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Matthes Report

A Matthes Report: Recap

PulpMX’s Steve Matthes on a few topics.

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Well that’s a wrap on the supercross and motocross season here in the USA. Twenty-nine races indoors and out and, like always, a list of riders that either loved the year or absolutely cannot wait to see it go. Let’s cover some of those guys now, yeah?

DON’T STOP, WON’T STOP

Jason Anderson: No matter how bad his 450MX season went (wrecked with an injury), you cannot take away him winning the 450SX title this past year. Was he the outright fastest dude indoors week in and week out? Probably not but he has got the title and all the haters can suck on that.

Aaron Plessinger: A double 250 champion, just like Zach Osborne last year. Plessinger really came into his own and found the ability to direct that talent (that’s always been there) to dominate indoors and out. It is a breakthrough we have all been waiting for and he did it. Now onto the 450s for AP.

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This photo sums up the season that Aaron Plessinger had perfectly.

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Eli Tomac: Yeah, he did not win the 450SX title and probably should have, but he did win the 450MX one so that is something. Going without a title would have been a disaster for him and Kawasaki, but he got one in the bank so 2018 is cool for him and everyone on the team.

Zach Osborne: Same as Tomac, where he got one out of two titles. Osborne really wanted to make SX/MX history and win four titles in two years in the 250 class, but an injury took him out early in the motocross series. Still, he backed up his amazing run last year with a title that he kind of walked to even though he arguably rode worse than last year.

Marvin Musquin: I mean, yeah he was shut out of titles but he won races indoors and out and was in both title fights. Musquin had a good year and I don’t want to hear anything else.

Shane McElrath: Sugar Shane won races indoors like he has the last couple of years and now he’s won motos and overalls in 250MX. He really emerged as “a guy” and could pull a “Plessinger” in 2019.

Justin Barcia: As detailed below, this guy was a real story in 2018. I mean, he was done as a factory rider until getting a shot at Yamaha as Davi Millsaps’ fill-in. He came out at Anaheim 1 swinging and never let off the whole year. Not even an injury in supercross could dampen what a great year Barcia had. He was like Apple stock in the mid-90s.

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Justin Barcia ended a strong year with a clean sweep at the final round.

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PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP

Cooper Webb: Lots of expectations and dollars spent with Webb but, yet again, he got hurt in both series and missed time. When he was on the track he was, at times, very good but mostly just sort of there lurking outside the top five. Webb’s getting a fresh start with Red Bull KTM.

Josh Grant: JG33 barely made it into any races due to injury and, in fact, he might be hanging up the boots if he cannot get his ankle better. Grant’s been up and down in the past so do not count him out, but 2018 wasn’t very good.

Justin Bogle: In the “this sport can be cruel” department is Justin Bogle, who won the 450MX overall at the second last race last year, signed a JGR Suzuki deal and looked to be on the rise. He crashed bad before the season started, came back during supercross and crashed some more. Finally he came back for a few outdoors, rode terribly and then had surgery. Less than twelve months ago, he was on cloud nine and now this.

Cole Seely: A serious injury suffered in Tampa caused Seely to miss the rest of the year and that’s never good. He might not have made this list if he had got a win or some podiums indoors before the crash, but it was not really happening for him. Then the crash happened.

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Cole Seely actually jumped back onto his CRF450RW earlier this week.

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Justin Barcia

It was an amazing end of the season for Monster Energy Yamaha’s Justin Barcia. He dominated Ironman MX in the mud for a 1-1 day and what a capper on a season where he was a fill-in rider (yes, he could not get a ride for 2018) going into Anaheim 1. An incredible resurgence for Bam-Bam and he has capped it off with being named to Team USA on his home turf next month. Pretty crazy where life can bring you, huh? In this interview after Ironman, he says he came close to hanging it up.

MX Vice: Congratulations. What a day. 1-1 on the day and got the overall win. Your comeback is complete at Yamaha. You didn’t get third in the series. Is that important to you?

Justin Barcia: I wanted to, but I did all I could do today to make that happen and it didn’t. So no, it’s not a deal-breaker or anything. It would have been nice, but it is what it is. The 1-1 was definitely what I wanted. That was better than third overall in the championship to me.

I honestly felt like Unadilla might have been a 1-1 if you had kept it on line. You rode really great.

Yeah, we had a lot of good speed at Unadilla. Too many crashes though. That’s what I told the boys this morning. I’m like, it’s raining. We got to win today, because Unadilla I blew it.

The track in the first and second moto, was there much of a difference?

Yeah, big difference. I got in the main groove the second moto and it was actually fun to ride. First moto was kind of just all over the place and just squirrelling around, so the track came around pretty good from this morning to now.

Phil Nicoletti  passed you in moto one. How mad were you?

Phil is difficult to pass too. I lost my goggles too, so that wasn’t good. Luckily I got him in the rollers quick and made it easy. But yeah, Phil got me.

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Justin Barcia has experienced many highs, but some crushing blows too.

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I don’t know how much you knew of a gap you had on Roczen in that second moto, but a rough couple of last laps. What was going on?

I know. I just dumped it once and then I came down the hill right after and dumped it down again and was like, all right, chill.

Then went off the track!

I went off the track as well, so that one lap was disastrous. Could have lost it there. I don’t know. I had such a good flow the whole moto. The second to last lap I was a disaster. Luckily I kind of got it together for the last lap.

You have always been a good mud rider. Obviously growing up in New York, that is a part of it, but what is it? Is it a little bit of a mental attitude too? You rev the bike and were very aggressive. Things that maybe would not work in the mud, but they do for you and they always have.

It is crazy. For some reason when I ride in the mud I don’t rev it as much and I shift more, which is weird but it works in the mud. I don’t know. This was the hardest race probably of the year condition-wise and then I go 1-1. I’m like, “Dude, there are easier tracks where I should have done that.” Bike set-up is not as big in the mud. I felt like our setting today was good. It was something a little new. On the drier stuff I have been searching a lot to find a comfortable setting. In the off-season that is what we are going to work on, but today the setting is not as big of a deal in the mud.

How happy are you about winning this? A year ago you were at the Monster Cup on a Honda. You crash off the start. Millsaps gets hurt. You fill-in. Seriously, what a comeback story, and you grab a win. You have got to be absolutely stoked.

It’s great. I cannot really ask for much better. Now I have a two-year deal with Yamaha. It is crazy. Going from no ride to never giving up and just trying my hardest and making the comeback. American dream, just living it.

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Justin Barcia has signed a new two-year deal with Monster Energy Yamaha.

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What do you think you have learned in the time from the end of JGR and the end of the USGP to now? What do you think you have learned?

Definitely matured a lot mentally with just racing in general and the base thing never give up. I was close to calling it quits, because I was just so over it.

For reals? That close?

Yeah, I was over it. I did not want to race anymore after the GP. It was just miserable. But luckily I found a good woman by my side and she very mentally helped me get through that situation. Just never give up. That is the biggest thing. If I would have given up, I would not have been here today.

Nice work. 1-1. The dominant rider today and Plessinger, so it’s Blu Cru. I’m still blocked on your Instagram. You just got to unblock me, but we are still okay?

We are really cool. We are best friends.

Let’s not go that far.

We can go get ice cream after this. I need to go into those unblocks. I was really mad at you back in the day, but we’re cool.

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

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

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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