Main image: moments before the start of the 2023 Snowshoe GNCC, photo by Ken Hill
Welcome to Racerhead and the first “off-weekend” since the AMA Pro Motocross Championship started last month out in Southern California. We’ve completed four rounds and have had some excellent racing. Haiden Deegan has won three of the four rounds and has a comfortable lead in the 250 class, yet he was at The Wick 338 this week training for the next round! (Yes, riders and teams can still be on the tracks a week before the actual race.) Jett Lawrence has also won three out of four rounds but he’s still not wearing the red plates after a tough day at Hangtown’s second round. Lawrence is still eight points behind his very steady brother Hunter, and two behind the other winner, Chase Sexton.
Last weekend’s High Point National was huge but rough. We had a massive crowd, but also a massive Friday afternoon rainstorm that swamped the place. The sun came out for race day but the deep tilling before the rain hit (not to mention the addition of lots of sawdust) made for a challenging day for everyone. It ended up very rough and choppy, yet we still saw four very good and close motos. Ty Masterpool getting his first career win was the feel-good story of summer. And in doing so he got Mitch Payton his 300th career victory as the owner of the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team, a huge milestone for the man and the team.
Ty Masterpool and his mechanic Ryan Hughes. Mitch Kendra Masterpool, once a Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider, said after his first win: “It’s been a rough three or four years,” Masterpool said. “I believed in the team of people I had around me and kept my head down and believed in God’s timing." Davey Coombs Ty Masterpool and Mitch Payton Mitch Kendra Win number 300 for Mitch Payton and Pro Circuit. Mitch Kendra
This off-weekend also extends over to Europe, where the FIM Motocross World Championship (MXGP) is taking a weekend off after three straight in Germany, Latvia, and Italy. There was a big shakeup there as defending MXGP Champion Jorge Prado was involved in a massive second-turn crash at Maggiora, costing him a DNF in the second moto and allowing Tim Gajser to open up his points lead to 34. In the 250 class, one week after his first win, Sacha Coenen won again. That means that a Coenen has won the last five MX2 rounds, three for Lucas and now two for his 17-year-old twin brother Sacha. (And if you go back two more rounds, which were won by Liam Everts, Belgian riders have won seven in a row in MX2, though the points leader is the steady Dutchman Kay de Wolf.) After their weekend off MXGP heads to Indonesia for two fly-away rounds.
The Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series is at the Snowshoe Mountain Resort here in southern West Virginia for what is always a huge race/party, so if you’re looking for some live racing to watch you will find the ATVs on Saturday and the motorcycles on Sunday over at RacerTV.com. They are also having the annual Team USA ISDE Golf tourney/fundraiser and Racer X is fielding a team for the first time, so we’re a little undermanned here today, so let’s get into the news of the week… Oh, and congratulations to Kevin Windham on just getting named as a member of that Class of 2024 that will be inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame, along with Deb Matthews, Mike Lafferty, Mat Mladin, and Rob Rasor. Congrats, K-Dub!
Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)
The first weekend off of the Pro Motocross Championship is upon us. Perspective can determine much when wondering how riders approach these days off. For those with momentum, they can sleep easy, leaning on the hard work that is paying off. For those that have been behind the curve, it’s crunch time to close the gap or rectify glaring issues.
The trickier part of this weekend off is that it lies just before the legendary Southwick sand. Even those that are needing a break and time to heal (Jett comes to mind), they can’t ignore the testing time that Southwick demands. Others, like Haiden Deegan, view Southwick as a liability and that raises the stakes on preparation. Haiden deserves a few days of R&R but the coming New England challenge will likely thwart any efforts of real rest. It’s such a tough thing to exact how much rest is a positive thing versus the needed work that feels like a rising tide. Trainers will rely on resting heart rate, lactic acid measurements, and sleep monitors for their best guess. In the end, it’s a mix of science and feel. Some riders can just bulldog their way without suffering a dip in performance. Others need to find a delicate balance to make sure they peak on Saturdays.
This is the never-ending battle that riders and trainers face. Hard work is only as good as the recovery protocol to support it. I like to remind young racers that if they’re not their absolute best on race day, what was the point of that midweek work? Being a hero on Tuesday doesn’t pay the bills. Peaking on Saturday and being able to push to the limit… that’s the golden ticket.
Enter (a) Sandman (Jason Weigandt)
Is there anything Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing won’t do? Late during Monster Energy AMA Supercross we heard Max Anstie had signed with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing for 2025. But Max’s 2024 squad of Firepower Honda focuses on Australian Supercross and the FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX), and Max is actually the 250 Champion in both series. Those championships run into the fall, which means Max’s Firepower Honda contract ran until December 1, instead of the usual October 1 for most deals. Star really wanted to get Max testing and riding earlier than that. So, the last few months have been spent seeing if a change could be made. It didn’t help that the WSX schedule was still up in the air, so no one really knew how many races, or when, the events would be happening. That has a big impact on how much money a rider can make.
Well, looks like Star Yamaha worked that all out, because this week Firepower Honda announced Anstie was out of his deal, and then the next day Anstie-to-Star became official. He’ll be racing next weekend at Southwick!
From what I can surmise, Max had to figure out how much money he was leaving on the table if by getting out of his current deal early and forgoing the chance at WSX and Australian SX title bonuses. Anyway, in classic Star fashion, the team found the budget to get Max racing now, so they can start paying him now, so he can make back the money he’ll lose by not racing with Firepower Honda through December 1. What Star Racing wants, Star Racing usually gets!
Would any other team be this hungry to bring a rider on six months early, when title hopes are already gone? Probably not. Most replacement/fill-in rides pay very little, but this isn’t one of those. This is Max getting his real 2025 salary starting early. Also, remember that Star is already holding the red plate in 250MX with Haiden Deegan. But Star never rests! By getting Max into motocross, they’ll have a second player for podiums and wins (Max is especially good in sand, so look out next weekend) and another SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) title contender, plus he’ll have a lot of seat time on the bike to be ready for 2025.
Deegan’s awesome start to Pro Motocross has obscured the fact that Star’s other 250 riders are struggling to even put in top 10s right now. This team used to stuff three or four bikes into the top five quite often. It’s clear other 250 squads have caught up a bit, and Star is fighting back.
One funny detail here is that Max now has Justin Brayton working as his agent. Brayton has actually raced for the Firepower Honda team, and owner Yarrive Konsky, multiple times himself! Is there anything Star Racing won’t do? Is there anything Justin Brayton can’t do? And at Southwick, how will Max Anstie do?
More on Anstie, and Tony Lorusso! (DC)
As Weege said, it's been a pretty open secret that Max Anstie would be returning to the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing squad, but most felt it would not happen until the end of the '24 season, after Max defends his #1 WSX plate. But there are some question marks around what is happening with WSX, and Max let it be known that he was interested in getting back to some outdoor motocross this summer, and Yarrive Konsky's Firepower Honda team decided to let him go early. There was also interest for Max in riding for the British team in the '24 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations, which will be held in Matterley Basin, the same circuit where Max went 1-1 in the '17 MXoN, the best race of his long career. So, 14 years after he last rode for Star, Max is back and already spinning laps in the sand at Southwick!
And if you’re wondering if 31-year-old Max Anstie’s return will make him the oldest man in the 250 class at Southwick, you would be wrong by more than two decades, because Tony Lorusso, the 52-year-old NESC legend, has entered the 250 class and is hoping to become the oldest rider to ever qualify for an AMA Pro Motocross round. Lorusso, who hails from Brockton, Massachusetts, last raced the Southwick National in 2012. He raced his first national there in 1990, finishing 16th overall. His best Southwick finish? Seventh in 2003. According to the folks I’ve talked to that have seen Lorusso race this year, he’s faster than he’s ever been. Should be a cool story to follow next weekend!
Austin Forkner Just Can't Win (DC)
The Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team got to celebrate a huge milestone this past week when Ty Masterpool gave the team their 300th win in AMA Supercross/Motocross, going back to the squad's debut as the Peak Anti-Freeze/Pro Circuit Honda team in 1991. Pro Circuit could have gotten there much earlier if not for the fact that one of their winningest riders ever—Missouri's Austin Forkner—had not been injured so much in the past half-dozen years. Forkner ranks sixth on Pro Circuit's list of race winners, totaling 14 between SX and MX. Forkner missed most of 2023 after a crash in the Anaheim SX opener, all of MX in '22, most of SX in '21, all of MX in both '20 and '19... You get the picture.
Forkner opened the '24 250SX East Region with a solid win at the Detroit opener, but then he crashed out of the second round in Texas and missed the rest of SX, hurting his back, his shoulder, his head, pretty much everything. Turns out he also had to undergo brain surgery for AVM, which stands for arteriovenous malformation, which is a tangled mass of blood cells that can cause headaches, seizures, and even stroke. Austin could be out for three more months as a he recovers, which means he will likely miss the rest of summer, which means the only points he will have for the SuperMotocross World Championship will be the 25 he got for winning Detroit, and the two he got for 20th place at Dallas after his big crash. That may not be enough to get qualify him directly for the SMX playoffs, but his Detroit win at least gets him into the LCQ for each round. However, he said in an Instagram video he is looking forward to making a full recovery and returning for the 2025 season.
Austin Forkner turned pro in the summer of 2016, and by the end of the season he was winning—the season-finale at Ironman Raceway marked his first career win. But the injuries have taken a toll on this one athlete, certainly more than anyone's fair share. When he does return, here's hoping that the gods of racing somehow change the destiny of this kid back to the bright optimism that we all saw for him way back when he was #214.
Steady Swoll (Matthes)
I think we've not been talking enough this season about Jalek Swoll's season. He's been very good indoors and out, maybe even better than last year, which is quite an accomplishment for him considering he's on a brand-new machine in the Triumph TF 250-X. His top-ten-in-every-moto streak ended with the second one at High Point, but he sits seventh overall and he ended 250SX East Region Championship in seventh. He's been steady, though there haven't been many flashes (maybe that's why he doesn't necessarily stand out). All of this is really good for sure but then you add on that this is a brand-new motorcycle from the ground up, that's even more impressive. His teammate Joey Savatgy certainly gathered more headlines than Jalek, but he's had one bike issue, some bad starts, and crashes holding him back while Swoll just trucks along. Kudos to Jalek and Triumph for the four races they've done so far, and it appears that Swoll has been worth the investment.
If you missed it, check out Steve's Observations from the MXGP of Italy.
The Replacements (DC)
In light of Ty Masterpool's incredible story, going from semi-privateer with HBI Racing Kawasaki on the eve of the first outdoor national to getting picked up by Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki, and then winning the High Point 250 National in his fourth race, a lot of fans, media guys, and even officials were scratching their heads over whether or not a "replacement" rider of fill-in for a team had ever won a race at the SX/MX professional level. We didn't have to look forward before MX Sports Pro Racing's own Jim Perry, previously a team manager for Team Yamaha, reminded us that Yamaha had sign Florida's Matt Goerke to a 450 ride in the summer of 2009, and Goerke then scored a surprising win at the Southwick National with 6-1 moto finishes, topping the 3-3 of Michael Byrne and the 10-2 of John Dowd.
Later, we went back digging into the Racer X Vault for results and remembered that another Floridian, Kenny Keylon, was a Honda support rider in 1982, but then in the middle of AMA Supercross full-factory rider Darrell Shultz injured his knee at the Houston SX. So Honda decided to move Keylon, who was signed up to ride the 125 class that summer, up to the full-factory 250 team for the start of the outdoors. They also gave him Shultz's works RC250F! Kenny promptly finished fifth at the Hangtown opener, a 12th at Saddleback Park, and then fourth at Lake Whitney Cycle Ranch in Texas, winning a moto for the first time in his career. The next round was Keylon's home race at St. Peterburg's Sunshine Speedway on the Gulf Coast of Florida, and he promptly went 1-1 in what was his fourth race as a factory rider (just like Masterpool's Pro Circuit fill-in ride). Finishing behind him were a few future AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famers, including his new Honda factory teammates David Bailey and Donnie Hansen, plus Yamaha's Broc Glover and Rick Johnson. Two weeks later Keylon backed the win up with a fourth-place at Southwick, and later ended the series with a third-place finish in Colorado, clinching fifth-place in the final 250 AMA Pro Motocross standings.
Unfortunately, he would soon badly hurt his knee, and all of that momentum he had going with Team Honda was dashed. They ended up signing Bob Hannah to the team for 1983, and despite losing both Hansen and Shultz before the start of the season, they dropped Keylon back down to a support ride.
One more "fill-in" victory that is just a crazy motocross story happened in 1983, when Swedish motocross veteran Thorlief Hansen was doing suspension testing for Ohlins. Despite being retired for several years by that point, Hansen decided to enter the '83 Swedish 250 Grand Prix on a Yamaha with Ohlins suspension, as offered by the Yamaha GP team. Hansen went 1-2 in the motos to shock the current stars—defending champion Danny Laporte, soon-to-be champion Georges Jobe, future champion Heinz Kinigadner—and take the GP overall. Hansen would also race the following week at the last round of the series in Finland and finish second in the second moto to LaPorte. And even though he rode just two races of the entire 12-round series, Hansen ended up tenth in the final rankings.
2025 Honda CRF250R Intro (Keefer)
Honda invited us out to Fox Raceway on Wednesday to test their ALL-NEW CRF250R. The biggest take away from the 2025 Honda chassis is that it is stiffer in key areas to make the rider feel more comfort on the track. Some of you may think well that sounds contradicting, but if you have a frame that is soft (which the past couple years the Honda frame has been one of the softest in class) it can translate to a harsh feel on the track. The CRF250R also has a new airbox design and a more rigid crank which flexes less and according to HRC's Shane Drew those two key changes really help the torque feel of the small Honda four stroke. If you want to see what we thought of the new bike, check the video out below. We will be headed to Ironman in a couple weeks to ride the new 450 so stay glued to Racer X to learn if those same changes make the 450R a more comfortable machine.
The Glen Helen Saga (Cont’d) (DC)
Given the understanding that Glen Helen Raceway has posted their timeline of what they think happened, this explanation is no longer merited. I wish them well.
Hey, Watch It!
Haiden Deegan's very impressive High Point afternoon, with some incredible come-from-behind rides:
The Reeds’ Road 2 Loretta’s continued, but not without some unexpected challenges:
ClubMX’s “Endless Summer Season” rolled on through High Point, and they got some very good starts and had three different leaders in the course of the day in Coty Schock, rookie Mark Fineis, and crabby old Phil Nicoletti:
The SMX Insiders decided to check out the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Pickerington, Ohio for this week’s stage:
And here is the video announcement of the 2024 FIM World Supercross schedule, by SX Global:
Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week
"Bikini-clad barista smashes angry customer's windshield with a hammer after he threw $22 coffee in her face"—New York Post
"Oakley founder sells Malibu mansion for a breathtaking $210M — setting a new record for California"—New York Post
"Historic building in Italy damaged by parkour tourists"—CNN Travel
"Great News: Ohio Attorney Who Was Suspended for Shitting in Pringles Cans and Leaving Them in The Parking Lots of His Opposition's Offices Has Been Reinstated"—Barstool Sports
Random Notes
For the latest from Canada, check out DMX Frid’EH Update #25.
Thanks for reading Racerhead. See you at the races!