Connect with us
       

Matthes Report

A Matthes Report: Unadilla

PulpMX’s Steve Matthes on hot topics.

Published

on

There was not a whole lot that happened at Unadilla this past weekend outside of just mud, mud and more mud. The fast guys still produced results and Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s Aaron Plessinger should wrap up his first 250MX championship this weekend after the first moto at Budds. Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac’s 15-point gap on Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin remained the same after they split motos so, yeah, things stayed the same for the most part.

That does not mean there are not things to talk about when it comes to the series over here and the upcoming MXoN at RedBud. Congrats, you are in luck, I have decided to empty my brain of some thoughts about some stuff just for you…

– Big news this week is the return of Rockstar Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson to the nationals. Anderson got hurt practicing midweek after round two and has been out ever since. The current 450SX champ had expressed a desire to try and make it back to be selected for the Team USA at the MXoN, but couldn’t do it. It is a bit odd to see a rider of his caliber come back with just two races to go but that’s cool. Everyone would have understood but Anderson’s back and I imagine he’ll be fighting for podiums right away. With Cooper Webb back and now Anderson, the 450MX class just got tougher.

Enlarge

Site-Jason-Anderson
It is likely that Jason Anderson will return to racing at Budds Creek.

Husqvarna/Simon Cudby

– Speaking of Team USA, it was named at Unadilla and as expected it is Plessinger, Tomac and Monster Energy Yamaha’s Justin Barcia. That’s a strong team and, for the first time in a while, USA are sending their best. Sure, maybe Anderson could replace Barcia if he didn’t get hurt, but the #51 has been riding very well this year. In past MXoN, I have felt that Barcia has raised his game and rode with a lot of heart so I am good with the selection. I have been very vocal on different shows that I think USA wins this race, barring injury of course.

Look at the USGP results the last five years, races at Glen Helen and WW Ranch last year. Our best guys, on USA soil, have a big advantage. The MX2 classes have been dominated by American riders over the years. Outside of special talents like Antonio Cairoli and Jeffrey Herlings, generally the USA riders kill these events. Guys like RJ Hampshire and Jessy Nelson have won GPs when they have never been the best over here. The last two MXoN’s in America, Budds Creek and Lakewood, saw decisive American wins.

Just like it’s a disadvantage for Team USA to travel to Europe and deal with time change and strange tracks, it’s the same for the European-based riders. Add in that the USA guys know RedBud well, France’s INSANE decision to leave Musquin off the team and home-country support and, to me, that equals a USA win. I’d be shocked if the red, white and blue don’t get the Chamberlain Trophy back for the first time in six years. They better get it back this year, because I don’t like the odds in 2020 in Assen!

Enlarge

Site-Eli-Tomac-1
Eli Tomac will lead Team USA into action at the Motocross of Nations.

Monster Energy Media/Octopi

– Chad Reed blew up the internet again this week with some social stuff of him testing at the JGR track. Reed’s in a familiar position where he has to find a ride for 2019 Monster Energy Supercross and we know that he likes to ride the bikes and make a choice from there. The thing is, I’m not sure he has a choice this year! Reed’s coming off his worst season ever due to an injury and he never really got it going much in ’17.

I’m surprised if I’m honest that JGR would try him out. They seem set with Justin Hill and Weston Peick in the 450SX class, but team owner Coy Gibbs must see the value in having the most popular rider in the sport (or 1A with Ken Roczen) riding Suzuki’s for him. I know he was terrible last year but there were reasons for that. I can see the #22 getting a podium or two next year, I really can. He is in good shape right now, he wants to prove last year wasn’t really him and, hey, fans will dig your team if you sign him.

I pondered on Twitter last week that a MotoConcepts Honda deal made sense from my end of things and I know they’ve talked but, from sources I speak to, it doesn’t seem like a fit there. This JGR thing might not lead anywhere but hey, it gives us something to talk about. Chad Reed’s always been good at that.

Enlarge

Site-JGR-Suzuki
Chad Reed has been testing a RM-Z450 with JGR this week.

Suzuki Racing

– Team Puerto Rico was named and it’s Travis Pastrana, Ryan Sipes and Ronnie Mac. All on two-strokes and coached/managed by Rick Johnson. I don’t even know what to say other than I have my doubts those three guys will actually make it to the race. Pastrana can’t seem to stay together and Ronnie Mac isn’t a real person sooooo, yeah, something might give there. It’s still a cool deal, they will have the fans behind them and raise some money for Hurricane Relief down there in PR. It’s a win/win type of thing here even though some people in positions of power were a bit upset it took the light away from the naming of Team USA. I think feelings will be repaired and PR will enter some sort of team on two-strokes. Mike Brown and Gared Steinke… Keep your phones close by.

Words: Steve Matthes | Lead Image: Monster Energy Media/Octopi

Matthes Report

Matthes Report: Daytona

Predictions from Steve Matthes!

Published

on

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.

Enlarge

Site-Ken-Roczen

Align With Us

– 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.

Enlarge

Site-Nate-Thrasher

Align With Us

– 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

Continue Reading

Matthes Report

Matthes on: Alex Nagy

Feel-good story from Orlando.

Published

on

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.

Enlarge

Site-Alex-Nagy

Align With Us

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.”

Enlarge

Site-Alex-Nagy-2-scaled

Align With Us

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

Continue Reading

Matthes Report

Matthes Report: Ken Roczen

A look at Ken Roczen’s triumphs.

Published

on

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.

Enlarge

Site-Ken-Roczen

Align With Us

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.”

Enlarge

Site-Ken-Roczen-2

Align With Us

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

Continue Reading

Latest