Welcome to Racerhead on a rare off-weekend for Monster Energy Supercross, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a busy week. In fact, it was a downright strange one, with lots of up and downs. It started with news last Friday that our longtime friend Denny Stephenson had been stabbed in a road rage incident out in Arizona, and more or less ended with the news that Monster Energy Kawasaki factory rider Adam Cianciarulo would be calling it quits as soon as supercross ends at Salt Lake City in May. In between, Phoenix Racing Honda’s Kyle Peters captured his fifth straight AMA Arenacross Championship, there was a crazy race in St. Louis that ended with five penalties and a sixth 450SX winner in 12 races, the public release of the three SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) tracks we will see in September, a tragedy involving a former professional racer in Florida, a nearly fatal flip of a water truck at a local track, another glimpse of what may be the next future, not one but two undefeated seasons on the line in Europe, an earthquake in New York/New Jersey, and an impending total eclipse of the sun. Unfortunately, we need to start with the bad news first.
Timothy Pustelak was a professional rider in the mid-1990s who came out of northwest Pennsylvania. He was the younger brother of Gary Pustelak, one of the fastest riders to ever come out of the Keystone State and a factory supported rider for Maico, Husqvarna, and Kawasaki. Gary had several top ten national finishes in a time when seemingly half the field were future AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famers. Tim was not as good as his brother, but he was a charismatic kid, always full of energy and positivity. He rode for a while with young Ricky Carmichael down in Florida and qualified for a few outdoor nationals, as well as some night shows in AMA Supercross, just missing out on the points several times. When his racing days were over, he went to work in the family’s masonry business, then went on to several other contracting/building companies. He would still pop up at the occasional race to watch and visit old friends, and he recently moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. Sadly, while police were conducting a welfare check after his out-of-state girlfriend had not heard from him all day, he was found dead on the floor of his apartment with what police were calling “upper body trauma” and are now investigating it as a homicide. Our thoughts and prayers are with the whole Pustelak family now. We will provide more details and also any memorial service or celebration-of-life when we get them. Timothy’s family posted on Facebook:
"The Pustelak family, with deep sadness, need to announce the passing of Timothy J. Pustelak. Because of the nature of his passing, an investigation into his homicide is currently ongoing. To allow the investigators time to do their jobs and to bring all suspects to justice, the family would like to respectfully wish for privacy at this time. Final arrangements for services are being made and the details will be announced soon. From the bottom of our hearts, we appreciate those who have reached out to us with sincerity and heartfelt condolences."
Here is a news story we saw online.
Godspeed. Timothy Pustelak was 49 years old.
While looking for some old photos this week I came across a few of Denny Stephenson from his days in the 125 Nationals with Team Suzuki, shot by the great Thom Veety of Action Photos fame, so I texted them to Denny as he recovers from his stabbing wounds. That led a phone call and soon we were bench-racing just like the good old days. We didn’t go into the details of the whole road-rage situation that led to his hospitalization, but he was in great spirits and laughed when I told him that while it was a crazy thing to happen to anyone, it was barely on the podium of crazy things to happen to Denny Stephenson! He laughed and responded that his lifelong friend and former teammate Buddy Antunez basically said the same thing. I’m really glad that the whole deal did not turn out worse for Dennis, and we can all look forward to seeing him at the races here again soon.
Now let’s talk about all of those penalties handed out last Saturday night when a quarter of the 450 field in the second race of the Triple Crown jumped the finish line double while a red cross flag was being held out while the white flag and then the checkered flag flew. There’s something wrong if the placement and display of the flag still doesn’t register for that many guys, and because it was Jett Lawrence, Cooper Webb, Chase Sexton, Aaron Plessinger, and Jason Anderson (twice), it’s been a huge topic of discussion all week long. The red cross flags are there to keep the riders safe, but they are placed in area to keep the person waving the flag safe too. The AMA and AMA Pro Racing, as well as Feld Motor Sports and MX Sports Pro Racing, are all working together for a remedy to make sure things work better, both for rider safety and trackside personnel safety. Among the topics were one-way in-helmet radios, safety lights, better (and more) flagger points, and also other options for how the penalties affect the results. For instance, it’s one thing to have five different riders penalized two positions each for the same infraction, but because they were running first, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth at the time, that meant that seventh-place Hunter Lawrence moved up five positions to second-place, while the rider right behind him (eighth-place Justin Barcia) only moved up four spots to fourth, and the rider behind Barcia (ninth-place Malcolm Stewart) didn’t move up any—Mookie was still ninth when all was said and done. Had this been a single main event rather than a Triple Crown, all riders would have been penalized championship points, not race positions. And I mention this simply because the reaction will be “of course it was” but the bike that brought the caution flag out in the first place belonged to one Vincent Friese.
And speaking of Friese, he was also involved in the whole Jett Lawrence-Justin Barcia collision, but only by proximity. He was on the inside of Barcia as Justin came in hard on the inside of Jett, who was turning down sharply in first-lap traffic in the third and final 450 race of the night. The collision was ugly, Lawrence lost his shot at getting back up front with Tomac, and Eli got his first win of 2024, making this the tenth straight year that he’s won at least one 450SX round in Monster Energy Supercross. All because of one Vincent Friese… Kidding. I’m not going to arm-chair quarterback the crash and who-should-have-been-where and who was at fault between Jett and Justin—not after everyone from Ricky Carmichael to Ryan Villopoto to Johnny Hopper to go-ahead-caller has already had their say in it. I’m just glad neither Lawrence nor Barcia were hurt.
The future I mentioned was another virtuoso performance by Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen, who went 1-1-1 in St. Louis and became the first 250SX rider on either coast to win three rounds this year. Something has clicked for Kitchen, and with the news that Adam Cianciarulo stepping down after SX is over, and the whispers that Jorge Prado is headed there in 2025, can we start thinking about a Kawasaki 450 SX/MX/SMX pairing of Prado and Kitchen in 2026?
As for Adam Cianciarulo, I concur with pretty much every statement and post I’ve heard or read about AC this week. He really is one of the best personalities in the entire sport, despite all of the injuries and hardships he’s had to overcome just to line up each weekend. I could easily make the argument that he’s the fastest minicycle racer of all time, just as easily as I could with James Stewart or Ricky Carmichael. No, he did not reach the wins and championships we all thought he might, but he did not squander his chances either. He was just unlucky with the injuries, and now I think he’s being honest with himself to call it a career and move on to the next chapter of his life. I imagine we will be seeing and hearing a lot more from Adam in the future, as he’s already in on the ground floor of media with his excellent “Plugged In” podcast. Job well done, champ.
I’m going to skip the earthquake earlier today and the eclipse coming Monday for the sake of space and just end this long off-weekend Racerhead intro with the three track diagrams that were released for the 2024 SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) Playoffs in Charlotte, Dallas, and Las Vegas. I know it's a long way away, but it’s pretty cool to start imagining what these races will look like come September!
He Made It (Jason Weigandt)
I wrote extensively about Adam Cianciarulo’s retirement yesterday. It’s a bummer because, to me, Adam will go down as one of those Travis Pastrana types who coulda, shoulda, woulda won so many races and accomplished so much for both themselves and for the sport. Some riders are just good at riding; others carry a persona and willingness to carry the weight of stardom that makes them bigger than that. Adam was one of those stars, and a sport always suffers when that athlete gets cut down during the prime years. Most of the time, that’s just due to injury, and that’s the case here.
It’s just as important, though, to not paint Adam’s career only as one of unfulfilled potential, because his career was divided into two parts, and when you realize how far he had to climb to get back to race-winning status, he accomplished quite a bit. He started his supercross career winning immediately, then dealt with a rash of injuries that threatened to ruin it all. He actually did come all the way back and won races and a Pro Motocross Championship title. Anyone who wins a 24-moto gnarly outdoor title is the real deal, especially after the downward health spiral of 2013-2016. You can't take any of that away from him. That is a success. Then, his 450 career shined brightly immediately, and there were plenty of weekends where an AC win wouldn’t have surprised anyone. He won motos and overalls outdoors and it was perfectly normal. He was one of “the guys.” Few can say that.
That didn’t last due to an ongoing nerve injury that never got better. Along the way we got to know Adam the person, and I don’t think anyone didn’t like him. On his own podcast this week, and in several conversations through the years, Adam mentions that maybe if all he did was win, win and win some more, maybe he wouldn't be the same person he is now. The person we did get to know is as likeable as they come. So, this is a bummer sports story, but not a tragic one from a human standpoint. He’s a good guy, and what’s more, I’m sure his contributions have actually only just begun. Can’t wait to see what he does next!
AC (Matthes)
The news is out, Adam Cianciarulo's exiting stage right after the last round of SX and although he didn't maybe win as much as we all thought he could have due to injuries, the kid had a hell of a career, right? When he and I talked on the phone a few months back and he told me this was it, I thought he meant at the end of MX season. Guess I should've clarified! But really, he's gone through hell and back trying to get this nerve issue handled (including sending me gross stem cell treatments videos he went through) and it's just not happening. Too many surgeries on the shoulders seem to have impaired his nerves to ride a motorcycle fast enough to win.
Honestly, I tried to convince him to not hang it up. He said that maybe rest was all the doctors suggested could help so I was saying “take MX off and try again for SX 2025” but he and I both knew that if that happened, it wasn't going to be at Kawasaki. The green guys have moved on with AC's contract up at the end of the year and we expect MXGP champ Jorge Prado to be there in 2025. In typical Adam fashion, after Prado hit him at Anaheim 1 and hurt his hand, causing him to miss a race he shot me a text "Dude took me out and took my ride!" followed by my laughing emojis. AC didn't have any desire to not be 100 percent on anything that wasn't a factory team, and I can't say I blame him.
That's just it, right? Adam Cianciarulo always got it. I've seen plenty of can't-miss kids who had everything handed to them throughout their lives lack any sort of idea of how to act in a social setting, seen plenty of top riders that lacked compassion, understanding that they are just human like the rest of us. Who can blame them sometimes? They go through their entire lives with people paying them tons of money and telling them how great they are.
Adam was not one of those guys. Yes, he as one of the most hyped-up kids ever and he had plenty of people helping along the way, but still he always just got it. He handled most everything that came his way with class and a sense of humor. We started having him on the PulpMX Show before he turned pro and he co-hosted the show 3-4 times with us. He was always just like the rest of us, even when he wasn't. (Hey, if he's bored, maybe we can do sequel to the “Finding Stew” video together? Who else is out there that we can track down?)
I would say good luck to Adam in whatever he does next but he doesn't need any luck, he'll be just fine.
Here's myself, Paul Perebijnos (mechanic at PC with AC) and Ryan Holliday (Team Green coordinator when Adam was there) talking about AC's decision in the Renthal Reaction Podcast below.
Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)
The second and final weekend off in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship is upon us. Nearly the entire field is busy with outdoor testing and early preparation for a grueling AMA Pro Motocross Championship. This past week would have been full outdoor mode, with riders trying new settings and generally getting their outdoor legs underneath them. This testing week is key for teams as they need time to build preferred parts from their factories or vendors. It also provides a nice change of pace for riders as it's been nonstop SX since September's SMX playoffs. So, the whole "weekend off" misnomer more relates to the lack of traveling versus a break in the hard work.
Riders and teams would have put in heroic efforts, both on and off the track this week. As we enter the weekend proper, though, there could be a chance to rest easy. This week's hard work doesn't accomplish anything unless it's followed by a chance to recover. Next week will resume with a normal SX routine as the series reconvenes in southern Massachusetts. This was the first tip of the cap towards summer for many and our thoughts will slowly shift towards what looms. The job's not done for one series, but attention must be shared with another. Such is the life of SMX.
As for me, I'm in Sardinia, Italy, for the FIM Motocross World Championship (MXGP) round and a guest appearance alongside Paul Malin in the broadcast booth. I guess I decided I wasn't traveling quite enough so I threw in a Euro trip instead of taking a breather! If I ever complain about being tired or burnt out, someone please hand me a mirror to show the culprit. It should be a great weekend of motocross on the island, anyway. Likely-to-be-in-the-USA-in-2025 Jorge Prado is on absolute rails so far this season. He has dominated both weekends of the series thus far and looks to establish dominance in the sands of Riola Sardo. If he can best the rest in these conditions, it will be hard to find an angle on the peaking Spaniard. (And in the 250 class, Kay De Wolf is 2-0 as well going into the weekend, which means these are the two “undefeated” seasons DC was referring to up top. Yes, he probably should have mentioned that they have 18 rounds to go to have an undefeated season!) With a break in the racing stateside, tune in at MXGP-TV.com if you want to visit a remote corner of the world hosting the sport we all love.
- MXGP
- MX2 QualifyingLiveApril 6 - 10:15 AM
- MXGP QualifyingLiveApril 6 - 11:15 AM
- MX2 Race 1LiveApril 7 - 7:00 AM
- MXGP Race 1LiveApril 7 - 8:00 AM
- MX2 Race 2LiveApril 7 - 10:00 AM
- MX2 Race 2LiveApril 7 - 10:00 AM
- MXGP Race 2LiveApril 7 - 11:00 AM
- MXGP Race 2LiveApril 7 - 11:00 AM
- WMX Race 2 (Delayed)April 7 - 3:00 PM
Cycle News Win Ads (DC)
"Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" used to be the way sponsors and advertisers approached their motorsports investment. The concept is still there, only now it's also "Win on Saturday, or even Friday, Sell on Monday." And we can always find proof of that in our email boxes every week when the latest issue of Cycle News shows up. Take last weekend, for instance. Eli Tomac won his first race of the year with a 1-1-1 sweep in St. Louis on Saturday night, Cooper Webb finished second overall but ended up as the champion of the series-within-the-series, the Triple Crown Champion, and Levi Kitchen is still cooking with a 1-1-1 sweep of the 250 class. Also last Friday, Kyle Peters captured his fifth straight AMA National Arenacross Championship, the first title rewarded in 2024. All of this was reflected in the digital pages of Cycle News as the various sponsors of each of these winners and champions got in on the celebrations. One day we need to get someone like Eric Johnson do a magazine deep-dive on the whole history of win ads, which are as much an art in the publishing business as choosing the right cover! And I have a collection of win ads from Cycle News and other publications that goes back to even beyond the very first Superbowl of Motocross at the Los Angeles Coliseum. See if you can pick out which one it is...
Vurb Moto World Mini (Keefer)
Vurb Moto has resurrected the World Mini and so far it looks like it's a decent turnout for their second version of the once-grand minicycle/amateur classic. 700 riders have made their way to the Arizona desert. Mesquite MX is hosting the event, and Gary Brough (RMX) and crew do a great job with the track. You would think a desert track would be hard pack and crappy but in reality, there are ruts! Sure, it gets hard packed later in the day, but the ruts are deep and challenging for all riders. My parents could never afford to take me to far-off races but World Mini was the only race that I ever ventured out to as a young rider. In 1990 I was a 125 Novice and my dad allowed me and a buddy to go race and that was the only time that I got to race a "big amateur event." I decided I wanted to bring my kid to this year's event, and it doesn't hurt that a ton of manufacturers are paying A LOT of contingency to boot! Yamaha is here with their rig helping bLU cRU riders as well as other companies like Factory Connection, Michelin, Ethika, Scott, FASST Co.,Motosport among others. The event is laid back and has a very cool vibe to it. This year's event is laid out like a MXGP format for the riders with practices, qualifiers, and two motos. If you didn't make it out to this year's event, you should put this on one of your races to attend to in 2025. Mesquite has golf courses and casinos as well as a motocross track that kicks ass!
HARRISON (Matthes)
I called up Mitchell Harrison of the Partzilla PRMX Kawasaki team to talk about his season so far, his first in the 450SX class and more. Harrison has had an interesting career. He's ridden for Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing, and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna, he's raced MX2, he's done the Canadian Nationals (he credited racing up north with rekindling his love of the sport) and in this pod, we talk about all of that and more. I liked this one a lot!
Ads We Could Not Get Away With Today (DC)
Young Promoter Down (DC)
I mentioned a near-tragedy up top in the intro, let me explain: Roaring Knob is a local track not far from the Racer X office here in Morgantown, West Virgina. In fact, it’s very close to my parents first racetrack, Appalachia Lake Park in Bruceton Mills, just across the state line in Marklesburg, Pennsylvania. We used to go there to ride and race often, though it shut down for a time during COVID-19. Recently it’s been making a comeback, with a young moto enthusiast doing much of the work. So, I was bummed to see the following post by Katie Jones on the Western PA Time Machine Facebook group:
Ricky Jones is a 15-year-old who is the person running Roaring Knob Motocross. He works constantly through the week and around the clock to consistently put on races and practices as well. Ricky has been promoting the track for two years now. He is an avid motocross racer himself and loves to help other people. He has been racing for many years now.
As some of you may or may not know, Ricky was involved in an accident. Early Saturday, March 30th at around 1:00 in the morning, he was watering the motocross preparing for a race when the water truck flipped. He flipped over three times and then the truck caught fire. He caught fire but was able to get out of the truck alive. The truck is not salvageable anymore, as the insides are complete ash. All of the glass has melted as well. He is alive today by amazing grace. Many of the doctors were surprised by the fact he did not have any other injuries or the fact that he walked away from the truck to get medical attention.
He was then looked at by medical professionals from the local fire department, where they needed to life-flight him to a Pittsburgh hospital. He has multiple burn sites that are going to need skin grafts. He is in a lot of pain and discomfort, but they are working with pain management to control it. He is expected to have at least two surgeries for skin grafts on his left arm and hand, as well as his left leg. He has burns from his face to his toes. He is expected to be in the hospital for the next two weeks at a minimum. He is currently in the Trauma Burn ICU until surgery. Once discharged, he will need extensive wound care and physical therapy.
It will be a long period of time before he can get back to the motocross unfortunately and he is devastated by this. This is his life, and he loves it.
So many of his sponsors, fans, and racers have reached out to me to see if we could do anything for him when he is able to and this is what we came up with recently. We are hoping, pending how he does, to host a welcome-home event, the date to change pending recovery and postoperative appointments... We are wanting to have this event at the track to show him support. We want to show him that everyone was praying for him, thinking of him, and that it is okay to take the correct amount of time to heal properly, motocross can wait. We would love, love, love, to have everyone there who is able to attend. From friends, family, motocross friends and family, dirt track friends and family, or people who just want to come to show their support.
As soon as there is a date for Ricky Jones’ homecoming to Roaring Knob Motocross, we will let everyone know.
Three Rivers SX Highlights Three New Spring Racer X T-Shirts
The Racer X Brand Spring 2024 release is here! Take a look at the latest line that features three T-shirts: the Navy distressed shield, dirt cycle, and three rivers SX.
The navy distressed shield T-shirt is a simple design with our classic Racer X shield. The dirt cycle T-shirt features a vintage program cover from 1973 with an old-school feel to it. And last but not least, the three rivers T-shirt pages homage to the old supercross event at Three Rivers Stadium in nearby Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Hey, Watch It
Aaron Witt, self-proclaimed “Chief Dirt Nerd” and CEO of BuildWitt, visited the St. Louis Supercross round to find out where the dirt goes. Check out his video.
SUPERCROSS Track Removal — Where Does the Dirt Go?
GoPro: CRAZY Mid-Air Collision
Club MX's "Every Second Counts" St. Louis edition:
Levi Kitchen is on a roll, and here's how he got ready for his Triple Crown sweep at St. Louis in the latest edition of Chef's Vlog:
Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week
"A man narrowly escaped a saw blade as it came barreling towards him outside a store in Oregon."—NBC News
"This Final Four Team Isn’t a Long Shot. It’s a 23,512-to-1 Miracle."—The Wall Street Journal
"UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT REMOVING LIGHT POLES FROM CAMPUS... Ahead Of Final Four"—TMZ
"LOVE BUGS: Trillions of bugs to swarm in ‘once-per-221-years’ mating frenzy in weeks – it last happened to the Founding Fathers"—The-Sun.com
"American YouTube star YourFellowArab kidnapped in Haiti while trying to meet gang leader ‘Barbecue’"—New York Post
"Chaos ensues at puck drop between New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils as 10 players brawl"—CNN
Random Notes
Exit Tours MC's San Andreas 300 is coming up 30 days from now. It's a 70-rider all-inclusive Adventure Riding tour along and above the San Andreas Fault in Central California, May 3-6. Here's the Cycle News recap from 2023.
If you want to see the Golden State from the saddle of your motorcycle like never before, read this article.
Old moto-related comic sent in by a reader, Tank McNamara goes moto!
And finally, here’s a really cool read on what our friend Lucy Block has been doing to maintain the legacy of her late husband Ken Block’s motorsports legacy, from The Athletic.
Thanks for reading Racerhead. See you at the races!