Podium for Lucas, race win for Sacha Coenen

The trip to the USA could hardly have been more successful for the Coenen brothers. At the Thunder Valley National in Colorado, both Lucas and Sacha Coenen were immediately among the fastest drivers in their classes, causing a sensation on American soil.

While Lucas Coenen went straight onto the podium in the 450cc class in his first start in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship, his twin brother Sacha won one of the two 250cc races.

Lucas is shaking up the 450 elite.

How competitive Lucas Coenen would be in Colorado was one of the most exciting questions before the weekend. The answer came quickly. The current MXGP championship leader already qualified in second place. He then confirmed his speed in both races, crossing the finish line in second place in each.

Particularly noteworthy: The Belgian was competing in an AMA Pro Motocross National for the first time ever and ultimately only had to concede defeat to Jett Lawrence.

Coenen himself had deliberately kept expectations low. "I didn't really have any expectations. I just wanted to have fun and learn," the 19-year-old explained after the race. And that's exactly what he seemed to achieve on the track. The KTM rider appeared to be getting more comfortable with each lap.

Praise for the Lawrence brothers

Despite his strong result, Coenen remained realistic after the race. He was particularly impressed by Jett and Hunter Lawrence. "These guys are riding at an incredibly high level," the Belgian explained. "Racing against them here and learning from them was a great experience."

At the same time, his performance made it clear that the step between MXGP and AMA Pro Motocross is no longer as big as many observers had long assumed.

Sacha strikes back after setback

Sacha Coenen also showed why he currently leads the MX2 World Championship. The Belgian was among the fastest in qualifying, but a crash in the first race dropped him far back. As a result, he could no longer manage better than 14th place.

However, he left no doubt about that in the second race.

After grabbing the holeshot, Sacha controlled the race from the front and cruised to his first race win in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship. His 14th-place finish and the victory were enough to secure him fourth place overall for the day.

Despite the disappointment, satisfaction prevailed after the race. The victory confirmed for the Belgian that he can immediately compete for top positions on American tracks as well.

KTM Europe deliberately took a risk

That the two Coenen brothers were even able to compete in Colorado was by no means a given. Both Lucas and Sacha are currently fighting for titles in their respective world championships. Accordingly, the trip to the USA represented a certain risk.

The satisfaction within the KTM camp is likely to be all the greater. Lucas gained valuable experience against the American elite, while Sacha even managed to secure a race win.

Now the World Championship awaits again

The two Belgians didn't have much time to celebrate, however. Immediately after the race, Lucas and Sacha began their journey back to Europe. The next round of the Motocross World Championship is already scheduled for next weekend in Montevarchi.

Lucas travels to Italy still leading the MXGP overall standings. Sacha will start there as the leader of the MX2 World Championship.

Thunder Valley was therefore just a brief detour across the Atlantic. One that impressively demonstrated that the Coenen brothers now belong to the absolute top tier on the other side of the world as well.

Pro Circuit Is Back!

The Pro Circuit resurgence led by Kitchen and Hammaker

Section: Competition Post: Kane Taylor

250MX contenders split wins across opening rounds of 2026 season.

Two rounds into Pro Motocross 2026 has signalled a resurgence for Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki, with Levi Kitchen and Seth Hammaker splitting wins at Fox Raceway and Hangtown. It has been a while since the iconic team has looked this strong in 250MX and early signs suggest that this summer could finally mark a return to title-winning form.

It was always clear that this year would usher in a new era for the 250MX class, with both Lawrence brothers and Haiden Deegan moving on and leaving the door wide-open for a new contender to emerge at the front of the division.

Looking back, the class has been defined by the Lawrences and Deegan for the better part of five seasons. Jett captured titles in 2021 and 2022, before Hunter followed in 2023. Deegan then completed back-to-back championships in 2024 and 2025, leaving little opportunity for the Mitch Payton-led Pro Circuit team to break through during one of the strongest runs of talent the category has seen.

In fact, it has been since Adam Cianciarulo’s 250MX title in 2019 that Pro Circuit has achieved a number one plate, although with the aforementioned trio having graduated to 450MX, it seems finally time for Kitchen and Hammaker to step up.

Image: Octopi Media.

They’ve also been suppressed by the Lawrence/Deegan juggernaut, offering a challenge at times, but unable to sustain a season-long push. And you can see now they’re prepared to take the reins, with those two – as well as Mitch – believing it’s time that they get their share.

They are far from alone in that pursuit, however, with former national winners Jo Shimoda and Chance Hymas, along with Cole Davies, all viewing themselves as legitimate title contenders in the battle for 250MX supremacy. So far, it has been Hammaker and Kitchen who have struck first, with Hammaker claiming a convincing victory at the season-opener before Kitchen responded with a win of his own at Hangtown.

As a result, the pair sits first and second in the championship standings, with Seth holding a seven-point advantage. Credit should also go to fill-in rider Nick Romano, who occupies sixth in the standings after two rounds.

The atmosphere inside the Pro Circuit camp appears equally strong. Speaking after the race, Kitchen acknowledged the team’s high motivation levels, suggesting that both the riders and crew are carrying an added determination to return the iconic program to the top of the 250MX division.

“It’s been awesome,” commented Kitchen. “When the boss is happy, things are great, and it’s just progress from everybody, I think. Everybody’s just motivated, and I think by Seth doing good, me doing good, Nick is crushing it – we all get along, and we all push each other.

“I think it’s important to have that dynamic, and honestly, all of us here kind of have a chip on our shoulder, I feel like, and especially I feel like the Pro Circuit team too, so it just motivates you, and I’m really happy for everybody. We’re all working our ass off and trying to get better, and I think we’re getting a lot better.”

It’s been a difficult road at times – particularly for Levi. Early in his professional career, he was often viewed as a rider capable of matching Deegan, but a combination of injuries and inconsistency prevented him from fully realizing that potential on a sustained basis. With that in mind, there is every reason to believe Kitchen is carrying extra motivation into this year’s title fight.

That said, the Pro Circuit riders are far from clear of the competition. Davies delivered a statement ride in Hangtown’s second moto, storming to victory while setting a lap-time nearly two seconds quicker than anyone else in the field. By the checkered flag, the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider had established a 9.3-second advantage, serving notice that he remains a major threat in the championship battle.

The same applies to Shimoda and Hymas, which makes the upcoming Colorado and High Point rounds particularly important for Kitchen and Hammaker. Those events could provide an opportunity to further establish themselves at the front of the championship and potentially build a valuable points buffer before the one-week break between rounds four and five.

Regardless, one thing is already clear – we’re seeing far more of Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki at the front of the 250MX field in 2026. Whether that’s a product of the changing competitive landscape, renewed motivation within the team, or a combination of both, the iconic outfit is once again a major force.

The question now is whether they can sustain it. That remains to be seen, but through two rounds, both Hammaker and Kitchen have been a constant presence at the front and could be on the verge of the resurgence many have been waiting years to see.

Jett Lawrence on his ankle and battling Deegan

Jett Lawrence didn’t hold back when he was asked about an exciting first moto that had Haiden Deegan pushing hard for a way around the Aussie until Deegan hit the deck.

Jett, refusing to even use Deegan’s name, said of moto one: “I mean, I learned that I didn’t have a good flow, I can tell you that for sure. But yeah, I mean, obviously, it’s hard to learn much when you have fun. On someone else, but you kind of get a feeling a little bit on where they’re going to pass, obviously. And you can kind of read what’s his name like a book. You know where he’s going to try and pass.  So it’s a little easier to kind of defend with that.

“Obviously, Hunter gets a lot more creative. He was able to get around me.I was able to kind of fire back and get a good run up to star straight. But yeah, I wouldn’t say I learned like a crazy amount like they’re not when I’m probably more battling with them behind and stuff like that.”

On his ankle over the course of the day Jett said: “Super pumped to have red plate. It’s always good to have, doesn’t mean anything at this point really. It’s more important if you have it at the last round, so not really much change. 

And to be fair, my ankle felt really, really good this weekend, to be fair. I still can’t ride normal. I mean, I just have less, a little bit less of pain. Every now and then I still like jar a bit, but it was good, honestly. Even after like walking around, it’s getting a lot better and stuff like that, which I’m happy about. I actually start to struggle with walking like I did before.

So I think it’s looking positive. I think it’s if each weekend we’re going to make some good strides in improving it, where it feels like it’s kind of going back to normal. Like even during this week when Doc G adjusted my ankle before when you pulled on it, only popped the left side of my foot and my right side was still stuck in.

It was still like pretty stiff to go side to side. And this week we were able to get both sides to pop and a lot more range of movement side to side. So that was really, really good. So yeah, hopefully this each weekend it keeps making more improvements.

That first one, I was going slow. I didn’t have a flow of the track at all. But surprisingly, because I was so disjointed and had not much to fire, I almost got more tired in that one than I did the second one.

The second one, I was pushing harder everywhere, but I didn’t get as tired as in the first one. So yeah, first one, I just couldn’t crack the flow. And obviously when with my foot, there’s some things, you know, that like reaction side of things you want both feet to be on the page, where sometimes my foot, my right foot is really light in some areas. So when it flicks, it flicks my right foot off. So it was, yeah, not ideal on defense mode that first one. I think we did pretty well.

Jett was also very complimentary of the Coenen brothers coming over and performing so well: “It’s sick to see, honestly. I mean, I think I said it maybe yesterday. Not many people get to experience the feeling that my brother and I get when we’re doing well, when we’re both in 2023, when he won the 250 Championship and I won the 450 Championship. The only people that can really relate to that now is honestly the Coenen brothers.

“Obviously, Lucas is doing really well in MXGP and obviously Sacha as well in the 250 class in MX2. So it’s cool to see. When you see two brothers doing well, it’s sick, because obviously they’re doing well because both of them are doing really good.

“And it’s always good to see brothers do well. Obviously, we had Jeremy Martin and Alex Martin before Hunter and I. Obviously, when you see them two do good, it’s always cool, but it’s like a family thing. So it was cool to see them come over. Obviously, I got to race them last year at Ironman and obviously, I’ve already seen the improvement just from then. So it’s cool to see, especially at a young age, being 19 years old.

“I remember when I was 19, riding a 450, you just keep learning, keep learning. You have that young energy. So it’s really, really cool to see. And they came over for a tough track because like I said, this dirt was really kind of weird and hard to adapt to”.

Sexton Crashes Out

Chase Sexton said his crash wasn’t caused by him after his Kawasaki appeared to lock up in mid-air and send him over the bars into a violent landing that means Sexton is away home to get his knee checked out. 

Sexton said: “Well not a great day. Knee feels cooked but will get it checked when I get home. Incident was out of my control and feeling like a passenger was very scary. I’m just very lucky to be somewhat okay and the man up above was looking over me. Thanks for the messages and everyone checking in, it means a lot.” 

Is this the last time we see Sexton on the Kawasaki? Speaking before the crash to Lewis Phillips, Sexton admitted his ghost ride in the Hangtown was the result of six months of frustration building up, saying he was just riding around, in very similar quotes to Jorge Prado last year. It looks like the intelligent Spaniard was 100% correct and more people should have believed him.

Sexton commented BEFORE the bike ended his weekend: “So I obviously had a rough first moto. I got hit two turns to go, went on the ground again. Webb. He got me back for San Diego. So yeah, I was frustrated, but  just, yeah, not comfortable. I was just kind of riding around, to be honest out there. I mean, I’m riding as fast as I can, but it’s not even close to my pace, and I just came back. I lost my cool, definitely wasn’t very professional with me, and it wasn’t like a good look.

“It’s just been a lot of build up to get to that point. I’ve been trying to suppress it, suppress it, and it just came out. And yeah, I got caught in my chain, getting through my washer to put my bike back, and I just left the clutch out. I mean, everyone thinks I just ghost-rode it into the semi, but I really just like, it went like three feet in front of me and just fell over it. And I didn’t ghost ride it into Garrett.

“Garrett was not as close to me. So, a lot of speculation on what happened. I just, honestly, I just left my clutch out, left it there, and it wasn’t. I mean, that’s obviously not the right move. I felt bad about it after I cooled down, but it’s just a lot of frustration building up, and it finally came to a peak there.”

Mammaker Learning from the Lawrences!

Sexton's problem is not the Kawasaki

Since Chase Sexton's move to Kawasaki, almost every mixed result has been blamed on the bike. After the second AMA Pro Motocross However, this view is met with opposition in Hangtown – namely from two riders whose opinions carry weight in American motocross.

Ryan Villopoto and Ricky Carmichael do not primarily see the KX450 as the cause of Sexton's current situation.

Villopoto rides the KX450 himself

Villopoto made no secret of his opinion on the Tite 24 podcast that he considers the criticism of the motorcycle to be exaggerated. The former Kawasaki factory rider stated that he regularly rides a stock KX450. Apart from the handlebars, he rides the motorcycle practically in its factory condition.

He is therefore convinced that much more is possible with the Kawasaki than the recent results suggest.

Villopoto doesn't see the recurring crashes as solely a motorcycle problem. At some point, a rider has to accept the characteristics of a motorcycle and adjust their riding style accordingly.

Carmichael recalls previous championships

Ricky Carmichael also rejects the notion that a motorcycle must be perfect to win races. The record champion pointed out that many titles have been won on motorcycles that had their weaknesses. The crucial factor, he said, is not whether problems exist, but how the rider and team deal with them.

They both agree on this point: Anyone who has spent enough time on a motorcycle knows its limits. From this point on, it's no longer just about technical modifications, but also about making the best possible use of the existing strengths.

Marchbanks provides the counter-argument.

Villopoto's reference to Garrett Marchbanks was particularly interesting. While the discussions surrounding Sexton and the Kawasaki repeat themselves week after week, Marchbanks finished fifth in the day's standings in Hangtown with a sixth and a fifth place.

Of course, nobody would claim that Marchbanks is currently riding at the level of a Chase Sexton. Nevertheless, his weekend shows that the Kawasaki is not automatically an obstacle to competitive results.

This is precisely where their argument begins.

The criticism is not directed at Kawasaki.

No one disputes that the Kawasaki still has development potential. However, that's true for almost every motorcycle in the paddock. What's remarkable about Villopoto and Carmichael's statements is that both now place more responsibility on the rider than on the machine.

A position that not everyone will share.

The discussion is likely to continue in the paddock. However, Villopoto and Carmichael are clearly contradicting the widespread theory that the Kawasaki alone is responsible for Sexton's problems.

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Deegan Learning Fast!

Haiden Deegan learns quickly – and knows exactly where he's still wasting time.

 Ralph Marzahn  June 10, 2026

In the second race of the 450cc class, Haiden Deegan made it onto the podium. Despite this, he didn't sound like a rider who was already satisfied after the Hangtown National. While many observers are primarily focused on the results, the Yamaha rider is currently preoccupied with something else: trying to figure out how the top riders in the 450cc class win their races.

That's precisely why the laps behind Jett and Hunter Lawrence were almost as valuable to him as the podium.

The gap has narrowed.

Compared to the season opener in Pala, Deegan felt much more comfortable in Hangtown. One reason for this was his starts. He had already worked specifically on improving his gate starts during the week, and it paid off.

The rookie found himself in the leading group on several occasions and was able to keep pace with the favorites, at least for extended periods. "When I start at the front, I can see what the guys there are doing differently," Deegan explained. "That's the most important thing for me right now."

Especially in Formula 1, learning during the race is crucial. Instead of driving alone through the field, he can directly observe which lines the experienced drivers choose and how they structure their races.

Patience instead of brute force

It was striking that Deegan, despite his aggressive riding style, drove with relative control. The 20-year-old repeatedly mentioned not wanting to set his sights too high. The season is still long, and he wants to avoid putting himself under unnecessary pressure.

“It’s only my second race,” he said after the weekend. “I have to take it step by step.” This approach is surprising. After all, Deegan has been known for years as a driver who rarely holds back and doesn’t shy away from big names.

In Hangtown, however, he appeared much more strategic. Instead of putting all his eggs in one basket, he focused on gaining further experience and consistently scoring points.

The 450cc requires a different riding style.

Deegan is still learning on the motorcycle itself. After the race in Hangtown, he spoke about how the 450cc bike handles differently than the motorcycles he was used to. He said he still needs to get used to the higher weight and the power delivery, especially when jumping.

That didn't stop him from pulling off some spectacular maneuvers, though. After an overtaking maneuver in the second heat, even Deegan had to chuckle at his own riding style. "Sometimes I just throw the bike in sideways. The 450cc handles pretty cool like that."

The podium is no longer a surprise.

Just a few weeks ago, the discussion centered on how quickly Deegan would adapt to the 450cc class. After two race weekends, the question now seems to be when he can fight for his first overall victory.

The Yamaha rider himself avoids such discussions. Instead, he speaks almost exclusively about progress, starts, and race rhythm. This is precisely what makes his results so far remarkable.

Although Deegan repeatedly emphasizes that he is still learning, he is already in the middle of the top group of the strongest motocross series in the world.

Is Sexton Confused?