Inside KTM's SECRET Test Rooms in Austria

Yes Starts Matter!

Jett Lawrence brought the speed, skills, consistency and Works Connection helped with the WC Pro Launch Device. Perfect team work leads to championship.

 

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World Vets...Mike Brown Sweeps

Well that’s a wrap for the World Vets MX at Farleigh Castle. This has Genuinely been some of the best racing I have seen for years With legends like Chad Reed, Jeff Emig, Mike Brown, David Pingree, Kurt Nichol, Jamie Dobb , Mark Eastwood and dozens of top level riders.

The man of the weekend by a mile was Mike Brown. Winning 4 out 4 and setting fastest laps of the days. we at Marsh Powersports had the privilege of supplying the bikes for the Americans and Mike Brown destroyed every one on a bog std out of the crate bike with NO upgraded parts. thank you to everyone who came onto the stand to say hello. Looking forward to next year already.  

WORLD VETS MX MOTOCROSS 2 STROKE VMXDN

Brown, Emig, Reed back on the gas!

Budds Creek Highlights

The AMA 250/450 riders came to Budds Creek with only two chances to do something dramatic before the season comes to a close next week at Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana. As has become the unsual outcome, Honda’s Jett Lawrence’s took the win, but for the first time this season the Australian had to work for his 10th consecutive victory after egtting a midicre start in the first moto and having to work his way through a group of determined competitors.

In the 250 Class, Jett’s older brother Hunter took his 7th win of the season with a 2-1. Hunter now has a 22-point lead with one race left and 50 points left up for grabs. Justin Cooper tied Hunter Lawrence with a 1-2 to keep within the magical 25-point range to keep his hopes alive heading to Indiana for the final race.

Dutch Sand Bites Herlings!

Jeffrey Herlings fell in free practice and broke his right collarbone. The injury was his second injury setback this season. Jeffrey is currently 7th in 2023 450 World Championship points, but 365 points adrift from 450 points leader Jorge Prado with only Turkey, Italy and Great Britain remaining. Jeffrey is already mathematically out of any chance at winning the 2023 title. It is a huge blow for the sport to lose Jeffrey in the same year that he set the record for the most Grand Prix wins by a rider.

Seewer Eats Sand

Febvre Again... Takes His 6th Win

“We just hit holes everywhere, it’s not even real sand riding.” Race winner Jorge Prado summed up a brutal track at the end of an intense moto with the top three all in with a chance for the win with two laps to go!

Romain Febvre was leading and pulling away from Prado when he stalled in a hole and had to paddly his way out before cating up to second place Seewer who had caught Prado and was looking for the pass at the two lap board only to go down hard in the braking bumps! Febvre then pushed again until a back marker ended his surge on the last lap bt getting in the way as Prado took the win, but even he, with his perfect technique, isn’t finding the track easy!

Race two and Febvre led from start to finish but the fans were enthralled as Glenn Coldenhoff pushed all the way very nearly passed second place Jeremy Seewer on the last lap as they both closed right to the back wheel.of Febvre who almost took it too easy at the end!

Prado settled for fourth ahead of Gajser in fifth.

Febvre said: “I was feeling good. Six GP wins this year, really good."

Jett Cruises to Win

 

Tasked with making several passes in moto one and fending off a hard-charging Chase Sexton in moto two, Jett Lawrence made a relatively trying day look easy on the way to winning his 19th and 20th consecutive Pro Motocross Championship races in 450MX at the 2023 Budds Creek National.

Perhaps brought on by a switch away from the scoop tire in the moments between the sight lap and the gate drop, Lawrence and his Team Honda HRC-prepared machine exited the first turn barely within the top 10

Facing an uphill battle to extend his win streak to a 19th race, the young Australian was clearly motivated to reach the front as he rapidly picked off the riders in front of him, working closer and closer to Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy Kawasaki) who grabbed the holeshot and led early and Aaron Plessinger (Red Bull KTM) who chased from second.

Lawrence masterfully passed every rider necessary to take control of the race en route to closing out the victory by a margin of 4.377s over Jason Anderson (Monster Energy Kawasaki).

Dylan Ferrandis (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) held third to claim the moto’s final podium position ahead of Plessinger who dropped back from second and Justin Barcia (TLD Red Bull GasGas) who found the top five in the second weekend of his return to competition.

Garrett Marchbanks (Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha), Cianciarulo, Ty Masterpool (HBI Racing Kawasaki), Sexton, and Phil Nicoletti (Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha) completed the top 10.

A perfectly timed launch from the gate set up a much more ideal opening stanza of the second 450MX moto for Lawrence relative to the first.

Lining up to wrap up the day having won all 19 motos of the Pro Motocross season thus far, Lawrence went on to lead all 17 laps, though he faced pressure from Sexton at two distinct points.

On the fifth lap, Sexton was within 2s of the lead but tipped over and lost several seconds-worth of track position while adding to his fall total on the day after a few mistakes in morning practice and the first moto.

An 8.237s lead for Lawrence was reduced to 7.109s, 4.694s, and 2.296s as the final lap approached, during which Lawrence knew Sexton was fast approaching.

Sexton, the reigning 450SX champion in Monster Energy Supercross, turned his fastest lap of the race after passing the white flag and came just 0.771s short of breaking the now-20-race win streak for his rookie teammate.

Lawrence will take home a 10th overall victory trophy of the year while Plessinger and Anderson earned the other two overall podium positions with 4-3 and 2-5 moto scores, respectively.

Plessinger in third was chased to the checkered flag by Barcia in the second moto, with the GasGas rider placing fifth overall with 5-4 finishes in the motos.

Anderson completed the top five in moto two ahead of Cianciarulo, Masterpool, Marchbanks, Ferrandis, and Freddie Noren (Twisted Tea HEP Suzuki) in the top 10.

With the 450MX championship already wrapped up a week prior to the Budds Creek event, focus in the premier class will be on whether Lawrence can close out a perfect season.

Tony Is Still Very Fast

Antonio Cairoli showed he is still at a world class level as he won the International at Balen against two of his own Red Bull KTM riders, Liam Everts and Sacha Coenen as well as factory Yamaha man, Rick Elzinga. Cairoli went 2-1 and brought back memories of his wilder MX2 days as he threw the little 250 around like a toy and still had the fight in him, refusing to let Liam Everts by in race one and showing the raw speed to get out front, sprint away and win race two!

Amazingly, Cairoli has raced two generations of Everts, racing Stefan at the end of his career in MXoN and then Liam at Red Bud MXoN and this week in Balen, underlining just what a talent Cairoli is to be that fast for that long. Sacha Coenen wasn’t even born when Cairoli won his first world title yet this week Cairoli was racing him and winning!

Now in his late 30s, Cairoli showed just how much talent he has to be able to go into a one-off race and win against some world class rivals. In fact, it raises the question, if there was no U23 rule in the world championship, and it was just for EMX250, could Cairoli have went back to MX2 and got that tenth world title?

Back in the day riders often went back and forward to different classes regardless of age, Mike Brown won his 125 National title at 30, Dobb the 125 world title at 29 and Alex Puzar went back to the 125 class despite already being a 250 world champ in 1990 to win his second world title in 1995 in a final round shootout with Alessio Chiodi, it added some intriuge to the class and the youngster got to learn from experienced riders (something that both Everts and Coenen will now doubt taking from this week).

Jamie Dobb had this to say on the age rule when we spoke to him at WSX: “think the age rule is the most stupid I have ever seen. Take it away, what are you gaining from it now? If you want to guarentee people to go to MXGP, simply put a salary cap, if you want to make the big money, that’s where you need to go. The problem is the young kids coming through, they would still win. Jeffrey won when he was 16, Ken won when he was 16, it’s not going to stop anything but the other kids, they aren’t learning a race craft of how to actually race by riding with the older guys.”

Of course, the flip side is the depth is phenomenal in MXGP with everyone moving up it provides intense competition throughout the top 20, and it is the toughest class in dirt bike racing, but imagine Cairoli going for a tenth world title against Geerts, de Wolf and Vialle in his mid 30s…

Either way Cairoli’s status as one of the greatest to ever throw a leg over a bike will remain and is only enhanced by his performance this week. And the riders he is in charge of now certainly can’t question anything he says this weekend at Arnhem – maybe he should go to the USA and race the final AMA event on a 250 and help Vialle set up the bike!

What a rider!

Article: Jonathan McCready

Images: Danny Relouw