So, what to make of Jett Lawrence’s 2023 season so far? After dominating the 250SX West Region and winning the East/West Showdown in Salt Lake City, he’s 4-0 in motos aboard the bigger bike. There’s no doubt a depleted field wracked by injuries has made things easier, as Eli Tomac, Justin Barcia, Jason Anderson, and now Chase Sexton, are all sidelined, and Ken Roczen is sitting out this summer. At the same time, Jett has been a true revelation on the 450. We all knew he would be fast, but he’s been downright fantastic. I made the analogy that it reminded me of watching the great Jean-Michel Bayle at Gatorback ’89 when we all saw him ride a 250 outdoors for the first time, and he was truly impressive in winning the first national he ever entered. Of course JMB was already the 125 World Champion from the previous year, and got in five rounds of premier-class AMA Supercross before the Gatorback opener, and then went home to France and dominated the 250cc World Championships before returning to the states to really begin his ascent to the top of the SX/MX world. In Jett’s case, he’s been here since he was still an amateur, and we’ve seen him have plenty of success in the 250 class, winning four consecutive titles—two in MX, two in SX. Now he’s in an incredibly unique position: Jett Lawrence could become the first rider history to win a small-division AMA Supercross title, and then the big-bike AMA Motocross title in the same season. The only people who have accomplishments close to that are the aforementioned JMB, who won SX, 250 MX and 500 MX in 1991, and Mark “Bomber” Barnett, who won the AMA Supercross title in 1981, while also racing as a full-time 125 rider outdoors and winning his second of three titles there.

Hunter Lawrence is in a unique position too. He took the 250SX East crown and is now leading 250 MX, and if he holds on it would mark the first time in history that one brother succeeded another as a series champion. And it’s almost certain that the two Lawrence brothers will be 450 teammates in the near future at Honda HRC, which could make things even more interesting for the family, as well as the team.

As for Sexton, the recently crowned 2023 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Champion, he will remain sidelined due to that concussion from the Tuesday after the opener, complicated by what team manager Lars Lindstrom says is a case of mono. Here’s hoping Sexton makes it back next week for High Point, or his close-to-home race at RedBud in the least.

The Lawrence brothers has been the story of summer so far, in both classes, but there’s a few other things brewing up behind them that are worth keeping an eye on. Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan seems to get more impressive by the race. After finishing second overall at Fox Raceway the kid got his first moto win at Hangtown, but then a bad start kept him from trying to get his first overall win. He’s already challenging the veteran Justin Cooper as the team’s primary 250 rider, though it should be mentioned Cooper sat idle for much of supercross because he had been advanced by the AMA, despite missing the entire ’22 SX season with a broken foot. And remember that Cooper really flies at Thunder Valley, winning here a couple of times before. (And also keep an eye on another team member, Spanish rider Guillem Farres, who was once again solid at Hangtown.)

Red Bull KTM’s Tom Vialle had another up-and-down day, er, actually, down-and-up. Just like Fox Raceway, Vialle started well but faded in the first moto, then made some adjustments and rebounded for a podium finish the second time out. The two-time French MX2 World Champion has now gone 7-3 for fourth overall in each of his first two Pro Motocross nationals. On the other hand, Tom’s teammate Max Vohland had a very disappointing home race, bad starts putting him in a hole in each moto. His 11^th overall was well below expectations.

RJ Hampshire, the winner of the first moto of the season, was plagued by bad starts in both motos at Hangtown. And with the somewhat dry conditions—it was dry underneath but slick on top due to not enough digging deep before the race and too much water on top during—made passing difficult. RJ went 5-5 for fifth overall after starting out 12^th and 13^th in the two motos. His Rockstar Energy Husqvarna teammate Jalek Swoll was very fast at times, but an off-track excursion in one of the motos saw him almost take out a young fan who should not have been out on the infield. The near-miss seemed to spook Swoll, who’s missed way too many races with injuries in the past couple of years.

Worst of all was the broken/dislocated wrist of former two-time champion Jeremy Martin of the Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha team. It happened in a big second-turn crash that saw maybe eight guys go down together. I would have described it as the biggest crash of the day if not for the huge crash on the outside of the first turn in the second 450 class moto that knocked several privateers out and even caught one of the hay bales on fire. Some online were quick to point to the new metal grates incorporated this summer but that was the first first-turn crash in 12 starts so far (counting all of the motos and LCQs). No matter, we will be watching for any trends in crashes all season long.

Both Dylan Ferrandis and Cooper Webb showed improved speed in the 450 class and seem the most likely to challenge Jett this weekend at Thunder Valley. Webb’s Red Bull KTM teammate Aaron Plessinger was fast at times, but a second-moto spill and then a delay in getting going again (due to a broken-off clutch lever) ruined his day. (And AP7 was not a fan of the track prep during post-race conversations.)

So now it’s onto round three at Thunder Valley, and maybe a chance to see a record broken, as Matthes explains next.

Oh and good luck to our GNCC Racing Trail Boss Ryan Echols, who is trying his hand at the infamous Erzberg Rodeo in Austria this weekend! Go get 'em, Ryan!

Wardy (Matthes)

Weege and I talked to the last rider to start their premier class AMA Motocross career with 1-1-1-1 finishes in Jeff Ward for our Leatt Re-Raceables podcast. Wardy didn't actually know he had this record, and he also expects it to fall this weekend in Lakewood. Wardy talked about how ready he was in '85 to win, how his Kawi works bike was really good, and how he won the SX title that year as well and crushed the first two nationals, leading almost every lap. Weege then asked Jeff about his various ankle injuries and Wardy went into some crazy stories about trying to heal fast enough to be able to race on the weekend. Nutty!

Thanks for checking it out, listen to the show here:

Marchbanks (Matthes)

Oh, the thrills of racing dirt bikes. I remember when I worked for Chaparral Yamaha in '99, it was late at night Saturday before the race and team manager Larry Brooks, and I were talking while I changed a swingarm on Tim Ferry's bike. LB was saying that the sport was such a roller coaster, and he loved that feeling. I remember laughing and saying that's exactly what I don't like—the wide range of emotions involved in the sport. Well, that's sort of what I was thinking last week when I walked past the ClubMX guys on my way out of the track. Their star rider Jeremy Martin suffered a badly broken wrist/elbow and will be out the rest of the year, while the team’s other rider Garrett Marchbanks has had a terrible start to the 250 MX season, and the team’s third rider, Preston Kilroy, had crashed out of moto two. These guys couldn't have had a worse day if they tried.

But it was only a month ago that their 250SX rider Enzo Lopes had qualified fastest out of anyone (including the Jett) and was going for third in the 250SX West Region series. The little team that could was doing it. Ahhhhh, racing man—the ups and downs will get to you. Unless you're Larry Brooks and you live on Mountain Dew.

Anyways, a smart move by the team was to move Marchbanks to the 450MX class for the rest of the summer (IE: pulling a Masterpool) where he should be in the mix with “Fast Freddie” Noren for "first non-factory guy" and he can turn his summer around. He raced 450 MX last year, did pretty well and it's easier for any team to compete on the bigger bike. Let's hope this works out because I'm not sure the guys over there could handle much more bad news.

Oh, and a tip of the visor to Ty Masterpool. After giving up on the 250 class after just a single round, Masterpool showed up at Hangtown on a Kawasaki KX450 and ended up sixth overall in his big-bike debut. Masterpool is a full privateer, with outside-the-industry backing from Sports Clips. He’s been through a lot in a few short years, but he’s always been fast when things were working well.

2024 KX450 (Keefer)

With the release of the 2024 Kawasaki KX450 information this week comes a lot of anticipation. At least from me anyway. A new frame, engine, and bodywork has me chomping at the bit to swing my leg over the new green beast. It's very unique to see a Japanese manufacturer with Brembo brakes on one of their models and even more strange that the 24' KX450 has Brembo on the front side of the bike. Nissin still graces the rear of the bike and I have received emails asking how/why Kawasaki would do this. Well obviously, the Kawasaki R&D team felt like it performed better and with that being said maybe Kawasaki felt like they didn't want to burn any bridges so keeping Nissin on the rear keeps that relationship going without closing that door. Similar to KYB and Showa getting split on the current crop of KX250/KX450 machines. Now I am not saying that this is what happened at Kawasaki, but I have been a part of some production meetings in the past and this has arose a time or two. The answer also could be as simple as it just worked/performed better so they went the Brembo direction for the front brake and the test riders felt the Nissin rear brake was adequate, so they left it be. No matter what, it is unique and interesting to mix and match brake brands. It is also intriguing to see that Kawasaki is learning from other manufacturers like the usage of lock on grips/quick release side panel (KTM/Husqvarna/GasGas) as well as a Rideology app for your phone to tune your ECU (similar to the Yamaha Power Tuner App). From what I understand the KX has a flatter torque curve to enable the rider to get on the throttle harder out of corners (KTM like character) which will provide vet riders with tons of confidence and ease of use. No matter what, this is a big step for Kawasaki because their tried and true current KX450 has been winning shootouts the past couple years with its comfortable chassis feel and easy to use/vanilla like 450 powerband. Kawasaki looks to be taking the 2024 KX450 to a more race ready type machine. I hate to use that term but from reading all of the info given, this machine just looks to be built to ride hard. I for one, CAN'T WAIT! LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!!   

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Double Doubles (DC)

(Late-breaking MXGP news: Yamaha’s Jago Geerts, the series points leader who broke his wrist in France last month, is going to try to line up this weekend in Germany in order to keep his title hopes alive.)

Hey, Watch It!

Kellen Brauer’s Racer X Hangtown Race Examination:

Haiden Deegan had the Save of the Day at Hangtown:

Hangtown Infield Access:

Hangtown Motocross Classic 2023 Vibes | Tenders Members

Vital MX’s Hangtown Edit by Sean Ogden:

Finally, a second-time winner in the 2023 GNCC Series:

Tragedy, and a huge loss to action sports in general: BMX Star Pat Casey Killed In Crash at Slayground: