Well, yesterday was one hell of a day to be flying across the country with no Wi-Fi... Welcome to Racerhead and the craziest mid-week of Monster Energy AMA Supercross I can ever remember. The news dropping yesterday came like a rolling set of tidal waves, some huge and some just plain unfortunate, and all of them unexpected. And each time we got a whiff of cell service on the runways before the plane doors shut, there was barely time to make sense of what all was happening.
The day started with the Lawrence brothers' very big and public breakup with longtime agent Lucas Mirtl, his responses, an additional bombshell from the Wasserman agency that Mirtl worked at as he represented the boys and the day ended with a bombshell from Austria stating that KTM's parent company boss Stefan Pierer was stepping down amidst their ongoing financial disarray. And in between all that there was the continued and unfortunate shrinking of the 250SX West Region as not one or two but four riders—Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki teammates Ty Masterpool and Garrett Marchbanks, plus GasGas' Ryder DiFrancesco, plus Triumph's Stilez Robertson—were all going on the injured list and will miss Anaheim 2 (and likely more). Each news drip I got as I traveled seemed to get bigger and stranger, and piecing it all together and making sense out of it was pretty much impossible...
Read the update on the Lawrence-Mirtl situation from Thursday.
Note: the following images below include profanity and strong language.
I received the following statement from the Lawrence brothers concerning changes to their management. pic.twitter.com/jUo8rwWrT5
— Lewis Phillips (@LewisPhillips71) January 23, 2025
So, welcome to Anaheim 2, round three of the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX). Knowing there would be a lot going on our here today—SMX steering committee meetings, American Motocross' annual meeting, PulpMX live show, etc.—I started working on this intro on Wednesday afternoon. These were preliminary notes to touch on:
-84th Anaheim SX of all time, early start time 5:30 p.m. locally
-Eli Tomac's 53rd win, and maybe one of his most impressive ever, Julien Beaumer’s first pro win, definitely most impressive ever...
-No Californians (again) in the 450SX main event at San Diego.
-No one had Jo Shimoda getting his fingers broken on a pit board on their bingo card... As team manager Lars Lindstrom said, “All that time and money, right down the drain.”
-Improvements for the Lawrence brothers and Haiden Deegan
-Jordon Smith moved the all-time best finish for a Triumph up another notch in 250SX.
-The shorter track meant 24 laps for the 450SX main (A1 was 20) and 18 laps in 250SX (15 at the opener)
-Weege is back in the broadcast booth this weekend!
Well, those notes are pretty much out of the headlines now. I have not spoken to any of the principals in any other two big bombshell stories (and congrats to intrepid reporter Lewis Phillips on breaking the whole story), but there's certainly more to come out. However, I've known the Lawrence family and Mirts and Jacob Hayes and all for years. It's hard to tell exactly what all led up to this very public divorce, and even as I type this, I'm sure there are probably hundreds of posts and takes and opinions and conspiracy theories out there. What I do believe is in that old concept: "All things end badly—that's why they end." Same goes for the current KTM news, though the brand here keeps trucking along with two of the four main event wins so far, courtesy of Chase Sexton and now Julien Beaumer. I've never really understood how corporate finances and debt work, so I'm on the sidelines of that one too (though there's probably some dark corner of the internet where this is all my fault, right?)
Tomorrow night Jett and Hunter Lawrence will line up for round three of Monster Energy AMA Supercross and have to put all of this out of the way if either are going to have any chance to succeed against the red-hot Eli Tomac, Cooper Webb, Ken Roczen, Chase Sexton, and more... And Red Bull KTM will line up with the red plate in the 250SX West Region thanks to young Beaumer and in a virtual tie for the 450SX lead thanks to Chase, as the guys racing here seem focused on their racing instead of what's happening over there in Austria. But what we won't see tomorrow night is Masterpool, Marchbanks, DiFrancesco, Robertson, Avery Long, Talon Hawkins, etc.... And that has been the most unfortunate news of all.
Read: Anaheim 2 SX Betting Odds Are Live: J. Lawrence, Tomac, and Sexton Top Odds
Anaheim 2 #Supercross broadcast team:
— Mitch Kendra (@mitch_kendra) January 24, 2025
Play by Play – Jason Weigandt (@JasonWeigandt)
Analyst – Ricky Carmichael (@RickyCarmichael)
Reporter – Will Christien (@WillChristien)
Reporter – Jason Thomas (@Jason66Thomas)@SMXMedia #SupercrossLIVE #SuperMotocross #SX2025 #SMX2025
And here are some win ads...
We thought JuJu might get the Cycle News cover, but it was another Red Bull KTM rider, Daniel "Chucky" Sanders, on Page 1 after winning the Dakar Rally...
TITLE 24??? (Matthes)
The snow in Florida stranded Ricky Carmichael down there so I was a last-minute fill-in for the Title 24 LIVE show at the Dunlop HQ last night [Editor’s note: odd reading about people stranded from snow in Florida!]. I don't have 15 SX/MX titles like RC, but I do have four Manitoba titles (missed a fifth by two points) and when Ryan Villopoto calls for a favor, you do it. So, I headed down to Dunlop HQ and hosted a little show with RV and Ryan Dungey who had earlier that day announced a partnership with Dunlop and his RD Foundation. That was fun, I threw some questions at them about the 2025 SX season, their own rivalry, we got Jake Weimer involved with some texts, took some audience questions, and fun was had. Where do I send the bill?
BETTS/MATTHES (Matthes)
By the time you read this, we'll have finished a top secret PulpMX video involving myself, former pro baseball player Chris Betts, JT, Weege, Kellen Brauer, and Landon Knack of the Los Angeles Dodgers. This could be the greatest thing I've ever done or could turn into a disaster. Either way, laughs will rule the day, and I hope no one gets injured. Stay tuned here and PulpMX for more.
PULPMX SHOW (Matthes)
We had Justin Barcia on the PulpMX Show Monday night, and he was talking about he's okay with his first two rounds but needs to work on his starts. In San Diego, he went from 13th to eighth in a good ride but mentioned that, yeah, starts matter. In more breaking news, water is wet. He said that with the switch from Troy Lee Design/Red Bull/GasGas to the in-house factory GasGas team, the bike is mostly the same, but he went to the new frame (something he chose not to use last year) and then the exhaust company is new as well. Other than that, seems like mostly the same program for Bam this year. We did talk about how it's the last year of his contract (along with more than a few other riders) and not coincidentally, talked about how his old boss, Troy Lee, is looking for riders for the new Ducati program next year. Oh, and that Desmo valve train system would seem to fit someone like Justin Barcia pretty good to which Barcia replied "Interesting!"... head to pulpmxshow.com to watch or listen more.
The Kids Are Alright (DC)
Let weekend in San Diego we saw something in the 250SX class that I don't think we've seen in a very long time—if ever. Four of the top five finishers in the main event—Julian Beaumer, Haiden Deegan, Cole Davis, and Ryder DiFrancesco—were all teenagers. That's right. The winner Beaumer was born on May 12, 2006, and is 18 years old. Third-place Deegan was born on January 10, 2006, and is 19 years old. Fourth-place Davies from New Zealand, born on August 28, 2007, is still only 17 years old. And fifth-place DiFrancesco won't turn 20 until March 28. The only rider that wasn't a teenager in the top five was runner-up Jordon Smith, who is 29 years old (born February 5, 1995).
In a class that sometimes seems to skew older in age, especially as many veterans extended their careers by staying down in supercross, and advancement rules have changed a few times, to see so many fast young riders at the front is refreshing. I believe a lot of this has to do with the SMX Next program that Feld Motor Sports and MX Sports Pro Racing have implemented across the board the past few years, allowing young riders a chance to get their feet wet inside a stadium or at an outdoor national, without actually turning pro, through SX Futures and the MX Sports Scouting Moto Combines. All four of the teenagers in the top five at San Diego were graduates of the program and were probably better prepared than most that came before them. The SMX Next program also skews nicely with the fact that the minimum age is going up to 18 by 2027, due in large part to concerns in many states about youth liability release waivers.
Next weekend in Glendale will see the first SMX Next round of 2025 and it will showcase some of the fastest kids in the sport. Among the names that jump are Drew Adams, Caden Dudney, Kayden Minear, Krystian Janik, Landen Gordon, Landon Gibson, Enzo Zimmerman, Alex Fedortsov, Landon Hartz, Chace Lawton, and Luke Fauser... All together 25 riders are entered right now for SMX Next at Glendale. It should be a very interesting race to say the least! And if you miss this one, SMX Next will return for Daytona (March 1), Birmingham (March 22) and Foxborough (April 5), and then the actual SMX Next Supercross National Championship finale will run in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Supercross on April 26.
The Kids, Continued (Mitch Kendra)
Building off of Davey’s entry on the kids, I was working on some preview content for SX Futures ahead of the program’s first race of 2025. When the SX Futures program was re-introduced for the 2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship, it came back with just the top A and B level riders. But taking it one step further, there have been just two riders that have come out of the current SX Futures program to win a race in the professional 250SX Class: Haiden Deegan and now Julien Beaumer, the San Diego SX winner.
Deegan became the first SX Futures "graduate" to earn a pro 250SX win last February when he won in Texas—and he has two more wins since that first one—then Beaumer added his name to the list with his own main event last Saturday. With Ryder DiFrancesco out with an injury, that is one less SX Futures graduate that could possibly grab a win. Maybe Davies joins the list with his first career win this weekend?
AIROH North American Launch (Keefer)
AIROH USA had some of the Southern California moto media come down to Doffo Winery for an official product launch. AIROH Helmets of Italy has obtained and secured distribution rights for the innovate brand's helmet products with an all new AIROH USA facility. Founder and CEO of AIROH was at the presentation and talked about AIROH's passion to come to the USA and offer their hand made helmets to the American motorcycle consumer. I also learned that when the say "hand made" they really mean it. Every helmet in Italy is handmade to AIROH's strict quality assurance policies and with that nearly 300,000 helmets are produced every year! WOW!
AIROH's newest premier motocross helmet is their Aviator III, and it is light! The same one you see Jason Anderson will be for sale here in the states come spring time. At 1,390 grams the Aviator III doesn't feel like three pounds on your head! The Aviator utilizes four separate proprietary shell sizes (where only XS/S and XL/XXL share the same shell). AIROH will have four different models of their off-road helmets and even entered the market with their own goggle line as well! Look for the full line of AIROH products coming to a local dealer in April.
We will break down more of AIROH's technology in an upcoming review of their helmets here on our website and Keeferinctesting.com.
Hey, Watch It!
A couple of phenoms growing up themselves, Ricky Carmichael and Ryan Villopoto, weighed in on Haiden Deegan's early season in this week's Title 24 show:
After that strange 11-12 night at A1 the Lawrence brothers both turned their fortunes around quickly in San Diego, as you can see in This is Lawrence:
How to Win the Biggest Race in Supercross | A1 All-Access with Jett, Chase & Hunter
Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week
“Sheep are working on power plants in a growing trend”—AP News
“How drinking alcohol can affect your health”—AP News
“Some US states not running on Dunkin’ doughnuts due to temporary supply shortage”—AP News
“Influencer describes emotional reaction to seeing TikTok ban”—CNN News
“Giant ‘Darth Vader’ sea bug discovered off the coast of Vietnam”—CNN News
"Ryan Day and Ohio State Had Their Championship Celebrations Immediately Derailed by a Rogue Golf Cart Driver Who Smashed Right Into a Wall"—Barstool Sports
“Golf cart carrying Ohio State coach Ryan Day, players crashes into wall after title game”—The Columbus Dispatch
"Elephants are not people, US court rules"—BBC News
“Kid Cudi Home Intruder Gets Comfy ... Eats His Food, Uses His Shower!!!”—TMZ
“Evolution Making Men More 'Sexy and Formidable', Scientists Claim”—News Week
Random Notes
From the Archives: Found my Gary Bailey Motocross School diploma from 1974 at Appalachia Lake Park, as well as a photo of me riding during that school! Mom literally kept everything.
KTM’s Carlos Rivera’s daughter did a kids book on Aaron Plessinger. It’s on sale at Amazon, check it out below.
If you're hoping to check out Pay Dirt: The Story of Supercross on the big screen, here are some upcoming release dates and locations:
Pay Dirt: The Story of Supercross Screenings
For the latest from Canada, check out DMX Frid’EH Update #4.
Thanks for reading Racerhead. See you at the races!