Welcome to Racerhead, now fully engaged in the off-season. It's the first weekend off in a while, following that last four-race sprint through the 2022 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship. Both titles went down to the last round, though the 250 title wasn't very close at all, Team Honda HRC's Jett Lawrence successfully defending his title with another win—his ninth of the 12-race season. The 450 Class went down to the last moto and a very close battle between Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing's Eli Tomac and Honda HRC's Chase Sexton, with Tomac cementing his status as one of our country's all-time great riders by winning his fifth AMA Pro Motocross title. ET3 also won both the SX and MX titles this year, something he had not been done since Ryan Dungey did so in 2015. His seven major titles put him in the same stratosphere of great champions like Ricky Carmichael, Jeremy McGrath, Ryan Villopoto, Jeff Ward, Ricky Johnson, Bob Hannah, James Stewart, Broc Glover, Ryan Dungey….
Of course, there is one more big race to go here in America: the 2022 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations at RedBud on September 24–25. Tomac and Sexton will team up with 250cc rider Justin Cooper as Team USA tries to finally get back into the winner's circle, a place they haven't been since 2011. For Tomac, a win here would be the icing on the cake—he's never been on a winning MXoN team. For Sexton and Cooper, it would be another step forward in the ascendancy of their careers, and for American motocross in general it would be long-overdue relief.
Jason Weigandt posted a cool clip regarding Tomac's pro motocross career, which famously started with a win in his very first pro race at Hangtown in 2010, and a victory last Saturday at Fox Raceway for what very well may have been his last outdoor national—he's got a supercross-only deal for 2023 as he starts to wind down his career.
Tomac also joined a very rare club when he was handed the Edison Dye Cup by motocross commissioner Roy Janson. He’s one of only four riders to have won both the SX and MX titles after switching teams before the season started. Tomac, who was with Kawasaki last year, did what Ricky Carmichael did in 2002 when he went from Kawasaki to Honda, and then again in ’05 when he went from Honda to Suzuki. Before that, only Jeff Stanton did it in 1989, as he went from Yamaha to Honda. Finally, and firstly, there was Rick Johnson in 1986, the year he joined Team Honda after splitting with Yamaha.
Jett Lawrence kept his record perfect at Fox Raceway with his fifth win in five tries. He also was presented the Gary Jones Cup as 250cc Pro Motocross Champion. He’s also a double champion in 2022 and will ride 250SX for one more year, then move up to the 450 class next summer. Where does Lawrence rate on the all-timers for this class? I think it’s again RC, Stewart, Villopoto, and Glover, plus Marty Smith, Mark “Bomber” Barnett, and maybe Steve Lamson and Jeremy Martin.
Related: Fox Raceway 2 National Stats, Vlogs, & Rider Quotes
One sure thing is that Team Honda’s future looks very bright right now. Although Sexton came up a little short in his quest to finally end the title-less AMA streak the CRF450R has endured since 2004, he did help the team take the AMA Manufacturers’ Cup as well as earning Lars Lindstrom Team Manager of the Year honors. Even Eli Tomac himself said afterward that Sexton is “the next guy” in the 450 class, and that’s hard to argue with!
One other thing to point out is just what a great year Alpinestars has had. They went 1-2-3 in the 450 Class, with Tomac, Sexton, and Anderson, and 1-3 in the 250 Class with the Lawrence brothers. The gear brand also went 1-2 in AMA Supercross with Tomac and Anderson, and Jett won the 250SX East as well. The only AMA title Alpinestars didn’t win was 250SX West, which went to the THOR-clad Christian Craig. Has one gear brand ever had a better year?
While he wasn’t competing in the race due to an injury, Star Racing’s Levi Kitchen earned Marty Smith Rookie of the Year honors with his 11th overall finish in the 250 Class in his first full season. And we caught a glimpse of what next year’s Rookie of the Year candidates look like as Ryder DiFrancesco, Haiden Deegan, and Chance Hymas all lined up together for this last round. Deegan went 16-10, bouncing back from his big crash at his Ironman debut for 13th overall, while Hymas went 20-11 in his professional debut for 15th. Ryder D. was 15th in the first moto, one ahead of Deegan, but had problems in the second moto and only carded a 31st. And don’t forget about the very quick Talon Hawkins, who went 18-14 on his Husqvarna for 17th overall in his third national. (And it was interesting to watch two of the youngest riders in the race, Deegan and Hymas, battling with the oldest man out there, Marvin Musquin, as the veteran entered as a tune-up to be France’s man on the 250 at the MXoN. He bettered both of the boys in the second moto, but by only one spot. Hopefully both boys learned from the veteran!)
Finally, it was a relief to have the 2022 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship over and done with. The series had some real strong points, including huge crowds at almost every round and excellent racing throughout, as we as some unfortunate turns, like the streaming fiasco and the need to return to Fox Raceway for a second time, and it being so hot that the decision was made to add a half-hour between motos and shorten each moto by five minutes as a precaution. Next season, neither the streaming nor the second round at Fox Raceway will be an issue, as MX Sports Pro Racing is collaborating with Feld Motorsports on a common TV/streaming package and rulebook, as well as the brand-new three-round SuperMotocross World Championship, which will end where MX and SX first met back in 1972 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. You will be hearing a whole bunch more about that right after the Motocross of Nations.
With that, I would like to thank the fans who supported the races and the riders all summer long, despite the streaming issues, and the competitors and race teams themselves for participating. We got to see Ryan Dungey back out there, and Antonio Cairoli made a few bonus appearances—both unexpected gifts for all of us who enjoyed watching the two great masters over the years. And thanks to the officials, promoters, and industry folks who supported every round and helped make the 50th year of AMA Pro Motocross a special one.
Lastly—and this is a pretty cool little development—the last rider to score a point in the 2022 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, with 20th place in the second 450 moto at Fox Raceway, was Justin Jones, the son of Gary Jones, the man who won the first AMA 250 Pro Motocross title way back in 1972. What a cool way to end the 50th season.
Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)
The off-season is upon us! For most of the racing world, September is a time to rest, recover, and regroup. Most won’t race for at least a month or two, and this time off is really important to allow the body to hit the reset button. The wear and tear of the season is widely felt by everyone involved, but for the riders, they likely have nagging injuries they’ve been fighting through. Whether they’ll get some sort of procedure done to alleviate that or simply give themselves a chance to rest, the goal is to get back to full health by the time “boot camp” starts up in late October/early November. This first month is really the only time of year where rest is the number-one priority.
For those involved with Team USA, this week was likely a bit of a breather, but next week will be back to work. The momentum gained over the course of the past months will provide a nice tailwind as we all prepare for the showdown in Buchanan, Michigan. I would expect Tomac, Sexton, and Cooper to get back to their normal routine starting this Monday, utilizing an “off weekend” schedule that would ramp the workload during the week and then add rest over the weekend. That would transition into a normal race-week schedule: riding Monday and Wednesday, with travel Thursday rolling them right into the festivities starting Friday. There’s no standard roadmap for these one-off events, but the goal is to simply carry the same momentum and rhythm gained through 12 rounds of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross. If they can enter MXoN with their bodies thinking this is just another race weekend, that’s ideal. Their minds will be dealing with the pressures and stresses that this race imposes, but hopefully their bodies are ready to peak in late September.
For the next two weeks, it’s a tale of two cities. The majority of the riders and mechanics who aren’t on Team USA are enjoying the slowest time of the year. They can take a second to exert patience that the regular season doesn’t allow. For those lucky enough to represent the stars and stripes, though, the clock is ticking. There are endless preparations going on behind the scenes, everyone understanding the undivided attention that a home Motocross of Nations demands. These two divergences will grow throughout September. Those with time off will sink into that opportunity. Those with RedBud on their minds will ramp intensity into crescendo. Then, in October, everyone will gravitate back to the same playbook. Testing, base training, and new team integration (for those changing teams) will be the theme. November brings the torture that is “boot camp,” and that runs all the way into Christmas. For now, though, those who can rest will rest. Those who are preparing for battle will focus their thoughts and efforts on late September.
RIDING (Matthes)
The long season is over—29 races (I went to 22 or 23, I think) indoors and out, and just to end it all off, maybe the toughest race of the year happened at Fox Raceway 2. Wow, that was a scorcher and a tough day to just watch, never mind race in. Always interesting to see privateers outperform their usual standards the last race of the year, and the 2022 winner was Grant Harlan, because of course he would crush it riding Keefer's Honda (he normally races Kawasakis).
With the racing over, I got a chance to ride my Yamaha for the first time in, well, I'm not going to say, just that it's been a while. I headed to Glen Helen Raceway to meet Keefer, and honestly, it was fun. We got some rain, and the track was mint. Lots of fun had out there, and we parked by Nick Wey, who was there with his kid Vince and making big jetting changes because, well, it's Nick Wey. Joe Oehlhof came by, Travis Preston was there for Yamaha, and it all struck me as funny when we were talking. Like, I was probably in a tunnel with all four of these guys getting ready for a main event at some point 20 years ago. Now Wey and Joe are here with their kids, I'm here riding, and Preston is testing for Yamaha R&D. Life comes at you fast, everyone.
2023 Alpinestars Ride Evening (Keefer)
Alpinestars invited us out to Perris Raceway to try their new lineup of gear as well as ride with top pros like Eli Tomac, Chase Sexton, and Hunter and Jett Lawrence. Alpinestars took both outdoor titles this year with Eli and Jett, but what was really cool to see was Tomac ripping around a stock 2023 Yamaha YZ450F. Tomac was already on the track when I arrived (which was early), and from what I was told, he was out there for almost an hour doing photos and shredding laps. When Tomac got back from his initial ride (which was his first on a production-based 2023 YZ450F), you could see the smile on his face. I could overhear him telling the Star Racing mechanics he couldn't believe this was a stock YZ450F. He mentioned how easy it was to move around from side to side as well as dip into corners. I got to sit on the same bike, and it was noticeably skinnier and had a better rider triangle feel—it wasn't as cramped. We won’t get to fully test one of these until the third week of October, but I am champing at the bit.
As far as the 2023 Alpinestars intro, a good time was had by all. The new Alpinestars gear looks sick and feels good when riding. I only got to ride in the new SuperTech gear for about an hour, but that hour was around at a temp of 100 degrees. The ventilation of the gear is nice, as is the feel of the gear against your body. The SuperTech gear is more of an athletic fit, but it is nice and stretchy, so if you're on the cusp of a bigger size, the SuperTech materials will aid in giving you some extra stretch. The fit is less Euro-feeling and more Americanized, as the waist of the pant is true to size. I will be diving into the Alpinestars gear more in a future video, but we will have a video on the whole event soon right here on racerxonline.com.
WHAT OFF-SEASON? (Matthes)
I was looking at the calendar here in my kitchen the other day, and yeah, what off-season? I'm up in Idaho next week for four days with Motosport.com, then it's weekend off, and MXoN. Then a weekend off and I have a press conference to attend for the new SuperMotocross championship. After that, I'm in England for the FIM World Supercross Championship. Get back from that and it's Red Bull Straight Rhythm. Then take a vacation for a week (on a plane again), back from that and it's Paris SX. Geneva SX follows after that and what do you know? We're three weeks from Anaheim 1.
Help.
SAFFORD (Matthes)
A couple weeks back I did a podcast with legendary MX designer Kenny Safford, who worked for AXO for a long time in its heyday, along with Alpinestars, and has been at Mechanix Wear for a while now. Super talented guy who designed and came up with so many iconic products in the sport. Loved to hear the early AXO days along with the Peak/Pro Circuit look back in 1991. Check out the retro photo Kenny sent me. Tons of stories in here, take a listen below.
Hey, Watch It!
Ryan Ritter of The Media Pub and his team are trying to break into the media field. We invited them out to shoot the Moto Combine at Fox Raceway, which was won by Noah Viney, just to get a toe in the door, so to speak. Here’s their film—check it out and give their channel a follow:
Dirt Shark did a deep-dive on the Eli Tomac/Chase Sexton battle in his series finale:
AJ Catanzaro and Cam of The Moto Academy break down the moment Chase Sexton crashed in the second moto at Fox Raceway and effectively lost any chance of winning the title:
"Fast" Freddie Noren has been vlogging his racing this summer and he ended on a good note at Fox Raceway:
Here's another look at the "2-Stroke Race of the Century" which was the Vintage Motocross of Nations at Foxhills a couple weeks back, featuring Team USA's Ryan Villopoto, Zach Osborne and overall winner Mike Brown:
Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week
“Qatar warns World Cup fans about sneaking alcohol into country”—ESPN
Random Notes
Looking for some motorcycle racing to watch this weekend? Round 14 of the 2022 Progressive American Flat Track season. The Mission Springfield Mile presented by Drag Specialties will air Sunday at 11:30 a.m. ET (8:30 a.m. PT) only on FS1.
For more information on Progressive AFT visit https://www.americanflattrack.com.
Thanks for reading Racerhead. See you at the races!