Of course the Lawrence brothers would not be in the position they are in if not for their dad Darren, known in the pits as Dazzy. We wouldn't be talking about Haiden Deegan nor Ken Roczen either, if not for their respective dads Brian and Heiko. And there's little doubt that we would be hearing from Ricky, James and Ryan as past-champions and all-time greats if not for their dads Big Rick, Big James and the late Dan Villopoto. (This is not to slight all of their equally important moms, but it is Father's Day weekend, so let me roll with this.) Just about every racer I've known over the years had a dad that put in unimaginable hours of working a real job, then working as wrench/trainer/chauffeur/mentor and more. I know my Dad did that for me and my brother while also trying to build the business that brought everyone to High Point Raceway at least once a year since 1977. We never made it to anywhere near where guys like Ricky, James, Ryan and the rest did, but I know how proud he was of the small successes we did have along the way, and I am eternally grateful to have had Big Dave Coombs as my dad. (And props to my friend Rod Yentzer on his son Chase's first AMA Pro Motocross points last week, as Chase went 18-17 in the 250 class at Thunder Valley for seven points on his BarX Suzuki.)

Not to close this intro about dads out on a sad note, but we did hear some sad news about a fellow father and industry friend. Chris "Dang" McAvoy, who died unexpectedly earlier this week in Northern California. McAvoy was a team manager for a while with both Yamaha of Troy and the Dodge Ram/Sycuan Suzuki team and more recently worked with KTM as a regional sales manager. The news came via a post from one of his former riders, Jason Lawrence: "2008 team manager of the year. R.I.P." Godspeed, Dang.

And that brings us back to that Flash Trivia question: Who was the last Suzuki rider to earn a podium at High Point in the 450 class of AMA Pro Motocross? The answer is Broc Tickle, who happened to be one of Dang's riders for a while. In 2017. The RCH Yoshimura Racing-backed Tickle finished third behind KTM-mounted Blake Baggett and then-Husqvarna rider Jason Anderson.

RC Hard Charger (DC) 

For several years now the RC Hard Charger Award, named for Ricky Carmichael, has gone to the rider who made the most passes in a single moto at each round of AMA Pro Motocross. At first, we were taking a rider's first registered lap and comparing it to where they ultimately finished. The problem, however, was the fact that often times a rider who went down in the first turn or got hung up in the starting gate might make 10 to 15 passes in first-lap traffic that go unaccounted for. So we asked AMA Pro Racing, who do the timing and scoring, to start recording positions at the holeshot loop rather than the end of the first lap. But that also was problematic in that some riders might go down in the second turn, after the loop. That's what happened to both RJ Hampshire and Adam Cianciarulo at Fox Raceway, where they went down in the second and third turns, respectively, and went to the back of the field. RJ recovered for 11th and Adam for seventh. So we went back to the drawing board with AMA Pro Racing's Gene Crouch and his team came up with a better fix: Registering the lowest position at any of the scoring loops on any given lap of a moto.

As a result, last weekend's RC Hard Charger Award went to Ty Masterpool, who crashed in the first turn when his front wheel washed out, got up dead last and crossed the holeshot loop in 40th place. He was in 27th by the end of the first lap and ended the moto with a fantastic fifth-place finish. Ty went from 40th to 5th, passing 35 riders--a much more impressive and reflective number than the 22 he passed from the end of the first lap to the end of the moto. Also making a lot of passes in that moto were Dylan Ferrandis (33rd to 7th) and Garrett Marchbanks (32nd to 6th). And speaking of Marchbanks, he also went 35th to 8th in the second moto, giving him the most combined passes in his two motos. The least amount of passes? Jett Lawrence.

Stew Nails the Privateer Pros (Jason Weigandt)

After a career launching quads and wall jumps, I think we all collectively forgot James Stewart was once known as the kid who watched videos until he fell asleep. Now we remember, because James breaks it down on his Bubba’s World podcast, and provides the same treatment in the TV booth. Thunder Valley was next level. During our qualifying coverage, James said Thunder Valley would favor privateer bikes. What? I’ve never heard that theory before! James even asked the crew to cut him footage of Ty Masterpool’s bike in practice, and then we compared it side-by-side to Adam Cianciarulo’s bike, so we could compare two KX450s. The TV show has never focused so closely on bike setup.

Stew’s prediction was right! Masterpool was masterful all day. As James’ theory goes, factory bikes are designed for the biggest, fastest stuff, and to that end, no one set up a bike as stiff as James himself. In contrast, our man Jason Thomas, forever a privateer, talked to James on the show about how soft his bike was, and how guys like Chad Reed couldn’t even ride it because it was too soft.

You know how factory bikes work way better in supercross whoops that privateer bikes? Rigid and stiff helps there. At most tracks, as we know, factories have the advantage. James identified that Thunder Valley, though, would be better for the softer bikes. This race was all about navigating the tight, slow stuff and the ruts. Masterpool could do that.

Before the show, James and I spent probably 30 more minutes studying the Masterpool footage. James told me to watch the rider’s hands and the movement of the wheels. That’s usually the tell. How much of the movement is getting fed into the rider’s hands? How closely are the wheels following the ground? James said he always wanted a lot of feedback, so he could feel how much traction his front end had. But on a track like this, that’s not the best way. Softer, plusher, works. Now, if Masterpool made a big mistake and took on a huge hit, he’d be in trouble with that soft setup. That never happened, though, and Thunder Valley didn’t really have any sections like that, anyway.

Off air, James also analyzed some footage of Jett Lawrence, but he didn’t notice the same problems with his setup as other factory guys. Why? James thinks Jett’s smooth style masks a lot of the problems.

But why don’t the factories, with all their technicians, not soften up their bikes to work like a privateer? James said that would be too big a swing. A rider who is used to one setup all year can’t make a change that drastic all of a sudden. They just have to live with it and work with it on the track.

So one last question is, how similar will other tracks be to Thunder Valley? Can Masterpool or Grant Harlan do it again at High Point? We’ll see. Still, I learned more last Saturday about bikes than I probably have in my entire TV career.

Marching On (Weigandt)

The injury-plagued 450 class is also helping the privateers, obviously, but Masterpool and Harlan battled the factory riders that were there. Harlan wasn’t far behind Cooper Webb in moto 2, and Masterpool beat him!

This is why Muc-Off/FXR ClubMX Yamaha moved Garrett Marchbanks to the 450 class. On a bad day, Marchbanks will probably be top 10 in this field, and on a good day he’s there like Masterpool battling around the top five or better. Marchbanks told me he hadn’t really tested the 450 at all before Thunder Valley, he just rode it for two days after Hangtown and they loaded it up. The team took the front and rear ends off the bike to make it fit, then stuffed it all in a rented Chevy Equinox SUV and drove from South Carolina to Colorado! Also, keep in mind the Yamaha 450 is a new-generation bike, and much different than the YZ250F Marchbanks had been riding. So there was a lot of new going on, but Garrett rode awesome, minus his starts, which were just as bad on the 450 as the 250.

Now his teammate Phil Nicoletti jumps into the 450 mix this weekend in his return from injury. Finally, Phil gets back outdoors! Jason Anderson also posted that he’s back riding and hopes to be back soon, and Chase Sexton is….out there somewhere, and hopefully he returns. There might be hope for some more depth in the 450 class, eventually.

Road To Mammoth Series, Vet Life (Keefer)

We started a small video series this week (that will be up on Racerxonline.com next week) that will be a three part follow along. I feel like goals are important and I wanted to translate that to the blue collar vet guy so I grabbed my 230 pound buddy Eddie Laret, picked up a 2023 KX450SR and we are going to follow Eddie along his path in order to obtain his goal. The goal is to race Mammoth (which he already qualified for), lose weight and get up to speed by August 25th in order to try and podium the 40B class (which is Vet weekend at Mammoth). We will follow Eddie's progress and see how he it goes on the mountain this summer. The goal of these videos is to try to get people (or mostly vet riders with a job/family) off their asses and try to set their sites on a goal to achieve. I personally think it makes for a better life and my hopes are these videos that we will roll out can show you not only how hard it is (trust me, I get it) but also how rewarding it can be if you set your mind to something and achieve it. Winning is not always the goal. The goal can be getting to a place or even finishing top ten at your chosen event. Finding balance in your life is something that is not easy (with or without a dirt bike) but having a carrot to chase can make getting up in the morning a little easier. I know it does for me. Sometimes I feel lost without goals, so hopefully with these videos that we will have up the next couple months will get you motivated and allow you to see that you can get out there and get after it! 

Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)

After three rounds west of the Rocky Mountains (ok Denver is just east, I get it), the Pro Motocross Championship heads east. Not only does the geolocation change significantly, the dirt, climate, and flight lengths all shift as well. 

East coast dirt typically offers more traction than the west coast swing and suspension settings will likely change accordingly. More traction puts more pressure on the suspension. That will usually result in going a touch stiffer on settings. Last week's deeper-than-usual Thunder Valley gave some insight as to where riders need to improve, too.

The heat and humidity will begin to ramp but maybe not quite yet. High Point weather looks to be on the temperate side but as we roll into July and August... buckle up. Most of the field relocates to Florida for summer (if they weren't already there) so the hot days will just be more of the same. Still, the brutality of a race at 95 degrees versus the 75 we saw in Thunder Valley can't be overstated.

As trivial as it sounds, the shorter flights make life so much easier. For those living in Florida, back-to-back-to-back flights across the country leave a mark. Not only are they tiresome, they are very hard on recovery. Instead of having the entirety of Sunday to rest and rehydrate, riders are navigating airports and airplanes. That slows down the recovery process and reduces the amount of progress that can be made mid-week. 

Another wrinkle for the weekend comes in the form of Ken Roczen. Kickstarting his summer, it seems he decided to see what this Jett Lawrence hype is all about. I'm torn on what the #94 will bring as the rest of the riders are in full swing. Kenny has speed, though, and could play spoiler. If he gets out front early, it will be fun to see what he can do with the #18, let alone the rest of the contenders. Remember, Kenny was an absolute monster in this series on a Suzuki. I can guarantee you that he remembers that very vividly. Everyone else might want to conjure up that memory before Saturday, too.

GRATES (Matthes)

I wrote here a couple of weeks ago about my disdain for the outdoor series going to the SX/MXGP-style grates on the starting line. It was something that was requested by the teams and MX Sports complied. I thought we might see more crashes in the first turn as it takes even more skill out of the start for the riders. We already have holeshot devices on forks, starting maps, RPM lights to help the guys. Grates, to me, make starts even easier and maybe more dangerous. Although I don't watch all the MXGP's, I've seen enough where they don't seem to have the crashes I think we'll see here but lot of MXGP track first turns have a clear favored inside gate that gets you the advantage and they don't have 40 riders. I think the MXGP "model" helps keep crashes lower. 

So far, through twelve motos we've seen more than a share of first turn crashes but I'm not ready to say it's the grates, but it will be interesting to watch going forward. One rider though that's not a fan of the grates is KTM's Aaron Plessinger. We had AP on the PulpMX Show Monday night, and he expanded on that a bit.

"I think it’s (the grates) just taking away from motocross, just in general, just the basic sport. Another thing, we’re all going into the first corner all the same. Not saying that we wouldn’t on dirt, but I feel like there’s going to be more crashes in tighter corners. That’s just me, though.

I don't know for the sport in a whole, but I do think it would just bring it back to a little bit more skill on the start, because there’s people that pack their gates a different way. They have these little notches in the dirt. It was kind of an art to pack in a gate and now it’s just roll up there and do your thing. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know how to start on a grate. You just drop the clutch and don’t wheelie. But on dirt, you had to feed the clutch and not get the wheel to spin. You had to hook up. Dropping off the grate onto the dirt is a little weird to me. It’s just different. I didn’t think they would add it to motocross, but I’m wrong."

'98 MC (Matthes)

Weege and I do this podcast called the ReRaceables and they're always a lot of fun. Last week we had Jeff Ward talking about his now defunct record of 1-1-1-1 to start his 250/450MX career. This week we looked back at what was a pretty big deal in the sport in Jeremy McGrath's first win on a Yamaha and first win for a privately-owned team in 450SX. MC captured round four of the series in Seattle and we had Larry Brooks on the show to talk about signing MC to Chaparral for that '98 season, getting to know and work with him, that night in Seattle and more. Some guy named Coombs was the pit reporter this night also, whatever happened to him?

Listen here

Hey, Watch It!

Infield Access - 2023 Thunder Valley National Trackside RAW | Racer X Films

Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week

"Report: Heat mascot sent to ER after bit with Conor McGregor"—ESPN

"Nikola Jokic Nearly Had a Mental Breakdown When He Found Out The Nuggets Championship Parade Isn't Until Thursday And That He Can't Go Home To Serbia Before That" -Barstool Sports

"Man fakes his own death and then turns up to his funeral 'to teach family lessons about staying in touch" - LBC

“Beyoncé caused Sweden inflation bump, expert says”—Politico.com

"Woman Plans For A Night Of "Intense Pleasure" And Instead Gets Taken To WWE Monday Night Raw" - Barstool Sports

Random Notes