One year ago, Jorge Prado and the Monster Energy Kawasaki Team mutually agreed to sit out the SMX Playoffs. That turned out to be the beginning of the end of that partnership and Prado was unemployed after just one season in the U.S. On top of that, he made a bad first impression on American fans.

Through it all, Prado was adamant that he could win if he had what he needed to feel comfortable and when Tom Vialle opted to head back to MXGP, it opened the door for Prado to return to Red Bull KTM.

The switch paid off right away with a podium at A1, but everything came full circle Thunder Ridge Nature Arena. After a fifth in moto one and the SMX title on the line, Prado could not afford to get a bad start, fade, get caught up in lappers, or ride inside his comfort zone.

He executed perfectly. He pulled a clutch holeshot, withheld the pressure and attempted Haiden Deegan antics, to win the final moto of the season and claim the 2026 450SMX Championship.

Afterwards, Jorge had some strong opinions on his battle with Deegan and being aware of the situation. “I don’t like those games of making block passes. That’s not the type of racing I race,” he said. “Maybe in the lower categories he could play with the other kids, but not with me. When you race with that mentality, normally, you end up bad. When you race clean you have a lot of things in your favor. I’m against that type of racing. I’m not racing for the money like he is, I am racing with passion, and I am racing because I love the sport. I accomplished a lot in MXGP, and I came to the States, and I proved to everyone that I can get World Champion here as well.”

Prado will now have the honor of having a Championship banner hung in the stands each weekend, the purple backgrounds for the entirety of 2027, and his million-dollar championship bonus will certainly ease the pain of the pay cut he took leaving Kawi. Jorge never doubted himself and he backed up everything he said 100 percent.

While Deegan won the battle in Ridgedale, he came up just short of winning his third SMX Championship. Deegan hounded Prado for 20 minutes plus one lap in moto two and we were all anticipating him trying some of his antics from Las Vegas last year, but it never happened. He made one move at Jorge’s front wheel that momentarily put him into the lead, but he was not able to complete the pass.

After the race Haiden admitted he did not want to replicate his moves on Jo Shimoda last year.

“After that first race, I was like hmm I have a chance to win this. We’ll see how the start goes, he [Prado] is usually pretty good at starts. He ripped the start and I mean, I took one shot, but again not trying to do what I did last year.”

Championship or not, SMX was a step up from what we saw out of Haiden in Pro Motocross and could be a sign of what is to come in 2027 Supercross.

Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen finally came through in the clutch. Kitchen has had two chances to clinch championships late in the series (2024 250SX and 2026 250MX) and has fallen short both times. This past summer was especially painful as Levi simply fell apart when it mattered most.

In Ridgedale, Kitchen had the chance to right the wrongs from a month ago, and he executed perfectly. He was able to turn his biggest weakness into his biggest strength and nailed two great starts while his championship rivals Julien Beaumer and Ryder DiFrancesco found themselves buried. It was all smooth sailing for Levi from there.

He led most of moto one until Davies caught and passed him, and in moto two Levi rode alone in second the entire moto. In the post-race press conference, Levi was asked why his starts were so good. “I’ve been practicing a lot, and I knew that they were getting better, but I think tonight was 90 percent mental,” he said. “That second moto all my main competitors, I knew they lined up next to me, and I was just like you boys ain’t getting me this time.”

Regardless of your stance on how meaningful an SMX title may be, make no mistake about it: this was huge for Levi Kitchen. Next time he finds himself needing to perform in the clutch, he will know what to do.

Monster Energy/Yamaha Star Racing’s Cole Davies may have come up short in sweeping all three 250 championships this season but his performance in Ridgedale is a reminder why he should be the heavy favorite to win everything in 2027.

Davies was one of few to make a charge through the field on a track that was difficult to pass on, coming from seventh to pass Kitchen late in the first moto. He led holeshot to flag in moto two, and despite two moto DNFs, he was able to salvage third overall in the series.

At the post-race press conference, Davies announced that he had chosen the number five as his new career number. For whatever reason, riders have opted out of single digits when given the chance lately, so it is nice to see somebody take advantage of such a privilege for the first time in a while.

For the second time in his career, Honda HRC Progressives’ Chance Hymas has been forced to give up his spot on the Motocross of Nations team due to injury. During Friday’s practice sessions, Hymas overjumped the supercross triple and aggravated his wrist. After further evaluation it was determined that Hymas had some fractures in his wrist. For the betterment of Chance’s health and Team USA, Chance will sit this weekend out.  

Fortunately, Red Bull KTM and Julien Beaumer were willing and able to fill the void at the 11th hour, and Juju will make his 450-debut in France as USA’s MXGP rider.

Your heart aches for Hymas, but props to Juju and KTM for stepping up and theoretically this should end up being a lateral move for team USA.

Hunter Lawrence has not been shy about his feelings towards this season’s SMX Playoffs. After taking a strong stance against SMX in an interview with Vital MX’s Lewis Phillips last weekend, he second that with PulpMX’s Steve Matthes after Ridgedale. “I’ll be honest, I’m over racing right now, like I’m done. I’m 31 weekends,” Lawrence explained. “I think it’s clear to see my care levels. I mean I battled for the 450 title in Supercross and I won Pro Motocross, I’m good”.

Despite his low motivation and two aching wrists, “Hunta” was competitive throughout the night and rolled in a cool quarter million dollars for his efforts and third in the Playoff standings. This year was a career-defining season for Lawrence as he broke out from his brother’s shadow and proved that he too can win races and championships.

When SMX debuted in 2023, one race featured 65cc All-Stars, one featured Supermini All-Stars, and one featured 250 All-Stars (now SMX Next). This year the women made their debut to SMX as 13 of the top WMX racers were invited to Ridgedale to compete under the lights for the first time.

Supercross is unchartered territory for women’s motocross, and for most of the racers, the weeks leading up to the event were the first time they have touched a SX track. With that being said, they put on one heck of a show.

While Lachlan Turner and Charli Cannon came in as the heavy favorites, they had their work cut out for them. Lala got off to a bad start and on the opening lap, Cannon got sent off the track by SLR Honda’s Mayla Herrick. That opened the door for Hannah Hodges.

At one point Hodges was a Team Green prodigy, but when it came time to move to big bikes and turn pro, WMX was extinct, and Hodges’ opportunity in the sport fizzled out. It was cool to see Hannah lead laps on the biggest stage WMX has seen yet and make up for lost time.

Herrick almost had a pass on Hodges completed but went down hard in the sand. Hodges led for three laps before Turner and Cannon found their way to the front. Charli began to close on Lala quickly in the later laps and with a few turns to go had a chance to take the lead. A mistake in a rhythm section cost her, as Turner went on to win the inaugural SMX WMX Invitational.

Ridgedale was Cooper Webb’s final race for the Monster Energy/Yamaha Star Racing team. Webb returned to the team in 2024 with the goal of bringing the team a 450 Championship to add to his three 250 titles. Mission accomplished last season, and now it's time for a change of scenery for the three-time 450 Supercross Champ.

Coop ended his tenure at Star with a solid SMX. He was just a tick off the pace needed to win but kept himself in the conversation for the title. There is no indication of Webb’s move to Team Tedder being a way to sail off into the sunset. In fact, it sounds like it is quite the opposite with the staff Webb is taking with him. Webb is taking Star Racing’s team manager Rich Simmons, his current mechanic Alex Campbell, and formally Max Anstie’s mechanic at Star, Austin Kent.

Team Tedder’s signing of Cooper Webb is more than just a typical rider signing. This is a complete team overhaul, and it begins this weekend in France as Webb makes his debut on his new Husqvarna as team USA’s MX3 rider.

It probably won’t sink in until Anaheim 1 when he is not on the gate, but Eli Tomac is officially retired from professional racing. Tomac is an all-time great and legitimate nominee for anybody’s Mount Rushmore of the sport.

Tomac did not set the world on fire in his farewell ride with a 12th overall, but his final season with the Red Bull KTM team was successful, stacking four SX wins to push his total to 57. Eli will leave an irreplaceable void in the sport, but his legacy and “beast mode” will live on for generations to come.

Joining him into retirement will be Ducati’s Dylan Ferrandis. Ferrandis announced his retirement Tuesday before Ridgedale. He had a mechanical DNF in moto one but was able to cap off his career with a solid eighth in the last moto of his career. Dylan’s last few seasons have seen injuries and mediocre results but his championship seasons from 2019-2021 will go down as one of the more underrated runs in the sport.

Feld and the entire reputation of SMX have had a tough go in 2026. Teams and riders have not been shy to express their feeling about the long schedule or the fact that the SMX venues and tracks have under-delivered on what was promised at the end of 2022. Columbus and L.A. were not great, but there was a lot of hype about what Thunder Ridge Nature Arena had to offer for the SMX Finals.

Thunder Ridge delivered and was a breath of fresh air for the series. A true Super Motocross track, a picturesque landscape overlooking the Ozarks and the amphitheater seating provided the kind of atmosphere fans and industry expect out of SMX.

The track ended up not providing the best racing, but the event was a great way to cap off 2026. This was the first of a four-year deal with the venue, so if you missed out this year, SMX is locked into the venue for the next three seasons.