2025 250SX East Preview – DEEP Field!

This weekend ‘s Tampa Supercross kickstarts the first round of the 250SX Eastern Regional
championship, with a long list of potential race winners, preparing to make their start at a
championship pursuit. The field is stacked, so let’s unpack who will be on the starting line
Saturday night.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
2024 East Coast champ Tom Vialle will be lining up this weekend aboard his KTM 250 SX-F
machine, looking to defend his number one plate. The two-time MX2 World Champion was
on the podium seven times last season, picking up wins in Daytona and Birmingham on
route to his first SX title, in only his second season!

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing
RJ Hampshire captured the 2024 West Coast title, but a nagging wrist injury he sustained
last year, derailed his chance at defending his title. Hampshire is a veteran of the class,
racing his first supercross season in 2015. In his sixty-seven supercross starts, RJ has
landed on the podium twenty-one times, winning on five occasions.

Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing

The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team enter the 250SX East championship with a
four-man roster. Pierce Brown signed for Star Racing in the off season and heads into the
season fresh off his 250SMX victory he secured at the SMX Finale in Las Vegas, last year.
Max Anstie’s return to the 250 class in 2023 has proven to be a great decision for the Brit.
Multiple podiums and two race wins upon a non-factory backed motorcycle. The thirty-one-
year-old now has all the resources required, to battle for the top honours in the class. Nate
Thrasher must have one of the most up and down set of results, out of any current 250
rider. Thrasher has picked up at least one win in each of his four previous supercross
seasons (five wins in total), but his struggles to stay healthy has hindered his ability to put
together a championship season. Daxton Bennick is heading into his sophomore season in
the class. In his rookie season, Bennick finished third overall in his first ever SX race in
Detroit. Outside of the podium finish, he had one top five in Philadelphia and a handful of top
ten throughout the season.

Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawaski
2025 has not been kind to Mitch Payton and the team to begin the year, plagued by injury
and illness. They look to turn this around as they send Levi Kitchen, Cameron McAdoo and
Seth Hammaker into Tampa, ready to do battle. Levi Kitchen was set to race the west coast
but was switched over to race the east coast series, due to sickness. Cameron McAdoo
and Seth Hammaker both can podium on any given night, but they also struggle keeping
themselves off the ground.

Triumph Factory Racing
Austin Forkner will be the sole rider for the east coast, after teammate Jalek Swoll injured his
Achillies during the off-season, ruling him out for supercross. Forkner is starting his first
season with the team, after a long relationship with Pro Circuit Kawaski. Forkner is currently
the winningest active rider in the class, with thirteen wins!

Honda HRC Progressive
It is still unknown at this point whether we will see Chance Hymas line up in Tampa. After
undergoing knee surgery last September, the team announced in their press release
following Glendale, that Chance “will likely make a late decision as to whether or not to
participate”. Hopefully we see Hymas line up this weekend.

As we eagerly wait to see the 250SX East riders hit the track for the time this weekend, who
are your early championship favourites?

- Edward Heather