Last Saturday we had the winners I think everyone expected, as well as most of the closest contenders. Jett Lawrence now has his 24-0 to match Ricky Carmichael (2002, 2004) and James Stewart (2008), which he couldn’t quite do last year since there were only 11 rounds. He’s now 12-0 in overalls for his career in 450 Pro Motocross, which means a lifetime batting average of 1,000.00%. He technically sits on 13 overall wins in a row as he won the last 250 National of 2022. And he’s still undefeated at Fox Raceway at Pala, his consecutive wins there reaching seven now. Red Bull KTM’s Chase Sexton gave him all he wanted in the second moto, though it’s hard to tell how much faster Jett can go, because he manages his leads and pressure so well. The bigger surprise was older brother Hunter, who stuck with Jett for much of the first moto and then ended up second overall, giving the boys yet another milestone—first brothers to go 1-2 on 450s in a National—one month after the last one—first brothers to go 1-2 in a 450 Supercross. Sure, Hunter was the 250 AMA Pro Motocross Champion last year, but it was hard to tell how quickly he would adapt to 450 MX. Well, he finished second in his debut, one spot behind where his little brother finished in his first 450 MX last year.

Apparently I was not alone in being unsure just where Hunter would end up. Honda HRC team manager Lars Lindstrom said in the team’s PR, “A lot of people were wondering where Hunter would be in the pecking order, but I was sure that he would be a solid third-place guy in his rookie 450 MX season. I just didn’t know exactly how he would stack up to Jett and Chase. He blew us all away, with his incredible starts and speed that showed that he’ll be a top contender in the 450 class! I really don’t have words for Jett; this kid is such a machine, he honestly gives me vibes of Ricky Carmichael, when he would just rise to whatever occasion he needed to. He wasn’t 100% comfortable today, which makes me feel bad for the competition when we get him there.”

The 250 class turned out to be a two-dog fight between Haiden Deegan and Levi Kitchen, which most expected. Two-time FIM World Champion Tom Vialle was right there too, but then dropped off, not quite able to carry the pace of the first two. Haiden won, had a few barbs for his rival, and then the whole story of the 250 class changed from the good racing to, “Why did Vialle get penalized in the first moto for going off the track in the whoops but Deegan did not when he went off before the dragon’s back and came back on quickly?” Good question, and the answer, according to the AMA, is because Vialle did not slow down or even look back when he went off course and then back on, and Deegan did slow briefly and look back before accelerating to get back on where he did. Personally, I have never been a fan of position penalties for guys going off track briefly, especially when the tracks are built up above the regular surface and riders go off the edges all of the time. No one should lose a position on a technicality or an infraction that doesn’t involve blatant cheating, rather, penalize them points or prize money, and give the money to the Alpinestars Mobile Medics. The problem in my view was not the Deegan decision but the first-moto Vialle penalty. Hopefully we all take a look at how such penalties work moving forward. Note, AMA Director of Racing Mike Pelletier explained it well to the Jasons—Weigandt and Thomas—in their SMX Insider show that dropped on Thursday.

Beyond that, it was cool to see Triumph out there, getting a top-five in its AMA Motocross debut under Jalek Swoll, and also to have Joey Savatgy back—if not for a first-turn crash he might have been top-five overall too. Ty Masterpool did his best to get acquainted with the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki that he signed to ride the day before, and I was impressed by both Honda HRC’s Chance Hymas (his best ride yet as a pro) and rookie Mark Fineis of the Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha team. Also, Dylan Ferrandis was a solid fourth on the Phoenix Honda. And we’re all still super-bummed about the press-day/closed-track practice fiasco that knocked Garrett Marchbanks out, as well as RJ Hampshire getting hurt in a different crash.  

Overall, the Fox Raceway track held up quite well, and there was a nice crowd for an event that is steadily improving. Now we’re on to Hangtown and the pursuit of Jett and the ascent of Haiden and Levi will continue. It should be quite a weekend. Happy 55th again to the Dirt Digger M/C North and here’s hoping we do 55 more in the decades to come!

And make sure to tune into the local Mason-Dixon GNCC right down the road from our Morgantown, West Virginia, Racer X/MX Sports headquarters and literally across the street from High Point Raceway.

HANGTOWN (Matthes)

Round two of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship this weekend and like Anaheim 1, I'm not taking a ton away from Pala as far as what we're going to see. I mean, Haiden Deegan and Jett Lawrence are going to be good the rest of the way but with Pala being so unique, as well as the practice track for a lot of guys, I'll wait for the series to shake down a bit before thinking that I "know" certain things you know?

There's not a track on the circuit that's improved as much as Hangtown, from the first time I went there in 1996. This place used to be dusty, rock-hard, and not much fun but these days, depending on the prep, it's a really good track with good viewing for the fans. Great racing here also like the time that Ross "Rollerball" Pederson got third overall thanks to Broc Glover breaking his leg on the last lap in 1987, a fact that I thank Broc for every year at this track!

One thing I think we should see this weekend is an improved Jo Shimoda. He only rode twice from SLC to Pala due to twisting his ankle in the SX finale main event. It was bad enough that he was on crutches afterwards. So going into last weekend, he wasn't 100 percent and gave up 20 points to Deegan via his 1-1. From people I talk to, he’s much closer to 100 percent now and also, he and Honda did some suspension testing which they say yielded some improvements on the bike. I know it's 22 motos long but for a guy like Jo, who's got the most career wins in the active class, and for him it's title or bust, leaving the opener that many points down isn't ideal.

I know "we" in the media hammer on Jo for what seemingly has been his M.O. the last few years, which is not starting a series as strong as he needs to, get himself into a deficit early, and then rally late to win races and lose out on the title. That then leads all of us (except for the Shimoda realist) to say he's going to be the favorite for the next year’s SX/MX titles. And then it repeats again. Well, Pala was more of the same except for me, he was injured. So "we'll" give him a bit of a break on that, but Hangtown is going to be a big one for the Honda HRC rider. Stay tuned.

My How Hangtown Has Changed (Jason Weigandt)

Matthes just mentioned how much the dirt at Hangtown has changed. You can see this over on our Video Vault YouTube Channel, were we uploaded the first 250 moto from the 1993 Hangtown National. You’ll see some classic racing with stars like Mike Kiedrowski, Jeff Stanton, Mike LaRocco and Guy Cooper on two-strokes, but also see how much the track has changed. Hangtown 1993 uses a similar general layout and use of the hills, but the track looks much narrower, the jumps are tiny, and the dirt is hard and choppy with some dust. Hangtown and RedBud have probably changed soil composition the most through the years, and this is a good reminder of that. Last year’s Hangtown race wasn’t quite as deep as some other recent years, but the dirt still looks like loam compared to the ‘93 race!

Another dirty little secret from the old races: the field wasn’t always very deep, either! The AMA Nationals in the 1980s and 1990s always had to split the 250 and 500 classes. In the early days they raced separately, then later the calendar just split the schedule with roughly half of the season as a 250 Championship, and half as a 500 Championship. But by then half of the teams didn’t really make competitive 500s anymore, so the level of comp wasn’t very good, and each series was so short one mistake or DNF could ruin a title run. You watch this 1993 Hangtown race, and while Kiedrowski, LaRocco and Stanton are the fastest and Guy Cooper and Lamson are good, the gaps get pretty big as the race goes on.  In those days you’d often see privateer guys hovering around the top five, which is cool in its own way but didn't lead to the #deepfield talk we hear so much before Anaheim. The ‘94 season marked the first without a 500 National Championship, and the 250s took over all the rounds. By 1995 the 250 field felt much deeper, with Kiedrowski and LaRocco, plus McGrath, Henry, Emig, Dowd, Albertyn and more. It was getting good and paving the way for seasons like now. The front of the pack at the Nationals has always been good, often two-rider battles for race wins and titles. Lately, I think the speed and fitness goes back deeper into the pack now.

Anyway, go check out Hangtown from 30-plus years ago for a look at how it used to be.

Round One (Jason Weigandt)

Matthes also mentioned how round one of a series is a tough one to read. This is how round one works, as we’ve seen riders coming off of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship not be at their best early on, only to really start rolling a few rounds later. So, was this actually the best chance of someone like Sexton beating Jett? Or is Sexton, himself, about to just keep getting better? Remember, last year Sexton was also all over Lawrence at Fox Raceway, but he got hurt before Hangtown. If he’s in this for the whole summer, it will be interesting to watch it all play out.

As for Deegan and his win, I just talked to his father, Brian, and Brian said they were pretty happy with the first motocross race on the new 2024 YZ250F chassis, but there was still some work to do. So they stayed in California and went back to Pala this week to work on sections where the bike didn't feel quite right last Saturday. He thinks the bike will be better tomorrow, but overall Brian was happy with how it all went on the new bike, what with that 1-1 and all.

Of course, there was that other big story from Fox Raceway was the penalty/not-penalty situation on Tom Vialle and Deegan, which DC mentioned up top. Jason Thomas and I got to talk to the AMA’s Mike Pelletier about that this week on our SMX Insider show, check out the interview with Mike that was posted earlier today.

Oh, and quick reminder for you fantasy leaguers: Harri Kullas from Estonia is back this weekend, and he may race High Point as well. He’s aboard a KTM 450 SX-F and will wear #79.

Carlsbad Reunion (DC)

On Sunday morning Nick McCabe and I went over to Vista, California, for the annual Carlsbad Reunion, hosted by Scott Burnworth at the Booze Brothers Brewing Company, less than a mile from the old track. Carlsbad Raceway was one of the epicenters of SoCal motocross, hosting the U.S. Grand Prix from 1973 to ’86 as well as the ABC Superbikers event. Originally built as a dragstrip in 1964, the place also hosted countless local motocross races, several outdoor nationals, the 1976 AMA Amateur Nationals, and of course the only race on ABC’s Wide World of Sports at the time, the Hang-Ten U.S. Grand Prix of Motocross. Probably the single most famous moment in its history was when local privateer hero Marty Moates became the first American to win the big race on a LOP Yamaha. The track was incredibly rough and challenging, with a blue groove across the seemingly endless chatter that lined sections like the notorious “Carlsbad Freeway” hill.

Unfortunately, Carlsbad Raceway became the victim of suburban sprawl and the land became just too valuable for a track. They also wanted to build roads through it, as well warehouse businesses, according to one of the old-timers at the reunion on Sunday. The track fell into general disrepair and neglect as the end was seemingly near, and the gate was locked good to motorcycle racing in 2004. But the spirit of this once grand track lives on, the name iconic, and the folks who used to ride or hang out there still get together once a year for the Carlsbad Reunion. They bring their bikes, old school memorabilia, posters, trophies and more—one guy even drove there in a mint Kawasaki Team Green box van!

As the keeper of the flame for SoCal motocross Burnworth, a Yamaha and Suzuki factory rider, as well as a world-class designer, brought together several generations of Carlsbad alumni for some bench racing, nostalgia and refreshments. It was a very cool event and thanks for the invite, Burner!

Afterwards my week got busy with a long sit-down on Monday with Jase of Gypsy Tales on a wide range of topics, including the Glen Helen National and the rewriting of history that’s made the whole issue confusing for many of those who just want the race back, as well as some lots of other moto-related stuff, like the new working relationship with Feld Motor Sports, Infront Moto Racing, and how all that’s going, plus some basic bench-racing and just plain talking dirt-bike racing. After that we headed north and met up with a very interesting and cool old motocrosser named Bryan Kenney for a future feature story. In the late 1960s and early ‘70s Bryan was racing in Europe before most in America even knew what “motocross” was. He won the ’71 Daytona Motocross, as well as a 500 National in ’72, then quit motocross racing just as it was picking up steam here in America.

Since we were driving to Hangtown from Fox Raceway, we had a couple of days to get up north, so I did a bucket-list thing and went and visited the very, very off-the-beaten-path intersection where James Dean was killed in his Porsche Speedster convertible he called “Little Bastard” in 1955. The young movie star was on his way to a road race in Salinas and went to break in the engine of his new sportscar, but ended up dying in a car crash instead, at the age of 24, just as the three movies he just filmed—Rebel Without A Cause, East of Eden, and Giant—were all hitting the theaters. Anyway, I know all of this because my mom was a teenager when all that happened and I promised here I would get there someday, and Wednesday was that day!

MXGP in Germany (DC)

The FIM Motocross World Championship pick up again this weekend at the classic Teutschenthal track in Germany, only now Honda HRC’s Tim Gajser is the points leader, and not Red Bull GasGas #1 Jorge Prado. Another rough mud race in France showed that Prado’s Achilles heel is the mud, and while Gajser more or less won on a technicality after a couple of riders were docked after the race, moving him up to the overall, he has been more consistent than Prado, though not necessarily faster.

In the MX2 (250) class Husqvarna’s 17-year-old Lucas Coenen was amazing in France, but his inconsistency has him well behind his teammate Kay de Wolf in the standings. Germany’s own Simon Laengenfelder is second in the current rankings and will be the crowd favorite for sure, although dealing with the effects of collarbone correction surgery from a few weeks ago.

Also, a fast young prospect from Pennsylvania, Gavin Towers, has headed across the pond for some EMX250 races with the VRT Yamaha Racing team. Gavin will wear #115 beginning this weekend, keep an eye out for him as well as MX2 rider Jack Chambers of Florida, who is riding for Steve Dixon’s British Kawasaki team.

You can watch the MXGP races from Germany on MXGP-TV.com as well as CBS Sports Network.

Loretta Lynn’s Regional (Keefer)

Seems like I’ve been talking about the Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch for two months and now that I think of it, I HAVE! This weekend marks the first SW Regional for our family but this weekend it will just be the old guys trying to get to the ranch. My son Aden is nursing a broken collarbone so we will try to get him dialed next weekend at Hangtown but this weekend I brought Loretta’s newbies Darkside and my buddy David with me to Fox Raceway to try and qualify. Three days is a long time for me to be at a race so please say a prayer for me! Out of office auto reply is on!

Loretta Lynn’s Regional, Part 2 (Mitch Kendra)

Speaking of Loretta Lynn's Regionals, I was out at High Point Raceway for three days straight last weekend for the Northeast Amateur Regional. I saw a lot of familiar faces and met a bunch of new ones as well. While there were no youth riders at this event (125cc and up), there were a ton of fast pro sport riders, up-and-coming local riders, and women racers that made for action packed motos both Saturday and Sunday, even with challenging conditions on Sunday. Rain came in Saturday evening and completely changed the track come Sunday morning, which was a new racecourse from the previous two days of practice (Friday) and racing (Saturday). Still, riders pushed through the conditions, which made for some fun photos. Check back shortly for a full photo gallery from the weekend, but for now, enjoy these photos!

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