Legendary Motojournalist Mark Kariya Needs Our Help

Our friend could use some assistance after suffering a heart attack.

By Andrew Oldar

March 31, 2022

Legendary motojournalist, long-time Dirt Rider contributor, and all-around great guy Mark “Kato” Kariya suffered a heart attack yesterday while shooting a bike test in the high desert of Southern California. Mark was held overnight in the hospital, where surgeons put two stents in his heart. If you can help our friend offset some of his medical costs by donating to the GoFundMe link here and help spread the word, we would highly appreciate it. We’re all here for you, Kato!

Legendary motojournalist Mark Kariya suffered a heart attack while shooting photos for a bike test yesterday and could use some help offsetting medical costs. Please donate to his GoFundMe if you can.Dirt Rider Archives

Bill Buffington Stylin At LA OTMX

HARD ENDURO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP KICKS OFF TOMORROW!

The 2022 FIM Hard Enduro World Championship gets underway this week with the Minus 400 in Israel. The opening round of an eight-race series, it’s shaping up to be an exciting one as Hard Enduro visits the Dead Sea region for the first time.

With a unique mid-week format, three days of racing await the world’s best Hard Enduro riders over terrain that is unlike anything they’ve raced before. Situated 400 metres below sea level – hence the name Minus 400 – the desert region of the Dead Sea offers a testing mix of dry and dusty terrain, combined with some big climbs, tricky descents, a wealth of natural Hard Enduro obstacles, plus even a little urban action.

MARIO ROMAN WINS MINUS 400 HARD ENDURO

Sherco Factory Racing’s Mario Roman has hit the ground running at the opening round of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship, winning the Minus 400. Continually at the front during the first two days of competition in Israel, the Spaniard raced his way to the overall win on the third and final day in the Minus 400 Main Event.

 

Billy Bolt had a good opener, but could not hold off the charge from Sherco’s Roman.

Defending FIM Hard Enduro World Champion Billy Bolt made good his start to the 2022 season with the Husqvarna Factory Racing rider placing second. Coming off the injury bench with a bang, Graham Jarvis brought his own Jarvis Racing Team Husqvarna home in third.

Graham Jarvis is running his own HQV Jarvis Racing team and took the final podium spot at his first race back after knee surgery.

The final key sections would prove decisive in the outcome of the podium. A highly technical boulder garden, made even harder by the furnace-like heat baking the rocks, was where Roman made his move. Taking control of the race lead, he managed to put a gap into his rivals and from there to the finish line was never challenged, claiming a seven-minute margin of victory.

World SX Expands New Team

World Supercross management team expands

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 Post: Troy Guenther

COO and head of televsion and broadcast appointed.

Image: Supplied.

SX Global has announced the expansion of the FIM World Supercross Championship management team, appointing Stephen Rogers as chief operating officer and Nathan Prendergast as head of television and broadcast.

Both Rogers and Prendergast are motorsports and entertainment veterans, bringing over 30 years of experience in executing premier international events.

“In order to build a successful global world championship series, it’s imperative that we have the experience of those who have been there and done it before, and that’s exactly what we have with Steve and Nathan,” explained SX Global president Tony Cochrane.

“Steve brings incredible operational experience and legal expertise in the development, management and licensing of global sports and entertainment entities, and there’s no one on the planet that carries more experience in leading world-class motorsports broadcasts than Nathan.

“We could not be more thrilled to have them on board, as we push toward the first preeminent global championship for the sport of supercross.”

Notably, Rogers has worked with Nitro Circus in the past as head of operations and business affairs, where his legal and operation expertise was pivotal in its continued expansion and diversification.

“I’m delighted to join such an incredibly passionate and experienced team of sports and entertainment executives, each with their own proven track records and impressive backgrounds, but united by the common vision and drive to elevate supercross globally,” stated Rogers.

“I too share in this vision and I’m very much looking forward to working with the team to establish the FIM Supercross World Championship as a leading global motorsport and entertainment property.”

Prendergrast has led production across a range of sporting events, namely the V8 Supercars Championship, AUS-X Open and Formula 1 Grand Prix.

“I’ve lived and breathed motorsports my entire life and to have this opportunity to build a broadcast operation from the ground up, and shape and deliver the viewing experience for the first true global supercross championships series, is nothing short of thrilling for me,” explained Prendergast.

“Having worked with Ryan and Adam [Bailey] on the AUS-X Open for several years, and Tony on the V8 Supercar Championships, there’s a heightened level of comfort and confidence knowing how qualified this entire team is to deliver the successful series we’ve all envisioned and take this sport to the next level.”

The pair join V8 Supercars visionary Tony Cochrane, and supercross veterans Adam Bailey and Ryan Sanderson on the FIM World Supercross Championship senior leadership team.

The FIM Supercross World Championship will annually take place in the second half of the year, including five events in 2022, from September through November.

2022 will serve as a ‘pilot’ season, allowing the series to establish itself and build momentum. 2023, and subsequent years, will see the series expand annually between June and November

Matthes On Silly Season

Matthes Answers: Silly season opens

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 Post: Troy Guenther

You ask, PulpMX's Steve Matthes answers in monthly column.

In this month’s instalment of Matthes Answers, led by PulpMX’s Steve Matthes, get his take on the current AMA silly season, who’s going where and potential surprise entries for the fast-approaching Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. 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.

Christian Craig and Rockstar Husky… tell us more and would it be a good fit for him?

I know in talking to Christian he told me he was going to go for a ‘factory’ 450 ride and that despite having the ability to race the 250 class again, it was time for him to move up. Which I agree with, but I have to admit that I was skeptical of his ability to find that factory ride with an OEM. I was thinking that the new entries next year in Triumph and Beta might be a good landing spot for him, but when I ran that by him earlier he said he doesn’t want to be a guy to develop a bike, which I also get. Enter the Husqvarna ride to be teammates with Malcolm Stewart next year on the 450 bike indoors and out… I like it, it’s a good fit, he’s a popular dude and capable of running inside the top five in SX and MX, so it all makes sense. The Husky guys are getting a rider that’s somehow just now in his later years is putting it all together, which is great. They’re getting Craig stock as it’s peaking or near peaking, he’ll be working with Aldon Baker as well down in Clermont and so that’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. Does he take another step forward like a lot of Baker newbies do? Shit, if he does that maybe my top-five ceiling should be raised to a win? Looks like the also-popular Dean Wilson will be out over there after a few years. Dean-O’s certainly had his share of injuries the last few years that have held him back and I would bet he might retire if he can’t get a ride with someone that has good equipment, but we’ll see how his outdoors goes.

With the first 250SX Showdown of the year coming up, what can we expect to play out in Atlanta?

Yeah, I’m excited for this! THE JETT versus ‘The Craig’ should be must-see TV for us in the sport, but here’s the thing, these things rarely play out with the top guys on each coast duking it out. Also, Craig’s got a nice points lead he needs to think about as well. The addition to this race on a speedway track also makes it exciting, right? I’m thinking it’ll be a good one, but I can see Craig just taking it easy out there and protecting what he’s got. If the win is there, he’ll take it, but he can let The Jett take off and who really cares – he’s just got to worry about Hunter Lawrence, really. I will say this, based on past experience of these races, the winner will be someone other than Jett Lawrence or Christian Craig. How’s that for a hot take?

Image: Supplied.

What’s the deal with this PulpMX Privateer Race we’ve heard about for Denver? You’re really getting your own race!?

Yeah, I can’t believe it either! But the guys at Feld have said that yes, I can have my own Pulpmx LCQ Challenge in Denver on Friday afternoon. I’m keeping track of the points accumulated in the 450SX LCQs and the top 17 in points, plus some wildcards get to line up for a six minutes plus one-lap race. All the money raised in the raffle goes to the riders, it should be awesome and I’m stoked. Go to www.pulpmx.com to buy tickets! It should be great to watch, we’ll get some video of it out there as well afterwards, so I’m looking forward to seeing the carnage and it’s awesome they’ve given me my own race. Kind of unbelievable, really.

How did Cooper Webb end up at the Baker’s Factory and is it the answer he’s looking for?

Also in the department of things we didn’t think we’d ever see happen… Both parties were not very stoked with one another by the end of the year and it seemed that Coop wanted some more freedom for his training and riding. He hired Michael Byrne, moved to the 83 Compound and then Supercross 2022 happened, the results weren’t there for Webb (you can debate on whether it was the all-new bike or the switch to the new program) and KTM basically told Webb that he needed to ditch his new program and get back to the old program. He’s also in talks for a new contract, so I’m sure that played a role into his decision to head back there. And KTM looks like geniuses for making Webb make this move because he immediately got better results, but as we know, has yet to get a win. A rather shocking turn of events for everyone I think and we’ll see how it goes from here, although Webb is a bit banged up from getting landed on by Chase Sexton a couple of weeks ago. He’s got five races left to get a win and to not have one in his title defence would make one of the worst ones in the history of the sport.

Do you think we see Jeffrey Herlings and/or Tony Cairoli here for Pro Motocross?

Herlings, I’m not sure. I know Lewis Phillips said he thinks it’s 50/50 on whether Jeffery comes over or not and I guess I’ll go with that. I do think we’ll see Tony Cairoli here for either the season or a few races since he’s always wanted to do that and so I think that happens at some point. I think there’s another bomb to drop here in regards to the 450MX class that I’m trying to nail down and that affects the 84’s decision to come here. Stay tuned, if we have both of those guys over here for the summer it’s going to be amazing.

Herlings injury update and doing AMA motocross?

Daytona BID...Hurrican, O'Show and Lil Professor

Daytona back in the day no big rigs, long rough track, pavement crossing, sunshine, big loud crowds. This was a real stacked moto...Hannah, O'Mara, Bailey, RJ, Glover, Barnett, Bell, Ward, Lichien, Cantaloupi.

MX Jumps Too Risky For MotoGP

Marc Marquez says enough (for now) with motocross: Jumps too risky – MotoGP – Moto.it

“Too risky” – said the champion from Cervera. Which, however, he explains that he does not want to give up the risk on the track, since he knows no other way to win

March 3, 2022

Making risks in the race is one thing, going to look for them when not needed is another. Marc Marquez must have thought this way before reaching a painful decision: no more training with the motocross bike. Or in any case, no more jumps. He told Simon Patterson in an interview with Speedweek: “I have decided to stop doing motocross training because the jumps are too dangerous. When I got injured at the end of October, there were only two races to go until the end of the MotoGP season ”.

S.Celta made, therefore, even if one wonders if it was Marc Marquez who matured it or if, rather, the 93 had to suffer it, with HRC and some sponsors who maybe asked him to settle down. Also because he doesn’t even think about giving it to himself on the speed bikes and he himself says it: “I take a lot of risks and I pay them – he said – If I don’t take risks, everything goes smoothly, but if I hadn’t risked in my career I would have been MotoGP World Champion in 2013. Or even 2017 MotoGP World Champion, when I fought against Lorenzo in the final in Valencia. I don’t even remember all the risky races, there are so many. The truth is that without taking risks I would never have won so many world titles. In the end, this is my philosophy, injuries hit you when you least expect them, as happened at the end of last season, but the only thing that matters is that now I feel better again ”.

JMart Out for Daytona

News 3 Mar 2022

Star Racing’s Martin and Kitchen out ahead of Daytona

Section: Competition Post: Alex Gobert

Factory 250SX East teammates absent altogether this weekend.

Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha will be absent from the 250SX East class altogether in Saturday’s Daytona Supercross, with Jeremy Martin being injured this week and Levi Kitchen still recovering from last weekend.

After finishing on the podium in Arlington, Martin will likely need shoulder surgery after injuring his labrum in a practice crash this week, as reported by PulpMX’s Steve Matthes.

Meanwhile, it’s been revealed that Kitchen in-fact suffered fractured tibia and broke his knee-cap in his race-ending incident, despite initial reports indicating that he would be aiming to continue racing as soon as Daytona.

“I’m not going to make the races this weekend,” Kitchen stated. “Small fracture on the top of my tibia and a broken knee-cap. Not sure when I’ll be back, but I’m going to do everything I can to be racing again soon. Pretty bummed considering I feel I didn’t get to show what I was truly capable of, but there’s always more racing to look forward to. Thanks everyone for the support.”

The Star Racing 250 program has been struck with injuries to date in 2022, with last year’s Monster Energy Supercross regional champions Colt Nichols and Justin Cooper already sidelined, now joined by Martin and rookie standout Kitchen. Importantly, Christian Craig is the runaway leader in the 250SX West six rounds in.