Image: Octopi Media.

Double Australian MX2 champion Brodie Connolly has detailed his eye-opening first appearances across the final three rounds of Pro Motocross 2025 in the United States, largely leaving satisfied with his performances as he targets a full-time transfer for next season.

The 21-year-old joined the US-based Quad Lock Honda program for the remaining three outdoor nationals directly after the ProMX finale at Queensland Moto Park, understood to be an opportunity to gain valuable race experience as he works towards a full-time transition for 2026.

Across the Ironman, Unadilla, and Budds Creek rounds, Connolly featured inside the top 10 during the motos at times – running as high as P6 until the midway mark at the 10th round – but was unable to convert his pace into a top 10 race finish.

Reflecting on his time spent in the US, the New Zealander identified the difference in temperature as a significant variant compared to competing throughout the Australian winter, also noting the elevated pace and intensity of the 250MX category.

“It was bloody hot!” Connolly told MotoOnline. “The first round was definitely the toughest for us as it was the hottest, and we’d only been there a day and a half or something like that beforehand, so I was still a bit jet lagged and whatnot, not really acclimatised. The next two were okay, though, especially Unadilla.

“I was pretty happy with that first moto, running in sixth for the first half, then I made some mistakes and got swallowed up by a freight-train. It is gnarly jumping straight in and not knowing what to expect, and just the intensity of the boys over here is crazy and something that I’d need to get used to.

“The intensity is wide-open for the whole 35 minutes – I’ve never battled someone so hard for 16th place. It is cool though, and sick to see… it’s a whole other level, and even when I was running sixth, it’s cool knowing that there are like nine other factory riders behind you charging.”

Another eye-opener for Connolly was the differential between circuits, which represented a big shift from domestic competition and required a revised riding style in order to extract pace out of the expansive layouts.

“The tracks are just so much bigger over here – like the total area is just four or five times bigger than what our Australian ones are,” he continued. “Even though the lap times are almost similar, ours have a ton of switchbacks and are tighter, so that took me a bit to get used to as well.

“Here, it is just so fast, I wasn’t used to having to go so wide-open, so that was a bit of a shock. The TV doesn’t do it justice at all – all the lines, the steepness of the hills, and so on, it’s just all so different.”

All-in-all, assessing his performance across the three races, Connolly acknowledges that there are positives to take, though at the same time, there’s plenty of room for improvement as he targets the next evolution of his young career.

“A lot of people who I spoke to were pretty stoked on how I did, you know, showing that speed in a couple of those motos,” the Kiwi recalled. “I was pretty pissed about it, though, to be honest [laughs]. If I didn’t make those few mistakes, it could’ve been a top 10 finish, but people saw that I can run the speed, I guess.

“Overall, I can’t be too bummed, it obviously could’ve been more successful, but at the same time I went over there without a lot of expectation. I just wanted to ride like I know I can, and I feel I did that.”

For the remainder of the 2025 season, Connolly has been named for both the Boost Mobile AUSX Supercross Championship alongside the FIM World Supercross (WSX) Championship, featuring as part of both the Honda Racing team and Quad Lock Honda programs.

It’s unclear how both he and the respective teams will navigate the date clash between the AUSX Grand Final in Adelaide and the Australian GP on the Gold Coast, with each taking place on the November 29 weekend.