Looking ahead to tomorrow’s racing here at Unadilla, the series has been off for two glorious weekends of rest, and now begins the final sprint across three Pro Motocross rounds. Will Jett Lawrence keep his perfect season going? If he does, that will clinch him the 450 title with two rounds to go. But his brother Hunter has his hands full with Haiden Deegan in the 250 class. After building a comfortable lead by winning the first four rounds on the go, H. Lawrence got dropped in the first turn at RedBud and then his bike blew at Southwick, and his lead disappeared. He clawed the red plate back from Deegan at Spring Creek, but then Haiden put on a masterful 1-1 performance at Washougal to pull Hunter back in, and now we’re looking at a six-moto showdown for the title. It will be historic no matter who wins: Hunter would be the first brother to succeed a sibling as an AMA MX Champion, or Haiden would become the first true rookie since Ryan Villopoto in 2006 to win the title, and only the fifth ever after Marty Smith, Mike Kiedrowski in ’89 (though he did select pro-am races in both ’87 and ’88), Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart, and Villopoto.

And then there’s everyone else trying to end their season on a high note, like the entire Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team as well as the Kawasaki factory 450 team, none of whom on either squad have won a main event or overall in 2023. The 250 guys have been beaten up and suffered awful luck all season long; the 450 guys have had to contend with Eli Tomac and Chase Sexton in SX, and then the one-man-gang that’s been Jett outdoors. (BTW the 450s will go first tomorrow, as NBC is covering the second motos and is hoping for a champion to be crowned at the conclusion of the second 450 moto. The math is definitely on Jett Lawrence’s side, as he needs to end the day 99 points up on Dylan Ferrandis—it’s 95 points right now.)

Before we get into looking ahead at Unadilla and back on Loretta Lynn’s, some very unfortunate news on a couple of fronts. The ATV Pro Motocross world is in mourning even as they take their turn around Loretta Lynn’s with this weekend’s final round, after news broke a fatal traffic accident involving the entire family of one of their own. The Molander family of Middletown, Pennsylvania—Donald, Kimberly, Miranda, and Dane, a promising rookie in the ATV Pro class—were headed south to Loretta Lynn’s on I-81 in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, when their RV suffered a blown front tire and crossed the median. The RV went straight into a truck hauling double trailers coming the other direction. All four members of the Molander family and the tractor trailer driver were killed in the crash. The truck driver was identified as James Shade of Martinsburg, West Virginia. Godspeed to all.

And out in Hawaii you’ve probably been watching in horror with the rest of us as Maui burns. Many lives have been lost, hundreds if not thousands of homes, along with some very historic buildings and pretty much the whole seaside village of Lahaina. One motocross family that’s been touched by all of this is Grant Harlan’s, who is originally from Maui and who’s family still lives on the island. Vurbmoto posted this story about their loss of their family garage and their motorcycles and more. Here’s a chance for you to help at least one family begin rebuilding from a tragedy that’s still playing out:

www.vurbmoto.com/the-harlan-family-needs-our-help

And check out the MXGP of Sweden this weekend via MXGP-TV.com.

Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)

After the longest break of the season, riders return to Unadilla. Ideally, your body is feeling rejuvenated and relieved from some of the nagging injuries that pile up by August. The final three rounds of the series are a great chance to compartmentalize and focus. The SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) playoffs will take care of themselves. For three weeks, just lock in and finish strong.

For a rider like Hunter Lawrence, he needed this break. The rib and shoulder injury he sustained at RedBud was bothering him more than he often let on. I could see the pain in his face at Spring Creek and also watched his physio team work on him for an hour after moto two. Having two weekends to recover should have allowed most of that pain to subside. He could have also gained some valuable riding time as we have drawn closer to Unadilla. His injuries likely kept him off the bike during the week and while it's not a fatal blow to miss a few weeks of practice, it is difficult to stay on the razor's edge of form. And if you have been wondering what's missing, I would point to that very thing. Through the first several rounds, there was no question about Hunter's status as alpha. He won every overall leading up to that RedBud crash. It felt like his championship to lose. Will he? Time will tell.

For some of the other riders, the worries are more about SMX playoffs and the qualifying cutoff. Riders like Austin Forkner or Phil Nicoletti both have their work cut out for them over the last three rounds. Getting inside that top 20 is a very valuable coup and make no mistake, they all know it. The amount of shuffling that riders have done to get back to the series and gain those points has been remarkable. It's a new dynamic for 2023 but definitely an interesting one to keep track of. Why, you ask? There is $5.5 million up for grabs.

Mad Results (DC)

Mud races are known for strange results. If you ever see a class champion with moto scores like 3-8-1 (which happened to College class winner Jesse Wessell from Massachusetts) or even 11-1-1 (65cc 7-9 champion Nico Verhoeven from Alabama) you can comfortably assume that weather played a factor. Sure, there were 1-1-1 postings by the likes of Daxton Bennick in the Open Pro Sport class, but certainly not across the board. If you're looking for the strangest results of the weather-challenged week at Loretta Lynn's, look no further than the 85cc Mini Senior 1 (12-14) division. In three motos, there were three moto winners: Wisconsin's Jayce Wolf, Indiana's Dakota Baker, and South Carolina's Caleb Wood. All were on KTM, but none ended up in the top five overall results. That's because each of these three very fast kids were unable to back up their moto wins, for whatever reason. This opened the door to one of the most unlikely top-fives we're ever seen at the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship. The title went to Colorado's Colby Lessar, a KTM rider who did not actually get on the podium in any of the three motos, but was fast and steady in all three motos, notching 5-4-6 moto scores to top the field. Runner-up honors went to South Carolina's Kevyn De Pinho, who went 7-7-2. Third overall was Oklahoma's Austin Camden (10-3-3). Camden was on a GasGas, as was fourth-place Jonathan Getz of Florida (2-9-5). And rounding out the top five was Missouri Husqvarna rider Kane Bollasina (9-10-4).  Finally, down in sixth, was the first of the moto winners, Caleb Wood (17-6-1). Wolf won the first moto, which was dry, but then ended with 1-16-13 scores for seventh overall. As for Baker, he went 15-1-27 for 12th overall. 

Adding to the chaos in this class was the fact that Husqvarna rider Vincent Wey, the son of Nick Wey and the champion in the 85cc Mini Sr. 2 class with 1-2-2 moto scores, finished fourth in the first moto and then got the holeshot in the second moto, but then slid out in the first turn and threw away would might have been a muddy cakewalk for this second-gen Michigan Mafia member. Instead, Wey got ran over by a couple of other kids but still managed to get up and carry on. Still, he had to settle for 4-12-16 moto scores and a relatively disappointing ninth overall.  

Here's a look how the entire 85cc Mini Senior 1 class fared in the ever-changing conditions:

https://resultsmx.com/lorettas/results.aspx?e=2&c=209

Nicolas Israel (DC)

If you’ve perusing the pre-entry list for tomorrow’s Unadilla National Pro Motocross race, you may have noticed #990 Nicolas Israel at the very bottom of the 250 class lineup. You may recall that a long time ago #990 belonged to the young Michael Byrne when he first landed here back in 2000 from Australia. Israel is not from Australia nor is he from Lake Elsinore, California, as listed on his pre-entry. You may have also noticed Israel in last week’s Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship results from Loretta Lynn’s. He went 1-27-1 to finish eighth overall in the 450 B class. You will see Israel at Unadilla, but you won’t see 250 B Limited class champion Jeremy Fappani here, nor 450 B champion Jadon Cooper, nor Schoolboy champion Casey Cochran. If any of them want to race AMA Pro Motocross they first have to accumulate AMA Pro-Am points, which is what Casey Cochran is doing this weekend, and what Haiden Deegan did last year after Loretta Lynn’s, before he made it to the pro gate at Ironman Raceway a couple weeks later. It’s like that for all riders going from amateur to professional.

So how did this young rider Nico Israel get to go from B to Pro? The answer lay in the fact that he’s from Chile, not the U.S., and his family signed up for AMA Pro Motocross through the FIM and their home FMNR in Chile. And as a member nation, the AMA has to recognize an FMNR request for license and entry. That’s how most foreign riders end up on the starting gate here, and how U.S. guys are able to go race abroad. The problem, however, is the fact that this is the first time anyone can remember when a B rider went this route, circumventing the advancement policy. Usually it’s a professional from back home like Jay Wilson of Australia, or Estonia’s Harri Kullas, or Estonia’s Tanel Leok, all of whom are also racing this weekend with permission from their respective domestic sanctioning bodies. Israel signed up for Unadilla back on July 21, before Loretta Lynn’s, but no one noticed that he was racing the B classes there, and that includes me—I did not realize that he was from Chile, not SoCal, and that he was racing B, not A, and that he was signed up for Unadilla too. It’s no fault of Nico and his family that they found this loophole, but in talking with the AMA and AMA Pro Racing, MX Sports Pro Racing is going to work together with them to close this loophole moving forward.

We’re glad to have as many international entries as we can accommodate, and we’ve had record numbers this year (with more to come). But any B rider coming out of Loretta Lynn’s should be held to the same scrutiny and rules as American kids like Deegan, Cochran, Fappani, and the rest when it comes to this rite of passage. (Coincidentally, Israel is also apparently signed up for Team Chile at the upcoming Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations in France.)

WHITHER TEAM USA? PART 23 (DC)

Speaking of the Motocross of Nations, if you’re wondering when the announcement of Team USA 2023 will be made tomorrow here at Unadilla, as is the tradition, the answer is no. The AMA and Roger De Coster still have a lot of moving parts in place, including Chase Sexton’s interest in extending his time with Team Honda HRC into October, Cooper Webb’s availability and whether or not his soon-to-be new team would support him, Justin Barcia’s return to racing after missing all summer, and whether or not a Jason Anderson, an Adam Cianciarulo, or an Aaron Plessinger gets hot in the next two weeks. My understanding is that a team will be named at Ironman, as the FIM deadline for pre-entry to the October 7-8 race in Ernee, France, is September 1. Team USA’s only seemingly sure thing is Haiden Deegan on the 250 as our MX2 entry in 2023—that’s a sentence I never would have guessed I would be typing as recently as January, when he was crashing out of the Anaheim SX Futures program and not even a pro! But it speaks volumes to just how far #238 has come in a very fast ascent… So who would you send as our two 450 riders?

Sturgis (Matthes)

Busy week for me as I headed out for the first time to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota for the 1981 Team USA from the Trophee and Motocross des Nations’ induction into the Sturgis Motorcycle Hall of Fame. DC called me about this a couple of months ago and it was a pretty cool deal. Johnny O’Mara and Roger De Coster couldn't make it, but Honda team manager Dave Arnold and riders Danny Laporte, Donnie Hansen, and Chuck Sun were there. I got the honor to induct them, which was a bit of a surprise! Pretty cool that these guys have such a bond these years later pulling off such an amazing feat in upsetting the world. They're all in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame and although this Sturgis HOF leans towards street bike guys, custom motorcycle builders, etc., I felt like people were stoked to have the guys there. Chris Malo from the museum was there and really did it up for all of us with VIP passes to a Styx/REO Speedwagon concert and then got bikes and everything dialed in for us for a 2.5-hour trail ride after the HOF breakfast and before a video show we did at the museum. Laporte and Sun joined me and some locals on the trail ride while Hansen and Arnold went to Mt. Rushmore. After the ride we did a podcast video show with everyone that will be up here on Racer X/PulpMX very soon. It's amazing the memory that Arnold and Sun have from this race and the details they gave were great. Stay tuned here at RXI for more from the ceremony and thanks to everyone from the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame for having us out. 

Hey, Watch It!

Get your old-school ‘Dilla on with some rare footage from the ’76 Trans-AMA race at Unadilla, featuring Roger DeCoster, Marty Smith, Pierre Karsmakers, and “Rocket” Rex Staten on a Harley-Davidson!

James Stewart got together with Hunter and Jett Lawrence before this weekend’s return to AMA Pro Motocross, check it out:

GoPro: Tire to Tire - How to Win 450 B at Loretta Lynn's

Jeremy McGrath talks about that nac-nac while leading the 2006 Phoenix SX (on a CR250!) during his brief semi-comeback

Mr. No Boots @lukeyepez53 last lap, last corner battle yesterday. These kids were sending it!!
🎥: @brookiewhip

Jimmy Decotis 125cc Wide Open, Deschambault Moto 2, Triple Crown Series, July 30 2023 / 4K

And hear Vital MX’s Michael Lindsay breaks down who Jay Wilson is and why Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing Yamaha is putting him on Eli Tomac’s YZ450 for the last three rounds: