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Matthes Report

A Matthes Report: Cooper Webb

Steve Matthes gets Cooper Webb to open up.

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The deal of the day on 24MX.

Maybe you don’t listen to the PulpMX Show and that’s ok. I mean, we just had MX Vice’s Lewis Phillips on it so, like, it has to be good, right? 

This past Monday we had Phil Nicoletti and Jason Weigandt from Racer X in-studio and, because Red Bull KTM’s Cooper Webb won, we had get him back on. Nicoletti was stoked; him and Coop are buddies and they rode together last summer a bunch. I sat next to Phil in the press box and there was no one, maybe not even Webb’s parents, who was more excited to see Webb win his first 450SX race.

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It took longer than most predicted for Cooper Webb to get a 450SX win.

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 We called Coop up for the show to get into the race and his off-season on the new bike and new training programme with Aldon Baker. Lots to unpack when it comes to the win. What does it mean? Is Webb a potential race winner every week?

The series could get even better if this were to happen. Webb gave us a great interview and I thought I’d rank the best quotes he gave us. Check out the latest show for the whole interview please and thank you.

I know it was at a 250F level but for me the thing that I always go back to is, and you can call it this or call it that, that GP in Charlotte. To run with [Jeffrey] Herlings and get the overall there and to see him now… For me, I look at that and I say, “I beat that guy at one point.” Sure, right now, I might not beat him, but I have the potential to. There is no reason why I cannot get back to that or get in his realm again at least. I think for me, that has been the biggest motivator and knowing he’s the same age and on the same team now.

Thoughts: Well, he is not wrong. That was a great day for Webb and it is interesting to me that he is the first big time USA rider that I can think of who has dropped Herlings name as pretty much a best-rider-I-can-think-of-right-now milestone. Webb makes a direct connection to himself and getting back to “that” and “that” is beating Herlings. I like it!

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Cooper Webb sits third in the 450SX standings, heading into Oakland.

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 I think for me, regardless, even if they [Yamaha] would have thrown the moon at me, I had my mind made up of where I wanted to be. For me, there were no hard feelings. It’s business. I get where they are coming from. They invested a lot and didn’t get much in return, so I see where they are coming from.

Thoughts: Coop made it clear the Yamaha thing did not work for him and he was out of there. But the, “They invested a lot and didn’t get much in return” line was right. I mean, he was hurt a lot and there were some podiums in there but, yeah, a rider saying that the team he rode for did not get much in return? Now that is honesty. 

At the time, they [Yamaha] showed interest. To be honest with you they had only offered me a one-year deal a lot less money, which I anticipated. I felt like a one-year deal for me was not what I wanted, especially when I had other offers for more money and longer-term deals. 

Thoughts: A rider taking us behind the curtain to tell us how contract negotiations went is awesome. Honestly, I cannot believe Yamaha wanted him back either. Maybe it was a, “Hey, let’s make him an offer he will turn down but we will look like good guys” type of thing? Not sure, but this was a cool nugget. Webb took more money and an extra year at KTM.

It was a big risk I think for mainly Aldon [Baker], because I do not think I really knew him and obviously from the outside looking in he probably thought I was a shit head. Didn’t want to train with them, but I am being forced to because KTM is making me, and who knows where my head is at. Is the kid lazy? There were big adjustments. When I got there, I am going to be honest, I was not as fit as I think obviously he thought and even myself. That was a big adjustment for sure. 

Thoughts: Webb is talking about moving to Florida and training with Aldon Baker. Cooper said that Baker, “Probably thought he was a shit head” and that is awesome. Then Webb admitted he was not as fit as Baker wanted! Like, seriously, how great is this stuff?

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Oakland was the site of Cooper Webb's first 450SX podium finish.

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But another thing, I think the biggest thing, is the practicing. Until this year, I have practiced at 70%-80% my whole career. On race day I just step it up. I ride to my potential. When I got there, I was getting absolutely smoked. He could not believe it and was like, “Dude, what are you doing? You are three seconds a lap off on our freaking supercross track. What are you doing?” I just told them, “Don’t worry. Once I get to the race I’ll be good.” He was like, “No. That is not the way it is going to be. You need to practice hard and race hard. That was a big adjustment, even for myself. 

Thoughts: Webb’s admission that his practice habits were kosher with the Baker crew is interesting. Three seconds a lap is a lot for sure and I imagine it was a pretty hard reality check for Webb. Baker’s guys do run through some intense motos, Ihave seen it firsthand. Again, Webb just laying it all out on the table.

“It’s funny, because that’s what I kind of jokingly told the guys at Phoenix. I said, “I just need to quit being a you-know-what. They were like, “No, we think we can improve it.” You can tinker with the bike so much and I just got to the point where I was like, “I just need to figure it out.” Technique. The bike is such a good bike that I can ride this thing with any suspension you put on it. It was cool to just go back to the original and go back to what I rode in boot camp all year. If I have to adjust a few clickers, then that is what we’ll do, but nothing crazy like I did in Phoenix. It was good. Even though the result was bad, I learned really to quit screwing around with the bike. Ride the thing.” 

Thoughts: As a former mechanic the line, “Even though the result was bad, I learned really to quit screwing around with the bike,” was basically like, amazing, to me. Wow. A rider that realises he can make up for what the bike is not doing right. A rider that realises you cannot set a motorcycle up perfectly for the whoops and for the turns. QUIT SCREWING AROUND AND RIDE THE THING… More beautiful words have never been spoken by a factory rider.

Words: Steve Matthes | Lead 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 Report

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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