This week in US Powersports racing.
Richard Gadson Wins 2025 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle World Championship
In an unusual and unprecedented conclusion to the NHRA season, RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines rider Richard Gadson was crowned the 2025 Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion on Sunday after relentless rain showers forced officials to cancel all racing activity at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, CA.
Race Highlights:
- Richard Gadson won the 2025 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle championship on the strength of a breakout season that included four national event wins, two of which came during the Countdown to the Championship
- Gaige Herrera finished runner-up in the championship with eight number one qualifiers and seven victories
Richard Gadson, pictured here at Maple Grove Raceway, delivered a breakout season that culminated in his first NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle World Championship.
The NHRA’s traditional season finale in Pomona was disrupted by a massive storm system that engulfed Southern California from Friday onward and forced the cancellation of qualifying sessions for all four NHRA professional classes. Elimination brackets were then set on the basis of the championship point standings coming into the sixth and final race of the Countdown to the Championship playoffs, which put Gadson on top of the Pro Stock Motorcycle field, just 21 points ahead of teammate Gaige Herrera.
But a hoped-for winner-take-all championship shootout between the two Vance & Hines riders ultimately floated away when dogged rain showers extended into Sunday afternoon and forced NHRA officials to cancel the race.
The decision handed Gadson his first NHRA world championship after a breakthrough season that featured his first four career victories, including two wins during the Countdown that propelled him into the championship lead at the most crucial point of the season.
For Gadson the turning point came with his realization that success in Pro Stock Motorcycle is as much a function of mental preparation as it is preparation of the machine.
“If you want to win out here you have to take it from great riders like Gaige Herrera, and they don’t give it up easily. I always knew that if I could find my groove, I had the capability to be a champion. It was a goal, not an expectation because I knew getting there would be hard and take a lot of determination, grit and tenacity. I didn’t have a timeline, if it would be my first season, my second season or never, but I’m really happy the team believed in me and gave me the chance to be here,” Gadson said.
“My crew-chief Eddie Krawiec and I worked really hard for this. We dug down deep to figure out how to up our game and put ourselves in this position. I was hungry and determined and I feel like I raced with a chip on my shoulder and I had something to prove, and we were able to get it done. Now I’m looking forward to next season, because Gaige will be even hungrier to get it back and I’ll be hungry to defend it.”
Gaige Herrera, shown here at Bristol Dragway, secured seven victories in 2025 to finish runner-up in the Pro Stock Motorcycle championship.
Despite winning seven races this year, Gaige Herrera’s bid for a third-straight world championship came to a soggy end for the rider who has been the class of the field since joining Vance & Hines in 2023.
Herrera’s 31 number one qualifiers and 28 wins over the past three seasons have made the two-time champion one of the most dominant racers in recent NHRA history in any class, but after securing the regular-season championship at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, a slow start to the Countdown put him on the back foot just as Gadson was gaining momentum.
Although Herrera equaled Gadson with two wins each during the Countdown, critical early round losses at races in Reading and Charlotte ultimately spelled doom for Herrera’s championship hopes. In the end, bad weather scuttled what had been shaping up to be a highly anticipated showdown.
Herrera took the disappointment of not being able to challenge Gadson head-to-head in stride.
“I was ready to race, so was Richard and the whole team, but there was nothing we could do about Mother Nature. She does what she does. I wish I was on top, but I’m happy for Richard too. He had one heck of a year, and we finished one-two in the championship, so as a team, we can’t ask for anything better. He deserves it,” Herrera said.
“All in all, I had a great season. I had a few bobbles in Reading and Charlotte, and I think that’s ultimately where the championship was decided. This year has put me in a different mindset than my first two championship seasons. It’s really tested me as a rider and tested how Andrew Hines and I work under tough conditions. We’ve grown from it and gotten stronger and it’s made us much better together. Next season Richard and I will be a deadly combination too. We might be teammates, but once we fire up our Hayabusas in the burnout box, the gloves will be off.”
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki crew chief Andrew Hines said it was disappointing not to be able to settle the championship battle on the track, but that the outcome nonetheless reflected highly on the team’s outstanding preparation throughout the season.
“We’re super proud of what we did for these guys to go one-two in the championship this year. We do our best as a team to try to give each rider the best bike every single round. The performance of our two Hayabusas was neck and neck all through the Countdown. It came down to a matter of whose fortunes went which way at the right time, and Richard was able to put it on kill almost every run. He was darned near flawless all season long. Now he’s a world champion,” Hines said.
“Next season it will be a cool dynamic for Eddie and me, both former world champions ourselves, to be tuning for the two most recent world champions in the class,” he said. “It’s another part of the great legacy of Vance & Hines and it makes us super proud of all the hard work we put in as a team.”
At the conclusion of the 2025 NHRA season, Gadson and Herrera finished first and second in the standings, with 2,584 and 2,563 points, respectively.
The RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki team returns to action at the opening round of the NHRA 75th Anniversary season March 5-6, 2026, at the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, FL
Please visit suzukicycles.com/racing/drag-racing/revzilla-motul-vance-and-hines-suzuki for more updates and be sure to support our riders as they embark on this exciting journey.
TRYSTAN HART MAINTAINS AMA ENDUROCROSS POINTS LEAD WITH P2 IN RENO
FMF KTM Factory Racing’s Trystan Hart raced to second position overall at Round 5 of the 2025 AMA EnduroCross Championship in Reno, Nevada, recording a 2-2-3 scorecard over the three-race format to maintain his EX Pro Class points lead with a single round remaining.
The defending two-time EnduroCross champion Hart set the second-fastest time during the Hot Lap session staged within the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center, before opening the races with a P2 result in Moto 1.
Hart raced his KTM 350 XC-F to second place again in race two, followed by a third-place result in Moto 3, which saw the Canadian take P2 overall on the night.
As a result, FMF KTM Factory Racing and Hart – winners of the 2023 and 2024 EX Pro Class titles – will carry a three-point advantage into this year’s AMA EnduroCross decider in Everett, Washington, next weekend.
Trystan Hart: “It was a bit of a subpar night for me, but I think that is 15 top-two finishes for me in a row, so that is pretty cool. The competition rode really well tonight – Jonny [Walker] was on it – and I was just a little flat. It’s now a showdown next weekend, which I’m sure is going to be entertaining for everyone!”
Ex Pro Class Results:
1. Jonny Walker, Triumph
2. Trystan Hart, FMF KTM Factory Racing
3. Ryder LeBlond, Husqvarna
Ryder LeBlond returns to AMA EnduroCross podium in Reno with third overall
A standout performance at Round 5 of the 2025 AMA EnduroCross Championship in Reno, Nevada, saw Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Ryder LeBlond finish third overall on Saturday night.
LeBlond recorded the seventh-fastest time in the Hot Lap qualifying session to commence the racing program, equipped with his Husqvarna FX 350 and motivated to rebound from the previous time out in Oregon.
A measured sixth-place result in Moto 1 was balanced by finishing third position in the second race, before the 23-year-old improved further with a P2 finish in race three. Combined, those scores saw LeBlond claim the final step on the EX Pro Class podium.
With his result inside the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center, LeBlond sits tied for third in the championship standings with one round remaining next weekend in Everett, Washington.
“After the last round, I was pretty mad – not going to lie about that,” reflected LeBlond. “My goal was to be consistent, and the previous result wasn’t that, so I targeted that type of performance tonight. The first moto was a little wild, so I was a bit tight and finished sixth. By the time we got to the final race, it felt pretty effortless, and third is good for tonight. It’s nice to get back up on the box and, overall, I am stoked.”
EX Pro Class Results:
1. Jonny Walker, Triumph
2. Trystan Hart, KTM
3. Ryder LeBlond, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing
WALKER SWEEPS RENO IN DOMINANT DISPLAY
Jonny Walker finally put it all together. After three rounds of showing championship-winning speed but struggling with starts that cost him valuable points, the Triumph Factory Racing rider delivered the complete package at Round 5 of the 2025 Slavens AMA EnduroCross Series presented by Progressive Insurance. Walker’s dominant 1-1-1 sweep – the first by any rider this season – at the Reno Events Center shrunk defending champion Trystan Hart’s points lead to just three with one round remaining, setting up a winner-take-all showdown for the championship.
Walker’s breakthrough performance came at the perfect time, addressing the start issues that plagued him in Redmond while maintaining the blistering pace that has made him a constant threat all season. “Yeah, honestly, I felt good tonight,” Walker explained post-race, a broad smile accompanying his words. “I felt good last week, but I just think my mindset wasn’t good, and tonight, I had a smile on my face pretty much every lap riding around there. I loved the track. It had so much flow. So, yeah, to win every race, I’m super stoked and I’m gonna carry that into the final round.”
For Hart, the night represented his most challenging performance of the season. The Red Bull FMF/KTM Factory Racing rider’s 2-2-3 scorecard marked his first time finishing outside the top two since the series began, ending a remarkable streak of 15 consecutive top-two finishes. “That’s apart for me. Tristan’s got a lot more than that, but I think that’s 15 top twos in a row, so that’s still pretty cool,” Hart reflected, finding the silver lining despite his struggles.
Watch the full round four highlights below.
Hart was candid about his performance. “I mean, it’s not that fun when you just win every race, honestly, so let’s… let’s be honest there. So just, Johnny rode really good tonight, really, didn’t have anything for him. He was really on it, and I was really just flat, just really flat, like a desert out there. I had nothing to give, and even if he made a mistake, and I kind of closed in, I still just could not get that extra, anything going, so, kind of a bummer, but, oh, well, still, still all good, and me and Johnny next weekend, sparks flying everywhere, should be fun for everyone.”
Ryder Leblond’s return to the podium with a third-place finish (6-3-2) provided the night’s feel-good story. After a disappointing seventh-place result in Redmond that left the Husqvarna rider “pretty mad,” LeBlond bounced back with aggressive riding and renewed determination, demonstrating the consistency that has been his goal throughout the season.
Hot Lap Qualifying: Walker’s Speed Statement
Walker set the tone for his dominant night by posting the fastest hot lap qualifying time of 59.118 seconds, the only rider to break the one-minute barrier. The Triumph rider’s blistering pace gave him first gate pick for Moto 1 and signaled his intent to finally convert his raw speed into overall victory.
Hart qualified second with a time of 1:00.509, 1.391 seconds behind Walker’s benchmark, while Colton Haaker claimed third at 1:00.950. Cody Webb qualified fourth (1:02.635) and Nick Thompson rounded out the top five (1:03.294).
The qualifying results foreshadowed the night’s racing, with Walker’s speed advantage clear from the opening session. Unlike Redmond, where Walker qualified fastest but struggled with starts, the Triumph rider would capitalize on his speed in Reno, converting his qualifying performance into race victories.
EX PRO: Walker’s Complete Performance
Moto 1: Walker’s Outside Pass Sets the Tone
Hart grabbed the early holeshot as the gate dropped for Moto 1, but it became immediately evident that Walker had something to prove. With an insane pace that caught everyone off guard, Walker slingshot around the outside in a breathtaking move, making an emphatic statement as he seized the lead.
Hart answered the challenge immediately, matching Walker’s pace and attempting an aggressive inside move through the technical sections. But the pass attempt came just a little too tight after the first couple of laps, causing Hart to bobble and forcing him to take his feet off the pegs to readjust. The mistake cost him several crucial seconds and dropped him to third place, allowing Colton Haaker to assume second position.
But no one could match Walker’s relentless pace. The Triumph rider quickly opened up approximately a 10-second gap on both Hart and Haaker by the midpoint of the race, riding with the confidence and flow that had eluded him in previous rounds. Walker’s ability to find clean lines and maintain momentum through the Reno obstacles demonstrated why he’s considered one of the sport’s most talented riders.
Towards the end of Moto 1, Hart managed to make the pass on Haaker to reclaim second position, but the gap between himself and Walker seemed insurmountable. Despite Hart’s late charge, Walker’s advantage proved too substantial to overcome, and the Triumph rider crossed the finish line to claim his first moto victory since Boise, setting the stage for a potential sweep.
Moto 2: Thompson’s Gutsy Lead, Walker’s Inevitable Chase
The inverted row start for Moto 2 gave the mid-pack riders an opportunity to shine, and Nick Thompson capitalized brilliantly. The Goshen, Utah, rider took the lead early and held it longer than usual, demonstrating impressive race craft and determination as the Pro-level riders charged through the field behind him.
Ryder Leblond raced with renewed aggression alongside Thompson, making a late-series push to claim valuable championship points. LeBlond’s attacking style and willingness to battle showed a rider determined to prove his Round 4 disappointment was an aberration rather than a trend.
The top-ranked Pros finally made their way through the pack to catch Thompson, who had remarkably maintained his lead for almost half the race. When Walker and Hart arrived at Thompson’s rear wheel, the pace noticeably quickened as the championship contenders made their moves.
Walker and Hart executed near-simultaneous passes on Thompson, and it became immediately clear that the real battle was between the two championship rivals. Walker’s superior pace from Moto 1 carried over, and despite Hart’s best efforts to match the Triumph rider’s speed, Walker claimed his second consecutive moto victory, moving closer to the first sweep of the 2025 season.
Moto 3: Walker’s Wire-to-Wire Dominance, Hart’s Visor Drama
Walker grabbed the holeshot in Moto 3, and with only a second-place finish needed to clinch the overall victory, the Triumph rider adopted an “all gas, no brakes” mentality. Walker’s aggressive approach immediately distanced him from the rest of the field, making it clear he wasn’t content with just securing the overall – he wanted the statement-making sweep.
Hart followed in second position with approximately a three-second gap after four laps. The championship leader pushed hard, attempting to close the distance and prevent Walker’s clean sweep, but the Triumph rider’s pace remained relentless.
Halfway through the race, Hart appeared to make a mistake. When he returned to view, he was notably missing his visor, and more critically, he had lost second position to Ryder Leblond. The incident left questions about what exactly happened during Hart’s momentary disappearance from the racing line, but the result was clear – LeBlond had assumed the runner-up spot and Hart had dropped to third.
LeBlond capitalized on the opportunity, riding with the confidence and consistency that had characterized his interview after the race. “By time the last moto came around, honestly, I felt effortless,” LeBlond explained. “Obviously, Johnny kind of gapped us, but between the battle between second, fourth, I don’t even know how many guys were battling there at the end, but yeah, I felt pretty effortless, consistent laps, and, yeah, I definitely got more in the tank and more to show.”
Walker crossed the finish line to complete his historic sweep, pumping his fist in celebration as he claimed the first 1-1-1 performance of the 2025 season. The victory not only demonstrated Walker’s championship credentials but also shifted the momentum dramatically heading into the final round.
Championship Battle Reaches Critical Juncture
Hart’s points lead, which stood at six following his injured performance in Redmond, has now shrunk to just three points (119-116) following Walker’s Reno sweep. The championship battle that seemed to favor Hart’s consistency now hinges on a single round, with Walker carrying all the momentum.
Hart’s remarkable consistency streak – 15 consecutive top-two finishes – finally ended in Reno, though the defending champion maintained perspective about his accomplishment. His candid admission of being “flat” throughout the night showed the self-awareness of a champion, even in defeat.
Walker’s transformation from Redmond to Reno couldn’t have been more dramatic. The rider who lamented “terrible starts” just one week ago found his rhythm on the Reno track, finally combining his superior speed with the race execution necessary to win. His comment about having “a smile on my face pretty much every lap” highlighted the mental shift that accompanied his physical performance.
The momentum has clearly shifted to Walker heading into the final round. After three consecutive second-place finishes where he demonstrated championship-caliber speed but faltered on execution, Walker’s Reno performance proved he can put together the complete package when it matters most.
LeBlond’s Redemption and the Battle for Third
Ryder Leblond’s return to the podium came with the aggressive, attacking riding he had been seeking all season. After finishing seventh in Redmond left him “pretty mad” and questioning his consistency, LeBlond rebounded with a statement-making third-place finish.
“After the last one, I was pretty mad. It was, uh, was not a great race for me. I think I got seventh, and I wasn’t too stoked on that, ‘cause other than that, I’ve been pretty consistent this year, and that’s my goal to be consistent,” LeBlond explained. “First moto, I had a lot of issues. All my own just crashed and, like, done little mistakes and rode tight and got sick, and I was like, man, I’m gonna have to work a little harder than the next two.”
LeBlond’s effort paid off, particularly in Moto 3 where he capitalized on Hart’s misfortune to claim second place and secure his third-place overall finish. “I’d be back on the box after a couple of races on up here, so, yeah…” LeBlond concluded with satisfaction.
In the championship standings, LeBlond’s strong performance moved him into a tie for third place with Colton Haaker at 91 points. Both riders trail Hart and Walker significantly but are engaged in their own battle for the final podium position, with Cody Webb (86 points) still within striking distance.
