Today we found out this comeback story now has more chapters! This afternoon Eli and Monster Energy/Yamaha Star Racing announced a return for the full Pro Motocross Championship and the SMX playoff races and SMX Finals Fueled by Monster Energy. The last memory of Tomac outdoors was that scintillating title fight between he and Chase Sexton back in 2022, which was one of the closest ever. It will be awesome to see him back outdoors and then fighting for the big pride and prize in SMX. Welcome back to motocross, Eli!

Back to supercross, tomorrow we will also see a return of the 250 SX West Region, Rockstar Husqvarna’s RJ Hampshire leads Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen by just two points. This will be the last stand-alone 250 SX of the season as next week in Salt Lake City both the 250 SX West and 250 SX East Regions will be lining up for the Dave Coombs Memorial East/West Showdown, and both titles will be on the line (yes, named after my dad). If tomorrow’s 250 race is anything like the crazy one we saw in Philadelphia last weekend, we will be in for a treat. They didn't lap anyone until the 12th time around an 18-lap main event. And on the 15th lap the top six--on six different brands--were all within maybe eight seconds of one another. Then all hell broke loose for Jalek Swoll and Seth Hammaker together, and then Pierce Brown. In the end it was Max Anstie getting his second career 250 SX main event win (and this time on a dry track), followed by Red Bull KTM’s Tom Vialle and Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan. In winning Max became the ninth rider in the 250 class to win in 2024, which shows incredible parity for that division.

Now here’s a scary thing: All of the guys mentioned in the paragraph above, except for Deegan, are older than Jett Lawrence. He's now popped the champagne 47 times across all AMA races--seven times in 450 SX, 11 in 450 MX, 13 in 250 SX, 14 in 250 MX, and two SMX rounds--and he won't be old enough to actually drink it legally in this country until August 7.

And before we get into the rest of the thing here’s a tip of the visor to my friend and colleague Steve Matthes for once again organizing his PulpMX/Yamaha LCQ Challenge for the privateer riders, with more than $100,00 on the line for them, in a race that’s happening at 3:00 p.m. Denver-time, and 5:00 here in the east. Feld Motor Sports was once again very supportive, letting Matthes hold the race in the stadium, and the whole thing will stream live on Vurbmoto’s YouTube page. 

Matthes gets a grief from some critics of his assorted work in the media (we all do, nowadays) but this is a case where he wanted to do something to give back to the people who deserve it the most, and that’s the privateers that struggle from week to week. He finds sponsors for the races, raffles off a Yamaha, and promotes the privateers all along the way. Yes, I have to say our sport is lucky to have people like Steve Matthes. And speaking of…

LCQ RACE (Matthes)

As you read this the Yamaha LCQ race will be happening in Denver, thank you for the support for this and we're keeping the raffle open until Monday night where we will do the draw on Pulpmx Show with Weege and Justin Brayton co-hosting. So you can keep buying tickets to maybe win the 2024 YZ450F

Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)

Two rounds to go, two championships are in play this weekend. For the 250s, it's all-out war. A two-point gap is all that separates RJ Hampshire and Levi Kitchen. There is no strategy needed here. You just leave it all on the track inside Empower Field. These two battled it out a year ago at this venue with RJ taking the win but it's obvious Levi is racing at a higher level than he was a year ago. RJ has momentum on his side, though, and a breath of life from the Nashville chaos. It's a perfect setup for the final two rounds, the best two riders fighting over a title they both lay claim to.

The 450 dynamic is a bit different. Philly gave Jett Lawrence a bit of breathing room in his battle against the stubborn Cooper Webb. Twelve points can feel like a lot or like nothing at all depending on your perspective. After the Philly win and Webb struggle, it feels like a big gap. Had Webb won Philly and closed the gap down from a bigger number down to twelve, it would feel different. Funny how that works.

For Jett, he has the benefit of attacking the situation with tact. If he gets the holeshot and is able to pull away, all the better. If not, he can methodically move forward as he has had to do at different times this season. Ideally, he would leave Denver with a double digit lead which would really allow for a deep breath headed to Utah. The race will dictate the level of urgency that Jett needs to employ. If he can race with low risk (good start, no crashes), he can take things as they come. That's a big coup and what he earned in Nashville and Philly.

For Webb, he's more in the same boat as the 250 guys. He has to just empty the tanks and see what shakes out. He knows his only real chance is to win these next two and hope things go his way. He is in a position of needing to force the issue where Jett can simply play the hand dealt to him. Starts will be critical for Webb and if he can get some help from his teammate Eli Tomac, all the better. He's pulled points leads down to zero before and will be asked to again. There is simply no more time to waste. The ask is simple. Win and win now. Jett has opened the door for Webb more than once this season so it could happen again. Webb has to put his best stuff out there to make sure he capitalizes on any opportunity. We are down to the nitty gritty now. Let's see whatcha got, Coop.

When Honda Met Jett (DC)

By now most fans of this sport know the story about how Honda signed Jett Lawrence because they wanted his older brother Hunter back in 2017 when the Lawrences were riding for a Suzuki team in Europe. GEICO Honda co-owners Rick "Ziggy" Zielfelder and Jeff Majkrzak and Team Manager Dan Betley traveled to France to do the deal and realized it was a package deal--despite the fact that Jett was only 14 and would be riding a Suzuki RM-Z250 in the EMX Championships in 2018, and none of them had ever seen Jett actually race.

“We’ve done our research and talked to a lot of people in both Australia and Europe, and they all believe Jett is the real deal,” said Betley in a press release about the signing. “We’re looking forward to having both Hunter and Jett learn the ropes of U.S. racing with us starting in 2019.”

Finally, in June of 2018 the three GEICO Honda principals traveled to the Grand Prix of France at St. Jean D'Angely to watch their new signees race. Neither of the brothers had a very good day as Hunter went 6-13 in the MX2 class while Jett went 19-17 in EMX for 22nd overall. However, by the end of that season Jett was winning motos (against older competition) and Hunter was the top MX2 (250) rider in the Motocross of Nations at RedBud. By Thanksgiving '18 Jett, still only 15 years old, was on a GEICO Honda at the Mini O's in Florida.

The GEICO Honda team folded up after the last AMA Pro Motocross race of 2020 at Fox Raceway in Pala, California. The winner? Jett Lawrence.

(And keep this stat in mind as we head towards thew '24 AMA Pro Motocross opener at Fox Raceway: In his six visits there as a professional, Jett Lawrence has won all six times.)

MXGP Back on the Gate (DC)

When we last left the FIM World Championships at Arco Trentino in Italy three weekends ago Jorge Prado was 4-for-4 in the premier class aboard his Red Bull GasGas, the Spaniard having started his title defense with mid-season speed. He seemed to have caught both Tim Gajser and Jeffrey Herlings off guard a bit, though both were coming off long injuries that kept them out of much of last year's campaign. There was also news that Herlings was riding with a broken rib from the third round at Sardinia. Jeffrey competed in the British Championships last weekend in Lyng, and despite the cold and rain, looked like he was having fun--even after losing the first moto to the fast-starting Conrad Mewse. Herlings is already 55 points down on Prado, but his speed and fitness should both be returning to form. Gajser is in a much better spot, only 13 points behind Prado, helped in part by the fact that while Jorge won Italy's Grand Prix, he got zero points in the Saturday qualifying race due to his seat falling off. 

In the MX2 class the Dutch Husqvarna rider Kay de Wolf was beaten finally in Italy when he crashed off the start in the second moto. His 1-8 finishes were still good for fourth overall, and his points lead over the German rider Simon Langenfelder is a stout 26 points. The next closest rider, third-place Thibault Benistant, is already 65 points down on the leader. And the lone American in the series, Florida's Jack Chambers, is ranked 14th after four rounds.

This weekend's fifth round, which you can watch on www.mxgp-tv.com, will take place at the Agueda circuit in Portugal, followed by two more rounds on successive weekends in Spain and then France. Also, there has been a scheduling change at the end of the season. Rather than ending in China as planned on September 28-29, the series will close out in Spain instead. That should be a better setup for all of the teams and riders that will be participating in the following weekend's 2024 Motocross of Nations at Matterley-Basin in England.

And yesterday InFront announced a return to Australia, which would be a huge deal. MXGP will race in Darwin, a new venue from where they raced in 2000 and 2001, the times they visited Australia. Those races helped put guys like Chad Reed, Michael Byrne and the late Andrew McFarlane on the world motocross map. Now, with the Lawrence brothers’ success in America, a homecoming race would be epic for them Down Under. (And Australia is my initial favorite to finally win the MXON this year.) The commitment to hold MXGP in Australia runs through 2029.

50 Years Ago (DC)

Sunday, May 5, will mark Cinco de Mayo for the whole world, as well as a special little anniversary here in Morgantown, West Virginia. On May 5, 1974, my parents Dave and Rita Coombs hosted their first-ever AMA Pro Motocross race, at a place called Appalachia Lake MX Park in nearby Bruceton Mills. We did a feature in the magazine some time ago, featuring the photos of the legendary Jim “Greek” Gianatsis, on the 40^th anniversary back in 2014 that you can check out right here:

And here’s a film of that race by Bob McCullough—that’s Big Dave in the very first shot standing between Gary and Dewayne Jones:

Silly Season (Jason Weigandt)

Earlier this week Mitch Payton himself confirmed (on Matthes’ janky PulpMX Show) that his Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki team had re-signed Cameron McAdoo and Seth Hammaker to new deals (I think it’s a two-year deal for Hammaker, and at least two if not three for McAdoo). We’ve also heard that Max Anstie has been signed by Monster Energy/Yamaha Star Racing for 2025, which to me is not a huge shock because he rides with the Star Yamaha riders all the time and that squad surely has watched all of Max’s off-season “flying at the test track” laps. (This would be Max’s second stint with Star as he first rode for them way back in 2010.)

Who is out at Star? We shall see. I think contracts are up for Nate Thrasher, Nick Romano and Jordon Smith, though I’m pretty sure Thrasher is returning but I’m not sure about the others (Smith might have something else in the works). Anyway, it’s early there for some of these 250 deals.

In the 450s, a lot of big names like Cooper Webb, Chase Sexton, Jason Anderson, Justin Barcia, Malcolm Stewart, and more signed fresh two-year deals for 2024 and 2025, and Aaron Plessinger just re-signed, so there won’t be massive movement right now, but we do know that Jorge Prado has been signed to take Adam Cianciarulo’s Monster Energy Kawasaki spot. One big piece is Eli Tomac, who was obviously on a short-term deal with Yamaha because no one was sure how much longer he would race. I, personally, believe Eli does not want to retire and wants to race again in 2025. That means Yamaha will have to hammer out a deal for Eli. I think they’re working on that. Eli signing up for all of motocross this summer sure indicates he doesn’t want to stop racing anytime soon.

 Also, Justin Cooper was on a one-year deal so he’s available and Christian Craig’s deal is up. Ken Roczen has been on one-year deals with Progressive/Ecstar Suzuki. I don’t foresee any big jumps out of the 250 class for next year, as all four remaining title contenders, RJ Hampshire, Levi Kitchen, Tom Vialle and Haiden Deegan, will be back in the 250s for 2025. I do feel like Kitchen’s big steps this year have changed the paradigm, as he’s leapt from “a guy” in that class to possibly “the guy” coming out of the 250s. But a 450 deal is a few years away for him, anyway.

So that’s the basic landscape. I think, right now, the next interesting piece to drop will be Tomac’s future plans. No doubt the fans would love to see him back on the track for another run next year. Could he be even better in 2025 with a full 2024 season behind him? Possibly.

Sand Rider 101 (DC)

Looks like a couple of very fast New Englanders/legends have teamed up to help inspire the next generation of fast guys, Keith Johnson and Chris Canning are holding Wednesday sessions at The Wick for moto instruction and guidance. Here's what Keith posted on Facebook:

There are plenty of people that can read a book and tell you how to build a house. But, can they actually do it? I’ve always said “Invest in the athletes body and mind”

"Chris Canning and myself will be at The Wick every Wednesday from 4-7 to help share the things we have learned racing. We don’t know how to build a house. But we do know a few things about racing bikes and have won a couple races along the way. Find a coach, trainer, nutritionist, that’s been there and done that. Chris will also be at Diamond MX on Mondays. Reach out with any questions to kj@thewick338.com or canningmxspeed@gmail.com. We live for this!"

Matthes Vs. Keefer (Keefer's Version)

Matthes and I were at the track one day bench racing about if he could beat me in a race on his YZ450F. The kicker would be that I would be racing him on a YZ85. Then that turned into "Do you think you could beat me on my 1990 YZ125"? Of course I said "yes" to ALL of it! So we decided to make a fun video for your viewing pleasure to document us racing each other and we finally got around to doing it: Me on a 2024 YZ125, Matthes' 1990 YZ125 and a 2024 YZ85 against Steve on his 2024 YZ450F. We had a lot of buzz going around and even had some key industry people and riders make some prediction videos. The hype was real, but Steve actually did pretty good and held his own! As a friend I was happy, as a competitor I was pissed I didn't win all three. If you're wondering why we chose a desert track, well, that's a long story, but I think we will line up again, but this time on a real track! This track was tough to pass on as well as a bit dry. I also need another 1990 YZ125 that's not Matthes-tuned please. Thank you! If you want to see which bike I lost on, watch the video right here on Racerxonline.com. Thanks to Yamaha for allowing us to do fun stuff like this from time to time. Who doesn't like a little crap talking with your buddies and some match racing! Nothing like getting the competitive juices going with your friends! 

THE RACE (Matthes)

Look, Keefer was ripping on the YZ85 for sure but he jumped the start, cut over on me and then dusted me out so I couldn't pass him. We saw my speed against the 1990 YZ125, "we" were fine. There was no problems and then Keefer did that. So we'll look for some revenge with a part 2 at some point here. Thanks to Yamaha for loaning us some bikes, Cudby for the film work and if you enjoyed watching it and got some laughs, well thank you also! 

BENJI (Matthes)

Huge bummer that Benny Bloss got hurt this week and will be out for the last two SX's. He and the team were not doing all the outdoors so by the time he's healthy, they'll hit Redbud and some other rounds on the Beta. But man, Benny was pretty impressive out there the last few races after a rough start. Colt Nichols rode well on the Beta also and hey, look at that, Triumph won a heat with Jalek Swoll and got a top-five this year as well. I'm old enough to remember when new brands like Cannondale or Aprilia in MXGP or even Husqvarna (the Italy-owned one) showed up for AMA SX and struggled badly with their bikes. So what Beta and Triumph is doing is impressive in my eyes. 

Bring Your Dad to Work Day (Mitch Kendra)

I was heading east to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Thursday for the 15th round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross. The first Philly SX in over 40 years. Instead of take your kid to work day, I was lucky to have that reversed for the weekend, as my dad Mike came to the race with me. A few days removed from his birthday, the whole trip was a blast.

We stopped for a nice dinner with my aunt Margie and uncle Bob and their daughter Amy and her family then finished our drive to downtown Philly the next morning. On Friday, we caught up with a few industry members on our way into the stadium for press day. Finally, the weather cooperated, and we got to see bikes on track (well, some of it), and my dad and I watched from the floor as I shot photos and chatted with more people (Dad is a talker if you haven’t picked up on it yet. He will talk to anyone and everyone!). Once the interview and riding sessions were over, we went to work on some content for the website in the photography room, where, you guessed it, we saw more people for dad to talk to! He was having a blast asking questions to Align Media’s Mike Emery and Adam Merrow and talking about who looked fast during press day, which sections of the track were tricky, and other pre-race topics, on top of showing them old photos of me as a kid at races. Before we knew it, we hit evening track walk to end the day. Jake Vanada delivered yet another remarkable message about the city of Philadelphia, based on the word “Phila,” meaning loving, hence the City of Brotherly Love. My dad was the perfect sidekick for the weekend as he is always going out of his way for friends and family and sharing his love. Before the end of Vanada’s message, Emery snapped this photo of my dad and me. Dinner with Vurbmoto filmer Wade Raynor’s family and friends ended another fun night with great converstion. Next up, race day.

Saturday morning came, we got up, got ready, and did my usual pre-race day routine of grabbing some Dunkin’ Donuts on our way to the stadium (I’m not sponsored by them, but I can truly say the Racer X Online website runs on Dunkin’ on race weekends! So, if you ever see this, Mr. Dunkin’, hit me up). Although a day race, the event brought a packed crowd to Lincoln Financial Field! Exciting battles all day long had us up in the press box pointing out great back-and-forth moves, wild crashes, and much more. Then we checked out some old school bikes at the Legends and Heroes tent, ran into Ezra Beasley (owner of Budds Creek Motocross Park) and his crew who were sharing their love of the “chocolate cake” to the local fans, Pennsylvania’s own Cody Darr and his wife, and many more people we, you guessed, chatted the ears off of! There are some genuine people in this sport, and it is a blessing to know people who are kind and share a common goal. I truly cherish all of the relationships and friendships I have made around here. Shout-out to all of the industry members, media members, and riders that took time to chat with my dad. Thanks for tagging along for a great weekend, Dad! Hopefully we will get more Pennsylvania supercross races in the near future!

Thank you, Thom Veety (Mitch Kendra)

After the race, my dad and I made an almost two-hour hike north to Stroudsburg on a mission: stop at Thom Veety’s house to pick up a share of his old photographs. Veety owned Action Photos and was an integral part in this sport’s history on the east coast, capturing the wins, crashes, podiums, smiles, heartbreaks, and everything in between from both the amateur and pro riders over the last few decades. Now in his late 70s, Veety went through a bunch of his old items and threw together a few milk crates full of things he wanted to share with Davey, Andrew, and the Racer X Archives. Upon arriving at Veety’s, we helped him from his lawn mower and immediately started picking his brain about the history he covered and witnessed. I knew of him—we use his photos all the time here on the website and in the magazine—but I did not know much about him. Turns out he was a long-time school bus driver during the week! Then on weekends he would hit up a different racing event in his own car: Unadilla, Budds Creek, Englishtown, Loretta Lynn’s, Mini O’s, Northeast Supercross races and much, much more.

It was fun hearing his memories and knowing how much the photography world—and world in general—has changed since the 1970s. It is wild to think people would take photos and then have to wait days, or sometimes weeks, to get their photos back and realize they either nailed and/or missed the shots they took. Then, once his film was developed, Veety would send his photos to his clients. Nowadays, we can take a photo on our phone and can instantly share it with the entire world in the blink of an eye. After an hour of talking old moto, current moto, Bob Hannah, Jett Lawrence, Denny Stephenson, Adam Cianciarulo, memorable moments, health issues, and everything in between, we got the last of the crates loaded in and Dad and I were headed home. Thank you, Thom, for recording moto history (and sharing it all with us) and for the kind words on Sunday. Enjoy your next book on that lovely back porch!

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Hey, Watch It!

In case you missed the great Dan Patrick interviewing the great Ricky Carmichael last Friday, here it is on YouTube:

GoPro: Gavin Towers Pro Motocross Prep

Here is last year’s PulpMX Yamaha LCQ Challenge: