2025 Thunder Valley Recap on the Kickstart Podcast

Round five of the Pro Motocross Championship took place last weekend at MX 338, and yes, the results were the same in both classes, but all four motos were anything but boring! The stranglehold that Jett Lawrence and Haiden Deegan have on the 450 and 250 classes, respectively, is amazing, and we should all consider ourselves fortunate to be witnessing the performances that these two riders are putting on. On this week's podcast we recap everything that went down at Southwick, as well as at the Mini Monsters Lincoln Trail race.

The X Games have always been about the progression of the sport: greater heights, longer distances, bigger tricks, higher speeds... Ironically, after Patrick Evans earned the Moto-X Best Whip Gold Medal at the 2024 Summer X Games aboard a Stark Future Varg, an electric motocross bike from Barcelona, Spain, that seems to have gone out the window. Evans was notified a few months ago that electric motorcycles were no longer allowed to compete, but that he could defend his title aboard a gas-powered machine. Similarly, Colby Raha, who earned a silver medal in Moto-X Quarterpipe in 2024, was told the same. As most of the best free riders in the sport assemble in Salt Lake City, Utah, this weekend for the Summer X Games, Patrick Evans will be flying elsewhere to participate in a freeride demo aboard - you guessed it - his Stark Future Varg. We caught up with Evans this morning to see what his thoughts and feelings are about sitting this one out...

The Annual Mammoth Mountain Motocross is the highlight of the year for many motocross racers, and last weekend, the veterans of the sport lined up behind the starting gate. Yamaha's Ryan Villopoto was - to no one's surprise - the cream of the crop all weekend, but he did have some challenged from Josh Grant and RJ Wageman. Our very own Alex Ray made his 30 Pro debut at Mammoth, and our Senior Test Rider Pat Foster is the hometown hero in the High Sierras, so of course he was there flying the SML flag! We recap a great weekend, and more!

The boys are back at it again! Ricky Johnson and Jeff Ward get together for an amazing episode of Podium to Present with none other than the Flyin' Hawaiian, John DeSoto. The AMA Hall of Famer was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and came to the mainland to race dirt bikes! A hero in the late 1960s and early 1970s, DeSoto was a hero to both RJ and Wardy, and their conversation is one not to be missed!

The High Point Pro Motocross National was awesome! The weather that everyone feared all day finally rolled in and let loose just as the final 450-class moto got underway, and that made for some amazing racing that saw Eli Tomac score his second moto win of the season. At the same time, Jett Lawrence was forced to work through the pack after a poor start and a soft early race pace to earn his fourth overall of the series. And of course, Haiden Deegan rebounded with a vengeance after his Thunder Valley MX defeat to absolutely dominate both motos for his third win of the season. We cover itr all, and more, in this week's Kickstart Podcast.

PRESENTED BY 6D HELMETSOn August 21-24, Big Bear Mountain in Southern California will host the inaugural Big Bear MX Grand Prix at the Bear Valley resort. The event has been years in the making, and our DMs and inboxes have been flooded with questions about the exciting developments, so we asked CMXRS Race Director Aaron Cooke to come in and share every single bit of information about the race with us. Registration opens on August 1st at 12:00 p.m. Mark your calendars!

Round three of the Pro Motocross Nationals took place at Thunder Valley MX in Lakewood, Colorado, and the high altitude, combined with the rain of the previous days, delivered some thrilling racing that saw a new winner in the 250 class and some intense battles up front in the 450s. We recap the things we saw and learned at the mountainous track in this week's Kickstart Podcast.

Ricky Johnson and Jeff Ward are back for part two with legendary motocross and mountain bike journalist Zapata Espinoza. If you missed episode one with Zap, be sure to scroll up and find it, as it's a good one!

On paper the overall results from the Hangtown Motocross Classic are a repeat of round one, but the action was far different and - dare we say - even more exciting! The Dirt Diggers M.C. always do an amazing job of putting on the NorCal race, and even though the temperatures were borderline unbearable, the things that unfolded on the race track made the sunburn and dehydration all worthwhile.

Two-time 250 National Champion Jeremy Martin left the 2023 Hangtown 250 National in the back of an ambulance with a badly broken arm that would ultimately put him out for the remainder of the season. After missing all of 2024, and then accepting a job as the VIP Tour Guide for the Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha team during this year's Supercross series, many assumed that JMart was, in fact, done with racing. Off the record, he told a few months ago that he planned to purchase a bike race this summer's Millville 450 National as his final farewell to racing, but that all took a big u-turn when he was asked to fill in for the numerous injured Star 250 riders at the first three Nationals this summer. Martin lined up last weekend at Fox Raceway with a mere eight days of riding the Star machine under his belt, and he carded 20-20 moto scores for four championship points and 21st overall at the series kickoff. "Absolutely got my teeth kicked in at Pala," he wrote on his Instagram on Monday. "Went from training for a marathon to racing round one." We tried to speak with Martin after the race on Saturday, but he was long gone by the time we made it to the Star truck, so we asked him to join us for some bench racing in this afternoon's Midweek Podcast, presented by 6D Helmets!