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Matthes Report

The Matthes Report: Indianapolis

Matthes on Audette and Cianciarulo.

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Life’s been tough for the once powerful Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki team the last couple of years. Once dominant, the gap between Mitch Payton’s bikes and the others has closed, the amateur scouting advantage that Team Green had has disappeared and don’t look now, but they’re just another team in the pits these days.

This year, Joey Savatgy has put in some good rides on the west coast and they certainly needed that after a miserable 2015 where Savatgy got the team’s only win. The east coast in 2016 has been tough with both Tyler Bowers and the now-injured Arnaud Tonus failing to get a podium. With Tonus’ injury the team needed a fill-in rider, so selected long-time privateer and former Star Yamaha rider Gannon Audette to ride the rest of supercross. Audette had some success a few years ago, but he’s been hurt a few times since then and has been a JAG (just another guy) for the last few years.

What do you know? Audette pulled the holeshot in the main event and rode strong to get a third, his first ever pro podium. Hands up who picked Gannon Audette to score PC’s first podium on the east? It’s a real cool story for sure; the working class hero getting a shot on the big team and afterwards Audette was all smiles.

It was two weeks ago on Monday Mitch ended up calling me” said Audette about getting ‘the call’. “He asked me if I wanted to do it and everything and then gave me the okay on Tuesday. Then I flew out on Wednesday and it just kind of went from there. I flew out the next day and I’ve just been testing and everything out there with those guys. It’s been a good week and a half with them.

Audette had been pitted with the Legends and Heroes squad at the races, which isn’t really a race team. It’s more of an exhibition each week of old bikes and they honour an old racer. This was Audette’s “team” but he was still thankful for all that they have done for him.

I can’t thank all of them enough. They’ve helped me get to where I am today. The season didn’t start out exactly how I wanted it to with a fourteenth and a fifteenth. Now I got on the podium with the Pro Circuit Kawasaki guys and it’s just awesome” said Audette after the main.

Audette was catching Martin Davalos late in the race before Davalos handed the third spot over with a crash and Audette keenly knew that was the last spot on the box. “Yeah, I knew Marty was third and I was catching him. We were all a little bit sketchy in the dragon’s back before the finish line, and I think he ended up coming together with a lapper and ended up crashing” said Gannon. “I just kind of tried to ride a little bit timid and just wanted to finish it out and get on that podium. It was just awesome.

Notice the word “awesome” yet again used by Audette. If you were pitted out of a trailer and paying for everything you would also use the word “awesome” whenever you can when talking about a Pro Circuit ride.

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Gannon Audette earlier in the year, when he was riding out of the Legends and Heroes outfit.

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While Audette gets the chance of a lifetime and is a very-unlikely saviour for the Pro Circuit team, the kid that everyone thought would be on the box many times for Payton, Adam Cianciarulo, is getting ready to come back from his latest injury.

Two shoulder surgeries (same issue, different shoulders) was almost immediately followed by a wrist injury while getting ready for supercross. The can’t-miss-kid (three wins in five career supercrosses by the way) has had a series of stops and starts, but he’ll be on the gate for the first round of the motocross series in the middle of May.

Outdoors is the goal. We should be good for that,” Cianciarulo told us on the PulpMX Show on Monday. “Basically I was just getting ready for supercross and I crashed at Milestone. I broke the navicular in my wrist, which is a scary bone to talk about. But I guess the main complication with that normally is the ligaments and all that stuff. I don’t really know specifics. All I know is mine is relatively straight forward. It was just an eight-week recovery time. I’m riding with a wrist brace on it right now. I’ve only been back on the bike three days, but it feels really good.

Last season Adam started off by posting the fastest qualifying time at the first outdoor race (he missed all of SX with shoulder surgery) then led the opening laps of moto one before tipping over. But that was a bit of a false positive in that Adam knew he couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t in shape. Run down, tired and unable to rest his way out of it, Cianciarulo re-evaluated his training program and parted ways with trainer Aldon Baker. Yes, he of the all those wins and titles with riders like Ryan Dungey, Ryan Villopoto, James Stewart and more.

I wasn’t fit, and I really wasn’t fit the whole summer. I was trying to get fit, trying to get fit, and it just kind of wasn’t happening for me…

Big decision for the now big man but one that Adam felt he had to make. “To be honest with you, I think I might have started with him (Baker) a little bit too young. You go onto the program it works for some and the program doesn’t work for people. You’ve seen it in the past. The thing about it is it is kind of one program,” explains Adam. “There’s little adjustments made for different people and maybe if you’re not feeling so good this day maybe you take the forty-five minute loop on the road bike road and not the hour. But other than that, it’s not rocket science. It’s one program. For me, that program just didn’t seem like it was working for me. It seemed like I was kind of going backwards a little bit.

What I would say is it looks like I don’t want to put in the work. People associate Aldon’s program with hard work. It’s gnarly. RC (Ricky Carmichael), and all that stuff. It really wasn’t about that. It wasn’t about work ethic or laziness on my part. It wasn’t about that. It was just doing what I thought was best for me.

There’s a reason Cianciarulo was locked up with a five-year contract while still an amateur and there’s a reason he’s got all those amateur national title number one plates on his wall. As well, you don’t luck into that three for five supercross win record. It hasn’t been easy nor has it gone smoothly for Cianciarulo and Pro Circuit, but he’s got the work ethic, he’s got a great team and if he can stay healthy he’ll build his way up this summer.

I just believe in my speed, the talent I have and the bike that I have. I believe in all that stuff so much. If I didn’t I think I would be done by now. You doubt yourself so much when you first get hurt, but if you don’t have that true belief, that deep down knowing that you can do it… You can’t just think; you have to be able to know. If I didn’t have that, I think I’d be done by now.” He’s not done. Not by a long shot.

Words: Steve Matthes | Image: Kawasaki 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 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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