As the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX West Coast Championship fired up under the lights at Anaheim CA, a 17-year-old kid sporting the #100 plate named Cole Davies rolled his YZ250F onto the starting gate. He was on the taller end of the scale, was quietly-spoken, and if he did talk, people quickly noticed his strange accent.
But the fact that this kid was sitting aboard a Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing machine, and had had the likes of Ben Townley, Josh Coppins and Wil Hahn in his corner, signalled that Cole Davies was to be taken seriously.
The young New Zealander has been the talk of the town since he made the sudden, sensational jump to the 250SX class this year. He stunned the paddock by landing on the podium by the third round at Anaheim 2, has won half of the Triple Crown races he lined up for at Glendale and Arlington, and sat third in the West Coast championship points chase as we went to print.
But where the hell did this guy come from, and how did he launch himself onto the world’s biggest racing stage in such quick fashion?
SMALL KID FROM A SMALL TOWN
Thirty minutes north of Auckland, Waitoki is nothing more than a blip on the map. Including the countryside surrounding the small village, its home to less than 2000 people, and most of them are farmers.
The Davies family – Wayne, Michelle, their three older daughters and youngest son Cole – are included in that figure. The family still owns and operates a 100ha beef farm in the region, while Wayne also runs and operates an earthmoving business.
Having access to farmland and diggers, it’s only natural that dirtbikes entered the picture early on, especially as Wayne use to race local club days himself.
Soon after jumping on a PW50 at the age of three, Cole and his family quickly became regulars at local races around the North Island and trophies soon followed. In fact, Cole never lost a race during his mini days.
“I think I’m still the winningest rider in New Zealand mini motocross,” reflects Cole from his US base in Cairo, Georgia. “From the moment I lined up on a mini 50, I was never beaten.”
His good fortunes changed once he jumped up to Juniors and injuries hampered his records, but he still managed to win the 2021 12-13 Years 85cc national title on a KTM, then a year later, with Josh Coppins’ JCR Altherm Yamaha Racing outfit, he wrapped up both the 125 and 250 classes.
Between 2021 and 2022, the pint-sized Cole captured the attention of Ben Townley, who offered to train the youngster at his property in Tauranga, several hours away.
Because of the distance, Cole would leave home on Monday, spend four days with BT, then drive back for the weekend. It was a demanding schedule for a young teenager, but that set the foundations for his future growth.
“There wasn’t a lot of off-bike training with Ben; we mainly worked on my bike skills and technique,” Cole reflects. “Ben’s thoughts were to get the technique down, and the speed would follow. It definitely worked, and I owe my success to the work he put into me, his contacts and his belief in me.”
Townley also owns the only full-sized supercross track in New Zealand, and Cole spun countless hours around it, honing his skills and getting used to the technical nature of supercross racing.
GOING INTERNATIONAL
Eager to gain international experience, Townley filmed Cole riding and sent the footage to his contacts in the US to try and secure a slot in the 2023 Supercross Futures. They were knocked back.
“Even though Ben knew a lot of people, I wasn’t even allowed to race Futures at first as they told me I wasn’t good enough,” Cole laughs. “There’s such a big amateur programme there and limited spots, but if anything, getting that ‘yeah, no thanks’ message made me want it even more.”
They decided to prove their worth by lining up for the Adelaide round of the Australian Supercross Championship. Cole promptly raised eyebrows across the paddock by capturing the SX3 round win, then backed it up with a first-equal SX3 performance a few weeks later at a sold-out Newcastle round, complete with a full-sized supercross track.
Off the back of those two performances, the AMA Supercross promoter, Feld, paid attention and granted him a spot to race the SX Futures in 2023.
Never one to get spooked by the big moments, Cole chalked up a remarkable P4 result at the SX Futures opener at Anaheim 1 – an achievement that caught the eye of former Troy Lee Designs GASGAS’s Wil Hahn.
“After that night Wil texted Ben along the lines of “well done, I know how hard to get out of New Zealand”, and that kind of got the ball rolling with a deal with the GASGAS team,” Cole explains. “I got seventh at the next round at Arlington, but the last round at Glendale I crashed in practice, and broke my collarbone and a couple of ribs, so I returned home, recovered, then kept training with Ben.”
Davies returned to the US for some training at the Star Yamaha compound, then lined up for the RedBud and Ironman Scouting Combine motocross races to finish sixth overall. Shortly afterward he flew to California and signed with the Daniel Blair-led GASGAS operation for 2024. The Kiwi teenager’s dream of racing in the US was now a reality.
STEPPING UP
Last year was a real breakout year for the talented Davies, despite having to make regular trips home from his new base in Canyon Hill, CA due to visa restrictions.
Putting that aside, Davies found himself steadily closing the practice track laptime gap to his teammates Pierce Brown and Ryder DiFrancesco, and getting bigger and stronger under Hahn’s off-bike training guidance.
A dramatic win at the opening SX Futures round at Anaheim 2 saw him quickly become a short-odds favourite for the title, and he continued to make his presence felt with two more podiums before the winner-take-all final at Salt Lake City.
“Going into SLC I felt really good – we found a really good bike setting that I was comfortable with, and that brought some speed with it,” he recalls. “But that whole day went really well. I qualified first and won the championship, so that was definitely a cool moment and a real turning point for me.”
Another turning point happened that same day when he was offered a deal to race for the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing Team… although he didn’t know about it at the time.
“After I won qualifying, [team owner] Bobby Regan invited Dad into the truck to talk about signing me for 2025,” he explains. “I didn’t know about it until after the race. By then, we knew things with GASGAS weren’t set in stone for next year, and even though we really wanted to stay with Wil, signing with the best, biggest team was a no-brainer.”
During the wheelings and dealings, Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Mitch Payton also presented Cole with a half-hearted Team Green offer that was no match for what Yamaha put on the table.
INTO THE BIG LEAGUES
Cole and his mum, Michelle, moved to Star Yamaha’s camp in Georgia and put in some hard yards before his first outings with the team for the two Scouting Moto Combine races at RedBud and Ironman.
After an eighth overall at Michigan, Cole hit his straps at Ironman, wrapping his season up with the round victory there, courtesy of 2-1 moto results.
Supercross testing for the 2025 season followed and Cole quickly established a reputation with his hard-charging, never-say-die attitude. Initially the plan was for him to do another year of Futures, but plans changed in December.
“Bobby called me and said ‘I heard you were the fastest guy today’,” recalls Cole, flawlessly mimicking Regan’s southern American drawl. “He then explained that the plan was for me to race the Supercross Futures at Glendale and if I went well, he’d put me on the East Coast Championship.”
But Cole had other ideas: “I said ‘no, I don’t want to focus on two different things’. I had my eyes set on going pro, I knew I was riding well, and I wanted to take that next step.”
After a discussion with team trainer Gareth Swanepoel, they agreed Cole was ready to make the jump to pro and locked him in for the 250SX West Coast Championship.
Lining up for Anaheim 1 the first time – complete with the lights, lasers, glitz and roaring crowds – would send the average person into a nervous spin. But while Cole admits to having some butterflies during the day, one of his strengths is the ability to stay focused and in the moment.
“I’m quite good at staying calm in those high-pressure moments,” he explains. “I don’t get overwhelmed and I focus on the things I’m going to do, not what could happen. It’s about zoning in on my riding and not worrying about anything else.”
Cole harnessed that energy to finish a solid P8 in his debut rookie race, improved to a P4 the next week at San Diego, then secured his first ever podium – a third – at A2.
Establishing himself as a genuine star of the future, the Kiwi then charged to two of the three Triple Crown wins at Glendale, but a rough third race saw him again finish the round in P3 and his second consecutive podium.
Another top five at the Arlington Triple Crown was backed up with a seventh at the first East West Showdown at Indianapolis, as he fought his way back from the back of the pack around a rapidly deteriorating track.
Despite his string of solid results and everyone now taking notice of this once-unknown kid, Cole is surprisingly critical of his own performances so far in 2025.
“Honestly, I don’t feel like I’ve ridden to my potential and I haven’t really put everything together properly,” he muses. “I don’t feel like I’m that much faster than last year, but I think everything’s coming together a bit more fluidly and clicking a bit better. I’ve also gotten a lot stronger and taller, which is a huge thing.
“At the same time, I’ve learnt a lot and faced pretty much every situation already – I’ve gone down on the first lap and had to come back from dead last, I’ve got the holeshot and led, I topped qualifying at Arlington. This is a learning year and I know it’s just a matter of time before it all comes together.”
One of the other aspects that’s improved out-of-sight is his media skills. For a guy who hates talking, and who used to actively avoid microphones and interviews as a grom, Cole’s now getting more comfortable on camera, due to the sheer number of interviews he’s had to front since he started taking the US by storm.
“Oh, I still hate talking on camera, but I’ve definitely come a long way. When I was a kid growing up, I never did podium speeches – I’d get the mic and just hand it straight to the next guy,” he laughs. “I remember one interview with (NZ commentator) Neil Ritchie where I couldn’t even speak; it was legit horrendous, and I think the only word I said was ‘food’!”
EYES FORWARD
Although US life is considerably easier after gaining his P1 visa in December, it still has its challenges. Michelle lives in Cairo with Cole, but Wayne remains based in New Zealand operating his earthmoving business, and flying to the States most weekends to support his son’s racing.
Being apart from his three sisters and his friends has also been difficult, but Cole’s still brought his unapologetically Kiwi way of life to the US. He rocks the classic Kiwi Skellerup Red Band gumboots during track walks, and New Zealand chocolate company Whittaker’s hooked him up with a big care package after he gave them a casual shout-out during his first podium interviews.
“It was sick for them to reach out and send me a big pack,” Cole grins. “I’ve been munching on it pretty hard, but my favourite flavours are starting to get pretty low now.”
On the racing front, he also has some goals he’s yet to tick off, namely a round win.
“My main goal this year was to win a round. I’ve won heat races and a few Triple Crown races, but I want to put it all together,” he says. “It’d be good to keep third in the championship and it’d be a nice bonus at the end of the year, but my primary aim is to make the most of my good starting ability to get a supercross win, then back it up with a Pro Motocross round win. I think that’s realistic.”
After 2025, who knows what the future holds for him? Cole intends to stay based in the US and notch a few championships into his belt, and see how far he can take his career. Considering he’s still only 17, there’s every chance he could eclipse the American achievements of Ben Townley to become New Zealand’s most successful US export.
