Deegan Holds Red Plate, Tomac Climbs to 2nd Overall at Thunder Valley MX National

With two runner-up finishes in the 250 and 450 classes, respectively, at Lakewood, Colo.’s Thunder Valley MX Park on Saturday, Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Haiden Deegan (2-2) was able to hold onto his 1^st place overall class position and red No. 1 plate while teammate Eli Tomac moved up to 2^nd place overall in his class with a 3-2 two moto effort on the day.

Adding a third podium finish for Monster Energy at the Toyota Thunder Valley MX National was Levi Kitchen (Pro Circuit/Kawasaki), who was on the box in the 250 class for the second straight week with a solid 3^rd place run (8-3). Kitchen topped a good effort from teammate Garrett Marchbanks, who had the inverse two moto score (3-8) on the day for a top five 4^th place finish – with the better second moto score breaking the tie.

The biggest news on the day was certainly the snapping of Deegan’s 2025 outdoor undefeated streak, which stood at 4-0 with sweeping victories at Pala (Calif.) and Hangtown (Calif.). In the opening 250 moto Deegan got a 4^th place start, then moved into 2^nd past MXGP World Champion Tom Vialle (KTM) – and set his sights on race leader Chance Hymas (Honda). But once close, a mistake in a berm sent Deegan off the track and through a Parts Unlimited repeater banner. Deegan then nearly buried his bike into another berm again, losing more time to Hymas. Then end result was a two second loss to Hymas at the Moto 1 checkers.

Moto 2 started out with Hymas pulling the holeshot, Deegan right on his rear fender. But a fall in a corner, while in hot pursuit of Hymas, would be it for Deegan. Kitchen on the other hand would shine late in the moto, putting a clean pass on Vialle to knock the KTM rider off the podium.

In 450 class racing Tomac, in his home state of Colorado, had the fans behind him all day – and responded with a 2^ndplace podium run. In the opening moto Tomac took advantage of a late race mistake by Honda’s Hunter Lawrence, inheriting 3^rd place at the checkers. In the second and deciding moto, Tomac’s Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha teammate, Justin Cooper, flashed some brilliance early, taking the race lead on Moto 2’s third lap with a blistering 2:10.852 circle of Lakewood’s high elevation track.

Tomac would be lurking though, and turned it on later in the race, passing teammate Cooper for 2^nd and looking like he’d catch race leader Jett Lawrence (Honda) – only to tip his YZ450F over in deep rut – allowing Lawrence to escape with the win. Tomac would remount for 2^nd in the moto, and 2^nd on the day. And though Cooper was passed by Jett Lawrence and Tomac, he held on for 2^nd place in the day’s final moto – and a strong 4^th overall on the afternoon.

Overall Standings (3 of 11 rounds)

Notes & Quotes

• “The elevation kind of took me out of my flow today,” said Deegan. “But if 2-2 is a bad day for me, I’m stoked.”
• Deegan had a bit of a mechanical scare in Moto 1 of the 250 race when his bike began to smoke a bit. Team officials relayed the message to Deegan’s mechanic, Brett Duffy, who signaled Deegan – via the race pit board – “Off Clutch… Save Bike.” The strategy worked.
• Said Kitchen of his rally back from an 8^th place opening 250 moto finish to 3^rd place in the second moto – good for 3^rd overall: “It was a dogfight the whole day.”
• Also noteworthy from the 250 class was the debut pro MX Nationals race for Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Kayden Minear. The young Aussie racer swept the SMX Next 250 races at Hangtown, qualified 12^th at Lakewood and placed 16^th overall (18-12).
• “I could hear Eli (Tomac) right there, and then I heard the Colorado fans go ‘Ohhhhh,” and I knew something had happened,” said Honda’s Jett Lawrence of Tomac’s crash late in 450’s Moto 2 while in pursuit of race leader Lawrence.
• “I basically rushed the turn (prior to the turn where he could gain time on Jett Lawrence), going for it all, and went up in flames,” added Tomac. It’s the second straight week Tomac has crashed while in hot pursuit of Lawrence.
• Tomac, for the second straight week, had to come through the pack in Moto 2 in order to make the podium, finishing in 8^th position after Lap 1.
• Noteworthy in 450 qualifying… Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Cooper would score his first career qualifier victory, topping KTM’s Aaron Plessinger 2:10.829 to 2:12.007.

Up next: Round 4 of the 2025 Pro Motocross Championship heads back east to the longstanding High Point Raceway in Mt. Morris, Pa., for the 48^th running of the UFO Plast High Point National, Saturday, June 14^th. For more information on the AMA Pro Motocross Championships, link to www.promotocross.com