As far as RedBud itself goes, this whole weekend has grown into the centerpiece of the entire series. From some very humble beginnings, Gene Ritchie began building this place into a world-class facility. It's hosted Trans-AMA races, two Motocross of Nations, the '81 AMA Amateur National (the last one before Loretta Lynn's became its permanent home), and of course 50 years’ worth of outdoor nationals. The 1974 RedBud National was the Ritchie family's first outdoor national, with 250 and 500 classes, and it took place on April 28 that year. Coincidentally, my parents' first national took place just one week later, on May 5, 1974, at Appalachia Lake Park in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia. And that same year Hangtown joined the AMA Pro Motocross schedule for the first time, serving as the opener back in early April. Hangtown also included the first-ever 125 National, as well as the 250 and 500 classes. Those were the only three rounds of the 12 events that year that still have direct ties to the current schedule.  

But here's the thing. Appalachia Lake was gone after 1975, then briefly moved to Appalachian Highlands in Keyser's Ridge, Maryland, before landing at High Point Raceway in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania. And the club that hosts the Hangtown Motocross Classic, the Dirt Diggers North Motorcycle Club, Hangtown was actually held in a different location back then, a sand track in Plymouth—it did not move to its current location at Prairie City OHRV Park until 1979. So only of all of the races on the '74 AMA Pro Motocross schedule, only RedBud remains in the same location. (And in case you're wondering, Unadilla was also holing races back then, but not on the AMA Pro Motocross circuit. Rather, Unadilla was home to Trans-AMA races in '74, as well as 250cc USGPs beginning in 1978.)  

Here's the poster our girl Heather Moebus made for the RedBud fans featuring all of the alumni riders who are coming back to celebrate 50 years on the AMA Pro Motocross schedule. Most are probably easy to recognize, but if you're wondering, the man on the Penton on the upper left is local legend Rick Walsworth, and #15 in the upper right is longtime RedBud announcer (and very fast rider) Larry Whitmer, #711 on the bottom is Kentucky's Tommy Watts, and #79 is Michigan's own Mike Hartwig, who won the 500 class at that first RedBud National back in 1974. And check this out: According to Amy Ritchie, not only did Rick Walsworth qualify for the '74 250 National and finish 12th overall, his father Buck, now 87 years old, also qualified for that race! That might be a first in AMA Pro Motocross history—a father and son qualifying for the same national—but we can't find the results further back than the top 20 for this race, and Buck Walsworth, who owned Buck's Cycles in Valparaiso, Indiana, was not in the top 20. We will keep digging.

We Went Fast's Brett Smith found some extremely rare footage of that first RedBud National in 1974 from a man named Matt Williams, whose father Dan Williams shot the film not long after he returned from Vietnam. According to Smith, "This footage sat in a box for decades, undigitized, until his son Matt got it transferred. Matt said his father didn't actually watch the footage until 45 years after he shot it."

One unexpected and uninvited guest is all of the smoke in the air from the massive forest fires happening up in Canada and hovering over this whole part of the country. MX Sports Pro Racing is keeping a close eye on the AQI (air quality index) but there's not much anyone can do about it. According to the folks here it was worse earlier in the week, and there's a good chance we may get some rain tomorrow, which would really help the air quality. Driving up here and seeing more folks wearing masks than I have since '21 was a weird, unfortunate flash back. 

RedBud isn't the only race this weekend. The MXGP riders and race teams are still in Indonesia for the second half of the doubleheader there, and the FIM World Supercross Championship featuring returning champions Ken Roczen and Shane McElrath will race tomorrow night in the UK. Here's a preview on what to expect in Birmingham tomorrow night. 

Before we get too much further into the events of the week, I want to take a moment to congratulate multi-time AMA Supercross and AMA Pro Motocross Champions Ryan Dungey and Grant Langston, multi-time GNCC Champion Barry Hawk, SX/MX/FMX legend Travis Pastrana, and my mom, Rita Coombs, on all being elected to go into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame as the Class of '23. Each have contributed greatly to motorcycling in their own special ways, and they were elected by existing Motorcycling Hall of Famers as well as AMA Life Members of more than 25 years. They will be enshrined in a ceremony in Columbus, Ohio, this September. I know all five very well and look forward to being there to see them honored, and I can tell you it's a huge honor for our family that Mom will be joining Dad in the HOF—he was selected posthumously in 1999, one year after he passed away. Thank you to those who nominated her, as well as to all of those who voted for her and recognized all of the work she's done in motorcycling, which started way back in 1972 when she and dad organized their first race on a farm called Lazelle Union, not far from our home in Morgantown, West Virginia. Thank you. 

Have a safe and fun Fourth of July Weekend, and Happy Birthday, USA!

The AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Class of 2023 is Rita Coombs, Ryan Dungey, Barry Hawk, Grant Langston and Travis Pastrana.

Read more on the Class of 2023.

(This column is dedicated to long-time southeast race announcer, promoter, and friend, Joey Casey who passed away unexpectedly on Monday. Godspeed.)

Now We’re Talking (Jason Weigandt)

When I first tried to wrap my head around the concept of “playoffs” in AMA Supercross and AMA Motocross, I realized a side benefit that didn’t just apply to the playoffs themselves. You may or may not like the idea of a playoff at the end of the season, which is called SMX or SuperMotocross World Championship, but there is one good side effect: In a traditional season, any rider who is battling for a championship pretty much considers his season done if he misses a race with injury. You’re just not going to claw those points back. So that means an injury at any point for a contender takes a lot of the steam out of the season. Why rush back? And even if you do rush back, what’s the motivation to try really hard at the races?

The SMX playoffs can change that, because a rider having a terrible year can still turn it around and make huge money at three races in September. There’s still something to race for. As it turns out, 2023 has become an unfortunate test case with so many top 450 riders going down with injury (many of them in a two-week span, oddly). This weekend, though, we’re getting Jason Anderson and Chase Sexton back, plus Cooper Webb rushed a return for Pro Motocross that we didn’t expect, and Justin Barcia and Christian Craig dropping sad updates, bummed they’re still out. In a lot of years, high-caliber riders quickly call it a season. Coming back to the outdoor grind off the couch is not only painful and not fun, but unprepared riders rarely get good results, anyway. A factory rider can make a lot of money with podium bonuses, but if you’re riding at 80 percent and finishing eighth every weekend, well, it’s not doing much positive. Maybe just take the summer off and hang with the family?

That’s not really possible anymore, because there’s just too much money on the line in these playoffs. For example, as soon as I heard Chase Sexton was out for Hangtown, I heard whispers like “Well, he’s got his supercross title, he’s leaving Honda at the end of the year, and he’s not going to win the outdoor title now, so maybe he’ll just call it a season.” But here’s the thing: Sexton, at minimum, will make low six-figures just participating in the SMX playoffs. You can’t leave that kind of money on the table. Taking six months off would prove costly, literally. Same for Barcia or Craig or Anderson. I’m not sure these guys even know all the details about the points and the money, or the seeding or any of that stuff. But they surely have to know that skipping the playoffs means skipping good money (even eighth overall in 450 points in SMX gets $100,000, for example).

Is this the only reason Sexton and Anderson are back? No. But I think it all adds up. Riders who had zero incentive to come back now actually have it. It all takes me back to the 2012 season, when Ryan Villopoto missed outdoors with ACL surgery, but was back on a bike ripping in August. He never came back and raced, though. He wasn’t quite 100 percent fitness wise, so why come back and get smoked? What was there to gain? Back then, there wasn’t a reason to come back for the end of the year, and once the title hope was over, so was every other reason to return. Not anymore.

Belgium 1-2-3 (DC)

One of my favorite photos from my motocross childhood was a podium photo from the 1974 German 250cc Grand Prix. It was three Suzuki teammates, all Belgians, sharing the podium: Overall winner Gaston Rahier, runner-up Joel Robert, and thrid-place Sylvain Geboers. This was during the height of Belgium's long reign atop the motocross world, which stretched from the days of Robert in the mid-sixties through the 1980s with the late Andre Malherbe, Georges Jobe and Eric Geboers. In '74 Robert was nearing the end of his career, as was Sylvain Geboers. Rahier was getting ready to move down to the news 125 class and win his first of three FIM world titles. They also had Roger DeCoster in his prime in the 500 class, and Harry Everts about to win the '75 250cc world titles aboard an Austria-made Puch. The Belgians also spent most of the seventies dominating the FIM Motocross and Trophee des Nations.

Despite all of this success, motocross in Belgium was under threat, as environmentalists, noise concerns and land development began to all take their toll. There was of course the '90s revival led by Stefan Everts and Joel Smets that lasted until Stefan's retirement in 2006, but the glory days for motocross in Belgium seemed to end after that. The photo of the podium from the '74 German 250cc GP seemed to encapsulate the era, despite not including DeCoster, Harry Everts, the men of the '80s, nor Stefan Everts or Joel Smets.

But then last weekend in Indonesia something unexpected happened. Three riders from Belgium—16-year-old Luca Coenen, third-generation racer Liam Everts, and 22-year-old Jago Geerts—finished 1-2-3 in the MX2 class in the MXGP of Indonesia. 

For Coenen, a rookie who rides for the Husqvarna factory team, it was his first-ever Grand Prix win, and it came one round after he seemed to have the German win in sight, only to have his engine give out. Everts ended up being the overall winner instead, the first of his career. With back-to-back first-time winners, Belgium's future is not looking bad after all. And remember the name Luca Coenen, because both he and his twin brother Sasha (who holeshot the second moto in Indonesia) are both said to be eyeing a move to America in 2025. 

3 Palms For Sale (DC)

The owner of the popular Texas track Three Palms posted this week that he is retiring and the property is for sale. Here is what Emil Shebelbon posted this announcement online:

Over 33 years ago, I started my journey in the motocross business. I first began at a piece of property located in Houston, Texas, off of Mills Road. After 10 years at Mills Road, I landed in Conroe, Texas, and began to build what is now one of the coolest places to ride a dirt bike. From April 2000 until now, the park has provided a place for friends and families to get together and make memories for a lifetime. Over the years, I have made so many friends and they are still friends to this day. I have been so fortunate to watch many of you move on with your lives, get married, have kids, and now your kids ride at the park. It’s been an honor to serve all of you. The good, and the bad of motocross has had its own unique reward. Over 33 years of weekends dedicated to the sport, but now it is time I step aside and begin a new journey. As of this day, 3 Palms will be listed for sale. From this point on until the property changes hands, we will keep our commitment to continue operating the business in the same manner as we always have. Racing events, as well as running events and concerts, will remain on the schedule as we see fit. With that said, to all of the motocross community that has made memories with us over the years, thank you! The motocross industry, motocross racing promoters, and the motocross manufacturers thank you so much for all of the support throughout the years.

As many people may know, 3 Palms is a multi-use action sports facility. The property sits directly off of the feeder street of Interstate 45 South and offers 200 acres of family-friendly fun. Over the years, the property has been used for dirt bike riding and racing, ATV riding and racing, Mud Runs, fun runs, outdoor concerts, boating events, outdoor festivals, and much more. The property is located next to the San Jacinto River and possesses sand and gravel and could be used for aggregate materials. The property could also be used for an ATV and side-by-side off-road park as well as commercial development. Due to its unique location, it would be perfect for any of those things. We have secured a realtor and the property information will be made public.

Until the next chapter begins, I will continue to serve the motocross community with my very best. Much love and appreciation to all of you, thanks so much for allowing me the opportunity to serve you all.

Nic Hayes Needs Our Help (DC)

Terrible news this week from the Southeast. Highly-respected amateur racer and young father Nic Hayes was in a racing accident last weekend that has left him currently paralyzed from the neck down. Nic and his wife Carley have two small children. He also shared a family business with his father. Hayes is originally from Chester, Virginia, and is a longtime competitor at the AMA Amateur National Championships at Loretta Lynn's. He's been racing there on and off since 2006, and he won the Vet +30 class twice (2019-'20). 

According to his wife Carley's Facebook post, "Nic suffered a critical injury while doing what he loves, motocross. He has fractured his C6-C7 leaving him with no function of his upper or lower extremities. He is awake, oriented and breathing on his own. He has completed a two part surgery to correct the fracture. At this point we trying to keep our spirits up, pain level down and monitor his swelling... I always feared this particular day. Nothing prepares you. I know motocross brought Nic the most joy but it also has come with a lot of hurt and grief. He will persevere. It will take the entire village for all years to come as we start our new journey. Please pray with us and for us as we decipher our plans alongside the physicians. 'The Champ' is strong. He will always be my number 1."  

Friends have set up a GoFund Me page to help with massive challenge now facing Nic Hayes and his family. Please check it out and help them in this very difficult time of need. 

Road 2 Recovery has also stepped up to help Nic and his family.

Moto Combine (DC)

Besides being the fifth round of the 2023 AMA Pro Motocross Championship (and 22nd round of the SuperMotocross World Championship) RedBud will also mark the first Scouting Moto Combine, presented by U.S. Air Force Special Warfare. The Moto Combine is a developmental program that MX Sports Pro Racing began incorporating into various rounds of the series in conjunction with series partners like the OEMs, past champions and other industry members. All day Friday the riders invited to participate (including international prospects from Australia, New Zealand and Canada) will receive instruction from such mentors as Broc Glover, Buddy Antunez, Broc Tickle, Alex Martin and more. They will also experience timed qualifying, starting off the metal grates, and two 25 minutes + one lap motos on the full RedBud National track. The idea is to help the kids learn the ropes of AMA Pro Motocross from folks who have been there, to get a feel for what the schedule is like, to have workshops on everything from media to nutrition to self-marketing to time management, as well as those two long motos in front of all of the race team managers and some of their future competitors. Some of the kids who've already come through this program have begun making dents in the pro ranks in just the past two years, including Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Ryder DiFrancesco, Team Honda HRC’s Chance Hymas, and Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing’s Caden Braswell, and just at the last round Matt Jorgensen qualified second overall for the High Point 250 National in his professional debut but then had his engine let go in the first moto.

Here's a list of this weekend's invited riders for the Scouting Moto Combine at RedBud:

#12 Parker Ross / Elk Grove, California / Honda
#17 Cole Davies / Waitoki, New Zealand / Yamaha
#21 Enzo Temmerman / Visalia, California / Kawasaki
#22 Flynn Watts / Pukehina, New Zealand / Kawasaki
#25 Trevin Nelson / Eyota, Minnesota / Yamaha
#27 Krystian Janik / Oak Lawn, Illinois / Kawasaki
#28 Preston Boespflug / Battle Ground, Washington / KTM
#29 Julien Beaumer / Lake Havasu City, Arizona / KTM
#37 Landin Pepperd / Wasilla, Alaska / GASGAS
#41 Nate Freehill / El Dorado Hills, California / Honda
#43 Noah Viney / Morgan Hill, California / Honda
#44 Noah Smerdon / Glass House Mountains, Queensland, Australia / KTM
#64 Ryder McNabb / Minnedosa, Manitoba, Canada / KTM
#66 Casey Cochran / Arlington, Tennessee / Husqvarna
#73 Jace Allred / Riverton, Utah / KTM
#97 Tristan Dalton / Saint Joseph, Illinois / KTM
#105 Mark Fineis / Westfield, Indiana / GASGAS
#121 Lucas Geistler / Newark, Illinois / KTM
#132 Leum Oehlhof / Oak Hills, California / Yamaha
#206 Logan Best / Bourne, Massachusetts / Yamaha
#300 Drew Adams / Chattanooga, Tennessee / Kawasaki
#451 Ryder Thompson / Valparaiso, Indiana / Honda
#800 Preston Masciangelo / Brantford, Ontario, Canada / GASGAS
#826 Talan Zollers / Batavia, Illinois / Yamaha

One rider who was supposed to attend but it not sidelined with an injury is Pennsylvania's Gavin Towers. The Monster Energy Yamaha rider suffered a broken collarbone at the Southeast Regional at Gatorback that knocked him out of two sure qualifying spots at Loretta Lynn's AMA Amateur Nationals in August. But the kid showed some serious resilience in the days that followed by undergoing surgery to get a plate and five screws put in, and then four days later drove to Budds Creek in Maryland for the Northeast Regional! Towers won the 250 Pro Sport class and got a fifth in the Open Pro Sport to grab his two tickets to Loretta's. So Towers will be at the RedBud Scouting Moto Combine as a spectator, allowing that collarbone to heal so that he can be ready to go at Loretta Lynn's.

Check out Mitch Kendra’s full preview for today’s Scouting Moto Combine.

Loretta's Training Vacation (Keefer)

I am not a FULL-BLOWN amateur parent as Heather and I don't travel all over the country to take Aden to every single race or stick him at a facility to live. This year Aden has shown some promise to do well in the competitive B class so I thought this year would be the year that I invest a little more time/money into Aden's Loretta's training prep, so we decided to head to Gregg Albertson's place in Oklahoma to do some heat/soft dirt training. Leaving for only 10-11 days is a full-blown commitment (for us) and even though on the "amateur scale" of things that is a short amount of time, it was the most time Heather and I took time away from work to help Aden succeed with his LL results. Normally we will stay close to home and train, but being that Loretta's is so unique for bike set up and fitness we wanted to see what all this fuss was about over at GAME Moto.

Gregg has a nice facility with RV hookups and a replica scale of the Loretta Lynn's layout. Gregg also really helps the small 50/65 kids develop some toughness as well as proper technique without being too pushy. He is more of a laidback trainer/track owner which made me choose this facility over some others. GAME has soft dirt with ruts everywhere you looked, not to mention a heat index of 108 had us wondering what the hell we just did when we arrived.

However, as the week wore on the track did get a little easier, but the heat was something that you could never shake. Gregg prepped the track deep as well as left it rough on some days, so we ended up getting a wide variety of conditions that we DO NOT get here in California. It's amazing how many families live at the facility for over a month in order to give their best chance at a good result come the first week of August. It really blows my mind! If you're a West Coast rider that needs some soft dirt/heat help, GAME Moto is a great place to get some LL training in without having to go all the way back east. Gotta go now, I have to go back to work to re-coop all the money that I spent the past week or so! See you at THE RANCH! 

PULPMX WILDCAT RACING (Matthes)

I think it's pretty awesome that our series here attracts so many international racers. This summer, with no real announcement, we had a team show up at Pala named WildCat Racing and it featured a coming back from injury Lorenzo Locurcio (Venezuela) and a 32-year-old MXGP veteran Jose Burton (Spain). And they were both really good! Lorenzo has had good finishes here indoors and out before, but he had been gone for a while with injury and racing over in Europe and Butron, well with all due respect, his best days when he led MX2 races, repped for Spain at MXoN's, etc. were well past.

But both riders were chasing this dream one more time in the 450 class in what looks like the truck I worked out of in 2002 with Moto XXX! I'm always talking about privateer island guys and the loose programs, heck these guys were the very definition of throwing something together. Lorenzo is in the top ten in points and Butron has had a couple of crappy races but he was top ten guy at the first couple of rounds. 

So, to give back some, PulpMX stepped up as a title sponsor for this weekend’s race at RedBud! What says America's birthday more than a Canadian helping out a Spaniard and a, uhh, (works the Google) Venezolanos to reach their dreams! America, a country founded on immigrants and here we go! 

WildCat Racing is looking for more help this summer and they're great dudes so DM Lorenzo on social media or talk to him at the races and we can get this done to help these guys out. I know we have a punk rock band stepping up for these guys at Washougal but more spots are available. 

(Please no one remind these guys that many, many, many past PulpMX sponsorships of riders have gone south form Chris Blose and a two-stroke at Hangtown to Alex Ray at Washougal to Tyler Bowers at Southwick to many other examples. We're going to focus on the positive here, K?)

Hey, Watch It!

5 minutes with Factory Honda Team Manager Lars Lindstrom: 

Good to see Austin Forkner back on the bike and getting closer to a return to racing:

Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week

"Aggressive cow" runs through campus of Kutztown University”—WHP

“Pink stunned as fan throws mother's ashes onto stage mid performance”—Mirror.co.uk

“Barbie’s Dream House Is Available to Rent on Airbnb, and Yes, It’s in Malibu”-Variety