The world of motocross is in pretty good hands at the moment, with a long list of riders, in Europe and in America, that are some of the best we have ever seen. I think it would be impossible to NOT rank the two Lawrence brothers at number one and two in the world, as they continue to dominate the AMA Nationals of 2026, but there might even be questions, about, how deep the field is in America.

No doubt, Haiden Deegan has been close on occasions, as has Jorge Prado, but when it comes down to it, the Aussie brothers usually walk away with the victories and as MXoN champions for the last two years, NOBODY, can be ranked ahead of them.

In saying that, the performance of Lucas Coenen at Thunder Valley, well, it puts a lot of credit into the MXGP class, where Coenen is leading, and at times looks unbeatable, but then names like Jeffrey Herlings, Tom Vialle, Tim Gajser, Maxime Renaux and Kay de Wolf have had moments of victory against the 19 year old Belgian.

No matter how you look at it, it’s been sensational in both America and Europe, and I would like to give my opinion, on the top ten 450 riders in the World. So, here we go below and its just for fun guys, so don’t take it too seriously.

Two Aussies, two Frenchmen, two Dutchmen, a Belgian, a Slovenian an American and a Spaniard make up our list.

1. Jett Lawrence (Australia): Despite losing last weekend to brother Hunter, still leads the AMA 450 championship, although by just two points. He has gone 4-3-1-1-1-1-2-2 so far this season and all with an injury. How bad it is, I guess only he and his crew know, but going by the two victories at Hangtown and Thunder Valley, it won’t be long before he is at least not having too many issues with the injury. At times, he doesn’t even look like he is trying, in fact, he never looks like he is trying and I believe there is a lot more in the tank for the younger brother. They talk about Haiden Deegan getting better, but let’s not forget, Jett is just 22 and Haiden 20, so not a lot in the ages.

2. Hunter Lawrence (Australia): It would be so easy to put Hunter at number one, and like Jett, his season has been sensational, with 1-1-2-2-4-4-1-1 so far. His demolition of everyone last weekend was good to see, because a nicer guy in the sport, well, I doubt there is one and he just keeps taking the punches from his little brother and finding a way to beat him up later. The fact the two brothers have won all four rounds, with 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 performances tells you, they have the rest of the AMA field in the palm of their hands.

3. Lucas Coenen (Belgium): Coenen is my number three and after his 2-2 at Thunder Valley, he might just be better than we thought. The Belgian teenager hasn’t been as consistent as the Lawrence brothers, but he hasn’t been far off. With 13 moto wins in MXGP and a 56-point lead over Jeffrey Herlings, he is doing enough to be crowned Belgium’s first world champion in nearly 30 years (it’s painful even writing that). It is still a long way to go, and he has a very fired up Herlings behind him, but at times, this kid looks as good as anyone we have seen. He has four GP wins with 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 scores in those victories and in this very deep MXGP field, that is impressive.

4. Jeffrey Herlings (The Netherlands): Yes, “The Bullet” is our number four guy, just ahead of American sensation Haiden Deegan. Herlings, at the ripe old age of 31 is sometimes looking as good as ever, but man, sometimes it really looked like he is fighting as hard as ever. Age shall not weary them, but time doesn’t stand still for anyone, and you can see at times, Herlings feels his age, against a kid, nearly half his age. When you consider, the Dutchman has those two recent DNF’s and also two qualification motos with no points, that 56 points gap could be so much different, if the HRC man just took better starts more consistently. Apart from Switzerland, where both Coenen and Herlings DNFed with thrown chains, Coenen has scored 69 points in the motos where Herlings has failed to score. There is the story of MXGP so far in 2026. On a track that suits him, he can still beat all the guys above of him in this list. Not bad for a 31 year old is it?

5. Haiden Deegan (USA): Deegan has blasted out of the gate in 2026 and shown amazing speed, and if he can get his endurance and starts up and running, he can without doubt take wins from the Lawrence brothers. How much better the Aussies will get in 2026, will tell the story of how easy those wins for Deegan might come, but it seems, the wins should eventually come. Due to the fact he couldn’t handle Coenen in the Belgians first ever AMA National, and Herlings has beaten Coenen on four occasions this year, I just cannot put Deegan above either of the MXGP riders.

6. Jorge Prado (Spain): 2025 wasn’t anywhere near the Jorge Prado of 2023 or 2024, and the 2026 version, in my opinion isn’t as good as the GP version of the Spaniard. Maybe USA has broken him, the culture, the tracks and obviously the speed of the Lawrence brothers and Deegan. Confidence in sport is 70% of the job done they tell you, and Prado needs confidence to win. I hope for him it comes, but I just think the big three of AMA motocross, are too good for him, and he is starting to realize that.

7. Tim Gajser (Slovenia): While Tim Gajser is fourth in the MXGP points and struggling big time, I have to have him next in the list, because five world titles don’t lie and he does have three moto wins in 2026, more than anyone else apart from Coenen and Herlings. He lays 18 points behind Romain Febvre in the MXGP championship points, but what we have seen from Gajser in recent times, he is starting to get the hang of the Yamaha, and more moto wins and maybe a GP win will come in the second half of the season.

8. Romain Febvre (France): Febvre for me has to be ahead of riders like R. J. Hampshire, Garreth Marchbanks, or Aaron Plessinger, who for me, are very good riders, but not the level of the top half of the MXGP championship riders. Febvre, who is really having a horrible defence of his MXGP title, has just one moto win this year, and that was a Saturday qualification race. Sunday, his best has been three second places in races and four third places. Hard to know what the problem is with the legendary Frenchman, but as the oldest guy in the class, maybe time is just running out on what has been a brilliant career.

9. Maxime Renaux (France): Renaux is like Febvre, a better rider than the bottom half of the AMA 450 boys. He has proven that in MXoN battle and while he always seems to have something go wrong and cancel him out of championships on the big bike, the qualities of his speed and determination can not be questions. His points per GP have been a rollercoaster and his best Sunday so far has been last weekend with a 2-6. Still 24 points behind his team-mate (Gajser) in the championship points and in fifth place in those points, it is hard to see him make progress on the guys in front, but at least, he seems to have an advantage over the guys behind him.

10. Kay de Wolf (The Netherlands): The Dutchman is my number two 10 and seriously, he could easily be number seven, but at this moment, no higher. He started the season with a no start in Argentina, due to injury and last weekend also went 0-0-0, again, due to a crash and injury. He is far better than what his place in the championship is, and while he holds down seventh in the championship points, we all know what he is capable of, once he gets the consistency better.