It might be the off-season, but that doesn't mean we're cutting Filthy Phil Nicoletti any slack on writing his weekly column for us here at Racer X Online. Yes, he grumbled when sent this week's questions, but fortunately he's still likes getting paid and went ahead and answered this week's questions. Read for Phil's words on the Australian GP round of the FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) and the frustration of riding with Ken Roczen.
Email Phil@racerxonline.com if you want in next week.
(Note: Some questions have been lightly edited for clarity.)
Phil,
You’re back from Australia. Good job in one of those mains, I saw you got fifth, then the rest of the night seemed like chaos for most of the 250 guys. How was the experience overall?
Mountain Mitch
I am back from the land down under. Problem is my mind and body are still stuck there with the damn time change! Falling asleep at 7:30 p.m. to wake up at 4 a.m., isn’t ideal! Especially since we don’t start riding until 11 a.m. But Australia was a great time. We struggled a little bit with bike set up and motor stuff. We had issues getting the fuel that was mapped for our bikes, so we had to switch to a different blend. So it threw off the way the bike ran quite a bit, and really hurt my starts. The mains were absolute chaos. I raced six mains total between Cardiff and Melbourne, and it was mayhem in every one of them. Dudes going any which way to Sunday on the track. But besides the racing, I truly enjoyed it. I can’t even sit here and say it was shitty, because it wasn’t. The whole experience was awesome. It was cool to see Aussie fans again!
Hi Phil. I thought you got banned from Australia back in the day? How did you get in? Hide inside Justin Brayton’s gear bag?
Average Rider
Well, the fact someone can even get banned for a country made of convicts seems wrong in the first place! But yeah, that actually happened, I got banned from Australia back in the day. Luckily my seven-year ban from the country was up. It’s actually been up for a while, but I’m not gonna lie, I was sweating it a tad when I sent in for a VISA to go, because my luck is horse shit. But I got approved within 30 minutes. I could not even believe it. There was still a part of me that was nervous as hell though when I actually got to the country and went through customs and immigration. I had a little fear that, even though I had a VISA, that they were going to give me the bird, and send me back on a plane in the cargo area. So when I actually walked through it was a huge sigh of relief. But since I was there, I took an extra week and went and visited some friends. Probably the biggest reason I’m struggling so much riding this week!
Phil
OMG you rode with Ken Roczen this week? What did you learn from him and did you try to teach him anything? Haha! I want to hear it!
Sam from Arkansas
Well, Kenny pisses me off. I hate watching him ride. He makes everything look so easy. He’s out there tripling, quading, skimming, etc. like there is nothing there. I’m out there just trying to double through shit. I eventually get to the triples, but I don’t bust them out first practice on a new track like him right away. He just does it no problem. Some guys just have that skill and trust it, I guess. Me, not so much. I need to work into it a bit. It’s hard for Kenny to make something look bad, let’s be honest. He was on a stock 450, with just supercross suspension and making it look effortless. So then J-Mart and I just sit there and look at each other like, how the hell is this guy doing this?! Just the way he can move his bike around to downside the transitions into the sweet spot is unreal. It’s badass to watch, but frustrating to try and mimic.
