Once a highly touted amateur prospect, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Daxton Bennick now embarks on his second season of professional competition, with the North Carolina native looking to firmly place his name amongst the top 250 class contenders.

Commencing his pro career with a third-place finish at the 250SX East class season opener in 2024, the promise of Bennick’s potential was immediately on display. However, it would take him just over a year to find the podium once more – this time again at the eastern regional opener last weekend in Tampa.

Image: Octopi Media.

Ninth overall in his rookie 250SX East campaign, followed by a 17th place finish during the 2024 Pro Motocross 250 season had Bennick in a precarious position, with the pressure mounting to perform growing on the young rider’s shoulders.

Notoriously cut-throat, the Bobby Regan-led Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing program moves fast, with a long list of riders wanting their opportunity to be a part of the powerhouse team. Therefore, riders must perform quickly, or end up on the outside looking in when it comes to contract time.

Fortunately for Bennick, second place in Tampa came at a vital moment in his sophomore season, with a solid performance across the board once again reminding the paddock of why he was a rider of ‘most-desired’ status exiting the amateur ranks.

Image: Octopi Media.

To add fuel to the fire, being overlooked on the class’ ‘power rankings’ for Tampa gave extra motivation to Bennick, with the highly-rated 19-year-old seizing an opportunity to prove a point.

“I saw the power rankings coming into this race and noticed that I wasn’t even in the top 10,” commented Bennick. “That fired me up, and I felt like I had a point to prove here coming into Tampa.”

On a more serious note, Bennick went on to detail his future aspirations following Tampa, noting that repeatability is needed across the course of a season.

“The goal for me this year is to be more solid and I already feel like, as a rider, I’m more level-headed,” he continued. “During outdoors last year we had a bunch of stuff going on health-wise, I was falling asleep all the time and just sucked, really.”

“This year, I feel confident with my bike and health, similar to what Max [Anstie] said, I made the bike a bit stiffer two or three months ago and haven’t touched it from there, so I am really happy with where my bike is at.”

Image: Octopi Media.

Acknowledging the result at Raymond James Stadium this past Saturday night, Bennick realizes that the aim now will be to back up that performance and keep the momentum rolling for the remainder of the season.

“It feels good, for sure, to be back on the podium as it has been a long time,” he added. “Although it’s time to go back to work Monday and try to replicate this success across each round of the championship.”

A spot on arguably the strongest team in the pits comes with expectations, and can create a sink or swim environment for the young talent who run through the program. Is it a brutal reality? Possibly, however, it’s a well-known factor when signing on the dotted line for the Star Racing organization.

Either way, with his Tampa performance, Bennick is once more on the right track towards becoming one of the sport’s emerging contenders for the future.