This week also saw the launch of what promises to be a very cool new addition to supercross and Pro Motocross, as well as the new SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) coming in the fall, the SMX Insider show co-hosted by Daniel Blair and our own Jason Weigandt, the perfect pairing for a weekly 30-minute bench-racing show. No one is more plugged in to the sport than these two (though Steve Matthes probably just took his shirt off), and they have an excellent back-and-forth banter. It will be fun to watch these two all season long, as well as guests like Ricky Carmichael and all of the top riders, industry personalities, and others they pull into the show. Here's their debut as SMX Insiders, with a behind-the-scenes look at media day at Anaheim Stadium, which took place on Monday/Tuesday of this week.

This week’s news and developments weren't all fun and games. On Wednesday there was a celebration of life for Coy Gibbs at the Joe Gibbs Racing HQ in Huntersville, North Carolina, just above Charlotte. The race shop was filled with maybe 2,000 people who knew Coy, either through his time in football, auto racing, or of course the JGRMX team, plus friends he met along the way—and he made a lot of friends. It was called a celebration of life, but it was more of a somber occasion, as Coy's family and a few very close friends remembered him with stories and prayers. Coy had a huge impact on many people's lives, and the outpouring of support for his family after he passed unexpectedly, at age 49, was a testament to what a downright great man he was. Each of his four children—as well as his wife, Heather, and his father, Coach Joe Gibbs—got up and spoke about what he meant to them, and it was quite honestly difficult to keep the tears back just hearing the grief in their voices. Coy himself would have hated all the attention, as one of them said, but for everyone there to honor him, it was a chance to remember just how generous, funny, supportive, and inspiring he was. It was also a heavy reminder of just how precious our time on earth is, and that we should all make the most of every moment that we have….

Roczen Said So... (Keefer)

If it's good enough for Kenny, it's good enough for us, right? Yesterday I got to swing a leg over the 2023 Suzuki RM-Z450/250 and had a great time. Why would I even say I had a great time? Well, some of you out there think the Suzuki motocross models are no good, or since they have a kickstarter, it's dated technology. And you're not wrong about that. However, that doesn't mean they’re less fun to ride. The RM-Z450 hasn't been updated since 2018, and the RM-Z250 since 2019, but I still had a great time riding the hills of Glen Helen Raceway on both! My opinionated test rider (Big Air Tod) and I broke both bikes down for an upcoming Racer X Films video, where we talk about the price range these two bikes need to be in for you to possibly purchase one. Some people have been emailing me saying that they can't get a "new" Suzuki for much cheaper than a new Honda, so this got me thinking if the juice is worth the squeeze. However, I have seen blow out deals out there. Is full MSRP worth it for dated tech? Probably not, right? We’ll break all of this down and then some on an upcoming video. Also, look for the latest Garage Build coming to our lovely website as well. We are full of Suzuki content lately! 

Rider Check In (Jason Weigandt)

It was a week of mega media intros and more. Feld’s Media Week for Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the SuperMotocross World Championship brought every factory rider and the top privateers to Angel Stadium, each spending a full day with photo and video shoots, opening-ceremonies videos, interviews with the announcers, social media promo sessions, media training, and those “hero” shots you see before the commercials on television (you know, rider with his arms crossed, looking tough, smoke and fog in the background). Each rider gets to talk about rules and regulations with AMA’s Mike Pelletier, Feld’s Mike Muye, MX Sports’ Tim Cotter, Dr. Reiman and Tom Carson from the Alpinestars Medic staff, and Michael Colello from Aegis Sciences Corporation, which will handle anti-doping testing in 2023. It’s a comprehensive day to get everything out of the way so the riders get to focus on the racing at Anaheim 1.

In between sessions, you get to bro down with a lot of riders. Rumors have been persistent all off-season that Adam Cianciarulo is still having trouble with his hand going numb when he rides. He did acknowledge that with the live announcers, but also said he’s still going to race and keep trying. I talked to Colt Nichols about his transition to Honda. He says the bike is very different than his old Yamaha. He’s getting into a good, comfortable spot and has made a lot of progress in the off-season. Then again, everyone says that, right? We’ll see. I also talked to Justin and Josh Hill, who are now teammates with Monster Energy Team Tedder KTM, and I’ll have an interview with Justin next week. He didn’t race at all in 2021 or 2022. I also got to chat with Chase Sexton, the Lawrence brothers, Jason Anderson, and the massive Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki squad. You know what’s cool? Anderson asked me what old races I have at home on VHS. He’s such a fan, he’s always looking for more footage of old races to watch.

With the riders are in California, KTM, Husqvarna, and Honda also held team intros this week. Credit to our man Kellen Brauer for coving the heck out of the KTM and Husqvarna events while Tom Journet and I were working at the Feld event on the same day. Honda’s team intro is today (look for more on that from Brauer and Journet soon), and last night I flew to Alabama to host Yamaha’s Wall of Champions induction, starring Eli Tomac, GNCCers Rachael Archer and Brycen Neal, MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Jake Gagne, and more champions from the BluCru. Check out The Weege Show below for some words with that gang. Eli, by the way, has been in Florida for almost two weeks grinding it out at the GOAT Farm. He says the weight loss with the new 2023 Yamaha YZ450F is very noticeable. Team principal Brad Hoffman says they’re happy with the progress with the new bike, especially with Dylan Ferrandis. Hoffman says they never really got Ferrandis into a good spot with the bike last year.

Does all this talk get you pumped for Anaheim? That’s the point! See you there.

Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)

Anaheim “media days” are filled with insightful conversation, promotional creation, and overall preparation for the new season. Many of the A1 storylines were created just this week as the first sneak peek as to how the off-season has gone was shared. It's also a tough week for riders, as they are also doing their individual team intros, photo shoots, and endless media interviews. Each day was a different hoop to jump through for the riders and critically, right in the middle of their boot-camp period. This puts a strain on training continuity and for a trainer like Aldon Baker—I would bet he hates this week with the passion of a thousand suns. Boot camp is all about routine, and this week is anything but.

The big story, of course, was the official signing of Ken Roczen to the HEP Motorsports Suzuki program (Twisted Tea and Progressive are the primary sponsors here in some capacity for this team but it's murky for Roczen specifically). In the end, I believe Ken ended up in the place that made the most sense. The team has solid financial backing with Fortune 500-type companies and will also receive technical support from Suzuki. The combination of those two things alleviates many of the worries he would face elsewhere. The less-certain side comes in the form of equipment performance. Suzuki has been on the tail end of motorcycle development, a fact not lost on fans or competitors alike. In a technological arms race, Suzuki hasn't invested on par with the other OEMs. That's just factual information. Can the team build him a competitive bike? Probably so, yes. Will it be as advanced as the HRC Honda he has competed on since 2017? I would say that's highly unlikely. So this deal has an angle for everyone to latch onto. The lovers of this deal will recall Kenny's storied success on yellow. The detractors will point to the step down in technology and resources. Who's right? That's up to Kenny to decide—and he will begin to show us in less than a month!

GNCC Schedule (Mitch Kendra)

With so much news being announced left and right in every discipline, it’s getting tough to stay on top of the very latest news in each series—even for us members of the media! In case you missed all of the Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series team changes that happened last week, check them out here:

And more news on the series dropped earlier this week as well, as the 2023 GNCC schedule was announced just a few days before today’s ATV banquet and tomorrow night’s bike banquet. The 2023 schedule will be a 12-round championship (one less than 2022) and will feature 11 micro races and 9 eMTB races. The ’23 GNCC schedule will kick off with the Big Buck GNCC on February 18 and 19 in Union, South Carolina, and will complete nine total rounds before the usual “Summer Break” following the Snowshoe GNCC in late June. The Mountaineer GNCC at the Summit Bechtel Reserve will welcome racers back the third weekend in September. The finale will once again take place at Ironman Raceway, the biggest events event of the year. With all of the team changes and a lot of motivated riders heading into the new season, the ’23 season should deliver some great racing in the XC1, XC2, XC3, and WXC classes, as well as the amateur classes that range from all sorts of ages and skill levels.

Personally, I have the Mason-Dixon GNCC circled on my calendar since that’s our “home” race here in Mt. Morris, and an event I have raced the last three years—ironically on three completely different bikes! I raced my beater 2009 Kawasaki KX250F at my first GNCC race at the 2020 Mason-Dixon event, then did the 2021 event on my dad’s 2004 Honda CRF250X in 2021, and had the incredible experience of being a factory rider for the day with the AmPro Yamaha racing team at this event earlier this year in June. While it’s winter here in the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania and riding is few and far between here until around March/April/May, I look forward to racing the Mason-Dixon event come next June. Back in September, I had the awesome opportunity to race Josh Strang’s Kawasaki KX450X at the Mountaineer GNCC, which was my first time at one of the most unique venues on the schedule. Although not a great result on the track, the muddy Mountaineer GNCC event took my tally of raced GNCC events to four. Hopefully I can get some solid seat time in before the ’23 Mason-Dixon GNCC. Catch ya in the woods!

WSX Schedule (Mitch Kendra)

SX Global, promoters of the FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX), also released the 2023 WSX schedule. The six-round schedule will start on July 1—the same day as the RedBud National and the day before the MXGP of Sumbawa in Indonesia—with the British GP in the United Kingdom. The championship will visit France, Germany, Canada, Australia, and an undisclosed location in Asia for the remaining five rounds. View the full schedule below.

CANADA EH! (Matthes)

We as Canadians have been laying low on the world motocross stage, not really performing at the MXoN events, not really having any top racers in the top tens...it was all part of the plan really to lead us to this. The announcement that a WORLD SUPERCROSS ROUND would be held in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2023! WE ARE BACK!!! But in all seriousness, this announcement is cool for the Canadian moto scene, the Toronto Supercross events were a success for the most part and I know the fanbase up there miss it. From what I understand it was more the baseball team that owns the dome that stopped SX from coming up there more than the hassle for the USA teams of going up there but whatever. Vancouver is a cool city, the dome is all re-done since the old World SXGP races there around 2005-ish and I look forward to going to it. The only thing that I wonder about is the attendance was not good at those SXGP races years ago (so much that the Feld Motorsports guys were joking with me that it was my fault for not getting more Canadians out there) and so I'm not sure how that would improve this time around. Montreal (which there were talks about) would have been better but hey, let's try this out, I guess! OH CANADA!!!!

Suzuki, It's Been A Minute... (DC)

So I mentioned in the intro that Ken Roczen announcing he would be riding a Suzuki in 2023 made them a title contender again, just like that. We asked Mitch Kendra to dig into the Racer X Vault to see how long it's been since a Suzuki rider last stepped into the winner's circle in various series and championships:

Last Suzuki 450SX win, title

SX Win:

2016 East Rutherford Supercross | April 30, 2016 | Ken Roczen

SX Title:

2010 | Ryan Dungey

Last Suzuki 450 MX win, title

MX Win:

2017 Budds Creek National |August 19, 2017 | Justin Bogle | 1-3 for 1st overall

MX Title:

2016 | Ken Roczen

Last Suzuki 250 SX win, title

SX Win:

2018 San Diego Supercross | February 10, 2018 | Justin Hill

SX Title:

2009 250SX West | Ryan Dungey

Last Suzuki 250 MX win, title

250 MX Win:

2009 Glen Helen National | Ryan Dungey | 2-1 for 1st overall

250 MX Title:

2009 | Ryan Dungey

Last Suzuki Loretta Lynn's win:

Kevin Walker (Masters (50+)) and Joe Buskirk (Senior (45+) won titles aboard Suzukis in 2020.

FIM Motocross World Championship

MXGP Win:

2014 MXGP of Germany | June 22, 2014 | Clement Desalle | 2-1 for 1st overall

MXGP Title:

2007 | Steve Ramon (MX1)

MX2 Win:

August 19, 2017 | MXGP of Sweden | Jeremy Seewer | 2-2 for 1st overall

MX2 title:

1993 | Pedro Tragter | 125cc

Racer X Reader Survey (DC)

It's that time of the year again—time for the Racer X Readers’ Survey. We use this to learn what you like about the sport. We’re offering a whole bunch of cool prizes for participants who fill out the survey. Upon completion, you'll be entered in a drawing to win a Matrix Concepts prize pack (stand, ramp, mat, toolbox, gas can, ties downs), three FMF Vision prize packs (one set of Powerbomb goggles, one set of sunglasses - The Don, Origins, Gears, or Throttle styles), a STACYC 12e, a STACYC 16e, a set of Troy Lee Designs gloves (Air glove, Scout Gambit, or Revox), and an Atlas Brace (winner can choose between their Vision, Air Lite, Tyke, and Defender Chest Pro braces). That's over $3,385 in total prizes, so please follow the link and help us get a better idea out of what you want for Racer X.

Take the Racer X Readers’ Survey, with over $3,385 in prizes

Hey, Watch It!

Travis Pastrana continues to wow us...

Another excellent video from Red Bull and the 2022 Motocross of Nations at RedBud:

Donnie "RotoMoto" Southers looks at the AMA rule changes for Monster Energy Supercross:

Remember the motocross bar sign that we posted last week in Racerhead? Turns out there's video about Venice Pizzeria in Yorkville, NY (near Utica and Unadilla) as well as more of Guy Fornino, the rider that is honored by The Famous 727 Bar:

Weege Show from Yamaha's Night of Champions, featuring Eli Tomac.