Monster Energy AMA Supercross heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway tomorrow. Our man Phil Nicoletti is still recovering from his dislocated wrist but we're back to racing 250SX East anyway. Phil is keeping a keen eye on the series though and always keeps the stove ready for some hot takes, So, if you have questions about the race this weekend, you can get your questions answered if you just send an email to Phil@racerxonline.com.
(Note: Some questions have been lightly edited for clarity.)
Philthy,
I was blown away with the recent article about KTM's new US headquarters as well as seeing their addition of the hospitality semi. Have you ever seen this level of commitment within the industry? I am sure the Factory teams have some nice digs, but KTM kind of said "hold my beer" on this one. It appears to me that they are here to stay and are demonstrating a dominant stance within the industry. It's nice to see. What did you think when you saw this stuff? Heal up Quick (the vid of that pin removal was gross).
One of your many fans from Western NY,
Shitbird
Shitbird,
I did get a personal tour of the new KTM hospitality rig. It certainly does bring that F1 feel to the sport. It is so badass to see. Everyone is wondering about the health of our sport. But you look at the gains KTM is making in US with the new headquarters and semi, it looks to be very, very well. Their presence in MotoGP also shows they are wide Clyde. KTM’s commitment to two wheels is unreal. I believe you will soon see most factory hospitality trucks get to that level here soon. If I had to guess at the next factory to potentially do this, it would be Kawasaki. They have a serious budget as well. They all do, but I feel Kawi ranks near the top. Factories compete with each other when it comes to hospitality. For some teams, making sponsors and crew comfortable is a big selling point. A hospitality truck like that makes it a “home away from home” type of feel.
Phil,
Last Saturday I was watching Race Day Live from the Phoenix Supercross with Dan Hubbard and Justin Brayton. As Jett Lawrence was going through the whoops during qualifying, Justin mentioned that Jett would probably upshift to fourth or fifth gear going through the whoops. Since I also ride a 250F, I thought if I were attempting to go through a set of whoops in 5th gear on my bike, I would be going well over 60 mph! My question is, how different is the gearing setup on a supercross bike with internal gearbox and external sprocket combinations compared to an outdoor national setup and versus a bike off the showroom floor with stock gearing (like mine)? Thanks!
P.S. I also enjoyed the spotlight segment on the show with you and Enzo [Lopes] and dating his sister. Funny how Enzo was already calling you his brother-in-law...
-Papa Whealie
Well, every gear box is a little different from each manufacturer at stock form. But the gearing overall gearing might be just one tooth different, let’s say, from indoor and out. But at a factory level, the primary gears inside the gearbox get changed more than the actual sprocket, because they don’t want to mess with the chassis length too much. So, let’s say you run a 13:51. You can change the primary gear to equal 13:52 or a 13:50 within reason. It’s a badass tool to have because chassis length is a part of your set up. Especially if you ride that same chassis length week after week. Then all of a sudden you make it 5-8 millimeters longer/shorter. That makes a big difference on how the bike handles believe it or not. It’s a really badass tool to have. Those transmission parts come from the factory in Japan. At JGR we had them on Yamaha and Suzuki, as well as when I rode for Husky. At Club we aren’t “factory”, so we don’t get that luxury. But hopefully soon, that will change. Back at JGR when they were on the Suzuki, I ran a longer second gear. Suzuki has a really short second gear. So having a longer one made life SO MUCH EASIER.
Now, to answer your question about Jett hitting the whoops in fourth or fifth. Most everyone in the 250 class in the top 10 hits the whoops in fourth. It’s almost impossible to do fifth.
Phil is a great name for cool nicknames, factory being one of the best, filthy is also good. To my question. I have taken hundreds of pictures of Chase Sexton over the years and it’s pretty clear to me what his problem is. Being a desert guy, the most important aspect of going fast in the desert is to keep your head up. In almost every pic his head is straight down. Like directly in front of his fender.
Do you think it’s possible that no one is looking for a solution that is that simple? Look at some pics. If you need some, I have a lot.
Later Philbert.
Brian McCorkle
Brian,
Ehhhhh, I don’t know about that. I get that everyone says you have to look way ahead to see what’s coming. Well, yeah maybe you can do that in outdoors and scan the track better. But dude, in SX you have to look down at where you are going at that split second. You can’t just look four jumps ahead and pick your line. You have to look down in every transition and pick out where you’re going in .002 seconds lol. You can look up at the corner in the rhythm for a split second but that’s it. You do a quick scan of what’s coming of course, but Chase doesn’t just stare at his front fender, that’s for sure.
