Brown in rebuilding mode after latest injury setback

After scoring his first career supercross victory at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, then landing on the podium at Daytona International Speedway, followed by a fighting fifth overall at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team rider Pierce Brown was running up front in the 250SX East/West Showdown at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama when he hit the dirt in the main event and sustained a broken collarbone and a dislocated wrist.

One of four riders separated by a mere two points in the 250SX East Division title fray, the shunt sabotaged an excellent start to of the season for the rider out of Sandy, Utah. Now into his seventh year in the sport, Brown has dealt with a seemingly endless streak of injuries along the way and is looking at his 2026 campaign as a rebuilding year.

“Right now I’m in California,” said Brown. “I’m doing some physical therapy on my wrist. I dislocated it in Birmingham and got surgery on it that next Sunday. It’s kind of been a long road ever since. I tore the ligaments, so I’m waiting on the ligaments to get strong again so I can get back on a bike. Dr. G. (Rey Gubernick) has helped me a lot. I should be on the bike here in a few weeks, so I’m hoping to be back for RedBud. I’d say that is the goal. Maybe sooner if things go quicker. So far it’s just kind of been rehabbing as the goal. Shoot, it’s been seven weeks since I’ve been on a bike.”

Plagued by a litany of injuries and out of action for virtually the entire 2025 racing season due to a shattered T5 vertebrae, Brown has focused his ’26’ efforts on simply healing up.

"It has been tough,” he said. “Mentally, I’d say I’m in a good spot. The season started off really good for me. I had the red plate. That was the first time that I’ve had that on my bike, really ever in my career. It was really good. I won at Arlington, hit the podium in Daytona. At Indy, I fell in the first main and salvaged fifth overall that night. On paper, I was in the fight.

"Coming into the Birmingham weekend I felt really good. We got the bike really good and was pretty stoked about it all, but I had that fall in the main event that kind of hurt my title hopes and, honestly, my year. It’s another injury that I didn’t want. More time off the bike is not ideal. I had such a good first three rounds of the season, so it’s hard to dwell on it. I’ve come a long way in the last year, so I’m happy that the team is still behind me. They’ve been supportive. I think I’ll be fine. I just need to get back on a bike and get some seat time again and come back swinging.”

Displaying podium speed throughout the entire opening phase of the 2026 250SX East Division, it all came right for Brown at AT&T Stadium where he took the measure of rival Jo Shimda by 2.4s.

“That was a big night for me,” said Brown. “It was honestly a dream night. I felt really good in qualifying. It was my first race back in a while. I was kind of feeling everything out. I ended up getting a really good start in the main event and just went for it. It was cool to be able to ride to my potential and show what we can do in a season. I was coming in really prepared this season. I was in good form. We had a great ff season with the boys. Yeah, it was honestly like business as usual. It was expected from me and the team to go and do that. It was good.”

Brown continues to attend to his injuries while looking to return to racing action a handful of rounds into the approaching AMA Pro Motocross Championship.

“Like I said, I injured my ligament in my wrist,” said Brown. “They put pins in my wrist for the first six weeks, and I got those out last week. Now that I’ve got those out, I can start moving it a little bit. For so long, it had just been blocked, and my range of motion is non-existent. Right now we’re just getting the range of motion back and the strength back. I’ve been able to do a lot of off the bike training. I’ve been doing a lot of running and cycling, so I’m staying fit on that side of things. I’ll be ready to get back on a bike and start preparing for outdoors.

“Every time that you’re injured as a rider, I feel like the world kind of just forgets about you, you know?. Yeah, it sucks. I mean I’ve been able to find positives. I’ve taken some time for myself and just spend time with friends and family. That’s been nice to reconnect with them. But yeah, I definitely miss it. I’ve been watching the races on the couch every weekend and it sucks. In the East Coast there has been a bunch of injuries and the class is pretty thinned out. Watching it all is frustrating because I feel like there was a lot of opportunity for me to go out and do well and get some more wins and podiums and fight for that title. That was my goal this year – to go at it with Cole Davies. It is what it is. I’ve been doing what I can to learn from it and grow for next year and just come back even better. 

“Honestly, I just need to stay healthy the rest of the year and get some good motos under my belt. I want to get a full off season for next year. I want to come into next year swinging. I think that’s the main goal. I’m in a lot better spot this year than I was last year. Yeah, I’m stoked about that. Like I said, I found positives in it, but it does suck being hurt, you know? I hate watching the races from the couch.”

Up next when his doctors give him clearance will be the 2026 AMA Pro Motocross Championship.

“I’m excited for the outdoors because I really like outdoors,” he said. “I haven’t been able to do a whole lot of racing on this Yamaha outdoors and everyone knows it’s a rocket ship. I mean that’s something that I’ve been racing my whole life, but I’ve never been on that dominant bike. Now that I’m on the bike, I’m excited to see what I can do on it.

"Overall, I’m just excited to get back on the bike and get some gate drops, because I miss racing. It’s just different. You can practice for years on end, but nothing compares to actual racing and gate drops. For me, I just need to get back to it and stack some bricks. And I love Wil Hahn and all the guys on the team. They really do everything they can to win, and I think that matches my grit and energy, so it’s cool to be around guys like that.

"I just want to get back to racing. I think it’s pretty open for the class right now. Haiden Deegan is moving up and Cole Davies has a lot of momentum. There are some guys coming off some injuries, like me. I do think it’s possible for me to get some moto wins. That’s my goal. I want to get a podium. I’ve got a podium and a win in supercross, but never in outdoors. Yeah, that’s my goal. I think coming back to it, though, it’s hard to say. Coming into Arlington this year, I didn’t have much expectation. I wasn’t coming in like I was going to go win and dominate. I was confident. That’s how I want to take it in this outdoor season.”