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Matthes Report: Glen Helen

Matthes on Glen Helen.

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Two weeks, two USGP’s have come and gone and since I just finished cleaning the sand from Glen Helen out of my truck, I thought we’d look at that and recap the week that was.

– Eli Tomac defended America’s honor with his 1-1-1-1 rides at the two races on vastly different tracks with vastly different rides. As Eli himself said, if he had gotten caught up in Charlotte on the first lap like he did at Glen Helen there probably wouldn’t have been any miracle fourteenth to first ride. Charlotte was “relatively” easy for Tomac (although I would have loved to see Tim Gajser not fall down in the second moto while leading) and Glen Helen, well that was some work.

Tomac credited the track drying out a bit in the second moto as well as his ability to swing out wide and air out the triple/triple as to how he could make up about a fifteen-second gap to first into the lead in just eight laps. His second moto ride was one of the very best I have ever seen in person. Seriously, it was amazing. Tim Gajser, Antonio Cairoli, Romain Febvre and Max Nagl are no joke, but Tomac went through them like they were B riders.

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Matthes is excited to see that Antonio Cairoli has more in the tank.

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– Nice work by Jeffrey Herlings to go 1-1 at Glen Helen and, although he wasn’t as impressive to me as Tomac (Jesus might not have been), he still won both motos relatively easy. One week after looking rather human when Austin Forkner and Cooper Webb were both probably faster, Herlings established his superiority on a track that was a better test. His last MX2 ride ever (thank you!) and he left beating the best America threw at him.

– I thought Jeremy Martin was rather good on his new GEICO Honda ride. Monster Energy Pro Circuit’s Austin Forkner has been the “it” kid in the USA lately and, without a bit of bad luck and amazing riding from Cooper Webb, could’ve gone 1-1 at Charlotte, but yet Martin beat Forkner in both motos to go 2-2. It was a reminder that the two-time 250MX champ can’t quite be forgotten after a down year here in the USA this past summer.

My fitness wasn’t quite where I want it to be. I’ve been just kind of chilling lately,” Martin told me after the race. “Hats off to Jeffrey. He’s a great athlete and a champion. He’s had a lot to deal with the last two years with getting hurt. It’s always neat to see someone come back from those severe injuries, to be able to come out and get a championship.

Martin either had very little time on the Honda or a lot of time on the Honda depending on who you ask. He got hurt at Washougal on July 23rd, didn’t race again and officially got out of his contract on September 1st. He wanted to race the Charlotte USGP, but Yamaha didn’t want him to possibly beat Cooper Webb (looking back I doubt that would have happened), so they wouldn’t give him the release he needed according to his agent. His ribs were hurt at Washougal, so if he got on the Honda before his official release from Yamaha and after his ribs healed up that would shock no one. Whatever the amount of time, I thought he did well.

I asked Jeremy what he thought of the Honda compared to his Yamaha and he was pretty candid about it compared to most riders that switch bikes.

I feel like it’s just skinnier. It corners a little better and just has smoother power, much smoother.” said Martin “It’s easier to ride. The Yamaha was a good bike. It led me to many successful days and many successful times, but I was ready for a change.”

– Antonio Cairoli isn’t quite ready to just hand over this crown of “best MXGP rider” it seems. The 222 was beaten the last two years by Romain Febvre and Tim Gajser, so it seemed that the gradual tailing off would happen and father time would remain undefeated. Hold that thought though, outside of Charlotte where he was sick, Cairoli beat Gajser and Febvre more than they beat him the last month or so and he ended up second in the series. This was with an injury, his usual slow start and some bike issues that resulted in him switching to a 450F. He showed in the last little bit that he’ll be much more in the mix in 2017 for his ninth MXGP title than these last two years – that makes me happy by the way.

– Just like last year at Glen Helen, I was a bit disappointed in the regular MX2 riders. Outside of Herlings and perhaps Jeremy Seewer, who gave Martin fits late in moto two, the rest of the “stars” of the class were far back both weekends. Riders like Max Anstie (winner of GPs this year), Thomas Covington and Benoit Paturel were far off the top riders. In fact, Mitchell Harrison finished third overall in MX2 and he struggled to get top ten in America. I’m not stating this to get the endless arguments going about which riders are better, I’m saying that this is two years in a row the “stars” of MX2 couldn’t get into any kind of battles with American 250 riders. Outside of Herlings that is.

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Jean Michel Bayle works closely with everyone on the HRC team.

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– I didn’t like Jean Michel Bayle when he raced in America. I was more of a Damon Bradshaw guy and, therefore, I wasn’t in position to like the French invader. You couldn’t like both – that wasn’t allowed! But as I got older I started to appreciate just what Bayle was able to accomplish in America in just three years. It’s really hard to live in a strange country and beat the established riders at a sport they invented like supercross. When he won all three titles in one year, he set his sights onto road racing. Think about what that would be like now for Ken Roczen to just leave money, titles and legacy on the table to quit and pursue another sport? Nuts, right?

Anyways, I now get to talk to JMB whenever I go to Europe or he comes here and I love it. He’s an honest interview with a unique perspective on the sport over here or in Europe. I stopped him at Glen Helen to get his take on a few different topics.

On whether Tim Gajser is ready for America…Tim, I think, is ready to come over here. I think he needs maybe one more year in world championship to confirm his position, his riding. But I think it will be good. Of course supercross is very different than MXGP, so he will have to work on it, but I think he’s got the talent to do it. He’s young enough to do it. Many people want to come in America but I think after twenty-four or twenty-five years old it’s too late, so he’s still young.

On man-made outdoor tracks like Charlotte versus natural moto tracks like Glen Helen…I think these kind of tracks [Charlotte] are able to bring people that don’t know nothing about motocross and this is actually good for the promotion of the sport, to have people that are not passionate and come for the first time. It’s so easy to come, because like in Charlotte you can park your car right to the stand and you can walk there. It’s easier with a kid and everything.

“I think it’s good to have some races like this for the promotion of the sport, but not all the races should be like this. We need to go to the big tracks like this and we need to go to a real motocross track. It’s a world championship and I think you have to go a little bit everywhere. That’s what I think makes the world championship better, going from a sand track, to riding the mud, to a dry place.

On how the American fans treat him now… I think first year it was difficult for them to accept, a little French guy coming from nowhere beating… You didn’t like that, but I think now they respect me for what I did. Actually for me it was great to ride over here. It was a dream for me. Today when I have some people coming and say hello, I’m just happy.

Words: Steve Matthes | Image: ConwayMX

Matthes Report

Matthes Report: Daytona

Predictions from Steve Matthes!

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The 2021 Monster Energy Supercross series riders and teams just had their first week off of the season this past and when the halfway flag gets thrown this Saturday night at Daytona, we’ll officially be halfway through the 450SX series.

Here are some random predictions on some random things in regard to both the 450SX and 250SX classes.

– It’s been a while since we saw anyone not named Cooper Webb or Ken Roczen win a 450SX main event but we may finally get someone different this weekend. Now, don’t hold me to that because the top two riders in the points have been so good. This is Daytona though. This is something different for the guys and we know how good Eli Tomac is down at the speedway. I’m not going to stamp a Tomac win but it says here he will be more competitive this weekend than he has been. Good vibes will be hanging in the air for ET and even if he does not get a start, he can make it work there. I predict a strong performance for Tomac this weekend with either a win or a runner-up ride.

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– Honda’s Chase Sexton makes his return to racing after a crash in Houston while leading the 450SX main. The #23 will be a boost to the series and I think he’ll do something memorable this weekend. I do not know what exactly; maybe win a heat, lead some laps or podium the whole thing? I’m not sure but Sexton will make a splash. You watch!

– Jason Anderson has been getting progressively better since his awful opening round and subsequent finger injury. Now, how much his improvement had to do with the harder packed Orlando track is something we’ll see. I think he’s on the right track to be top five or on the podium at Daytona.

– Marvin Musquin is very good at Daytona – he’s had some hell of good rides there with a couple of 450SX podiums and a win in 250SX. It’s been a hot and cold season for Marv, but he’ll be hot this weekend.

– Dylan Ferrandis was great at Orlando 2 but had just an eleventh to show for it after he had to pull into the mechanics area for mid-race repairs. On this track, with more of an outdoor-ish feel to it, I think Ferrandis really shines. I predict a top five for the Yamaha rider. Yeah, I said it.

– I predict Justin Cooper wins the 250SX West main event. Boring, right? I know. This series is his to lose now with Jeremy Martin out with a shoulder injury. Cooper was not even at one hundred percent at Orlando 2 and he did that. Wait until he gets an extra week of prep for this one.

– I’m not sure what Star Yamaha team owner Bobby Regan said or did to rookies Nate Thrasher and Jarrett Frye in the time since Orlando 2 but I guarantee you it was not good. I’ve heard many stories about how Regan has talked to riders under the Star tent and with both kids underperforming at their first ever supercross, I predict they both come out with better performances than what we saw in Orlando. How much better? I do not know, just better.

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– Garrett Marchbanks does not win this main event like he did last year but he does end up on the podium, which is a good result for him and his team.

– Troll Train will shine this weekend and redeem himself after KO’ing himself last race. That’s what “we” do.

– I think Martin Davalos will fall down at some point in this weekend’s main event. I hate being a negative Nancy here but he’s done it in every single race this year but one. I cannot see how Marty gets through a rough and tumble Daytona track where things change every lap without making a mistake but maybe this is exactly what Marty needs to stay on two wheels!

– I predict that Kyle Chisholm will continue to Chiz, because Chiz will always Chiz. In fact, he might have some extra Chiz happening because he is usually pretty solid at Daytona.

– This one is not tough to predict but Ken Roczen will continue his great season with another great ride. Hey man, I can’t be wrong if I just predict stuff like this!

Thanks for reading!

Words: Steve Matthes | Lead Image: Align With Us

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Matthes on: Alex Nagy

Feel-good story from Orlando.

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There are a lot of cool stories in the pits in the course of a year of Monster Energy Supercross but let’s face it, these days with COVID-19 still affecting everything, things still suck. Although the racing in Orlando was cool, in terms of some fans being there, it’s still not supercross, you know?

In Orlando, we had a cool story going on though. Privateer Alex Nagy made his first ever main event via his third in the 250SX LCQ. Nagy is a privateers privateer, you know? There are guys that are what you would call privateers but they are on teams and sometimes have expenses covered  some guys get everything paid for but not factory help at all and we still call them privateers. The word “privateer” has changed a ton over the years for sure, but there is one thing that’s not in doubt and that’s that Alex Nagy is a privateer.

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Nagy had lined up for 132 races and had made 118 night shows, most of them in the 450SX class. The 250SX East series has been wrecked with injuries so that definitely helped Nagy’s case, but he’s also been riding very well. In Orlando, we saw history!

“I honestly haven’t even kept track of how many night shows or how long,” Nagy told us after the race. “My first year of racing supercross was in 2013, and I did that on a 250. Then every year after, I’ve been in the 450SX class. This is kind of like my first time back in the 250SX class. I’m glad I was finally able to capitalise on a good coast to ride and be able to put it in the main finally.”

Look, once he made the main the rest was gravy, right? Nagy rode pretty well in the 15-minute main event though to end up with a fifteenth on the night. That’s pretty decent for a guy who’s not used to racing that long. Nagy got six points toward ditching his three-digit number and getting one of those two digits that the cool guys get.

Surely Nagy was going to reward himself with some sort of extravagance for his efforts, right?

Nope.

“I’m going to spend the night here. I spent the night here last night. I spent the night in the van the night before, and I’ll probably spend the night in the van tomorrow night too,” he told me. “It’s kind of funny because even in Indy I stayed in the van. I didn’t run it, didn’t use the heat in it and didn’t have a heater. I just had four sleeping bags and I just ground it out.

“Honestly, it sucked. It was cold waking up in the morning. Then when you are kind of cold and then you’ve got to put cold clothes on or cold gear on, that was rough. Like I always say, you don’t even really think about it. It’s just in the past.”

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Nagy spending the time in freezing cold Indianapolis sleeping in his van for rounds four through six is next level. Hey, he loves the sport and it shows!

This is a part of the issue I have with the MXGP series. Yes, there are wildcards out there that some riders can get but it’s not easy to show up at an MXGP and race like it is for riders over here in SX and MX. That’s one of the things, in my opinion, that make motocross great. A guy can get a bike, modify it a bit and line up with the world’s greatest riders. Talent is the separator, not money spent. Nagy has spent time riding in the winter down in California but unfortunately not this year. His program is, how we say, pretty loose!

“I didn’t even have an off-season because I was in Illinois the whole time. All I did was ride. I would ride with a track that was half snow, and then two jumps of dirt. That was all I did. I wasn’t in California. This was the least prepared I’ve been going into a year, and I did the first round on a 450 and was able to get in on it which was sweet. I was stoked on that, to make the night show.

“Then I wanted to do a 250 the whole time, but I didn’t get the bike that I’m riding until the night that I left for Houston. I pretty much just had a brand new 250. I’m like, ‘Okay, I’ll race the 450 at the first one and then switch the suspension over.’ I broke the bike in in the parking lot. The first time it ever saw dirt was the practice at Houston 2, which is pretty funny.”

The thing about that is he broke the bike in around the pits and he hadn’t ridden the bike on a track until the first practice at Houston 2! The bike had stock bars, stock grips, a stock head pipe and suspension modified last year. Yet, somehow, five rounds later he’s in the main!

Nagy’s now going to race the much-more competitive 450SX class while the 250SX East series is on hold and I don’t like his chances to make the main there. However, Alex Nagy will be out there sleeping where he can and practicing where he can. Nagy’s enjoying his life and now he’s got that main event on his record. We need more Alex Nagy’s in the pits.

Words: Steve Matthes | Lead Image: Align With Us

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Matthes Report: Ken Roczen

A look at Ken Roczen’s triumphs.

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It’s not too hard to imagine that, although Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen just grabbed his second win in a row in the 2021 Monster Energy Supercross series, he should actually have four wins. He passed Houston 1 winner Justin Barcia a couple of times in the first main of the year and, of course, we all know that lapper Dean Wilson cost him another win.

It’s not a stretch to imagine Roczen with four wins out of five races to start the season and his current points lead being even bigger, right? He has been amazing and on it right from the first round and it’s cool to see; having Roczen healthy, happy and fast in SX is a good thing for the sport.

One of the things I was wrong about, and boy there’s a lot, was Kenny’s adaption to the all-new 2021 Honda CRF450R. The bike barely shares anything with the 2020 model and I’ve seen plenty of riders and teams at the highest levels struggle to figure out new models. The most recent Kawasaki, for example, wasn’t easy for Eli Tomac and the Team Green guys to get a handle on right away. The 2009 Honda. The backwards-motor Yamaha – there could be a book written about trying to get that bike set-up and working right.

The point is that with data acquisition teams are able to get improvements done to the bike but it usually takes a year. Then of course parts and 2021 Honda 450 bikes themselves were late getting to the USA only adding to my thought that this might be a year where the team and Roczen are constantly learning. The fact that Tim Gajser was on it all last year in the MXGP’s probably helped a bit but SX is quite a bit different from MX as we all know.

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We had Roczen on the PulpMX Show on Monday and I asked him about the bike.

“There’s always little things that could be better, but I think ultimately it comes down to the stock bike has to be good from the get-go to be able to start off and not have huge problems,” Roczen said. “Our previous bike was not quite like that – it was a very difficult bike to set up, especially for all different kinds of conditions. We are in a super good spot.

“My bike is very raceable, especially in the conditions that we have had. It’s been rough. It’s been rutty and tacky. I think it will just be that much better even when it gets a little bit more hard-packed. I think we have had the most difficult conditions. I think everybody would agree with that. We are just solid.”

Honda’s had former SX/MX winner Trey Canard aboard to help with the testing the last couple of years and there’s no doubt that he has been a huge help to the team as far as getting a base set-up down so that the team does not waste a lot of time with Roczen testing. He’s able to just focus on himself.

“I’ve said this a few times; this bike is not a revolutionary bike. Honda has done this in the past with big steps like the dual mufflers or the aluminium frame and, although this bike is different, it’s not so different from the previous model. We were never so far off with this bike; it was pretty good the first day we rode SX. We could race it like this. It gave us a good head start on things

The biggest thing for me is there is less rigidity in this frame. At the end of the mains when the ruts are choppy and bumpy, you have to be perfect. This bike makes a difference and the rider can sustain a hard effort. These guys are going fast the whole time. The power is also more usable in more ways.”

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The new “thing” for the factory teams is having someone like Canard, or Ryan Morais at KTM, who is still a great rider, knows how a bike works and can eliminate some directions that the team wants to try. I’ve been there as a mechanic and spent some long days at the test track trying clamps, bearing races, cams, pistons etc. and trying to get through what works and what doesn’t. The riders themselves don’t really enjoy those days. The quicker you can get the testing over, the better. The riders can then focus on putting in laps and getting themselves ready for the season.

“I think the last three years, I’ve learned a lot. At first we would come up with something and he [Roczen] didn’t like it or he didn’t win. The wins for me as a test rider were hit and miss. I’ve gotten to know him better,” Canard says about specifically testing for Roczen.

Yeah, maybe I was off on my take of him figuring out a new bike or maybe Canard has been such a massive help that they have overcome those usual new bike blues. Either way, Roczen looks as good as ever here to start the series. I wondered if Canard himself was surprised at how good the #94 and the new Honda 450 look so far?

“I’m not surprised at how good he looks. The last year and a half, his health has been a struggle. Even the races he did win, it seemed to me he wasn’t happy with the way he rode. He came a long ways since we started SX – we started a bit late due to the nationals going longer. When he took that time off this past summer, I got a sense he would get things sorted and he did.”

That’s the understatement of 2021 so far.

Words: Steve Matthes | Lead Image: Align With Us

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