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Matthes Report

A Matthes Report: MXoN

Matthes has predictions.

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This weekend’s Motocross des Nations (not calling it “of” ever by the way, so come at me bro) is going to, as usual, be an epic race. Team USA, once the favorites of this race with dominant team after dominant team has now gone winless for five years, the longest streak since its return to this race in 1981.

There have been various reasons for the red, white and blue to have gotten beat up in the last five years. Sometimes they just got outrode (Belgium and France), sometimes they suffered injuries to team members (Latvia and Italy) and sometimes they just had some crashes (Germany). However, no excuses, the record book shows five straight years of no Chamberlain Trophy residing here in the USA.

When it comes to previewing this weekend’s race, America is in a unique position. Due to riders bowing out or being hurt, it is no one’s ideal USA team outside of MX2 rider Zach Osborne. But, like certain things that have worked against the USA winning in recent years, things are breaking right for the stars and stripes in 2017. Below is how I see this race going down.

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Steve Matthes believes in Hunter Lawrence, after the USGP.

Suzuki Racing

A Sneaky Good Country

Australia didn’t have a great 2016 MXdN and they needed a couple of amazing rides from Dean Ferris to finish eighth overall. Their MX2 rider, Mitchell Evans, was out of his league and struggled. Without Ferris and his rides, they would have been way back. That is not going to happen this year, as Hunter Lawrence has been putting in great rides in MX2 and has acquired some real momentum in the last month or so. Ferris is back, so he’ll be solid again and Kirk Gibbs has international experience also. The Australians could be on the podium at the end of the day Sunday. Believe that.

A Sneaky Good Country II

Switzerland should just call themselves “The Sneaky Swiss” as they are always one of those countries that lurk around and you think “Huh, look at that, the Swiss are good at motocross!” Arnaud Tonus, Jeremy Seewer and Valentin Guillod are solid for sure and, on the hard pack, they’ll be good. There is also a one hundred percent chance that Guillod cartwheels at some point in the weekend and the Swiss are hoping it is not in a moto.

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Jeremy Seewer is excited to finally debut aboard an RM-Z450.

Suzuki Racing

A Not Sneaky Good Country

My home country, Canada, had its best finish at this race in decades with a tenth last year, thanks to Kaven Benoit’s amazing rides in both motos. Unfortunately for them, Benoit is not here. Colton Facciotti is here though, as that is not a huge drop off for Team Maple Leaf. Hard to see Facciotti putting in the same rides as Benoit last year, although he’ll be good enough to keep the team in the A main. I’ll be happy, as long as “we” beat the Irish and the Finns.

Sorry, Maybe Next Year?

I know, I know, The Netherlands finished second last year and were so close to winning it until Romain Febvre made a few passes late in the last moto. I know that Jeffrey Herlings is a lock to win one moto and probably two, but I feel like Brian Bogers will let them down. Glenn Coldenhoff was very good last year, but he got starts. Maybe I’m not feeling it right, but I think those will not be there this weekend. I could be terribly off with this guess, but sorry not sorry to the Dutch.

Belgium is always so solid at this event. They seem to be able to pick and choose from a deep pool and surprisingly they did not make a podium last year, but they did end up fourth. I think not putting Jeremy Van Horebeek on the 250F is going to come back and bite them; he is always good at this race. No Van Horebeek in MX2 and no Clement Desalle means Belgium take a step back in 2017.

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Matthes doesn't believe in The Netherlands, like many others.

KTM Images/Ray Archer

Third Place

France. Sorry boys, your three-year streak at this event stops now. I cannot look past the loss of Dylan Ferrandis and then Benoit Paturel in MX2. I know Romain Febvre got better late in the MXGP season, but he is not the same guy as he has been the last couple of years. Gautier Paulin is always good here and he is much happier with his Husqvarna than he was on a Honda, but France do not have enough in MX2 to get to the top step this year.

Second Place

USA. Yep, with injuries to France and Belgium crippling, I think the American boys can end up real close to winning this thing and, with some right breaks, maybe take a very unexpected victory. Thomas Covington racing a 450 for the first time as a professional isn’t exactly ideal, but he does have time on this track. Cole Seely is solid, so won’t make massive mistakes, and Zach Osborne should win the MX2 class I would think. If they pull off the win it would be the most shocking one since Great Britain in 1994, when they actually topped the USA.

First Place

I am not saying Great Britain are going to win because I want the MX Vice guys to like me, I really think this is the year they get it done. I’ve seen the hometown boost that France and the USA have gotten at these races and all three UK guys are very solid. They probably will not win a moto but still take the overall because Tommy Searle, as bad as his MXGP season has gone, is in MX2 and he’s never been better than when he was battling with Herlings on one.

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Great Britain could pull off a rather large upset on Sunday.

Husqvarna/J.P Acevedo

Searle has got a ton of experience and has ridden for GB at the MXdN approximately fifteen times, so he is not going to get rattled. Dean Wilson had a great year here and has performed well at this event before, I’m not worried about Deano’s ability here. Max Anstie is a bit of a wildcard but look it up, his MXGP season was pretty good. I know I was a bit surprised when I did a deep dive into his results. Searle and Mad Max know this track well, the hometown fans will be freaking out and, yes, I think they get it done. Congrats to you guys and the Queen mum, she’ll be very pleased.

Words: Steve Matthes | Lead Image: Yamaha Racing

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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