Slaw
After every round, there is a ton of what I like to call little nuggets of information floating around. With so many avenues of information to consume–social, podcasts, newsletters, YouTube and so on–it can be hard to keep track of everything.
Being a one-time AMA Media Member of the Year nominee, I feel it is my duty to try and put everything in one, easy to find, place. So, that’s what I did. Welcome to a yet to be titled feature where I will post stuff I found interesting after races.
Sexton Delivers
Massive win for Red Bull KTM’s Chase Sexton on Saturday in Birmingham. He had to stop the bleeding and did just that taking the Triple Crown in Bama. With his win and Cooper Webb’s fourth place finish, he is now just 8 back of Webb in the title chase.
“It’s really nice to get the monkey off my back tonight – it feels like I haven’t won in forever,” he said in a KTM press release. “Getting good starts and the first two race wins was super-important, but it reminded me quickly when RJ [Hampshire] got caught up at the start in Race 3 that anything can happen, so I locked in on executing that start as well. From there, I rode my own race in the last one, tried not to do anything stupid and learn from previous mistakes, but I always thrive in these last eight races, so I’m stoked to kick things off this way.”
Thrasher Back in the Winners Circle
Monster Energy/Yamaha Star Racing’s Nate Thrasher has had such a bipolar career. Did you know Birmingham was his SIXTH career 250SX win? It was. Thrasher, like many, has dealt with a ton of injuries, but he’s shown some serious speed since turning pro full-time in 2021.
This season, while dealing with a nasty finger injury, Thrasher had gone 8-5-8-14 to begin the 250SX East Division before his win this past Saturday in Birmingham. What was the difference this weekend? Thrasher said in a Yamaha press release that he was finally able to practice during the off-week and that he felt more like himself.
“It was a good day. I was finally able to ride like myself. I felt really good all off-season, we were putting in the laps and putting in the motos. At the season opener in Tampa, I felt really good all day, I just got unlucky and was cleaned out in the first lap but charged back to eighth from last, which was actually a good ride. Then I’ve just been battling injuries, and we were just trying to fight and stay in it. This week, I was finally able to practice after about a month and a half, so I felt like I was more like myself this weekend. I actually came out and qualified well. Before that, I was outside the top 10 and just trying to get through it. So this weekend, I was finally back to what I can do and proved it tonight. It feels great to get the win. I knew I had the speed this year and knew I could do it. It was just a matter of trying to get healthy and put it all together. We’ve got a lot of rounds to go, and we’re 21 points back, so we’re not out of it.”
Justin Hill/Malcolm Updates
The practice start claimed more victims in Birmingham. In the second 450SX qualifying session on Saturday, Justin Hill went down hard off the start, taking Malcolm Stewart with him. While Malcolm was able to gut through to finish second overall in the Triple Crown–his second podium of the 2025 season–Hill could only muster 11th overall while dealing with an ankle injury from the incident.
“Bummed out in Bama,” he wrote on IG. “Silly mistake trying to unlock something off the start, jacked my ankle up. If not for 2 crashes and a pit stop in main 1, I probably could have finished okay. Either way, it’s a tough P11 pill to swallow… Gonna shake this one off, get my ankle sprain dealt with, then reinvest in myself🫡 See yall in Seattle I’ll be as ready as I can be!
“P.S. Sorry to @malcolmstewart … he turned around and rode awesome, but reguardless I hate being the cause of someone goin down.”
As mentioned, Malcolm was certainly in pain throughout the night, but was able to push through to a second overall finish.
“I’m really stiff right now after the hit to my hip,” said Stewart in a Husqvarna press release. “Aside from that, I felt really good today and connected with the whole track. My team manager Nate Ramsey mentioned that I looked really good today in practice, and we made a game plan of going out there and giving it our all to see where we ended up, and second place was our spot for tonight!”
Austin Forkner Opens Up
Good interview on Vital MX with Austin Forkner, who opened up about his early season struggles, his confidence and more.
Stars in Supercross
I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about Bailey Zimmerman. So, I did what anyone would do, and Asked Jeeves.
Bailey Lynn Zimmerman is an American country singer and TikTok star who rose to fame with his hit singles “Fall in Love” and “Rock and a Hard Place”. Both songs reached number one on the Billboard Country Airplay chart in 2022. Zimmerman released his debut album, Religiously. The Album., in May 2023. In June 2023, Billboard named him their first-ever country Rookie of the Year. Zimmerman co-wrote “Never Comin’ Home” with a high school friend, Gavin Lucas.
Another week, another star attending a round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, as Zimmerman was in attendance in Birmingham and even appeared on Race Day Live and talked about his love of the sport.
And, like everyone, the Zim is a big AP fan.
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