450 Class
Jorge Prado
Jorge Prado has the biggest lead a 450 rider has had entering the finale of the SMX World Championship. His 16 point lead is larger than the lead of the three previous seasons combined (2, 1, 6). This means that if he finishes anywhere in the top three, he will win the championship regardless of where anyone else finishes. Prado has accumulated this lead without winning a moto at the first two rounds. It is the first time in either class where the points leader entering the finale did not have a moto win. Prado’s consistency across the board has netted him a third and first overall at the first two rounds.
If Prado holds on to win the title, he will be the second rider to maintain the points lead on the final day. In 2023 and 2024, Jett Lawrence entered the finale behind and points and emerged victorious. Only last year did he win while showing up with the red plate.
Hunter Lawrence
The winner of the second moto in Los Angeles last weekend, Hunter Lawrence, will arrive in Ridgedale tied for second in points. Hunter is the only rider in the short SMX Playoff history to be in the top two (or tied on points with second) in points entering the finale in all four seasons of the playoffs. If he wants to win his first SMX World Championship, he will need to win and hope Jorge Prado finishes outside the top three.
This is the furthest back he has ever been in points (-16) going into the finale. He had the red plate going into the last round in 2023 (but did not lineup due to injury) and in 2024. 2025 and now 2026 are the only two years he has trailed. In the two finales he has raced, he has finished second overall never finishing off the podium in the four motos, including one moto win.
Haiden Deegan
Haiden Deegan will go into the finale in Ridgedale 16 points out of the lead in second place. His most likely title winning scenario is to win and Prado to finish outside the top three. Deegan has been the most consistent rider in the class through the first two rounds. He has finished on the podium in all four motos and has the best average moto finish (2.00) in the class. His starts have been on point as well, his average lap one position is 2.25, only bested by Prado’s 1.50.
Deegan is the only rider in the 450 field with SMX Playoff World Championship winning experience. He won the finale in 2023 to clinch the title and clinched the title with a second at the finale in 2024.
Ken Roczen
Ken Roczen finds himself 18 points down in the points standings going into Thunder Ridge Nature Arena. It is the closest he has been to the top entering the last round since the inaugural season of the playoffs in 2023. His easiest title winning scenario is the same as Hunter Lawrence and Haiden Deegan; win and hope Jorge Prado finishes off the podium.
Roczen is one of three riders to earn a moto win in the class through the first two rounds of the playoffs. His only non-podium moto finish was a fourth in the second moto of a wild race in Los Angeles last weekend. Roczen has only podiumed one playoff finale and it was a second place finish at the Coliseum in 2023. That was the last time he was in the thick of the title chase at a finale so look for him to have performance more like that in Ridgedale.
Cooper Webb
Cooper Webb is a rider you can never count out of a championship. Webb is 20 points behind the lead going into Ridgedale but his most likely championship winning scenario is the same as Deegan, Hunter, and Roczen thanks to the triple points. Win and hope Prado gets fourth or worse. This year’s playoffs have been the best of Webb’s career so far. He has averaged an overall finish of 4.50 and his SMX playoff career average coming into this was 6.33. If he secures another top five this weekend, it will be the first time he will have finished in the top five at all three playoff rounds.
Going back to pro motocross, Webb has finished sixth or better in four straight races. Excluding Supercross and just looking at MX and SMX, that is the longest streak he has had in those disciplines since 2023.
Eli Tomac
Thunder Ridge Nature Arena will be the site of Eli Tomac’s final race as a professional. Tomac has never finished off the podium at an SMX Playoff finale he has started. He has a pair of thirds coming in 2024 and 2025.
Tomac has raced in the state of Missouri ten times, all in St. Louis. He averages a finish of 4.40 in the state and has won three main events in St. Louis, the most recent and emphatic of those three wins coming in 2024 where he swept all three motos of the Triple Crown.
250 Class
Levi Kitchen
Levi Kitchen is in pole position for his first career championship. He holds a slim lead of three points over Ryder DiFrancesco and all he needs to do is finish ahead of him and finish in the top three to be safe. Julien Beaumer is lingering 16 points back to keep the top two honest if he wins. Kitchen’s consistency through all three disciplines so far this season have helped get him into position for this. In the playoffs, he is one of two riders to podium both rounds and he has the best average overall finish (2.00) and average moto finish (3.00).
A championship here would not only be huge for Kitchen, it would be huge for Kawasaki. They have not won a championship in any class or discipline since Eli Tomac’s 2020 SX championship in the Premier class. Their last 250 class title was via Adam Cianciarulo in 250 MX in 2019. This is the longest dry spell for the manufacturer as a whole in AMA SX/MX/SMX since 1976-1984.
Ryder DiFrancesco
Ryder DiFrancesco is in position to win a professional championship for the first time in his career. He is essentially in a winner take all scenario with Levi Kitchen who he sits behind by three points in the standings. DiFrancesco comes into the finale on the back of three straight podium finishes for the first time in his career. He had zero podiums coming into 2025 but now has eight across all three disciplines. If he podiums in Ridgedale, he will be the fourth different rider to podium all three rounds in the 250 playoffs.
If DiFrancesco manages to win this World Championship without winning the overall, he would become the sixth rider in history to win a championship without an overall win that season. He would be the first rider ever to win a title with zero professional wins if he clinches without the win this weekend.
Julien Beaumer
Julien Beaumer is in a similar situation to many of the 450 contenders except he has to deal with two riders ahead of him instead of one. He is 16 points behind Kitchen and 13 behind DiFrancesco. If he wins, he has to hope both of them finish outside the top three in order to clinch the championship.
Beaumer survived a tumultuous day in Columbus to put himself in a solid position after his win in Los Angeles. His three wins this season, two in MX and one in SMX, are more than the two riders in front of him combined in 2026. Through four motos, Beaumer’s starts have been third best in class with an average lap one position of 4.75. One spot better than DiFrancesco and 0.50 behind Kitchen.
Kayden Minear
Kayden Minear finds himself in fourth place in the standings heading into the finale at Thunder Ridge Nature Arena. That puts him at payout of $100,000 if he were to maintain that spot once the dust settles. Minear’s steadiness throughout the motocross campaign, coupled with his fifth in Los Angeles have put him in this advantageous position.
Minear is in position to be the highest placing Australian in the 250 SMX Playoffs. Hunter Lawrence has the current best by an Aussie in the class with a ninth after he was unable to race the 2023 finale. Minear is also the lead man for Star Racing Yamaha in the standings holding a four point lead over Cole Davies.
Jo Shimoda
Jo Shimoda is in a tie with Daxton Bennick for fifth in the points standings going into the final round of the year in Ridgedale. He is 31 points down and unlikely to be in a position to win the title even with the triple points. He would have to win and get a lot of results to fall his way.
Shimoda is no stranger to success at SMX Playoff finales. He finished second overall in the race and standings in 2023, finished fourth in Las Vegas in 2024, and most notably, won the race and championship in Las Vegas in 2025. Shimoda is one moto podium away from tying Haiden Deegan with thirteen moto podiums in the SMX Playoffs, most in class. He is also won overall win away from tying Deegan with four for the most in the class.
Cole Davies
Cole Davies has shown he has the raw speed in these playoffs but misfortune has struck him one too many times through two rounds. He is seventh in the standings and 34 points out of the lead. He has set the fastest lap in three of the four motos in these playoffs so far. The only moto he has not was moto two in Los Angeles where he crashed out on lap three.
Despite finishing 10th and 14th overall at the first two rounds, Davies has led the second most laps in the playoffs with 22. His average lap one position is 2.50 in the four motos which is nearly two positions better than the next best rider, Levi Kitchen (4.25). Davies is in a prime position to play spoiler in Ridgedale and see where the results fall. Right now in seventh, he would earn an $18,000 payout. He is only four points behind fourth place in the standings where the payout increases to $100,000.