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Deegan will be West Coast as he is making the transition to the 450 outdoors and will need the time to test/ prepare for his debut.
Anstie is solid at the moment and I think Star will put him East so that they have a good chance of winning both West an East.
Davies will probably racing east coast...
deegan wants to win both 250 regional titles, hell be racing east is my bet
Davies going to clean up on oppositecoast to Deegan. Max might win a race or two but not taking any championship. We've seen every thing Max has.
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I think he stays West for two reasons: One, like Boom said, more time to prep for outdoors, and two, if he's not going to defend his #1 plate, then why stay on a 250?
Davies has been hurt multiple times since Supercross. Including out injured right now. Yeah he’s got plenty of time to prep & got a chance to win but I’d say Max has just as good of a chance to win over a 10 race series
Yeah I think max is the one to beat this year, whatever coast he is on he will win.
That’s what I would do for those reasons if I was Deegan but supposedly he wants to race east per the moto media. I just don’t get it.
What do you mean “pump Deegan”?
Lots of great 250 talent this year. Would you be surprised by a podium finish from any one of these guys?
Shimoda
Anstie
Hymas
Kitchen
Deegan
MacAdoo
Drew Adams
Pierce Brown
Hammacker
Davies
Mosiman
Ryder D
Thrasher
I think Vohland and Coty has podiums this year. How about Jalek? So many fantastic riders, and I'm sure I missed a few.
Who are your picks for the top 6 riders at the end of the season?
Anstie is gonna smoke Deegan. And if you dont like it you can suck it!
I like Max, but he is 32 years old and been doing this for about 15 years now. We know what he can and cannot do. What he can do is win races. What he cant do is win a championship. The guy has been at this for a long time. He isn't suddenly going to fix it.
Max still racing regional 250 SX is funny. Max Davalos
Barring injury, he will be on a 450 at A1. And as long as he is performing/improving, he will be on the 450 all season. He has nothing left to prove on a 250.
Right now, it sounds like Shimoda and Hymas will swap coasts from last year.
Shimoda - East
Hymas - West
I get what you're saying but you can't blame him. There's a lot more money for him to be made in that class. Podiums and possible shot at the title.
He doesn't have much of a chance at any of those in the 450 class.
He also said that he was going to race the 250 class for as long as he could.
2026 will be his 7th year in 250 SX.
In Comparison:
Pierce Brown is also entering his 7th year.
McAdoo and Forkner will both be starting their 10th year.
Hampshire and Jordon Smith are moving up after turning pro in 2015.
Max Anstie has 39 career 250SX starts.
In Comparison:
Martin Davalos: 104 (Most 250SX Starts)
RJ Hampshire: 77
Jordon Smith: 76
Alex Martin: 75
Jeremy Martin: 63
Shane McElrath: 62
Christian Craig: 58
Vince Friese: 57
Cameron McAdoo: 53
Austin Forkner: 50
Joey Savatgy: 46
Colt Nichols: 45
thats reasonable but only a select few, including the guy everyone is talking about(jett) have won the 250sx on both coasts and I think he wants that prestige and to have the statistics be the same or better. but who knows
He was racing a star Yamaha in 250SX when Cole Davies was 3 years old
Pit Row
Sounds like Davies and shimoda running east... juju would be too if he races this sx season.... basically all the guys that can beat deegs in sx may b racing east...
Right now I’d imagine it looks like this for title contenders
West:
Hymas (per ML)
Kitchen (always races West/only East bc of illness at A1 last year, deep in bootcamp on Instagram)
Anstie (wants to continue on momentum from WSX, Star needs a title contender)
McAdoo (based in CA)
East:
Hammaker (based in FL)
Shimoda (per ML)
Deegan? (If he races A1 on 450)
Davies (injured UCL so out for west)
Beaumer obviously injured, Smith/RJ moving up makes for a depleted 250 field.
With Deegan out, Looks like it should be an easy championship for Kitchen then transition to 450 ride in 2027 to replace Marchbanks.
Shimoda may be put in a tough spot where he will lose to Deegan/Davies, and then have to win 250 outdoors in order to justify a 450 ride.
I'll speak for the board... thanks for such a thoughtful and articulate take.
Damn lot of people on here giving away championships in November, bold strategy.
I think there are potentially 6-8 legit championship contenders & even a couple wildcards. It’s going to be war.
What coast the Coenen brothers doing?
I love kitchen but what has he done that shows he would easily beat max in the series in your hypothetical? I think that might would be a great battle.
More so that Max can’t seem to keep it together for a full season. He usually comes on strong but crashes out with an injury or puts himself in bad positions (see 2025 season).
Also, this has been slightly forgotten because of Kitchen’s rough 2025, but he was probably the best 250 SX rider in 2024. Dominated at St. Louis/Seattle and only lost because of the incident with McAdoo at Nashville. Even then he only lost the championship by a few points.
He also beat Max at Detroit last year when he clearly wasn’t up to full speed yet.
Early races of the west coast, of course...
This is exactly what I heard on some podcast.
Imo Davies has a lot to prove this year. last year he was incredible but he’s been hurt multiple times since then. I really hope he can catch a couple breaks here and there and stay healthy. I like seeing guys ride to their potential and he’s got a lot of it.
Why would shimoda be in a tougher spot than Davies or Deegan? He wasn’t much off their pace racing with a broken hand
I disagree.
Considering he was supposed to ride SMX Next this year, I think he did more than fine. They moved him up because he progressed that much. He finished 3rd in the 250 SX West series, got four podiums including two wins.
Sure, injuries did set him back for outdoors, but he finished 7th at Budds Creek going 1-17.
He'll be fine.
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