Also, the same track layout that was supposed to be featured back in January—and was never actually built due to the heavy rains that turned the dirt into mush—has finally been built. Here's a reminder of what it looked like:

Of course this weekend means the return of the 250SX West Region and Honda-mounted Jett Lawrence wearing the red plate, and not his older brother, Hunter, who is two-for-two in the 250SX East Region. Last weekend’s dramatic win after running down and passing Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Nate Thrasher on the last lap—and more specifically the last two turns—ended in the second closest finish in electronically scored AMA Supercross history. After making up 2.5 seconds on the last lap, #96 used an outside line in the sand turn to almost pass Thrasher, only to have Nate pop out from the inside and block him. But that left Thrasher susceptible in the last turn, on the inside. Hunter squared him up with a two-wheeled inside slide that Valentino Rossi would have been proud of. Even then, the win wasn’t in the bag. If the track had only been maybe 10 feet longer, Thrasher would have won. It wasn’t, and Hunter Lawrence took the win by 0.134 seconds. (The closest finish ever? Dallas ’19, when Red Bull KTM’s Cooper Webb nipped then-Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen in the last corner after Kenny made a mistake and won by 0.028 seconds—effectively the blink of an eye.) Earlier this week I took a look at other races where what looked like sure winners ended up snatching defeat from the jaws of victory since 2000. Give it a read: The List: Snatching Defeat From The Jaws of Victory.

The 450 main in Tampa was also pretty crazy, as Honda’s Chase Sexton had another one of those “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” moments. He tipped over in the slick whoops with less than four laps to go, which gave Cooper Webb, once again in the right place at the right time, a late-race win. Of course it happened on one of those off nights for Eli Tomac, who seems to either win or miss the podium completely. As a result, Eli, Chase, and Cooper are all bunched up together again at the top of the standings, just four points apart as we finally get Oakland in.

Speaking of Oakland, it was no one’s intention to make everyone drive back across the country from Gulf Coast of Central Florida to the east side of San Francisco Bay in California, but that was the only place in the schedule that would allow Feld Motor Sports and the AMA to get the Oakland round in. Hopefully everyone made the long drive without incident, and we’ll see another great race in what’s been a fantastic series so far.

Speaking of Feld, I mentioned last week that they hosted a media roundtable at their massive Bradenton HQ, maybe 45 minutes away from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. They gave a guided tour of their facility, which included the Monster Jam garage, the amazing collection of circus costumes and equipment, the giant rehearsal spaces that they use for everything from Disney On Ice to WNBA quarantine games to concert stage buildouts. They have memorabilia and toys scattered throughout—a huge part of Feld’s business is memorabilia, merchandise, and, well, toys. They also had a Kevin Windham poster hanging from the ceiling in one hallway full of circus show posters that reminded everyone how important supercross is to their business now, as well as what their roots are in the Ringling Circus, which is returning to the road this fall.

I would tell you more about the Tampa race, but as I also mentioned last week, I flew out early Saturday morning to get home and drive to my daughter’s volleyball tournament in Sandusky, Ohio, so I will let the other guys fill you in. (And no, the Morgantown Volleyball Club Blue 15 squad did not win the tournament.) But on the way out I spotted some cool signs in the Tampa airport for Monster Energy Supercross, featuring Eli Tomac and Justin Barcia. What’s cool is that President Biden had flown to Tampa the day before for some kind of groundbreaking or ribbon-cutting for a new control tower in the airport, which meant he probably saw the same signs for supercross. How cool would it be if he did and decided to invite the series champion to the White House, the same way President Ronald Reagan did after Team USA won the 1987 FIM Motocross of Nations at Unadilla?

Also happening this weekend is the start of the Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series, presented by Specialized. Spring is still a few weeks away, so it’s no surprise that the series is starting out down in Union, South Carolina. The VP Racing Fuels Big Buck event will see the ATVs take off tomorrow with a full day of the various motorcycle divisions on Sunday. As Magna1 Motorsports/Husqvarna factory rider Jordan Ashburn begins his defense of his 2022 GNCC title, you can watch it stream live and free on RacerTV.com shortly after 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. For more on the series, check out Mitch Kendra’s preview here: 2023 GNCC Refresher.

Real Emotions (Jason Weigandt)

The best thing about supercross right now? You can easily make a case for Tomac, Sexton, or Webb for this title. Consider it a 33.3 percent chance for each of them. Or maybe 25 percent each and then 25 percent for the rest of the field. Tomac’s title strengths are obvious. Webb, in his title years, usually gets rolling at this exact time, and for him one win always leads to many more. Sexton has that all-important speed. Now, you can pick Sexton apart for his failure to win the last two races, which were winnable, but there’s a flip side. When a guy is 90 percent of the way there every week, that means he’s very, very close to just going on a run. You have to respect Sexton’s capabilities.

That’s what led to the psycho analysis of Sexton following Tampa. He looked crushed immediately after the main, but later said the right things on the podium and in the press conference. Which is the real? Did he just put on a brave face to convince his competitors, and himself, that he’s actually okay? Or did he just need a few minutes to collect himself, and he actually, legitimately, wasn’t that bummed?

DMXS Radio’s David Izer has been asking the tough questions in this year’s post-race press conferences.

“Chase, you’ve been in this position before, late races and had crashes similar to this,” Izer said. “Do those old moments creep into your mind during races now as it comes to the five-minute mark where you’re just like, ‘Man, just hold on’? Does that affect your confidence at all when you’re leading a race late?” 

“No, not really,” answered Sexton. “It’s definitely unfortunately been a little bit of an ongoing thing. Like I said, I’m going to put my best self out there throughout the whole main event. I’m not going to let him go by me. I had a few close calls in the whoops prior to that. That one obviously bit me. So I was giving my all and that’s all I can do.”

Sexton had flipped “I messed up while leading” into “I messed up because I was going for it trying to win.” And you know what? Either answer could be right.

There’s more to it than just psychoanalysis. Sexton’s trouble at Houston, Anaheim 1, and Tampa came late, when the tracks get rough. He’s said how hard it is to replicate those conditions during the week. The only way to learn is to do it. Webb and Tomac have raced more 450 mains. They have more experience. Few on earth can hammer a rough track like four-time 450 Pro Motocross Champion Tomac, and few are as smart with finding new lines late as Webb. You can look at it like Sexton cracked under pressure in Tampa, or you look at it as another lesson learned. He should have switched lines in the whoops, like Webb did.

With each of these three having different styles and approaches, it will be really fun to see which comes out on top. Another good one looms this weekend in Oakland.

Ferrandis (Matthes)

I know that Dylan Ferrandis was hoping to be back for this weekend’s ROUND TWO in Oakland after his scary Houston crash, but it was not to be for the #14. He's going to sit out this weekend at least while he recovers from that concussion. I wonder if the team will keep Justin Cooper on the team (which wasn't the original plan) to have two bikes on the track, but there is no official word yet. On Thursday night, Cooper posted to social media he is racing this weekend, but aside from this weekend, who knows about next weekend and so on.

Ferrandis has, like a lot of riders, a contract that ends after this year. Something we were talking about on the PulpMX Show is that there's going to be a ton of turnover in the 450 class in 2024. We think Eli Tomac will retire, but the only riders with deals right now for ’24 seem to be Adam Cianciarulo, Christian Craig, Kyle Chisholm, annddddd … that's about it. I expect Malcolm Stewart to re-sign with Husqvarna, but seriously, everyone else is up. Well, we expect Chase Sexton to go to Red Bull KTM as well of course, and Jett Lawrence will definitely on the HRC Honda 450. Otherwise, it’s going to be a wild off-season for sure!

Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)

For the 250SX West riders, this Oakland round is a bit of a curveball. Leaving A2, they were originally scheduled for a two-month break before returning at Seattle in late March. That would give them time to do outdoor testing and also heal any nagging injuries (think Cameron McAdoo and RJ Hampshire). Instead, it was a couple of weekends off and back to racing, then another month off. Racers have to be nimble, but this was an unusual situation. We simply don't get canceled races very often. Outside of the COVID-19 craziness in 2020, we had to go back to 1992 and the Los Angeles Coliseum race to find a postponement. I would bet the biggest challenge was on the logistics and planning side, but it definitely changed the mindset for many riders. Jett Lawrence, for example, was likely planning on some solid 450 testing time. Instead, he would need to work in some 250SX days to stay sharp. Huge problem? No, but it is inconvenient. Let's see who is ready for a bounce back at this strangely situated trip to the Bay Area.

As for the 450 guys, the top of the field is in flux. We have parity in the title fight, which is a welcome reprieve from what looked like could be a Tomac runaway. Oakland has been good to many of these riders—notably Anderson, Tomac, and Webb. They will all enter this event thinking they’re set up nicely for a win. Sexton is the one who is due, though. His pace is undeniable, and he looks one tick away from really breaking out. I could make a case for any of these riders as to why their time is now, but we know that only one can stand atop the podium Saturday. The mental battle is far more intriguing and difficult than the riding when it gets to this level. Who can block out the noise and assert themselves? Saturday will tell us more.

Live Podcast Shows (Matthes)

Weege, JT, and I are coming to Indy and Denver and doing some Fly Racing LIVE podcast shows Friday night, these are always a lot of fun. Tickets on sale HERE: http://pulpmx.com/2023/01/16/fly-racing-racer-x-pulpmx-live-podcast-shows/

Travis to the Show! (DC)

Count us among the slightly skeptical when Travis Pastrana announced that he was going to try to qualify for the Daytona 500, despite the fact that Travis has proven time and again that he can do just about anything he puts his mind to. Despite being teammates with Jimmie Johnson, one of NASCAR's all-time greats, and despite the fact that he was driving as a wildcard for a team owned by Michael Jordan, and in Toyota co-owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan's 23XI Racing team and sponsored by Black Rifle Coffee, we had our doubts. But on Wednesday night, Pastrana went out and qualified 25^th—just two behind his teammate Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR champion—guaranteeing him a career first NASCAR start at the Daytona 500. Pastrana said it was a lifelong dream to race the Daytona 500, as the six-time U.S. National Rally Champion, 11-time X Games Champion, and '00 AMA 125 Pro Motocross Champion and '01 AMA 125 East Region Supercross Champion has raced NASCAR trucks and the second-tier Nationwide Series, but never the real deal. Now he's in, two spots behind Johnson and one spot ahead of Hamlin, the team co-owner. The Daytona 500 will go off on Sunday afternoon, weather permitting, on CBS.

Coincidentally, Travis' second Racer X magazine cover came from the 2001 Daytona 125 Supercross, where he won for the second straight year. Daytona International Speedway is also the race where he infamously tried to backflip the finish-line tabletop one year, and also where he crashed into the fence while absolutely blitzing the whoops. How cool that all of these years later, he's racing the 500.

Which raises the question: has anyone ever raced the Daytona Supercross as well as the Daytona 500?

How The Other Half Live (Keefer)

When Kellen Brauer and I were walking around the pits at A2, I got the idea to film some of these hardworking blue-collar privateers that are the backbone of our professional sport. There are more of them than factory riders. Matthes has brought a lot of these guys to the spotlight the past few years, but to me, I've been this guy all my life. I never had the talent to be a factory rider, but there is a way to “make it" in our sport without being under the big awnings of SX and MX. If you haven't checked out our latest video "How The Other Half Live" then you should. Like, right now. Racerhead isn't going anywhere, it will be here after you're done with this 30-minute video. Sit back, relax, and get to know six different types of privateers you have on your fantasy league come Saturday nights.

Cover Story (DC)

By now you've probably seen the cover of the latest Racer X magazine featuring Eli Tomac's crazy mid-race crash at Anaheim 1, from which he recovered and went on to win anyway. The shot was captured by Simon Cudby, shooting for our friends at Align With Us Media. A shot from Simon's sequence ended up on our cover, while another frame from the sequence later ended up on the cover of the German magazine Cross. It's not often that a crash photo ends up on a magazine cover—at least not since Dirt Bike magazine used to put out their special Crash & Burn issues! But I did remember a magazine from back in the day that had a really cool crash shot from the first turn at Daytona. The August 1975 issue of Motocross Action was maybe my favorite cover growing up—I had it on my bedroom wall for years. The shot shows Husqvarna’a Mike Hartwig of Michigan flying above his bike in similar fashion to Eli, only he's completely disconnected from it. Also in the shot are #5 Gary Semics of Ohio and Team Kawasaki and the late Bob Harris of New York and CZ. Out of curiosity, I went to the Racer X Online Vault to see how the race ended up for these three guys. Turns out none of them are in the results, which goes down to 30th place!

So I turned to that other trusty source, the Cycle News Archive, which is worth every penny of the $4.99 they charge for access to every issue from the past decades. And that's where the mystery was solved. Turns out they were still running two classes in 1975: the 250 class and the 500 class. This photo is not from the '75 Daytona 250 Supercross, which is the class we have results for in the Vault, but rather the 500 class!

A lot of top riders back then were still in the 500 class, which would be phased out of supercross the next year. Besides Hartwig, Semics, and Harris, Yamaha's Jimmy Weinert; Suzuki's Tony DiStefano; Maico's Steve Stackable, Barry Higgins, and Rich Thorwaldson; CZ's Gary Chaplin and Jim West; and Bultaco's Gary Bailey (who built the track) were all in the 500 class that day. Each class ran three motos rather than a single main event, and there were actually 38 riders in the 250 finale and an equal number in the 500 class. This crash probably happened at the start of the second moto. Harris ended up sixth overall with 4-13-6 finishes, while Semics was ninth overall with 12-14-10 finishes. Hartwig was not in the top ten overall after losing his chain in the first moto (and of course the first-turn crash). The winner in the 500 class was Steve "Short Stack" Stackable, the tall Texan, while the 250cc win went to Can-Am's Jimmy Ellis. As for the cover photo itself, it was shot by The Bazzer himself, the great MXA editor Paul Boudreau. 

There's also video of the Daytona ’75 event, home movies shot by Hartwig's parents. This was back when the Daytona track was long and actually crossed the pavement. It's quite the difference to the Daytona SX we see today.

Hey, Watch It!

Another excellent Race Examination by Kellen Brauer on Chase Sexton’s great start, the tangle of Jason Anderson and Justin Barcia (which landed Anderson on a 6-month probation with the AMA), the “V’d-out” whoops in the 450 main, and then of course Hunter Lawrence:

The Weege Show starring Jason’s broadcast partner for Pro Motocross this summer, James Stewart:

And James himself has another remarkable set of takes in his Tampa Rewind, Bubba’s World/ James Stewart:

The pre-season international motocross events are up and running, and here's what Round 1 of the Italian Nationals looked and sounded like (and starring defending MXGP World Champion Tim Gajser):

Shane McElrath has an excellent (and very honest) new vlog that you can check out right here: