PALA, Calif. — The second half of the Monster Energy SMX World Championship got underway from sunny Southern California for Round 18 of the 2026 campaign and the opening race of the 55th Pro Motocross Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing.
The Pala Casino Spa & Golf Resort Fox Raceway National Presented by Fox Racing welcomed one of its largest crowds ever to witness one of the most anticipated starts to a season in history.
The premier 450SMX Class saw a dominant performance from Honda HRC Progressive’s Hunter Lawrence, the recent Supercross runner-up, who put forth his most impressive outdoor performance to date with a dominant 1-1 effort.
In the 250SMX Class, a wide-open field produced a new winner in Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Seth Hammaker.
In his most impressive performance since joining the premier class Hunter Lawrence completed his first ever 1-1 sweep to secure the second win of his career. It gave Honda its fourth straight victory at the track.
Prado captured his first Pro Motocross podium with a runner-up effort on 2-2 finishes.
Jett Lawrence showed grit in his first ever defeat at Fox Raceway, improving a total of 20 positions across the two motos to finish third overall (4-3).
Hunter Lawrence has a six-point lead over Prado in the 450SMX Class standings, with Jett Lawrence 12 points back in third.
Still in the process of recovering from a torn trapezius suffered in a crash at the final race of the Supercross season, Hammaker’s maiden moto win capped off a career milestone with his first overall victory in his 33rd career start on the heels of a 2-1 effort.
A wild afternoon for the rest of the field produced a three-way tie for second overall, as 16-year-old Dudney came out on top by virtue of the best second-moto finish, which resulted in his maiden podium result with a runner-up effort (6-4).
Davies followed-up his title-winning Supercross season with a second-career podium result in third (3-8).
Kitchen salvaged fourth overall (1-13) to minimize the damage of his challenging second moto.
After a consistent afternoon, Hammaker already enjoys a double-digit points lead, with a 13-point edge over Dudney, Davies, and Kitchen. This is the first time Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki has held the points lead since Adam Cianciarulo’s championship-winning season in 2019.
