Millville (Spring Creek Motocross Park) is the best track of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship in my opinion, and although last year's event wasn't as good as usual, with not much ripping of the dirt, “we” were back this year. Nice and deep sand, inside berms, and Alex Martin built up the sand whoops to the old-school level. Mt. Martin is another level when it comes to going up and down it—over 500 feet of elevation! It’s a great track, and it even looked a bit wider than usual in some spots. It was also the hottest race of the year, in terms of temperature and humidity. More than a few riders were struggling out there from what I heard.
Chase Sexton was great again with another 1-1 sweep, and this time he had to pass Hunter Lawrence in both motos. It really looked like Sexton was cruising until he decided that he wanted to get into the lead. He had a great line in the sand whoops. He hung off the back and made it look pretty easy with his frame and fitness. There’s a nice blend of aggressiveness and finesse for Sexton, that’s making him look unbeatable.
When Jett Lawrence was racing, Sexton and Hunter had each beaten each other five out of ten motos, so they were basically even. And since Jett left the series with the injured thumb, it’s Sexton with four straight wins and in three of them, he passed Hunter to win. He’s gotten to a new level. So, is it bike? Preferable tracks? Or maybe, is it a mental thing where Sexton now knows he’s the best guy and he should win and he’s doing it? You’ll never really know for sure but the fact that he was basically equal with Hunter and now he’s better than Hunter the last two and a half races tell me it’s more upstairs than anything else with Sexton. So now I’m going to look ahead to when Jett’s back on the line at the opening round of SMX in Charlotte, and although he won’t be 100 percent, I wonder how Sexton will respond.
Hunter Lawrence is having a very good season. This is his first on a 450 and he’s surpassed most of the “experts” thinking how he would do. Little rough in the first half 450 Supercross, then he came on strong, and now in Pro Motocross he’s been great. He’s gotten five holeshots in 14 motos, he’s gotten on the podium at all seven rounds and in 12 motos, he’s won two motos, and he’s led the most laps (55) out of everyone not named Jett Lawrence. And he’s second in the points! What’s not to like?
Well, the one number he’s probably bummed at is 0, which is the number of overalls he’s won. Sexton has won three. So yeah, he’s got to get one of these and real soon to stop the #4’s momentum. Full props to Hunter though at Millville to admit that he was tired and that was all he had on that day. His pace was good early to hold off Sexton but as the moto went on, he didn’t physically have it. Sexton was also better in the sand whoops, as he had a nice little line where he would triple, not to mention his entrance speed was better too.
Justin Cooper without a scoop tire: bad start and a fifth place in moto one. Justin Cooper with a scoop tire: holeshot, leads laps, third place, and third overall! The TV broadcast did a great job in talking about Coop’s reluctance to use that tire but the riders I talk to say the new iteration of the tire is a lot better than it used to be on the hardpack, so with the Millville start being so soft, not sure why he wouldn’t just get used to it.
Cooper showed his best form in a while in moto two and got on the box at that. With that Jett Lawrence kid out, there’s a spot each week for him, Aaron Plessinger, and Jason Anderson (I still believe!), or maybe somebody else. Going to be interesting to see if someone can consistently grab it.
Hard to believe that was Levi Kitchen’s first ever national win a week after Chance Hymas got his. Yes, Kitchen benefitted from that big first turn crash but hey, in moto one he won it outright in a great ride. Moto two he survived the chaos in the first turn, then stalked early leader Casey Cochran before taking off with the win. Great day for Kitchen, and he’s stopped the slide from the opening round where he looked like “a guy”. No matter what he does in the last four races, this sort of salvages the MX season for him in my opinion.
And somehow Levi finds himself second in the points and we’re going into Washougal, a track he lives at. No, like seriously. He lives RIGHT THERE and can ride his bike to it. Last year he dropped back in a weird first moto, but he rebounded for a third in moto two, which was his third best finish of the year. Deegan was incredible last year at Washougal but have to think Levi challenges for the win, right?
6-3-4 are the last three moto scores for Haiden Deegan but hey, let’s not be worried here. He’s got a two-moto lead in the points and came from a first turn crash to fourth in moto two, but he’s definitely not been as dominant lately with crashes while leading this week and at Southwick. He’s fine, nothing to worry about here, but if we all agree that he’s the next superstar in our sport (which I do), the number of mistakes indoors and out are a bit troubling.
We all saw the video of the first turn incident in moto two, and Deegan blaming Chance Hymas for that after the moto on the podium was weird. And then afterward, assuming he had a chance to see the replay and still not walking it back at all, is bizarre. But add it to the list of bizarre things he says on the podium, I suppose.
Speaking of Hymas, hopefully he’s all right, but he had a big ankle issue there after getting it caught in Deegs front wheel. He said on social that he hoped to be back for Washougal, and I guess we’ll see, but if I had to guess, with a two week break after this weekend, he will probably sit out.
Tom Vialle, Hymas, and Jo Shimoda were all like 40-something points behind Deegan going into Millville and after moto 1, Vialle and Kitchen were even closer. Moto two at Millville, with Deegan laying on the ground, Hymas, Vialle, and Kitchen were up front and with some good fortune, they would maybe close up that points lead a lot more. But nope, Deegs rode great to get a fourth from laying in the dirt, Vialle crashed, Hymas pulled out from the foot injury, Shimoda had bike issues, and only Kitchen could do anything at all, but he was the last guy of the contenders back there anyway.
This is a good example of, when it’s your year, it’s your year, which means Deegan will probably be winning this 250MX title. Millville was another example of something that could have gone really bad for the Yamaha rider but his speed, skill, and stamina, plus the bad luck to others, helped him out. Somehow his points lead grew!
Casey Cochran has been out of the limelight this season for the most part. He inhabits that factory rider spot of 7-10, which doesn’t get talked about a lot (Pierce Brown has a permanent residency here, BTW) other than online fans wanting to give his bike to a privateer a lot of the times. But readers of this column will know that he’s had some real great moments out there this summer, like passing 79 guys at Pala, qualifying quickest at Hangtown, and some other good rides, including last week.
He topped all of that this week with leading laps and a third overall. Was it helped by a ton of moto winning contenders eating poop in the first turn? Yes, most definitely, but he’s been riding very well this summer, and this is another step forward for the kid. Great work!
Last week I had this exchange with Casey at Redbud:
Matthes: I think it’s [Millville] the best track on the circuit. So, I’ll circle back with you and figure it out. I think it’s the best track. It’s fun. It’s great. So, we’ll see.
Casey: We’re going to find out. I always hear this track [RedBud] and Millville are the two best, so we’ll see.
UPDATE: I checked in with Casey and he said it was his “third favorite,” which does not make me happy, but I really have to respect a rider for once not being totally biased on ranking something based on how they did that weekend.
Some other news and notes:
Okay, so I’ve praised Triumph here before for the great debut of a brand-new bike with Jalek Swoll and Joey Savatgy. They’ve been very impressive for the most part, but it seems like the motocross series, with its longer motos, higher temperatures, and different conditions have been catching up to them. Savatgy had an issue on the last lap where he lost a top ten finish. Hangtown he had an issue as well. Jalek had something last week (at Southwick he DNF’d also but that was a rock issue), and I hear that during the week, bike problems have been an issue for the riders. Still a good bike and a good team for the first year, but we’re seeing the great outdoors and the stresses it puts on a bike.
The good: Last week’s moto one winner, Ty Masterpool, came from laying on the ground in moto two to tenth, which is great. The bad: Masterpool only finished two spots worse than he did in the first moto when nothing bad happened. Generally, speed at Redbud translates to speed at Millville, but not in this case. The latest rumor I heard about Masterpool is, Pro Circuit signs him for MX only while they sign Austin Forkner for SX only. I mean, sure, I guess?
Christian Craig is not going back to Rockstar Husky next year, but he is slowly getting better lately, especially after getting some hardware out of his elbow couple weeks ago. 7-7 on the day after a good moto at Redbud, plus a good day at Southwick, and he was closer to Dylan Ferrandis than he’s ever been this year. If you’re a manager, you just need to see something indicating that he’s better, right? We had Craig on the PulpMX Show on Monday and he reiterated that he wants to race next year and just responded, “No comment,” about the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing test rider gig next year that’s been rumored.
For the first time in 2024, maybe ever, our guy Phil Nicoletti seemed pleased with, well, everything! He got his usual great starts, rode very well to two top-ten positions, and when I asked him about the track, he gave it nothing but compliments! Someone call 911 and report an alien has taken over Nicoletti’s body. Also, BTW, Nicoletti has gotten ninth in over half the motos he didn’t crash out in or crash early in.
Poor Marcus Phelps. The privateer outjumped Kitchen on the start in the second moto and shut him down, which was awesome for him, right? Then he goes a bit too deep into the first turn while Kitch cuts under him, Phelps overcorrects himself while Kitchen accidently takes his front wheel out, and he causes more of a massive pile up. The ups and downs of Pro Motocross in about ten seconds!
Still more sound test drama with Star Yamaha and the AMA. We told you at Southwick that the AMA was onto Star for pushing the limit of the rule and at Millville, they did indeed take away Haiden Deegan’s best qualifying time after his bike failed the test. However, it was put back on when Star pointed out that the AMA hadn’t followed the correct procedures after the first failed test. Around and around Star and the AMA go!
Dylan Ferrandis went, wait for it, 6-6 on the day, which makes it ten of his fourteen motos raced this year where he’s placed between 6-10, which is not the Dylan Danger Zone but the “sort of irrelevant zone.” He’s not been on the level of the top guys but he’s better than the privateers. I’ve been trying to find Ferrandis after the races to talk to him about his season, bike, etc., but he’s never around when I’m looking. In talking to David Vuillemin, his old trainer/coach, on Monday’s PulpMX Show, he made mention that he thinks Ferrandis isn’t in the shape he used to be during those Danger Zone days (although I think DV’s and Dylan’s friendship is fine, they don’t speak much anymore so keep this in mind) and that he’s too worried about his bike set-up so he and the team are constantly doing testing. In DV’s opinion, Ferrandis needs to do more motos and not worry about the bike so much. Star Racing Yamaha probably agrees with this statement.
Thanks for reading OBS from Millville, appreciate the feedback here and in the email. You can reach me at matthes@racerxonline.com and we’re onto Washougal!
