Ferrandis Focuses On Motocross

Cycle News Staff | May 1, 2023

Former AMA 450MX Champion Dylan Ferrandis says he’s forgoing the rest of the Monster Energy Supercross Series so he can focus on the upcoming AMA Pro Motocross Championship.

Dylan Ferrandis will wait for the outdoor Pro Motocross Championship before making his comeback from injury.

Ferrandis suffered a head injury at the Houston Supercross and attempted a return at Daytona only to suffer another crash. The Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha Team rider was hoping to get back in action at the Nashville Supercross but made the decision before the race to forgo the rest of the Supercross season to focus entirely on the outdoor series, which starts later this month.

“Dylan has been making progress, but at this point in the season, our focus is to be ready for the start of the outdoor season,” Team Manager Jeremy Coker.

“I’m back on the bike for the second time this week,” said Ferrandis. “Our focus now is to be back for Pala, and I will do everything I can to be ready for the outdoor season.” CN

Tomac...No Rash Decisions

"When I look back I barely over jumped, and I was just standing into that ramp, and I guess the high G load was just too much," said Tomac. "I don't know, I've over jumped twenty different jumps just as hard if not harder and I've been fine. I guess it's just what happens with racing. It's very unfortunate to lose it this way, but myself and the Star Racing Yamaha team have many things to look back on and hold our heads high with. It's so special what we've done together these past two years.

"One thing for sure, I'm not going to make any decisions on my future right now. That will come maybe a month down the road or two, when I make a decision if I'm going to ride again. I'm just going to focus on getting healthy."

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Roczen to WSX Championship!

Ken Roczen confirms 3 years of WSXChampionship and defending his WSX title

Ken Roczen has signed on with the WSXChampionship for the next three years! He will forgo AMA Pro Motocross in 2023 and stick with WSX for 2023, 2024, and 2025...

Eli

Eli Tomac - Not exactly the outcome we were expecting from this weekend, but we're just thankful to be healthy enough to keep smiling. Coming back stronger!

Heartbreak in Denver. After putting up a heroic title defense which saw him collect the most race wins, hold the championship lead nearly the entire season & head into the penultimate round with an 18-point advantage, Monster Energy® Yamaha Star Racing’s Eli Tomac suffered a devastating season-ending injury on Saturday to cut his pursuit of a third 450SX title just short. Despite the injury, it was an incredible season which will end with Tomac finishing second in championship points.

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MX43

Tomac Out!

Last weekend the 450SX championship landscape changed. But this weekend, it got completely flipped upside down.

At the 16th round—again with an 18-point lead in the standings—Eli Tomac had the race lead in the 450SX main event in front of his home crowd. It appeared Tomac wanted to win the race and put one hand on the 450SX #1 trophy, before going to Utah next weekend and grabbing the trophy with his other hand and hoisting it up. But, in front of his home crowd, things took a turn for the worst for the Colorado native.

The crowd erupted and when cameras found the #1, we quickly found out why. Tomac was quickly going backward as rider after rider passed him as he rolled the jumps. Then, Tomac was sitting on the inside of the track, holding his left leg up and away from his bike as he shook his head.

The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider cut across the track and went straight for the tunnel where riders exit the track. An AMA official stopped him briefly—more than likely to warm him if he left the track, he could not reenter the race—but the veteran knew something was wrong. He went straight for the Alpinestars medical truck that sat just inside the stadium walls. Tomac got off of his bike but needed assistance getting into the medical truck. His name dropped to the bottom of live timing.

At the same time, Sexton took over the race lead from Adam Cianciarulo. By doing so, Sexton has unofficially become the 450SX points leader. The TV crew showed replays as broadcasters Leigh Diffey and Ricky Carmichael broke down the footage they were watching. It appeared to be a lower left leg injury for the two-time 450SX champion, and the halfway point of the race came and went as everyone waited for an update.

Finally, one came. And it took the air out of the stadium.

“Yeah, unfortunately, without crashing, we just came up a little short on a jump and it’s an unfortunate report, we have to make, but we [Tomac] ruptured the Achilles tendon and it’s going to put us out for the rest of the season,” Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 450 team manager Jeremy Coker told trackside reporter Daniel Blair.

And just like that, for the second week in a row, the 450SX championship lost a title contender for the season and completely flipped the title fight.

Moments later, Tomac came out of the medical truck with a soft walking boot on his left leg as he used crutches and assistance from others in order to get onto the back of the medical cart and head for the pits.

Sexton went on to claim the race win with Tomac’s three laps landing him 22nd officially.

And the situation bumped the #23 into the 450SX points lead over Tomac, completely changing the 2023 450SX championship.

Sexton said in the post-race press conference he was unaware of what exactly happened to the championship leader until after the race.

“Yeah, it’s definitely tough, not to swallow, but to comprehend,” Sexton opened with in the press conference. “I honestly didn’t know what was going on—if his bike was broke or he broke a wheel or something. So, I just found out after the race that he hurt his ankle.”

“Obviously a lot of speculation on what actually happened as far as muscle damage wise,” Sexton continued. “But for me, I just wanted to capitalize when I saw that obviously he was going backwards. Obviously, that’s not the way you want to see someone go out, especially someone like Eli. He’s so gnarly. And he’s been super, super gnarly the last couple years. And I would say a great competitor. And I love racing him. So, tough way to see him go out. And, yeah, definitely wish him the best. And for me, my gameplan stays the same. That’s what I’m looking at right now.”

Only a few weeks after we saw one of the closest championship fights in AMA Supercross history, the last two weeks have been absolutely chaotic. 

Not only does this impact the supercross championship, but the AMA Pro Motocross Championship—and inaugural SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX)—as well. Tomac had re-signed with Yamaha to come out and try to defend his #1 Pro Motocross plate against soon-to-be 450cc rookie Jett Lawrence, Sexton, and the rest of the field. Then he would give it a go for the first-ever SMX championship with hopes of claiming the first ever combined, playoff-style title. But this injury will keep Tomac on the sidelines for at the very least half a year, but possibly longer.

Tomac will turn 31 this off-season (in November) and we know he is nearing the end of an eventual hall-of-fame career. Many were wondering if, and hoping Tomac would, return to the Yamaha factory team in 2024 and race one more year, even if just on a supercross-only contract. Could this impact that decision? We do not want to speculate on the future for the multi-time champ, but this injury will play a role in any decisions moving forward.

With one round to go in Utah, Sexton enters with a seven-point lead over Tomac—the only rider mathematically alive in the championship. When the #23 starts the 450SX main event next weekend at the Salt Lake City Supercross, the native of Illinois will become the first Honda-mounted premier class champion in either AMA Supercross or Motocross since Ricky Carmichael took the 2004 AMA Motocross title. It will also give Honda HRC all three AMA Supercross titles this season as Hunter Lawrence (250SX East Region) and Jett Lawrence (250SX West Region) each clinched their respective titles one round early.

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Herlings Wins 102 and Counting

In front of a huge Spanish crowd and in very warm conditions around a very rough circuit, Red Bull KTM Factory rider Jeffrey Herlings won the Spanish GP with 1-1 scores and became the greatest Grand Prix winner of all time. The five time World motocross champion picked up his 102^nd GP victory to pass the record held for the last two decades by Stefan Everts.

Jeffrey Herlings: It is pretty insane, at Jorges home place and I did it. I want to thank myself. The team did their job and its a long journey and to have this record for myself now and we want to continue improving. The most motos wins I broke a couple of years ago now the most GP wins and the most World title I don't think I can get. So many wins with KTM and I want to thank Pit (Beirer) for this one.

The 1-1 win by Herlings is also bad news for the competition as he is starting to look like the 2018 version of “The Bullet”, who completely dominated his opposition and won the title with ease. Now just six points behind Prado, the Dutchman must be excited for the next round in France.

GasGas factory rider Jorge Prado, who still owns the red plate finished with a strong second place in the opening moto and then put together top five finish. Second overall was Mattia Guadagnini with 3-3 scores and third overall was Ruben Fernandez with 5-2 scores.

Ruben Fernandez moved to third in the championship points as the Spanish do have something to celebrate. The championship points are now Jorge Prado 294, Jeffrey Herlings 288, Ruben Fernandez 224, Romain Febvre and Maxime Renaux 202.

Seewer led the second MXGP moto from Guadagnini, Fernandez, Herlings,  Paturel, Vaanderen, Prado, Coldenhoff, Guillod and Forato. Fernandez into the lead as he passed Seewer and Herlings all over Seewer. Guadagnini passed Seewer and Herlings follows him through.

Prado moved past Paturel for fifth and on lap three the lead by Fernandez over Guadagnini was 2.6 seconds. Herlings was just behind Seewer and Prado starting to build his speed. Coldenhoff also passed Paturel.

Herlings moved into third place as he ducked up the inside of Seewer. The Dutchman quickly up to Guadagnini and looking likely to do the same thing as the opening moto and make history. Herlings tried a pass on Guadagnini and nearly got it, but both are now all over Fernandez for the lead.

Herlings into second and now onto the leader and on lap eight into the lead and victory number 102 is right in front of him. As it is now, the points lead in the championship from Prado is just three points. Herlings wins the moto and GP and closed down the series lead by local rider Jorge Prado.

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Webb...I'll Be Back!

Pro Motocross and SMX playoffs still in the plans of Webb

 Post: Troy Guenther

Aiming to return during the second half of 2023 450MX season.

Image: Octopi Media.

A targeted return has been outlined by Cooper Webb as he aims to line up during the second half of the 2023 Pro Motocross Championship, with the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) playoffs also still part of his plans.

Webb was in contention for a third 450SX crown prior to his heat race incident in Nashville that ultimately cut short his bid for this year’s AMA Supercross title. He has now suggested a six-to-eight-week recovery before he rides again to mitigate any ongoing complications.

“Nashville, unfortunately, was the end of my Supercross season,” Webb explained in a social media post. “You know, I had the incident and had a pretty good concussion, so went to the hospital straight away from the race and did a bunch of scans – CT scans, MRI.

“Ended up staying the night there and, luckily, nothing came back too crazy, just a moderate concussion, they called it. So you know, was very fortunate there, as far as my neck and shoulder, collarbone… everything was good, nothing broken, nothing damaged, and just some bruises.

“I felt like we really pushed hard and made massive strides towards obviously winning another championship. I had a great year, had some great battles and, you know, it was an unfortunate way for it to all end, but I know I gave it my all. I was there for the fight all year and I’ve got to hang my hat high on that.

“Can’t be too bummed with how the season went. Obviously, I wish I could have won some more races and been a little bit closer to the title fight, but you know, 11 points is still close with three rounds to go and I felt like – like I said – it all happens for a reason.

“Next step for me, saw a neurologist yesterday and they recommended about six-to-eight weeks fully off the dirt bike. We really want to let my head rest and not have any scary things happen later in life or anything like that, so I’ll be on the mend for the next six-to-eight weeks.”

Webb also reinstated his intentions to contest Pro Motocross this year, despite ongoing speculation linking him to the World Supercross Championship (WSX) for the 2023 series that begins in July. However, competing in 450MX races will strengthen his position entering the SMX post-season, which Webb will be a factor in come September.

“Gonna be full dad life, enjoying time with my wife and daughter, which will be great, and get to be a normal dude for a little bit, and then we’ll start the MX preparation,” Webb continued. “I want to try to race some of the last nationals, if not the last half, but we’ll see what happens there and then come and do the SMX playoffs.

“That’s kind of the game plan, but as of now, I won’t be making the start of the nationals. I’ll take some time off and, like I said, I’ll hopefully be back towards the end of the nationals and come in hot for the SMX playoffs. Appreciate all the love and I will keep you guys updated.”

Following the final two rounds of the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross Championship, this year’s Pro Motocross Championship commences at Fox Raceway on 27 May. Southwick on 8 July will mark the halfway point in the outdoor series.

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