Also in Paris is Cooper Webb, who will be debuting his brand-new Fly Racing gear. (And he’s not the only one who is now wearing Fly now, as the whole DeCarli Red Bull KTM team in Europe—Lucas and Sacha Coenen, as well as Simon Langenfelder—has signed a multi-year deal with Fly Racing.) Webb was the runner-up to Jett in SX this year but suffered that thumb injury towards the end that cost him much of his summer. Even when he came back for the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) Playoffs, Coop wasn’t quite back to 100 percent, but he should be closer to that now. But don’t expect a knock-down, drag-out fight from anyone this weekend, as the Paris SX is not meant to be super-intense. It’s more fun than anything. It's also a great reminder of what to expect come January when the real supercross season begins all over again.

And one thing to note on a gear/team combo here in the United States is that Scott Sports has announced a renewal partnership with the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team. The partnership between the two has gone on for 30 years and the duo will continue to work together once again in 2025.

Take a look at some of Scott Wallenberg's photos from EICMA (the Milan Motorcycle Shows):

Bonjour (Matthes)

As DC mentioned, the annual Paris SX is this weekend and I'm here again to check it out. It was press day today where some of the riders got two sessions of five laps each. The track is one of the bigger ones in recent memory with a lot of jumps and a good whoop section. Of course, the Lawrence brothers are here again for the second consecutive year and they've brought along Cooper Webb, Dylan Ferrandis, and Malcolm Stewart. In the 250 class it's a rematch of last year with Joe Shimoda and Tom Vialle along with the usual bunch of fast French riders. This race is always fun, lots of hanging out and good racing as well with the fans loving it. We had Webb on the PulpMX Show Monday, and I declared on there that I'm not going to make any judgements on what's going to happen in Monster Energy AMA Supercross in 2025 based on this weekend. Webb last year was off the pace, and I came back predicting a tough 2024 season for him as there wasn't a lot of time to "fix" stuff. Well, Coop went out at A1 and rode great, winning his heat race and battling up front for most of the main. Webb hasn't touched his bike at all from last year and has been very happy with everything so far. 

I talked to Malcolm Stewart for a while about his team situation for next year and yes, there will be two separate trucks, one for GasGas and one for Husqvarna but Stewart told me other than that, he doesn't have too much info on the "new" team set-up (TLD is no longer operating the GasGas squad, and now the Husqvarna and GasGas teams are supposed to be sister operations). Hearing about two seperate trucks saddened me because that meant Justin Barcia and Mookie wouldn't be in the same truck. I loved the drama of two guys that have had 493 run-ins over the years weren't going to be sharing a locker. Malcolm thought that was funny! Also, they're both riding together at the Baker's Factory now. Also, did you know that a fishing rod and reel can cost up to $1,500? Who knew? 

A few other things I learned here is that Chance Hymas will be in 100% goggles next year and I need to get my clutch pull as light as Webb has his on the Yamaha YZ450F.

Big Arenacross Stuff (Jason Weigandt)

Got to attend a press conference for the AMA Arenacross Championship presented by Kicker last night. Lots of news as that series debuts this weekend in Reno, Nevada, including Kyle Peters' quest for a sixth-straight championship on his Phoenix Honda. He's switching to a CRF450R this year (instead of a 250) and Heath Harrison, formerly a Team Manager for Phoenix Honda, will return to the races as Peters' mechanic on the weekends. But Ryan Breece, who battled Peters to the end last year, is now part of the MotoConcepts Honda team, and that team is bringing Vince Friese to Arenacross, too! Friese in Arenacross. Think about that one.

"I’m fired up," said Friese. "I’m going to do what I always do which is  ride hard and try to win the race. I’m up for the challenge. There’s going to be a few things for me to learn here. New stuff, and I've been at this [racing] a long time so I’m excited."

Breece said he and teammate Friese have had battle royales at the test track and he knows he will have to step it up this year. 

The other big news is the addition of an electric bike class. It's a standalone championship featuring stars like Josh Hill and Justin Bogle on Stark Vargs. But the traditional Arenacross Dash-For-Cash style event will now pit Electric versus Combustion bikes, and the AMA will be watching closely to see how it looks. It could be a test for future electric rules in the future.

"All of your guys were around when four-strokes came out," said the AMA's Mike Burkeen. "The rules were made and it turns out they weren't very good. They basically killed off the two-strokes. Once it happened we couldn't put the genie back in the bottle. With the electric bikes we didn't want to go full-bore and then just cut it off if we find out it doesn't work. Because everyone has made purchasing decisions already, then we'll have all these guys that they bought under what they would say were bad pretenses. So we want to walk before we run, but we definitely want to run. What that looks like? Nobody knows."

The action kicks off tonight. Check out MAVTV or www.arenacrossusa.com.

JNCC Finale in Japan (Jared Bolton)

For nearly 20 years the Progressive Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series has participated in a mutual racer exchange program with the Japan National Cross Country Series featuring JNCC racers attending a select GNCC event at some point in the season, and GNCC racers attending JNCC’s AAGP finale. This has become a popular trip for top GNCC talent as every racer who has attended returns home raving about how much fun the experience is and how hospitable the JNCC racers and staff are.

The 2024 edition of this exchange program saw JNCC send young up and coming pro racer Keita Watanabe and amateur racer Kazuhiro Yoshizaki attend The Mountaineer GNCC in West Virginia where Watanabe snagged the XC3 class holeshot and ended the day in sixth place while Yoshizaki took the Sportsman B 40+ class win. Attending the JNCC finale would be XC1 stars Steward Baylor and Mike Witkowski, as well as 2024 Top Amateur and new XC2 competitor, Nick DeFeo.

As expected, the GNCC attendees were some of the stars of the show and pushed each other to the front of the pack early. Witkowski would lead a majority of the race with Baylor in second place. DeFeo, riding the smaller 250cc machine with stock exhaust, would hold third place overall and first place in the AA2 (250cc) class even after losing sight of the lead duo. Baylor would end up making the pass for the lead on the final lap, making what he called a sketchy pass on a massive downhill ski slope, and hold the lead to the finish.

Baylor claimed the overall win ahead of Witkowski, with DeFeo taking top honors in the AA2 class and third place overall. Third in AA1 and fourth overall would go to Kazuto Yano, while visiting Australian racer Stefan Granquist rounded out the top five overall. Manabu Watanabe would end the day in seventh place, good enough to secure a record-breaking seventh JNCC championship. Also, notable would be 12-time All-Japan National Motocross Champ, Akira Narita, who finished eighth-place overall on the day.

GNCC Trail Captain Colby Stiles, and this section’s author (that's me, Race Operations Manager, Jared Bolton) took part in the Morning FUN-GP race with Colby riding to a solid tenth place finish in the FUN-A class and 30th overall. This is pretty impressive considering he broke the clutch lever early in the race and rode for over an hour using just a little nub for a clutch lever. I ended up putting in a good day of riding to take fourth place in the FUN-A class, and fifth place overall.

We’ll have a full write up on the entire JNCC experience coming soon. Stay tuned!

Australian SX History (DC)

In last Friday's Racerhead we included a link to a 1980 Supercross in Brisbane, Australia, wondering if it was the true first modern international supercross event. A regular reader from down under who goes by Aussieblue posted a correction for us: "1979 Mike Bell won it. The Stefan's Superbowl of Motocross. In 1980 they changed the name to supercross. Our very first one was in 1978, and our first indoor supercross was in 1986 and JoJo Keller won that." Aussieblue also posted a link to a cool site with lots of information about the history of SX/MX in Australia, which you can find here.

And check out the clever win ad in Cycle News that Yamaha produced for the late Mike Bell's win in 1981.

Coincidentally, the well-traveled Bell, the 1980 AMA Supercross, also won what we believe to be the first modern international SX in Europe, which was the Amsterdam SX in the Netherlands in September 1981, the same year that Team USA won the FIM Motocross of Nations for the first time in nearby Lommel, Belgium. Bell actually ended up sticking around to watch his friendly rivals/fellow Americans Donnie Hansen, Danny Laporte, Johnny O'Mara and Chuck Sun shock the rest of the world.

The Amsterdam race took place on Monday night, so both Bell and Marty Tripes were at the Trophee des Nations on that historic day. The following night Bell would win the Amsterdam SX over yet another American in Europe, Jim Gibson, and Swedish great Hakan Carlqvist.

Liam Everts Makes Some Changes (DC)

If any motocross rider on the planet was ever born to win, it would have to be Liam Everts. The 20-year-old Belgian is the son of 10-time FIM Motocross World Champion Stefan Everts, and the grandson of four-time World Champion Harry Everts. The whole Everts family is motocross royalty in Europe, so it's no surprise that Liam has plenty of talent on dirt bikes. But he's yet to reach the levels of success that his dad and grandad achieved, winning a handful few MX2 GPs and finishing fourth in each of the last two seasons. Unfortunately, Liam had a terrible crash off the start at the last round of the '24 series at the Grand Prix of China and was briefly paralyzed from the neck down. After a few very tense hours he began getting the feeling back, and he's made a full recovery, though he's not back on a bike yet. 

The whole episode seems to have led Liam to a career reset, as earlier this week it was announced that Everts was leaving Red Bull KTM, where he had been since he began racing GPs, for the Nestaan Husqvarna team, which was the dominant squad in MX2 this past season. Dutch rider Kay de Wolf won the MX2 FIM Motocross World Championship his while teammate Lucas Coenen finished second. As soon as the season ended Coenen, now 18, announced that he was moving over to Red Bull KTM alongside his twin brother Sacha, and also moving up to the MXGP division on aboard 450. The team needed a very good MX2 rider to fill the vacant spot alongside de Wolf, and Everts took it. While it may seem like a lateral move, the team did win 16 of the 20 rounds in '24 as far as overall finishes go.

But there may be more to it than just a change of scenery, as Everts also announced that he was changing his riding number as well. He's worn his father's trademark #72 for his entire career, but he's now going to run #26. In the press release announcing the switch Liam's quoted saying:

Liam added on his own social media:

Last year at the MXoN in France I visited Stefan and he told me that he had taken a step back from coaching Liam, as had his father Harry. This latest development sounds like the last step in that often-complicated transition of going from your dad being your coach and mentor to being the driver of your own career. I hope it works out well for the whole Everts family.  

Triumph TF450 RC Press Launch (Keefer)

I had the chance to ride the 2025 Triumph TF-450 Ricky Carmichael Edition at the Triumph race facility in Georgia this week and had a blast. The facility is heaven for dirt bike riders that love red dirt, ruts and beautiful surroundings, but more importantly great test tracks. Although I can't indulge on how the bike was until Monday at 7 p.m. PST/10 p.m. EST, I can tell you there is going to be A LOT of info on this bike come Monday. You can watch the video breakdown right here on Racer X, there's a podcast about the machine on Keeferinctesting.com as well as a full Q&A video I did over on my YouTube channel. If you don't get the information you need from all of this content, I don't know what to tell you. RC, Tedesco, Haarup, Stanton, Cervantes among others were there to join in and I can tell you that when it comes time to race the Triumph 450 in 2026, it will be a weapon right out of the gate.

AMA National Hare N Hound (Keefer)

Straight from Georgia to the barren desert of Lucerne Valley, California I am headed to race the final round of the AMA National Hare N Hound Series. I grew up racing District 37 races and wanted to get back out there to my roots and see how the series is doing. The KC66 Foundation is heavily involved with the series and with me living only about 40 minutes away from the last round, I thought why not race the final round? Also, why not test a factory desert machine? So I called up Anthony DiBasilio (the Husqvarna Off-Road Team Manager) to see if I could race test their full-on factory race bike. To my surprise he said, "YES"! I don't have much to compare it to besides Ricky Brabec's JCR Honda I raced a couple years ago, but nonetheless it should make for a great story so make sure to check that out over on my website as well as right here on Racerxonline.com! Pink arrows and day glow arrows are my guide this weekend! See you desert rats on the bomb Sunday! 

Balboni Brothers Factory Racing Week 11 Report (Matt Rice)

Balboni Brothers Factory Racing suffers through the penultimate week 11 of Fifth Street Cyclocross. With only two races left to score valuable points in the FSX Series, Gart VanDaam (Matt Rice) and Mike Emery were close but no cigar this week. A strong start for both riders as Emery cut his way through the pack passing Gart early. The cold weather would pose a big obstacle as we grow ever closer to the final race next week. Mike would hang on to a 37th in race 1 as Gart would crash twice finishing 44th. Race 2 would see the boys essentially trade their race 1 scores as Gart would rebound finishing 36th and Mike finishing 43rd. We are excited to see what the Balbonis can bring to the final race next week to hang on to their top 100 in the 2024 FSX Points Standings.

Said Gart VanDaam (Matt Rice):

Said Mike Emery:

The Great Escape Grand Prix, 2025 Version

After a successful event last month, the Great Escape Grand Prix is back for 2025! Check out the information Kevin Kelly posted below:

The Great Escape Grand Prix 
All Grass Track
All for charity
October 17-19 2025

Hey, Watch It!

ClubMX Modern Cabin Tour

Windham's Shocking Breakthrough! | Henry, Emig, Hughes, Lusk on 125s

Triumph TF 450 RC Edition First Laps

This week's Racer X Video Vault? Rookie Kevin Windham, in only his second pro race ever, nearly winning the first moto of the 1994 High Point 125 National. Co-starring Doug Henry, Jeff Emig, Ryan Hughes and Ezra  on 125s, with a special cameo by Denny Stephenson:

The Tampere SX in Finland, featuring Josh Hill on the Star VARG.

MXGP 24: The Official Game | Pre-Order Trailer

ArenaTalk: Schedule Breakdown

Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week

“Mattel apologizes after mistakenly printing porn site on ‘Wicked’ movie dolls packaging”—CNN

“Tennis Channel removes analyst indefinitely after comment about Wimbledon Champion's forehead”—CNN

“Dream Start: Saints Interim HC Darren Rizzi Clogged The Coach's Toilet When He Got To The Stadium Today, Thought It Was A Sign”—Barstool Sports

"China roads blocked by thousands of cyclists in night quest for dumplings"—BBC

“Ex-fiancée must return $70K ring after failed engagement, court says”—Washington Post

"Kirby Smart calls Georgia player ‘an idiot’ for celebrating with Ole Miss fans after loss"—Sports Illustrated

"Marble bust bought for $6 and used as doorstop could sell for more than $3 million"—CNN

“Syracuse coach Fran Brown reveals he doesn’t shower after losses: ‘I don’t deserve soap’”—New York Post

"How giant rats in mini vests help sniff out crime"—BBC

"2 more escaped monkeys recaptured and enjoying peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in South Carolina"—AP News

“Woman dives into Detroit River to save dog, ends up in handcuffs”—Fox Detroit

"Eagles fan casually fires up flamethrower behind NBC10 news hit from Lincoln Financial Field"—Awful Announcing

Random Notes

Team USA's Brandy Richards once again dominated the ISDE in Galicia, Spain, winning every test of the week, leading teammates Rachel Gutish and Ava Silvestri to another Women's World Trophy. She also landed on the cover of Trail Rider magazine, photo courtesy of Art Pepin.