The mercury reached 102 degrees during the racing at the Hangtown Motocross Classic, Round 2 of the 2025 AMA Pro Motocross season. As a safety precaution, AMA officials shortened the final motos by five minutes due to the hot and still air in Rancho Cordova, California. The legendary track, situated due east of Sacramento, added its own challenges with extremely rough hills and deep corner ruts.
Benoit Paturel (102) grabbed his season-best overall qualifying position as he tackles the unfamiliar American circuit. The Hangtown track is a staple on the American motocross circuit, so Paturel lacked experience at the venue compared to his competitors. In the first moto, the Frenchman crossed the holeshot stripe just inside the top 20. Paturel picked up the flow quickly, gained several positions early, then snagged a couple more spots at the end of the moto. With less time on the race clock for moto two, Paturel fortunately got a better start and battled for track position until the checkered flag flew.
“I’m a little bit disappointed about the race overall, but my riding was not bad,” said Paturel. “In the second moto I got caught up with another rider on first lap. But I fought on, and I just needed another few laps at the end of the moto to make another pass. But still, we earned some points and we’re going to fight to be back in the top ten next week. Overall, I feel good on the bike and with the team; they did a great job today. So, off to get a better result next weekend; we take the positive and leave the negative here and move forward.”
Colt Nichols (45) found steady improvements as the temperature rose and the track became rougher. Nichols put in a gutsy ride in the second moto, gaining over half a dozen positions during the chaotic, opening laps. From there, Nichols set his sights on a top-ten result. Although he didn’t fight his way up into the top ten, Nichols held tough to the finish in the taxing moto.
“Hangtown was an up and down day,” said Nichols. “My first moto was absolutely terrible. I got a bad start and then I rode like a complete [novice]. So, we made a pretty huge change to the bike settings for moto 2 – so shout out to Andrew for the great work. We kind of threw the kitchen sink at the settings and they worked really well; we found some really positive improvements. I rode a lot more like myself in the second moto. I was in a really good battle for 11th, 12th, and 13th there at the end of the moto and felt like I could push my pace. I rode well, so that’s something to build off of for next weekend.”
“It was a hot one, it was over 100 degrees,” reported Larry Brooks, Team Manager for the Twisted Tea/H.E.P. Motorsports/Suzuki presented by Progressive Insurance team. “The [AMA] actually had to cut back on the second moto. It was 25-minutes plus two laps [compared to the standard 30-minutes plus two laps]. It was really hot for the guys. Everybody was struggling to make it. Benoit Paturel finished 13th and Colt Nichols finished 14th. It wasn’t one of their greatest days, but they survived it and they’re still somewhat in the points, so we’ll just move on to Colorado and do better.”
The Suzuki contingent now heads to Lakewood, Colorado for the Thunder Valley National on June 7th. The riders and team members are ready for the challenges of racing at the high-altitude venue and racking up more points for both the motocross season and the SMX World Championship.
