Next, the long-awaited introduction of multi-time FIM Motocross World Champion Jorge Prado to the Monster Energy Kawasaki team and Fox Racing and the AMA circuit for the next few years finally took place. Prado has been in America since practically the day after the Monster Energy AMA Motocross of Nations back in October, but he’s kept his riding sessions in private, so everyone was waiting to see the first pictures of #70 on green. Fortunately for us, Simon Cudby got the call for the shoot—and Simon made us wait until the embargo was up before he dared let them leave his camera’s memory card!

Prado’s arrival here has been one of the biggest topics of the off-season, as people try to figure out where he will fit into the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) in 2025. My guess is decent in Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an immediate title contender in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship, as well as the SMX Playoffs and Finals. Wrote MX Geoff Meyer on MX Large, "Whatever happens, we will all sit back and hope our World MXGP champion can actually win titles in USA and add to his already legendary career. You can only respect Prado for the move, because as we saw this year, he could easily have dominated the sport in Europe for many, many years, but he took the difficult journey." Meyer has a very interesting take on the whole Prado going-to-America adventure from a European perspective that you can read here.

As I write this hundreds of families are rolling into Gatorback Cycle Park in Florida for the THOR Mini O’s, a massive amateur motocross classic that will see racing for eight straight days, beginning with Sunday’s first supercross races. RacerTV.com will be streaming the entire event live, which means you can spend your Thanksgiving week previewing all of the future SMX stars, as well as some past ones in the highly competitive vet classes. If you want to watch it all, you better be up and online at 7:15 a.m. ET on Sunday, because that’s when the motos and live-streaming start!

Read Mitch Kendra's 2023 recap/2024 preview article, noting some riders to watch over the next few days.

Looking ahead, and down under, Australia is in for a big fortnight. First, there's this weekend's doubleheader of the FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) in Perth's HBF Park, featuring reigning WSX champion Ken Roczen and two-time AMA Supercross Champion Eli Tomac. The races are Saturday night and Sunday and will serve as the second and third rounds of the four-race series. (The conclusion will take place on Wednesday, December 4, in Abu Dhabi, running in conjunction with the following weekend's Formula 1 race.) Tomac got the better of Roczen three out of four times at the opening round in Vancouver, Canada, the last weekend of October. Tomac scored an even 100 points for the win, with 25 for each of his two WSX race wins, then 22 for the one he dropped to Roczen. Tomac also took the SuperFinal, which included the top 450s and 250s in one last race. Finally, he got three points for finishing second in the SuperPole, which made for that even 100 points. As for Roczen, he scored 84 total points, as a crash in the second 450 race really set him back. Fire Power Honda's Joey Savatgy (79), PMG Suzuki's Colt Nichols (74) and MotoConcepts' Vince Friese (65) rounds out the top five.

In SX2 (250) racing Fire Power Honda's Shane McElrath is the points leader going into the two rounds in Perth, with his teammate Cole Thompson second (79) and Rick Ware Racing's Enzo Lopes third (76). McElrath won two out of the three SX2 races, with wildcard visitor Max Anstie, last year's champion, winning the other race. Anstie will not be in Perth. The four wildcard riders for this weekend are all Australian: Perth's own Kayden Minear and Reid Taylor will race SX2 while Kyle Webster and Nathan Crawford will enter WSX. Minear, you might recall, had a breakout ride at the Ironman Moto Combine when the 17-year-old won a moto, while Webster was the third man on the winning Team Australia in the Motocross of Nations. And some might even recognize Reid Taylor, as he made a good impression in the inaugural Indian Supercross Racing League. You can watch the Perth WSX streaming on wsx.tv as well as FS1 and FS2 television. 

The following weekend will be an even bigger party in Australia because the Lawrence brothers are finally returning as world-conquering heroes to the AUS-X Open in Melbourne's Marvel Stadium. The brothers have not raced in Australia for years (I think nine in Hunter’s case, five for Jett) as they made a go of it first in Europe and now the U.S. They've had incredible success since, as Jett is the reigning Monster Energy AMA Supercross and SuperMotocross World Champion, while Hunter was a close second in both AMA Pro Motocross and the SMX Finals. Then they teamed up together with Webster as Team Australia to win the MXoN for the first time, topping Team USA in the process. Add to that all of the previous successes both brothers have had on the AMA circuit and there is plenty for their Australian fans to finally get to celebrate. Again, the Lawrences haven't raced at home for more than five years! The Melbourne race is also the conclusion of the 2024 Fox Australian Supercross Championship, where Honda riders Joey Savatgy and Dean Wilson lead the standings.

Before we get into the rest of the week’s news, there was very sad news about the loss of some longtime friends. Sherri Hultner was the wife of legendary photographer Chris Hultner, the first editor of Racer X when it became a magazine in 1998, and before that Motocross Action and Fox Racing. Married 34 years ago, Chris and Sherri raised two boys, Trevor and Jeff, and started the publications Motocross West and Amateur MX in the early 2000s. They eventually decided to move their family out of Southern California and moved to Oklahoma, where Chris became a highly-successful commercial studio photographer. Sherri had recently been working on a social media project to help their community called @edmondactive when she became ill. After Sherri passed away this week Chris wrote, "She was my partner and friend and her passing leaves a huge hole in my heart… She was the smart one in our endeavors and always learned how to get things done. I couldn't have done any of those things without her.” Godspeed, Sherri Hultner.

Eric Arlet, once a promising young minicycle rider from a prominent Pittsburgh motocross family, passed away after an extended illness. The 51-year-old and his brothers Wayne and Jeremy were staples on the local scene back in the '80s and '90s. Eric raced the 51cc Pee-Wee class at the very first Loretta Lynn's AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships in 1982, finishing eighth. His all-time best finish at the ranch was a sixth in 1987 in an 85cc class that included Jimmy Button, Buddy Antunez, Tim Ferry, Scott Sheak and more. Arlet stopped racing long ago, picking up bowling and golfing and cooking as his weekend passions instead, but was there cheering his nephew Cody on when the next generation of Arlets got into motocross. Rest in peace, Eric Arlet.  

Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)

This week brought the SuperMotocross World Championship broadcasting team together for several days of brainstorming, review, and collaboration. Much has changed in our sport since the playoff system was announced and the goal is to continue to refine and perfect the pathway forward. That process includes thinking outside the box in a “no idea is a bad idea” type workshop. With so many skill sets, coming from so many different angles, the amount of knowledge and experience at Feld Entertainment HQ in Florida was truly awesome.

Now, how do we improve upon a series that is gaining popularity across every metric? How do we fill the gaps to bring SuperMotocross insight to the masses? How can I personally share on-track dynamics more concisely and articulately? Those are the types of questions being flung around for days on end. My favorite part of this far-reaching process is that everyone’s heart is truly all-in on being better. The encouragement and constructive criticism are both there, both pushing every aspect to the maximum. Will it ever be perfect? That’s for the viewers to decide. But, I can tell you from the inside, the effort is there at every rung to make this everything we all dream it to be.

The final day of the week was time to put pen to paper. The broadcast team collectively filmed segments for the 2025 SuperMotocross World Championship Preview Show. We interviewed several of the contenders at their homes, away from the bright lights of Saturday night. Getting insight into not only their racing persona but a glimpse into the human beings they are when the crowd noise fades away. The human aspect of these world-class athletes is always the most fascinating and least known. We tried to shine a light on the rider inside the helmet, as well as the family with unwavering support behind the scenes. Anaheim will arrive and the hype will be palpable. Hopefully, on December 29, you’ll learn a little more about exactly who we are all rooting for when the gate drops.

New TV Updates (Jason Weigandt)

As Jason Thomas mentioned above, we had a productive week of meetings at the Feld HQ planning television initiatives for 2025. Last year I suggested we explore using Dartfish or “ghost software” on the broadcasts, which is a tool teams have been using inside the semi-trucks for years. Several others in the broadcast division had already been looking into it, but we made it happen in 2024, and you might have noticed a few segments of Monster Energy Supercross where Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart showed where one rider can make up time on another (note: ghost software allows you to lay two video clips over top of each other, so you can literally watch Chase Sexton and Jett Lawrence ride the exact same section of the track at the exact same time and see the difference in line choice and speed). I’d like to think we’ve got some smart people around with a lot of experience in this sport involved in these shows (including former racers like Thomas, Stewart, Carmichael, and Adam Cianciarulo at these meetings) and we can come up with great ideas. 

The full broadcast schedule was announced on Thursday. Myself and Leigh Diffey will once again split play-by-play duties with Carmichael and Stewart as the analysts, Thomas and Will Christien return as track side reporters. No changes there, but the Race Day Live qualifying show will now be hosted by the great Justin Brayton and Cianciarulo.  Yup, the analysts become the hosts! Should be some epic bench racing on RDL now and I’ll probably be stopping by to visit A LOT just to check in on JB10. Dan Hubbard anchored these shows and the evening live event for years, but now it’s time for JB and AC to stretch their skill set. Hopefully Dan comes to visit us at a few races next year, he’s a great dude.

Looking forward to 2025, we got several of the annual “this upcoming season might be the best one ever” statements made throughout the meetings. That’s the holiday tradition we’ve come to know and love in this sport!

Lawrences and Deegan in Australia (Weigandt)

As mentioned above, the Lawrences are racing Aus-X Open next weekend. This week news started to leak out that Haiden Deegan was feeling good on the supercross test track and might be interested in racing the event as well, but an offer for start money was either pulled off the table, or not actually offered at all. 

Was this because the Lawrences themselves told the promoter of the Aus-X Open they didn't want Deegan to attend? This details of this story has changed multiple times as the week has gone on. We had Steve Matthes here write up a brief on it, but since the story keeps changing, we'll instead go to the very latest info we've found, which was released by Vital MX's Michael Lindsay about an hour before we posted Racerhead right here. That should be the most up-to-date take on everything involved. Suffice to say Lawrence and Deegan drama is continuing to build.

https://www.vitalmx.com/features/deegan-snubbed-and-lawrences-blamed-ausx-open-facts

Whither Bobby Hewitt? (Matthes)

On November 13, I tweeted out that Triumph Racing and Bobby Hewitt have parted ways after less than one year of racing. The PR took a while longer than that (finally announced Wednesday) as everyone took the high road there and said it was a mutual decision but from multiple people close to the situation there, it seems that Hewitt was indeed let go. Even though this was the brand’s first year of racing, Bobby's been there longer than that as he was helping to build the team up. It's another curious decision from the UK guys in their first year of racing. First it was Evan Ferry and the team parting ways then Joey Savatgy left before the SMX Playoffs. As I've written a bunch, the team should be applauded for accomplishing some real cool milestones on a brand-new bike—and not a bike company they bought and slapped plastics on, but a start-from-scratch new dirt bike. Yes, they had some issues outdoors, but they'll learn from that and be better. And the three riders they added for 2025—Austin Forkner, Jordon Smith, and Stilez Robertson joining Jalek Swoll—all look promising, but in my opinion, seeing so much turnover mid-season with riders and then now to let the handpicked U.S. boss go so soon does leave me scratching my head… 

There's only—checks @alwaysbelieve331 jerseys—50 days until Anaheim! Josh Gagnon's countdown to A1 continues...

Triumph TF 450-RC Edition (Keefer)

The embargo is up, so make sure to check out all of the videos about the new Triumph TF 450-RC Edition (Ricky Carmichael). Looks like they will arrive in dealerships come February, but I am sure the race team will get to work on their stuff here shortly for 2026. Triumph is hoping to get a 450 race team test rider soon! Who will that be? I guess we will have to wait and find out. 

Keefer Inc. video:

Touring the Citadelle at Namur (DC)

Just spotted this on Instagram from our longtime friend Rob Andrews, the British Grand Prix rider of the 1980s-turned-author and all-around great guy:

Earlier this year I returned to Namur, the long lost home of the Belgian 500 GP, and the best, and most famous Grand Prix track of all. And while I was there I made an awesome track walk video for you, showing how the track looks today and explaining everything you ever needed to know about what it was like to race there during its heyday.

Trust me, you’re going to love it!

It’s a five-part series, and the first episode premieres tomorrow, Saturday, on YouTube and Facebook. There will be a new episode every week until Christmas.

And if you want to learn even more about racing the 500cc world motocross championship back in the glory days, you need ‘The Inside Line’ book. 416 pages of detailed insight into the life and emotions of a 500 GP contender, beautifully illustrated in full colour, front to back, with some for the most incredible and soul-stirring images from the greatest photographers of the day.

Order now in time for Christmas at https://theinsidelinebook.com.

Balboni Brothers Factory Racing Week 12 Report (Matt Rice)

The Balbonis got what they were asking for...A MUDDER! The 2024 Fifth Street Cyclocross Season Finale end with a quagmire and with a 2.5x points night on the line Mike Emery and Gart Vandam (AKA Matt Rice) rose to the occasion. The old heads would show their motocross roots in the greasy corners and soggy conditions. In race one, Emery and Vandam would lock into a four-lap battle with Double Cross title contender Matt Kayes over valuable points. Swapping potions all moto, Vandam and Kayes would find their way around Emery with Gart finishing 32nd, Matt Kayes in 33rd, and Emery in 36th.

Race two would see an even tougher course in the reverse direction and with all the momentum from race one, Gart would battle through for a season best finish of 22nd. Emery fought the good fight and stayed consistent scoring a 35th for the 2.5 points. In the end Emery would finish the season 75th in points and Gart 64th. Huge shoutout to Matt Kayes finish his 2024 season with a 2nd in the Double Cross Points!

Said Gart Vandam:

Said Mike Emery:

Hey, Watch It!

First Look: Jorge Prado on Monster Energy Kawasaki | Full-Time USA Ride

Full Jorge Prado Interview! | "I Didn't Know...I was Empty."

DIRT SHARK | Jorge Prado #70 Monster Energy Kawasaki

Shane McElrath and the closest finish of his career—and some SuperCars—in Australia:

Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week

“Church in Switzerland is using an AI-powered Jesus hologram to take confession”—Daily Mail

"KFC launches chicken-flavored lickable Christmas wrapping paper"—The Sun

Random Notes

We mentioned Simon Cudby earlier—he’s the subject of a cool profile by Darkside over at Vital MX that’s a good read.

And another Southern California track might be closing for good. This time it’s LACR, but the song remains the same: Difficulty in finding insurance to cover the facility after recent litigations, according to their social media: