Budds Creek! What started out as a rainy, muddy practice ended up hot and hardpacked at the end of the day. I didn’t feel it too much because I was in and out of the air conditioning, but I had more than a few riders tell me the second motos got to be pretty tough on them, which Budds can do.
Here’s my annual plea to the owners of Budds Creek to look into fixing that start that was put in for the 2007 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations. One thing that’s great about motocross is, generally, the starts are pretty fair and there are a lot of gates one could get the holeshot from. Not at Budds Creek. They moved the gate to make it a bit more fair but it’s still ridiculous with the 180-degree hairpin. It seems we have a lot of crashes and it’s not very fair. Bring back the old starts!
Chase Sexton for the win again! Not too many riders can fall in each moto and still go 2-1 for the overall win, but yeah, that’s the kind of roll Sexton is on right now. He told me after the race that he was very upset with the moto two tip-over, but he wasn’t that worried about his ability to still win the race. I wish he had communicated that to me somehow because I was doing some live announcing and mentioned to everyone at Budds Creek that I didn’t think he could win as he was picking up his bike. Not the first time I’ve made a wrong assumption, won’t be the last.
Sexton had a sweet line in the rollers before the finish that he used to pass his teammate Aaron Plessinger not once, but twice, so that made it easy right there to get a couple of spots he needed. And then with Hunter Lawrence, he mentioned he was surprised no one else was using his outside line he used to pass Lawrence. Whatever the case, Sexton got it done with some great riding in both motos. The narrative behind Sexton to KTM has really changed, huh?
I was talking to a Honda guy (not Lars Lindstrom) and he said he always thought Sexton’s mistakes of losing his front end (which is how he crashed at Budds Creek and 85 percent of his other crashes) on Honda or now KTM (although the crashes were more prevalent on red), were because Sexton is so strong. I mean, one thing that’s obvious here this summer is how superior his fitness is to everyone else in the class. So, this person (and I ran this theory by another rider who’s close to Chase and he didn’t disagree) said he’s just pushing his front end into turns with so much strength the traction just goes away. I mean, look at Sexton, he’s ripped and a monster. It’s not a crazy theory.
Honda HRC’s Lawrence looks like a new man and won the first moto for the second week in a row. And like I said, I expected him to finish the job in the second moto for the 1-1 and take his first 450MX overall on the day. But also, as mentioned, it was hot and the second motos took some things out of riders, Lawrence maybe being one of them. On lap ten he slipped into the two-minute lap times and couldn’t ever recover and get back below that, which allowed Sexton a relatively easy catch and pass for the win.
I didn’t realize this until talking to Jason Thomas on Sunday, but it seems Lawrence went with the scoop tire for the start and yeah, to me that seemed like a bad idea. In talking to Sexton after the moto he mentioned he saw Cullin Park had a scoop on and was surprised. The track was visibly harder and slicker in moto two and you could see his rear end kicking out from time to time. I get it, it’s the start, and when I was a mechanic with many riders, gearing (in the two stroke days) and tire choices were made thinking of the start, as that’s the most important part of the race. At RedBud Hunter didn’t go with the scoop and had a poor moto after the bad start.
I do wonder, with all this scoop or no scoop talk we’ve had this year, if there’s something we could do to not till the start straight so deep between motos to make it so the scoop is necessary. I know they try to rip the starts deep to slow the bikes down for safety. But then it’s also a bit of an excuse for the riders afterward. Not saying in this situation, but in general, it’s an out for some guys to use.
Haiden Deegan came into the season as the odds-on favorite to win the 2024 250MX title and he did just that. Congrats to him and the team. He simply crushed everyone in moto one to seal it and then cruised in moto two to stamp it. Pretty sure if he needed to, he could’ve won the second moto as well, but once he didn’t get the start that was it for him. Although watching his teammate Nick Romano fight him tooth and nail for tenth was a bit odd.
Anyway, Deegs (with one race to go) has five more moto podiums than anyone else, five more moto wins than anyone else, has led the most laps by 24, has the best average qualifying position out of everyone else, and yeah, he was the best guy without a doubt. Next year should be interesting, as Kitchen and Hymas have to be thinking title or bust, but as far as this year, Deegan was the best guy.
Levi Kitchen has three overall wins in four races. Not too shabby, huh? The only race he didn’t win of the four is the one at the track he lives at in Washougal. Oh okay, goddamn, right? Kitchen has turned his season around with these wins and it’s even more impressive that he won this weekend because he had COVID-19 and didn’t ride all week. About three-quarters through the first moto he had some really tough laps. How tough you say? Like, check this out:
Lap 10: 2:03.449
Lap 11: 2:04.169
Lap 12: 2:07.140
Lap 13: 2:09.030
Lap 14: 2:07.587
Lap 15: 2:04.284
Yeah, 2:04, to 2:07, to 2:09 (!!) before he recovered a bit. I even thought maybe something was wrong with his bike. Nope, it was, as Kitchen told me, “A shit show” out there for a few laps. But he reeled it back in before holeshotting the second moto and winning that. Track position was a big thing out there which Kitchen knew and used to his advantage. You could tell after the race this was one he didn’t expect to win, and that’s when you know you’re becoming “a guy,” when you win on your bad days. That’s Levi Kitchen right now, folks.
Hymas crashed on the last lap of moto one, a nice dismount over the bars, and that cost him second place in the moto. It knocked him back to eighth actually, which really sucked. Then in the second moto, when he was all over Kitchen for the lead, I thought he was going to get him, but he couldn’t find a spot to make it stick. He took a couple of runs at Kitchen, but on a 250F you can’t just go anywhere you want whenever you want, you need momentum. So, at Budds, with mud pushed to the sides, you were limited on what you could do. As I said above, Kitchen knew this was key, so Hymas was probably a little frustrated. If he hadn’t fallen on the last lap, his 2-2 scores would’ve won Budds (as Kitchen benefited from that moto one crash and moved from fourth to third. If Hymas doesn't fall on the last lap, he goes 2-2 and beats Kitchen's 4-1).
Still, it’s been a great year for Hymas. He’s got a new two-year deal with Honda, he’s now a national winner, and he’s a title guy for next year, indoors and out. Honda, Fly, and everyone else’s gamble with a low-hyped amateur kid from Idaho has paid off.
I wonder if Tom Vialle hadn’t won that 250SX title if he would have been better in 250MX. Getting that unexpected title had to have been a great surprise to him, and maybe the natural inclination is to slack off a bit for motocross? After last year, most of us put Vialle as 1B to Deegan’s 1A in the title fight. And it’s hard to say a dude that has two moto wins and six podiums on the year let “us” down but yeah, he kind of let us down, right? Hey man, he’s always got that SX title! And I bet he’s better in MX next year as well. And in the post-race press conference he did admit he was pissed off about not winning an overall yet this year.
In team USA MXoN news, the jury is still out on the third member of the team. We think Chase Sexton and Haiden Deegan are in, but the AMA and others involved want to give Eli Tomac four motos to see what he’s got, and then of course it’s between ET, Aaron Plessinger, and Justin Cooper for the second 450 spot.
I spoke to someone involved in the process and they were thinking that if USA selects Tomac or Cooper, and there’s an injury then the other one could jump on the bike easily, which is true. My point is, it’s really a coin flip between Plessinger and Cooper, so give it to the dude who gets third in points as the ultimate decider. There’s probably a 50/50 chance it’s muddy in the UK in October so AP would be the better choice to me. But Matthes, how come you didn’t mention Tomac? Because in my opinion, he would need to really be on the Sexton/Lawrence level to make the team after missing all of MX in 2023 and all of it this year but two races. Now, he did move into fourth in moto one and was catching Plessinger a bit before AP pulled back away. In the second moto ET wasn’t very good, but hey, it was his first MX race in a long time so whatever, mulligan, right? But he didn’t beat AP in either moto and he wasn’t close to the top two guys, and Cooper beat him in moto two.
Remember, you can’t pick the team during SMX when a more prepared Tomac will be in the mix. It’s got to be done after Ironman this weekend. So yeah, to me he’s just not where he needs to be right now to get on the team. Will he get better? Yeah, but he’s got to build speed to get to Plessinger’s level and then hopefully, surpass that for Team USA. He's an all-timer, I get it, but to me, reward Plessinger for getting third in the points and know that if it’s muddy, AP will be good as well. Just this opinion from this corner of the internet.
Some other news and notes and thoughts:
RJ Hampshire came back this weekend from his round-one press day wrist injury and he gave us the full RJ Hampshire experience right out of the gate! He qualified third (speed never sleeps), he was up to sixth in moto one when he, wait for it, crashed. Then he, wait for it, got up and went faster. And then he, wait for it, battled Jordon Smith in moto two! These two guys always, always, always find each other out there. It’s amazing, one race back and he’s EXACTLY THE SAME RJ Hampshire WE KNOW AND LOVE.
Make it two races in a row now in which Ty Masterpool was fast in qualifying, made early mistakes in the motos and fought from there. Also, two races in a row in which he crashed on the last lap that hurt him. Weird, man, but then again, weird is this man’s game. I mean, he went from privateer 450MX to a Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki 250 the day before the first round, to winning a national, to inking a two-year deal with Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki. Weird is what Masterpool does!
Malcolm Stewart got fourth overall at Budds Creek, which ties his career best 450MX finish which was in 2013 for the Troy Lee Designs Honda team…at Budds Creek! He rode very well in the second moto and that was cool to see for sure. Two thousand thirteen was a long time ago. Of course, that was only 18 450MX races ago (18 MX races in 11 years!) for Stewart, so if you extrapolate the math, it’s like a season and a half ago that he got a fourth at Budds Creek. They don’t call me “Matth-es” for nothing!
Jalek Swoll scored 6-4 moto finishes last week for third overall, which was awesome. This week he went 6-4 for…fifth overall. Sucks to be him I suppose but hey, still a good day for Swoll and Triumph. We had him on the PulpMX Show on Monday, and he thinks he is riding the best he has outdoors and mentioned a few times he could never gel with that newer Husqvarna from a couple of years ago. He said when he pushed it, it would throw him to the ground. He’s much happier at Triumph for sure. Also, he said he didn’t see his teammate, Joey Savatgy, fashioning any nooses upstairs in the truck, which is good, as Joe Dawg had another rough weekend.
Marshal Weltin was solid again ICYWW.
I talked to Colt Nichols in the morning about his return to the outdoors full-time with Twisted Tea/HEP Motorsports Suzuki and he told me what he likes about the Suzuki is that it’s very predictable. It’s not “awesome” in any one category but it also doesn’t do anything really badly. It’s a solid platform and he’s happy at it. His return last week wasn’t very good, but this week he did qualify well before crashing out in moto two.
If you’re having a ride day at Budds Creek anytime, do NOT invite Garrett Marchbanks to it. He will not come. He made it very clear to me after the race he is not a fan of Budds Creek.
Broc Tickle came back again and told me how he likes Budds Creek a lot and how he went 2-2 there back in the day, although he made a point to mention he was not close AT ALL to Ryan Dungey, who won that day in 2012. Anyway, good job to Tick on being better than he was at RedBud and hey, would you look at that? He’s got a chance, with just four motos completed, to get into the LCQ races at the SMX series. He's like 35th in points but if five guys aren't able to show up due to injury or budget or whatever, Broc could get the call. LET BROC IN!
Thanks for reading OBS from Budds, good times indeed. Email me at matthes@racerxonline.com if you want to chat about this or whatever else. I’m off to jolly ol’England this weekend to race the Vet MXoN at Foxhills so yeah, I won’t really be tuned in to Ironman. I bet Deegs and Sexton win though.
