Looking ahead to next weekend, the FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) kicks off in Vancouver with a lineup that includes defending champion Ken Roczen, MXoN Team USA hero Eli Tomac, Colt Nichols, Shane McElrath, Joey Savatgy, Vince Friese, Cullin Park, and more. We will have more information on how you can attend or watch next weekend’s WSX opener from Vancouver.

Next weekend will also see the conclusion of the 2024 Progressive Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series at Ironman Raceway. This event always draws a massive crowd, as the Halloween party always seems to start early there. Monster Energy builds a huge concert stage for the nighttime activities, and close to 3,000 riders are expected to be at what’s become the single biggest off-road race in the world. We’ll also be hosting some FIM folks who will be sizing up and inspecting the motocross track for next year’s Motocross of Nations, which will be held there for the first time the first weekend of October, with Team USA hoping to knock off the mighty Australians and everyone else.

Speaking of Australia, keep an eye out for the new Racer X Illustrated in your mailboxes or local newsstands. Monster Energy AMA Supercross and SuperMotocross Champion Jett Lawrence is on the cover and featured in the coverage of the whole SMX Playoffs, plus there is a feature on the 40th anniversary of the closing of Saddleback Park, the off-road mecca of Southern California. I only got to visit Saddleback Park once before it closed, but I had heard about it practically all of my life. I did not realize that it was founded in 1968 by Cycle World publisher Joe Parkhurst and his business partner Jim Wilson as a “theme park for motorcycles,” nor did I realize that Joel Robert, the six-time FIM Motocross World Champion, designed the initial course. It was featured in the movie, On Any Sunday, which helped catapult its popularity around the world, and it became the home track and testing grounds for every factory and race team based in SoCal. Motocross Action helped grow its legendary status by using it for countless testing sessions and bike shootouts, and of course it was the home to huge races like the Saddleback National and Trans-AMAs, the World Mini Grand Prix, the first Motorcycle Olympiad, and numerous CMC and Golden State races. The cruel irony of it closing in 1984 due to liability threats from various lawsuits over injuries is the fact that Saddleback is still out there near Irvine, undeveloped and grown over, now used as a public space and hiking area. And even 40 years later the name Saddleback Park still resonates among the moto faithful. Anyway, the magazine feature is a deep-dive into the place’s history, as well as its demise, illustrated with some epic photos from its glory days.

And if you live in SoCal don't forget about the premiere of PAY DIRT! 3:30 PM Saturday, Newport Beach, CA, at the Lido Theater. We've seen a preview of Paul Taublieb's excellent documentary on the history of supercross and it's definitely a must-see movie.

Lido Theater (a newly refurbished movie palace!)
3459 Via Lido, Newport Beach, CA 92663
October 19, 2024, 3:30 - 5:05 PM PDT
Purchase tickets

Enjoy the weekend off, and here’s Steve Matthes…

Changes (Matthes)

Off-week in the sport here, but next week I'll be in Vancouver for the opening round of the FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) series. For now, I caught up with Christian Craig to talk about his new (old) ride at Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha in an episode of the Fly Racing/Racer X Podcast. Christian dabbed his foot wrong in the last moto at the Vegas SMX and needed to get some things fixed inside his knee, which will probably leave him on the sidelines for a bit come the 2025 opener at A1. Hopefully he only misses a round or two before he gets back on BluCru. He's excited for the switch back to the team he won the ’22 250SX West Region title with. He's as perplexed as you or me as to why the two years at Rockstar Energy Husqvarna didn't work for him. The very first practice (untimed) at A1 in 2023, Craig was fastest! He crashed in the first turn of the first race and it never really got better. Some flashes here or there and he got along with everyone on the team, he worked hard at Baker's Factory, but sometimes that's just the way the cookie crumbles. Obviously, injuries hurt him, but it seemed to me that he just never could gel with the steel-framed bike. A lot of people think it's softer than the aluminum-framed Japanese bikes but in the end, with the changes KTM has made to their bikes, the Austrian bikes are stiffer than the aluminum-framed bikes. 

Craig’s deal with Star is one where he's first responsible for helping 250 riders out with testing and/or training. In fact, Christian mentioned that he's got to run through some 250 settings as soon as he gets back to riding. It's going to be interesting to see how his role evolves with the team and if he's going to have enough time to work on himself and his own racing. He's a good guy, let's hope this works out.

2002 MXDN (Matthes)

On the new Leatt Re-Raceables Podcast, myself, Weege, and Seth Rarick dove into the race that never was: the 2002 FIM Motocross Des Nations set for Competition Park out in the SoCal desert. I don't know why but Rarick has always wanted to learn more about this race. I was at Yamaha working for Team USA's Tim Ferry and Weege bought tickets to go to the race. DC didn't have anything to do with it but like most people, he was curious on why Dorna (then running the MXGPs) awarded this race to a track that wasn't theirs and a promoter that didn't really promote. So, we called DC to get the scoop on this, why it never happened, why Dorna gave this race to the USA, and everything else. Great backstory and stuff I never knew about! Eventually there was a World Cup thrown together and featuring Team USA's Ferry, Sean Hamblin, and Kyle Lewis racing against some other countries that were in the USA. Also, as Weege points out, if you were in SoCal and could drive to Glen Helen Raceway, you could get put on a team, like Mike Metzger riding for Team New Zealand! Or Willy Musgrave for the Czechs! You can listen to my story of having a Matthes-ported cylinder in this race also!

Listen to the Leatt Re-Raceables Podcast on the 2002 MXDN set for Competition Park.

The Fiasco of Nations (DC)

I wanted to add a little on the podcast Matthes mentions above about the 2002 Motocross of Nations fiasco at Competition Park. It was pretty much a disaster from the start, and the world could see it start falling apart by the excellent reporting of Eric Johnson for this website as well as Racer X Illustrated. EJ drove across Los Angeles all the way out to San Jacinto a half-dozen times to check on the progress—or lack thereof might be more fitting—on the Competition Park racetrack. Every time he reported truthfully on what he saw we would get an angry message from the promoter Malcolm McCassey Sr. (not the father Malcolm of No Fear, Ethika, and now Mended fame) saying that we were just trying to stir the pot and working against the race. No, we were not. EJ was very close with Marty Moates of No fear, who was also trying to help organize the race by working with the Soboba Indians, whose land the track was supposably being built upon, and he was trying to let the motocross world know how the whole project was coming along. And of course it wasn’t really coming along at all. EJ, along with Steve Cox at Cycle News, were simply reporting on what was supposed to be the biggest motocross race ever in California, but instead was truly a fiasco. Here’s two articles of the articles EJ wrote, the first about “A Race in Progress” which he wrote two months before the race was supposed to happen, and the second his superb column “The Day the MXDN Died” from the magazine:

50 Years of The Suzuki RM (Keefer)

This week I had the pleasure to go to Perris Raceway to hang out with past Suzuki legends and pick up our 2025 Suzuki test fleet. Suzuki brought out riders like Brad Lackey, who rode a Suzuki in 1982 when he became the first American to win the FIM Motocross World Champion, World and AMA Motocross Champion Greg Albertyn, 125SX Champions Damon Huffman and Tim Ferry, multi-time Arenacross Champion Buddy Antunez, plus Tony Berlutti, Pat Alexander, current Suzuki racer Colt Nichols, and a lot more I am probably forgetting. The day consisted of some fun games with some Suzuki trivia as well as a media team race, which Swap Moto Live and Racer X won! Suzuki is also offering a full Pro Circuit muffler as well as a retro graphics kit (70s/80s/90s) with every purchase of a 2025 Suzuki RM-Z. Yes, the bikes still have kick-starters so nothing new to report here but the Suzuki motorcycle is still a fun bike to ride and is still great for the consumer. Not to mention that you can probably get a Suzuki for a lot less than you can any other brand. Look for full video from the day and a little refresher course of the RM-Z450 right here on our website. 

2025 Honda CRF250R Works Edition Intro (Keefer)

And check out the 2025 Honda CRF250R Works Edition intro we mentioned last week as well, as that video went live early on Monday morning.

Meet One of the Coenen Twins (DC)

At the recent Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations at Matterley Basin in Great Britain we caught our first live glimpse of Belgium’s Lucas Coenen in action and man was he fast. The MX2 Husqvarna rider was probably the fastest 250 rider on the track for the first part of the first moto, but then crashed out and injured his shoulder and broke his collarbone. Coenen was runner-up to his Husqvarna teammate Kay de Wolf in the ’24 MX2 FIM Motocross World Championship, actually winning more races than the champion but also crashing a few too many times. Coenen has since switched from Husqvarna to Red Bull KTM, joining his twin brother Sacha, though Lucas is moving up to the 450 for MXGP in 2025 while Sacha stays on the smaller bike for the De Carli-lead team. Both Coenens have hinted that they hope to be in America beginning in 2026, and their agent Lucas Mirtl (same agent as the Lawrences) has been working on getting them on a U.S.-based team together. Earlier this week “MX Geoff” Meyer of MXLarge.com got with Lucas to talk about all of the changes in his program, as well as his future plans.

“I have always only look at America and I have dreamt about it,” said the 17-year-old Coenen. “I am not a rider who is going there, because others are going there, I have wanted to go there since I was a small kid. It isn’t a trend, the goal from me and my brother is the U.S. I say to my father and the teams, if I don’t get the title, I don’t get the title. Of course, I will work hard to get the title, but if it doesn’t come, I am not going to waste time on it. I just want to be the best I can possibly be, and I want to learn from people like Tim Gajser and Jeffrey Herlings.”

Here's the whole interview, thanks to MX Geoff.

Hey, Watch It!

Here’s another one of Shane McErath’s excellent YouTube shows, this one with a title that says it all, “Cleaned Out by My Own Teammate” at the Australian Supercross:

Jo Shimoda heads home to Japan in this Swapmoto Live video:

This week’s Video Vault full-moto is the 2000 Broome-Tioga National featuring Ricky Carmichael on his way to his first 250 AMA Pro Motocross title:

The 1977 Southwick National, shop by Lyndon Fox:

2024 Permco AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days Presented by Yamaha

GoPro: What a $32,000 Two-Stroke Race Looks Like