450 Class
Hunter Lawrence
Hunter Lawrence has a ten point lead in the series, the largest of the season. He is entering a venue where he has not just never won at, he’s also never finished second. That is including both the 250 and 450 classes. Hunter has won an overall at every other venue on the circuit. His last two 250 appearances at Washougal yielded two third place overalls, his best finishes there. In his two appearances on a 450, he has gotten two fourth overalls with 5-4 moto scores in both appearances. It is the only track where he does not have a moto podium on a 450.
Jett Lawrence
Jett Lawrence is better at Washougal than some may give him credit for because he has lost just one moto there on a 450 and it involved a crash. He has won three of the four motos he has raced there but his one overall win did come three years ago in his rookie season. On a 250, he picked up an overall win there despite never leading a lap. He went 7-2-2-2 in his four career motos there in the smaller class. He has been on the moto podium in seven of his eight motos there including three moto wins.
Jett has earned pole position at Washougal in both of his visits on a 450. He enters still one pole away from tying Eli Tomac for most all time with 26. He is one overall podium away from tying Chase Sexton, Jeff Stanton, and Kent Howerton with 33 in the 450 class.
Haiden Deegan
Washougal is Haiden Deegan’s best track statistically in terms of average overall finish. In his three appearances, all coming in the 250 class, he averages a finish of 1.33 by way of two wins and a second place. He has won four of the six motos he has raced there and the two non-wins were second places.
Deegan has a streak of six straight podium finishes in the second motos. The only round he did not podium the second moto was Fox Raceway. He only has two first moto podiums in contrast. That discrepancy can easily be explained by looking at his lap one averages. In moto ones, he averages a lap one position of 14.57. In moto twos, that drops significantly to 5.43.
Jorge Prado
Jorge Prado had his streak of top five moto finishes tarnished after a first turn crash in moto one at Spring Creek last week. He bounced back with a third in moto two. So now in eight of the last nine motos, he has finished in the top five and five of those are podiums. Prado will hope to keep up the trend of positive results because Washougal, although he has raced it just once, is home to the track with his worst average finish (14.00).
KTM has been a bike that has excelled at Washougal in the past. They have six wins there and two of them have come in the two most recent races by way of Chase Sexton.
R.J. Hampshire
R.J. Hampshire rejuvenated his season at Spring Creek one week ago by earning his first moto podium of the season, third in moto one, and tying his best overall of the season of fourth. It was his second top five of the season and he matched his 450 career high points haul of 38. Washougal is one of Hampshire’s better tracks. His career average there is 6.78 which is the third best among tracks on the current circuit. He finished fifth in his one appearance there on a 450 last season.
Husqvarna only has two overall podiums at Washougal in the 450 class. Hampshire will look to earn them one in their last season as a factory outfit. Another Husqvarna/Hampshire fact. Hampshire’s 450 average overall is 5.83 which is slightly better than former Husqvarna teammate and multi-time champion, Zach Osborne, as Osborne’s average in the class is 5.91.
Garrett Marchbanks
I had talked a lot in the build up to Spring Creek about Garrett Marchbanks’ top six moto finish streak. It was washed away in moto one after a big crash. He returned in moto two and started another one by finishing sixth on the dot. He will like to keep it going at Washougal which was the place of his breakout ride in 2025. In the 250 class, he went 3-4 for third overall, his first ever MX overall podium.
Marchbanks has had a solid result there on a 450 as well, going 8-6 for seventh back in 2023. After a streak of nine straight motos with a top ten lap one position, Marchbanks rounded lap one outside the top ten in both motos last week.
250 Class
Levi Kitchen
Washougal, Washington native, Levi Kitchen, enters his home race in the hopes to earn his first podium at the venue in order to protect his points lead. Despite it being right at home, Kitchen has had well documented struggles there. His finishes have gotten progressively worse in his three visits there with his overalls being 5-6-11. He has one moto podium there in six moto starts and it came in his first visit in 2023.
Kawasaki has the most wins in the 250 class at Washougal (13) but they haven’t won one there since Joey Savatgy in 2017. The onus might not be on Kitchen to go win or bust though at Washougal. The eventual champion in the 250 class wins at Washougal just 47.73% of the time and that drops to 27.27% in the previous eleven seasons there.
Julien Beaumer
Julien Beaumer might be catching fire at the right time. He has quietly been one of, if not the most, consistent performers in the class this season and he earned the first win of his career one week ago. If you throw away his result at Red Bud and everyone else’s worst finish, Beaumer would be just two points off the points lead. As it stands now, he is 24 points off the lead.
The one thing holding Beaumer back a bit is his starts. His average lap one position is 9.29. For how hectic this season has been, that is actually the second best in class among active riders. Beaumer has one prior visit to Washougal and he finished eleventh overall. In qualifying at that race, he set the fifth fastest time which, at the time, was his career best.
Cole Davies
Cole Davies will be aiming to recapture the magic he had this season before it dissipated at Spring Creek. Before last week he had worked his way into the points lead by finishing second or better in five of the six motos in the build up. Last week was the first time Davies had not led laps in either moto since Thunder Valley.
Davies’ starts have been one of his biggest strengths this season. He has four holeshots which are the most in class and his average lap one position of 6.07 is best among active riders. His first turn crash at Spring Creek resulted in the first lap one position worse than second in five motos.
Ryder DiFrancesco
Washougal is Ryder DiFrancesco’s fourth best track in terms of average overall finish (10.33) and it is one of three tracks he has led at least one lap. In 2024, he finished fourth in moto one which was his best moto result at the time and it held all the way until Thunder Valley this season where he got third in a moto. He got fourth overall that day in 2024 and it was his best overall finish until he podiumed at Red Bud with a third place this season.
DiFrancesco is in a small rough patch as he has two finishes outside the top ten in his last three motos after having eight moto top tens in a row prior to that.
Chance Hymas
Chance Hymas showed a big flash of his previous capabilities by earning a dominant second moto victory at Spring Creek one week ago. It was his first moto podium of the year and it was enough to earn him his first overall podium of the year. He will need that momentum to help him at a track he has only raced once as a pro. His lone appearance came in 2024 and he finished ninth overall.
A big factor in Hymas’ uptick form has been his starts. At rounds 1-4, he averaged a lap one position of 16.75 and a moto finish of 10.75. At rounds 5-7, he has averaged a lap one position of 6.83 (second best in class), and a moto finish of 6.00 (tied for second best in class).
Kayden Minear
Since Red Bud, Kayden Minear has had the third best average overall finish in the class with a 5.67. He and his teammates have holeshotted the previous six motos and he has two of them, both coming last round. His average lap one position in that same time frame is also third best in class at 7.00.
Minear has been improving weekly and that resulted in him leading laps for the first time in his career last race, doing so in both motos. He has a moto podium in three of the last four races and hasn’t finished outside the top ten since moto one at Thunder Valley.