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Welcome to Racerhead, coming to you on the eve of the start of the 2022 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship. We’re 50 years into this series, but every opener still gets us more excited about all of the possibilities, great battles, and epic events that are about to play out over the course of summer. And it’s also Memorial Day weekend, which means no matter what plans you have this weekend, please take a moment to remember all the men and women who have served out country and given the ultimate sacrifice so that we can be the United States of America.
Memorial Day weekend also means summer is here, so it’s time to take it outside, to the great outdoors, and all those other things we like to say about AMA Pro Motocross. After five months of a solid Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship, it’s our turn to drop some starting gates. We begin here at Fox Raceway in Pala, California, where not only are we celebrating 50 years of AMA Pro Motocross, but our friends at Honda are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their entrance in the motocross world with the original Honda CR250-M. Honda is the title sponsor of this first round, they have the #1 plate in the 250 Class with Jett Lawrence, and they’re unveiling a new product this evening at a nearby winery. I honestly have no idea what it is, as I’ve pretty much been here at the track all week. Also, and this is curious: Honda has not taken their bikes out of the rig all day, and they asked an AMA official if they could come over and tech them inside their rig. That means expect to see something really cool (and probably retro) tomorrow morning!
MAVTV will be airing of all four motos live tomorrow, and joining host Jason Weigandt will be MX/SX legends Jeremy McGrath and Ricky Johnson as color analysts. For streaming—which will show timed qualifying in the morning—from pretty much anywhere in the world, there’s MAVTV Plus. New subscribers to MAVTV Plus can use discount code PROMX10 for $10 USD off your Annual subscription (valid until 5/29/22) OR discount code PROMX50 to receive 50 percent off your first month subscription (valid until 6/29/22). Also, for questions or concerns with your account, email: racehelp@mavtv.com.
Opening the series in a BIG way with 2️⃣ legends in the booth 🎙 Jeremy McGrath and Ricky Johnson join @JasonWeigandt for Fox Raceway I 👏 Watch LIVE on @MAVTV Plus 📺 #ProMotocross 📲: https://t.co/BYZuQomk9npic.twitter.com/Bht7tUgAeE
Also, tonight marks the debut of the pre-race Staging Area show from the Monster Energy stage, featuring Weigandt, pit reporter Jason Thomas, and guests McGrath and Johnson and more, beginning at 6 p.m. here. You can watch that on the Monster Energy Facebook page, as well as the American Motocross channel on YouTube. There will also be a pit bike race as well as a freestyle show, right on vendor’s row.
I was going to begin previewing the race here by talking about all the excitement building for tomorrow’s opener, especially in the 450 Class with a few unexpected participants coming into the series, as well as this paragraph about the defending champion:
The one person who hasn't been getting a lot of pre-season buzz is the same one who didn't get much pre-season buzz last summer, and that's the eventual 2021 AMA 450 Pro Motocross Champion Dylan Ferrandis. He showed amazing speed and strength from the very first moto in '21, and won Yamaha their first AMA 450 Pro Motocross Championship since Grant Langston back in 2007. That led many (including myself) to peg him as a supercross title contender this year, but his stadium tour didn't work out that well and the Frenchman eventually sat himself down in order to work out some injuries and start getting ready for motocross. If he comes out and rides as strong as he did last summer, everybody will be in trouble. But if he rides like he did this winter it's going to be a long summer for Dylan…
Of course, by now you probably know that the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team had bad news this morning that Ferrandis is now out with an injury to his thumb, which sucks. Jason Weigandt will have on that down below. Get well soon, Dylan.
Back to the 450 preview: The simple fact that both Ryan Dungey and Antonio Cairoli are lining up is a huge treat for fans that was not expected by anyone just a few weeks ago. On Tuesday during our pro-day ride here at Fox Raceway, both looked like their old selves, and the vibe under the KTM awning was downright cool to see—not only were Ryan and Antonio smiling from ear to ear, but so was Roger De Coster, as well as Aaron Plessinger, who suddenly finds himself with two new teammates with nearly 20 major titles between them. Also there was Marvin Musquin, who is unfortunately not racing this summer, and even Ken Roczen, who brought his little boy Griffin over to play with Chase, Antonio's little boy. It was like a GP reunion from 2010!
But the rest of the riders entered tomorrow probably don't go for all that nostalgia as much as we fans do, and both #5 and #222 will have their work cut out for them. A lot of guys looked very fast and ready for the great outdoors. Monster Energy Kawasaki's Jason Anderson will be trying to get his first outdoor national win. Anderson got himself seven main-event wins in the '22 supercross season, which matches the amount he's won in all of his previous 450 seasons combined. With 14 SX wins and the 2018 title but zero national wins, his career is starting to look like Steve Lamson's in reverse. Lammy had 19 AMA 125 National wins and two titles but zero in supercross. Anderson has plenty of time to get that first motocross win, but with all the momentum he has after winning the last four SX rounds in a row, he's got to be a favorite tomorrow.
Roczen also looked surprisingly good, given that he hasn't raced since March. He's been leaving hints on his social media that he's feeling fast, strong, and confident, which had always been his calling card before the double arm injuries threw him off track. His Honda teammate Chase Sexton also looked good on Tuesday, and he's a proven 450 National winner.
And in case you're wondering why Antonio Cairoli's name wasn’t on the pre-entry lists until this morning, it's because AMA Pro Racing was waiting on his license to be released by the Italian motorcycle federation. As I explained in the previous case of Evgeny Bobryshev's attempt to get a license, which he could not due to the FIM restricting all activity with the Russian motorcycle federation, a rider can't have two pro licenses at the same time. And if you're wondering about Bobryshev's status, he is still unfortunately in limbo due to the FIM's position regarding the war in Ukraine. He will, however, be here at the race, according to Robby Renner, to support his teammates.
Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas Factory Racing rider Justin Barcia always seems to do well in openers, but he also went down on Tuesday and might be a little banged up. Christian Craig has moved back up to the 450 Class, and he has done well here before. And I was hoping that Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy would be able to take advantage of the opportunity he got to rejoin the team, but he’s sitting out the opener as he’s still not 100 percent.
The 250 Class is much more healthy, though some have questions about whether Jett Lawrence’s ankle is completely healed from his crash at the Salt Lake City SX. Jett looked good on Tuesday, as did his older brother Hunter. And it was great to see Justin Cooper back on track after missing all of supercross with a broken foot. He’s missing his veteran teammates Jeremy Martin (out for summer) and Colt Nichols (just back to riding), but he’s backed by a bunch of young prospects in Nate Thrasher, Levi Kitchen, Nick Romano, and Matt LeBlanc. Otherwise, the 250 Class is pretty much stacked! It should be a really fun summer of motocross racing, and it starts tomorrow.
As you can imagine, it’s an incredibly busy day here. Later on we will have the first Staging Area preview show that will be hosted by Jason Weigandt and Jason Thomas.
When Jett Lawrence goes to the starting gate tomorrow to begin the defense of his 250 Pro Motocross title, he will be the first Honda rider to wear #1 in the outdoor nationals since who and when?
Massive bummer to hear Dylan Ferrandis is suddenly out of this championship before he even had a chance to defend it. There were rumors on Tuesday that Dylan had hurt his hand in a crash during the press-day laps, but he showed up for the Zoom press conference 90 minutes after riding had stopped, so everyone assumed he was fine. Apparently, everything did seem fine at that point—Dylan wasn’t even in much pain. However, he was having serious trouble with grip strength: Yamaha senior communications specialist Mike Ulrich told me Dylan could barely even hold onto a glass of water. That led to doctors’ visits and MRIs, and that’s when the bad news came. Dylan still wanted to race with the injury, but apparently this is the type of ligament where if you don’t get it fixed immediately, it might never come back to 100 percent.
“I wanted to try to ride Saturday, but without surgery, in a few weeks, the ligament can die, and the damage can be irreversible,” Ferrandis said today. “We decided with the team to go for the surgery now to have me back at my full physical capacity, but that means I will miss the beginning of the motocross season.”
Huge bummer. Hopefully we see Dylan back at the races soon.
With the news of Ferrandis hurting his thumb on press day and missing probably at least a month, we lose an immediate top rider to the series. Also, poor Yamaha—they had three riders running the #1 plate in 2022; two of them didn't even get to line up to start the series (Justin Cooper and Ferrandis), and the other one made it three or four laps in the first heat race of the year (Colt Nichols). Tough break for Blu Cru. I'm on the record as saying that if Eli Tomac races all 12 rounds, he'll be the 450 MX champion, but with that MCL in his knee probably gonna bug him and be one twisted-in-a-rut away from a DNF, I'm not really confident he doesn't pull out of the series at some point and get some work done on that knee.
And I have 475 questions about Ken Roczen and his ability to race this series.
And I have questions about Chase Sexton and his ability to stay on two wheels.
Then my mind flashes to, could Ryan Dungey win this thing?
The great outdoors are back! For the racers, it's been a mix of relief from finishing one series and the anticipation (see: work) of starting another. Starting any new series brings more questions than answers. Did I do enough to prepare? How will my bike handle as conditions change Saturday? How will my speed match up to my rivals? Those are all questions that get answered in due course, but make no mistake, they are on the mind of everyone tonight. While it’s difficult to block out all that uncertainty, the reality is that it's too late to do much about it now. The hard work has or hasn't been done; either way, the time to change that has passed. The only thing that can help at this point is to get a good night's sleep and trust that things will go to plan. Second-guessing every decision will only exacerbate an already difficult day. It's time to step up and move forward with confidence. After all, if you have an awful day, you can always stare at the ceiling wondering why after the race is over (insert smiley face). Good luck, guys. No one is watching other than the entire powersports world.
Tuesday this week saw a huge contingent of riders take to the track at Fox Raceway for a set of riding sessions prior to the season starting. While it wasn’t an official press day so to speak, the media was certainly out in full force snagging interviews with riders and getting plenty of footage of just about everyone. One key omission: Eli Tomac.
The newly crowned Monster Energy AMA Supercross Champion was not in attendance on Tuesday, which normally doesn’t raise too much of an eyebrow for a “media day.” But given that most everyone else was there, it certainly did pique some interest. I asked Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team manager Jeremy Coker why Tomac wasn’t there, and he simply said Tomac just wasn’t doing this media day. It’s a simple enough explanation to understand, as Tomac is still only at what he says to be “90 percent” as he recovers from a torn MCL sustained two months ago at the Atlanta Supercross. But it did feel a little strange not to see him out there.
Once the riding began, it was easy to see who was working out some kinks and who was simply ready to moto down. Jason Anderson and Ryan Dungey spent nearly the entire first 30-minute session just spinning lap after lap. Antonio Cairoli, though, almost never ran a flying lap and was in and out of the mechanics’ area a lot.
It’s always tough to tell how much these guys are pushing on a day like that, but Ken Roczen and Chase Sexton certainly looked comfortable to the eye test. Then again, the Honda HRC teammates are probably the two smoothest riders on the track anyway. Christian Craig is in the 450 Class again this summer with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing, and fresh off his 250SX West title, the veteran has a few new gear deals to show off. Given that the 450 team is separate from his 250 program, Craig was able to shop around and landed his noggin inside of a Bell helmet and his feet in some Gaerne boots for the summer (as opposed to Alpinestars for both which he ran in supercross).
Justin Barcia and Dylan Ferrandis both had separate crashes during the second sessions, and we now know that Ferrandis’ was rather damaging. Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy was also there and seemed pretty comfortable, but the team announced Thursday that Savatgy would miss the start of the season as well. A little note there, Savatgy’s wrist/arm was pretty heavily wrapped in ice between sessions on Tuesday. Perhaps the fill-in man over there is dealing with a bit more than recovering from his torn ACL.
The 250 Class riders mostly seemed to be taking it easy out there. Jett and Hunter Lawrence followed each other around for a while, and then Jett actually slotted in behind Levi Kitchen for the second half of the first session, and the two basically matched each other’s pace. Riders returning to the track included Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Cameron McAdoo, Red Bull KTM’s Max Vohland, and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Stilez Robertson after injuries ended each of their supercross seasons early.
Not much of note in terms of speed or shock factor from the 250 guys, but it will be cool to see both Nick Romano and Matthew LeBlanc make their professional debuts on Saturday with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing. Romano is in for the whole summer, while Leblanc will be contesting a few rounds before bowing out and preparing for his final year at the Loretta Lynn’s AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships.
Both classes should be a lot of fun to watch this weekend, and given that so many of these riders see this track often, it’s essentially a home race for a lot of them. Who strikes first? Let’s find out!
We mentioned that Honda seems to have something up their sleeve for tomorrow as they celebrate 50 years of the Honda CR250-M Elsinore. We also got a glimpse from John Kuzo of the SKDA Graphics that they’re doing up for Jerry Robin and Marshall Weltin this summer to help the series celebrate 50 years.
A few more shots of Robin's bike.
One of the most underrated podcasts I do every year is where my buddies Gauldy and The Newf help me preview the upcoming Canadian MX series. We just dropped it yesterday, and it contains the usual thoughts of the three of us on the series in general up there, Newf getting demoted on GDR Honda, Gauldy and his meats and cheeses, if anyone can stop Dylan Wright, and more. I always get a lot of listeners who tell me they know nothing about the series up north but they enjoy us BSing about it. Have a listen on the Steve Matthes Show feed.
If you guessed Jeff Stanton in 1993, you would be wrong. If you guessed Jeremy McGrath in '96, you would also be wrong. And if you guessed Steve Lamson in '97 you would also be wrong. The answer was the rider we were all more accustomed to seeing wear #4 for his entire tenure at Team Honda except for two races. In 2003, Ricky Carmichael wore #85 at the FIM Motocross of Nations in Belgium, where he won the individual overall. And then at his last race while with Team Honda, the '04 Glen Helen National, the final race of a perfect series for the GOAT, he wore #1.
Racer X YouTube viewer Fred Garmin posted this comment on our First Look: Fox Raceway video from Tuesday: "Anybody else feel like you're in an alternate universe seeing Cairoli practicing for an AMA national?"
Team Fried’s 2022 Motocross Ride Day:
Swapmotolive’s was out at the ride day here at Fox Raceway as well:
“NFT BUST: They spent a fortune on pictures of apes and cats. Do they regret it?”—Washington Post
“Kourtney Kardashian's Doctor Told Her to Drink Travis Barker's Semen During Fertility Journey”—Toofab.com
We got this note from Denny Stephenson on the MotoXDream360 Fantasy:
I am so stoked to announce our MotoXDream360.com 2022 MX GOAT Summer of Pain Tour. The 22MX Champion will win an autographed set of gear from Ricky Carmichael himself as a Grand Prize. The final top 3 teams will win 1st, 2nd and 3rd custom number plates as well as a backpack from ZULZ Bag Co.
Each of the 12 rounds, the top 3 teams will receive prizes from Fasthouse & FMF as well as Get Sh!t Done Coffee viking tumblrs. Each winner will also win a custom designed butt patch from Somnium Racing created with your team name. We appreciate each and every one of you who play and support MXD360. We are the original of dirt bike fantasy game. Let's take this outside for the 2022 GOAT Summer of Pain Tour.
The opening round to the 22MX season kicks off this Memorial Day weekend at Fox Raceway in Pala, CA. It's only $12.95 for 12 rounds of our salary based league. So get signed up today & hire your 8 rider team with your $3.5M budget before Saturday's 3pm CT lockout. Good luck!
For the latest from Canada, check out DMX Frid’EH Update #21.
Thanks for reading Racerhead. See you at the races!