Welcome to Racerhead, coming to you from the annual American motocross celebration that is the RedBud National on Fourth of July weekend. The fifth round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship goes off tomorrow after a weekend off, and the while the weather has been a little suspect today, tomorrow is supposed to be awesome—cool and dry, last time I checked. As always, the place is packed, not only with campers and amateurs but with another huge entry of professional riders. There is room in the program for 90 per class, but Jeff Canfield told me he had 116 entries in the 450 Class alone and had to turn some guys down. If you’ve ever been to RedBud, you know why everyone wants to be here on the starting gate! RedBud will also be hosting the 2022 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations in September, and that will probably be an even bigger event than the national, just as it was in 2018. Hopefully the Ritchies get much better weather for this one than they got four years ago.
The series picks back up tomorrow with a couple of obvious trends. Honda riders are leading both classes, with Chase Sexton carrying the 450 red plates and Jett Lawrence the 250 ones. But Lawrence has won all four rounds to date, while Sexton is battling in every moto with a fast cast of very experienced riders: Eli Tomac, Ken Roczen, Jason Anderson, and Ryan Dungey, just to name a few. And Tomac, who got off to a slow start after clinching the ’22 AMA Supercross crown but then had to take a little time off for a knee injury, is now on full blast, going 4-3-2-1 in the four rounds to date. With this possibly being his last visit to RedBud (hopefully not—we need him for Team USA in September!), I expect him to push for a win tomorrow.
Aaron Plessinger's KTM 450 SX-F. Align Media Aaron Plessinger's KTM 450 SX-F. Davey Coombs Aaron Plessinger's KTM 450 SX-F. Davey Coombs Carson Mumford's Suzuki RMZ-250. Davey Coombs Carson Mumford's Suzuki RMZ-250. Davey Coombs Cullin Park's Honda CRF450R. Davey Coombs Derek Drake's Suzuki RMZ-250. Davey Coombs Honda's retro graphics. Align Media Honda's retro graphics. Align Media Hunter Lawrence's Honda CRF250R. Align Media Jett Lawrence's Honda CRF250R. Align Media Plessinger's KTM 450 SX-F. Align Media Preston Kilroy's Suzuki RMZ-250. Davey Coombs Ryder DiFrancesco's Kawasaki KX250. Mitch Kendra
Besides the 450 National (which runs first in the order tomorrow in order to show the second moto on NBC) and the 250 National, the first of three Scouting Moto Combines is taking place today. Presented by U.S. Air Force Special Warfare, the Moto Combine is a daylong seminar where some of the top amateurs in the country on the verge of turning pro are invited to participate and learn from riding coaches like Chad Reed, Jeff Stanton, Michael Byrne, Broc Glover, Jake Weimer, and Gareth Swanepoel; media professionals like Jason Weigandt and Sam Nicolini; and other guest speakers on all kinds of topics about what it’s like to be involved in professional racing, what to expect, what to study, and just how it all works. Among the prospects here are Haiden Deegan (who won the first 25-minutes-plus-2-laps moto quite impressively—and just backed it up with a race win in moto two as well), Chance Hymas, Daxton Bennick, Casey Cochran, Preston Boespflug, Gage Linville, Talon Hawkins, and more. It’s something we started last year, and it’s really been fun to watch. (One of last year’s participants, Ryder DiFrancesco, is actually making his professional debut tomorrow on the #523 Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki 250.) It just rained pretty good, so the second moto saw a different kind of track. It should be great tomorrow.
Riders waiting for the gate to drop on the Scouting Moto Combine. Davey Coombs Mark Fineis finished 4-6 for third overall Mitch Kendra Haiden Deegan winning the first moto. Deegan finished 1-1 for the overall win. Mitch Kendra Daxton Bennick finished 10-2 for second overall. Mitch Kendra Haiden Deegan. Mitch Kendra The gate dropping on the second Scouting Moto Combine moto of the day. Mitch Kendra The 2022 RedBud National Scouting Moto Combine overall podium: Deegan (center), Bennick (right), and Fineis (left). Align Media The 2022 RedBud National Scouting Moto Combine participants and their coaches. Align Media
There’s also a big celebration of a couple of local boys done good. Throttle Jockey brothers Matt and Robert Davis of nearby Kokomo, Indiana, are celebrating 30 years in the business with a big get-together with their longtime partners at Team Honda. The Davis brothers turned a love of stickers and moto into a bustling business that’s still humming after 30 years. Congrats to the brothers, and thanks for all of the great products and bench racing over the years!
And of course because this is July Fourth weekend—Happy Birthday, America!—and the place is packed with red-white-and-blue–clad celebrants, the catch-call shouts of “ReeeeddddBuuuudddddd!” being heard all over the venue. It’s a true American motocross celebration, and I can’t think of another place in the world I’d rather be right now than here at RedBud…
FLORACING (DC)
…and I can’t think of another place I’d rather not be than here, once again having to apologize for the confusion and inconsistency that has surrounded the online streaming on MAVTV Plus through the early rounds—and now, with yet another change to the package. After a month of trying to sort out what should have worked from the start, MAVTV Plus is going away completely, and live streaming coverage is moving to the “MAVTV on FloRacing” channel. The MAVTV Plus app was just not up to the task of the overwhelming demand and was unable to handle the load. After trying to sort out the problems as best they could, MAVTV decided the best path forward was to move the racing from their own streaming platform to the much more established FloRacing so streaming fans won’t miss any more of the motos, and we at MX Sports fully agreed.
As the press release said: “Current subscribers to MAVTV Plus, both monthly and yearly, will maintain their access to the service through July 26, which will showcase all the action from RedBud (July 2), Southwick (July 9), Spring Creek (July 16), and Washougal (July 23). As of today, MAVTV Plus will not receive any new subscriptions. All current MAVTV Plus subscriptions will end on July 27, from then on out MAVTV Plus programming will be presented exclusively on FloRacing. Fans of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship who become new subscribers to FloRacing, beginning now or for the stretch run of the summer that begins in August, will be treated to an exclusive, limited-time offer of $6.99 a month. Current FloRacing subscribers will have access to watch live streaming coverage of the remaining eight rounds, beginning tomorrow with RedBud.”
Here’s the full program: https://racerxonline.com/2022/06/30/pro-motocross-streaming-moves-to-mavtv-on-floracing-channel
No one feels worse about the failures to date than we do. We were primed for a banner year, this being the anniversary of 50 Years of AMA Pro Motocross and all, and the riders, the racetracks, the huge crowds, and the racing itself have all been epic successes so far. And while the cable broadcast package has been consistent and strong, the streaming package has been a fail, for the most part, and I apologize to all the disappointed fans and followers, as well as the riders and race teams and event promoters who have all worked so hard up to this point. Lucas Oil Studios and MAVTV also feel terrible about the delivery problems—they’ve been a great partner for a dozen years now. In fact, it was Morgan Lucas himself, along with Bob Dillner, who made the difficult decision to pull the plug on MAVTV Plus and join forces with FloRacing, knowing full well that they were going to get hammered again by frustrated viewers—but knowing it’s the right way forward for the rest of the series. Morgan and Bob and everyone at MAVTV truly love this sport too.
Our inability to deliver a consistent new streaming platform to fans of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross all over the world wasn't for lack of trying. And hopefully the MAVTV on FloRacing channel will give fans and the riders and the race teams and the organizers the live streaming service they all deserve.
Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)
RedBud is here, and that also means the celebration of America's birthday. There is simply no Lucas Oil Pro Motocross race that can match the frenzied atmosphere of RedBud. The Fourth of July holiday brings a whole different feel to the event, not to mention it's hosted at one of the best tracks on the circuit. For the riders, it's less of a party and more of a business trip, but there's no denying it just feels a little different. The fans just have more juice at RedBud, full stop.
As for the track, it's one that riders look forward to. The dirt provides traction in spades and allows riders to be aggressive. In contrast to a track like Fox Raceway, where riders are forced to tiptoe around in the early laps, they’ll be full gas from the gate drop in Michigan. A good start is important at this track (as at most tracks) because passing isn't easy. The passing zones are hard to find, and most involve out-braking your competition. The reason for this is that many of the corners favor the inside heavily—trying to slingshot around the outside doesn't often work. Instead, riders will have more success staying in the inside line and following (usually never a good thing) the rider on the exit and then getting alongside into the next corner. That involves eating a lot of roost, but after decades of racing this track myself and also analyzing it, the outsides are simply too much distance to cover. Watch for those braking zones to be the deciding factor if a rider makes a move or is stuck in a holding pattern.
ROCZEN WSX (Matthes)
News dropped that Honda's Ken Roczen has signed up for the upcoming three-round FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) series this fall, which was a big get for those guys. Definitely makes it more interesting, that's for sure. Weege and I did a reaction pod here about this move, and it's interesting to me that he's got no team announced in the PR and that he says this series will prep him for the "2023 SX and MX" seasons. Now, Weege and I don't agree on this wording, him thinking it's PR-speak, me wondering why they would put that in, but I think most of us in the industry expect Roczen to go 450SX for Honda next year and then take the summer off with Jett Lawrence racing 450 Class MX (just like the team did with Chase Sexton). But maybe, just maybe, Roczen plans a full season in 2023?
Either way, it looks like the series itself is ponying up for Roczen to do these three rounds, which creates an interesting and expensive way of running a series! I fully expect Roczen to ride red this fall, but the people close to Honda I spoke with said that as of now, they’re not committed to Roczen for the fall SX series nor the 2023 series here. I hear that there are "talks" to keep Roczen riding red for 2023, and the no-support thing for the WSX could just be semantics, and as soon as he's signed with USA Honda, then he'll get parts and bikes, etc., to race this three-round series.
But it's ... interesting, right? Stay tuned to hear from the #94 soon on these topics and more.
BT101 (DC)
Had a chance to talk to former MX2 World Champion Ben Townley from his home in New Zealand this week. Ben’s been running a riding/touring company since retiring, but it’s been tough the past couple of years, as New Zealand still has very serious COVID-19 travel restrictions in place. His boys are racing, and he’s planning on bringing them here next year for a few races, maybe even the Loretta Lynn’s program. While on the phone, we got to talking about Lucas Oil Pro Motocross and he told me he’s really been enjoying watching the series from afar, loves the look of the tracks (with less ruts than we had during his day here), and also he said he’s very, very impressed with Jett Lawrence. To paraphrase, he said he sees something in the way the kid not only rides but the way he handles himself, both on and off the track. And while he’s never met Jett, he did know older brother Hunter from early in his career. He also thinks Jett will be even better when he gets on a 450!
PARIS SX (Matthes)
The guys at the Paris SX dropped another name this week when they announced that Cooper Webb will join the race alongside the Lawrence brothers and Eli Tomac this November. That's a pretty good field for sure, and it'll also be two nights again, which is awesome. Last year, one night just felt weird, you know? It's a good lineup, and one that will probably get a bit stronger as we get closer to the date. I heard the WSX guys wanted Paris to be a part of the series and that Paris was interested in joining them, but the WSX guys thought the Paris SX should pay them to be part of the series; the Paris guys thought that since they were such a long-running and prestigious race, the WSX guys should pay them! So yeah, that never happened, but either way, we fans are winners this fall with a stacked Paris SX and then a getting this three-round WSX chase as well. (And we also got confirmation that Eli Tomac will race the opening round in the UK as a wild card, and the date of that is now October 8.)
ACTIVE LEGEND (DC)
Every year, Racer X gives out a free commemorative decal at each round of the nationals, and each year it's a different theme. One year we did state license plates with the names of each track on the schedule, another time we did highway signs, and another time we made each decal look like a Hi-Flyer MX Trading Card from 1992. With this being the 50-year celebration of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross, we decided to run 12 past champions/legends on the stickers, from the year that each rider wore the number that corresponded with each round. So round one was #1 Gary Jones (though from 1973 when he was on a Honda, not '72 when he was #88 on the Yamaha), round two was #2 Ryan Villopoto, round three was #3 Jeff Ward, round four was Ricky Carmichael, etc. When we got to #5 we struggled with our decision, because there were a bunch of great guys who wore #5, like Jeff Stanton, Ricky Johnson, Mike LaRocco, and more. We settled on the most recent #5, Ryan Dungey. You see, these stickers went to the printer back in April, before there was even a whisper that Ryan might be coming back to race—we had no idea that the #5 we chose for the fifth round at RedBud would actually be in the race!
In case you're wondering, #6 is Broc Glover, #7 is James Stewart, #8 is a young Ricky Johnson ('83 Yamaha), #9 is the late Marty Smith, #10 is Mark Barnett (1980), #11 David Bailey ('83) and #12 is Bob "Hurricane" Hannah from '83 (though the image is from earlier in his career). Our apologies to all the multi-time champs who did not make the final 12, including Stanton, LaRocco, Jean-Michel Bayle, Mike Kiedrowski, Kent Howerton, Micky Dymond, and more….
Practice Fee Increase (Keefer)
Here in Southern California there has been a track fee increase (from $30 to $40) for practice days, and I have seen how this has made more than a few people upset. I on the other hand see this as a must-do on the track owners’ part. The cost of living has gone up, there's no doubt about that. Gas prices have skyrocketed, groceries are insanely high, and even the used-bike market is up more than I ever thought it would be. Our world is getting more expensive, and our little sport of motocross is not immune to such inflation. We’re losing tracks out here in Southern California hand over fist, and if the track owners need to offset some of their operating costs through gate fees, then so be it. I would rather pay 40 bucks to get into a track than not have it at all. If you look up north or even through the Midwest, tracks are at least $40 to ride, so I’m kind of surprised it took this long for our local tracks out here to increase the price by $10. Some people may say, "What about the family that doesn't have that much money, that wants to go ride for a weekend?" I say if you're in this sport and have a bike (or a fleet for the family), chances are high that you can afford an extra 10 bucks a head to get into the gate. I also feel if times were tight for the family and they want to go ride together, there are OHV areas that cost zero dollars to ride (as long as you comply with safety/spark arrestor regulations). Our sport is still relatively inexpensive when compared to other form of motorsports, and if you find track prices are too expensive, there’s a way to be able to ride your dirt bike without paying the extra 10 bucks. Instead of making these track owners’ lives miserable with our bitching, let's help them if we can, so we can keep them up and running. I for one still love riding moto tracks, and I want to keep them around in Southern California as long as I can.
Hey, Watch It!
Tim Gajser motors around the Indonesia MXGP circuit courtesy of GoPro:
Vurbmoto was at Mammoth Mountain and collected some cool RAW footage of the action, with glimpses of both Trey Canard and Ryder DiFrancesco and more:
The Fastest Man In Piedmont Challenges Stew Baylor
Random Notes
Michigan privateer Nick Tomasunas was featured in a piece by Michigan Live.com ahead of this weekend's RedBud National.
Thanks for reading Racerhead. See you at the races!