But it's the 450 class that will be the primary focus tomorrow. Team Honda HRC's Jett Lawrence has the red plate back on his CRF450R, with the Red Bull KTMs of defending champ Chase Sexton and Aaron Plessinger right on his heels (and imagine the cheers AP7 is going to get in what is effectively Cowboys Stadium). Then comes Cooper Webb, Jason Anderson, Glendale winner Ken Roczen, and Eli Tomac. First through seventh are all within 17 points of one another as we begin the midseason stretch of the series. And neither Anderson nor Tomac have won yet, though each won a "moto" at the Anaheim 2 SX Triple Crown.

Check out our injury report for the latest updates.

We are also here for the annual AMA Pro Motocross Championship promoters meeting, as Feld Entertainment is hosting all of the motocross promoters this weekend. It's basically a big strategy session as well as a "best practices and/or don't-make-the-same-mistake" roundtable where we talk about everything from podium placement to paddock security to insurance issues, noise issues, camping issues, etc. We also have a contest each year to see who had the coolest trophies each season (winner gets a free full-page advertisement in Racer X Illustrated for their efforts). Here were the 11 trophies from last year, we'll tell you who got on the trophy podium further down below.

So, I'm pretty busy here today as the meeting is about to get started. But one funny coincidence I thought of this morning when I saw both the Washougal crew (Ryan Huffman and family) and the Southwick bosses (Keith Johnson and his father Rick): Right now, the red-plate holder as leader of the 250 SX West Region, Levi Kitchen, is literally from Washougal, Washington, and the new points leader in the GNCC Series, Johnny Girroir, is literally from Southwick, Massachusetts. And then someone pointed out that the XC2 leader in GNCC, Angus Riordan, who hails from New Zealand, basically lives in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania, now, which is the home of the High Point National. Three tiny moto towns—Washougal, Southwick, Mt. Morris—all have current series points leaders in other championships. Too bad Millville's own Jeremy Martin is out with a concussion for this weekend, but his big brother Alex, now retired, is here in the meeting with his mom Greta, representing Spring Creek!

And speaking of Washougal, they won the trophy award for second consecutive year by a landslide! Second place was a tie between Hangtown and Thunder Valley.

1993/2024? (Matthes)

With the off-weekend here and no racing to watch, my wife was probably thrilled to see me watching the 1993 Supercross Year in Review show one night on YouTube. Yes, that's what I do on off-weekends people. Anyways, it struck me as a bit of similarities to what we're seeing now.

In 1993, a hot young Honda rider in his first (now) 450SX season named Jeremy McGrath and now in 2024 we have a hot young Honda rider in his first 450SX season in Jett Lawrence. 

McGrath shocked the establishment by taking off with his first win in round three and then went on quite a roll, but all of his wins came when he got the start and was able to sprint away. McGrath grabbed the points lead early and held onto the whole way. 

Jett Lawrence, while not as shocking as MC's win, won round one and round five in a similar pattern to McGrath with getting the start and taking off relatively unchallenged. Jett's also got the points lead at almost the halfway point. 

At round ten, McGrath didn't get the start and the best he could do was a fourth which led the veterans of the series (Jeff Stanton, Damon Bradshaw) to make comments about how McGrath isn't quite the same rider when he doesn't holeshot.

Jett Lawrence has had some struggles in the mud, didn't get starts at the Triple Crown nor at Glendale and ended up with one podium in the three rounds he didn't get a good start leading "some" people to say that he's a different rider when he has to come through the pack.

Well at round 11, one week after Texas where the race is this week, McGrath came from around sixth or seventh to pass the veterans, pass Mike Craig and take the win. And on the podium Jeremy mentioned that he had heard the words others said about him not being able to come from behind and he hoped this made that talk irrelevant. 

What will Jett do? Well, it says here that he's going to show that he's more than capable of ripping through the pack to get a win and it might happen this weekend in Texas even. But for now, some of the things that I watched in this 1993 SX season recap definitely applied to Jett.

There's a reason why only two rookies have won 450SX titles (that McGrath guy and Ryan Dungey) and why Jett's going to have more ups and downs but I see you people saying his wins have come "easy," but I think we'll see really soon Jett will check off the box of coming from behind to win. 

It's Still Close (Jason Weigandt)

Like Matthes mentioned, the ball is sitting on the tee for Jett Lawrence to go on a run this year like McGrath did in '93. As I've said all year, I'm not predicting or guaranteeing Jett does that, but we have to at least carve out the possibility that he could. For a few riders, I think this upcoming Arlington round is key. Cooper Webb was really making a case for himself after an Anaheim 2 win and huge speed early in Detroit, which he wasted by falling in his heat and then getting a bad gate pick and start in the main. Then the Glendale track, which has never been good to Cooper, was not good to him again. I'm sure his plan is to get back to Detroit speed and win this weekend. Remember, it was at this famous Arlington race in 2019 where he passed Ken Roczen in the last turn, won by the smallest margin in supercross history, and really took control of the series. Webb also won Arlington a year ago, in a Triple Crown format. He would love, love, love to show Jett what's up the way he did to Roczen five years ago.

It's also an important weekend, of course, for Webb's teammate Eli Tomac. There has been a great debate over Tomac's season thus far. Is he slightly diminished from where he was pre-injury, or does he just need more time to get back to that level? The jury is still out with Chase Sexton, too, who will need to bounce back from the hand injury that slowed him in Glendale. Like Tomac, Sexton hasn't had his old speed edge so far this year, but outside of Glendale he's probably been the most consistent rider. Is that actually all he needs?

Also, somewhat forgotten was how well Aaron Plessinger was riding early at Glendale, before he fell. All of these names serve to remind that this series is still mega close, much closer than it normally is at this point in the season. We now have Ken Roczen and Jason Anderson as the surging guys in the series, but that spot keeps changing. It's pretty cool to have gotten to this stage and still not really know what's going to happen, but I do feel like some of these guys need to remind Jett they can beat him before he gets too confident or too relaxed. This should be one heck of an interesting weekend.

Godspeed Jayo Archer (DC)

There was tragic news out of Australia this week as Jayo Archer, X Games gold medalist and a regular member of the Nitro Circus, was killed while practicing a triple backflip, the trick that more or less made him famous two years ago. According to reports on ESPN as well as The Guardian, Archer was killed while training in his hometown of Brisbane. He had long been a fixture in the freestyle motocross world. Back in 2011, at the age of 15, he became the youngest rider ever to land a backflip of more than 75 feet. And when he landed his first triple backflip in competition in 2022 during a Nitro Circus stop in Brisbane, he ended the celebration by proposing to his girlfriend.

“I cannot describe this feeling," he said of the moment he completed the maneuver, which only two others have successfully landed. "This is so much more than a trick to me. I’ve dedicated my entire life the last three years, to this moment. There were a lot of obstacles and broken bones and knockouts, and I would do it 100 times over to relive that moment again.” 

On Instagram, the group posted, “The Nitro Circus family is mourning the loss of Jayo Archer. Jayo was the epitome of passion, hard work and determination. He pushed what was possible on a dirt bike to heights never seen before. A positive influence to those around him. And above all else a great human being and friend to us all.”

Jayo Archer was 27 years old.

Triumph Week (Keefer)

On Monday, Steve and I will finally be able to fill you in on the new Triumph TF 250-X. Triumph is hosting the motocross media at the famous Gatorback Cycle Park to allow us to spend a full day of testing/riding the new machine. Yes, I have ridden it before, but it will actually be nice to talk about the machine more openly as it has been a long time coming. The evolution of the TF 250-X has been a long process, but Triumph has one shot to get this thing right and next week will be the time a lot of the motocross world has been waiting for. Post-test on Monday, Matthes will also be doing a live PulpMX Show from the host hotel Monday night, so make sure to tune in at 6 p.m. Eastern on Monday, February 26. We are looking to get RC, Ivan Tedesco as well as other media members on the show to discuss the machine and how Matthes handled the 250 four-stroke. Look for a full video review right here on Racerxonline.com next week as I am sure Matthes and I will argue about something on the TF 250-X. 

’24 Yamaha Cross Country Intro (Mitch Kendra)

Speaking of bike tests, I am fresh off of one from last week myself! Jason Weigandt, Matt Rice, and I, as well as a handful of other media outlets, were flown out to South Carolina for two full days of riding three bikes from the 2024 Yamaha cross country lineup: the YZ125X, YZ250X, and YZ450FX. Randy Hawkins’ facility in South Carolina–complete with both a moto track and woods loops–was the perfect testing area for us to get comfortable on all three bikes and provide some insight.

The updated 2024 YZ450FX was the main focus of the event, as that bike has the most amount of changes. The ’24 YZ450FX took on the new significant changes the 2023 YZ450F that Eli Tomac raced in AMA Supercross last year (engine, frame and chassis, suspension, rider triangle, etc.). But then Yamaha took that machine and made the cross country model more off-road friendly (softer suspension, wide ratio gearing in transmission, different mapping, 18-inch rear wheel, kick stand, full coverage skid plate, and more).

The key thing with this YZ450FX model is we had all sorts of different skillsets and builds on the bikes and yet everyone was able to have fun and feel comfortable. Built for going almost 100 MPH on dusty desert roads on the West Coast but also designed for going five to ten MPH through tight trees, deep ruts, puddles on the East Coast, this bike can do both without major changes. The softer suspension had us comfortable on both the moto track in the woods loop and engine maps (plus the updated Yamaha tuner app) allow you to easy adjust engine characteristics to fit your personal preferences. Say your buddy wants to hop on and spin some laps on your YZ450FX, even though he is a different speed and skillset and build than you. Set the sag (and adjust the clickers if need be) and toss in a different map and boom, chances are he would feel right at home pretty quickly! That versatility is huge, especially for someone like me who does enough motocross AND woods riding. I want a general setup in the middle so I can go from one discipline to the other the following day without having to make a ton of changes to my machine. Let’s face it, all bikes are good nowadays. But the versatility of the YZ450FX we tested is what stands out to me.

And while the two-stroke models we rode did not have a ton of changes to them, they sure were fun to ride both out in the moto track, enduro style open fields, and hopping through the woods! Watch our Racer X video below and stay tuned for my full write-up on Kris Keefer’s website.

Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)

Back to the East Coast we go and with it, a return to 250SX East Region racing! We have only seen this group once this year and what a mess that Detroit race was. Half of the field found themselves on the ground in the first corner. We don't really know what to expect from McAdoo or Deegan or Vialle. They all looked good in their qualifiers but as far as a main event and analyzing the landscape of this class, we have more questions than answers to date. 

For both Deegan and McAdoo, they entered Detroit recovering from injuries. Deegan had a wrist injury that he and his tried to hide for reasons beyond my understanding. Detroit was going to be tough sledding in the wake of that but that first turn crash ruined any chance of success, anyway. This three-week break was just what the doctor ordered (possibly both literally and figuratively). Adding a couple of weeks for practice and rehab should do wonders for the reigning 250 SuperMotocross World Champ. It doesn't sound like a long time but in terms of getting that extra little bit of speed and intensity back, it can be incredibly valuable. I expect to see a big improvement over the version of Deegan we saw in Detroit.

For McAdoo, I believe he was a little closer to 100 percent, but this time will be similar in value. He had a crash in early December and likely would have been racing the 250SX West Region if not for the mishap. He needed every day of recovery to make it to Detroit and after winning his heat race, he made it very clear that he wasn't quite back to form yet. The indecent exposure heard round the world was the story for McAdoo in Detroit, but I think a podium finish might be the story leaving Arlington.

As for those who fared well in Detroit, they need to continue the momentum. The ask won't be as easy, they will face more competition than they did that night. Another good result would prove as confirmation, though. It's easy for everyone, including myself, to naysay the Detroit result because of the circumstances. Another win for Forkner or podium for Anstie would negate any of that talk.

MXGP Countdown (DC)

While we've mostly all been focused on Monster Energy AMA Supercross so far this year here in the U.S., the FIM Motocross World Championship (MXGP) is almost upon us. The MXGP field is stacked this year with both Jeffrey Herlings, Tim Gajser, and Maxim Renaux back to healthy, Kawasaki's Romain Febvre and Jeremy Seewer looking in fine form (Seewer just won the Mantova International in Italy), and of course Jorge Prado back home from his "supercross vacation" and getting ready to defend his title. The MXGP series kicks off in two weeks in Argentina, so many of the top guys are doing some last-minute gate drops to get sharp and ready. 

Unfortunately, MX2 title contender Liam Everts will sit out the first round in Argentina on March 9-10 after injuring his throttle thumb in a training crash in Belgium. He should be back in time for the second round. According to the KTM team PR, "The highly rated Red Bull KTM Factory Racing athlete suffered the fall while in prep for the first of twenty Grands Prix in the 2024 series and underwent an operation on Thursday to get the fracture set and plated. The 19-year-old requires a month of convalescence before he can get back on the KTM 250 SX-F and could be in contention for the second fixture of the year in late March."   

Also, Husqvarna Factory Racing team rider and MXGP hopeful Mattia Guadagnini will not race in Argentina, due to injuries sustained in a crash during pre-season training in France, diagnosed with a fractured shoulder blade, and soft tissue injuries to his lower arm.

Jorge Prado is doing the opening round of the Spanish National Championships this weekend while Jeffrey Herlings is racing at Hawkstone Park in England this weekend. He hasn't raced in seven months due to his injuries but now feels 100 percent, though his mantra is now just "Stay Healthy."

Hawkstone is also expecting Romain Febvre plus current MX2 World Champion Andrea Adamo of the Red Bull KTM team. 

And also, this weekend is the final round of the British Arenacross Championships at London Arena. That's where Stark Future rider Jack Brunell, a 34-year-old working class hero, tries to capture the first serious title for the electric brand. 

Finally, the opening round of the French Elite Championship at Lacapelle Marival had to be canceled due to some very bad weather conditions. 

Mystery Solved (DC)

Last week we ran a photo of a man named Dennis Maloney that one of our readers spotted on an aviation channel with a caption that said "motocross champion." We asked if anyone happened to know Dennis Maloney, and someone certainly came through because we got an email from the man himself!

"I am Dennis Maloney the mystery 'MX champion' and my claim to fame is my son (Anson Maloney) was the 2008 AMA Youth Rider of the Year. You featured him in your March 2009 'Exposure' section of Racer X Illustrated. I have been a motorcycle nut since the '70s but got into airplanes after high school in '74, so explains my being at the airport here in Grass Valley . Thanks for the pic though too cool! I have got a lot out of this little mix-up. Reminded me of the few MX races I did and it brought back some great memories.

"My passion for airplanes and motorcycles is as strong as ever. Motorcycles is the closest thing to flying to you can get without leaving the ground. You have the acceleration, deceleration, yaw, bank and pitch along logging some single-engine flight time on occasion." As for his own racing, Maloney told us that he used to race back in the day at NorCal tracks like Watsonville and Sears Point Raceway on a Honda CR250 Elsinore that his parents bought him for achieving some awards playing football. "I liked football but I loved motorcycles," added Dennis.  "In my locker I did not have pictures of Dick Butkus or Gale Sayers but I had a Maico 501, that Elsinore and a couple Huskys!"

Pleased to meet you, Dennis!

Daniel Blair's GEICO Honda Days, In One Post (DC)

Our longtime friend “Rupert X” Pellett has long prowled the sidelines and infields and beverage areas of various motocross and supercross races, snapping photos for fun. More recently he started sharing them on social media, which can often lead to cool memories of races and years gone by. Earlier this week he posted this "Moto Pic of the Day" of then-privateer Daniel Blair getting ready for a race...

Daniel himself (@danielblair125) spotted Rupert's pic and took a moment to concisely add some context to the photo:

Old Friends Lost (DC)

The motocross community lost two longtime members recently, both from the midwest and both with results in both the pro SX/MX Vault and the Loretta Lynn's Vault. First, David Lovell of Nashville passed away after a long battle with cancer. A frame carpenter by trade, Lovell raced in his youth and scored points at two AMA Pro Motocross Nationals, the '82 St. Petersburg 250 National at Sunshine Speedway in Florida, as well as the '83 RedBud 250 National. He also raced at Loretta Lynn's in 1990 in the Vet class, joining his friend Kevin Foley in a return to amateur motocross. By that point Lovell was building up his own successful company DL Construction, and also raising a family with his wife Stacy and their two kids Elizabeth and Samuel. In more recent years David and Stacy became proud grandparents. He also continued coming to Loretta Lynn's long after his own racing days were over in order to support his close friend Kevin Foley, one of the all-time winners at the ranch. He also a nature-lover who enjoyed hunting and just being outdoors. He was 64 years old.

Derrick Roe was a blazing fast kid from Fort Wayne, Indiana who burst onto the professional scene in 1988. In his very brief pro career, which started in July '88 and ended in February '90, the Kawasaki Team Green-backed Derrick Roe had several very good finishes. Had Pro-Am riders been giving points and national numbers in 1989, Roe would have been #49 based on just his two 125 Pro Motocross rides, in which he had 12th-place (RedBud) and 5th-place overall finishes (Kenworthy's), which should have amounted to 42 points. Roe went to Loretta Lynn's that same summer and finished fourth in a highly competitive 125 A Modified class that included Steve Lamson, Mike Kiedrowski, Larry Ward, Denny Stephenson and more. 

One year later Roe raced in his first AMA Supercross at Miami, finishing sixth at the Miami round--the same round where Damon Bradshaw made his 125 SX debut and won. Roe would end up 15th overall in that '89 series. "Roeshow" as he was called would only ride one more professional SX, finishing 19th in the 250 class at the 1990 Houston Astrodome race. Roe did not go any further in professional racing, but he never left it completely either. According to a memorial posted after he passed last week "he was a dedicated employee at Morris Sheet Metal and a proud member of the Sheet Metal Workers Local 20, lived a life filled with the exhilaration and camaraderie of dirt bike racing, which mattered most to him. His passion for the sport was infectious, inspiring those around him with his unyielding determination and fearless spirit."

Derrick Roe was 53 years old. 

Win A 2024 Yamaha YZ450F! (Matthes)

We're doing the deal again! The Yamaha LCQ Privateer Challenge sweepstakes are here. Maybe win a sweet new Yamaha or one of the other 19 prizes with all the money raised going to the privateers in the Denver LCQ race on Friday. Should be a lot of fun, the guys at Vurbmoto are going to stream it again.

Buy your ticket now!

A Camo Trucker Hat with A Touch of Class

Look, dude, back in the eighties rich guys wanted to run around in exotic sports cars with their Miami Vice pastel blazers and massive brick cell phones just exuding class. There are still successful people out there today but they spend their money in other ways, like skipping the Ferrari store and buying a bad-to-the-bone full size pickup truck that can probably handle the doubles motocross track. More power, more noise, more suspension travel, bigger tires, all that. On the inside, though, it’s still nice to get some luxury, so some of these rugged trucks are leather lined on the inside. Cowboy Cadillacs. Luxury Pre Runners. Yeah, Magnum P.I. should be rocking one of those.

We feel ya.’ Racer X brand offers this premium trucker hat replete with the camo look and the adjustable snap back fit. But just to add a touch of class, we throw in a leather Racer X shield logo. It might just match the seats in that sweet rig you’re dreaming about.

Even better, while you’re flaunting your wealth, you can actually be saving it via this flash sale, which chops $10 off the hat. So we’re talking $35 instead of $45. That will put you $10 closer to buying that truck you’ve already specced out. Get it now because this flash sale will be over…in a flash. 

And with a $60 (or more) Racer X Brand purchase, customers will receive a FREE magazine subscription. 

SHOP ALL RACER X MERCHANDISE

Hey, Watch It!

Robert Irwin, son of Steve Irwin, posted this on Instagram on Thursday:

“It’s a meaningful day to share this special story… on Dad’s birthday. It makes me so proud that his legacy lives on.”

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