Last weekend we saw Red Bull KTM’s Chase Sexton get his first RedBud National win—his home race, basically—and take the red plates back from Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence. It was a popular win for the Midwesterners, made all the better by Aaron Plessinger finishing second and then using the podium like a stage—AP even rode Evan the Deer!

In the 250 class, Chance Hymas earned his first ever professional win. His 4-1 scores came on a weird day in that class. After yet another Masterpool/Deegan race to the finish line in the first moto, Haiden didn’t get a great start in the second moto, but he was on the move past the halfway mark. Unfortunately, on an infield tabletop, Minnesota privateer Bailey Kroone hit a false neutral as he was getting lapped and ended up going straight up and over the bars, breaking his leg (which gives him a pretty good excuse for why he didn’t jump up and grab his bike from the middle of the landing). After both Masterpool and Vialle just missed the crashing bike, Deegan could not avoid it and ended up slamming into it and going over the bars. Fortunately, he was not hurt, and he once again showed his resilience and tenacity in instantly getting right back up and into the race, as he did with his “helicopter crash” at Hangtown.

Of course those of us watching at home didn’t actually see or hear about Deegan’s crash because after the TV camera on the outside of what they call the Monza Turn caught the near-misses of Ty and Tom, the camera went with that battle and missed Deegan, who was on the face of the tabletop and accelerating within five seconds of Kroone’s crash. And because Jason Weigandt and cohost Ricky Carmichael were in a studio trailer, they could only see what was on their screens and could not know about Deegan’s crash unless someone told them. Weigandt found out when I found out, which was after footage of the crash, from various angles, starting popping up on social media late Saturday afternoon. And it was immediately clear that the AMA official that controls the caution lights on the face of the tabletop was looking the opposite way when Kroone was crashing. He also had a blue flag in his hand rather than a yellow or wheels-on-the-ground flag. There had been complaints after the first 450 moto, where Hunter Lawrence threw away the lead and the win at the end while navigating lapped traffic, that the blue flags needed to be waved more often and more aggressively. But not at the expense of the primary concern of the 50-plus AMA officials and flaggers out there, which is rider safety.

I talked to Brian Deegan on Sunday, and he told me that his heart sank when he saw Kroone go down where he did because he knew Haiden was coming next. He said it felt like an eternity, because he was not seeing a caution or red cross flag. We went back and studied the WOG (wheels on the ground) camera footage from that jump, and indeed, as Deegan was on the face of the jump acceleration, the official can be seen looking back for apparently more lappers to come and not the landing of the jump where he should have been. The yellow flags only started waving when Haiden crashed, as did the flashing lights. The jump was still slowed down the next lap around as the Alpinestars medics were looking after Kroone. But that was too late for Deegan, and that’s on our officials and ourselves. No one controlling the trigger of safety lights should have a blue flag in their hands at the same time, no matter how bad the lapped traffic was up to that point. Fortunately, neither the fans yelling or MX Sports official Rod Yentzer on the minicycle that rode straight up to the official got his attention before anyone else sent it.

As you can see in this picture from the jump camera, Haiden was on the face of the jump taking off, and the official in the blue shirt—the one with the trigger to the lights—is looking the other way and probably could not have seen Kroone’s downed bike in the landing area on the opposite side of the track. And the man down on the inside of the previous corner, whom Deegan has already passed, is the one that would immediately start waving his WOG flag upon getting that signal.

MX Sports Pro Racing and the AMA have come under heat all this week for the incident, and deservedly so. It was human error and could have been so much worse. But there were lights and plenty of flaggers in that area (though the people complaining about the guy with the yellow flag standing in front of the camera need to understand that his responsibility was for the next section, not the tabletop or its landing—he was actually doing his job properly). There also seems to be a misunderstanding of just how many safety lights are out there on the faces of the bigger blind jumps, like LaRocco’s Leap, which had plenty of lights, but the context of a crash like Freddie Noren’s, where the two flaggers in the following corner step up to help, doesn’t show the six other flaggers on the approach and the top of LaRocco’s Leap, with radios.

As a result of the whole unfortunate situation, we’ve gotten a lot of good suggestions, as well as constructive criticism, about possible fixes. Ironically, timing and scoring guru Jim Wells was testing the My Laps Race Control Manager system in the Pro Motocross Scouting Combine on Friday, following every bike by GPS and then getting a signal every time a bike suddenly comes to a sudden stop. (The RCM system was also tried out with the WMX at High Point and shows promise.) Brian Deegan suggested one-way radio contact like his daughter Hailie uses with her race car teams, but there’s strong disagreement in the paddock as to how that would or could work—and not be a distraction to the riders nowhere near a crash. (I also talked to Bailey Kroone, who is getting operated on next week, but he’s still coming out to the races tomorrow as our guest.) And we’ve received several offers from people who would like to form and find a way to co-fund a flagger team that goes to every round, though we already have more than a dozen AMA officials that do exactly that already. But human error, like a delay of even five seconds, can lead to horrible results. And I’ll be talking to REM Frank for some pointers—he knows more about flagging than anyone I know, and hopefully he’s available to help next year, if we can talk him out of his retirement for a few weekends…

Motocross tracks as big as a RedBud MX or a High Point Raceway or even a Spring Creek Motocross Park tomorrow are not easy things to insulate from every accident, but we need to do a better job, as safety must remain the number one priority. I’m glad Haiden Deegan’s all right and I promise we all learned something at RedBud.

Speaking of RedBud there’s a weird split screen moment to all of this, like a dog chasing its tail, in that the AMA gets criticized for not doing a better job flagging, which was deserved in the case of Kroone and Deegan, while at the same time the AMA gets criticized for penalizing Chance Hymas five points for jumping on the caution lights, which he did, and then the AMA gets criticized for not using the blue flags more at the end of the first 450 moto, and then when the AMA official that’s trying to use the blue flag to help get lappers out of the way gets caught looking elsewhere, he’s criticized for not doing his actual job… Being an official can be a thankless task, but being a racer can be a dangerous task, and that takes precedence—we should do all we can to do a better job. Five seconds can make a helluva difference. We have to do better.

Before I head back out on the track here for press day, here’s wishing Team USA Junior good luck in this weekend’s FIM Junior Motocross World Championship at the sandy Heerde circuit in the Netherlands. According to the FIM press release, “Nearly 300 riders from 40 separate countries are entered for the event this weekend, with riders coming in from every continent, including entries from the USA, Columbia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Uganda, South Africa, Iran, Malaysia, Australia, and New Zealand.” Jeff Cernic is once again the Team USA manager and among the riders on Team USA are Jaydin Smart, Easton Graves, Brennon Harrison, Chace Lawton, and more.

MILLVILLE (Matthes)

With full apologies to my guy Tim Ritchie, who gets a bit chapped at me when I suggest this, tomorrow's race at Millville will be the best track on the circuit! I'm biased, been going there since 1989, but it's got a great section of sand whoops (they're so good, Mr. Ritchie had to add some of them to his RedBud!), great dirt, and one thing that RedBud doesn't have, it's got hills. And big ones at that! The addition to the track of Mt. Martin has been a welcome one and it's funny to see how much the track has changed. Weege, Seth Rarick, and myself did a Re-Raceables Podcast from Millville '94 (shout out to “Muffin” Brian Berry for joining us!) and that was the track that I always remember from my youth. But I think it's definitely better now and I heard that John Martin got some sort of new tractor also that can rip deeper which should make Phil Nicoletti happier. Last year it was kind of hard and weird compared to the usual Millville and poor Alex Martin, he heard it from our resident grump.

OH CANADA (Matthes)

I did a privateer pod with Tristan Lane this week and he did the "Van Berkel" where he raced Pro Motocross on Saturday and then a Canadian National on Sunday, which was RedBud in the U.S. and Gopher Dunes in Canada. Now, Lane didn't outright qualify for the RedBud National motos and only got to race the second 450MX moto as an alternate but the next day he was second overall in the deep Canadian sand via his 2-5 finishes. He enjoyed his time up there so much that he ditched out on Millville and is going to the next round in Sand de Lee as well. Listen to our chat below.

Also, by the way, with the championship halfway over up there, the series is getting a bit of a shock to the system. Tyler Medaglia's return to MX2 was over before he started after a crash and he’s just now getting back to speed. Kaven Benoit leads MX2 but by far the fastest rider has been the Team Green kid named Drew Adams, from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Adams had one DNF which hurt him but he's only a few points behind Benoit for the lead. (Adams also did the double although he raced Friday at the MX Sports Scouting Moto Combine and then Sunday in Canada).

In the 450s, Canadian recent best, Dylan Wright, has been suffering through, I don't know the best way to describe it...total body injuries? Let's go with that. He hurt a lot of stuff in a crash at round two and it was just announced he's out for this weekend which ended his long shot title hopes. So, we'll have a new champion in MX1 for the first time in years and it should be KTM's Jess Pettis, who's been riding well and taking the wins (when he doesn't run out of gas like at Gopher Dunes and giving the win to his teammate, Josiah Natzke). 

2025 Honda CRF450R Press Launch (Keefer)

Honda invited us media to Ironman Raceway to test the mostly all-new 2025 CRF450R. Seventy percent of the frame has been updated as Honda wanted/needed to add some more stiffness to key areas of the frame/subframe/linkage/triple clamps. Some of you may be going, "oh no, not stiffer", but the 2024 CRF450R was one of the softest frames structurally so that made us riders feel like it was stiff on the track because of how much flex was happening under loads. Honda also updated the CRF450s airbox and headpipe to in hopes to help with a longer, more linear pulling power. Although we did get some rain in Indiana we did manage to get a solid few hours in on a great track for a first impression. Look for that video over here on Racer X Wednesday and if you want to hear even more about the new red dragon, listen to the RMATVMC Keefer Tested Podcast over on my website, Keeferinctesting.com.

6D ATR-3 Helmet (Keefer)

I also got back home in time to head to Glen Helen Raceway for launch of 6D's new helmet, the ATR-3. The new helmet is 120 grams lighter than the ATR-2, has increased ventilation, a fifth generation omni-directional suspension technology, can also be rebuildable (a service 6D offers), a new adjustable visor, removable roost guard, magnetic chin strap, titanium D-rings, integrated speaker pockets and for you off road guys, a drink tube compatible system. I had the chance to try the prototype about a year ago. I was impressed enough when I originally tried it, that I got excited for this release, and I can tell you that it is a much lighter feeling on your head when riding. That is the first thing I noticed. The second thing is that it ventilates so much better that I wasn't just dripping sweat off my head on a 100-degree Southern California day. The ATR-3 is available now and it runs for $795 for graphics and $759 for solids. It comes with a nice helmet case and an extended visor in case you're racing some mud races. The total weight of the ATR-3 is 1,350 grams and just looks smaller on your head compared to the ATR-2 that some people say looked big.

The late Robert Reisinger (co-founder) left a lot of his ideas and innovations within this new ATR-3 helmet. His intelligence and diligence to make our sport safer, via helmet technology does not go unnoticed. Bob Weber and Robert are one of the reasons I wear 6D helmets as both have made me feel safer in a sport that isn't always so safe. You can check out the new ATR-3 lineup over at 6dhelmets.com and look for a more technical breakdown of the helmet over on my website soon! 

ED LOJAK R.I.P. (DC)

The off-road world lost a legend—and the Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series lost its first hero—when Ed Lojak passed earlier this week. A member of the rough-and-tumble Lojak family of Tarentum, Pennsylvania, Ed Lojak was one of the best off-road riders in the world throughout the 1980s.  He won a record nine Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Overall Titles (1980-‘84, 1986-‘89) and represented the U.S. in five International Six Day Enduro (ISDE) competitions, earning two gold and two silver medals. Lojak also won three AMA National Hare Scramble Overall Championships (‘82, ‘83, ’87) and two Blackwater 100 Overall Wins (’84, ‘89). He was inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame in 2017.  Throughout most of his life Ed also worked at the family motorcycle shop Lojak Cycle Sales in Tarentum.

Ed Lojak was quiet but intensely competitive. He helped revolutionize off-road racing with his relentless style, pushing from start to finish in pretty much every event—it should come as no surprise that he shunned the idea of enduro racing because of all the time-keeping and pacing. He was a factory rider for both Husqvarna and Yamaha and a motorcycle man through and through. Over the last few years Ed had been suffering the effects of numerous concussions that led to his deteriorating health. He was 63 years old. Godspeed Ed Lojak.

Here is a tribute video that Todd Huffman made for Ed Lojak’s induction ceremony into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame back in 2017:

Hey, Watch It!

2024 RedBud Scouting Moto Combine - Presented by U.S. Air Force Special Warfare

A tale of two races: “Sexton” and “This is Lawrence” on RedBud:

GoPro: The Rise of Daxton Bennick | In Their Element EP1

In Their Element is a four-part series documenting the Star Racing Yamaha team. Episode 1 features the rise of Daxton Bennick.

From Professional MX Racer To Test Rider. The Trey Canard Interview.

#Yamaha Presents: Beyond the Gate Episode 23

One lap around MTF GoPro

With Team USA Junior racing the FIM Junior Motocross World Championship in Holland, here’s a reminder that 10 years ago that event featured a battle between young Jett Lawrence and young Jo Shimoda, now teammates at Team Honda HRC:

Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week

“French cyclist Julien Bernard fined after stopping to kiss his wife at the Tour de France”—CNN.com

 “Woman sues for sexual assault after Lyft driver ‘took his penis out,’ urinated in plastic container”—Daily News

"Man in leopard-print pajamas busted with hamsters down his pants after pet store break-in, cops say"—The Independent (Courtesy of The Stump Grinder)

“Harley Will Ride or Die With the Graybeards”—The Wall Street Journal

Random Notes

If you’re going to Washougal to either spectate or compete, don’t forget about the big Thursday Night Motocross Pro Night on July 18 at nearby Portland International Raceway, which will post a $15,000-plus purse for the riders.

Road 2 Recovery sent us this note about Mike Healey, the SX/MX legend who passed away last Thursday due to a heart attack. He was 55 years old. A celebration of Mike Healey's life and career will be held at Harbor Lawn Mortuary in Costa Mesa on Thursday July 25, 2024 at 11 am. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Mike’s Road 2 Recovery Cause Page to help pay funeral expenses that the family is unable to handle. The family appreciates the outpouring of love and support from friends, fans, and the motocross community.