Welcome to Racerhead, and another week down in the off-season, but there was a lot going on. Ducati went public with their plans to join the SX/MX and off-road market, teaming up with Antonio Cairoli, the nine-time FIM World Motocross Champion, to help bring the bike to market in the next couple of years. Honda is getting ready to race an electric bike when Trey Canard lines up at the All-Japan National this weekend. And poor Jeffrey Herlings gets hurt yet again, this time cracking his collarbone in a beach race in Holland when another rider stalled in front of him and he landed on the guy. Hopefully there’s plenty of time to heal and get ready for the start of the MXGP season in March 2024.
And then there was the end of the 2023 AMA Grand National Cross Country Series last weekend at the Ironman in Indiana. A record crowd of 2,834 individual riders made it the single biggest AMA competition in history. The event, which started with electric bicycles on Friday, ATVs and youth micro racing on Saturday, and then three different races for bikes on Sunday, also had 14,000 spectators. The Ironman GNCC is as much a party as a race, as Monster Energy goes all out with a year-end concert and the whole Halloween tie-in makes it a truly fun event. Congratulations to Rockstar Husqvarna’s Craig Delong on winning the GNCC Championship, and congratulations to Jason Lawrence on his own successful return to racing—J-Law did the Sunday morning Sportsman race in the Industry Class, got the holeshot and ended up having a blast. It was good to see him back at the races.
Besides that, everyone in SX/MX is enjoying the quiet time, though there are some races on the near horizon. Besides that All-Japan race I mentioned, World Supercross starts up again next weekend with the second round of the series in Abu Dhabi, and then they will have their final round at the end of the month in Melbourne, Australia. The Paris Supercross is set for November 18-19 with a huge lineup of superstars, and both nights will be streamed on MXGP-TV.com. And the 52nd annual THOR Mini O’s will take place over the week of Thanksgiving down at Gatorback Cycle Park, and they are expecting as many as 6,000 entries between the SX and MX categories. That race takes place in this calendar year, but it’s pretty much the first race of next season as many riders are on new teams, and moving up to bigger bikes and different classes. We are just finishing up printing the event program for the gang at Unlimited Sports MX today, so let’s see what’s happening around the rest of the sport…
SILLY STUFF (Matthes)
Still some stuff getting firmed up out there for 2024 SX/MX, it looks like Shane McElrath is going back to the HEP Suzuki team. He was there for SX as a fill-in and I guess it worked out as he's back and going to join Ken Roczen and maybe one more guy in the RM Army. Dylan Ferrandis is still out there looking for a ride and I know HEP and Dylan have talked, he rode the bike and liked it so I figured that it was a natural home for him. After all, it was the only "factory" team out there for the #14 and seemed like it would be a good match. But then... nothing happened. I think there was a push for Ziggy at Factory Connection to do something on a Honda with Dylan but in my mind that was always going to be tough financially for FC to come up with the money to put Dylan on the road like they did in the early days for Mike LaRocco.
So what I think is going to happen is Dylan will head over to the Phoenix Honda team and they'll step up their program to field a full-time 450 guy. Dylan will get to ride a Honda and rebuild his value, there will be some spots open in 2025 and he can get himself back on a factory team. Although 450SX success has eluded him, he's won everything else out there. So this should be interesting to watch, the ever-outspoken-about-his-bike Dylan Ferrandis on a privateer team but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures and he won't be the first rider forced off of the factory gravy train and then try to get himself back in. It worked for Tim Ferry and Larry Ward!
Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)
The off-season supercross races are not far off now. Most notably, the Paris Supercross (formerly Bercy). This is an event I participated in several times, albeit at the former venue. It is one of the most organized and well-run events of the off-season. For some of the riders, though, the timing can be a pickle. Let's take a look at the brothers Lawrence and a couple of the difficulties involved in their chance to finally go there after a couple of years of hold-ups due to COVID as well as VISA issues.
Normally, September and October are mostly about resting and a little bit of testing. It's the best opportunity to take a bit of time off and let your body heal. With the addition of the SuperMotocross World Championship playoff rounds, as well as the Motocross of Nations being pushed into October, that downtime is mostly gone. By the time riders got back from the MXON they basically had a month until Paris. That's not much time to rest, test, and head back to France. I think most riders would likely take advantage of the downtime, even if it meant suffering a bit on preparation for Paris. That's the challenge for a rider like Jett, though. He's the biggest name in the sport right now. His appearance at Paris is a big deal for everyone, including himself. While taking time off feels like the prudent move to prepare for a grueling 2024, he also knows that he is expected to be his best self when he races in Paris. How do you balance those two?
I think the key word is balance. If he can fit in a week or two of supercross riding and lean on the testing he did prior to SMX, he will likely be okay. The downside of over-committing effort to a one-off race in November is that he will enter 2024 feeling like he never really reset. He's going to be longing for days off when everyone should be fired up for the season. This is why many riders like Ricky Carmichael mostly avoided these off-season events. The extra money wasn't worth the schedule complication.
So, if you see Jett maybe looking a tick off his best level this November, understand that he's compromising. Could he come in more prepared? Of course. Would that levy a cost for 2024? Also, yes. These off-season races are a win for all involved. But they are just that, a fun, money-making enterprise that shouldn't be read into. January is when the judgments begin, not November.
Antonio Ducati (DC)
Has there ever been a more perfect fit for a classic, globally-respected brand entering a new market than having the same country of origin's most successful athlete ever at that particular sport join the development and bring two decades of experience at the highest level to that brand? Of course I’m talking about Antonio Cairoli teaming up with Ducati. Yes, the long-whispered rumors about the Italian motorcycle brand getting into the SX/MX market were revealed in one very big press release that confirmed their plans, the signing of the nine-time FIM World Motocross Champion Cairoli, as well as the Coraddo Maddii's race team.
"The focus of the Ducati off-road project is a combination of the search for lightness pushed to the extreme, top-of-the-line components and engines characterized by a very broad power delivery curve," stated the Bologna, Italy-based company in the press release. "The latter is obtained thanks to the use of the Desmodromic system, used on all the sports bikes of the Bologna based company starting from MotoGP. Ducati is in fact the only company in the world that uses the same valve return system on its highest performing production motorcycles as it does on racing prototypes.
"Entering the specialist off-road sector represents a very important and challenging strategic choice for Ducati, made possible thanks to the excellent results achieved in recent years," it added. "A decision that confirms the desire to expand the brand's presence into unexplored terrain today. New young motorcyclists will be able to get close to the Borgo Panigale brand and thus enter the large community of Ducatisti."
As for Antonio, he started his MXGP career with Yamaha and then switched to KTM in 2010, the year after he won his first 450 title for Yamaha. Of course he kept on winning and became the marquee racer for a brand that was also working with Marvin Musquin and soon to add both Jeffrey Herlings and Ken Roczen to their Grand Prix lineup. Cairoli retired from full-time racing a couple years ago but did do select rounds of the AMA 450 Pro Motocross Nationals just last summer. It is expected that he will campaign the Italian Nationals as soon as Ducati has a bike ready for competitive development next summer.
Said AC222 in the press release, “I am extremely happy to become part of the universe of Ducati, which has always been a symbol of Italian spirit throughout the world, and to begin this exciting new adventure, in an all-Italian project. Being able to make my contribution to the development of the Borgo Panigale motocross bike is a dream come true and a source of great pride for me.”
Ducati has also hired Alessandro Lupino to race the '24 Italian Nationals and possibly even MXGP as soon as 2025. Of course there's already a buzz as to when the brand may begin racing on the AMA circuit, and we've already heard whispers that they have their eye on Roczen, who just signed a one-year extension with HEP Suzuki. Just thinking out loud here, but given his age as well as his clout, one could imagine seeing Kenny and family spending the summer of '25 back in Europe on the MXGP trail shaking down the Ducati, and then maybe back here in '26? What a cool story that would be!
One thing is for certain: Ducati means business with this project, just as Triumph did with a very similar foray into the SX/MX/MXGP space, only they got the holeshot by a year. Ducati is owned by the German auto manufacturer Audi, which in turn is owned by the massive Volkswagen Group. Ducati is said to have been given a massive budget to see this project through.
(Roczen, by the way, has been holding on to that slim 7-point lead over Joey Savatgy in World Supercross for nearly three months now.)
Ducati, The Testing Process (Keefer)
Now that Antonio and Ducati has been announced and we have seen a sneak peek of the bike in action, this gets the consumer fired up for some close up shots and more detailed video of the machine. But...yes, that's right, there is a but. Having a manufacturer enter our sport of motocross/off-road is quite a journey and to get the machine ready to be seen FULLY takes more than just a couple years. We have heard rumblings about the Ducati and a formation of a motocross team for the past couple years and you can guarantee that the prototype version of this motorcycle was on the track before we even heard about it. I have been a part of many new production bike tests/releases and it is at least three to four years until the consumer may see a pre-production unit on their social feeds or even their laptops. Ducati is most likely now in their final stages of their prototype stage and are gearing up for their pre-production phase. A manufacturer can go through as many as four to five prototype stages (which means 4-5 completely different handmade units) and that my friends is REALLY EXPENSIVE as well as time consuming. I have tested many prototype units and that is a stressful time as a test rider. The manufacturer hands you a quarter of a million dollar machine, asks you to pick it apart, yet don't crash it because we don't have any other parts for this specific machine.
The engineers, project leaders, mechanics, marketing team as well as even the president of the company could be involved in these tests. It is a really important time, in these infant stages of the machine to get the motorcycle in the correct direction and it takes the whole group to collectively see that it needs to go in that certain direction. There could be a lot of internal battles on which way the machine needs to be taken and not all of that is up to the test rider. I think of Antonio in this situation and wonder if he knows how this will work in the production process. This isn't a factory MXGP race team and to get a production unit to mate with a wide range of consumers is a tough job. I do think Ducati has picked the correct man for the job but these are all the thoughts that I have when I see a new bike come to market. I think of all the "ghost test bikes" that come before it and all of the man hours it takes to reach the dealership floors! I need to do a podcast on this or write a book. It would blow your mind! Until then, I will be impatiently waiting just like you to see more of this machine, that I think will force other manufacturers to step up their game.
BLU CRU? (Matthes)
So I'm pretty fortunate that the guys at Yamaha loan me a bike to ride every year and even though Keefer wants me to ride more and I should, it's nice that the guys there get me a bike to be a part-time rider. But I had a real dilemma this year because as we all saw at Washougal, it's the 50th anniversary of the YZ model. So the guys released the YZF bikes this year in the retro '94-ish colors. So what was I supposed to do? Stick with the good looking BLU that they've had since 1996 or go with the 1985-‘95 white plastic with retro graphics look? I consulted with Keefer but he was not having it, he asked for the regular blue (boring) but I went with the retro look. It's funny but in '94 I rode Kawasakis and didn't remember thinking those purple/white new YZ's were the best thing ever. But in 2023? Hell yeah, they're super sick, bro! I got the bike for the Pulpmx Millville Ride Day and broke it in there in the mud but this past week I went out with Keefer to Mesquite MX and had a good time. I also went with the $300 add-on GYTR hydraulic clutch for the bike and that's pretty neat to see on Yamaha. When I worked at KTM in 2000, I started riding a bike with the hydraulic clutch and always liked it. This kit bolts right on and looks great as well.
Kids On Bikes (Jason Weigandt)
It’s off-season for me, which means having the time to ride some dirt bikes! I’m always bummed I don’t get to do this more, mostly because my son loves to ride, also, but he rarely does because A) dad is never home B) dad sucks at working on bikes, packing gear and snacks and finding places to ride. Anyway, I did see that a track near us, Top Gun MX, was hosting The MX Factory riding clinic in October, so I signed us up for it months in advance. As the days crept closer, we were barely doing any riding at all. Even worse, my son is moving from a GasGas MC50 to a Yamaha YZ65. A big jump and not a good time to go months without riding. Anyway, we showed up for the riding school on Tuesday pretty rusty, and I knew my son would be begging to just ride his 50, but he’s nine, he’s way too big for the 50, and it’s time to move onwards and upwards. I discussed this with Tyler Livesay of the MX Factory and he agreed with riding the 65 for the day.
I provided a much more in-depth story on what we learned at the riding school yesterday. I just want to mention the emotional roller coaster of having your kid participate in sports, and how hard it is to understand what’s driving their thoughts. Back in March my son hopped on that 65 for the first time, learned the clutch and gears remarkably quick, and was riding it well in one day. Then we attended a Yamaha BluCru riding camp with the Am-Pro Yamaha GNCC team a few days later and he was climbing hills and even riding through sand and trails, no problem. He loved the 65! Then he went back to his 50 because the KTM Jr. Supercross Challenge was coming up, and he needed some practice for that. Well, once he got back on his 50, he decided he hated the 65, and ever since then it’s taken bribes and anything else I can come up with to get him back on it. But here’s the deal: I already know it’s all in his head, because I watched him ride that bike no problem the very first day he got on it. He’s totally physically capable of riding it. But that old 50 is his comfy security blanket. So, here we are, seven months later, struggling to get to where he was when he first got the 65 back in March, when he was shorter and lighter and it should have been harder. But it was easy for him then!
About halfway through the school, they let us do some open riding on the Top Gun track and that’s when my son really missed his 50, because he’s so comfortable with his old bike on that track. So then he started crying and saying he was tired and hungry and wanted to go home. As a parent, you need a decoder ring. Was he actually tired? Or hungry? Possibly. But maybe he was scared. Or just struggling with confidence (most likely). Never rule out hungry, though. Every kid’s middle name should actually be Hangry. So he wanted to quit, and I told him the one thing you can’t do is quit, so he did the rest of the school, which, might I add, is tedious because you’re doing drills at a slow pace instead of ripping laps. But I knew if we didn’t nip this 65 thing in the bud it was going to happen over and over. I actually decided my best move was to pull back. I went into a separate group from my kid, so he would solely have to work with Tyler the riding coach, because, he’ll cry and complain to me but he’ll be stoic with any other adult. I stayed back and watched him do drills for two more hours, and then suddenly he was happy and back to normal!
This is the emotional roller coaster on a daily basis with kids, especially when mixed with sports. My son mostly plays baseball now and he and everyone on his team have highs and lows every 10 minutes. Baseball is a sport of failure. As a parent, I definitely don’t push him, but at the same time you also know sometimes they’re just being irrational kids and you’ve got to figure out a way to get them to the other side of the crisis. It's very easy for people on the outside to say "They're kids! Just let them have fun!" But let me tell you, when they're sucking at something, they don't find it fun at all. So you've got to try to find a way to help them get better while also not adding more pressure. This task will test the best of us!
Anyway, thanks to Tyler Livesay from The MX Factory and the Top Gun MX track for having us!
Hey, Watch It!
Max Vohland Day in the Life (New Bike)
The Olympics of Motocross!
Forever 711: Rene Hofer’s Story
The U.S. Air Force Moto Combine at the Ironman National was featured on MAV-TV this week, with top young riders like Gavin Towers, Drew Adams, Avery Long, Enzo Timmerman and more, with cameos by instructors like Chad Reed, Jeff Stanton, Buddy Antunez, Broc Tickle and more. It's all part of the development program that MX Sports Pro Racing has been doing the past few years, with graduates like Haiden Deegan, Ryder D., Casey Cochran and more. Here's the highlight show.
Here’s a very positive motorcycle-related commercial from Taiwan:
Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week
Remember this from last week?
"Pig on the run: Owners say 'Kevin Bacon' is AWOL: A pesky pet pig is running hog wild in Adams County. At almost 200 pounds, Kevin Bacon the pig has been hard to catch."—Fox43.com (Courtesy of the Stump Grinder)
Well, now there's an op-ed about the possibility of the actor Kevin Bacon adopting the pesky pet pig Kevin Bacon, based on a similar situation involving Bret Michaels, both the singer and the homeless dog...
"If Bret Michaels can adopt Bret Michaels, why can't Kevin Bacon help catch Kevin Bacon?" - Evening Sun
US Customs officials seize giraffe feces from woman at Minnesota airport- AP News
That's it for Racerhead. See you at the races.