GNCC...Wild Boar

Ferrandis Return Delayed

Late return during 450SX season the target of Ferrandis

Star Racing rider provides update on recovery and expected comeback.

Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Dylan Ferrandis is targeting a return to competition before the end of the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross Championship.

Ferrandis, 28, crashed violently during the 450SX main in Houston, bringing out the red flag after hitting his head in the fall and later followed the concussion protocol.

He was set to make a return in Daytona, but after an additional crash during the press day for the event he withdrew from round eight, also missing Indy last weekend. The latest update provided has indicated that number 14 has started a rehab program and aims to make a return in approximately six weeks.

“After my crash at Houston and Daytona, I needed further evaluation,” commented the Frenchman. “I just started a three-week rehab to make sure everything is okay and with the goal to come back in around six weeks.”

Prior to the incident at Houston, Ferrandis delivered a relatively solid start to the season, notching 4-6-5 results in the opening three races.

Does Webb Stay With KTM?

He has taken over the red plate in supercross but Cooper Webb only has a one year deal with Red Bull

KTM, with Davi Millsaps saying on PulpMX that Cooper, “doesn’t like the atmosphere he is in right now.”

So, with Chase Sexton rumoured to be heading Orange next year, Webb might be on the move as a free agent and could end up on Kawasaki, Honda or Yamaha – but will Tomac race again in 2024 after all and stay with Yamaha?

It means in an era where there is usually only one A guy per team, Webb, who could be champ this year, would potentially be sharing a semi with Sexton at KTM, Jett Lawrence at Honda or even Eli Tomac at Star Yamaha, if Eli keeps racing!

Steve Matthes talks to Davi Millsaps and Andrew Short about Webb’s options for next season with Davi providing some unique insight:

Husky Tough Guy!

Heikki

RIP Dave Nicoll

 Dave Nicoll

 

Infront Moto Racing and the FIM are sad to share that former MXGP Race Director Dave Nicoll recently passed at the age of 79.

Dave Nicoll was a former motocross rider and FIM Motocross World Championship Race Director from 2000 to 2013. 

Nicoll began motorcycle racing at the age of 16 and started competing in the FIM 500cc Motocross World Championship in 1964. His first win came at the 1969 MXGP of Luxembourg and the following year, in what was a huge moment, he beat Joel Robert and Jeff Smith to win the Trans AMA Motocross Series.

Nicoll stopped competing in 1978 and worked as the manager of the British Motocross des Nations team. When his son, Kurt Nicoll began competing in the FIM Motocross World Championship, Dave Nicoll became his team manager. 

After his son retired from competition in 1997, Nicoll was hired by the FIM to become the Race Director for the FIM Motocross World Championship. He was a real gentleman and an invaluable member of the Motocross paddock. The MXGP family extends its deepest condolences to his family, and his many friends during these hard times.

Words and image: InFront Moto Racing

CA Rain Continues!

Ben Rumbold of MX Vice Talks Tony Cairoli

Racing with the number one plate in 2006, Cairoli just lost the title to Christophe Pourcel. (Image: Yamaha Europe)

Third in the world was a great result for his first year at the top level. He did run the #3 for the following season, and led the series from the third round onwards, stretching away from early challenger Stephen Sword. Many might say that Tyla Rattray’s injury helped, but Tony was already ahead of the South African. 13 moto wins was 9 better than anyone else that year, and fittingly the title was clinched in the deep sands of Lierop, finishing ahead of the late Australian Andrew McFarlane.

He ran the #1 plate that he earned for 2006, but came up against the super-talent of Christophe Pourcel. He still won more races, 12 to the Frenchman’s 4, but two DNFs early in the year left him always chasing, and he lost his crown by 18 points.  From there on, he carried the #222 plate as the internet age arrived and encouraged riders to build brands around their numbers. In 2007 he was virtually unstoppable with 21 moto wins of the 28 he raced in MX2, plus a successful MX1 debut in a wildcard appearance at Donington Park, splitting the motos with Kevin Strijbos and taking the overall verdict at his first attempt!  The following year, his last in MX2, saw a monumental scrap between him and the two factory KTMs of Rattray and Tommy Searle. All three led the series at one point, and it got testy with Searle being shown the “Clean Him Out” board in reference to Tony at the Swedish GP! It all came to an end for the Sicilian, however, with a badly-damaged knee injury from the South African round, the tenth of the series, and Rattray emerged as Champion.

 

Shocking everyone with his domination of MX1 in 2009.(Image: Yamaha Europe)

At the age of 23, he moved up with his de Carli Yamaha team to MX1 in 2009. Teammate Tanel Leok took the opening round, a true mudder at Faenza in Italy that got cancelled before race two, but after a double win in the Turkish round three Tony was able to bolt the red plate to his bike.  It never came off!  KTM’s Max Nagl gave chase, looking to give the orange marque their first title in the MXGP era.  But new KTM boss Stefan Everts had a plan…

De Carli’s team was in direct competition to the long-established factory Yamaha squad run by Michele Rinaldi., who had won the previous year with David Philippaerts. They were all black and Monster Energy backed, and Tony was a lifelong Red Bull athlete. Both Italian as well, it just didn’t fit, so Yamaha deferred to Rinaldi.  That’s where Stefan and KTM jumped straight in, fitted things around the Sicilian’s favoured arrangements, and in so doing changed the face of MXGP for the immediate future in which we are still living!

With his throttle-happy style and diminutive 1.7 metre/5ft 7in stature, KTM’s new 350 SX-F fitted him like a glove, and it became a lethal combination to the rest of the field.  Winning his second GP on it, he took 15 of the 30 motos in 2010, a positively barren 9 from 28 in 2011 but still 100+ points ahead of Yamaha’s Steven Frossard, 21 from 32 in 2012, 20 from 34 in 2013, and finally 15 from 34 in 2014.  It is one of the most dominant spells in Motocross history, and it might have been boring had it not been for Cairoli’s Valentino Rossi-esque Charisma and personality, all with that famous toothy grin and fans cheering around the world. The parallels with Rossi are striking – multiple Italian champion carrying the sport in its new four-stroke era, not quite able to match the all-time figures set from a different time but in a lot of fans’ eyes, especially when combined with his massive brand and popularity, he was the very best.  He even had a much younger, controversial but crazily fast young buck eventually rise to challenge him, just like Rossi had with Marc Marquez.

Injury prevented Cairoli from making another run at the 2015 title, although factory Yamaha new boy Romain Febvre and Husqvarna-mounted Nagl were making life more difficult than usual even before he hit troubles. 2016 saw the arrival of new MX2 Champ Tim Gajser, on a much more sorted factory Honda, and for the first time the now 30-year-old Tony looked a little outgunned, even running behind Febvre until the Frenchman crashed out of the season at Matterley Basin. Tony was 2nd in the series but 84 points back from the Slovenian.

Tony worked incredibly hard in the off-season, however, moving up to the 450cc machine after years on the 350, and shot out of the blocks with a double win at the Qatar opener in 2017. Gajser was strong and took two more GP wins, but the incredible circuit of Arco di Trento saw one of Cairoli’s all-time best rides. After passing and pulling away from Tim in race one, a troublesome second corner put him outside the top twenty on lap one. Gajser was away and clear, but Cairoli found an incredible passing point on a right hander after an uphill step-up, passing Arnaud Tonus, Gautier Paulin, Clement Desalle, Jeffrey Herlings, and Evgeny Bobryshev all in the same spot! An inspired and incredible fightback that sealed the GP win and kept Gajser in sight in the points chase. Tim’s season did get interrupted by injury, and after a pre-season issue had slowed Herlings, the Dutchman started to get on the pace of his elder teammate. Cairoli’s experience showed and he kept himself in the picture, all hopes for Jeffrey being dashed by a broken chain in Sweden. Cairoli was crowned Champion for the 9th time in Jeffrey’s back yard at Assen.

2018 was another incredibly tough season for Tony, even with Gajser taken out of the equation with an horrendous pre-season crash. Herlings was fully up to speed on the 450, and despite an early double victory in the brutal heat of Red Sand in Spain, he couldn’t stop the Bullet, almost exactly 9 years his junior, from steamrollering to his first Premier class title. Only Desalle got a single moto win outside of the two KTM riders all season, and Cairoli kept the pace with an amazing 29 top three motos out of 38.

More injuries to Herlings put Cairoli in a top spot for 2019, however, and he won four out of the first five GPs, before a crash at Kegums in Latvia put him out for the season.  It’s a tribute to his mentality the he won the next GP there in 2020, on his way to third in the series, before taking two further victories in his final year of 2021. The first was on a mixed day of weird weather at Matterley Basin, and his final GP was won amongst the pandemic-condensed end to the year, on home soil at Trentino. That was actually a month after a gloriously emotional involvement in the Italian win, on home soil again, in the Motocross of Nations at Mantova.

He’ll always be the Italian #1

Just for comparison’s sake we have listed Tony’s career breakdown alongside the only rider to win more world titles than him, Stefan Everts. Amongst those with five titles or more, only Gajser was marginally younger on winning his fifth crown, and only Herlings has won more seasons with over 50% of the GP wins to his name. He earned his ninth title at the same age as Stefan did, but it has to be said that Tony faced stiffer opposition in his attempts to get to number ten, and he was still very close to achieving that.

Tony now moves into a management role, his main charge being a certain Dutchman who he battled with so fiercely in his final few years.  We’re sure the pair will make an incredible team, and we wish them all the best this season.

MXGP Argentina

Race One: It was Ruben Fernandez who had the early lead but he had Jorge Prado for company in what was a Spanish 1-2. It didn’t take Prado too long to get himself into the lead while Fernandez had Febvre and Renaux for company.

Fernandez was riding well though and was keeping them behind him. Renaux had a big crash over the waves section which put him back to seventh. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Herlings was riding brilliant on his return in the top five. Fernandez who was comfortable in second then crashed which promoted Febvre and dropped the Spaniard down the order.

Renaux was flying on his Yamaha passing Coldenhoff, Jonass and Herlings to come home a superb third after such a big crash – he is flying! Herlings ended up an impressive fourth which is quite the turn around since yesterday but it was the smooth Prado who took an impressive win.

Race Two: The second race was the Ruben Fernandez show as he was on another whole other level right at the front and also won the overall GP – the first MXGP overall of his career and what a way to do it.

Jeffrey Herlings was aggressive in the first couple of laps as he made moves on the likes of Febvre, Prado and Renaux to get into second. Renaux, after the first  five minutes started to move forward and just as he was about to make a move on the impressive Jonass crashed which dropped him down to ninth.

Prado who had been so good all weekend didn’t ride with the same flow and faded back to sixth with Febvre who earlier crashed passing him with two laps to go.

Jonass had a very strong weekend on the Standing Construct Honda for fifth overall.

Despite winning the GP, Jorge Prado has the championship lead due to the qualifying points which is a new change for 2023.

Jeffrey Herlings will also be delighted with second overall on his return to racing and a superb second moto keeping Jeremy Seewer at bay.

KR Takes Suzuki to Supercross Win!

Ken Roczen Gives Suzuki Their First Win In Seven Years At Indianapolis Supercross.

By translating a holeshot into the main event victory inside Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, Ken Roczen delivered Suzuki its first Monster Energy Supercross win since he came out on top aboard a Suzuki RM-Z450 in East Rutherford 2,507 days ago.

Roczen’s 0.739s margin of victory over TLD Red Bull GasGas rider Justin Barcia was the difference as he won for his first time since last year’s Pro Motocross visit to Thunder Valley.

The feat is also the Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki rider’s first Supercross win since the 2022 season opener at Anaheim.

First to the first turn after the night’s final gate drop, Roczen faced initial pressure from fastest qualifier Chase Sexton (Team Honda HRC), but that dissipated when Sexton went over the handlebars on the on-off table that followed the track’s treacherous whoops section.

On a severely deteriorating track, Barcia stalked Roczen, particularly during the race’s closing two minutes. The two opted for opposing rhythms through certain sections, with Barcia closing to within a single bike length at one point entering the whoops.

An off-track excursion near the whoops for third-placed Cooper Webb (Red Bull KTM) further dialed the focus on the two-rider battle for the win, with Roczen ultimately holding Barcia off by just over seven-tenths of a second at the checkered flag.

Webb was 8.852s in arrears of Barcia to claim the final step of the podium, and nearly half a lap ahead of Webb’s KTM stablemate Aaron Plessinger in fourth.

Monster Energy Kawasaki teammates Jason Anderson and Adam Cianciarulo finished next in fifth and sixth, with Christian Craig (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), former points leader Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing), Justin Hill (Team Tedder Monster Energy Mountain Motorsports), and Sexton filling the rest of the top 10.

A nearly mid-pack start for Tomac limited his ability to move forward on the rutted circuit and he faced further adversity when Fire Power Honda’s Dean Wilson crashed in front of him in the whoops.

Webb’s run to third, paired with unideal outings for Tomac and Sexton, means the No. 2 KTM 450SX-F FE will carry more than just Red Bull branding when it appears next in Detroit; the two-time premier class champion’s machine will also don red number plates as he moved ahead of Tomac in the standings by one.

Webb and Tomac have amassed 202 and 201 points thus far in 2023. Sexton will race next inside Ford Field in Detroit looking to grow his collection of 189.

200cc Two Stroke for Hard Enduro???

200cc two-stroke not enough for Hard Enduro? Jonny Walker proves you wrong