Phil Nicoletti is prepping to race the 2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship 250SX East Region with the Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha team. For now though, “Filthy” Phil is going to answer some questions as he continues to pound out laps down at the ClubMX facility.
Got a question for Phil Nicoletti? Phil@racerxonline.com.
(Note: Some questions have been lightly edited for clarity.)
Phil, you know someone has to ask you about Marv/Mookie, Barcia/Anderson, and Mookie/Anderson from all that carnage on Saturday. What’s your take?
Crash and Burn
C&B,
Let the tempers RIP!!! The one I feel bad for is Anderson. Normally he is pretty crafty and smart with that style of game, but the 21 was 0-2 on the night! I have a feeling he won’t deal with that shit this weekend. The Barcia/Anderson was whatever to me. They were going for a podium. Yeah, it’s sucks for Anderson, but I think he knows that’s part of it even though it’s shitty. I think Mookie could have gave Anderson a little more room for it just being a heat race. I also don’t think it was a “take out”. I think he just got him up to the point that he had nowhere else to go.
Now for the MOOK VS MARV WWF MATCH! I love when dudes get into it. That’s the whole point of competition. Emotion makes sports so great. If only we could implement some hockey rules. The 27/25 saga is also whatever to me. It’s stupid that it even happened, and that they both went down and potentially cost them a lot of money. The one where I would have a big problem is, was the Marv/Clason hit in the first heat race. Marv smashed Cade for eighth position when both of them were in a qualifying spot in the last corner. I hope Cade rode over to the KTM rig after that race and said hello.
Phil!
What would have been running through your mind if you had to tackle those whoops are the finish on Saturday?
Whoop Monster
Whoop Monster,
Those whoops looked tricky! Big, long, and no run to get speed. The berms were a 1/4 of what they needed to really be to get a good run to make the guys lives easier. The set after the finish line ideally would-be fourth gear whoops at the test track. Especially on a 250F. But rarely do you hit fourth on race day. I really wish TV cameras would show the whoops and rhythms from the direction in which the riders are going. Because it doesn’t do any freaking justice the way it currently is. The whoops and rhythms look prime when the riders are coming at the camera. So it’s really hard to tell what they are seeing with their own eyes. Obviously, those whoops took some people down in practice. But for the most part I thought they were really good. I’m all for whoops that are big and slow like that. The whoops caused carnage, but slow carnage, ya know?
Hey Phil,
I haven’t heard much about this, but Supercross Futures kicks off with a race on the real track, on Saturday, in Oakland. They race just after practice for the big boys so they’re not gonna tame the track down. What do you think? Would you have liked the chance to do this in your amateur days? Seems like an awesome chance to get experience. Or maybe it’s just scary?
Joe
Joe,
I’m not so sure on this one. No way I could have done that as a kid. I grew up racing motocross tracks. There wasn’t a chance in hell that I could just show up and race a Futures event on a full blown SX track. I don’t think the amateurs should be out on the same track as the pros. I think it’s a terrible idea. You see what goes wrong with guys at the top level of our sport. The amateurs, that don’t have access to this shit, are going to shit bricks. I mean don’t get me wrong, three or four of them will be fine because they have access to all the tracks, decent suspension, and knowledge from their teams. I’m all for the Futures on Sunday. I totally disagree with them on the track on Saturday. Being at Club MX, I see how true amateurs are on a supercross tracks. The shit takes time to figure out. A lot of time actually. So, because they qualified at a local motocross track makes them mature enough to tackle a supercross track? I’m in disagreement here.
