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Welcome to Racerhead and what should be an excellent (but hot) weekend of racing, not only here in America, but also over in Europe. Both the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross and FIM World Motocross Championships conclude this weekend, and both have a very tight points battle in at least one class. Here in the U.S., at Fox Raceway at Pala, Monster Energy/Star Yamaha Racing’s Eli Tomac and Team Honda HRC‘s Chase Sexton are just one point apart, just as they have been after each of the last three rounds at Unadilla, Budds Creek, and Ironman. Tomac has a one-point advantage and can clinch the title if he simply matches Sexton’s finish tomorrow. Sexton needs to either win both motos or hope someone gets between him and Tomac if he does not. Tomac wins no matter what with a 1-2 or 2-1, and he also wins if they end up in a mathematic tie because he will have won more motos throughout the course of the championship.

Adding a wrinkle to it all is the fact that weather forecasters and the National Weather Service have posted extreme heat warnings tomorrow, where it could be as hot as 107 degrees, according to estimates. That led MX Sports Pro Racing to first get with MAVTV and ask for an extra half-hour between the first and second sets of motos, which would give every rider 90 minutes of recovery and cooling time, which they quickly obliged. We also worked with event promoter Myron Short on adding shade areas for spectators and hydration and shade areas for the riders and mechanics, including some submersion pools and stocking water all around the track. And we got together with not only the Alpinestars Mobile Medical doctors, but also several people involved with the respective teams of Tomac and Sexton, as well as 250 class frontrunners Jett Lawrence and Jo Shimoda, and a few others like KTM’s Roger De Coster, Kawasaki’s Dan Fahey, and others. The consensus is that if it is as hot as expected, everyone is fine with shortening each moto by five minutes. That’s what’s on the tentative schedule that got out yesterday, but it will not be final until we see the end-of-day weather forecasts, which keep changing. No one wants to shorten the motos if it’s not necessary, especially with the added half-hour between them. We will probably know for sure before the end of this afternoon. As I write this right now, it’s calling for 103 tomorrow on my iPhone, but we’re checking plenty of different weather forecasters and outlets.

Over in Turkey, the FIM World Championships already have their ’22 MXGP Champion in Honda’s Tim Gajser, who now has five world titles in his incredible career. But the MX2 (250) title has come down to two points, as Belgium’s Jago Geerts leads France’s Tom Vialle by almost as slim a margin as Tomac and Sexton. They will settle this on Sunday, and then the Tom Vialle watch here in America begins as he’s signed, sealed, and soon to be delivered, to Red Bull KTM here for the next few years. Geerts and Vialle have been going back and forth all season long, and Geerts missed the chance to really make it hard on Vialle with an off-day in France, just as Tomac could have at Budds Creek before he went 1-5 to Sexton’s 7-1, picking up two points instead of a handful. 

Helping to call the shots tomorrow will be James Stewart, as he is on-hand for a repeat performance after his excellent debut as guest announcer back at Budds Creek. Stewart got the call after our initial guest, television, and Team Honda legend David Bailey, could not make it due to his ongoing recovery from shoulder surgery. James jumped at the chance and will only add to the excitement for tomorrow’s series finale.

So, what will we see? I am sure that no one wants to accidentally get in between the two, but there is a race to win and plenty of bonuses for the other top 450 guys, especially Kawasaki’s Jason Anderson, TLD/GasGas’ Justin Barcia and Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey. As for Tomac’s teammate, Christian Craig, and Sexton’s teammate, Ken Roczen, both have done well here before, but they might not want to get in the middle of it. Last weekend Roczen gave Sexton a wide berth when he came through at Ironman.

Also happening out here at Fox Raceway is the third and final Moto Combine of the Year, which took place today and featured some fast prospects like Noah Viney, who won both motos on his Honda, and Kawasaki Team Green rider Enzo Temmerman, who was second both times. Among the coaches and instructors helping out were Chad Reed (who got to visit with his old rival-turned-friend Stewart), Broc Glover, Michael Byrne, Gareth Swanepoel, Broc Tickle, Brian Deegan, Christina Denney, Sam Nicolini, Mike Bonacci, and more. Among the riders NOT participating in the Combine were Ryder DiFrancesco, Haiden Deegan, and Chance Hymas, all of whom have already been part of the program and will now all line up in the 250 class tomorrow. And so is Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin, who will line up tomorrow against these kids as he makes a cameo as he prepares to represent France at RedBud in the Motocross of Nations on September 24-25.

And one other thing before we get into the rest of Racerhead: Congratulations to Team USA Senior and Junior, both of which won international competitions last weekend! At the Vintage Motocross of Nations at Foxhills in England, the team of Mike Brown, Ryan Villopoto, and Zach Osborne took the overall win on their vintage bikes at what looks like an incredibly fun event, and then at the FIM Junior World Cup in Finland a squad of American kids managed by Jeff Cernic and the AMA’s Mike Burkeen took top overall team honors. Collin Allen, Casey Cochran, Seth Dennis, Landon Gibson, Carson Wood, Maddox Temmerman, and Tayce Morgan were all part of this international racing adventure and victory. Congrats to both the men and the boys. Coincidentally, the actual Team USA of Eli Tomac, Chase Sexton, and Justin Cooper showed off their graphics in a presentation here earlier today, and Cooper has asked to wear his #102 tomorrow. If he wins, I believe it will mark the first time in AMA SX/MX history that a #102 has won a race.

Okay, having now conferenced again with both Honda and Star Yamaha Racing, as well as Kawasaki, the decision was made to continue with the adjustment of going to 25 minutes plus two laps tomorrow, as the majority of weather reports (Accuweather, the National Weather Service, NOAA, Weather Underground,) are all still calling for extreme heat tomorrow, though maybe not quite as hot as some of the earlier forecasts. Everyone knows the schedule adjustment and we prepare accordingly, and hopefully we don’t have any heat-related issues. Remember, back in 2010, when it was super-hot at the Freestone National in Texas, Tomac melted down in the second moto, fell back to 11th, and was not the same for the rest of the summer. And then in 2019, when it got super-hot at WW Ranch in Florida, Sexton won the first moto, he couldn’t finish the second moto and then also struggled for several races afterward, took a break, and didn’t get back to full-time racing until Spring Creek at the end of July.  Both of these two title combatants understand the danger such heat can cause to their bodies and are fine with the decision to adjust the schedule, as are their teams. High heat has also caught out riders like Ken Roczen and Jason Anderson before.

Finally, on a pair of sad notes to a long week, we found out this afternoon that Ron Meredith, the longtime friend, and mechanic of Travis Pastrana, succumbed to his injuries after a terrible crash a few weeks back while out riding. When he wasn’t at a race or event with Travis he worked with Blue Oval, the Ford R&D Group in Detroit. A former member of the U.S. Army, he was always willing to help out anyone. And we also learned of the passing of Mary Yezek, the mother of the late Davey Yezek, a former professional racer from Pennsylvania who passed away last year. Mary was always a kind presence at the races, helping out with signup and scoring, even after her son’s passing. Both Ron and Mary will be sorely missed. Godspeed to both of them.

Wow, the 29th race of the year is this weekend at Fox Raceway in Pala and that'll be a wrap on the 2022 season. I mean, wasn't it Anaheim 1 just like a month or so ago? You know the drill here, one point between Eli Tomac and Chase Sexton, and Tomac's trying to become the first double champion in the 450 class since 2015 when Ryan Dungey captured both titles. There was a time when winning both indoors and out was commonplace with Jeff Stanton, Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael, Ryan Villopoto, and Dungey, but yeah, it's been seven years since it's happened. 

We had Justin Brayton on the Fly Racing Moto:60 Show yesterday to help us break down this title fight and JB admits he's biased toward the Honda guys and Sexton, but he said he thinks Sexton gets it done because, in his opinion, no one can match Sexton for raw speed, which I agree with. Me however, I think because of that one-point lead for ET, he can win one moto and wrap this up by following Sexton around in the next moto. Sexton needs to be flawless in both motos while ET needs one. I don't know, that's just my reasoning. 

Now watch Pala Two be like Budds Creek and the chaos factor becomes high!

I know the motos are shortened tomorrow due to heat conditions and of course, that brings out the "MX racers were tougher back in the day" internet crowd (along with a few ex-champions as well). I can understand both sides of this, but the series did have a rider pass away due to heat exhaustion years ago and Pala is sort of stuck in a valley so there's going to be no relief from the heat. I guess we can all try to be smarter and if the riders and the teams didn't have an issue with it, then neither do I.

I was texting with Tim Ferry about this (more on that below) and he's old-school, he came up in the late 80's, early 90's, and he thinks riders back in the day, IE: his day, didn't go as hard as these guys go now. Yes, that's right folks- an ex-champion who doesn't come out and say things were better in his day! He thinks the heart rate of the older riders wasn't as high because the speeds weren't as high and it's a good point. I don't know, you'll never satisfy some of those "everything was better back in the day crowd" people, but here's one retired rider who seems to think different.

It all comes down to this. The finale at Fox Raceway is a tale of two cities, really. For those with much on the line, it's a showdown of epic proportions. For those without, it's merely a formality, if not a brutally hot one. Some will be willing to take every chance and risk it all, while others will be keeping it on the straight and narrow and remain safe as the off-season approaches. It will be very obvious which camp you're in, too. Body language, riding intensity, and overall effort are hard to fake. Coasting into corners? Sitting down through rougher sections? See you at Havasu. That won't be the case for Tomac and Sexton, though. They will be hitting the full send meter all afternoon. A 450 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship is at stake. It's the highest motocross honor we currently have to offer, and these guys know it. Tomac could make it his fourth, and in likely his last season of this series. Sexton is aiming for his first, taking out the old guard along the way. It's an epic clash of titans. The two undoubtedly best riders have gone head-to-head for 22 motos and we still only have a one-point gap. The parity between the two can't be overstated. They have been magnets throughout this series (especially in that crash at Washougal). This weekend, we settle it once and for all. The OK Corral, Hamilton vs. Burr, Cortes vs. Montezuma, Napoleon vs. Alexander... Tomac vs. Sexton. Let's get it on.

The funniest thing I saw all week was related to the Ironman National and the debut of Haiden Deegan. The Monster Energy/Star Yamaha Racing rider was running in 11th at the end of the first 250 moto when he made a big mistake, trying to hop over a wall jump by using the breaking bumps that had built up before them as a launching point. Perhaps he saw a couple of kids and longtime amateur rivals Chance Hymas and Evan Ferry try it during Friday’s Moto Combine, but as soon as the track crew saw the kids trying to get over the obstacle in a quick leap, they called the tractor over to make it impossible to continue doing. It’s the same thing that happened five years ago at the exact same spot on press day, and after I saw Dean Wilson do it, we called the tractor over to change it so the wall would be impossible to hop over because it was way too fast and dangerous. Wilson made fun of the change but I think he knew it was for his own good, as well as anyone else who might try it during the motos because that kind of heavy risk does not translate as well in a long, hot moto as it might on a supercross track. Wilson, a Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing rider and former 250 Pro Motocross Champion, made it look easy, as you can see here, but it wasn’t. And when he saw the video of Deegan trying it, he found the old video from five years ago and reposted it with the caption “Hold my beer.”

A post shared by D E A N O (@deanwilson15)

And here’s Chance Hymas making it look easy, before the takeoff was readjusted:

Now here’s what it looked when Evan Ferry tried it and came very close to going over the bars:

A post shared by Evan Ferry (@lilreddog75)

Finally, here’s Deegan crashing himself out of the first moto, trying something that I didn’t see anyone else try all afternoon. It was ugly, and it could have been much, much worse than it was.

A post shared by Haiden Deegan (@dangerboydeegan)

JT$ talked about it earlier this week on the Ironman Breakdown:

“I wish he hadn’t decided to try that silly jump with two laps to go and nothing to really gain, but kids will be kids, right? I firmly believe he had Friday’s Scouting Combine in his head when he was eyeing it up, as Chance Hymas and Evan Ferry both narrowly pulled it off. The trouble is, the jump wasn’t the same. My advice here would be when you see the leaders of the race and multi-time champions not executing a tricky jump, there’s a reason. Everyone knew that jump was technically possible under the right scenario but clearly the risk/reward wasn’t favorable. I chalk it up to inexperience mostly."

Our friends at Vurbmoto posted another angle of the big crash.

The point is, Deegan was not going to catch 10th place by trying this at the end of the moto, and it nearly ended his day—or worse. I still stand behind cutting the takeoff down five years ago after Wilson started doing it, and I wish the bumps hadn't formed before it to even make it tempting for Deegan, or anyone else who may have been considering it.

And while we’re on the subject of tricky jumps… With James Stewart back in the TV booth this weekend alongside host Jason Weigandt and pit reporter Jason Thomas, they will at some point probably talk a little about the scrub maneuver that Stewart began using twenty years ago. I also wrote a feature called "Risky Business" in the October issue of Racer X Magazine that goes into more detail about the 2003 Budds Creek National, where James took it all to a whole new level, which you can read here: LINK TO FEATURE

Twenty years ago, James Stewart unveiled his new “Bubba Scrub” maneuver at the 2003 Budds Creek National, instantly changing the game of motocross/supercross—as well as the risks.

While compiling information and quotes for the features, I asked our European contributor Adam Wheeler for his take on the scrub, as well as possibly some quotes from some of the top MXGP riders about how the scrub proliferated on that circuit, just as it did here in the states. Unfortunately, we didn't have room in the feature for all of the things Adam himself had to say about the scrub, which we share here.

"The ’scrub’ was fairly radical at the time and seemed indicative of the U.S. racing scene that, to our eyes in Europe, had become more intense and unforgiving; a by-product of the athletes and trainers that were upping the game, seizing the dimensions of the early four-strokes, and really transforming the sport," offered Wheeler, who is based in Barcelona and also covers MotoGP.  "At the time MXGP was still in the throes of the older generation: Stefan Everts, Joel Smets, Marnicq Bervoets. The likes of Mickael Pichon brought some of that American intensity to the party and the Frenchman remained a one-lap master of speed long after he’d retired from full-time Grand Prix racing and would occasionally pop-up with wild-card appearances. The transition was beginning with names like Ben Townley, Tyla Rattray, Tony Cairoli, Tommy Searle and eventually Christophe Pourcel--all riders on the cusp of that change and the seeds of the YouTube generation that were watching, learning, emulating, and experimenting what they were seeing in AMA Supercross race footage and the advanced level of video production coming from across the Atlantic. Of course, Grand Prix tracks at the time were not so rewarding for riders that fancied taking extra, seemingly flamboyant risks across oft-ill-prepared jumps and sections but the use of the scrub and the extra manipulation of the motorcycle evidently brought tenths of a second to a lap-time. It was not long before everybody could see the fruits of the shorter air-time." 

"The influence and consequences were soon clear to see," added Wheeler. "MXGP had to scale-up to satisfy the increased agility and physicality of younger riders that demanded a more technical challenge and motocross became more visual, spectacular. 

"I do wonder if the scrub became so outrageous but also so prolific that it lost some of its importance and some of its zest. For sure the photographs are as marvelous now as they were almost twenty years ago but – as ever – trends and tendencies move on, and the scrub became an essential part of a rider’s arsenal but not a signature trait. The evolution of racers like Townley, Cairoli, Searle, Roczen, Musquin, Prado-- just to pick a few of many names – shows that riders have become more economical with their expression and style as the years go on. Perhaps the tenths plundered through dragging footpegs can now be found with slicker suspension set-up, more forgiving chassis tech, more corner speed. Perhaps energy can be spent in more effective ways?"

Wheeler summed it up with this thought: "The maneuver will always be part of James Stewart’s legacy. More than the championships, wins, and perfect seasons, breaking the paradigm of a sport must be the ultimate marker of achievement in any professional’s mind." 

Kawasaki met us out at Perris Raceway for their introduction of their KX250. The bike has many updates for '23, like new intake valve and valve pitch, new downdraft style intake duct, updated ECU timing, clutch pushrod update, updated suspension valving, wider 110 rear Dunlop MX33, and updated wider foot pegs. The ride impression is embargoed until next Wednesday, but it was definitely a different feel compared to the 2022 version. The Pro Circuit Kawasaki team was also on hand, as well as Jason Anderson, and all were out pounding motos in the 112-degree heat! Yes! 112! Anderson even rode the stock '23 KX250 and was running as fast, if not faster, times than the PC guys were! Impressive! Look for a full breakdown about the new KX coming to Racerxonline.com next Wednesday! 

A post shared by JAson Anderson (@elhombre21)

Weege and I continued our ReRaceables pod this week talking about Daytona 1995 and specifically the 125 class and specifically, Tim Ferry's win. I know, I can't believe it's taken me this long to get Red Dog into one of these things, but we'll get to it when it's time. Good stuff from Timmy, not so much about the race (where he rode really well to pass Reynard, Windham, Carsten, and Pichon for the win!) but more for the stories Ferry told about how little money he was making as a factory rider, racing in Japan against RJ when he was 16, buying tires at Loretta's, and then winning his class and so on and so on. 

Funny stuff to listen and here's the link for more.

Check out the news highlights from the FIM Junior Motocross World Championship:

Here is the last installment of Yamaha privateer Matt Burkeen's vlog as he races a YZ250 in the 450 class, and he once again made the main event, much to the delight of the Ironman fans, but points remained elusive. We've enjoyed seeing (and listening) to Matt and his videos all summer long, well done #820!

And checkout the podcast Dale Spangler did with our guy Kellen Brauer:

“BROWNS: PLAYER WASN'T HOLDING WEED... It's Sunflower Seeds!!!”—TMZ Sports

"Baristas steamed at Ted Cruz depiction as pothead slackers eager for handouts..." - Drudge Report

"In Australia, it’s getting harder to get punched in the face" - The Washington Post

Other upcoming events in California include Sunday’s Carlsbad Reunion at the Booze Brothers Brewing Company, right by the site of the old racetrack in Carlsbad, and then on September 14 is the return of Steve Bauer’s Big Air Kid's Fair for the children of Loma Linda Hospital.

Racer X contributor Scott Cavalari went to an auction Saturday that had a Suzuki TM 400, a 490 Maico, a bunch of old cars, boats, Harleys, "all from one guy stuffed in barns." Scott reported that Pat Moroney bought the Gulf sign for $300, and the Maico was a single shock—the exact bike from Super Hunky’s article “What Killed Maico,” the 1982 single-shock 490 with the Corte Cosso shock (which this bike still had)--sold for $2400. And then there was this gem, an Evel Knievel pinball machine, which went for $2500. Good stuff!

Want to know more about a great old American motocross brand that didn't survive?

https://www.griffs-usa.com/pages/history

Thanks for reading Racerhead. See you at the races!