Us here at the Racer X (virtual) offices are very stoked to be associated with a national champion like we are with our very own Phil Nicoletti. Our resident grump who writes a (somewhat) weekly column for this site retired from SX/MX, had three parties celebrating his career and then he headed up to Canada to go race their eight round series for WLTN Kawasaki.
In a really nutty series that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, our guy managed to win the title without winning a race. Hey, just like that Tim Ferry guy! We caught up to Filthy on the PulpMX Show this past Monday night to tell us all about getting this title.
Racer X: Good job, Phil. First moto you had an eight-point lead. They gave Tanner Ward some points back. We don’t know why. So first moto, you just let him go, I’m guessing?
Phil Nicoletti: I let him go and kind of did what I had to do. Then the second moto, to be honest with you, I really didn’t like the track very much. I really didn’t feel that comfortable all day. But I did what I had to do. Put myself in good positions, good starts. Then the second moto, Tanner and Jess [Pettis] took off and I was in third, crashed, came back, passed me, did a fuel stop… I’m going to be honest with you. I almost had a gut feeling that I knew Dylan’s [Wright] bike wasn’t going to make it anyway. Just the way things had been going. I could see on the other side from the pits what they were doing with his bike. So I really wasn’t worried about Dylan, even though he was going 20 seconds a lap faster. It didn’t really matter for me. But the pace that Jess and Tanner were willing to go on that sketchy track, I’m just like, there’s no way. After Dylan went out and then I saw where Tanner went down and I obviously knew I had it at that point. The last five laps, I don't think I could have gone any slower, to be honest.
You were worrying me a little bit. You were like 2:17, 2:21 lap times. I’m like, is the bike okay?
Obviously at that time, I had six points going into the second moto and then Tanner, I saw on the board, he was +45 back or whatever. I’m like, whatever. I don't care who passes me anymore. I’m just going to cruise it in and be done with it. It was good. Sixteen long motos. It’s hard. Obviously I wasn’t the fastest guy. I went into it knowing that I wasn’t the fastest guy, and everyone sure as f*** told me I wasn’t the fastest guy. Parents of other riders and sponsors. I get all that. I said from the get-go, it’s to play the long game and take the points when I could and try not to have any DNFs. My mechanic did awesome on my race bike. I had no DNFs. My Kawi held up great. It was good. I didn’t do any DNFs from any crashes or anything.
It’s a crazy series and all that shit happened, but you were there every moto and other guys were not. Were you nervous at all before moto one?
I was, yeah. I was a little nervous. It’s always the unknown riding dirt bikes. Going into the first or second corner or going down. It’s always easier to be the hunter than the hunted. When you’re down and out like after I was at Gopher and I lost those points, I knew at Moncton and Riverglade I kind of had to lock in and get a little bit gnarly. Obviously those two rounds went really good. I had a full 22-point swing or whatever because I lost so many points at Gopher and Sand Del Lee, which still eats at me a little bit. Obviously those two races showed I could dig myself out and get an eight-point lead going into Walton. I remember Sand Del Lee when I was freaking out at my team saying I need to change some stuff or work on things.
I said, I need to go into Walton with at least an eight to a ten-point lead. I have to. Sure as shit, that’s what happened and it worked out. It was good. I learned a lot about a new motorcycle in a short amount of time. It was a new challenge. I didn’t realize what really goes into it at a certain level, and kind of starting from scratch and everything. When I first started, the way everything was going, it wasn’t going ideal. So, it was really good to pull the reins in. I said it a million times. I’ve had a lot of really good people. Jaime Ellis and Oscar [Wirdeman] helping me, Johnny Ohler from Art of War. It was fun. It was very hectic at times and a lot of screaming and yelling on my end, but it all worked out.
Did Jess or Dylan come by and congratulate you?
Yeah, they did. I truly think Jess should have won the championship, but he even told me, “No, man. You did. You held it together. Your bike didn’t break. You didn’t crash.” For me, that’s still cool. I told him I need him to heal up and go ride at des Nations like he does up here, so it kind of makes me look good a little bit. Shows I still have a little bit something in the tank. It was good. I enjoyed it.
Canadians are Canadians. They’ll always want a Canadian to win, regardless of anything. It was a good year. It was a fun year. It was like pulling a lot of teeth for them to try and talk me into it to go up there and do it and stuff. It’s hard to go do it when you really don’t think you can win anymore. I lost the one in 2019. That one was near and dear to my heart. Obviously everyone knows what happened with that and it cost me a lot. So to go back at my age and to still do it and put it together for 16 motos, it almost kind of feels a little bit better, to be honest.
You got to go back next year. You have to.
Best thing about it is I got nine months to figure it out.
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James Lissimore ![]()
James Lissimore ![]()
James Lissimore
