Despite there being lots of public and private supercross tracks around nowadays, as well as SX Futures (though those races were a casualty this year of all of the restrictions brought on by COVID-19), supercross is still very difficult to learn. It takes a lot of work, testing, trial and error, and experience to really get the hang of it. Putting kids (and even veterans) out there for 17 rounds would be tough on bodies and wallets. All you have to do is look at who’s crashed out already to understand that more racing wouldn’t necessarily be better for 250-class riders still learning the stadium game.

Okay, off my soapbox. Here’s Matthes.

WACKERS (MATTHES)

Well, the 250SX "West" series kicked off with a bang, huh? Poor Troll Train! Poor J-Mart! Poor Greta Martin! One of the things that happened, amongst many, many things that happened, was Monster Energy/Pro Circuit's Cameron McAdoo making contact with an Alpinestars medic while Troll Train was KO'd. The red flag was out but Justin Cooper and McAdoo hadn't seen it yet when they rolled the triple, and then, as the medic was running to attend to Martin, McAdoo clipped him and the downed Troll Train in a rough-looking incident.

Here's the thing, though: to me and many others, this is not all on Cameron. The medic was running onto the track probably thinking it was a red flag but not knowing the leaders hadn't seen it yet. McAdoo was taking the same line Cooper did (not understanding the medic wasn't looking at him and was about to close the gap that was there), and in my opinion, both the medic and rider have to take the blame there, though I’m sure neither meant to be in that situation. Let's go with 50/50 blame pie.

In the end, everyone was fine. Troll Train didn't get any extra injuries, and the medic was okay, but McAdoo was definitely shaken up about the whole thing while he waited on the line for the restart. You know, we had Vince Friese on the show a couple of weeks ago after he made contact with Justin Barcia, and I thought I was rather sympathetic to his position, while others, like JT, were irate about how he didn't get out of Barcia's way. However, in that interview, Vince didn't really take any blame for Barcia going down. To me, that's the wrong tack to take. McAdoo was willing to take some of the blame for what happened. I don't know, I like Vince, but when you hear the two interviews … I know which one I prefer to hear, right?

Have a watch to Cameron's spot on the PulpMX Show here:

And Here’s One for Matthes (DC)

When Matthes had Tim Ferry as a guest on the PulpMX Show last week, they got into some good-natured poking at each other over the bonus that Matthes felt he deserved when “they” won the Summer Cross at the Los Angeles Coliseum. So, I dug the following little report out of an old Cycle News from the early 1980s to show how folks like Bob “Hurricane” Hannah treated his old wrench, Brian Lunnis—and they didn't even win Summer Cross.... 

BREAK TIME (JASON WEIGANDT)

Uncharted waters here with eight supercross races crammed into six weeks. That’s more racing than usual, but the riders also spent plenty of days not riding and just hanging in hotels, motor homes or houses in Houston and Indianapolis. The 450 riders made it through the eight-in-six stretch in pretty good shape, injury-wise. Big bummer to lose Adam Cianciarulo over the weekend to a collarbone injury after his big off in the whoops. I feel like Adam had really focused on jumping whoops when needed this year instead of hammering once they’re sketchy. (He had a few big ones in the whoops last year while skimming.) So, then he’s jumping whoops in Orlando and goes down. Supercross is hard, risky business!

Zach Osborne posted today that he has a bulging disc in his back, but he’s working hard on therapy and should be “closer to normal” at Daytona. We’ll also get Chase Sexton back on track by then. Jason Anderson and Marvin Musquin are finding their old form. I know the 250 class this year has been a complete mess of crashes and injuries, but the 450 group got through this jam-packed schedule pretty well. That was everyone’s main fear with the weekday races—if you get a nagging injury, it’s going to haunt you due to less recovery time. It worked out okay this time.

On that same front, Ken Roczen did lose some points to Cooper Webb over the last two races, but he’s still riding well. Through eight races, we haven’t seen the ups and downs that have ruined previous title attempts by Kenny. I was texting with his trainer Blake Savage, and Blake is really happy with the moves they made in the off-season and how the results are showing on the track. Let’s knock on wood for Kenny’s health, because Roczen versus Webb down the stretch for this title could be epic. After Daytona, it’s another three-race stint in Dallas and then some more time off. In some ways, this field is getting stronger as the races go on, so it will be interesting to see if some new winners pop up anytime soon.

Kailub Russell MX? (DC)

As you know by now, reigning GNCC Champion Kailub Russell is not racing in the 2021 AMA Grand National Cross Country Series. After winning eight straight overall titles for the FMF/KTM Factory Team, Russell decided to take a break from full-time off-road racing. Because he's still relatively young and in great shape (Kailub has spent a lot of time training at Aldon Baker's place with the KTM and Husqvarna factory SX/MX riders), he let folks know he’s considering lining up this summer in Lucas Oil Pro Motocross. He once raced the Unadilla 450 National and acquitted himself well with a sixth in the first moto, though it was in rather muddy conditions. With GNCC '21 getting started last weekend in South Carolina, the rumor mill started ginning up on Russell's possible summer plans. Kailub has always been a no-nonsense kind of guy, and he went ahead and signed up for the Vital MX board to address the rumors, including the “fake news” that he's “the grandson of the guy who invented GNCC.” Here's what he wrote:

So, who won the 24th Annual Big Buck GNCC opener in South Carolina? Grant Baylor in the GNCC debut of GasGas. He topped Russell's training partner Thad Duvall of the Rockstar Husqvarna team and Monster Energy/Babbitt's Kawasaki's Josh Strang.

MOTOCAR FITE KLUB (WEIGANDT)

I just had the most fun few days I’ve had since … Daytona just about 12 months ago. Spent Wednesday and Thursday near Greenville, South Carolina (my favorite town in the USA, bar none, no joke), hanging out with all sorts of friends for MotoCar Fite Klub. The race took place last night and the race was … ah, whatever What was really fun was just having a good time at a race. Remember what that felt like? Ever since Daytona 51 weeks ago, every race has had the “let’s just get through this and survive” vibe. Fun? Completely and totally not a priority over the last 12 months. Do you remember fun? Do I remember fun? I do not remember fun.

Part of the appeal of motorcycle riding is motorcycle people. We come for the dirt bikes, but we stay for the tailgate bench racing sessions and for the beers in the garage. That’s been largely eradicated for a while, but I got a good fill on Wednesday and Thursday. Down in Greenville I grabbed lunch each day with Chase Stallo, who I’ve worked with here at Racer X for years but now lives in South Carolina doing work with the relaunched Vurb Moto. I hung out with Randy “FMIP: Fastest Man in Piedmont” Richardson and all of his buddies, who I’ve known for 20 years. Then the Fite Klub crew itself. Oh man, it was cool to just to be a fly on the wall while the likes of Chad Reed, Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael, Ryan Dungey, Brian Deegan, and Justin Brayton tried to get the hang of late-model dirt cars. Wednesday’s practice was eye-opening, and then the boys did a Q&A with a limited number of socially distant fans to raise money for Road 2 Recovery. Who wouldn’t sign up for a bench racing session with these guys?

The race took place last night. Deegan bested McGrath in the head-to-head bracket final, but McGrath won the main event. Yeah, the guys who had the most experience driving on dirt (Deegan and MC, who are proven champions in off-road trucks) were good, but by the main event, the competitiveness and aggression were starting to rise to the surface. Brayton and Dungey bumped and Dungey went into the wall hard, and his car even caught on fire! He was okay, though. At one point Deegan got sideways and got tagged by RC, ending his run. Then Brayton and Reed went door-to-door late in the race in a battle for second. Brayton spun on the last lap trying to make the pass, which allowed Carmichael to cruise by and inherit third. Making “the podium” meant zero. They didn’t even have a podium to stand on! Yet Brayton was madder than I’ve seen him after a dirt bike race for giving that spot away.

Then Reed threw some friendly trash talk RC’s way because he finished ahead of him. Reed also mentioned “the King is still the King!” toward McGrath, who took the win.

Okay, so here’s what’s crazy about all of this: You had this world-class legends group of talent, all racing at Traveler’s Rest Speedway in South Carolina. They did the fan Q&A at a local restaurant in Greer, South Carolina. These are tiny, tiny towns. Also, these were just local late-model dirt cars—they weren’t high-tech racing machines by any stretch of the imagination. These riders have all been involved with much, much bigger stuff than this, but no one ever felt like it was beneath them. It was hilarious and crazy that these guys showed up to do this, and every single one said they would love to do it again.

Shoutout, by the way, to Eddie Ray and Jessica Patterson, who own Traveler’s Rest Speedway. Yes, that Jessica Patterson, one of the fastest female motocross riders of all time. Jess and Eddie moved to Traveler's Rest years ago to ride for Randy Hawkins' Am-Pro Yamaha GNCC team, which is local, and they decided to stay forever and even buy some tracks!

I think it helped that everyone knew they were in good hands, as everyone knows Eddie and Jess. We also saw a fun contingent of NASCAR folks come down, like this kid named Ty Gibbs who is now famous for winning the Xfinity race at Daytona last weekend. Ty is the son of Coy Gibbs, who owned JGRMX (and the grandson of Joe Gibbs). Ty is now considered perhaps NASCAR’s next big star—or is that Hailie Deegan? She was also there to watch her dad race.

Oh, and did you know Greenville has a big road cycling vibe? George Hincapie, a legend in cycling circles, owns this amazing hotel, Hotel Domestique, nearby, so he came to check out the event and cheer on his buddy Christian Vande Velde. It was a really strange interplay of so many worlds—supercross, NASCAR, and cycling at a random track on a random Thursday in a tiny town in South Carolina. Plus, it felt like it took place in 2019. How weird is that?

RARE SWEEP (ANDRAS HEGYI)

Last Saturday night, all four Japanese brands were missing from the 450SX podium for the first time in the 2021 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship. Red Bull KTM’s Cooper Webb won, teammate Marvin Musquin was the runner-up, and third place was the Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas Factory Racing bike of Justin Barcia. How rare is it that Japanese brands miss the podium in AMA Supercross, in existence since 1974? Very rare, though less so in the last six seasons.

Between 1974 and 2015, at least one rider from Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, or Yamaha reached the podium in every main event. The situation changed in 2016, after 42 years and in the 617th main event in history. At Ford Field in Detroit, Rockstar Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson topped Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin and Ryan Dungey. This was the race where Dungey actually crossed the finish line first but was then penalized two spots for not adhering to a wheels-on-the-ground flag that had come out for a downed rider.

After that controversial race in Detroit, non-Japanese brands swept the 450SX podium at East Rutherford in 2017, San Diego in '18, and then again at Oakland, Atlanta, Indianapolis, and Houston in 2019. Finally, last year at the final Salt Lake City round of 2020, Rockstar Husqvarna riders Zach Osborne, Jason Anderson, and Dean Wilson went 1-2-3. 

While Orlando 2 was the 699th round in the history of AMA Supercross, it was only the ninth main event ever swept by European brands. Also don't forget that the 700th round of 250/450 supercross will be the Daytona SX on March 6—the same place as the first AMA Supercross in 1974.

REMEMBER THAT TRAILER? (DC)

Remember the old trailer that David Lepley spotted down in Florida and then asked if anyone knew who it belonged to? Got this email yesterday solving the mystery, and also doing some bench-racing….

THE CORRECTIONS (DC)

Last week I had a small bench-racing tip-over in Racerhead when I mentioned that Rick Johnson won the 1984 Orlando SX on a white Yamaha—but they were actually still yellow in '84. They didn’t go to white bikes until the last race of 1984, the November 3, 1984 Superbowl of Motocross at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Also, we saw this comment from reader John Osborne:

Unfortunately, I missed the '84 Orlando SX and had no idea it was such a great battle between RJ and Dogger. There must have been something about Orlando, because Lechien won his first SX there in '83, almost won in '84, then came back and won there again in 1985! Maybe Cooper Webb has been channeling the Dogger's Orlando vibes, because he just got two in a row down there.

Opening Round Winners x 2 (Andras Hegyi)

So far there have been 55 riders to win a season opener in the history of the 125/250 SX. Last Saturday night in Orlando, Justin Cooper became the 14th racer to win in at least two 125/250SX season openers. The record holder is Kawasaki’s Jeff Matiasevich, who won the most season openers. He did it four different times in the small-bore division … sorta. “Chicken” won the Anaheim ’87 West opener, then in ’88 he won Houston (East-West combined) and then Seattle the next weekend (West). The next year he won Anaheim (West) again to complete his unique run.

A couple years later, the late Brian Swink won three openers: Orlando ’91 (East) Orlando again (East), and then Houston (East/West combined). Ezra Lusk would pull off the same trick in 1993-’94, winning Orlando ’93 and ’94 (East) and then Houston (East/West).

Here are the riders to win at least season opener rounds in 125/250 SX:

Jeff Matiasevich (1987, ‘88, ‘88, ‘89)
Brian Swink (1991, ‘92, ‘92)
Ezra Lusk (1993, ‘94, ‘94)
Shane McElrath (2017, ‘18, ‘20)
John Dowd (1997, ‘98)
Ernesto Fonseca (1999, ‘01)
Travis Preston (2002, ‘03)
Davi Millsaps (2005, ‘06)
Ryan Dungey (2007, ‘08)
Jake Weimer (2009, ‘10)
Christophe Pourcel (2009, ‘10)
Kevin Windham (1996, ‘97)
Justin Barcia (2011, ‘12)
Justin Cooper (2020, ‘21)

FREDDY VAN'S (DC)

Last Friday we posted a note from Eric Golden about trying to find some info about the old track in Pittsburg, Kansas, called Freddy Van's Cycle Land, host of the first standalone AMA Minicycle National in 1975. Here's a cool response we got from Nathan Edmonds:

We also got this information on Freddy Van's forwarded to us from Eric Golden, via Mark Rausch.

The Corrections, Part 2 (DC)

Earlier this week my esteemed colleague Mitch Kendra delivered the News & Notes from Orlando 2 and included all of the debut rides that were of note in what was the farthest-east opener of the West Region in the history of AMA Supercross. 

Seth Hammaker | 6th in the main event

Nate Thrasher | 11th in the main event

Dilan Schwartz | 17th in the main event

Jarrett Frye | 19th in the main event.

Carson Mumford | DNQ for main event

Ty Masterpool | DNQ for main event

Jake Masterpool | DNQ for main event

Dominique Thury| DNQ for main event

But Mitch accidentally left one guy out: Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's Stilez Robertson. The Californian raced a few 250 Pro Motocross rounds last year after Loretta Lynn's, but Orlando 2 was his first Monster Energy AMA Supercross. And while it got off to a pretty good start—Stilez was fourth in his heat race—he then tangled in traffic with the veteran Jeremy Martin off the start, with both going down. The crash left Star Racing Yamaha's Martin with a banged-up shoulder that's been the question of the week—how bad is it? As for Robertson, he got back in the race for the restart that caused by the crash of the other Martin, Alex, albeit with his front fender. Robertson ended up 18th in his debut. We imagine he will do much better next time, hopefully with a front fender and without a big early crash.

MXON REDUX (DC)

We noticed on a French website that InFront (Youthstream) has moved the 2021 Motocross of Nations again. It was set to be at Imola in Italy, at a setting similar to the biggest MXoN we have ever been to, in 2009 at Brescia in the infield of a big race car track. The date is still September 26, but the actual location is a question mark again—though they did leave the Italian flag up next to the date on MXGP.com. Imola not hosting the 2021 race was announced a couple weeks ago.

As we've mentioned here before, while every series has been challenged by the COVID-19 crisis and all of the restrictions that have come with it, MXGP is in a particularly difficult position. While SX/MX here in America has to deal with various state restrictions and regulations, MXGP has to deal with whole countries that have different limitations and opportunities to have fans attend. They have also pushed back from an early-April start to now looking at the Netherlands on May 23. From there they hope to visit Latvia (which held a tripleheader last year as the series resumed) and then Russia, followed by a couple in Indonesia, then back to Belgium. They also have seven rounds set for after the Motocross of Nations in September, as everyone hopes the pandemic will mostly be over by the fall. Still, it will be interesting to see how the MXGP-based riders and teams approach a break in the championship to run the Motocross of Nations. The MXoN is the biggest race of all, and no doubt everyone wants it back after having to completely cancel last year's event in Ernée, France. Here's hoping things get better soon and a good home is found for the biggest race of all. 

The april 2021 ISSUE OF raCER X MAGAZINE IS NOW AVAILABLE

Hey, Watch It!

Alex Martin hit his head during the main event at Orlando 2 and his vlog from this week caught every detail leading up to and following that moment. The end is downright hilarious!

Kellen Brauer did another fine job in his Race eXamination:

Highlights from the 24^th Annual VP Racing Fuels Big Buck GNCC:

Cameron McAdoo’s Orlando 2 recap/apology:

Listen To This

When GasGas rolled up to the starting line in 2021, it became the latest in a long line of brands to participate in AMA sanctioned racing. In the newest Racer X Read Aloud, Davey Coombs reads his feature article "Brand Exchange" from the April 2021 issue of Racer X magazine.

For more from DC, Jason Weigandt, Steve Matthes, and the rest of the Racer X crew, subscribe to Racer X.

Racer X Read Aloud is brought to you by Renthal.

Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week

“Axell Hodges, Vicki Golden, and More Featured in Juice Wrld’s “Conversations” Music Video”—Exhaust

“DWI charges dropped against Bruce Springsteen, who pleads guilty to just drinking in the park”—CNN.com

“38% of Americans would give up sex for a year just to travel again, survey finds”—CNBC.com

“A Mister No More: Mr. Potato Head Goes Gender Neutral”—Associated Press

Random Notes

Kevin Moranz

Check out the cool BOXO Toolboxes that will be handed out to the winners of premier classes at the upcoming 2021 MX-vs.-ATV Ricky Carmichael AMA Amateur Supercross at Daytona International Speedway. These three-drawer boxes will go to the winners of the 250 A, Futures, 250 B and Super-Mini and ATV Pro overall winner. All other classes will get a smaller BOXO RSCX Toolbox.

The 6th Annual Pro Circuit Open, presented by Kawasaki, has a new venue for 2021: Dade City MX. The Pro Circuit Open will take place on Thursday night, March 4, at 7:00 p.m. (Gates Open at 3:00pm • Pro Practice 5:00p • Amateur Practice 5:30) The race offers a $10,000 Pro Purse (1st: $4000; 2nd: $2500; 3rd: $1500; 4th: $700; 5th: $500; 6th: $350; 7th: $225; 8th: $100; 9th: $75; 10th: $50.

$500 Hollywood Racing Pro Holeshot Award

$500 Hollywood Qualifier Cash

Supercross Format (Mains). Classes: 50cc 4-8 Open • 65cc 7-11 Open • 85cc-112 9-16 Open • B Open • C Open • Advanced Women Open • Pro Open Class. Entry fees: $50 Pro $30 Amateur

Dade City MX

36722 State Rd. 52 

Dade City, FL 33525

For more follow them on Instagram: @procircuitopen

Dylan Ferrandis gracing the cover of the latest Parts Magazine for dealers.