Welcome to Racerhead, coming to you this week from a rather remote location: vacation off the central coast of Maine. It's about as far away from the motocross world as one could get during the off-season, though I'm not far from the MX207, home of the excellent Maine Event. But that already happened a few weeks back, so it's pretty quiet around here.
The motocross world has also been mostly quiet this past week, other than the big amateur news that Haiden Deegan left KTM after eight years to become yet another top talent coming up through the pipeline for the Monster Energy/Star Yamaha Racing team. The deal probably had as much to do with Monster Energy as the Star Racing program, as the whole Deegan family has long been sponsored by Monster Energy, while KTM is directly tied in with their Austrian neighbor Red Bull. Sooner or later Deegan was going to have to choose a beverage company's umbrella to turn pro under, and Star Racing is definitely a great home. Deegan is already riding and working out down at The Farm above Tallahassee, and his dad posted a photo that showed Jeannie Carmichael herself out there working with Haiden, one of her famous stopwatches hanging around her neck. And for what it's worth, having watched Dangerboy many times at Loretta Lynn's over the years, he may have a big name and a huge following, but he's also really, really good. He has steadily improved over the years, and his tenacity and race craft will make him formidable in the years to come. And with his home sorted for the foreseeable future—he will only be a 250 B rider in 2022, and probably not turn pro until late 2023 at the earliest—he can and will get down to the business of learning even more.
Sadly, something else happened in the amateur motocross world this week and it was devastating. Sixteen-year-old Clayton Sain was a promising young rider from Tryon, North Carolina, who was popular and very well-liked. He was practicing at Muddy Creek last weekend when he went down hard. He was immediately taken to a nearby hospital, but he never recovered. After he passed, a trailer carrying his motorcycle home was escorted by dozens of his fellow riders. Sain had just recently won the King of the Classic award at the Mad Skills Motocross Vurb Classic in South Carolina, which is an honor given to the rider who wins the most motos during the three-day event. His passing led Vurb's Wes Williams to post:
"Clayton Sain’s smile after winning this award was priceless, and something I will remember and cherish forever. It was a smile and emotion that I talked about for the entire week after because it was so special. This sport is absolutely brutal sometimes, but I’m gracious I got to meet Clayton and put that smile on his face. RIP my friend."
To read more about Clayton Sain's passing, as well as testimonial from some of his many friends at the races, here is a newspaper feature from Polk County, where he lived.
Godspeed, Clayton Sain.
COVID-19 (Cont'd) (DC)
As we trudge along in the off-season here, there of course is no Monster Energy Cup this weekend, as there often was, and the international supercross tour of races has been decimated, taking away a big payday for a lot of journeymen here in the U.S. It is of course because of COVID-19 and related travel restrictions and ongoing spikes all over the planet. Pandemic problems already cost us the opportunity to have Team USA in the 2021 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations, and it also made for some difficult sporting decisions down in Australia, as Motorcycling Australia (MA) and the ProMX Management team announced they were crowning this year's three Australian Champions after just three rounds of the Penrite ProMX Championship, presented by AMX Superstores:
The ProMX Management team has today made official the difficult decision to conclude the inaugural ProMX Championship after three rounds of the Championship have been run. Unfortunately, after no clear directives have developed from State Governments as to a realistic time frame around state border openings, the necessary decision has been made that the ProMX Championship cannot be completed in a timely manner before the end of 2021.
The ProMX management team wishes to acknowledge all competitors, teams and fans for their support and persistence in an incredibly challenging domestic climate here in Australia over the past twelve months since the new ProMX Championship was announced.
We are proud that at a minimum, we were able to run three championship events of the inaugural ProMX Championship, crown Champions in their respective classes and establish a return to racing in Motocross on a national level for the first time since 2019.
The three 2021 Australian Champions are Luke Clout in MX1, Kyle Webster in MX2 and Blake Fox in MX3.
Such problems are happening in almost every other sport in the world. Take the NBA, for instance, where All-Star Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets announced that he had decided to not get vaccinated. That was a problem for his team because they are under New York City restrictions, which say if you don't have a vaccination card, you can't play inside a building like the Nets' Barclays Center, nor could he play at Golden State, nor at Los Angeles' Staples Center. So he effectively would only be able to play 39 of the team's away games, which Irving said he was fine with. The team thought otherwise and told him to just stay home until he got vaccinated—no practices, no team meetings, nothing to do with the team—which sucks for the team, as Kevin Durant and James Harden appeared ready to make a run at the title this season.
We've been lucky here in the States, as the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship made it through an excellent season with no real problems with the pandemic, at least not until the end when several riders—Marvin Musquin and Max Anstie among them—and team members did come down with COVID-19. Now we have the 2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship fast approaching and Feld Entertainment is doing all they can to navigate the buildings and paddock protocols that will hopefully finally give them the series we've all been waiting for, which is back in the big stadiums and with all of the riders present, regardless of their personal choices. It's a hot-button topic seemingly on a weekly basis, but without much other racing happening here, other than the GNCC finale and also Ponca City for amateurs right now, the speculation and debate will no doubt continue right up the starting gates start dropping at Angel Stadium at Anaheim on January 8.
Luke Clout, the MX1 Australian Champion.
Hall Pass (Jason Weigandt)
I’m personally bummed that the American Motorcyclist Association wasn’t able to hold a 2020 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. I can’t give the exact details as to why I feel that way, but I may or may not have sent a nomination letter for my friend Grant Langston for last year’s Hall, and I may or may not have gotten a letter back saying he was up for consideration. GL no doubt has the credentials, both as a multi-time champion racer, but now a lifetime industry guy through his Langston Motorsports dealership and also his television announcing work. Oh yes, GL wasn’t with us for the final rounds of this Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, but I’m not going to get into those politics, because I try not to engage in those debates. We all know this: GL deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. (It should be said that the Hall of Fame Class of '21 was announced before Langston quit. He would have had a better chance last year because Ryan Villopoto was not yet eligible, but because RV joined the ballot in '21, he went straight to the top of many Lifetime members' ballots.)
So the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony has returned for 2021, and it will take place tonight in Ohio, the AMA’s base. But there’s a huge back log of candidates, partially because of last year’s miss, but also because for some reason motocross and dirt-oriented riders weren’t getting in for a while. So now there’s a backlog of legends that are due.
I wrote Redux on the 2021 Hall class a few months ago. Ryan Villopoto is in for obvious reasons. Dave Arnold, the team manager during Honda’s glory days in the 1980s and 1990s, is in. Dave’s a great storyteller, and Matthes actually visited him this week to talk about the old Team Honda bikes—look for a video soon. Gary Denton was actually my hero growing up. My parents wouldn’t let me get a dirt bike; they made me ride quads because they were “safer.” So I always looked up to the GOAT of ATV racing, Mr. Denton. He won eight straight AMA Grand National ATV Championships. Scott Plessinger might be known best as “Aaron’s dad” today, but he was a bad dude in off-road racing in the 1990s, battling Scott Summers for GNCC and National Hare Scramble Championships annually. He won four titles in those series and some say he’s the best mud rider ever.
Loretta Lynn is going to the AMA Hall of Fame—no doubt opening her ranch to motocross has had a huge impact on the sport. The Hall of Fame announcement dropped during the same week the AMA Amateur National was taking place, so Loretta’s family was able to speak about the honor during closing ceremonies. Loretta’s children, who now run their mom’s business, are fully aware that motocross has actually helped preserve Loretta’s name as a superstar, especially to a young demographic. Motocross is better with Loretta, but also Loretta is better with motocross.
Finally, a shoutout to legendary AMA Flat Track tuner Kenny Tolbert, who is so good at building bikes that he’s going into the Hall this weekend—and he just won another American Flat Track Championship last weekend as the tuner for Jared Mees!
Good to see the Hall of Fame ceremony is back for 2021. It will also be good to see more dirt-types getting in for 2022. My fingers are crossed.
New Manager (Weigandt)
It was pretty surprising to see longtime Honda Team Manager Erik Kehoe’s retirement announcement a few weeks ago. Now we know his replacement, and it’s a familiar face in Lars Lindstrom, who has been with the team forever in a variety of capacities, from mechanic to crew chief and even, says the Honda PR, “parts room.” You may know him most, actually, from his key role as part of Chad Reed’s TwoTwo Motorsports team. That’s quite a long road, started from the bottom and now he’s here. I first met Lars at the 2004 Steel City National when he was assigned to be Jeremy McGrath’s mechanic for the day. MC made one-race return to motocross to earn enough points to keep his career #2 alive, because he was going to return to supercross in 2005. I was pit reporter and podium guy for the live announcing team at the time, I was super scared to talk to McGrath so I just leaned on Lars all day for info. I figured a Team Honda mechanic for MC would be all stiff and corporate, but Lars was cool! He really helped. I think that’s been the case the whole time. Lars is always one of the friendliest and most “regular” guys in the pits. When I saw Honda’s PR and a photo of Lars still rocking his beard and faux hawk, I was impressed. For a long time, Honda was perceived as a serious, stiff, corporate team, but over the last decade I’ve watched that rep melt away. The Honda truck has become a friendly place to go visit, and the PR team (headed by our old Road Racer X editor Chris Jonnum) is the best in the business and very easy to work with. I really couldn’t see a guy like Lars leading the team 20 years ago, but it makes sense now.
Of course, fun is fun, but the real job is to win titles, especially in the 450 class. It’s well-documented that Honda has not won a 450 title since 2004 with Ricky Carmichael (the same day, by the way, that I met Lars for the first time). Honda really, really wants a CRF450R to be #1 in 2022. Can Lars and crew finally get it done? No doubt the pressure will be on.
Lindstom is just part of a huge sea of industry changes in the pits for 2022. Steve Matthes outlined them all earlier this week. Also, I interviewed one of Lindstrom’s bosses, Bill Savino for a podcast yesterday. We were mostly discussing product development, but we hit some racing topics, too. Check it out.
Exhaust #164: How Motorcycle Product Planning Works (w/ Honda's Bill Savino)
Jason Weigandt chats with American Honda Senior Manager of Customer Engagement Bill Savino, a veteran of the company. Savino spent several years in Honda's behind-the-scenes product planning division, but now that he's been promoted and the bikes he helped develop are in production, he can share a few secrets of how the development process works. It's a rare look behind the curtain.
Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)
Madrid, Spain's Intu Xanadu venue hosts the next round of MXGP, and it’s the home race for Red Bull KTM's Jorge Prado, who finds himself on the outside looking in at this dramatic FIM Motocross World Championship MXGP battle. His controversial crash with Jeffrey Herlings in Germany sidelined him for the second race and he was also off the pace last week in France. All is not lost, but even if he's able to back up last year's win on home soil, he still would need a lot of help to climb back into the battle.
As for the aforementioned battle, it's an absolute dogfight between Jeffrey Herlings, Romain Febvre, and defending champ Tim Gajser. The points have been a roller coaster, as both Gajser and Herlings have suffered injuries thus far. Febvre has been just kinda hanging around, putting in solid results and flying under the radar. That's not to say he hasn't left points on the table, though, as he has had a few tip-overs along the way. As we roll into the final few rounds, however, everyone seems to be ready for a battle royale. Injuries have healed and tensions are ramping.
The great part of this story is that we not only have a title fight, but it's a tripod! It’s been years since we truly saw a championship come down to the final rounds in this class. Injuries have derailed several potential showdowns, while other times riders have simply dominated the competition into submission. To have three riders all capable of adding another championship is rare—so rare that I wouldn't even know a year to reference.
Of the three, I think Herlings has the edge. Not only does he hold the narrow points advantage, he seems to be firing on all cylinders. Further, the final two rounds of the series are on a track that he just exuded world class form on at the Motocross of Nations. The most telling storyline, however, will be at Trentino's triple header. With three rounds within seven days, momentum could swing wildly in multiple directions. This is a great track for Gajser, who has an opportunity to recapture the momentum he seemed to lose in France. Conversely, if Herlings could stifle a rekindling of that confidence, he could make life easier at Mantova's final two rounds. As for Febvre, the key will be to actually win a few races. He has hung around due to his relentless consistency, but championships are hard to win without victories down the stretch. He showed arguably his best form of the season last weekend at Lacapelle-Miravel, but as we leave his French homeland, can he carry that same pace? This weekend will be big for Febvre and his chances. If he finds a way to win another race in Spain, his rivals will have to worry a bit more than they might be at the moment. While it feels like most experts and fans are choosing either Herlings or Gajser to wind up victorious, Febvre has a real opportunity to turn the tide this weekend.
- MXGP
- MX2 Free/Time PracticeLiveOctober 17 - 3:30 AM
- MXGP Free/TimeLiveOctober 17 - 4:30 AM
- MX2 Race 1LiveOctober 17 - 6:00 AM
- MXGP Race 1LiveOctober 17 - 7:00 AM
- MX2 Race 2LiveOctober 17 - 9:00 AM
- MXGP Race 2LiveOctober 17 - 10:00 AM
- MX2 Race 2 (Delayed)October 17 - 10:00 PM
- MXGP Race 2 (Delayed)October 17 - 11:00 PM
SEXTON JERSEY AUCTION (KELLEN BRAUER)
An Illinois family is coming together with an effort to build a retreat for combat veterans in memory of their son and 24 of his Marine Corps brothers who were all sadly killed in action back in 2010 and 2011. The family is auctioning off a very special one-off Chase Sexton Chicago Bulls jersey that Chase wore to victory at the 2020 Fox Raceway National in Pala, California.
Here's more information on the auction:
Authentic Chase Sexton Bulls jersey from Pala 2020. This one-off Alpine Stars jersey design for Chase was used at the last MX National in 2020 at Pala, which was also Chase's first professional outdoor 450 win. That combination makes this jersey a one of a kind and something a moto collector will be proud to own. Chase donated this special jersey to be auctioned off to support a Veterans charity, the Darkhorse Lodge, "A Peaceful Retreat For Combat Veterans". All proceeds from this auction will go to the Lodge. The jersey is unsigned but Chase will offer a personalized "To (winners name) and his signature on the jersey before shipping it to the winning bidder.
The Darkhorse Lodge has been gaining funding over the years from several charity events and movements to help its progress and this auction could help continue the funding for it. Click on the button below to big on this truly one of a kind piece of memorabilia.
Hey, Watch It!
Not moto-related, but if you've ever been to Pittsburgh or spoken to someone from the area, this is pure gold:
The Desert Said Dance - Official Trailer (2021) (on the Baja 1000)
Head-Scratching Headlines Of The Week
“Miss Piggy 'scolds' CNN reporter over relationship question”—CNN.com
“Prince Charles reveals his car runs on cheese and wine byproducts”—TheGuardian.com
“Naked Female At Denver International Airport Walked Around Concourse A Asking Passengers ‘Where Are You From?’”—CBS4 Denver
“After family members contracted COVID-19, Ozzy Osbourne says worshiping Satan protected him from virus”—msn.com
“MEEK MILL: MAN FREAKS OUT OVER ALBUM ART ... 'What the F*** Is This?!?'—TMZ.com
“MAN ALIVE Penis ring is the first ever wearable “erection tracker” that can detect if you’re at risk of diseases”—The-Sun.com
Random Notes
Thanks for reading Racerhead. See you at the races!