By now you’re probably aware of the final GP race in Australia’s FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) finale. When Ken Roczen suffered a flat tire while leading GP race two, it thrust SmarTop/Bullfrog Spas/MotoConcepts Honda riders Vince Friese and Justin Brayton into first and second in the WSX points with one gate drop left in the season.
Roczen and Brayton got the jump into turn one ahead of Friese, so Friese made a beeline toward Brayton to try to hit him on the exit of the corner. They both ended up going down. Later, Brayton also found out Friese had offered another rider, Grant Harlan, money to take Brayton out in the final race. Harlan declined.
Brayton was not happy about it. He called into the PulpMX Show on Sunday night to express his anger.
Steve Matthes: JB, so yeah good night on Friday winning the Australian Supercross opener. Then in the WSX, Kenny [Roczen] gets a flat in the second one and you’re just a couple of points out, your teammate [Vince] Friese is leading, and Kenny is a couple of points back of you. You go into the third one, chance at the World Championship, chance at the series title, and then you get “Friesed.” We watched it, we slowed it down today, you were mad after the race, and I think rightfully so. He went right on a left-hand turn, and it's crazy because you are his teammate.
Justin Brayton: Yeah, I mean, I guess where do we start? I guess we will start with that the incident. Tony [Alessi, MotoConcepts Team Manager] had all the math, Tony being Tony he is super prepared. So we went over the [points] breakdown but to be quite honest, it wasn’t that important to me. There was no money on the line for us to win [the title]. The team championship thing was kind of cool because obviously the team puts in a lot of hard work. The World Championship thing, look it's better for everybody if Ken Roczen wins, it's better for the series. Of course, it would be cool if I won but there wasn’t a lot in it for me, to be totally honest, so I wasn’t that concerned going into the weekend. I’m like, “Well, yeah, just go and get a podium.” I was really focused on the Friday night race as well, so once that went good, I was feeling good.
The first two mains went fine. So going into the last one Shawn [Ulikowski, mechanic] was like “Hey do you know where you are points-wise?” and I’m like “yeah Vince and I are tied or something?” and he’s like, “Well you’re one back of Vince.” So I’m like “Ok cool, I’ll try to get a good start, the first two I beat him pretty good, and it’ll be no problem.” So going into the first turn, I had a good start, and yeah I just get totally… and what’s funny is you see the pictures and all that, but when you are in it, you just hear his bike get wound up and then bang I’m off the track. And I just kept saying “You’ve got to be kidding me! You’ve got to be kidding me.” I couldn’t believe it. I seriously could not believe it. And so I just kind of ride around the rest of the time or whatever, I really didn’t know where I was. So coming off the track, I was mad man. It's just not called for, like what are we doing here, you know?
To be teammates all these years, the thing he doesn’t really realize is how much work I have put into the team to get him what he’s got. Me and [Team Owner] Mike Genova are super close, I love him like a brother, me and him are really tight. I’ve got a ton of respect for Tony. And the amount of hours I have spent on the phone with Honda organizing Showa stuff years ago. A lot of support for the team, the stuff that he [Friese] doesn’t even realize. And then to do something like that. The hours I have spent trying to help and the amount of times he has tried to do that to me, is probably four or five. I mean he broke my hand in 2020 by T-boning me the last lap in Daytona and then Covid hit so you didn’t really hear about it much. And I always just continue to forgive and forgive and forget, and say “Oh, he’s a good guy off track.” Then we go places, and play golf together and it's like I don’t mind him off the track. I’ve actually started to feel like he's become somewhat of a friend, so there’s so much backstory to it, right? It’s not just that incident. That incident was really no big deal, he didn’t hit me that hard, it was just the principle of it. And the principle of everything that has gone into the team and all of it, and then to do that.
And then on top of it, what really really fires me up, is lying. If somebody starts to lie, my blood pressure just starts to boil. If I came off the track and he said, “Yeah man, I tried to T-bone you, it was you and me for the World Championship I tried to T-bone you, and Genova gave me $50,000 bonus” I’d probably still be pissed but I’d be like “alright.” But the lies and the “Oh, my front tire slipped, and I went into you” or “Oh, Savatgy kind of messed me up.” Like none of it's true. It's not true.
You can see him look right in the turn…
The facts are the facts, he looks right, he sees me, gasses it and he flies into me! Those are the facts, they’re purely the facts so that’s what made me even more mad. And it's not just me right? He never really owns up to any of them. So, that was the problem and it bummed me out, for not only myself, but for the team, for Genova who has not been able to be here because he’s injured. So, he just took both of us out. Now neither one of us got a chance.
And you won the team championship, but what if you had lost it because of that?
Yeah, exactly. But man, this is a pilot season, come on. I mean I love these guys over here but it's a two-round series, there’s marketing in the World Championship thing, I understand all that but come on. If we are going for millions of dollars and it’s a true World Championship or something…but it's just not. So, there’s a long back story to it, that’s what really got me fuming.
Just own it like you said.
Yeah just own it. But the excuses and the lies, man I just can’t take that. I just cannot take it.
What I don’t get is, Kenny is ahead of you off the start and he is only a few points back. Taking you down is not going to get Kenny. Kenny could get another flat or go down or who knows? Taking you down, not racing, colliding with you is letting Ken Roczen get away. So now you’re not even racing at all with Ken Roczen?
For sure, but I was only told about Vince, and we weren’t really sure about the Kenny thing [from the second race]. Is it a DNF? Is it zero points? Did he score some points? So, I actually personally, wasn’t thinking Kenny was in it. So, I thought it was just between Vince and I.
What did Genova and Tony have to say about it? I mean I heard there were some scuffles back in the pits too, right?
Yeah, so that’s the next thing. I do the press conference thing, and I am still pretty heated and stuff, then get back to the pits and there’s like guys waiting for me. And they’re like, “You are never going to believe this.” So Vince on the line decided to offer a guy next to him $2,000 to clean me out.
Kris Keefer: Unbelievable. Was that guy [Grant] Harlan?
Yeah, I mean I’ll just say it, yeah.
Keefer: I saw it. When I was watching the live broadcast, I saw the mechanic talking to Harlan, and I see Harlan laughing.
So, I am told that when I get back to the pits. I said I need to hear the facts here. I don’t just want hearsay, right? So I hear it from Grant. And I am like, “Now this has gone to a different level, now obviously it's intentional, now you are offering money, this is getting a little bit out of control.” So, I stewed over it and stewed over it. Look I don’t like controversy guys, you probably know that, but I hate it. Even arguing with a friend or my wife or something, I don’t like it, I don’t like confrontation. My favorite thing is seeing people get along. But there is a time when this is out of hand, so I am getting dressed and I am like, “Should I say something or should I not?” So about 30-40 minutes go by, and I am finally like, “Vince, really? You are really offering people money?” And he denied it and denied it and denied it. And that just got me more and more mad. And then he is saying things like I am just mad because he’s a better rider than me. And “You’re just a baby because I am better than you.” Like come on, you know? So Ulo [Brayton’s mechanic] had enough of him basically lying and talking, so then Ulo was kind of like, “Come on man get out of here” and then it escalated. Which sucks, because it's just stupid.
He's made strides as a rider, and he just can’t help himself.
One hundred percent.
The Christian Craig thing was brutal.
Yeah. But you start offering people money to take me out and that’s crazy to me….
So is Genova and Tony…
I haven’t talked to Genova, I tried calling a couple of times. I haven’t talked to him so I don’t know where he sits on this. I have no idea. Tony was great, he was great. You know Tony is a pretty factual guy and he said he came on the radio before the race and said “All right make sure the riders don’t get into each other” because he even said to me he had a feeling. So it is what it is. Tony has been great, I even told him that after the race, “I hate that you are in this situation, I appreciate all that you’ve done.” It's a lot of work for those guys to go over there and build those bikes and ship stuff, it's a lot of money and effort and all that. And like I said earlier literally the hours and hours I have been on the phone for the team, with Genova and Tony, Vince isn’t on those calls. He’s not calling American Honda to get deals, he’s not organizing stuff, he’s not negotiating graphics deals. Guess who designed these graphics? Me and Sam [Morton] the owner of SKDA designs. I am up at three in the morning designing his graphics [SKDA is based in Australia].
So that’s another thing that really pissed me off, you don’t even realize the stuff I do behind the scenes to give you that motorcycle under you. That’s a great motorcycle. That’s a factory level motorcycle underneath you. And look it's not just me, obviously Genova is the leader of all of it, and Tony, but I assisted in that 100 percent. I definitely helped.
You have relationships built in at Honda so some of that leaks down.
Absolutely.
It's hard to see that being successful to me. He hits you and bounces left and maybe somebody cleans him out because he is going the wrong way on the track, his move didn’t even make any sense to me. Right?
That’s the thing is a lot of his moves don’t, unfortunately. And that’s the hard part. And then, to act like you’re not in the wrong, to be totally fine, like “What do you mean?” And when you deliberately do that stuff in any other motorsport you get suspended. But it seems like nothing ever happens.
Did Adam and Ryan [Global SX] and these guys say much?
No, not really. I talked to them for a long time after but kind of about other stuff. And like I said, that wasn’t that big of a deal to me. If I win it or get eighth… I was just there to have a good time and let’s race it out. I was stoked I still got on the podium. I was stoked to see Kenny win and it was a good weekend. Like I said I was really focused on starting the Aussie championship good.
At any point in time when you were on the line, obviously you didn’t know what he was saying to Grant or anything, but were you like “Oh, this might go down.” Or did you know anything crazy was going to go down?
Man, not really no, I really didn’t which is shame on me right? The thing is we are pitted next to each other, we are getting dressed together, we’re talking… but then I don’t know, something changes when he puts on his helmet and goes racing. I really wasn’t thinking too much about it, because I had gotten decent starts or started ahead of him both motos. I’m like “alright you’ve really got to focus on this start.” I don’t think about doing those things, so maybe I should have been more aware. Look I thought I would at least get past the first turn. Maybe as the race wet on and if he was behind me I would expect something but I definitely didn’t expect it right there. That’s for sure.
Images courtesy of WSX Championship
