PROFILE | MASON SEMMENS

At the completion of the 2023 season, Mason Semmens was at a crossroads of his off-road racing career. Despite winning the Penrite Hattah Desert Race back home in Australia, Semmens was unable to capitalise on his two-year stint racing the prestigious Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) series in the USA with the Trail Jesters KTM Racing Team.

Without any realistic options to remain racing the GNCC series in the USA, Semmens returned home to Victoria, Australia to contemplate his future. An all-or-nothing decision to head back to the USA and race the off-road championships on the West Coast paid off big time… but not without a major bump in the road. The 250cc pro-class rider was forced to overcome a serious setback before returning to his winning ways.

STARTING OVER

“At the end of 2023 I was back at home with nothing on the table to come back to in America at all, really,” Semmens explains. “I was contemplating having a go at the West Coast series and Lyndon (Snodgrass) just said “Do it! It’s an opportunity and something might come from it.”

“I knew Sam Pretscherer was going to have a go at racing on the West Coast so I called him and said I wanted to join him. I had some contacts over there so I arranged a bike and went to do the first four rounds. After two rounds I signed a two-year contract with FMF RPM KTM Racing Team, which was way more than I predicted.”

Semmens’ season was on a roll and he was dominating the 250 pro class at both the World Off-Road Championship (WORCS) and National Grand Prix Championship (NGPC). It looked as though Semmens had found his calling and was on his way to a career-defining season of racing.

“I came home to race Hattah and I was running in my Hattah racebike at PARK4MX on a normal motocross day, like I have done for ever, and the front-end let go on me unexpectedly on a little downhill,” Semmens says. “The first thing to hit the ground was my foot and I ended up with pretty severe dislocation to my ankle, fracture to the tibia and fibula, and a Lisfranc [fracture]. The Lisfranc is a pretty weird injury for a moto rider but fairly common in football because it’s the mid-part of the top of your foot.”

Not only were Semmens’ dreams of defending his 2023 Hattah title down the toilet, so-to were his chances of continuing his winning streak in the USA.

FAST RECOVERY

“My surgeon kept telling me five to six months was the timeline for recovery but I was racing again within three months,” Semmens says. “It was a serious injury for sure and it took a toll on me but I made it work. I was super-bummed about missing Hattah because I love that race and I missed my opportunity to run my number-one. Then I shifted my focus back to America, but it was tough to accept the six-months off the bike that the surgeon had suggested. I just knuckled down and spent a lot of time in rehab and recovery centres doing red-light therapy and oxygen chambers four to five times a week.

“I saw my surgeon 10 weeks after surgery and he said the only thing stopping me racing was me. That was all I needed to hear so I got stuck back into it.”

With just three rounds of racing remaining in each of the series Semmens was contesting, there was no time to waste.

 BACK IN ACTION

“I missed the first WORCS race back after the summer break because I wasn’t ready, and my first NGPC race I placed fourth but I went on to win the final two rounds in each series. I went into the final WORCS race five points down from the points leader and I knew all I could control was me winning and whatever happened behind me was whatever.

“I managed to pull a gap on the field in that race and every time I hit a jump at a certain point in the track I could look across the track to see Sam [Pretscherer] was in third, right on the rear wheel of the points leader. Sam hounded him for two hours and on the last lap, when I looked across, Sam was still on him. I crossed the line and waited for second place and I saw Sam pop his head up. It was unreal and he got it done and it was perfect for me.

“The weekend after it was a similar situation with the same rider at the second-last NGPC race. I had to win to take the title and he had to be third or worse, and he placed fourth that day and I won, so it was two championships in the space of seven days.

“It was pretty cool.”

PARTY IN THE USA

With Semmens logging his most successful season of professional racing in 2024, the Aussie lad is gearing up for another stab at racing on the West Coast of the USA with the goal of defending his NGPC and WORCS championships.

“I’m back in the Pro 250 Class for 2025 because I signed a two-year contract at the start of 2024. I’ll be with the same team and on the same bike, and moving forward after that, I don’t know exactly, but I will be moving up to a 450cc bike in 2026.

“I can see myself living and racing here in California for the next five to 10 years, for sure. I’m not completely against going back east, because I want to prove I can still race GNCC at a high level and I think in the future I could get some opportunity to do that but for now the West Coast is my main focus. I want to step into the 450cc class and try to win some more championships there.

“The tracks are all good over on the West Coast,” Semmens says. “They’re all flowing, wide and they’re like a big motocross track. It suits me really well. I really enjoy racing here and that’s the big thing, me having fun racing is perfect.

“I don’t really know the circumstances back home in Australia but when I was trying to negotiate a ride to race in Australia for 2024 it wasn’t looking too good, so I am definitely glad I made the switch to race the West Coast of the USA. I’m in California living my dream comfortably. I didn’t think I was going to be in this position at the end of 2023, let alone winning two championships with what I went through in July. I’m stoked with how everything is going and I am building relationships with people at KTM so, you know, hopefully that keeps growing and who knows where that could lead me. I’m not struggling, which is nice.

LIVING IN THE USA

“The landscape and environment feels little bit more like home in California for me,” Semmens says. “As far as riding and training goes, well you can go to Fox Raceway on a Tuesday and there’s Jo Shimoda rolling around, or Cameron McAdoo and sometimes Chase Sexton out there. One day you are watching them on TV then a few days later you’re out there riding on the same track with them. It’s cool to have that opportunity and I enjoy the Californian lifestyle. You can go from the snow in the mountains one day then down to the beach the next.

“Some days, which is very rare, we get a complete day off from riding or training or from bike work, and we’ll scoot down to the beach in San Diego, but honestly, it’s always pretty busy. There’s never really a day off from dirtbikes. My world revolves around riding a dirtbike.

HOW GOOD IS HATTAH?

“I will definitely come back for Hattah in 2025. That’s a goal I want to tick. I want to win that race again but it will be a fly-in fly-out kind of thing because I want to spend as much time riding and racing as possible in the USA.

“But Hattah is something I want to do because I believe it is the best race in the world. It’s not just me. Lyndon (Snodgrass), me, Gus (Riordan) and Sam (Pretscherer) all choose to do it. The first lap of Hattah is like no other and it’s just four hours out in the desert going mad.”

While the Hattah Desert Race remains popular with the majority of the American-based Aussie racers, there are some tracks and unique trackside scenarios that make racing in the USA really special.

“The Lake Havasu race is a unique track. It looks like a sand track but it’s not. It has rock all through it and it’s weird to ride but it is an awesome venue. Havasu is a tourist spot and plenty of people come out for that race but it’s nothing like the GNCC where you get thousands of people through the gate. GNCC people just love it.”

 TWICE AS NICE

Mason Semmens cleaned up in the USA in 2024 by not only winning the 250 Pro AMA National Grand Prix Championship (NGPC) but also the 250 Pro World Off-Road Series (WORCS), the two biggest cross country series on the West Coast.

The NGPC series consisted nine rounds, six of which were won by Semmens. The WORCS series was another nine-round affair with another six victories going Semmens’ way, however, he sat out one round through injury which made the final race of the year a thriller.

Semmens took the final round win to be tied on points with Kawasaki-mounted Colton Aeck, however Semmens was awarded the Championship after winning the final round.

RESULTS

NGPC

1. Mason Semmens 248
2. Colton Aeck 201
3. Kai Aiello 153

WORCS

1. Mason Semmens 186
2. Colton Aeck 186
3. Kai Aiello 176