Swiss veteran Valentin Guillod began the 2025 FIM Motocross World Championship as a full privateer: a stock bike, petrol station fuel, a van, and a parts budget that didn’t stretch far enough for him to willingly line up at the Cozar mudder at round two. However, as many loyal MXGP followers know, Guillod can piece together strong results on any given terrain, and his fifth place in race two in Argentina reinforced that. As we all know, though, running a professional program is hard to do, especially with a small group of friends, family and sponsors.

A broken collarbone at his home GP in Switzerland acted as the catalyst for a new spark in Guillod’s career. He decided to contest the full Pro Motocross series stateside with the Rock River Yamaha Racing squad, and his results spoke for themselves: ninth overall in Pro Motocross and a direct qualification into the SMX playoffs, where he finished 16th overall, taking home a solid reward for his efforts.

“2025 was a amazing year, I learned so much about myself!” he told Cult Moto. “It was my goal to show, I could finish p5 in Argentina with a stock bike and fuel from the pump station, and we achieved that. I always said I want to do one race outdoor before the end of my career and 2025 was a good year to make a full season. And then, to finish 9th overall outdoors with P6 best race finish and to make a dream come true racing outdoor, was honestly amazing! SMX was a super experience and it actually gave me this motivation to race supercross in 2026.”

Valentin Guillod racing the 2025 Ironman Narional – where he secured 12th O/A

These strong results didn’t just tick off a dream of his, they came with financial rewards for Guillod, including a contract for 2026 that features a salary and bonuses. The financial factor is something he is certainly happy with – highlighting the differences between MXGP and AMA.

“At the end of 2025, I made more money than I did twice finishing 9th in the MXGP overall championship. That’s without a salary, just prize money from the races, Yamaha contingency and SMX prize money and this was in only 14 races. Then add in, that it gave me a contract for 2026 with a good salary and bonus. So yeah, 2025 was an awesome year for me!”

Now, Guillod is gearing up to compete in the full 250SX East campaign with the Rock River Yamaha Racing team before another full season aboard a YZ450 for Pro Motocross. Whilst the SMX playoffs certainly provided an introduction to supercross, it is still something the Swiss rider is completely new to, with a blank canvas other than some European supercross experience back in 2014–2015.

“I’m very happy to make a dream come true, and race an AMA supercross. I have been always watching, dreaming about it but I wasn’t thinking one day I will race. It’s nice to learn something new, even I had a bit experience from Europe supercross I raced in 2014-2015. But here it’s way bigger, tighter and sharper. I’ve been on 5 different tracks over here and of course, the weather in Florida is great to ride but also to go cycling!”

2015 marked the last time Guillod raced a 250cc machine at world level, however, he is feeling confident on the small bike and admits there are some slight riding style adjustments he has been making to maximise the smaller engine. Whilst his experience is a small sample size, the Swiss rider has high hopes and expectations of being within the top-10 mix to begin with, with his eyes set on the top-five by the season’s end.

“I’m enjoying to ride the 250, I am feeling strong on it. The biggest work I have had to do and I still have to remember every time I ride, it’s to be aggressive, to open strong my throttle. and not to wait and open the gas like the 450. My goals are to be in the top-10, so in the first few races if I can be 10th-12th it’s fine, after few races 7-10 and if I can touch a top-5 will be awesome.”

Despite his success last season, Guillod wouldn’t actually suggest that young European racers, who may be at a crossroads, come over to America to chase the dream. He believes a young Valentin would not be able to achieve the results he did, for a variety of reasons.

“If I came earlier in my career, I wouldn’t have achieved those good results. Because racing, it’s very, very difficult here. The conditions are so hot, the guys are going so fast. And mentally it’s not easy, you are far from home and family. You don’t have many friends here. Like me I was living in a caravan with a friend for 4 months. 2025 was the good year to come. So if they are a bit lost, it is better to stay in Europe and go for some national championship. But for sure if it’s a dream, you have to try it. But don’t think it’s easy, because watching from the sofa it’s always easy. And when the American race MXoN they are not racing them real level, because the tracks are not the same prepared.

A feel good story from 2025, and it is awesome to see Valentin behind the gate for the 250SX East campaign!