Monster Energy AMA Supercross is back after a weekend off and that means our man Phil Nicoletti is back too! Well, writing this column at least. But he is going to be back racing professionally in Canada here in a few months this summer. Anyway, until then, he will be grinding out motos at ClubMX and columns here on Racer X.
As always, send your questions to phil@racerxonline.com.
Phil,
I was going over some recent MXGP results and noticed there wasn’t a single American in either class. Is that good, bad, or who gives a sh**? I feel that you could have adapted well the that type of racing. Were you ever offered a chance to race the MXGP series?
-Jimmy
I don’t necessarily think it’s good or bad. It’s just whatever. There is a reason why the MXGP guy want to come to the U.S. way more than a U.S. guy going to the GP’s. I’m not going to sit here and blow out the GP’s, but it doesn’t look very inviting to go there. Especially some of the tracks and places. That’s my honest opinion. I’m an outdoor guy, and love the great outdoors. But when I watch a race like the MXGP of Spain, how do you sell an American rider to go there for that? I’m all for riding in the mud too, but that was just like…….no. In order to go do it, even for someone like myself, it would have to be really worth it to leave home. Need good money to afford to stay and train at good places. If I got paid a little more to go do the GPs vs the U.S., I’m going to stay in the U.S. If more GP riders feel they could make it through and survive SX, I would guarantee that you would see more of them here. Would it be cool to some rounds? Absolutely! Some of those tracks look unreal. But I’ll take a rain check on doing the whole series.
Hey Phil,
First off congrats on the career and glad to see you still being involved. I saw you at dinner Friday night in Indy at St. Elmo's but didn't want to bother you and your crew. But then, we saw you again the next morning at Cafe Patachou and I had to say hello since we were waiting for a table at the same time. So thanks for the first bump and finally meeting you! Question for you is, do riders really enjoy doing the track walk? I, personally, always hated doing that because it always psyched me out and made the jumps seem bigger than they were just riding. And those were just local arencrosses back in the day. I can't imagine SX. What is your take on walking this tracks?! Also, if SX makes its way back to Nashville, hit me up for some awesome places to eat while there!
-Zach from Knoxville
Zach,
It’s never a bother….only takes a minute to say hello. I asked a few people about this. I always did track walk. But now that I’m thinking about it, maybe I should have skipped it! Would have saved me a shit ton of anxiety! Zach Osborne used to miss track walk all the time. But then I believe he ended up doing track walks because his team made him. But he didn’t for the longest time. I also asked Hunter Lawrence. He doesn’t do track walk either. Seems crazy but here’s what Hunter told me:
“I mean, we'll have a look at the track a little bit, I'll stand on the straight and look at the rhythm or something if I'm down for press day but otherwise yeah man, we haven't done a track walk in like four years. I'm sure we've done an odd one here and there. Maybe at Daytona if I can have a walk around the ring but I mean, yeah bro, the last four years we haven’t really done any.”
Maybe that’s where I went wrong in life. Walking the gahhhhhhh damn track!!! Psyched myself out before I even got out there for free practice haha. But in all honesty, when you walk an SX track, and then ride it, it is so much different on a dirt bike. The perspective is so much different. So I’m not sure walking helps at all and it can definitely scare you. Looks like I screwed up the past 18 years! No surprise.
Hey Phil,
Do you believe in Karma? I was recently rewatching Washougal 2013 and the TV lady was interviewing Ryan Villopoto on the gate before Moto one and you can be seen in the background shoulder checking Broc Tickle. A few minutes later on the first lap after a decent start, you get shoulder checked off a berm and can't get back on the track until the entire field goes by. Personally, I think Karma only happens to those who believe in it.
-Brian
Watch the interview with RV starts at 3:30 in the video below.
Brian,
You out looking for drama or what? No, that wasn’t karma. Broc and I are good friend. Just some pre-moto chest bump action. I can’t remember who punted me off the track…I wanna say maybe it was Tucker Hibbert? Apparently Tucker thought he was turning his Arctic Cat around the left hand corner. He owes me dinner for that one. Kinda messed up, and I was a fan of his! Haha. Side note, I had a solid battle with Tucker at Walton Raceway in 2007 in Canada. Dude is a legend. But back to your question, Broc and I always had good battles through the years. Most of the time he got the better of me at time. Happy Broc, I said. Prick.
