Okay that’s a wrap on the 2026 SMX season. Goes by pretty quick, right? We’re into year four of this new three-race “playoffs” (where no one gets eliminated) and in my opinion there’s probably been more misses than hits with this thing but at least 2026 ended on somewhat of a good note with the first-ever event held at the Thunder Ridge arena somewhere near the Ozark Mountains.

After the pretty much disastrous Columbus and L.A. rounds where no one was really happy with the venues or the racing, the new venue was cool, the track was back to being a true SMX track and the vibes were high.

Was the racing great? No, it wasn’t, as the track didn’t offer enough passing opportunities, it was really fast while you were turning and everything led you to the main line. The 180’s before and after the triple offered the best spots to try and get by. Other than that, it was going to be very tough to make a move.

I thought the track looked cool on Friday and fun to ride. Then it turned out not fun to race, due to the passing. Not much happened out there on Saturday, I hope the “vibes” from the cool venue was enough to satisfy the fans because there’s a four-year contract to race SMX there. Maybe they can improve the track next year as far as passing is concerned?

You know, it says something that many of the racers just didn’t care about the money won in this series. A guy like Garrett Marchbanks won 125K and after the last round, used his time with me in post-race interview to bag on the series. Hunter Lawrence won 328K all-in and told me doesn’t care about the money (in contrast that’s just a bit shy of two 450SX wins for Hunter) and many others stated that the money is overcome by how long the season is at this point. If you look at the payout, after the top two guys it does drop off pretty fast and Lawrence, who finished third, raced three races for, as I said, the equivalent to two 450SX wins. So, you can kind of understand it from the highly-paid factory riders position.

The SMX Series (which is the partnership of Feld and MX Sports) basically made a deal with the factories that in return for racing these three races, they’ll handle the bonuses for the riders (typically 1 million for a title, 100K for a win in 450 class). Same for the 250’s but on the lower scale (250s usually pay around 50k for a race win and 500k for a title, so that's what gets paid in the SMX races, also).  I hope the teams continue to hold Feld and MX Sports' feet to the fire to make sure that venues like this weekend continue to be sought out. We’re trying to frame this as playoffs and tout the importance of this series with number plate colors, banners, mentions over and over and then we show up to sub-standard tracks and venues like L.A. and Columbus? That doesn’t make sense, every indicator is that our sport is getting some momentum here with the unification of Feld and Mx Sports, the TV deal, WMX exposure, etc. but the first two rounds of SMX this year, in the words of Phil Nicoletti “ain’t it”.

Okay, on to some Observations about the actual racing!

Good for Jorge Prado, he is your 2026 SMX champion! Prado now gets a banner and special colors on his number plate to indicate this. He rode well in Ridgedale holding off Haiden Deegan in the second main when he didn’t have to in order to get second overall and win the million. Prado apparently said he didn't know that second in the second moto would have still kept him on the podium and let him win the title, so he did all he could to win it. And he did! Prado’s ride in the second main last week in L.A. combined with Deeg’s crash really got him to where he was this past Saturday. Plus, the seeding points that came out of Jorge racing almost all the races this year. The L.A. clutch ride was the difference maker for the Spainard.

His redemption arc is complete, well maybe it already was when he went 1-1 at Ironman but truthfully, there were riders that were way more worried about other things at Ironman to fully “stamp” that win. But it was impressive and so were these three races. He made a gamble in changing his tire for the second main to help him get off the gate better and it worked. On this track the start was everything. No, seriously, it was EVERYTHING. His disaster of 2025 when it looked like he wasn’t trying to actually, you know, race, is forgotten. The Kawasaki team members who took vicious shots at him on social media, the non-qualifying at Budds, the giving up- all of it is in the past and it’s maybe the strangest story I’ve seen in my thirty years in the pits. Like, how can this guy who did all of THAT (looking at everything in 2025) do all of THIS (2026)?

Haiden Deegan took his shot at Prado late in the main event and yeah, I didn’t like it. Looked to me it was going to be a front wheel clean out on Prado and again, I’m just not sure the AMA, especially in these times of increased penalties, would’ve let that stand. Also, Deegs needed Prado to not get up quick enough to recover for second. So, I don’t know man. He rode well in winning the OA on the weekend but again, he got the start in main one and got a second place start in main two. If Prado, Hunter Lawrence or Ken Roczen do what he did off the gate, they get his spots. It was that bad of a track to make or lose time on. Lead early and you win, start second and you finish second. Deegs will forever rue the L.A. sand crash and also, he’ll use these results to fuel him for 2027 450SX.

Hunter Lawrence rode around and got third overall. That’s about all he said and that’s what it looked like to me as well. We’re onto 2027.

I saw Levi Kitchen after the race and mentioned that who was worried about his starts? He said, “Not me!” and we high fived. Good on Kitchen to get the SMX title after two great rides. Again, not much to talk about in regard to his race- he got great starts and cruised to a 2-2. Also, we did get a pass late in main one when Cole Davies went by for the win! I wrote last week that I thought Kitchen was the fastest rider of the three with a chance to win the title, but it all depended on how he gated. And he gated well! Finally! When was the last time Kitchen got two great starts by the way?

His team manager, Mitch Payton, mentioned to me that he was a bit worried about Kitchen’s far inside gate pick in moto one, but it turns out Levi saw that it looked like it wasn’t ripped as deep there so he could get on top. And unlike Budds Creek, he wasn’t going to go off the track! Key choice by Levi there and it helped him out.

As far as Ryder DeFrancesco and Julien Beaumer, they didn’t get starts. Ryder D rode great in main one to try and make up some ground but in the end, neither rider could do much once Kitchen got up front.

Cole Davies won with two great rides. He’s got the carrot in front of him next year that he didn’t get this title and so got to think that’s some serious motivation for him. These elite riders, they take what they can get in terms of motivation.

Shout out to Pierce Brown for having to race all the LCQ’s and still rode great in every main to get 8^th in the SMX points and take home 24K for his efforts. That’s hard work man. Good for him but the way the SMX purse was, had he been able to get ten more points, he would’ve gotten 7^th and then his purse would’ve almost doubled! Still, good job to him. Remember he made an absolute killing at these races two years ago when he won the final, got the race win bonus and moved way up in points. He seems to do well in these.

I don’t know what to think about Landen Gordon. Weirdly enough, he got a podium in all three series this year but also, some not so good finishes. Star Yamaha taking all these kids (Gordon, Minear, Dudney, Wood) and seeing who shakes out to be the great pro seems solid, and I’m interested to see how it works. All of them had highs and lows for sure but they’re all kind of…good? This will be exciting to see the next couple of years.

Thanks for reading OBS! Please email me [email protected] if you want to chat about this race or anything else.