The 450 Class AMA Pro Motocross Championship battle between Honda HRC Progressive teammates and brothers, Jett and Hunter Lawrence was turned on its head at Unadilla. Coming into the weekend, Jett could not afford to take another L to his brother.

H-Law dominated the first moto and that officially put Jett in the situation where Jett had to win out, if the duo went 1-2 the rest of the series.  Jett did his part in moto two, taking the early lead away from Hunter, but unlike many of the motos this season, Hunter could not settle in behind him and cruise to a second-place finish.

Jorge Prado was on his game and got around the points leader as well, and Haiden Deegan was not far behind. It was one of the few times this season we had seen the red-plate holder look a flustered. Hunter regrouped and stayed close to Prado, but then he made a mistake in the turn before the infamous “Screw-U” drop off and went down in one of the worst spots possible. Hunter’s bike stopped near the top of the hill while he tumbled all the way to the bottom. Fortunately, he was uninjured and ran bike up to get his bike. He tried remounting but fell over again due to the incredible steepness of that hill.

Once he did get going again, it quickly became evident that the bike was too mangled to ride at a pace that would keep him in the points. Hunter rolled around for a few laps but eventually pulled off; surrendering 25 points and the red plate over to Jettson. He now sits ten points out of the lead in nearly the same situation that Jett was in coming into Dilla’.

Anything is possible, and Jett has been more mistake-prone than ever before this season. Like the Detroit or Cleveland Supercross, Unadilla was a heavy blow to Hunter’s Championship run.

You know you are in a good spot when you win on your off-days and that’s exactly what Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Cole Davies did at Unadilla.

Davies was visibly uncomfortable in qualifying, making several stops to the mechanics’ area to make changes and eventually found himself down in the dirt. He took a heavy hit in Q2 and was slow to get up. Davies’ status ahead of moto one was a bit unknown, but he was able to find himself in the lead early. A few riders, including Kitchen, passed him, but a few of those riders went down, and Cole came home second behind his title rival.

In moto two he led holeshot to flag, shrinking the points deficit between himself and Kitchen down to just one point with four motos remaining. This is going to be a barn burner.

On the flip side of Davies is Kitchen, of Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki. Riding wise, he had one of his best days of the season yet managed to lose points to Davies!  Levi came out guns blazing in the first round of qualifying and set the fastest lap of the morning. Then he got off to good start by his standards and found himself in the top five early in moto one. He had the fastest lap of the moto by over a second and methodically made his way by Hymas and Davies with relative ease. It was one of the most dominant races of Levi’s career and the first time we have seen him in peak form since the opening rounds of the championship.

Unfortunately for Kitchen his good fortune ended there. He picked a gate surprisingly far outside considering he had first gate pick, and it bit him in the butt. He was sent way off track after some of the Star Yamaha kids tangled coming into the first turn and were unable to get turned. Theories for that are all over the map, but most feel this is the typical issue of the 250 class: riders are too eager and aggressive and don’t shut down even if they’re getting pinched off in turn one. After that, chaos.

Levi rode phenomenally, coming from last and getting around New Zealander Brodie Connolly to move into fifth late in the race. But this impressive comeback will be slightly overshadowed by what happened in the last corner. Levi had a Dean Wilson/Freestone 2010-Esque brain fade in the last turn that allowed Connolly to get back around him to retake fifth. After the race Levi said he was confused because when he was following Connolly, the officials were giving Brodie the blue flags and thought he was a lapper. He also admitted that he was exhausted by that point and owned it.

That incident should not take away from how well he rode but if he loses the title by that one point, it is going to sting bad. 

On press day at Unadilla, Red Bull KTM’s Jorge Prado was outspoken about how disappointed he has been with the gap between he and the Lawrence’s at the end of the motos.  He said he did take some time off during the break but also pushed the team to get him a set up closer to what he ran in MXGP, and he was in a much better spot coming into Unadilla.

Those changes seemed to have made a difference as this was arguably Prado’s best Pro Motocross showing yet. Sure, Pala was great but in the second moto this weekend, he legitimately pushed Jett, which forced Jett to pick it up, which moved them past Hunter, which you could argue frazzled Hunter into his costly mistake.  Jorge continued to challenge Jett for the moto win until the latter stages of the race. He definitely succeeded in significantly shrinking the gap between him to leaders at the end of the races. He also had the fastest lap of both motos!

One of Jorge’s biggest weaknesses now is getting past the lapped riders. He maintained a comfortable gap over Jett for most of moto one, but once they got into lappers, Jorge lost a lot of time and Jett got by, which had to be frustrating. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see if this translates into Budds and Ironman. Could he snag a win in one of these last two?

Mark Fineis has put himself back on the radar this summer and has also begun to win the hearts of fans with his post-race interviews. His Unadilla started off slow in qualifying 30^th but his second moto was mind-blowingly impressive. Fineis and Australia’s Jed Beaton (who probably had no clue who each other were) were in an all-time battle for fifth for most of the 35 minutes.

Mark has always been known to have that dog in him late in the moto’s and he showcased that against some of the biggest names in the sport. He outlasted Beaton and held off a late charge from Troy Lee Designs Red Bull Ducati Factory Racing Team's Dylan Ferrandis to take one of the most unlikely fifth place finishes in recent time.

Fineis was essentially out of the sport three months ago and just scored a straight up top five moto finish in a stacked 450 MX class. Props to Bubba Pauli and the ISRT Kawasaki team for giving him an opportunity and good on Mark for taking advantage of it. What a rad story.

If you missed it, check out his interview with Katie Osborne in the SMX Insider Post-Race Show and his appearance on Monday night’s PulpMX Show. This kid is gold!

Coming into Pro Motocross, the only people who saw these results coming from Carson Mumford were Carson Mumford and close family. Or maybe even they didn’t! Just a few months ago, Carson was struggling to get top ten results in 250 SX and missed a significant amount of time with a weird issue that was causing him to have extreme arm pump to the point he could not ride.

Mumfy has been good since Pala but broke out with a third in the second moto at Millville and he has kept that momentum rolling since. He is on a run of three top five finishes in a row and Unadilla was his highest points-paying round yet with 3-4 scores for fourth overall. Nine rounds into the series, these results can longer be considered a flash in the pan.

It is hard to put into words just how impressive this turnaround has been for Carson and the AEO Powersports KTM Team, but with increased factory support on the horizon in 2027 (they’re getting an upgrade to run Husqvarnas) there is no telling where the ceiling on this duo may be.  

The Australian Motocross Championship recently wrapped up, and three of the top dogs from that series made the trip to the U.S. for Unadilla. The MX1 Champion, Jed Beaton, represented the series in the 450 Class. Beaton rides for the Monster Energy/CDR Yamaha team in Aus, but Unadilla was a pure privateer effort. Beaton brought over some parts to put on some Yamaha’s that Gypsy Tales’ Jase McAlpine helped him get, and Hunter Lawrence gave him a place to stay and train during his time here.

Beaton pitted out of a van and was a five to eight guy all day long.  They run 25 minute plus one lap motos in Australia, so Jed did fade slightly late in the motos, but his 10-9 results gave him an impressive seventh overall. He is in for Budds and Ironman.

In the 250 class, Quad Lock Honda team owner Yarrive Konsky brought over two of his young prospects, Brodie Connelly and Alex Larwood. Connelly, a New Zealander, is a two-time MX2 champion (2024 and 2025) in Australia, while Larwood is the newly crowned MX2 champ for 2026. Connelly has made a few appearances in the states, highlighted by running sixth for a long time at Unadilla last year, but had failed to score points at Red Bud and Southwick this year. Connelly is supposed to me a full-timer in the U.S. for Yarrive now, but he’s been hurt most of the year, and it has shown. Until Unadilla.

Despite his previous mediocre results, Connelly proved the hype surrounding him is warranted at Unadilla. He got great starts and ran up front all day. His 8-5 result was extremely impressive and underlined by his last turn pass back on Levi Kitchen in moto two. Brodie is scheduled to be here full-time next year. For Larwood this was his first go at American Motocross. He was not as flashy as his teammate but nearly as impressive with a tenth in moto two.

It is common to see a pleather of riders return from injury after the two-weekend break for Loretta’s and 2026 was no different. In the 450 Class, several big names were back after missing significant time including Red Bull KTM’s Aaron Plessinger, Rockstar Husqvarna’s Malcolm Stewart, Quad Lock Honda’s Christian Craig, and Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Justin Cooper.

Of those four, JCoop was the only one to put up any sort of result. He was ninth overall with 8-12 moto finishes while Stewart, Craig, and AP went 19^th ,20^th, and 40^th Overall. Not a day any of them would like to remember and as for Christian Craig he was lucky to be okay after get run over by Benny Bloss. Plessinger’s rough day was due in large part by two mechanical DNF’s.

The 250 Class returnees somehow had even worse days. Evan Ferry and Cullin Park both returned for the Phoenix Honda Team and neither of them finished the day due to realizing that they were not physically ready to race. Deacon Denno also returned for the 5.11 Triumph Factory Racing Team and went 30-36. It is only uphill from here, boys!

Former 450 Pro Motocross Champion returned to professional racing fresh of two titles at Loretta Lynn’s. Predictions on how Zach’s return would go were all over the place, but for him it was not about a result or proving anything to anyone.

On the Weege Show, Osborne talked about how returning for the final three rounds was more about finding personal closure on racing. Less than one year after becoming a 450 Champion, Osborne was forced into retirement due to a lingering back injury in 2021. There were multiple comebacks that were close to happening but never worked out. He never had a chance to end it on his own terms.

So, while Zach may not be thrilled with a 22-DNF, he is not going to lose sleep over it. His 12^th in qualifying proved that he still has the pace to be competitive and the DNF was bike induced, so we are onto Budds.

Washougal left everyone scratching their head about what they just watched from Red Bull KTM’s Eli Tomac. On press day before Dilla, Eli cleared the air, saying he came back too soon and that he should be better moving forward. He did not even blame the bike, saying his poor results since returning from injury were “99 percent Eli.”

At Unadilla, Tomac went 7-14 on the weekend and the first moto was SOMETHING. However, the second moto was eerily similar to Washougal. He got an abysmal start and no matter where somebody of Tomac’s level starts, only being able to get up to fourteenth is underwhelming. It sounds like he may have lost out on a spot on Team USA to Justin Cooper, but it is still going to be important to finish this outdoor season strong and build some momentum coming into SMX.