Welcome to Racerhead, coming to you on the eve of the last day of the 2021 season—at least here in the U.S. The Hangtown Classic will mark the 12^th and final round of Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross. Last weekend we crowned the 450 champion as Monster Energy/Star/Yamaha Racing’s Dylan Ferrandis became the first Frenchman in 30 years—since Jean-Michel Bayle— to win the 450 title, as well as the only Frenchman to win AMA Pro Motocross titles in back-to-back seasons. Both Dylan and his team won the Edison Dye Cup in their very first season in the class. The 250 title (and the Gary Jones Cup that goes with it) is still up for grabs between Team Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence and Star Racing’s Justin Cooper. If Lawrence wins, he will be the first Honda factory team rider since Steve Lamson in 1996 to win this title, as well as the first Australian ever in the 250 class (Chad Reed won the 450 title in 2009). And if Cooper wins, he will be yet another 250 MX champion from the Star Yamaha machine, following in the boot steps of Jeremy Martin, Cooper Webb, Aaron Plessinger, and, just last year, Ferrandis. But Cooper has his work cut out for him as the red-hot Lawrence has a 23-point lead after his 1-1 finishes at Ironman and then Fox Raceway at Pala last week.

And for the Hangtown Classic, tomorrow’s race is a welcome return for what is actually the oldest event on the national schedule, and usually the opener of the series. In 2020, the Dirt Diggers North Motorcycle Club, who first hosted this race in the late 1960s, had to cancel due to COVID-19 restrictions. They also wanted to go last in 2021 to give themselves the best chance to be able to go, as last winter it seemed like the pandemic would be over by now. Unfortunately, it’s not over, but the state of California is still letting the Prairie City OHRV Park have a race and a crowd this weekend. And that means the five tracks that all had to sit out 2020—Unadilla, Southwick, High Point, Budds Creek, and Hangtown—all got to back on the schedule in 2021.

That doesn’t mean there wasn’t some concern about Hangtown. There were other threats to the event, including the drought out here in California, which means there is a scarcity of water, as well as the subsequent wild fires that are still burning up around Lake Tahoe, which is not far from this track. As a matter of fact, it actually rained last night here—a blessed and welcomed event. It won’t be a mudder by any means, and the rain certainly helped the track crew (and the firefighters).

With Dylan Ferrandis having clinched the 450 Class title, someone posed the question as to whether or not he would be able to drop down into the 250 Class for this last race if he wanted to (though he does not want to do it). The answer is yes; there’s no rule in Pro Motocross that makes a rider stay in one class or the other for the entire series, though they can only race one class at any given race. In 2001, Ricky Carmichael did it, having clinched the 250 (now 450) title early. At the time RC was in a tie with Mark Barnett for the most 125 National wins at 25 each, so the Kawasaki factory rider lined up on a KX125 for the final round of the series, Steel City in Pennsylvania. Ricky won (with a little help from Mike Brown) and took sole possession of the record in what turned out to be his last race with Kawasaki. Within three years James Stewart would obliterate that record and take it to 28 wins.

And speaking of 2001, the Steel City National took place on Sunday, September 2. After the race, Carmichael stuck around Steel City and so did Team Honda. Carmichael had already signed a deal for 2002 and beyond and wanted to immediately get a feel for the bike because he would be riding his new Honda CR250 in the 2001 FIM Motocross of Nations, set to be held in Namur, Belgium, in two weeks’ time.

Of course, everything changed on September 11, 2001. Terrorists hijacked four commercial flights filled with unknowing passengers and crashed the planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The world as we know it would never be the same, we now know, but back on that terrible day it was hard to tell what was even happening. The whole idea of an American contingent of three riders—Carmichael, Kevin Windham, and Mike Brown—and their respective teams, family, and officials going to Europe just a week later was suddenly absurd.

Two decades later we’re on the eve of the 20^th anniversary of that terrible day, and commemorations are taking place all over the country as people remember and talk about where they were that day, watching it all go down, and what it all meant in hindsight. But one story from that day has been largely untold—until now. Whatever happened to Team USA 2001 and the three bikes that were supposed to be headed to Namur, Belgium? Our colleague and special contributor Brett Smith of WeWentFast just posted his latest story “No Planes in the Sky: The Grounding of Team USA 2001.” And you can read it right here, for free: https://www.wewentfast.com/2021/09/10/no-planes-in-the-sky-the-grounding-of-team-usa-2001/

And speaking of 9/11, take a moment tomorrow to think of all that we lost during that terrible attack, not just the people, but the freedoms we all seemed to take for granted until that fateful day. September 11, 2001, changed the world, and it still hasn’t changed back. What a different world we lived in on September 10, 2001…

Big Changes for #25 (DC)

Red Bull KTM announced this week that the veteran Marvin Musquin, 31, will race supercross only in 2022. Also, Musquin, who went home from the Ironman National in Indiana after testing positive for COVID-19 the morning of the race, will not ride for Team France in the upcoming FIM Motocross Nations. 

“I’m really happy to extend my contract for another year making 12 years racing in the U.S. and 14 years in total with the with the Red Bull KTM family!" said Musquin in the press release on his new deal. "It’s no secret that everyone on the team is like family to me. It will be another fun challenge working with the new bike, which will be a lot more work but that’s exciting! I look forward to focusing my efforts on the supercross series and to the supercross schedule being back to normal starting back at Anaheim in January!" 

“Marvin will be back for another supercross season and I think he wants to prove to us that he is like fine wine and gets better with time," added Roger De Coster.

Musquin has had a long and unique career, first on the MXGP circuit, and for the last dozen years, here in the U.S. In 2009 he came out of practically nowhere to lead the MX2 World Championships on a semi-privateer Honda. KTM took notice and decided to hire him to a real factory deal mid-season. Musquin's previous team sued him, causing him to sit out a round of the championship. When he returned he was a Red Bull KTM factory rider, and he's stayed with the brand ever since. He also won that '09 MX2 world title, and then successfully defended it in 2010. Then he came to America and has been a steady presence up front pretty much ever since. He won the 2015 SX East Region title, he finished in the top three overall in 450SX three times, and was top-three four times in 450 outdoors. He also finished second in four different major championship series, but never quite got a #1 plate.

Now, it’s hard to believe Musquin, one of the friendliest and most respected riders in the paddock, may never race the Hangtown Motocross Classic again (Musquin is out for tomorrow). Marvin and his wife Mathilde will be sorely missed at Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross, where he was a race winner 17 different times over the years, every single time with Red Bull KTM. Good luck in SX 2022, Marvin, and thanks for spending all these years racing here in America.

Racers 4 Waverly/Yamaha/Pulpmx Show

Thanks to the folks at Yamaha, we here at the PulpMX Show are raffling off a 2022 Yamaha YZ125 and all the money will go to the Racers 4 Waverly fund. We're happy to help out and send some cash that way. Tickets are just $25 and you could win yourself a sweet two-stroke! 

Also, Road 2 Recovery has put together an amazing collection of motocross gear and memorabilia from the top riders and teams in Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross, as well as other goodies like a couple of Specialized Bicycles, Skull Candy Ear Buds, Dunlop Tires, Legends posters, and much, much more. Do your Christmas shopping early, grab some awesome collectibles, and help the racers help the townspeople of Waverly who lost everything in last month’s deadly flood: Click here.

No Planes in the Sky: The Grounding of Team USA 2001

Read the full longform over on WeWentFast.com.

The Green Mile (Jason Weigandt)

This weekend marks the final run for Eli Tomac with Monster Energy Kawasaki—and what a way to go out. Tomac has grabbed two wins in a row now heading to Hangtown, the site of some of his best rides. That includes winning the first pro race of his career, in his actual pro debut, in 2010, and that amazing 2015 ride where he won moto two by over a minute. He’s won the race a few more times since then. Three in a row to end his Kawasaki run would once again prove that rider/team combos in the trenches usually fight to the end even if contract negotiations at the top don’t come together. Remember, Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart both logged 24-0 perfect seasons while riding for teams they were going to leave at the end of the season.

Tomac will go to Monster Energy/Star/Yamaha Racing next year. Watching Dylan Ferrandis, Aaron Plessinger and Christian Craig perform for that team this summer, the prospect of Tomac winning on a Yamaha looks a lot better now than it did when we first heard about this signing during supercross. One person who will not go to Star is Eli's long time mechanic, Brian Kranz, who has been with Eli since the start of the 2011 season. Kranz will stay with Kawasaki and take a job in-house at the race shop, so this weekend will mark his final as a race mechanic. Kranz has been there for every Tomac win besides that Hangtown pro debut in 2010, and he moved from GEICO Honda to Kawasaki with Eli for the 2016 season. Thanks to our friends at the MX Research dept, who help us with stats for the TV broadcasts, we have unofficially determined that the Tomac/Kranz combo is second all-time in AMA wins. Only Ricky Carmichael and Chad Watts have more. I say this is unofficial because there tend to be occasional races here and there that a mechanic might miss due to travel, injury, illness, or family obligations. We do know Watts was the mechanic of record for Carmichael from 1997 to the start of the 2003 season, and they amassed 90 wins during that time. Tomac and Kranz have won 83 races during their time from 2011 through now. This puts them ahead of super teams like McGrath/Norfolk (71 wins by our calculations), Carmichael with Mike Gosselaar (71 wins) and James Stewart with Jeremy Albrecht (73 wins). It’s hard to pin these down officially, as a mechanic might miss a race here or there. We’ll get into a deeper rundown of all-time rider/mechanic combos next week, but suffice to say it has been an all-time run from Tomac and Kranz together. Really, Eli's career is probably underrated. We're in the moment right now, comparing him to the riders he races on the track every weekend. Start looking at some of his numbers compared to the all-timers, and, well, Eli is an all-timer.

As for the rest of the series, I think everyone knows what’s on the line this weekend. Jett and Justin and still battling, but it’s looking good for Jett. In the 450s, you know Tomac is riding the hot hand, but what will Dylan Ferrandis bring now that the title is finished? Less pressure and even better riding? Or is he just finished, emotionally and physically? We’ll see on Saturday.

NUMBERS (Matthes)

Looks good for THE JETT to wrap up the 250 National Championship this weekend and of course, Dylan Ferrandis already got the 450 MX crown, so the real battle at Hangtown is for national number ranking of course!

My buddy Dan Truman keeps track of points and HERE are the stats going into this weekend. 

Now of course things could change a bit with this list if Ferrandis takes a single digit number (numbers 4, 5, and 8 are open) but he had that option last year and stuck with #14. But of course, #4 wasn't open last year and that's a number he ran in GPs, so it's possible he switches. [Ed. note: Sitting here in the MX Sports Pro Racing rig with Mike Pelletier of the AMA and he said he’s reaching out to see if Blake Baggett has any plans of coming back or not, stay tuned. —DC] The JETT can take a career number this year, win or lose the title, but he can also take a single digit if he wins the title, but from what we hear, he'll stick with #18. 

If you finish in the top ten of combined points indoors and out you get a career number and right now besides Jett, Hunter Lawrence is also in line for a career number (we're hearing he'll stick with #96). If Jo Shimoda gets 16 points or more he’ll jump past a not-racing Aaron Plessinger and into the top ten overall and he'll get a career two-digit number; the lowest one available right now is #28, if you don't count #13 and #22. (Chad Reed will probably petition to keep his number.)

After Hunter and Jo pick numbers, next up would be Colt Nichols via his 250SX title and Justin Cooper's #32 is permanent already, but if Dylan moves off #14 then Cooper might jump & take that as he's expressed that desire before Dylan grabbed it….

Derek Drake was #33 this year but he's on the outside looking in right now for a number; I believe he's racing Hangtown and he'll need 13 points or more to bump Jerry Robin or Ryan Sipes out of a number, those guys are tied for #99. Shane McElrath had a lousy year but he'll keep #12 with an injury exemption, as you need 25 points to hold onto a career number (whew for Troll Train!).

Team USA 1981 (DC)

Back to Brett Smith and Team USA for a little while more. He also wanted to commemorate the 40^th anniversary of the 1981 Trophee and Motocross des Nations, where Team USA first won with four Honda riders hand-picked by Roger DeCoster. He asked if we had any background or info from back then, besides what he could find in the Cycle News Archives, and I told him the only resource he would need is Eric Johnson’s epic tale for a 1998 issue of Racer X magazine entitled “When We Were Kings.” Brett tracked the issue down, read EJ’s incredibly detailed feature, and called back and said, “You’re right, this is all I need! Do you think Eric would mind if I read the whole feature out loud for a We Went Fast podcast?”

Now you can listen to Brett Smith’s Racer X Read Out of Eric Johnson’s deep-dive history of the 1981 Team USA efforts from Racer X magazine’s “When We Were Kings” as a free podcast on http://www.wewentfast.com/ .

In even more 1981 news, documentary filmmaker Todd Huffman has a very big project coming up that he’s announcing on September 15, and you can attend and participate. Here’s what Todd sent:

Hey, Watch It!

Behind the Bullet With Jeffrey Herlings EP4 - Home Advantage

Want to see Robbie Madison launch off a ramp suspended from a helicopter 5000 feet in the air? Then check out this Razor promo video!

Head-Scratching Headlines Of The Week

“Bentley’s $2 million roofless car may be worth every penny.” - CNN Business

“France bans unvaccinated US travelers” - CNN.com

"Banksy's shredded painting is on sale again -- and it may be worth six times as much" - TMZ.com

Thanks for reading Racerhead. See you at the races!