And if you're a numbers guy like me and are trying to figure out if Max Anstie is the first guy to win an AMA SX/MX with #63, don't forget about another great mudder from back in the day. Chuck "the Rising" Sun, who hailed from Oregon, won the muddy Atlanta SX in 1980 aboard the #63 Honda, as well as the '80 AMA 500cc National Championship on #63.

As we briefly mentioned last Friday, there was sad news in the industry as Paul Schlegel, the co-founder of the whole Amateur National Motocross Championship program at Loretta Lynn’s, passed away at the age of 84 after a long illness. Schlegel spent his entire adult life in the motorcycle business, joining the AMA at the age of 16 and organizing his first event just two years later. He was a motorcycle dealer for a while, an AMA congressman, a prolific rider—he rode more than a million miles and in all 50 states—and came up with some incredible events. He was in on the ground floor of professional motocross, hosting a round of the 1970 Trans-AMA Series at his Delta, Ohio track. He also was the co-founder of the AMA Supercross at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan, which ran for 1977 to 2005. He hosted flat track races, TTs, enduros, ice racing, and of course motocross and supercross. It’s been my goal the past few years to see him get into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame, just like his partner on Loretta Lynn’s, my dad Big Dave, and like Loretta Lynn herself. Godspeed, Paul, and tell Dad and Loretta we said hello…

Before we get too far into the racing news for this week, we have some sad news from the series. Wills Fedrick, the paddock manager of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday evening. Wills always had a friendly and smiling face in the pits and worked sun-up to sun-down to make the Monster Energy Supercross FanFest as best as it could be for fan, riders, teams, and truck drivers. He was an energetic and spirited young man that was well respected and loved by the paddock and has made a lasting impression on the sport of Supercross. Wills Fedrick will be sorely missed by everyone involved in Monster Energy AMA Supercross. Godspeed Wills.

Finally, just before I left the office on Wednesday evening I got a call at the Racer X office from none other than Mike Goodwin—yes, the Mike Goodwin, founder of the original Superbowl of Motocross at the Los Angeles Coliseum. I'm glad I was there to get the call because I had missed a couple from him, and I can’t call him back—he’s in a federal prison serving two life terms for the murder of Mickey and Trudy Thompson back in the late 1980s. What a way to start a long weekend roadtrip to supercross, 51 years after he literally invented the concept of racing downtown in a city stadium under the lights. (And here's a historic nod to the Great Victory Day races in Prague, Czechoslovakia in the 1950s, but that's a whole different story...)

Today in Nashville (Jason Weigandt)

Just checking in from what would have been press day today at Nissan Stadium. There won’t be a press day, it has been cancelled due to rain. I checked out the track this afternoon and it’s a mess right now, but Dirt Wurx is going to town on it, and the reclamation project should pay dividends. Tomorrow’s forecast isn’t actually that bad, we might avoid back-to-back mudders. I do think the rain that has already come will lead to some ruts tomorrow, but the last time we raced here the track was hard and dry, so I’m not sure this is a bad thing.

While I hate to give him credit, our man Phil Nicoletti made a key point his UnPhiltered column last week: “At age 19-23 it’s all moto moto moto. But as you get older, you realize when it’s over, it’s over. You won’t be in New York one weekend, then Nashville the next.”

That’s right. This series visits the coolest locations, but sometimes it just feels like racing. Luckily, I think a few have realized getting paid to go to these places is a dream job for most, especially when it’s New York one week and Nashville the next. Through the years we’ve heard plenty of riders hate on the travel, and that process is definitely not fun, but I also think not going racing for a few months in 2020 (due to COVID-19) gave everyone some perspective. Since then, we’ve got older riders pushing harder than ever at the time when they would normally be considering retirement. Justin Barcia just won a race at 31 years old, and you can tell he’s having more fun in life and racing than perhaps any time in his career. I think this Suzuki situation will probably add a few years to Ken Roczen’s career, as well. The list goes on. We’re in a good place with superstar riders right now, and that’s led to a great season.

On the other end, we’ve got new superstars in the game, from the Lawrence brother’s continuing to climb, and now Haiden Deegan joining the pro ranks with success. Any fan who is coming to these races or watching back home has a bevy of characters to cheer for, and plenty of reason to watch.

We’ve also got an even younger set via the 250SX Futures division. This program has birthed Julien Beaumer, because while he was a good amateur, I don’t think he was seen as a A+ prospect until right now, with back-to-back wins against established talent like Dax Bennick and Ryder DiFrancesco. “JuJu” as he is called, spoke about this rapid development after the win in New Jersey.

“I felt like supercross came pretty easy, especially when I was on 85s and Superminis,” he said. “But I felt like I struggled more when I first started riding it on a 250. I feel like these last couple of months, and for sure the month leading up to Anaheim is where it really took off.”

The credit for that? A lot goes to Davi Millsaps, who has done a lot of teaching with Beaumer in a short time.

“I talked to him and texted him, and then we started working together on January 1^st,” said Beaumer about working with Millsaps. “The first race was January 28th. The first day I rode, January 1^st, I could barely even do two laps at a time. But I was able to do eight by the time we got to Anaheim, and now we’re onto 15 and 20.”

If you just watch JuJu in practice, you can tell he has a knack for supercross. He doesn’t look sketchy.

I got to help on the TV crew last weekend in New Jersey with a pre-race show and reports from the paddock. It occurred to me how many stars, personalities, and recognizable faces we now have in this sport, from Eli Tomac, to even having Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart in the TV booth, to 250 next-gen stars and more. It’s a good time to be a supercross fan, and it’s a good time to pick a favorite supercross rider.

NASHVILLE! (Matthes)

Great to see the SX series head back to Nashville, we were there a few years ago and people seemed to dig it. Packed stadium and pits from what I remember and the word was it was going to be an every other year race. But then COVID-19 happened and yeah, things got weird. Well, it's back now and as the third-to-last round of the series, with it being a day race and outdoors, weird things could happen. Cool city as well and with it being a day race and done by 6 p.m. local time, I hope the industry that hits Tootsie's after the race doesn't end up in cuffs. Someone watch Logan Karnow closely, please. 

Main event finishes of 4-4-5 for Cooper Webb the last three weekends and it's not what we expected to see from Webb. In his title years, he was the ultimate closer. Lately though, it's been weird to see Coop not quite get it done. He's lost eight points to Tomac in these three races and one more round with no points gained and ET's going to be able to cruise it on home. Cooper Webb's got to get it done this weekend.

Speaking of Webb, he said on the PulpMX Show that he was in for the AMA Pro Motocross Championship. His contract is open, he could choose to skip them if he wants to (for less money from KTM obviously) and he got his win to get into the LCQs at the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) playoffs at the end of the year. I expected him to skip Pro Motocross to be honest. And of course, his contract is up and I'm hearing that he might be going back to Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing for 2024. So, never mind the Dos Equis man, Cooper Webb might be the most interesting man in the world here shortly. 

Privateer Win? (DC)

The morning after it was mentioned on the livestream on Saturday night from MetLife Stadium calling Max Anstie's 250SX win was the first "privateer win" since Ricky Ryan at the '87 Daytona Supercross" I started getting messages from none other than Davi Millsaps, the longtime factory rider, multi-time SX/MX winner as well as the 2006 250SX East Region Champion. Millsaps rode for several factory teams, but in 2013 he rode for Bobby Hewitt's Rockstar Suzuki team, right before it switched over to KTM (and eventually Husqvarna) with full factory support. However, that '13 season with Suzuki was a lean one. But Millsaps started it off with a surprising win at the Anaheim opener to grab the red plate, won again at San Diego and stayed in the title fight for practically the whole series before finishing second in the final rankings to four-time AMA Supercross #1 Ryan Villopoto of the Monster Energy Kawasaki factory team. 

"I was privateer in 2013 with zero parts or funding from Suzuki so just curious what you guys consider privateer," texted Millsaps. He followed up with messages from both team manager “Scuba” Steve Westfall and team owner Bobby Hewitt, both backing his claim that they got absolutely nothing from Suzuki that season, making him a privateer in 2013 with not one but two wins. 

"In 2013 I / we were more privateer than any other year I have ever been in racing," offered Hewitt, now heading up the fledgling Triumph effort set to start in '24. "We had ZERO factory support. I begged for months for just one part I needed for you but we never did receive the flywheel I wanted from them. Short answer is we were 'completely 100% privateer.' I personally funded the program that year."

Honda 1-2-3? International 1-2-3? (DC)

Saturday night's wild 250SX main event ended with Firepower Honda's Max Anstie using his superb mud skills to earn his first-ever Monster Energy AMA Supercross win. Behind him were Honda HRC teammates Jett and Hunter Lawrence, who both stopped to congratulate Max. Of course the Lawrence brothers hail from Australia, so that means we have two excellent bits of supercross history to investigate: Was this the first time Honda riders ever went 1-2-3 in a 125/250SX Region? And was this the first time a 125/250SX podium was filled by foreign-born riders?

As far as Honda sweeps goes, that's happened plenty of times in the premier class, beginning with the 1-2-3 of Team Honda's Marty Tripes, Jimmy Ellis and Marty Smith at the '78 Daytona Supercross. And then as late as the 1-2-3 of GEICO Honda's Kevin Windham and Team Honda's Davi Millsaps and Andrew Short at the 2010 Salt Lake City race. Heck, in 1986 Honda factory riders Rick Johnson, David Bailey and Johnny O'Mara went 1-2-3 in final series standings. But has a Red Riders' sweep ever happened in the small-bore division? 

Turns out it has happened, and more than once. In 2002 at the Dallas 125SX where 16-year-old Kawasaki rookie James Stewart crashed himself out of 125SX West Region title contention, the podium was swept by Amsoil/Dr. Martens/Journeys/ Competition Accessories' Honda teammates Travis Preston and Christopher Gosselaar, and the Shark Plano Honda team's Travis Elliott. (Honorable mention goes to the 2008 Toronto SX, when the 450s were counted as an AMA/FIM Supercross but the "Lites" class was just an exhibition race. No matter, the Butler Brothers Racing/DNA Energy Drink Honda showed up and went 1-2-3 with Shaun Skinner, Matt Boni, and Kyle Cunningham, but you won't find that result in the Vault.)

As far as foreign riders go, that's a little tougher to research. It did happen in 2011 at the Southwick 250 National, as South Africa's Tyla Rattray, Scotland's Dean Wilson, and South Africa's Gareth Swanepoel went 1-2-3 in the overall. And we also recall that at the '21 Unadilla 450 National, Germany's Ken Roczen and Frenchmen Dylan Ferrandis and Marvin Musquin went 1-2-3 in the overall results. But then we went back to the 2012 Phoenix Lites race, which saw Wilson win, Musquin second and Rattray third. The top American that night? Fourth-place Eli Tomac. And in an ironic twist to this whole topic, the ninth-place finisher that night was Max Anstie. 

More on Anstie the Mudder (DC)

We asked our colleague in Europe to tell us why Max Anstie is so daman good in the mud. Here's what Geoff Meyer, the man behind MXLarge.com, said of Saturday night's first-time AMA SX winner, who has also won plenty of MXGP rounds and swept both muddy motos at the 2017 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations in England:

Loretta Lynn's Alumni (DC)

With this week's event being something of a salute to all of the finalist at Loretta Lynn's Ranch over the years, it would be impossible to go back and find photos of every supercross rider that's come through the ranch. With the exceptions of Jean-Michel Bayle and Chad Reed, who grew up in other countries, pretty much every top SX rider since Ricky Johnson and Jeff Ward in the late 1980s, and more recently Dylan Ferrandis, Hunter Lawrence, and Tom Vialle are not Loretta Lynn's graduates. Although, Ferrandis and Lawrence raced there in 2020 when we did the first two rounds of the COVID-19-shortened and restricted AMA Pro Motocross Championship there at the Ranch. But Christophe Pourcel, Ken Roczen, Dean Wilson, Jo Shimoda, Jett Lawrence, and Max Anstie all came to the ranch and raced as kids. As for everyone else entered in SX this season, I did a quick look the last 15 or so years of Loretta Lynn's Yearbooks to see how many kids I recognized from current results, and how many had parents who took the time to send a photo in of them for the yearbook. Here's what I found...

And the Futures (DC)

And we spotted a few kids in the SX Futures this year in more recent Loretta Lynn's Yearbooks...

Testing Stuff (Keefer)

Look for some new moto rubber coming from Dunlop as well as Maxxis next month. Both companies will be introducing a new line of tires as Dunlop most likely will have a MX34 and Maxxis will most likely update their MX-ST line up. I was scheduled to fly to Huntsville, Alabama, this week to visit the Dunlop Proving grounds but American Airlines cancelled our flight so look for a full tour of the Dunlop facility here in a couple weeks! Of course you can find all of the info right here on Raerxonline.com about both new tires once we get some time on them.

The 2024 season is ramping up as well so that means KTM/Husqvarna/GasGas is introducing their ‘24 moto and off-road bikes to us most likely by the end of next month! Yes, it's only May but even though this may sound early the KTM Group is always the fist ones out of the gate for new bike season. The 2024 models will be almost identical to the 2023 machines so expect nothing major from these three brands but come Factory Edition time (end of December 2023) my guess is you will see a new bike from KTM. Although I have not yet got confirmation of a new frame, you can almost expect an updated chassis on the 250/350/450 orange/white machines. I am really curious on what the Austrians come up with because I do know that the latest generation frame is quite a bit stiffer when riding and it would be nice to get some of that steel frame comfort back for us vet riders that we loved so much pre 2022.5! 

With new manufacturers coming into the fold as well like Beta, Triumph, and Ducati it's a fun time for us moto geeks. I especially love new bike season and love when there is an all-new brand coming into our sport. I know some of us think that one of these brands is just going to be another Cannondale story but I can guarantee you that this new breed of moto bikes will not be anything like the Cannondale nor will they be here one minute and gone the next. From what I was told all three brands are here to stay in the moto category for some time to come! Don't expect the Ducati to be a 12K machine, however. I would expect this moto work of art to be much pricier than that so that should be interesting. Brining in some of their on-road knowledge to the moto side is what I am hearing so this should make for an interesting new crop of riders for our industry. I don't know how many of us die hard moto guys would pay 20K for a moto bike, but I am sure there are some out there. If it truly does make a difference on the track does that force the other manufacturers to step their tech game up as well? I think it has to! I look forward to putting even more time on bikes than I already do so make sure you lock it into Racer X as well as Keeferinctesting.com for all the new bike breakdowns! 

An American in Europe (DC)

Yet another Loretta Lynn's alumni is Florida's Jack Chambers, who attended seven times between 2014 and '21. He started '23 racing a KTM 250 SX-F in Monster Energy AMA Supercross with the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Rides Unlimited Racing KTM team before getting a call from Steve Dixon in Great Britain (with Zach Osborne, Chambers’ trainer, acting as the connection) to come and fill-in on his Kawasaki team in in the MX2 FIM Motocross World Championship. Chambers had never raced a Kawasaki before but found himself on the starting gate for the third round of the series in Switzerland and acquitted himself very well, going 14-12 for 13th overall just days after landing over there. One week late he had a tougher go of it at the tricky Arco di Trentino circuit in Italy, failing to crack the top 20 in either moto. But then last weekend Jack got back on the fast track and ended up winning the first British National he ever entered. It came after a confusing second moto which had to be red-flagged, with Chambers leading, but the scoring mistakenly had him in second, which would have given the overall win to Isak Gifting, who had 1-3 moto tallies to Chambers' 2-2. But then the scoring was corrected and Chambers was rightfully given the win with 2-1 moto finishes on his Kawasaki KX250. 

Geoff Meyer of MXLarge.com caught up with Jack recently for a short feature on him for MXGP.com, before Chambers heads to Portugal this weekend for his third Grand Prix appearance.

Look for a Racer X Magazine feature soon on Jack Chambers' sudden adventure in Europe and what it's like to go straight into the MX2 class to race on the other side of the world—and those guys are fast!

Hey, Watch It!

Here's the 2015 Budds Creek highlights where Barcia, riding for JGR Yamaha, wins the 450 class. It doesn't get really nasty until the start of the second 450 moto.

2023 Boise Inter-Am recap

Sloshing Around, Barcia's Early Aggression, & More | East Rutherford Race Examination

Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week

"Editor Fired for Publishing AI Generated Michael Schumacher ‘Interview’"s—Jalopnik

"A Passenger On An American Airlines Flight From New York To India Peed On Another Passenger And This Is The THIRD Time It Has Happened On This Route Since The End Of 2022" - Barstool 

“John Stamos tried to get Olsen twins fired from ‘Full House’”—CNN.com

“Wonder why your cat is obsessed with cardboard boxes? This expert explains”—CNN Health

“Jerry Springer’s most viral guests: Adult babies, man married to horse and more”—Page SixTop of Form

Random Notes

Ken Roczen and his kickstarter on the cover of Cross Magazine’s April issue.