Down in Australia there’s good news as well. The Lawrence brothers are enjoying their homecoming at the AUS-X Open in Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, along with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Cooper Webb. We spotted some pre-race interviews over on the MotoOnline AUS YouTube channel that you can see right here:

Here is the information on how to watch the event. And look for highlights of the actual race tomorrow morning on their social media pages.

And then there was the bad news of the week, which really does come in threes at time. First, there was the passing of Malcolm Smith, the motorcycling icon best known for his appearance in the film On Any Sunday but also an amazingly gifted and versatile racer and businessman. Smith won multiple titles, as well as seven gold medals in the International Six Days Enduro (ISDE). He opened a highly successful motorcycle shop in Riverside, California, that became a massive company, Malcolm Smith Racing. He also built a huge charitable foundation that was dedicated to helping orphaned children in Mexico. He was one of the singularly most influential motorcycle riders ever and Malcolm would be the first face carved if there was a Mt. Rushmore for motorcycling. You will not find a person in the motorcycle industry today who was not influenced by Malcolm Smith. He’s literally the reason there even is a Progressive Grand National Cross Country Series (GNCC)—his scenes in On Any Sunday at the Lake Elsinore Grand Prix inspired the Blackwater 100 in 1975, which in turn led to an entire series that we now know as GNCC. Malcolm Smith was 83 years old when he passed from complications related to Parkinson’s disease, which he had been battling for 20 years.

Malcolm Smith's Husqvarna 400 Cross from On Any Sunday.

Then came the news that another motorcycling legend in Mary McGee passed as well. She was a pioneering woman who raced pretty much everything: motocross, road racing, enduro, and even the Baja 500, which she completed riding solo—and she was the first person, period, to do it solo. In many cases McGee was the first woman to even enter the events, and she was the first to obtain an FIM license to compete in international competitions as well. She was recently the subject of an ESPN 30 for 30 episode appropriately titled “Motorcycle Mary.” An AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer and a strong proponent for women in motorcycling, McGee was 87 years old when she passed. Godspeed, to both Malcom Smith and Mary McGee. Thank you both for all that you did for the rest of us motorcycling enthusiasts.

Here is the iconic Honda commercial that featured Malcolm Smith as a reverend whose congregation gifts him a brand new dirt bike, not realizing that he already knew how to ride—and ride it well! It ran during primetime television and was another major milestone that included the charismatic and cool Malcolm Smith.

And here is the ESPN 30 for 30 “Motorcycle Mary” about the life and racing times of Mary McGee, who was every bit as charismatic and energetic as Malcolm Smith. She raced both cars and motorcycles, but dirt bikes was maybe her biggest passion.

The third bit of bad news did not involve an unfortunate passing, but rather the dire straits that the KTM Motorcycle Group has found itself in, financially…

The Orange Black Friday (DC)

There have been whispers for a while that KTM was in a pinch, having over-extended and over-spent on purchasing other brands, including Husqvarna, GasGas, and MV Agusta, as well as over-production (to the tune of more than 1,000 a day) just when motorcycle sales softened, among other things. The hammer dropped earlier this week when Stefan Pierer, of the parent company Pierer Mobility, announced a restructuring plan to hopefully rescue the company and the jobs of its 5,000-plus employees.

The immediate question was how would this affect the KTM-related teams that are the living embodiment of the company motto “Ready to Race?” This includes the Red Bull KTM teams both on the AMA circuit and in Europe, as well as Husqvarna (GasGas has been throttling down for a while). Jason Weigandt dug into it a bit and found out that it’s all-systems-go, for now.

Over in Europe, KTM’s global racing director Pit Beirer spoke to a reporter from the Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten about the company’s plans to continue racing:

 “We will stay in all the series we are in. Whatever we do, we do with 100 percent. But the focus is now entirely on orange. In some series, we are currently represented with three times the effort. Motorsport and the company's success over the last 20 years are directly linked. We are the company's best marketing tool. The company has had linear growth for over 20 years. We won races and then sold motorcycles. That's the secret of success. We are 'Ready to Race' and we do not engage in motorsport as an end in itself. We are now in a very difficult phase and we, as the motorsport department, will do our part to stabilize the company. We are part of the family and we have to stick together now. We also learned to fight in sport. We give the company everything we have and will get through this together.”

43 days until Anaheim, thank goodness.

And speaking of, Josh Gagnon's (@alwaysbelieve331) countdown to A1 continues...

Dean Wilson is Pissed (DC)

Last weekend's FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) doubleheader in Perth, Australia ended in a hurry for the veteran Dean Wilson after he was taken out by Vince Friese in the second set of races. Wilson posted a couple of videos after visiting a doctor and self-reported a dislocated shoulder and torn labrum. He said:

Wilson had plans to race the British Arenacross Series, the Dortmund Supercross in Germany, the final round of the WSX in Abu Dhabi, and this coming weekend's final round of Australian Supercross, the AUS-X Open. He also had plans to race select rounds of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, but now that's all up in the air. 

“It’s putting everything in jeopardy as far as WSX and the UK goes," said Wilson. "I didn’t see it coming, didn’t brace for it, nothing. I didn’t see there was even any need for it."

“I hate having to even be doing this shit. But I’m over it. Enough is enough. We have had no problems since A 1. I was moving along and racing forward. Clearly, he’s soft and can’t handle the heat of dropping back every race and just targeted me.”

Wilson thanked Dr. Steve Andrews, Fire Power Honda team owner Yarrive Konsky, team manager Martin Davalos, as well as his wife Sarah: "I really want to still come to the UK, Germany and of course race U.S. Supercross but we will just see what we decide to do. Thank you all for the support.” 

Added our own Jason Thomas, “I, for one, am shocked.”

A ray of good news in an update from Deano himself this morning: “What’s up everyone. Little update, I am going to tape up my shoulder and give it a go in practice tomorrow. If it’s okay, I will race. If not, we will make a game plan on what my next best move is. Thanks all for the support, as always.”

And one more note on Vince Friese: He errantly ended up in the SuperFinal of last Saturday night’s World Supercross in Perth, Australia, due to, well, we let them explain it here.

Australian Supercross History (DC)

"MX Geoff" Meyer is also a native Australian that emigrated to the European motocross scene. A longtime journalist, he's a student of the sport as well as an all-time bench racer, and pretty much a global ambassador of all things Grand Prix motocross as well as Australia moto. He posted a history of Australian supercross earlier this week and that goes back to 1978 and the first first "stadium motocross" at Sydney's Parramatta Raceway, a big race car facility (probably very much like the setting for the Daytona Supercross we still have here in the U.S.). One year later the first Stefan's Superbowl of Motocross was held at Brisbane's Archerfield Raceway, with a few imported American superstars to help promote the event. That's when it all really took off down under. Here's the full history article MX Geoff posted.

West Coast Off Road (Keefer)

On the East Coast you have GNCC, out on the West Coast we have Hare-N-Hounds. These races are nearly three hours, and it takes a different breed of rider to get through these types of races. I got to be a factory Rockstar Energy Husqvarna rider for the day at the last round of the AMA National Hare N Hound Series so I decided to hire a videographer to follow me around to show you what it's like. Most of the time you'll find me out on the motocross track testing for Racer X but lately I have been getting the bug to get back to some of my off-road roots. Next year I will be hitting some National Enduros and GNCCs as well as some ice racing, so look for the stories of those adventures right here on Racer X Online. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend, and you get to spend it with friends and family. 

And speaking of West Coast off-road, what an incredible impressive feat for supercross privateer Josh Greco—he soloed the Baja 1000 and finished! It took him 27 hours, 32 minutes, which is just crazy for a rider used to eight-lap heat races and six-lap LCQs. Josh posted, “My take away was that was the gnarliest , hardest , dumbest thing I’ve ever done!”  

Mini O’s Update (DC)

There are way too many good riders and competitive classes to drill down on who’s doing what at the 53^rd THOR Mini O’s. I have been watching on and off all week on RacerTV.com and really enjoying the racing as well as the commentary, including Kevin Windham as color analyst for some of the motos. Here’s a link to all of the results as they go live.

Part of yesterday’s broadcast included the announcement of the Area and Regional qualifiers dates for what will be the 44^th Annual Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship.

Hey, Watch It!

Shane McElrath on racing the 450s on his 250:

RACING A FULL SAND SUPERCROSS TRACK - World Supercross Perth Vlog

BAKERS FACTORY Behind the scenes 2025 BOOTCAMP WEEK 1!! and Baker’s Factory behind the scenes 2025 Bootcamp Week 2!!

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