Welcome to Racerhead, and Happy Father’s Day weekend to all of my fellow dads out there. It’s High Point weekend too, which means a very, very busy week here in Morgantown, West Virginia, and Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania. The weather looks great for tomorrow’s fourth round of the 2024 AMA Pro Motocross Championship. It’s been a very compelling series so far in both classes, with Jett Lawrence scratching back from his Hangtown crash, Hunter Lawrence snatching the red plate from Chase Sexton, and Haiden Deegan with a 3-0 record as the series comes back east. We’re expecting excellent weather here this weekend, and the place is filling up quickly. It’s very, very green here in this part of the East Coast, which makes for some serious contrast to the previous three rounds in California and Colorado.
High Point Raceway didn't really look like this when it hosted its first AMA Pro Motocross on May 29, 1977. The Holbert family farm was still much more farm than raceway, but the general layout of the valley track got some good reviews from the men racing there for the first time. The '77 race was a stand-alone 250 National with a 125cc support class. The race marked the last round of the 250 AMA National Championship, and Team Suzuki's Tony DiStefano would not only win the overall with 1-2 finishes to Marty Smith's 3-1 tally, he also claimed his third straight 250 title. Here's the Cycle News coverage of that first race:
High Point has remained on the AMA Pro Motocross schedule ever since, with the exception of 2020, when the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was basically shut done completely due to COVID-19. So, this week will mark the 47th (does that bode well for Levi Kitchen?) High Point National.
The crazy thing to think is that in the first 250 National at High Point, the first through seventh finishers were all future AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famers! DiStefano, Smith, Jimmy Ellis, Jimmy Weinert, Kent Howerton, Danny Laporte, and Chuck Sun finished 1-thru-7, respectively. And if you want to talk about how "deep" a field of talent can be, from there it was Steve Stackable, Tommy Croft, and Jim Pomeroy (another HOF inductee) rounding out the top ten. After that there's still more very big names, including the biggest of all at the time: 11-20 were Gaylon Mosier, Gary Semics, "Rocket" Rex Staten, Marty Tripes (HOF), Koji Masada, Rich Eierstedt, Bob "Hurricane" Hannah (HOF), Rick Burgett, Denny Swartz, and finally a man most probably don't know, but a very fast man in his day, and still a solid vintage rider on his beloved Maicos, Joe Gretchen. Of the top twenty finishers, one-half were future AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famers.And out of all of those twenty guys, 17 would win either an outdoor national or a supercross. The only ones who did not were Masuda, Eierstedt, and Gretchen. That might be some kind of record!
And speaking of all that, yesterday was the last day to vote on the Class of 2024 for the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame, and there's some great candidates from the dirt bike set in Kevin Windham, Cobra founder Bud Maimone, WMX pioneer Deb Matthews, enduro legend Mike Lafferty, and more.
And before we get into the week that was, I was invited by Jase Macalpine to be his guest on his Gypsy Tales podcast when I was out in California in between the Fox Raceway and Hangtown rounds. It’s a rather long conversation but it was a lot of fun and we touched on a lot of topics. Check it out if you get a chance and have three and a half hours for some moto talk:
Motocross
High PointSaturday, June 15
Qualifying
Live
June 15 - 10:00 AM
Qualifying
Live
June 15 - 10:00 AM
Motos
Live
June 15 - 1:00 PM
Motos
Live
June 15 - 1:00 PM
Motos (Re-Air)
June 16 - 3:00 PM
Motos (Re-Air)
June 17 - 2:00 AM
High Point
The Thunder Valley National at Lakewood, Colordado, has been run at the same location since 2005, back when Ricky Carmichael was in the middle of one of his three undefeated AMA Pro Motocross campaigns, though he was not perfect that first summer on the Suzuki. (RC won all 12 rounds like he did in 2002 and 2004 but lost a couple of motos along the way.) Before that the Colorado National was held in a couple of different locations, one on the same general property, before Interstate 470 was built to run up through the valley, and before that at a totally different track called CDR Tech in nearby Castle Rock. Since promoter David Clabaugh bought the place in 1999 and began reviving Thunder Valley, Colorado had not held an outdoor national since 1987, when Ricky Johnson won the 250 class and clinched that year's AMA National Championship. A newspaper reporter for the Denver Post named Kyle Fleming went into detail on the history of the event and the track and what it means to moto in Colorado for this feature article.
While I had to skip Thunder Valley to stay back and help get High Point Raceway ready for this week's race, the track conditions and prep looked excellent on TV, as Shane Shaffer and his team were brought in by Clabaugh to work the event, just as they were at Hangtown the weekend before. The lighter maintenance once again made for fewer of those long ruts we used to see, and hopefully that trend continues through the summer, though when you know it's going to be hot and dry most prefer to water heavily before the race rather than risk heavy dust.
The Thunder Valley event wasn't without its threats, as first, huge gusts of wind on Friday evening wreaked havoc on the paddock and busted up a few team awnings, and pretty much blew a day's worth of bannering away for the Gear Race Services track crew. And then just before the start of Saturday's first 450 moto, lightning strikes about three miles away meant an immediate half-hour delay where the NBC camera crew and technicians had to be called off the track. They did a fantastic job in still getting two full motos in during the time window the network had, as host Jason Weigandt explained on the Fly Racing Racer X Podcast, Lakewood MX 2024 Review (not sure why Steve calls it Lakewood and not Thunder Valley). You can listen to all of the drama of a weather delay and live network TV scheduling right there.
All in all, it looked like a very good crowd, a great track for passing, and the two fastest guys won. That’s the recipe for a very good weekend!
No High Point for me this weekend. Nope, I decided to head to Italy for the MXGP of Maggiora in Italy this weekend. As I type this in the press tent, myself and VitalMX's Lewis Phillips had a productive Friday here at the track. Lots of talking to riders and team people, and there was also a 30-minute start practice for all the MXGP and MX2 riders. The series has been pretty good with Jorge Prado, Tim Gajser, and Jeffrey Herlings all battling up front, although Romain Febvre going out with injury hurts. The MX2 class was thrown for a loop when Sacha Coenen won last weekend, and not his seemingly slightly better brother, Lucas. The twin Belgian brothers will be heading to the USA next year or the year after so stay tuned for another set of hella-fast brothers to hit the scene.
The track this weekend of course became famous for the MXoN in 1986 when Americans David Bailey, Rick Johnson, and Johnny O’Mara all dominated, Johnny infamously on that 125, and then again the event was here in 2016 also. It's hilly and pretty hardpack right now as they're expecting rain tomorrow so it's sealed. Sunday temps should be great though.
Phillips and I talked to Jeremy Seewer for a while about his season which, his first on Kawasaki, hasn't gone as well as he would like. And we also had a nice meeting with MXGP boss, David Luongo, about doing something at MXoN so stay tuned with that. David's a nice guy and seems to want the best for the sport. Let's hope he and MX Sports can continue to work together to bring this joint MXGP/USA national to fruition.
Riffing off of Matthes’ post above, one day after Jett and Hunter went 1-2 at Thunder Valley, the same thing happened at the MXGP of Latvia, where Belgian brothers Sacha and Lucas Coenen (twins, actually) went 1-2 in the MX2 Grand Prix. It was Sacha’s first win and podium ever, while Lucas has won the last three rounds in a row going into the weekend. In a very strange coincidence, Jett and Hunter wear #18 and #96 (when Jett's not wearing #1, anyway) while Sacha and Lucas were #19 and #96, respectively.
I saw someone post that with the Coenen brothers, Sacha on the KTM and Lucas on the Husqvarna, you can expect at least one holeshot and one yard sale of a crash at every round, and that held here too as Lucas had some spills and both brothers grabbed good starts. And like the Lawrence brothers, the Coenen brothers, still only 17, are also headed to America, but probably not until the 2026 season. And also like the Lawrence brothers, Sacha and Lucas are represented by agent Lucas Mirtl.
Jeffrey Herlings won the overall in the MXGP class with a 1-3 to better title combatants Tom Gajser (2-2) and Jorge Prado (7-1). It was Jeffrey’s first overall win of season and his record-extending 104thGrand Prix win. And the red plate once again changed hands as now Gajser leads Prado by four points (454 to 450) with Herlings another 64 down in third.
In MX2 Kay de Wolf has a comfortable lead over Lucas Coenen of 55 points. De Wolf won the firstmoto but then apparently crashed three times early in the second moto and had to scramble to finish ninth in the second moto. The FIM World Championships now move to Maggiora, Italy, and I know Matthes will be there, so stay tuned for some insighton everything that's happening over there.
Coenen brothers photos by Husqvarna images/Fullspectrum Media
MXGP
MXGP of ItalyEMX125 & EMX250
Saturday, June 15MX2 Qualifying
Live
June 15 - 10:25 AM
MXGP Qualifying
Live
June 15 - 11:10 AM
MX2 Race 1
Live
June 16 - 7:00 AM
MXGP Race 1
Live
June 16 - 8:00 AM
MX2 Race 2
Live
June 16 - 10:00 AM
June 16 - 10:00 AM
MXGP Race 2
Live
June 16 - 11:00 AM
MXGP Race 2
Live
June 16 - 11:00 AM
MXGP of Italy
The High Point National may be just across the Mason Dixon Line in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania, but it's like a hometown race for those of us who live in Morgantown, West Virginia. The race track is literally one exit up Interstate 79 from Morgantown, which is where not only the Racer X office is located, but MX Sports and Racer Productions as well, which makes Morgantown the effective address for the AMA Pro Motocross Championship, the Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch(which are actually held in Tennessee), and even the Progressive Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series, which was born in Davis, West Virginia, in 1975 and has a 50th birthday coming up.
There is one other entity in moto that calls Morgantown home, and that's Scotty Adkins' Pro SX/MX Tech School for race mechanics. Like me, Scotty was born and raised here, and chose to stay here despite trying to make a go of it in the sport of motocross, first as a racer and then as a race mechanic. After a few years on the road he came up with the idea for a program where he would teach the ins and outs of being a race mechanic. In the 10 years since, he's helped out dozens of race mechanics, riders and teams with his graduates. They have celebrated numerous championships and seemingly countless wins. Earlier this week I asked Scotty for a list of guys who are currently working in the paddock. In other words, his alumni returning for their homecoming race as well. Turns out he's got guys at Honda HRC, Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna, Red Bull KTM, Triumph, HEP Suzuki, and more.
Here's all he listed, as far as current motocross goes, as well as the riders they are wrenching for:
Christien Ducharme (Jett Lawrence)
Matt Goodbred (Levi Kitchen)
Logan George (Casey Cochran)
Jack Richardson (Guillem Farres)
Austin Waterson (Julian Bohmer)
Dillan Smith (Joey Savatgy)
Andrew Livingston (Kyle Chisholm)
Alex Faith (Shane McElrath)
Jake Issac (Pierce Brown)
Mason Brahm (Dean Wilson)
Jaden Rolbiecki(Josh Boaz)
Honda HRC also has an engine tech (Sebastien Palemese) and test tech (Blake Bolton), and Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki has a test tech working with Broc Tickle (Jed Parrish). And finally, Tyler Christy was working with Gavin Towers before the rider headed to Europe.
To find out more about Scotty Adkins' Pro SX/MX Tech Mechanic Trade School, here's the website:
I’m in the market for a new truck, and I’d love to hear some suggestions. It’ll be my daily driver, so I value comfort over off-road capabilities. Lemme know, folks!
— Adam Cianciarulo (@AdamCianciarulo) June 10, 2024
Earlier this week we were thumbing, er, scrolling through this week's Cycle News to check out the most recent race reports, as well as the latest batch of win ads. With Haiden Deegan winning for the third straight week Yamaha might be running out of creative headlines for their ads, but we've got to give it up for FMF, which ran a clever, "Welcome to the Mile High Club, Haiden," atop their celebratory ad. Honda posted on another 1-2 for Jett and Hunter, and they too must be running low on unique headlines for all of Jett's successes.
And the Cherokee National Enduro overall in Georgia went to Josh Toth, and we would just like to compliment that event on one of the coolest trophies we've ever seen!
The regional season for the Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch is almost complete, and so far we know for certain that Jason Lawrence is returning to the ranch as a Junior +25 qualifier, Chad Reed's daughter Kiah has made the final 42 in her class, and Randy Richardson, the Fastest Man in Piedmont (@fmip222), has qualified for the Masters +50 class on a modern dirt bike. Randy prefers vintage and he won't be able to run #222 at Loretta Lynn's but congratulations are nevertheless in order.
And I got a note from former pro and multi-time Loretta Lynn's champion Matt Bisceglia asking if there will be metal starting grates at the ranch this summer, or if we were sticking with dirt. The answer is yes to dirt, and no on the starting grates because not enough kids have access to them at this point to make it fair, so we're sticking with a natural start for the foreseeable future.
I finally had the chance to test ride what Benny Bloss has been riding in SX all year! The 2024 Beta 450 RX is a first-year motocross machine from the Italian brand and I must say they did a pretty good job of building a motocross bike that is easy to ride. No, this bike isn't going to rip your arms off or give you that exciting feel of a Yamaha YZ450F, but it does a lot of things well. If you want to check out what I thought about the complete package, watch this video right here.
Motocross got some publicity in the Pittsburgh market earlier this week with a live in-studio interview on Pittsburgh Today, Live on KDKA (CBS). The guest was TJ Squib, a 20-year-old local racer from just outside of Pittsburgh. He’ll be competing at the High Point National for the first time this weekend and has actually only been racing for the past five years. His story is a bit heartbreaking, as his dream to pursue the sport was something he and his mother shared together, but she was killed tragically by a stray bullet in 2020, just one year after TJ’s journey began. He hasn’t given up on that dream and is still pursuing the pro ranks in her memory. Good luck this weekend to TJ, and thanks for the media help!
The motocross world lost another friend this week when Flyin' Mike Brown, the SoCal minicycle prodigy of the seventies, passed away. Brown was a top rider in the era that included such minicycle legends as Jeff Ward, Brian Myerscough, AJ Whiting, Jim Holley and more. He was a factory rider for the Italy-made Indian minicycle company and he was often featured in Minicycle Action/BMX Plus magazine. He had his own aftermarket hop-up business run by his dad, and he traveled the country hitting big minicycle races in those pre-Loretta Lynn's days. Brown rode his first outdoor national in 1980, finishing fifth at Hangtown behind Mark Barnett, Broc Glover, Myerscough, and Johnny O'Mara (on that white Mugen Honda). He was pretty much done racing the national circuit after 1982, as a couple big injuries robbed him of the chance to show his full racing potential.
Years later Brown's life would take a terrible turn. While on the distance-jumping daredevil revival that popped up in the wake of the FMX and Crusty Demons' surge in the nineties, Brown was doing a show in Twin Falls, Idaho, where he jumped across a football field from a steep ramp and to a landing ramp place atop a flat-bed semi-trailer. Brown came up way too short, having apparently gotten too much wheelspin on the turf. The ugly crash that followed is not for the squeamish, but you can watch it here on YouTube:
Brown was nearly killed. He lost his left leg and he would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He stayed a part of the SoCal moto community, often coming out to the big races with a briefcase full of old press clippings and magazine covers and autograph stock from his early racing days. He was also a big part of the Fasthouse family, which was born out of the old Indian Dunes track, Brown's home track growing up in nearby Saugus, California. Brown did the best he could to live as normal a life as possible, but with his debilitating injuries that could not have been easy. Hopefully, he's back on a bike and flying again in the heavens above.
With the High Point National this weekend, thousands of moto fans will be flocking to the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania for the fourth round of the 2024 AMA Pro Motocross Championship. The racing has been fantastic so far in both classes and the tricky Mt. Morris circuit will likely provide more close action.
So, my fellow yinzers, do you need a hat to wear this weekend? Well, look no further than our Three Rivers Supercross! The all-black hat has a simple yet slick design that pays homage to the two Pittsburgh Supercross events in 1978 and 1983. These hats look good, no cap!
Visit the Racer X booth at High Point Raceway this weekend to pick up one up! We will also have other merchandise available: different hats, T-shirts, accessories, stickers, and more!
Not heading to the race this weekend? We will miss you, but you can still purchase a hat online.
GoPro: Mikkel Haarup 2024 FIM MX2 Moto 2 from Round 9 Latvia
Watch his wild crash at the 6:40 mark
Last week Ryan Villopoto had DC sit in for Ricky Carmichael on Title 24. This week it was Jase "Gypsy Tales" Macalpine's turn to join RV on the show while the GOAT is still out. Here's the part where they discuss Jett Lawrence's bounce-back ride:
If you haven't been following Chad Reed and family's mini-series on TwoTwoTV as they are participating in the whole Loretta Lynn's program, it's good stuff. And seeing Chad with his kids grinding at the old GOAT Farm, where his rival Ricky Carmichael minted all of those championships (and which is now own by Star Racing Yamaha) it's a reminder of just how cool the whole motocross family can be.
“Nick Cannon, father of 12, insures his testicl*s for $10 million”—NYDailyNews.com
"Giraffe's nibble turns into airborne safari adventure for Texas toddler"—Associated Press
"Joey Chestnut not competing at Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in fight over vegan dogs”—ABC News
"An Arkansas Woman That Didn't Realize She Was Pregnant Had A Baby In The Bathroom Of A Golden Corral, So She Named It "Corral""—Barstool Sports
Tom Vialle on the cover of Cross Magazin.
Thanks for reading Racerhead. See you at the races!
