2026 RedBud Motocross Photo Gallery

2026 RedBud Motocross Recap

Hunter Lawrence turned heartbreak into triumph and then into quite a bit of patriotism during America's race on Saturday for Round 5 of the 2026 Pro Motocross Championship series at RedBud MX in Buchanon, MI.

RedBud, always raced in, on or around the July 4th holiday, got a bona fide Independence Day event with the July 4th date falling on Saturday which also marked the United States' 250th anniversary. Hurricane RedBud blew in the night before, drenching the place, but all was calm, sunny and warm for the four Motos.

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In the 450 class, Jorge Prado grabbed the Holeshot in Moto 1, Jett Lawrence second and Hunter third. Jett, the points leader and defending Champion, passed Prado after about eight minutes and pulled away. Another eight minutes passed before Hunter got around Prado. The Lawrences up front...again.

Hunter Lawrence, coming off a sweep at High Point two weeks earlier tracked his brother down and in a rare feat (for anyone to catch and pass Jett) took the lead with seconds on the clock. He pulled a gap and was more than seven seconds in front of Jett on the final lap when his bike shut down and Hunter tipped over. (Update: Turns out a rock got stuck in the chain.) Jett passed for the win.

In Moto 2, Prado again raced out front taking the Holeshot and this time looked destined for the win. Hunter was sixth, Jett holed up in third looking forward until he skidded out and fell two minutes into the race. Jett dropped to 10th worked his way to eighth and fell again near the 25 minute mark dropping to 11th.

With Prado building a lead, Hunter needed a race win to ensure the overall. And, with Jett out of the way, a Prado win gave him the overall. Hunter passed a rookie in the mix with about 14 minutes on the clock for second and began a charge to eat off Prado's nine second lead with 13 minutes left.

Two minutes later Lawrence was five seconds back and behind less than two seconds with eight minutes on the clock. Prado wasn't going down easy and held his own up front but with three minutes on the clock, Lawrence was on his fender and slipped by just ahead of the three minute mark. Mere moments passed before he had a five second gap and in the lead-up to the checkers showed a bit of animated enthusiasm with the win well in hand.

A second straight overall and the points lead.

"It's so good, America's 250th birthday. God bless America," said Lawrence who hails from Australia. "Thank you for treating us like your own. We're living the American dream. We couldn't have this life anywhere else in the world. Thank you, we love you guys. Hell yeah, what a day!"

Wait. How does an Australian own more pride in America than seemingly half of America? (By the way, did you see the Starbucks employee trashing the country and announcing on social media he threw away patriotic pins given to him to pass out to veterans?) In our upside-down world, leave it to a guy from down under to try and right the American ship.

Good onya, mate!

The Spaniard Prado (3-2) secured second overall and Jett Lawrence (1-5) found fifth in Moto 2 to secure third overall.

Elsewhere, RJ Hampshire was the fastest American taking fourth on a (4-4) day while retired, not retired Antonio Cairoli, who test rides for Ducati, came off the couch and placed 12th overall. The multi-time MXGP Champion from Italy could probably race up front, if he wants to.

In the 250 class, Cole Davies out-dueled rookie Caden Dudney in Moto 1 as the two battled several times throughout the course of the race only for Dudney to pull away, build a gap and Davies having to reel him in again. Davies finally got a bite with less than a minute left and made the pass.

The win propelled Davies to the overall as he was reeled in over and over by Jo Shimoda in Moto 2 who finally got the bite with less than four minutes on the clock, was ahead by four seconds two minutes later and took the easy win. Shimoda, with a third in Moto 1 took second overall as well as the Red Plate.

"The bike was a little bit better this time. I felt good, I just didn't get tired...a little better on the start," Shimoda said. "Every bit of it was better. I want to keep going."

Though Davies was denied a sweep for the second straight round he did get his second straight overall and jumps from fourth to second in the standings, just four points behind Shimoda.

"Jo was running good. It's a long championship, still a long way to go but it's a good day today," Davies said. "We did a lot of testing this week and got the bike in a good spot."

Levi Kitchen, who entered the round in first-place, finished fourth in Moto 1 and was riding third in Moto 2 which put him on the overall podium until he swapped out and crashed pretty good off the track. He resumed in sixth and finished fifth overall. His crash put Ryder DiFrancesco (6-3) into third for third overall and a career first podium.

The Motocross season resumes Saturday on the sandy beach of Southwick. The Coenen brothers, both leading their respective series in the MXGPs, plan to race and they really like playing in the sand.