That’s a wrap! It seems like it always go by so fast doesn’t it. Not long ago fig felt like we were headed to A1 to see who was going to be the favorite in this 2026 season but what we found out is that we wouldn’t really know until over half way through the season! For a little while it was Tomac who looked to be the guy. Was it Sexton after San Diego who would take control of this series? Oh wait, Webb was coming on strong for a bit then you had Hunter Lawrence staying consistent and finally getting his first main event win. After that it snowballed and 96 was on a tear but one bad race for 96 let ken Roczen in and that’s all she wrote! Kenny finally won the dan thing! Holy crap! Here is the final Daytime Program for the 2026 season.
Ken Roczen: The Champ! It feels weird typing that, but also very cool! To see 94 get the series championship was honestly shocking to me. I really thought Hunter had Kenny covered all day but I guess that’s why we line up right? From timed qualifying to the heat race, Hunter seemingly had more speed and looked better in the whoops than the 94. However, Kenny lined up on the outside of the gate fro the main event (in order to pick a better rut) and it worked as he got the start he needed to make Hunter’s life tough. Kenny just laid some consistent laps down and it worked. Kenny was looking for some more torque for the elevation races (in order to get ahead of Hunter off the gate) so Jamie from Twisted Development went to work and got Ken some more low end, which seemed to help in SLC.
I mean A SUZUKI WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP! Cable clutch and a kickstarter! It really shows that when it comes down to our sport, it is more rider than it is machine. I have ridden Kenny’s race bike before and I can tell you it is one of the easiest to ride (besides Jett’s bike) and has the least amount of engine braking I have ever felt from a 450. I am not saying the the bike is bad (obviously it won a championship), I am just saying there is way less tech involved into the 94 machine than there is with the 96 machine. Kenny is just a bad dude on a bike! Congrats to the PMG group and all of the people involved in the 94 program. Oh wait… The number 1 program!
Hunter Lawrence: Damn it! I have never been so torn on who I would rather win a title than I was this season. Why? Both dudes are great people. They seem respectful and take the time to answer questions respectfully. You can really see a sense of “a normal human” in hunter and not this big time, loads of money type of factory rider. This is why so many people like the 96. I have heard more than one person say that Hunter choked and that is simply not the case. I think Hunter knew what was on the line and he laid it out there and washed the front (which was easy to do on a track like SLC). Hunter knew he had minimal areas to get around Kenny so in order to make that happen, he would have to push a little harder as Jorge was getting ready to interrupt the party. Someone had to choose the short straw and unfortunately it was Hunter and team HRC. I don’t care what anyone says, Hunter will win this title even when Jett comes back. He just learned from a whole season of battling for a title and that is going to make him even better come 2027. Oh and look out for him come Pala. He’s my pick to win the opener.
Jorge Prado: At the beginning of the season when we did these Racer X Preview shows, I told Matthes and JT that Prado would be a top 5 guy. They both laughed at me. Well look at where we are now. Prado’s SX riding was really good this year and I think he will be a problem come next year, but now we have come upon his domain. Outdoors! Prado is going to be a problem all of this summer for everyone and even though I say he doesn’t win the opener he will win some races this MX season and be in the hunt. All of you are about to see what MXGP Prado is all about this summer!
Chase Sexton: What sucks is no one is really going to remember that Chase Sexton won the last round. I mean I totally forgot as I was so engulfed in the battle for the championship. It’s nice to see Chase pull himself out of this hole that he’s dug and it’s especially nice to see Kawasaki win another round in 2026. This should prove to everyone that the bike is good but sometimes the rider just needs to turn his brain off a little and just go race. Chase did that in SLC and methodically picked off riders throughout the main event. Will that translate into outdoors. I don’t know but strap in and get ready for the green summer roller coaster that is about to happen. We could see a win, we also could see a sixth. I don’t know, man.
Deegs/Davies: That was fun while it lasted! It is nice to see two racers bang bars and not get pissed at one another. It’s like they both know that it is going to happen so why get worked up over it. I think Deegan made the retaliation move a little too early but I do think if Deegan doesn’t go down twice he would have came back to win the main, but we will never know. Davies can claim he was the last rider to beat Deegan in a 250 SX race! That is a HUGE accomplishment and the 250 riders going into SX in 2027 better get their whoop speed up to snuff if they want to keep Davies in sight next year.
Derek Kelley: Shout out to Derek Kelley for getting a P7 in a East/West Showdown. He was the second place east coast rider in the main event and being that this dude a is a big rider, at elevation, on a 250 says something about this KX250 MX6 machine. Derek has been fast all year but crashes have hurt him but when he is not on the ground, he can get results like this. A P7 may not seem like much but in a East/West race, it’s a pretty damn good result. Look for him in the outdoors as well because he is a better MX rider than he is SX.
