2025 Philadelphia Supercross – The Mudder that Wasn’t

Written photo report from Round 13 of the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia

By Billy Rainford

When the schedule came out that we were going to be at 4 non-roofed stadiums in the north east in April, the first thing I thought of was mud. After a long winter in these parts comes a month of pretty consistent rain to wash all the junk away and get the blossoms blooming in May.

“If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring…?“

When I pulled off the highway late Friday night it was raining and the temperature was dropping. When I woke up Saturday morning there was some snow on the ground and it was still raining. I did not have high hopes for the racing again on this night.

I’ve never actually been to Philadelphia so I was happy to check it out as I made my way through the downtown and out the other side to where all the stadiums are. Cool, I could check Philly off my extensive list.

I parked the van and carted all my rain gear and camera equipment through the long line at security and found the Photo Den in the bowels of Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles. I was ready for another long day and night in the muddy trenches for Round 13 of the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, the “indoor” part of the SMX World Championship.

I was running late so when I got to the den our weekly safety meeting was about to start. It’s where we go over the areas we’re allowed to be in and talk about everything to do with that particular round of racing.

By rights, this should have been a mud race!

When it was over, I took my first look at the track before riders and teams showed up for track walk. To my surprise and amazement, the track looked…dare I say…perfect! They pulled the tarps off the dirt and it was dry! Except for a few of the transitions and places around the edges, the track was perfectly raceable. I don’t know how but we were in for a night of actual SX racing.

I bumped into #208 Logan Leitzel just on the stadium side of the tunnel. Logan finished 9th in the muddy Main last week in Foxborough, so he was riding a high. He scored a bunch of points and made himself like $6000.

Thanks for the chat, Logan. Did he mention in the video that if he makes just one more Main that his team will offer him a sallaried ride for next season? Let’s all cheer for Logan to make this happen in at least one of the final 4 rounds!

This round was another East/West Showdown in the 250 class, so there was added excitement heading into it. Both East and West 2024 champs were there, Tom Vialle (East) and RJ Hampshire (West), Haiden Deegan was ready to show he’s the best overall, Seth Hammaker was on a roll coming in, or what about young New Zealand superstar-in-the-making Cole Davies? At just 17, he’s turning heads and looking like the future!

With this round getting back to what we normally see, we weren’t going to have another podium like we had last week in the mud of Massachusetts.

Top qualifiers:

250 Combined Qualifying

#23 Julien Beaumer was fastest qualifier.

23 Julien Beaumer (W) KTM 49.205
36 Garrett Marchbanks (W) KAW 49.865
100 Cole Davies (W) YAM 50.193
38 Haiden Deegan(W) YAM 50.257
56 Seth Hammaker (E) KAW 50.366
1E Tom Vialle (E) KTM 50.390

West riders took 4 of the top 5 spots in qualifying. RJ Hampshire could only muster a 10th place.

Deegan took a pretty spectacular crash into a puddle that was caught by the Supercross cameras. He came around and laughed about it with his videographer on his way by.

450 Combined Qualifying

4 Chase Sexton KTM 48.491
2 Cooper Webb YAM 48.659
32 Justin Cooper YAM 49.024
27 Malcolm Stewart HQV 49.458
17 Joey Savatgy HON 49.868
7 Aaron Plessinger KTM 50.071

#94 Ken Roczen was way back in 15th place as he tries to fight throgh the pain of his shoulder and lower leg/foot injury. In the post-race press conference, Kenny said he’s never too worried about his performance in qualifying because he’s confident he can come out and improve when the gate drops for the Main.

#15 Dean Wilson on his Factory HRC fill-in ride. The 1/3 Canadian came in for opening ceremonies dressed as Grandpa Earl. It was so cold that he was actually warming his hands on the exhaust through this rhythm section!

Opening ceremonies started at 2:30 Eastern time. Crazy to think that people on the west coast could quite possibly still be having breakfast when the “Night” Show started.

Despite the cold weather, the Philly crowd still came out to the show.

250 West Heat

Cole Davies got out front ahead of Beaumer and Deegan. Deegan tried a couple times to get around his arch rival Beaumer as the crowd cheered from the edge of their seats. Haiden is a polarizing character but it’s his fans who cheer the loudest every weekend.

He mowed them down one after the other and went on to take the win, having us all ready to believe this was going to be his night.

250 East Heat

Tom Vialle jumped into a tuff block and crashed in the mud. He headed back to the pits to get ready for the LCQ, much to the dismay of the rest of the > 9th place riders.

He also shot a ton of mud all over Brian Converse the photographer for MXA who was standing near me but in the line of fire. He wasn’t thrilled and I laughed harder than I probably should have.

The top 4 didn’t change in this one. Hammaker got the holeshot and made this look like a walk in the park. It had you thinking this could be his night to lose. Behind him it was Hampshire, last week’s mud winner #10 Chance Hymas, and #41 Nate Thrasher.

The only rider who had to make a pass was #34 Daxton Bennick who took 5th.

450 Heat 1

Webb got out to the lead early and looked good, but #7 Aaron Plessinger was doing the triple after the whoops and making up huge ground and made the pass quickly. Webb started clicking off the same rhythms late in the race and began to close in.

Dean Wilson and #14 Dylan Ferrandis were bar to bar every time they were on the track in Philly.

Aaron Plessinger took the win ahead of Webb.

At the flag it was Plessinger, Webb, followed by #27 Malcolm Stewart.

450 Heat 2

#32 Justin Cooper grabbed the holeshot, as usual, but Sexton got by him on lap 1 and didn’t look back as Cooper hit the ground.

Barcia looked great taking 3rd in this one, although he was 18 seconds out. Could this be his night? Hold that thought…

Something’s different about the way #57 Benny Bloss is riding lately. He was 4th early and that’s where he finished.

At the flag it was Sexton, Cooper, and a distant Barcia.

250 LCQ

How about #115 Gavin Towers holding off the charge of Vialle to take the win?! He’s been looking better the past couple races.

450 LCQ

#43 **Grant Harlan** held off the charge of perennial LCQ winner #11 **Kyle Chisholm** for the win.

250 East/West Showdown

This was going to be a straight-up battle for 250 supremacy – no mud or anything else to interfere with the outcome.

Well, nothing but a first turn pile-up, that is.

Hammaker, Davies, and Beaumer got out to the front and took off.

Coty Schock and RJ Hampshire got up last and headed out. Well, not quite last, #63 Hunter Yoder was down behind them.

It looked like Hammaker was going to grab a very substantial win, but…

Daxton Bennick went down hard and got taken out on a back board with a neck brace.

From Daxton’s Instagram:

Happy to be somewhat ok from the crash in philly got cross jumped pretty hard after a bad start in the main just trying to get through the pack. I did compression fracture a vertebrae in my back and was knocked out for a short amount of time me and the team are gonna start working on a plan to get my recovery going and to come back when I’m ready I have a great group around me and wanna say thanks to everyone reaching out

The race was red flagged and riders headed back to the line for a full restart with 13 minutes on the clock.

Nobody was happier for a restart than both 24 Hampshire and 37 Schock!

Cole Davies made the pass on Hampshire at the 10:00 mark to take the lead.

Things aren’t going great for #83 Austin Forkner. It’s amazing that he’s back and racing at all but he keeps finding himself on the ground. He fell after the finish line jump and dropped back. He ended up 16th.

Tom Vialle has lost the red plate but is only 2 points behind the tie at the top in 250 East.

Deegan got to within 2 seconds of his teammate but had to settle for 2nd. He said he was happy that he was beaten by his teammate, at least.

Hampshire ended up less than a second apart at the line for 3rd and 4th.

Everyone came over to congratulate the sports newest albeit maybe a little reluctant superstar.

250 Showdown podium: Cole Davies, Haiden Deegan, RJ Hampshire. (I’ll get them in the proper positions on stage this week, if it kills me!)

250 Main Event Results

POS	#	RIDER	INTERVAL	BEST LAP ^{(LAP #)}	TOTAL TIME	HOMETOWN	TEAM
1	100	COLE DAVIES	19 Laps	48.322 ⁽⁵⁾	19/16:09.993	Waitoki, New Zealand	Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha
2	38	HAIDEN DEEGAN	1.211	48.823 ⁽⁹⁾	19/16:11.203	Temecula, CA	Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha
3	24	R.J. HAMPSHIRE Holeshot	6.289	48.958 ⁽⁸⁾	19/16:16.282	Hudson Florida	Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing
4	56	SETH HAMMAKER	6.829	49.013 ⁽³⁾	19/16:16.822	Bainbridge, PA	Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki
5	30	JO SHIMODA	11.853	48.572 ⁽⁴⁾	19/16:21.846	Suzuka, Japan	Honda HRC Progressive
6	1	TOM VIALLE	12.401	48.907 ⁽⁵⁾	19/16:22.393	France	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
7	36	GARRETT MARCHBANKS	28.029	49.807 ⁽⁵⁾	19/16:38.022	Coalville, UT	Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki
8	92	MAXIMUS VOHLAND	30.652	49.779 ⁽⁷⁾	19/16:40.644	Temecula, CA	Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha
9	19	JORDON SMITH	33.433	49.669 ⁽⁴⁾	19/16:43.425	Belmont, NC	Triumph Racing Factory Team
10	10	CHANCE HYMAS	36.007	49.305 ⁽⁵⁾	19/16:46.000	Pocatello, ID	Honda HRC Progressive
11	37	COTY SCHOCK	37.966	49.618 ⁽³⁾	19/16:47.959	Dover, DE	Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha
12	23	JULIEN BEAUMER	39.455	49.667 ⁽⁴⁾	19/16:49.447	Lake Havasu City, AZ	Redbull KTM Factory Racing
13	166	ENZO LOPES	42.973	50.007 ⁽⁴⁾	19/16:52.967	Brazil	Toyota Redlands BarX Yamaha
14	41	NATE THRASHER	44.461	50.197 ⁽⁶⁾	19/16:54.453	Livingston, TN	Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha
15	59	CULLIN PARK	47.179	50.539 ⁽⁵⁾	19/16:57.171	Clermont, FL	Phoenix Racing Honda
16	83	AUSTIN FORKNER	52.829	49.928 ⁽⁸⁾	19/17:02.822	Richards, MO	Triumph Factory Racing
17	55	HENRY MILLER	1 Lap	51.232 ⁽⁴⁾	18/16:34.588	Rochester, MN	Storm Lake Honda Buddy Brooks Racing
18	93	MICHAEL MOSIMAN	1 Lap	50.072 ⁽²⁾	18/17:07.260	Sebastopol CA	Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha
19	63	HUNTER YODER	2 Laps	50.926 ⁽⁴⁾	17/16:27.025	Menifee, CA	Partzilla Blaster Power PRMX Racing
20	115	GAVIN TOWERS	9 Laps	50.285 ⁽⁴⁾	10/9:41.415	Pittsburgh, PA	Phenix Racing Honda
21	87	HARDY MUNOZ	17 Laps	52.680 ⁽²⁾	2/2:21.800	Temuco, Chile	Munoz Racing
22	34	DAXTON BENNICK DNS	19 Laps		0	Morganto

250 EAST POINTS
1 24 R.J. Hampshire 117 4 20 25 18 22 8 20
2 56 Seth Hammaker 117 18 5 20 25 18 13 18
3 1 Tom Vialle 115 17 18 22 22 20 0 16
4 10 Chance Hymas 103 16 16 18 1 15 25 12
5 59 Cullin Park 91 15 11 13 9 14 22 7
6 41 Nate Thrasher 89 14 17 14 8 25 3 8
7 31 Max Anstie 78 25 22 16 15 0 N/A N/A
8 34 Daxton Bennick 77 -5 22 0 15 11 17 17 0
9 92 Maximus Vohland 74 -3 1 13 17 12 16 4 14
10 55 Henry Miller 57 11 12 10 0 10 9 5
11 83 Austin Forkner 53 5 15 5 10 12 0 6
12 60 Carson Mumford 51 12 14 11 3 11 0 N/A
13 87 Hardy Munoz 45 9 10 12 0 13 0 1
14 75 Gage Linville 42 10 8 2 0 2 20 0
15 47 Levi Kitchen 39 13 25 1 N/A 0 0 N/A
16 192 Jack Chambers 34 3 7 9 0 0 15 0
17 89 Trevor Colip 32 6 9 6 0 0 11 0
18 195 Lance Kobusch 31 8 0 0 0 7 16 0
19 50 Cameron Mcadoo 20 20 0 0 N/A 0 N/A N/A
20 148 Justin Rodbell 18 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 18 N/A

250 WEST POINTS
1 38 Haiden Deegan 171 17 20 25 22 25 20 20 22
2 100 Cole Davies 154 14 18 20 20 15 17 25 25
3 23 Julien Beaumer 145 22 25 22 18 16 14 18 10
4 30 Jo Shimoda 136 25 15 16 12 18 16 17 17
5 37 Coty Schock 115 16 16 17 14 22 5 14 11
6 36 Garrett Marchbanks 110 13 14 N/A 16 17 13 22 15
7 19 Jordon Smith 108 20 22 18 25 0 N/A 10 13
8 93 Michael Mosiman 99 7 13 15 17 20 7 16 4
9 63 Hunter Yoder 68 9 12 12 8 11 4 9 3
10 65 Lux Turner 63 11 0 11 11 13 6 11 0
11 52 Anthony Bourdon 54 15 11 13 15 N/A N/A N/A N/A
12 302 Parker Ross 51 5 7 10 13 8 0 8 N/A
13 61 Cole Thompson 47 12 10 0 3 9 0 13 N/A
14 166 Enzo Lopes 43 N/A N/A 5 0 14 N/A 15 9
15 91 Tj Albright 36 8 6 8 10 3 0 1 0
16 25 Ryder Difrancesco 35 18 17 N/A N/A 0 N/A N/A N/A
17 115 Gavin Towers 35 3 4 7 0 5 2 12 2
18 54 Jett Reynolds 34 0 9 9 4 12 0 N/A N/A
19 101 Dylan Walsh 31 0 3 4 7 10 0 7 0
20 134 Avery Long 20 10 0 N/A N/A 4 0 6 0
21 98 Drew Adams 14 N/A N/A 14 0 0 N/A N/A N/A

450 Main

#4 Chase Sexton cut in on Plessinger and forced him to hit the brakes which in turn left #12 Shane McElrath with nowhere to go but over the top!

On the inside, #94 Ken Roczen and #51 Justin Barcia took off out front.

It was great to see Partzilla PRMX rider #86 Mitchell Harrison up in 3rd place off the start after the chaotic first turn. He ended up 16th.

Ken Roczen managed to hold on to 3rd place, but he was 24 seconds behind the two riders out front. He also mentioned that the track had 5 right tirns and only 2 lefts which made it tough on his injured right leg.

#17 Joey Savatgy had a very solid night after a good start and took 5th.

After his big fall in turn 1, McElrath ended up 12th.

This was interesting, Chase said he was trying to take a page out of one of the greatest to ever do it Stephan Everts’ stand-up riding style. He remembers his pass on James Stewart on the outside at the MXON.

Cooper Webb kept trying to make the inside line work in the corner before the mechanics area but he eventually made the adjustment and looked better. He finished 2nd to Sexton, 2 1/2 seconds behind him.

Sexton took the win, but with only 4 rounds left, he will have to win the rest of the rounds, if Webb were to finish 2nd in them. He’s 12 points back.

450 podium: Chase Sexton, Cooper Webb, Ken Roczen.

450 Main Event Results

POS	#	RIDER	INTERVAL	BEST LAP ^{(LAP #)}	TOTAL TIME	HOMETOWN	TEAM
1	4	CHASE SEXTON	25 Laps	47.771 ⁽⁹⁾	25/20:53.803	La Moille, IL	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
2	2	COOPER WEBB	2.654	48.072 ⁽⁹⁾	25/20:56.458	Newport, NC	Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha
3	94	KEN ROCZEN Holeshot	24.040	48.620 ⁽³⁾	25/21:17.843	Mattstedt, Germany	Progressive Insurance ECSTAR Suzuki
4	27	MALCOLM STEWART	35.420	48.538 ⁽³⁾	25/21:29.223	Haines City, FL	Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing
5	17	JOEY SAVATGY	37.803	48.943 ⁽³⁾	25/21:31.606	Clermont, FL	Quadlock Honda Racing
6	32	JUSTIN COOPER	41.670	48.888 ⁽²¹⁾	25/21:35.473	Cold Spring Harbor, NY	Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing
7	14	DYLAN FERRANDIS	42.917	49.549 ⁽¹¹⁾	25/21:36.720	Avignon, France	Phoenix Racing Honda
8	7	AARON PLESSINGER	48.523	49.065 ⁽⁷⁾	25/21:42.326	Hamilton, OH	Redbull KTM Factory Racing
9	57	BENNY BLOSS	1 Lap	49.409 ⁽¹³⁾	24/20:59.600	Oak Grove, MO	Factory Liqui Moly Beta Racing
10	46	JUSTIN HILL	1 Lap	49.566 ⁽⁵⁾	24/21:02.273	Yoncalla, OR	Team Tedder Racing
11	49	MITCHELL OLDENBURG	1 Lap	49.102 ⁽³⁾	24/21:11.070	Alvord, TX	Liqui Moly Beta Factory Racing
12	12	SHANE MCELRATH	1 Lap	49.577 ⁽⁴⁾	24/21:19.865	Oakland, FL	Quadlock Honda Racing
13	45	COLT NICHOLS	1 Lap	50.094 ⁽⁸⁾	24/21:21.539	Muskogee, OK	Twisted Tea Suzuki presented by Progressive Insurance
14	51	JUSTIN BARCIA	1 Lap	50.941 ⁽¹⁶⁾	24/21:26.603	Monroe NY	Rockstar Energy GASGAS Factory Racing
15	28	CHRISTIAN CRAIG	1 Lap	50.655 ⁽⁶⁾	24/21:36.085	Temecula,ca	Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha
16	86	MITCHELL HARRISON	1 Lap	49.782 ⁽⁶⁾	24/21:38.085	Brighton, MI	Partzilla Blaster PRMX Racing
17	15	DEAN WILSON	1 Lap	49.966 ⁽³⁾	24/21:46.127	Glasgow, Scotland	Honda HRC Progressive
18	11	KYLE CHISHOLM	2 Laps	51.493 ⁽⁴⁾	23/21:09.469	Valrico, FL	Twisted Tea HEP Suzuki
19	146	KEVIN MORANZ	2 Laps	51.929 ⁽¹⁰⁾	23/21:16.699	Topeka, KS	Champion Tool Storage Geebo KMR KTM
20	43	GRANT HARLAN	2 Laps	52.392 ⁽⁴⁾	23/21:22.776	Paso Robles, CA	Gizmo Mods RockRiver Yamaha
21	33	FREDDIE NOREN	2 Laps	51.443 ⁽³⁾	23/21:27.585	Lidköping, Sweden	ISRT/MX4Christ Kawasaki
22	68	JEREMY HAND	2 Laps	51.668 ⁽⁴⁾	23/21:34.478	Mantua Ohi

450 POINTS
1 2 Cooper Webb 278 18 20 14 22 22 25 25 22
2 4 Chase Sexton 266 25 16 18 25 17 20 20 17
3 94 Ken Roczen 240 22 18 22 20 1 22 22 25
4 27 Malcolm Stewart 204 12 15 13 12 25 18 13 16
5 32 Justin Cooper 203 15 11 16 9 18 17 18 18
6 7 Aaron Plessinger 184 13 0 0 13 14 13 15 20
7 51 Justin Barcia 181 16 14 12 10 16 15 16 12
8 21 Jason Anderson 151 20 9 20 15 20 16 11 14
9 46 Justin Hill 149 14 8 7 16 12 12 17 15
10 12 Shane McElrath 136 9 5 5 8 13 10 9 11
11 14 Dylan Ferrandis 135 0 13 6 11 0 14 14 10
12 49 Mitchell Oldenburg 103 6 3 9 5 11 8 10 9
13 57 Benny Bloss 101 0 6 10 3 9 0 5 6
14 17 Joey Savatgy 97 1 12 11 7 15 9 12 13
15 45 Colt Nichols 93 -5 0 4 8 6 10 11 7 7
16 3 Eli Tomac 80 17 25 15 18 5 0 0 N/A
17 1 Jett Lawrence 71 10 22 25 14 N/A N/A N/A N/A
18 96 Hunter Lawrence 62 11 17 17 17 0 0 0 N/A
19 11 Kyle Chisholm 52 2 2 0 4 7 5 2 3
20 86 Mitchell Harrison 47 5 0 0 0 6 6 6 5