One rider we won’t see racing is Washougal’s own Levi Kitchen, who is out with a broken wrist, though we’re told he might ride along with some other northwestern heroes on a parade lap during opening ceremonies. Hopefully Kitchen is back by the end of the series. And the same can be said for 450 champion Dylan Ferrandis, who is back on the bike and slowly getting back up to speed. He would be a great addition for the last four races, if he’s in fact ready.

And reminder, if you want to help out the town of Waverly, who suffered that horrible flooding in late August 2021, check out the cereal food drive at the 41st Annual Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship. To all families attending this year's event, please bring boxes of breakfast cereal to rider registration on Sunday, July 31 and Monday, August 1 at Loretta Lynn’s to support the Joseph’s Store House of Hurricane Mills. 

In the paddock and inside the press tent, the guessing game is on about who should be on Team USA for the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations. While it's obvious that Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Tomac and Honda HRC's Sexton would be great picks for the 450 guys (MXGP and Open classes), the 250 rider has been more of a head-scratcher for Team USA's Roger De Coster and the AMA's Mike Pelletier. First of all, Lucas Oil Pro Motocross' 250 Class has been dominated by the Australian brothers Jett and Hunter, as well as Japan's Jo Shimoda. They will all likely be at the Motocross of Nations in September at RedBud but riding for their home countries (and we're hearing Jett on a 450).

Behind them are some fast Americans like Yamaha's Justin Cooper, Husqvarna's RJ Hampshire, and GasGas' Michael Mosiman, but they haven’t exactly been consistent this summer. So the talk has turned to possibly putting a 450 rider on a 250 for Team USA's MX2 entry. Near the top of that list should be Jason Anderson, but he's likely out for a small corrective procedure he needs during the off-season. There's also Justin Barcia, who has experience in the event but has not quite been on the leaders' pace this summer. And Christian Craig is having a great 450 season, and he's obviously logged lots of time on the Star Racing YZ250F that carried him to the 250SX West Region title. Either of those three seem like they would make a good choice, though neither Barcia nor Anderson has raced a 250 for many seasons.

So what we're hearing now is that both Craig and Barcia are going to spend a few days after Washougal riding their respective teams' 250 equipment, and then a decision will be made for Team USA's third spot—and it will almost certainly be announced at Unadilla in August, just as it usually is.

The other question is what numbers Team USA will be assigned. Last year we didn't actually field a team for the race in Italy, and numbers are usually assigned based on a team's finishing positions at the previous year's MXoN. I mentioned this to the AMA's Pelletier, and he said he would love to see our guys get to run #101, 102, and 103, just like we did back in 2005 when we were coming off an absence ('04) but with RC, Ivan Tedesco, and Kevin Windham on the team. We also won that year for the first since 2000, so maybe those numbers would be lucky for us!

Let me turn this over here to Steve Matthes, who has more info on Team USA.

MX2 (Matthes)

Justin Barcia was in California this week riding the GasGas MC 250F just to see how he felt on it, in hopes that Team USA will pick him for this year’s Motocross of Nations. The idea was to just get a moto in on the bike and see how he felt. Well, after the one moto, Barcia asked if he could keep riding it the rest of the day! Getting back on the smaller bike might help him out for the 450 this weekend—he can keep his momentum up, work on staying sharper with staying on the power curve, and more. Either way, he seemed to enjoy being back on the 250F. Also, people I talk to close to the situation say that if he's selected by Team USA, he'll drop down and race the last four Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, as he's not in the title fight in the 450 class. How cool would that be?

But wait! There's more! 

On the PulpMX Show we had former factory rider David Vuillemin in, and with Eli Tomac on the line, DV made an impassioned plea to ET that he should ride the smaller bike, as many times it is the most important class for winning the event. And Eli seemed to be into it! Now I doubt it happens, but you can watch Eli here get swept up in DV's pleas and say that his "gears were turning now."

I still think the MX2 spot will go to Christian Craig, but hey, some things here to think about, right?!

Speaking of MXGP talk, tune in to the 14th round MXGP of Flanders in Belgium this weekend on www.mxgp-tv.com.

Star Studded Dealer Summit (Jason Weigandt)

There was a time when each motorcycle brand’s dealer show was a huge event, but they’ve lost steam over the years—and then COVID-19 times nearly ended them completely. Over the weekend, the KTM Group (that’s the KTM, Husqvarna, and GasGas brands) revived its Dealer Summit with a big show in Charlotte, North Carolina. That’s great for me because I live there, so all I had to do was head from the airport on Sunday to the Convention Center and NASCAR Hall of Fame to hang out with the stars. (Thank you to my wife for letting me go straight from the Millville race to a hangout without even stopping at home). Hey, we had some serious bench racing to do! So I’ll do some name-dropping here and say that I sat at the “cool table” with Marvin Musquin, Cooper Webb, Aaron Plessinger, Aldon Baker, and some guy named Phil who races Yamahas yet somehow snuck into the party. Then the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna boys of Dean Wilson, Malcolm Stewart, and Zach Osborne came over to hang, and many stories were told. Dessert showed up at the table and everyone passed this one piece of cheesecake around in fear of eating it in front of Aldon. And Plessinger told his tale of watching Max Anstie’s unbelievable crash down the bottom of Mount Martin the day before. 

“I completely screwed up the next seven corners!” said AP, laughing as always. I actually went and looked, and Aaron’s lap after the Anstie crash was six seconds slower than his previous lap. Man, it was a good night, and it was cool to see the guys have some fun. The days of after-parties are long gone from this industry; it’s basically airport, track, hotel, and nothing else. This event gave everyone some time to hang out.

The next day, Chad Reed’s Moto40 track hosted a huge ride day where dealers could sample the massive array of bikes, from motocross machines on Moto40’s tracks, to off-road bikes on the woods loop, to a street bike demo loop for the road bikes. World traveler Chad Reed was there to log some laps on the pro track with Webb, then he changed out of his gear and headed to the airport for a press conference for the FIM World Supercross Championship... in Australia!

The best part was watching Musquin and Justin Barcia jump in on the intermediate track and ride with the dealers! It was a good time. At night, we headed back downtown to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and I hosted an intro with all the team riders and managers (about 40 in all, between all the race teams from all the brands). They announced Musquin’s contract extension with Red Bull KTM too. It was a good time.

Why do these dealer shows matter? Well, dealers are the lifeblood of this industry. You don’t buy bikes from the manufacturers, you buy them from dealers. Bike brands sell bikes to dealers, who sell them to you. The more pumped they can make dealers, the more bikes those dealers will order. The KTM group has huge, huge growth plans, of course, with its new motocross bikes, but also in the electric and electric-assist bicycle market. (To that end, the group purchased the Felt brand of bikes and will be making a big push on Husqvarna and GasGas branded bicycles too.) You can’t help but attend a show like this and not leave all pumped up on the future of the industry, and that’s the whole point. Big thanks to the gang over there for letting me come and hang out and chat. It was a whole lot of fun!

James Stewart: AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame (DC)

Congratulations to multi-time AMA Supercross and AMA Pro Motocross Champion James Stewart on making it into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame as a first-timer on the ballot. Stewart holds the record for the most 125cc National and 125 SX main-event wins ever, and he's one of only two riders to have had a perfect season in AMA Pro Motocross. And before he was a professional, Stewart was arguably the fastest minicycle racer of all time. His enshrinement in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame, along with the rest of the Class of 2022—flat-tracker Kenny Coolbeth, speedway icon Greg Hancock, road racer Ben Spies, women's motorcycling pioneer Eddie Hotchkiss, and legendary chassis designer Sandy Kosman—will take place on October 28 in Pickerington, Ohio.

Meanwhile, Stewart is joining Jason Weigandt in the TV booth for the upcoming Budds Creek National (which happens to be 20 years since Stewart unveiled his trademark "Bubba Scrub" at the 2003 Budds Creek National). Stewart, who has an excellent podcast review of each round on Bubba's World channel on YouTube, and here's his take on Spring Creek last weekend:

Stewart will join the long and impressive list of guest commentators and past champions working with Weege this summer, which includes Jeremy McGrath, Rick Johnson, Broc Glover, Ricky Carmichael, and most recently Jeremy Martin, who did an excellent job last Saturday in his broadcast debut. As mentioned above, it's Ryan Villopoto in the booth tomorrow, Jeff Emig for Unadilla, Adam Cianciarulo for Ironman, and, finally, if all goes well, the legendary David Bailey for the final round at Fox Raceway.

So congratulations to the whole Stewart family on James' induction into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame. It was well-earned!

Cycle News Win Ads (DC)

Want to see who's doing well in the current series? Just check out the various win ads that show up in Cycle News each week. It's the old win on Sunday/sell on Monday concept, only now these races are on Saturday. We ran a post highlighting some of the early highs from Pro Motocross. Here's what we've seen in the last three issues of cyclenews.com after RedBud, Southwick, and Spring Creek:

2023 Honda CRF450R 50th Anniversary Edition (Keefer)

Tuesday, I had the chance to ride the updated 2023 Honda CRF450R at Glen Helen Raceway, but the kicker was that Honda picked a 50th Anniversary Edition for me to test. Although no physical performance upgrades come with the 50th Anniversary Edition (when compared to the standard 2023 CRF450R), it does have its distinct retro gold/blue accents. The whole vibe reminds me of when my dad used to take me to a spot near our house in Hesperia, California, to watch Johnny O'Mara, David Bailey, and Rick Johnson ride. I vividly remember wanting to be a factory Honda rider after seeing the red-gold-and-blue machines shredding the natural-terrain dez tracks. The 2023 Honda CRF450R has some frame changes, steel top engine mounts, a heavier rear shock spring, a narrower intake as well as revised mapping and suspension settings. I grabbed two different-sized riders for the test to see if some of the changes Honda made will make for a more compliant red machine. Track toughness has always been one of the CRF450R's hardships, so be sure to tune into Racer X Online on August 1 to get the breakdown of what it was like to ride the new red nostalgia.

The Evolution of First Names (DC)

With Loretta Lynn's coming up fast, we finished the 2022 Souvenir Yearbook up this week. It's always a fun way to compare what was it like way back when this whole event started in 1982 and how it's evolved, much of it based on the names and the classes, and even the motorcycles listed in the entries. For instance, there was one guy on a Honda four-stroke XR400 in 1988 named Wallace Fincher—maybe the only four-stroke in the entire field—and now four-strokes are everywhere. (Fincher, who hailed from Talladega, Alabama, finished second in the Open B/C Mod with 5-2-1 moto scores.) Just a couple of years ago we added an electric bike class called Mini E, but back in the eighties some probably thought we'd be racing jetpacks by now! And then there are the kids' first names, which have evolved greatly over the years. Case in point is the 51cc (4-6) Shaft-Drive class, which some call the YZingers. Below I have listed the first names of the top ten in 1982, as well as the first names of the top ten in 2021:

1982

Butch
Davey
Jeff
Michael
Brian
Jason
Todd 
Eric
Chad
Gary 

2021

Carter
Caysen
Braxton
Cooper
Carter
Parker
Talon
Axel
Weston
Ford

Not everything stays the same, right?!

ESPY for ET3 (Mitch Kendra)

Eli Tomac will go down as a supercross and motocross legend, but until he officially retires he looks to keep adding to his already impressive resume. The Colorado native earned his second 450SX title earlier this season in Monster Energy AMA Supercross, making the #3 only the 12th different rider to earn at least two premier class supercross titles in the history of the sport. After claiming seven 450SX main event wins this season, Tomac was nominated for the 2022 ESPY Award in the Best Athlete, Men’s Action Sports category. On Wednesday night, Tomac received the award, becoming only the second AMA Supercross and Motocross athlete to win the award behind KTM's Ryan Dungey, who won the Best Athlete, Men’s Actions Sports category in consecutive years in 2015 and 2016.

Through seven rounds, Tomac leads the 450 Class standings of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship as he looks to become the first rider to win both the titles in premier class AMA Supercross and Motocross since Dungey did so in 2015.

Tomac posted a video to his Instagram yesterday afternoon thanking fans for voting for him.

Below is his full post and video:

Vintage Bike Days (Mitch kendra)

Starting today, the 30th annual AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days will take place at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The large retro gathering brings in racers, spectators, collectors, and more all to the Buckeye state to celebrate everything old school motorcycles, from flat track racing to road racing to woods, enduro, and trials racing, motocross, and more.

Last year I attended the event with my family, as my two-wheel-loving dad finally decided he needed to check out the event firsthand. He expected the event to be fun, but he was like a kid in a candy shop! My dad is very much a people person, talking to anyone any time and any place he has the chance to, and I could not tell you how many people he talked to last year. I am not attending the event this year, but I cannot wait to see the photos, videos, and memorabilia my family comes home with this year. I am sure my dad will run into or talk to someone and have some fun memories to share upon returning home, and I look forward to hearing them.

If you’re a subscriber, you can read—and check out photos—from the 2021 AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days below.

Hey, Watch It!

Are the Lawrence Bros TOO HYPED?!

RedBud Moto Combine Preview Youtube

Alex Martin’s Troll Train makes a last stop at home:

Vurbmoto captured Jeremy Martin's first ride on the Club MX Yamaha YZ250F:

SEASON 2: Chase Sexton | Two Three Episode 3

2022 Loretta Lynn's Trophies

Sad news from the south: The popular MillCreek MX is closing for good, as the land has been sold to a housing developer. Upon hearing the news Vurbmoto put together a video featuring young Adam Cianciarulo, Cooper Webb and more from one of the bigger amateur events back in the day: