Only four days separate us from the start of the second running of the SuperMotocross Playoffs. Starting once again at ZMax Dragway in Charlotte, two new venues, (regrettably) Texas Motor Speedway and then the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dragstrip, will close out this year's slate, where a whole heap of riders will again compete for north of six figures, and seven in some instances, but let's stick to the 250 class.
After coming short of a Supercross and Motocross title in year one, Star Yamaha's Haiden Deegan stamped his arrival at the top rung of the sport by winning the inaugural SMX playoffs over Jo Shimoda. This year, he comes in as both the 250 National Motocross Champion and the SMX World Champion. As the clear favorite, he looks to fend off rivals Levi Kitchen, Chance Hymas, and Tom Vialle to come home with another purple No. 1 plate and a half-million-dollar briefcase. Just how good are his chances, though?
Notable LCQ Riders (Minimum of 4 Transfers on the line as of Wednesday): No. 41 Carson Mumford, No. 63 Cameron McAdoo
Key 20-11 Riders: No. 26 Garrett Marchbanks, No. 37 Max Anstie, No. 29 Ty Masterpool, No. 24 R.J. Hampshire, No. 57 Nate Thrasher (confirmed for Charlotte on Tuesday)
Seed 10) No. 34 Ryder DiFrancesco (TLD/Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing)
Key 2024 Accomplishments: N/A
Not lighting the world on fire by any means, RyderD is coming into these playoffs on a pretty good home stretch of Motocross rounds, narrowly missing out on what would've been his first career Outdoor Podium at Washougal back in July. While his playoff run a year ago fell off the rails in the third and final round at LA Coliseum, it's worth remembering he finishes fourth overall with a 7-3 at ZMax Dragway to kick things off. A good three-week stretch here only helps him as well as he enters a contract year in 2025, especially amidst the likely internal changes coming to the GasGas team, with Troy Lee all but confirmed to be pulling out of the team.
Seed 9) No. 929 Julien Beaumer (Red Bull KTM)
Key 2024 Accomplishments: Highest Finishing 250 Rookie in AMA Pro Motocross (11th)
Beaumer looked very impressive in the first few Supercross rounds of the year, and for the most part, the results on paper looked very good in a first-year run. While the numbers on paper aren't as impressive outdoors, I wouldn't call 11th in the final tally terrible when you consider he DNF'd/DNS'd four Motos, and his average start, finish, and qualifying numbers were all just on the outside of the top 10. Not every rookie will be Jett Lawrence or Haiden Deegan, and it's important to remember that Beaumer is already in a pretty good spot. Assuming he can make some headwind going into 2025, Ian Harrison and the boys should be thrilled with the state of their 250 program.
Seed 8) No. 33 Jalek Swoll (Triumph Factory Racing)
Key 2024 Accomplishments: Career Best Finish in AMA Pro Motocross (Seventh), Gave Triumph Thier First Ever Supercross Heat Race Win and First AMA Pro Motocross Podium
Avoiding many of the year-one technical gremlins on the Triumph that plagued Joey Savatgy this summer, Swoll is now in the closing stages of the best year of his career. Still prone to occasional mistakes, the Triumph rider showed some real-deal flashes through the winter and into the summer, bringing him closer to what we say in 2021 when he was on the Husqvarna. Especially with some of the riders ahead of him having their status in question, I wouldn't rule out a top five-point finish for Swoll under the lofty assumption he can keep things clean for six Motos.
Seed 7) No. 39 Pierce Brown (TLD/Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing)
Key 2024 Accomplishments: 250 Denver Supercross Winner
Now, onto the first rider in the top 10 in his final stretch of races with his current team. Brown, who's quietly been chugging along in the top-5-8 range all year, is off to Star Yamaha for 2025, but when you look back, he was actually pretty close to taking home a 250 East Supercross title before a subpar final three rounds. Going into Nashville with Cameron McAdoo getting hurt, Brown was only 15 points back of eventual Champion Tom Vialle, but an 11th, 17th, and 12th ended up costing him a spot on the podium by all of one point and sticking to SMX, the six seed by seven points. Consistency being Brown's calling card should make him a contender for a top-five spot, but I don't expect much more than that.
Seed 6) No. 31 Jordon Smith (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha)
Key 2024 Accomplishments: 250 San Francisco Supercross Winner
It's Wild to think that Smith was only 35 points out of a top-five seed after the summer he had, but the veteran was great indoors, save for a massive case job ruining his night out in Seattle. He is one of a few riders out at Star at the conclusion of the SMX playoffs, and Smith hopes to cash in on some of that SX speed for a huge payday before he heads off to Triumph.
Seed 5) No. 48 Chance Hymas (Honda HRC)
Key 2024 Accomplishments: 250 RedBud National Winner
It's hard to say much about Hymas' year other than he's simply tough as nails. Coming off of the torn ACL and having the summer he did where he had a couple of rough incidents at Millville and 'Dilla was nothing short of remarkable. Let alone that he took home his first-ever pro win at RedBud, of all places. As good as his summer was, he wasn't nearly as good in Supercross, coming home eighth in the 250 East standings, and we have no 2023 SMX results to go back to because of said ACL injury. Not that I would be blown away if Hymas were to walk out of Vegas with a purple No. 1 plate, but I think his seeding is indicative of where I'd rank him going. That's, of course, if the next man up, his teammate, is good to go for this weekend and more so if he's in a good enough spot health-wise.
Seed 4) No. 30 Jo Shimoda (Honda HRC)
Key 2024 Accomplishments: 250 Denver Supercross Winner
Not that there's ever a good time to suffer a broken collarbone, but Shimoda was trending toward a race-winning pace before that untimely crash at Unadilla. The good news is he appears to be good to go for SMX (as well as a one-off in the Japanese Nats, which is pretty cool), but it's fair to ask how up to pace he will be given the injury. If he can manage through it and have the pace, a nice payday should be awaiting him at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dragstrip. He almost won this whole thing last year but couldn't make that final pass on Haiden Deegan to seal the deal.
Seed 3) No. 16 Tom Vialle (Red Bull KTM)
Key 2024 Accomplishments: Two Supercross Main Event Wins, 2024 Monster Energy Supercross 250 Eastern Regional Champion, 250 Ironman National Winner, Second in the Pro Motocross 250 Championship
If you had told me two years ago that Tom Vialle would've won a Supercross title in the States before a Motocross title, I would've never believed you, but here we are. That shutdown ride vs. Haiden Deegan he had at Philadelphia was one of this year's best, but the Frenchman took way too long to heat up in the great outdoors, and by that point, he already had his two worst Motos of the year (a 17th at Millville and a 22nd at Unadilla).
The point made on some of the late Motocross broadcasts about Vialle being in his element with these SMX tracks, given some of the fly-away MXGP round experience, is undoubtedly real, and we saw that at Charlotte a year ago. Things then got away from him quickly after that, but he's definitely in a better spot this year and should be considered Deegan's top competition.
Seed 2) No. 47 Levi Kitchen (Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki)
Key 2024 Accomplishments: Three Supercross Main Event Wins, Second in the 250 Western Regional Supercross Championship, Three Pro Motocross National Wins, Third in the Pro Motocross 250 Championship
A bad start and crash in the final Moto of the Motocross season ruined what would've been a monster ending to the Outdoors for the Master Chef. Winning 3-of-5 Nationals and 4 of the final 10 Motos, Kitchen was running practically on the level to where he was in Supercross, where he was still in title contention to the very end despite a violent get-off seconds into the Nashville E/W Showdown.
While I feel comfortable saying Vialle probably has a better shot at winning this SMX title (then Deegan), he's definitely in that group of three that easily has the best shot at coming out of this three-round sprint victorious. I could think of worse ways to end a successful year riding for Mitch Payton.
Seed 1) No. 1 Haiden Deegan (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha)
Key 2024 Accomplishments: Three Supercross Main Event Wins, Second in the 250 Eastern Regional Supercross Championship, Five Pro Motocross National Wins, 2024 AMA Pro Motocross 250 Champion
Although he came up short against Tom Vialle indoors, Deegan had the Outdoor title well in hand by the time we got to that first bye week. Given his riding through this year, there's not much else to say. Not that I couldn't see him losing this, with the triple points at Vegas having the potential to really muddy the waters, but I think the 10-minute reduction in race time could play into his hands in a big way more than about anyone else.
That said, one interesting thing could potentially stop Deegan, and that is his starts, believe it or not. Of the top 10 250 Class seeds, he ranked eighth in average Supercross start and fourth in Motocross start, notably trailing Vialle and Kitchen in both disciplines. Of course, Deegan has shown clearly that he can overcome bad starts, but I don't know if I'm trying to take chances at this point in the year. Either way, he's my pick to win this thing and go back-to-back, but I'd keep an eye on his starts these three weeks.
2024 SuperMotocross 250 Class Playoff Top Five Power Rankings
5th - No. 48 Chance Hymas
4th - No. 33 Jalek Swoll
3rd - No. 47 Levi Kitchen
2nd - No. 16 Tom Vialle
1st - No. 1 Haiden Deegan
Championship Pick: Haiden Deegan
Main Image via Star Yamaha
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