MECHANICSVILLE, Md. — American motocross’ newest champion was crowned at the penultimate round of the 2024 Pro Motocross Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, as Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan captured the 250 Class title and the coveted Gary Jones Cup at the Yamaha Budds Creek National Presented by Call 855 Treeman. A morning of rain gave way to partly sunny skies with high temperatures and high humidity for a challenging afternoon at Southern Maryland’s Budds Creek Motocross Park, where the 10th round of the summer saw Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider and points leader Chase Sexton secure his fifth straight 450 Class victory to move one step closer to the Edison Dye Cup, while Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen grabbed his third 250 Class win of the season amidst Deegan’s title clinch.
450 Moto 1
The opening moto got underway with Team Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence and Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Justin Cooper side by side exiting the first turn, with Lawrence edging ahead for the MotoSport.com Holeshot. As they cleared the first jump, Cooper made contact with Lawrence and crashed hard. The incident pushed Lawrence off the track and allowed Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Aaron Plessinger to move out front as Lawrence rejoined in second. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Christian Craig started third, with Sexton in fourth. After a couple of laps, Sexton was able to get around Craig for third.
Back up front, a battle for the lead was brewing as Lawrence closed back in and applied pressure on Plessinger. The Honda rider was patient and waited for his opportunity to attack. He then made the move with relative ease a little less than 10 minutes into the moto. Once out front, Lawrence posted his fastest lap of the moto to establish a 2.5-second lead. On the following lap, Sexton dropped his pace to pass Plessinger for second. At that point, 13 minutes into the moto, 3.9 seconds separated the title combatants.
The margin stabilized at just over three seconds for most of the moto, but Sexton picked up the pace approaching the final five minutes. The KTM rider moved to within 1.8 seconds of the lead as they navigated lapped riders, but Sexton tipped over and remounted in second, eight seconds back.
Lawrence went unchallenged the rest of the way and brought home his third moto win of the season by seven seconds over Sexton. Plessinger finished in a distant third, followed by Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Eli Tomac in fourth in his debut moto of the season and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jason Anderson in fifth.
450 Moto 2
The final moto started the same way as Moto 1, with Lawrence leading the field out of the first turn and sprinting towards the MotoSport.com Holeshot. Plessinger tucked into second with Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Malcolm Stewart in third. Sexton started fifth but made passes to quickly close in on Stewart. Plessinger went on the attack on the opening lap and made the pass on Lawrence briefly, but the Honda rider responded to reclaim the position and solidify his hold of the lead. Sexton, meanwhile, passed Stewart for third.
Lawrence, Plessinger, and Sexton were able to distance themselves from the rest of the field in the opening laps and set the stage for a three-rider battle. Just over 10 minutes into the moto, Plessinger mounted another challenge for the lead and showed a wheel to Lawrence at several parts of the track. However, Lawrence held him off to stay out front. That allowed Sexton to apply pressure on Plessinger for second but was unable to make a move. The points leader bided his time and then pulled the trigger on a pass that allowed him to move into second. However, he gave the position up with a tip over a quarter lap later, remounting in fourth before quickly making the pass on Stewart to move back up third.
With the final 10 minutes approaching, Sexton closed back in on Plessinger and made another quick pass on his teammate to once again grab second. The leaders were separated by 4.5 seconds as the race clock continued to count down. Sexton laid down lap times more than a second quicker than Lawrence to begin taking chunks out of his deficit. Soon enough, Sexton had closed to within striking distance of Lawrence as a battle for the win took shape with a little more than six minutes remaining.
Sexton closed in and jumped at his first opportunity to make a pass, storming by Lawrence to move out front with five minutes to go. With the lead in hand, Sexton quickly gapped Lawrence and moved out to a margin of more than two seconds.
Sexton never looked back and stormed to his 11th moto win of the season, and his ninth over the last 11 motos. He took the checkered flag 9.4 seconds ahead of Lawrence, with Plessinger a distant third.
450 Overall
For the second week in a row, a tiebreaker was needed to determine the overall winner, as Sexton’s 2-1 effort continued his dominant run with his fifth straight victory and his sixth win of the season. Lawrence was forced to settle for his sixth runner-up result of the summer (1-2), which has included back-to-back tiebreakers. Lawrence led 25 laps over the course of the afternoon, compared to Sexton’s five, all in the second moto. Plessinger rounded out the podium (3-3) to extend his streak to three.
Sexton’s lead over Lawrence in the championship standings sits at 28 points entering the final round, with Lawrence the only rider mathematically eligible for the title. Plessinger sits third, 95 points behind Sexton.
250 Moto 1
The first moto began with Deegan leading the field out of the first turn for the MotoSport.com Holeshot, while Kitchen gave chase from second ahead of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Julien Beaumer in third. With drying track conditions, the opportunity to be out front was advantageous for Deegan, who quickly built a multi-second lead on the field. That allowed Kitchen and Beaumer to settle into second and third, respectively.
As the moto approached the halfway mark Deegan had moved out more than 10 seconds ahead of Kitchen, while Beaumer came under fire from Team Honda HRC’s Chance Hymas. The Honda rider closed in and made a quick pass on the rookie to move into podium position. Not long after that, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Tom Vialle got by his teammate for fourth.
Deegan’s lead surpassed 20 seconds entering the final five minutes of the moto as Kitchen’s pace dropped and caused him to get passed by both Hymas and Vialle on the same lap. From there, the battle for second intensified between Hymas and Vialle. Back up front, Deegan tipped over in the closing laps, but it did little to impact his significant advantage. Meanwhile, Hymas went down on the final lap and dropped outside the top five.
Deegan cruised home to his ninth moto win of the season by 12 seconds over Vialle with Kitchen in third. Beaumer followed in fourth, while Triumph Racing’s Joey Savatgy finished fifth. The win was enough for Deegan to clinch the title ahead of the second moto.
250 Moto 2
As the field stormed into the first turn to open Moto 2 it was Kitchen who emerged out front for the MotoSport.com Holeshot, followed by Triumph Racing’s Jalek Swoll and Beaumer. Fresh off clinching the class title, Deegan started in 15th place. As the first lap unfolded Kitchen was able to put some distance on the field, while Hymas made a charge up to second, with Swoll third and Beaumer fourth.
Hymas pushed in the opening laps to close in on Kitchen and apply pressure for the lead. The Kawasaki rider rode tactfully to fend off any pass attempts, but Hymas persisted. Kitchen then went on a run and forced Hymas to settle 10 minutes into the moto. Deegan, meanwhile, stalled out in 10th place in his effort to climb through the field.
Kitchen was able to build on his lead through the middle of the moto and managed a margin hovering around 2.5 seconds. However, Hymas closed in once more entering the final 10 minutes of the moto, as lapped riders added another layer of complexity. Behind them, a battle for third took shape between Swoll and Vialle, with the KTM rider able to take the position.
Kitchen withstood the threat and sprinted away in the late stages to take his fourth moto win of the season by 3.7 seconds over Hymas with Vialle in third. Deegan remained in 10th place for his single-worst moto finish of the season.
250 Overall
Kitchen’s 3-1 finishes secured his third career victory and now gives him three wins in the last four races, including back-to-back wins the past two rounds. Vialle earned his third runner-up finish of the season (2-3), while Deegan still managed to grab the final spot on the overall podium in third (1-10).
Deegan became the 35th different rider in 53 seasons of Pro Motocross to capture the Gary Jones Cup for the 250 Class title and did so in his second season of full-time competition. He’s amassed five victories through 10 rounds, with podium finishes at all but one race. He’s also earned nine moto wins through the first 20 motos of the season.
While Deegan has wrapped up the season crown, the battle for second in the championship continues between Kitchen and Vialle, who are separated by 14 points heading into the final round.