How convenient to have everyone's favorite racer retire, er, quit at the same race that welcomes Las Vegas back to the annual racing calendar? For some reason Phil Nicoletti got more love over the weekend, possibly, than Jett Lawrence. Definitely didn't make as much money as Jett but hey, memories are priceless.
Here's a run down of the stuff that happened in Vegas that didn't stay in Vegas. There's a lot we won't show or talk about.
Saturday Night: Back in the day, after parties were common fare. When I was a young buck, I realized I could really build up trust with riders if I could find them at a party, see some stuff go down, and then not report on it. I still won’t name any names, but I can say that the peak of this era was built on riders with the initials CR and GL. I’m not naming names, though!
Skip Norfolk [Jeremy McGrath’s legendary mechanic] was hosting a Phil Party Saturday night at Hudl, his brewery. Yes, MC’s mechanic runs a brewery in Las Vegas. Feels like divine intervention, to be honest. Hudl was open until 2:30 a.m. so I could probably go back to my hotel, do whatever work I needed to do, and then head over. While shooting my 13th different post-race video show, the LEGENDARY Justin Brayton asked if he could get a ride back to the staff hotel. OF COURSE I said yes, but then we mapped everything out and realized Hudl was closer than the hotel, and it made more sense to hit up the party first. JB had an early flight, so we figured we would just go for an hour. Let’s say 11:30-12:30 a.m. and that’s it. Just pay some respects to Phil and check out Skip’s place.
Well of course the bench racing started, then Skip had some [free!] food brought in, and the clock started ticking. I enjoyed a sample of a beer Skip called “Phil Nicoletti’s I Quit,” which was excellent (he also offers a beer called Nac-Nac) but I couldn’t drink much because eventually we’d be driving back to the hotel. In like an hour, right? Well, next thing you know like 30 of us are in a back room solving all the world’s problems. I mean, it’s everything from talking kick starters with Suzuki guys to trying to figure out how much money Jett Reynolds made as an amateur to figuring out what Team USA is going to do about the Motocross of Nations. As time went by Phil’s group of North Carolina buddies started to take control of the proceedings, led by two guys called Beam and Flying Taco. They are the modern-day CR and GL just without any of the race wins or championships. I live near these guys at home but I’m careful not to enter their orbit too much, because, as happened on this night, 12:30 soon becomes 1:30, and then 2:30… what about JB’s early flight? “Don’t worry about me, Weege, I’m here as long as you want to be,” said the legendary number 10, showing his usual class and grace while no doubt dropping life advice to anyone who needs it on relationships, happiness, friendship and probably finance, economics and world peace. I mean, that morning at breakfast the man broke down the Honda CRF450R clutch design as if it was President Roosevelt’s Fire Side Chat during World War II. This is Justin Brayton, everyone. Wait, where was I? Hey, worth mentioning that Cooper Webb was supposed to be part of these parties for his buddy Phil but had to cut things short to get back and prep for MXoN. Cooper picked his country over everything else. Props.
Oh yeah, Beam was now holding court at the party the way Matthes does in the supercross press box. It reminded me of this year’s 250 class. Lots of contenders but by the end everyone knows who is the true alpha.
Good times and then just past 2:30 we all realized we had to go. By the way, who paid for all this?
Sunday Pool Party: First, I had to go to Matthes’ house with JT to record our weekly Fly Racing Racer X podcast reviewing the race. Then guests started arriving because Steve was hosting some sorta pool party at his palatial estate. It was nice to get out of those cramped Vegas casinos and finally find a place with some stretch out space. Also, Steve had Chipotle delivered so I got a free lunch out of the deal. As more friends showed up, the bench-racing got good, with the likes of Lewis Phillips, Daniel Blair, Michael Lindsay, Mike Ulrich and Kellen Brauer. Then I get a few angry texts from Phil himself wondering why I am late….to the second Phil party of the weekend, a pool party in Fontainebleau. This one was arranged by Phil’s Canadian friend Kourtney Lloyd. Maybe this came out of Canada’s MXoN budget? I’m not sure how many people were there for Phil or how many people were just staying at the Fontainebleau for the weekend and using the pool, but it was an awesome mix of people. In fact, the previous night’s 250 class winner was there! Also, I saw Dean Wilson and explained to him how, during the TV show, I requested we get a camera on Phil in the final laps so we could explain his retirement. Dean could be seen right behind Phil during that moto. But there was nothing special to say about Dean, because he, unlike Phil, won’t actually retire! I told Dean’s wife we’ll probably see him racing SMX again next year, and the next year and the next year, plus Australia and WSX and all that other stuff. All you gotta do is say you’re retiring, and you can get multiple parties. Well, maybe. Is Eli Tomac getting this sort of love next year?
Speaking of that, I also saw Team USA’s Christina Denny at the pool and tried to get info on Eli Tomac for MXoN. She wouldn’t budge. Justin Cooper was there and said he respected how I’m at a Sunday pool party but still trying to get scoops. Yes, that and free drinks.
We had a good time but eventually Beam and Taco started to take control again. Beam had shaved his stomach hair into a six-pack and then covered himself with Phil stickers. I leaned over to Pierce Brown and said, “You know how Deegan sent that wall jump to try to catch you? That guy is the human version of that jump.”
By the way, who paid for all of this?
Sunday Night Party: One more to go, a party arranged by Matthes and sponsored by FXR and “N-Fab” Thomas Fichter, Phil’s long-time backers. But first we went up to Kourtney’s hotel room to change out of pool attire, and then somehow Beam and Taco ended up in there. Taco is planning on taking racing seriously for 2025 to try to win one of the 17 different “arenacross” championships that’s out there these days. But first we had to get ready for the final party. I had drafted my buddy Jonny Oler, from the old JGR team, because we were both on the same 9:44 p.m. flight home. For years, those of us in North Carolina have tried to keep Jonny and Beam from crossing paths, because those two together could cause nuclear fission, and it would be really bad to connect them in Vegas, especially. We were taking our chances and also taking stuff out of Kourtney’s mini bar in the room. Who pays for all of this?
We made it to Area 15, home of the final party. Yes, luckily Dean Wilson did show up, I mean hey, the place has his number on it! I got to reconnect with our man Moser, King of the Andrew Short fans and frequent PulpMX contributor. I’m extremely upset at Moz because I got him a ticket to the race on Saturday, but some reason his email didn’t work and he never got it, and he just bought a ticket himself. It's not even my money but I can't stand when I find an inefficiency like that.
Moz has been ducking the races lately to do this thing called “hanging out with his family” and “making core memories” with his kids. He's come a long way from Seattle Supercross, 2012 and it’s sad. But he was here this time and Steve put him in charge of handing out drink tickets. He had wrapped himself in these tickets looking like a deranged octopus with tentacles everywhere. Not surprisingly, the drink tickets soon ran out, were lost, or were distributed improperly. There were rumors that Nate Thrasher’s bachelor party had also invaded, and Moser couldn’t tell who was there for which party. The poor drink tickets never stood a chance. I didn’t partake, though, because Jonny and I soon had to head to the airport, and before Beam showed up to create a party mushroom cloud with Jonny. By the way, who pays for all of this?
“I won’t be happy unless you guys miss your flight and I see you in the airport tomorrow morning,” said Ben Schiermeyer, former JGR mechanic and now the practice bike wrench for Jason Anderson at ClubMX. Well, Ben was going to be happy, because our flight was about to leave in an hour, and we were still at the party! Now, this would not be the first time I had told Jonny I would handle the airport driving only for him to miss a flight. Several sleeps on the airport floor when scheduling is left in my hands. Sadly, we actually made it, somehow. Then I slept for four hours on the flight, landed at 5 a.m., and got back to my house in time to drive my kids to school. The good news is I made the flight and got home. The bad news is Beam and Taco might still be terrorizing Vegas as we speak. Although I did hear a massive bolt of thunder last night behind my house. That could be them arriving back home.
Overall, props to Phil on the career. He didn’t best Tomac in race wins or podiums, but he’ll probably have him beat on retirement parties. It’s your move now, Deano.
