It’s been seven months in the making, but Australia’s top motocross riders will once again reunite for round one of the 2026 Penrite ProMX Championship presented by AMX Superstores (ProMX) in Wonthaggi on March 21-22.
After a pre-season with a host of major talking points, it’s now show time at the regional Victorian venue which continues its proud status as the ProMX season opener for a sixth consecutive year.
MX1: Kyle Webster looking three-peat titles
All the elements are in place for another exhilarating season of MX1 competition, with Honda dynamo and Motocross of Nations champion Kyle Webster again leading the charge as he shoots for a championship three-peat.
At the same round in 2025, Webster shared victories with Jed Beaton (Yamaha), kickstarting a fierce rivalry that lasted until round six before Beaton’s campaign ended in brutal circumstances after he was injured in a practice crash.
Beaton eventually finished fourth in MX1 behind Webster, Nathan Crawford (KTM) and Wilson Todd (Honda), but he’s now fully fit to finally wrest an elusive maiden title to add to his 2016 MX2 success.
Other former champions on the MX1 starting gates in Wonthaggi will be Beaton’s teammate Aaron Tanti – who missed a large chunk of 2025 with a broken neck – the returning veteran Dean Ferris (Kawasaki) and Todd Waters (Husqvarna).
Other leading lights in Wonthaggi’s 37-rider field will include reigning No. 5 Zachary Watson, who joins KTM’s factory team alongside Crawford, Cody O’Loan (Beta), Bryce Ognenis (Yamaha), Regan Duffy (Yamaha), Brad West (Kawasaki) and Liam Jackson (Honda), as well as a new generation of young guns eager to show their skills in the premier category.
MX2: Wide-Open Field
The intriguing intersection of incumbents and rapid rookies will again form the backbone of the Pirelli MX2 class in 2026, where a new champion will be crowned with the departure of American-bound Brodie Connelly.
Based on the 2025 form guide, Ryder Kingsford (Honda), Noah Ferguson (Yamaha), Alex Larwood (Honda), Byron Dennis (KTM), Jayce Cosford (KTM) and Seth Burchell (Yamaha) will be front-runners in Wonthaggi – while highly credentialled MX3 alumni such as Kayd Kingsford (Honda), Jet Alsop (Honda), Ky Woods (Yamaha) and Kayden Strode (Honda) will be keen to announce themselves as contenders from the get-go.
Koby Hantis (Yamaha) is another talented rider moving up from MX3, while a real darkhorse could be Japan’s Souya Nakajima (Yamaha) who is coming off back-to-back IA2 (250cc) championship successes in his home country. He also competed in the 2025 Motocross of Nations in and was in Australia for the FIM Junior World Motocross Championship in 2018.
Nakajima’s countryman Haruki Yokoyama (Kawasaki) also returns in 2026, and is capable of claiming some major scalps when he’s fit and firing.
HOW TO WATCH
All Sunday races will be broadcast live on FIM-MOTO.TV, delivering every intense moment straight to you. Tune in and experience the speed, skill, and adrenaline of ProMX Australia live! (9:25am-4pm Australian East Daylight Time.
