Image: Octopi Media.

Not too long ago, Red Bull KTM’s Tom Vialle was coming off back-to-back wins in Daytona and Birmingham and looking like he was ready to take hold of the 250SX East championship. Since then, he finished second in Indianapolis and now third in Foxborough to slip to four points behind Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Cameron McAdoo in the standings. On a night where Vialle started in front of McAdoo in Foxborough, the two-time MX2 World Champion lamented that he was struggling a lot on the evening and felt third place was the best he could do.

“I always try to do my best no matter what and I think that finishing third was the best I could do tonight, so we are happy to be on the podium again,” said Vialle. “Next weekend will be really important and the coming races, too. There are only three rounds to go – it is going to be a good fight to the end, for sure.”

Vialle started alongside Haiden Deegan in the main event before Deegan quickly snatched the lead and started to open a bit of a gap. Vialle ran second for a little while before McAdoo came up and passed him near the halfway point of the race. That single pass was ultimately a four-point swing as Vialle had provisionally been tied in the championship with McAdoo if positions stayed status quo.

As McAdoo moved around Vialle, it was apparent that McAdoo was on a mission forward while Vialle remained stagnant behind. Though McAdoo couldn’t get to Deegan for the win, Vialle slipped off the trail of both riders to finish a quiet third place on the night.

“When I started in second behind Haiden, I felt great actually for the first five minutes,” said Vialle. “I was pretty close, and then I had a few mistakes in some corners, and I was losing some time. Cameron passed me and I was still pretty close, but I couldn’t find lines. I was kind of struggling from the first practice session with bike setup. I tried a lot today, but I never really found something great. I feel like I couldn’t ride at 100% and push on the track. When I was in third with like five laps to go, I tried to settle for third. We didn’t lose a lot of points in the championship and we’re going to work this week on the bike and try to find some better settings for next weekend.”

Things happen fast in the shortened 250SX regional championships and suddenly there are only three rounds remaining with a tight points battle heating up. McAdoo leads Vialle by four points and Deegan by 13 points as the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider is sneaking back into the picture.

Vialle is the only rider of the three to have claimed a championship from a season long series as Deegan is currently the reigning three-race SuperMotocross playoff champion from 2023. But Vialle has the championship experience in his back pocket as the title fight heads into perhaps the toughest crossroad yet. This coming weekend in Nashville is the first of two 250SX East/West Showdowns, and the importance of these races is not lost on Vialle one bit.

“It’s three races to go and we’re going to have two races like that,” said Vialle. “Those two are going to be important for sure. I think for everyone, we just try to race our best and we don’t really focus on that. There will be more guys up there, the start is going to be important once again, and I’ll just need to focus on my own race.”

As Vialle alluded to, he and the team are going to go back to work this week in Florida to really dial in things on his Red Bull KTM and come out swinging in Nashville. Ultimately, the 250SX East title will likely be decided in how many riders the three championship contenders can put between each other in the Showdowns, but at least for McAdoo and Vialle, they could control their own destiny in a big way by going out and winning them.