good Good Golf faces backlash over ad depicting co-founder shoving female employee"—New York Times

"Belgian car salesman becomes prince after DNA test proves royal parentage"—MSN

"Individual who threw sex toy at Dream-Sparks game arrested, banned from league"—Barstoool Sports

"It Just Means More: Ole Miss Reportedly Brought In The FBI To Sweep The Football Building For Bugs After Lane Kiffin Left For LSU"—Barstool Sports

"322 goats clock in for work at Centennial Airport"—9 News

"A ‘gas station' for farts? This Georgia teacher says it's a classroom win-win" - NBC San Diego

"47-year-old pastor makes college football team as DE"—Yahoo Sports

"An angry dad’s mistaken attempt to confront a school bully outside a northern suburbs school ended in him being savagely beaten up by a 12-year-old trained in mixed martial arts"—The Hearld Sun/Twitter

The motocross world lost a longtime friend last weekend when Jerry West passed away. He was the younger brother of Bill West and, for a time, the co-promoter of various supercross races, the Mini O's in Florida, as well as the Gatorback National, and Super Sports-organized events all over the southeast. He was 81 years old. Godspeed, Jerry West.

Post of the Week: "Hard for me to cope. Difficult weekend." Lewis Phillips on seeing his two favorite human beings, Chase Sexton and Jeffrey Herlings, embracing at the MXGP of the Netherlands.