José Butrón

José Antonio Butrón Oliva (born 27 January 1991) is a Spanish professional Motocross racer.

His first came in 2001 when he became champion of the 'Trofeo Alevín 65cc' class and was followed by five further titles over the next five years.

He rode at the FIM Motocross Junior World Championship in 2004 and when he returned to the championship in 2005, he came away with second overall in the 85cc class.

Moving up to the 125 class in 2006, Butrón was able to become champion of the 125cc Junior class in Spain and finish seventh overall in the 125cc class of the Junior World Championship.

Butrón competed in the Motocross World Championship from 2008 to 2021, finishing third in the final standings of the MX2 class in the 2013 FIM Motocross World Championship.

After taking a step back from full-time world championship competition after the 2021 season, Butrón won the 2022 European Motocross Championship in the EMXOpen class.

Butrón has represented Spain at the Motocross des Nations on ten separate occasions.

In addition to this, he is one of the most successful riders in the history of the Spanish Motocross Championship, winning nine senior titles and six junior titles.

He became Czech Motocross Champion in 2021 and has more recently spent time riding in the AMA Motocross Championship, as well as in Venezuela, following the conclusion of his fulltime world championship career.

Butrón rose through the junior categories in his native Spain, picking up several national titles.

By the 2008 season, Butrón was competing for the Gariboldi Racing Yamaha team in the EMX2 class in the European Motocross Championship.

He started the season brightly, winning the opening round in his native Spain, but ultimately missed several rounds later in the season.

In addition, he made his world championship debut in the MX2 class at the final round of the 2008 FIM Motocross World Championship.

Following this, he received backing in 2009 from the Dutch Beursfoon team, initially on a KTM before switching to Suzuki, mainly competing in the MX2 class of the 2009 FIM Motocross World Championship.

He made his first start of the season at the Spanish round, scoring his first world championship points in the second race.

Gradually improving over the next four rounds, he would score a season's best result of tenth in the second race at the Latvian round.

At the following round in Sweden, Butrón sustained a fractured fibula and was only able to return for the final two rounds.

Butrón continued with the Dutch Beursfoon team for the 2010 FIM Motocross World Championship, where he experienced a challenging campaign in the MX2 class.

At the final two rounds of the season he moved up to the MX1 class to replace the injured Kevin Strijbos.

Domestically, he Butrón was able win his first senior title in the Spanish Motocross Championship by picking up the MX2 title.

At the end of the season, he made his debut at the Motocross des Nations for Spain, with the team finishing thirteenth overall.

The 2011 FIM Motocross World Championship season saw Butrón return to riding a KTM, this time for the Italian Silver Action team.

The move saw an improvement in fortunes at World Championship level, finishing fourteenth in the final MX2 standings and recording a best finish of seventh in the final race of the season.

Following this, he made his second appearance at the Motocross des Nations, helping Spain finishing in eighth position in the final standings.

He moved to the Diga Racing KTM team for the 2012 FIM Motocross World Championship, a move that again saw him pick up his first world championship overall podium at the fifth round in Brazil.

Butrón continued to post consistent results throughout the rest of the season, eventually finishing eighth in the final standings.

In the Spanish Motocross Championship, he finished third overall in the MX Elite class after winning eight races before representing his country for the third time at the 2012 Motocross des Nations.

For the 2013 FIM Motocross World Championship, Butrón returned to the Silver Action team, a move that would ultimately see him achieve his best results at World Championship level.

Being a consistent feature at the front, he picked up three overall podiums across the opening six rounds, before winning the second MX2 race in Brazil and in doing so being the first rider to beat Jeffrey Herlings in 2013.

After picking up three further podiums in the remainder of the season, Butrón's consistency – scoring in all but two races, saw him finish in third in the final MX2 standings.

Domestically, Butrón won the Elite-MX1 class of the Spanish Motocross Championship in dominant fashion in 2013, winning all but one race across the championship's seven rounds.

Following these achievements, he made his fourth appearance for Spain at the Motocross des Nations in 2013, recording the team's highest individual finish in the main races.

The 2014 FIM Motocross World Championship would be Butrón's last year in the MX2 class and despite scoring in all but two races throughout the season, he did not manage to reach the heights of the previous year, ultimately finishing ninth in the championship without any podiums or a single race top-three finish to his name.

At the Spanish Championship he was able to successfully defend his Elite-MX1 class title, this time achieving a perfect season, winning every single race across the eight round season.

Once again selected for Spain at the Motocross des Nations, the team was not able to qualify for the main races, with Butrón moving up to a 450 to ride in the MXGP class and finishing second in the B-Final individually.

Due to the under-23 age rule, Butrón had to move the MXGP class for the 2015 FIM Motocross World Championship, finding a home at the Marchetti Racing KTM Team.

The transition proved to be difficult for Butrón, although he did record several top-ten race finished towards the end of the season, with a best race finish of seventh in Latvia.

Back in Spain, Butrón won his third Elite-MX1 championship in a row, again recording a perfect season, making him unbeaten for two years domestically.

At that season's Motocross des Nations in France, Butrón formed part of the Spanish team that finished eleventh in the final standings.

He extended his time with the Marchetti team for the 2016 FIM Motocross World Championship, recording four top-ten race finishes but mainly finishing in the early to-mid teens for fifteenth in the final standings.