Cooper ready to defend red plate in Seattle

GASGAS wins SuperEnduro Manufacturer's title

Fighting hard right down to the last moto at the final round of the 2023 FIM SuperEnduro World Championship, Taddy Blazusiak was able to help GASGAS clinch the manufacturer's title and secure himself a bronze medal in the overall champiionship standings! The legend of indoor enduro never gave up, always put in 110%, and the results speak for themselves. Nice work Taddy, and the whole GASGAS team.

Herlings Appears Ready!

Jeffrey Herlings rode his first home race since his return from injury at the Dutch Masters of Motocross in Harfsen, the Netherlands. Jeffrey won both moto's and seems ready for the world championship in 2023.

Seely Returns to SX in Seattle

Cole Seely is back! The 2023 Seattle Supercross is here and Cole is making his return to the AMA Supercross series, but only for two rounds. Cole is racing the Seattle and Glendale Supercross rounds and using them as a practice to get ready for the FIM World Supercross series. The MotoConcepts Honda team is a Supercross-only program, with Mitchell Oldenburg and Anthony Rodriguez racing 250SX West Coast Supercross and Cole Seely joining the team, alongside Vince Friese, for WSX. In this interview, Cole talks about coming back to racing, and he tells about his time as a Motocross Action test rider before he signed with the Troy Lee Designs Honda team.

Matthes On SX

Matthes Answers: Midway through SX

In this month’s instalment of Matthes Answers, led by PulpMX’s Steve Matthes, get his take on a variety of different topics, plus some early silly season rumours from the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross Championship as the second half of the series begins. If you want to send him a question, simply get in touch via the @motoonline socials and we’ll pass on the most timely questions each month.

Image: Octopi Media.

Why is Haiden Deegan so polarizing? People either love him or hate him…

They do, right? Well it’s a combination of people loving the family through the wildly successful YouTube videos that don’t have a background in the sport, so they’re just fans of Haiden and the family. Logic about racing be dammed. And then the people that just don’t get it, that they’re upset about the family being ‘internet famous’ without really doing anything. I get all of that, we’re in a polarized world now in 2023, people either love you or hate you. There are plenty of people around the amateur MX scene that aren’t fans of Brian and Haiden, they’ve seen the takeouts and the bit of arrogance from them, sponsors have been burned here or there, and all that typical stuff. And to be honest, to start everything that Haiden’s done has been great. You don’t get to where he is without the hard work behind the scenes and you can see that. Well, now with this heat race and Haiden’s immaturity at the press conference, we’re back to people remembering the amateur moto stuff and then the vlog stuff that’s always been carefully crafted to make the family look like the best, so the fire gets stoked again. Me, I’m a ‘results on the track’ guy and that’s what I go off of. I don’t have to like a rider personally to do my job and praise them. All the other stuff is noise and doesn’t really matter. So far, Haiden is the real deal and hopefully we don’t see more of this heat race/press conference behaviour.

Wildest rumour you’ve heard about the 2023 silly season?

Well, we know Bobby Hewitt is going to run the Triumph SX/MX team and they’re going to be based out of Georgia and use Matt Walker’s facility as their testing grounds. So, with Bobby’s background, I heard that Jason Anderson is already locked into a deal with them, but that doesn’t make sense I say because they’re not going to have a 450 bike until 2025 (or longer) and to that I was told that Jason was going to just sit out of racing and test and develop for them. Yes, that’s wild.

Where do you see PulpMX in five–10 years time?

In 10 years time, I think I see it all over with. I’ll be in late 50s and I don’t want to keep asking 17-year-old kids how their set-up is. I’ll be retired I think, or I hope. But five years, yeah, I think we’ll still be cranking out shows – maybe not as many and maybe the travel won’t be as hectic, but yeah I’ll still be doing something. I hope. All is well with the PulpMX universe of shows and things… maybe I’ll hire someone to keep things going at the races. I don’t know to be honest, but I do think I’ll be done covering the sport in 10 years.

Could Team Honda HRC really be Jett and Hunter Lawrence on 450s in 2024?

I know JT dropped that on the PulpMX Show, but I’m not so sure about that. It’s not what I’m hearing. I’ve had riders tell me that they’ve had talks with Honda about that second spot next to Jett next year, so there’s that. Hunter’s dominant right now, yes, but it’s not like he can’t go and defend his title in 2024 – he’s not a ‘the dude’s go good, he’s bored’ thing. I could see Hunter doing 450MX in 2024, for sure, but 450SX next year? Not so sure.

Can we consider the new generation KTM ‘fixed’ after their documented struggles of last season?

Funny how that works, huh? Even Justin Barcia, who is on the new bike this year, seems to have no issues with it. Maybe it wasn’t the bike? You’ll never know. I’m sure some of the struggles last year was the new bike, heck I had Ian Harrison admit that to me last year, but again, like I say, it’s just a motorcycle, it’s not splitting neutrons here. I’m sure with a full off-season for the Austrian guys to dissect it, look at what makes the bike happy or not, they’ve found improvements, but I’d say it’s also Webb going back to Baker’s Factory, AP being more comfortable on it that makes the bike look better more so than some ‘magic setting’.

What’s going on with Jason Anderson? He hasn’t been the same rider as last season.

Yeah, he really hasn’t. At this point last season, Jason had three wins and two other podiums, so a 50 percent podium rate through 10 races. This year? Just two podiums and no wins, but strangely enough basically the same amount of points – 187 last year to 180 this year – but nowhere close to the top of the points. And it’s a real question as to whether he wins a race this year or not. After his 450SX title, it was a fair criticism of Jason from people around him whether he was ‘all in’, like you need to be to be at the tip of the spear. He went to Kawasaki, changed a lot of things around him and last year was a success, but also, a bit of fools gold in that he swept the races at the end of the year when Webb and Roczen were out and Tomac was nursing that knee injury. Still, it was great and people would logically think he could keep it at the same level for this year. It hasn’t happened and looks like it won’t happen, if I’m being honest. Did he fall into the ‘too comfy’ trap that some said he did in his last years at Husky? His contract is up this year, so one would think he would be motivated as all hell to get things done. Obviously, if you’re a listener you know that Jason and I don’t talk much… or at all! I know people who know him well and, all that I gather, maybe he’s a bit too comfy with everything and doesn’t want to go that little extra. He’s still having a good season, just not a great one.

Craig Improves

Season-best for Craig with sixth in Detroit 450SX main event

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Section: Competition Post: Troy Guenther

Husqvarna rider takes another step with solid Ford Field showing.

Image: Align Media.

The gradual progress of 450SX contender Christian Craig continued in Detroit and the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing rider scored his best result of the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross season to date with P6 in the main event.

This year marks Craig’s first full-time in the premier class of Supercross, and he posted the seventh fastest time in qualifying at Ford Field.

After completing his heat race in P5, Craig progressively worked his way forwards during round 10’s main event. Concluding the opening lap in 10th position, the 31-year-old reached sixth by the closing stages, keeping his nose clean to bank a season-high 17 points.

“It started off pretty good. I was gelling with the track and feeling good in practice but rode tight in the heat and made some mistakes,” Craig said. “I found my groove a little bit in the main after a mid-pack start. I came through the pack, clicked off my laps, and took advantage of mistakes. I didn’t ride my best but was consistent and able to work my way up to sixth. I need to work on attacking and being better.”

Craig’s previous best result in 2023 was P7, which he achieved at both Oakland and Indianapolis. The number 28 is currently eighth in the 450SX standings with seven rounds remaining, with the next gate-drop of the series coming at Lumen Field, Seattle on Saturday.

MXGP Sardegna

More Craziness from Detroit

Chase Sexton Penalized, Will Keep Detroit Win

by Aubrey Schoeneman March 18, 2023, 11:02 pm

Honda HRC’s Chase Sexton won a wild main event at Detroit, Round 10 of the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross Championship.

According to Supercross Live, Sexton was penalized seven points after jumping on a red cross flag, but was still credited with the main event win.

Cooper Webb, finishing second, still leads the championship, now by 5 points after taking second on the night.

AP.....The Agony of Defeat!

AP came as close as you can to winning Detroit Supercross and with seconds left he threw it away.

Sports can be very tough.

GNCC...Wild Boar