The grind is real for "Filthy" Phil Nicoletti, who is back on a bike and trying to recover in time to make the last few rounds of Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross. Luckily, even with a jacked up arm, he's able to answer your questions. We don't think he's happy about it, but what else is new?
Got a question for Phil Nicoletti? Send it to Phil@racerxonline.com.
(Note: Some questions have been lightly edited for clarity.)
Phil,
Huge thanks to you and Racer X for posting my question last week. I loved Ask Ping back in the day and I love your column, too.
I have a question: Having watched every supercross and motocross since 2013 and most available races available on YouTube prior to that, one thing I have noticed is how much “softer” the suspension seems to be on a rider in 15th-40th vs the top 5-10 factory guys in both classes. What is the reason for this? Is it the availability for trick factory suspension parts? Are the top 5-10 really just that much better? Could a privateer that hovers around 25th be exposed to factory level support and within a year improve to top 10?
Thanks again for your time Phil. Love the segment.
-Sweating in Tucson
Tucson,
I appreciate the word mate, thank you!
There are a lot of answers to your question and Weege doesn’t pay me enough to sit here and write out every exact detail to this. Every rider, factory or privateer, wants the stiffest, yet softest, suspension. I know that sounds cliche, but it’s true. Speed does have A LOT to do with it, but it’s a balancing act. A lot of the privateers go with companies or people that give them free stuff. Let’s face it, a suspension revalve isn’t cheap, especially when you need to have 2-4 sets on rotation for the average Joe Blow privateer out there. But I’ll put this to rest right now: NO the 20th place guy on a Yamaha will not get on Tomac’s factory Yamaha and start banging out top 10’s. NOT HAPPENING. That is the greatest part about our sport compared to any type of car racing. A mediocre driver can fill in with a high-end car and do comparably well. A mediocre rider can’t fill in and make those same gains on a dirt bike. That why our sport is so badass. You need talent and fitness to showcase what you have. There is no hiding from that. You can give me Tomac’s bike and I’m not going out there and gonna do what Eli does! Sorry. I wish I could bullshit you and be like “Yeaaa man, that’s my problem I don’t have Tomac’s bike.” UH, NO, not the case. Eli is simply an incredible rider and that matters. But the factory guys do have a big advantage because they have the people to watch and study them. They can make the changes from watching and knowing the bike that you really can’t decipher on your own. Privateers don’t have those resources, and they can’t obtain factory stuff. Sure they can buy kit stuff and get it valved, but that doesn’t mean the guy valving knows what he’s doing. Suspension guys are a dime a dozen now, get someone who does good work. Quality control goes a long way.
Phil,
High Point had some great racing, and a lot of it came down to line choice, it seemed. That’s what Eli said was the difference between second in moto one and the win in moto two—he picked better lines. Are there motos where you’ve come in and the team or another rider told you about a line you never saw? Or do you see all of them but then find out you guessed wrong on which line to take?
Hot Lines
Somewhere in Pennsylvania
Have you ever heard the term tunnel vision?! That’s what High Point will do to a rider. I’ve come back after the parade lap at certain tracks and have told my mechanics “I don’t have a F****** CLUE what I just saw out there!” That’s the honest truth. It’s almost impossible to see the good line when you’re looking down the valleys and there are 27 ruts as wide as the gap between Pala and UnaFarkindilla. So it’s kind of a game of chances, as squirrelly as that sounds. Sometimes it takes a rider to pass you to kind of wake you up a bit and pull you around into some better lines. You’ll see that happen a lot, guys getting caught two seconds a lap, get passed, then all of a sudden they drop two seconds a lap. They just latch on and move around. The tunnel vision thing sucks. We all have fallen into that trap. The worst is when you do get back to the truck! Someone shows you the good line, and you realize that instead of smashing your face off the crossbar for 35 minutes, you only had to move six inches left or right to save time or energy. But you didn’t see that line. Instead, you saw God in that section every lap for 35 minutes. Also it’s very hard to try and move around when someone is breathing down your neck when you’re sticking with what you know and don’t want to risk your chances of changing it up and get passed.
Phil,
On Matthes’ show I will hear them throw around the word embargo a lot, most recently with the Stark electric bike everyone had to wait to talk about. I know new gear has to be hidden and stuff, and definitely next year’s bikes. But now everyone has cell phones so video and photos are a click away. Do the teams and sponsors take phones away at the track? Do they make people sign NDAs so it doesn’t get out? Seems hard to stop these days.
Kyle in Oregon
Kyle,
NDA’s are becoming more and more common in our sport. Teams have them, race series have them, suspension companies, manufacturers etc. Obviously in the past things have been leaked. Our sport is so small, it’s kind of easy to hear or see things. Doesn’t matter if an NDA was signed. I’ve never been a part of something where you had to leave your phone outside the room or whatever but I’m damn sure that happens. I guess it depends on the severity of the product. For instance the new KTM 450 that got leaked last year, that got some power when it was leaked online. I’m sure KTM wasn’t too pumped but at the same time, not much you can do about it.
