After the conclusion of the final round of the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross championship on Saturday, Seth Hammaker found himself in the unfortunate position knowing what it's like to have a championship in his grasp, then yanked away in the final moments. After passing Tom Vialle in the Dave Coombs Sr. East/West Showdown, Hammaker was in position to bring the title home, but he would run into problems when briefly clashing with Julien Beaumer, and later, when he was helped to the dirt by RJ Hampshire. Just like that, his 250SX East Division championship evaporated in what was surely one of the most gut wrenching moments of his career. Yet, despite the unenviable circumstances he found himself in afterward, Hammaker was gracious enough to take time to give us an interview and share his perspective of how his night unfolded in Salt Lake City.
I won’t waste your time asking how your day went, let’s just get right to the main event. Were you aware you were in position to win the championship at one point?
Yeah, 100 percent. I was well aware of where I needed to be once I got around Tom [Vialle]. I knew I needed to beat Tom. Then RJ [Hampshire], I wasn’t too concerned about him passing me because I still would have beat him in the tiebreaker. He had different plans and put us both down and handed that one to Tom. I got up and rode as hard as I could to try to get Tom there at the end, but it wasn’t enough. From RJ, I didn’t expect that, that early in the race. He just went for the kill.
With JuJu [Beaumer], I get it he’s on that team, he’s teammates with Tom, but I think he should have stayed out of it. He said he stayed out of it on the TV interview I heard, but I don’t think he did. I went by him and he came back on the inside there. I didn’t expect that from him, but it is what it is, that’s racing. We’re racing for a championship and I learned a lot tonight. I had a lot of bullets thrown at me but we fought hard and gave it everything we had. There’s a lot to be proud of this season, even though the championship didn’t come. I’m proud of the whole team, and the group I’ve got around me, I’m super grateful. On to the outdoors, I’ll use it as fuel, and we’ll have an opportunity outdoors for sure.
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Tom Vialle | Avignon, France  | 180 |
| 2 |  Seth Hammaker | Bainbridge, PA  | 177 |
| 3 |  R.J. Hampshire | Hudson, FL | 173 |
| 4 |  Nate Thrasher | Livingston, TN | 137 |
| 5 |  Cullin Park | Clermont, FL | 131 |
| Rider | Time | Interval | Best Lap | Hometown | Bike | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Haiden Deegan | 47.483 | Temecula, CA | Yamaha YZ250F | ||
| 2 |  Julien Beaumer | 47.960 | Lake Havasu City, AZ | KTM 250 SX-F Factory Edition | ||
| 3 | Tom Vialle | 48.272 | Avignon, France | KTM 250 SX-F Factory Edition | ||
| 4 | Seth Hammaker | 48.021 | Bainbridge, PA | Kawasaki KX250 | ||
| 5 |  Michael Mosiman | 48.630 | Sebastopol, CA | Yamaha YZ250F |
You said you learned a lot tonight. I’m assuming you don’t mean about your riding. What did you mean?
More of when it comes down to a championship like this. I’m willing to do anything too, but maybe just some of the cheap shots… I don’t really even know how to explain it, but you have to be extra focused of your surroundings in a championship scenario like this. Like I said about the JuJu situation, that didn’t even really cross my mind, but looking back maybe I should have thought about it a little more. Once I passed him I should have protected that inside, but I just didn’t think that was coming. I was like, ‘Okay, I got by him, let’s keep putting in laps.’
There was a lot of chess being played out there.
There was. That’s a good way to put it. Moving forward into another situation like that I feel like I’ll be more prepared. It’s tough, there was a lot of pressure going into that main event. I feel like I handled the whole day really well, but sometimes it doesn’t turn out how you want it to, and that’s what happened tonight. I’m ready to kick ass outdoors.
On that last lap I thought you were going to get Vialle. You had a huge upper hand in the whoops, did you lose drive coming into them on that last lap?
I did. I got that rhythm super clean, I hit the quad and tripled out, and I was going to send it into the whoops and I slid out and lost all my drive. That killed that whoop plan.
So you did have a move planned for right there?
I had a plan, I just got on the gas a little too early and spun the rear, lost the drive. My plan was to bomb the whoops and see how the last two corners went. I was ready.
I’m assuming it took you by complete surprise when Hampshire came in on you like that. I was surprised too because he took you both down, which also hurt him. As that was happening, were you in shock?
I was definitely in shock. I was like, ‘Man, already?’ I get we’re going for a championship, but it was early. To me it was too early in the race to make that move. It caught me by surprise. I don’t know, I’ll try to learn from whatever that situation was. He took himself out of it too.
