Our man “Filthy” Phil Nicoletti has been grinding and his hard work was paying off in the 250SX East Region of Monster Energy AMA Supercross. He recorded finishes of 10-9-8-7-5 in the five main events he made through the first six rounds—he even recorded a second-place finish in the final Triple Crown race of the night at St. Louis! Unfortunately, Nicoletti had a huge get off in the East Region heat at the 250SX East/West Showdown at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which resulted in a broken ulna (forearm bone). Nicoletti is hoping to return at the High Point National round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship.
Despite the injury, Nicoletti still answered some of your questions! Got a question for Phil Nicoletti? Send it to Phil@racerxonline.com.
(Note: Some questions have been lightly edited for clarity.)
Man, Shit deal. Heal up quick.
On a totally separate note. Is this the year of "how many guys can finish without a visor"? I have never seen so many dudes racing without a visor in forever.
DG
DG,
Yeah, this year has been quite crazy when it comes to the amount of bullet heads that we have racing out there. Every single week it seems like someone in an Alpinestars or Fox helmet is riding around without a visor. Obviously they are doing that more for a safety factor making the visors magnetic. I would assume the science behind it is to cause less catching of the helmet or visors causing injury to the neck area. So I get all that. To me it just looks goofy when a rider tips over in a corner and barely face plants and their visor blows off. Just from the average consumer side, I’m not really sure how someone could afford to replace a visor if they tip over once a weekend. Seems like quite an inconvenience to me.
Phil,
Geez, what a gnarly get off you had there in A-town. I hope you’re all in one piece. On another point it was kind of you to stop and check on Hunter’s [Lawrence] well being when he cased the big triple on press day. What did you say to Hunter? Was it Philthy or Phil like? Since you all are brothers in racing, I will assume Phil like. Lastly, did you enjoy the track, or would you have rather been in a stadium?
Anyhoo, good to see you getting some facetime on TV and providing a veteran’s perspective in a kids’ class.
-Knucklehead
Knucklehead,
Yeah, the crash in Atlanta wasn’t ideal. It’s been a while since I hit the deck that hard and it was quite unfortunate. I had a tingling sensation in my fingers all the way down to my toes. It was a pretty big hit and to have those type of symptoms, really made me hate motocross for a split second. But once I got my marbles back in check I felt okay and just noticed that my arm was hurting pretty bad and I had some issues with it. I ended up breaking my ulna, right up against a plate that I previously had in there from when I broke my forearm 17 years ago. So I was a bit worried I had done more damage than just breaking the bone. No surgery as of right now, I’m just going to cast and leave it and let it mend together.
Regarding the Hunter thing, it was just really unfortunate, and I had front row tickets to it. It was second or third lap of press day, and I happened to follow him off of it. At the last moment I decided to give it a little extra gas because I feel like his run wasn’t enough. Sure as shit, I was midair and he was getting blown off his bike from coming up short and being catapulted. I had everything to do to try and maneuver by him and his dirt bike that was cartwheeling. Of course, instinct was to go back in to make sure he was okay. It’s press day we’re not out there racing and everybody else needs to do their due diligence and make sure everyone is okay. I just wanted to double check and make sure he was fine. I don’t like seeing that shit. I don’t care if it’s my worst enemy, especially on jumps that are stupid like that. I’m glad he was okay.
Phil! I watched this MotoSport video where you were giving riding tips. It was interesting hearing you talk about using the rear brake. I understand it’s a good crutch to control the bike, but I want to know more about it. Did you have to practice lots of laps not touching it? Are there times you still need to use it or is less always more?
Mike
Mike,
That’s a good question. The rear brake is a good crutch for certain things. But nowadays with the four-strokes it’s so easy to override the rear brake when the dirt bikes have so much engine brake. Between the engine brake and the rear brake, it upsets the chassis so much more than what he used to back on a two-stroke days. When we do no rear brake motos at ClubMX I can almost turn the same exact lap times as when I am using the rear brake. Obviously no rear brake makes it hard to set up and pass people during practice and what not, but for lap for lap it’s pretty damn close. It makes the whole bike feels much more settled and helps connect the track a lot more than what you would think. Most of the time it is really good to practice like that because there’s a chance you will have a race where your rear brake goes away. So it’s always good to understand that feeling of free wheeling into corners and not having the brake and understanding how your bike is going to react.
MotoSport Launches Driven to Ride Video Series | episode 1 of Driven to Ride, featuring WXC GNCC Racer Prestin Raines, USMCA coach Hayden Justice, and Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha’s Phil Nicoletti:
