World Vet Starts Tomorrow

Glen Helen

MXGP...Garda

Red Bull...The Bullet!

No days off, Win #95 and a 3-Way Title Tussle - Behind the Bullet With Jeffrey Herlings

At the midpoint of the season and with the championship lead regularly changing hands, Jeffrey spends some downtime at home to regroup. Will managing niggling injuries and the unpredictability of an MXGP season disrupt the Bullet’s plan to stay in the hunt? Behind the Bullet with Jeffrey Herlings gives a personal behind the scenes account of just what it takes to compete at the pinnacle of motocross. Experience all the highs and lows of a grueling MXGP season with a first row seat with one of the fastest riders on the planet.

First MXGP Win of 2021 in Garda

Jeremy Seewer

 Jeremy Seewer Garda Overall Winner

“I won in MXGP last year, but it didn’t feel the same as it did today because I got that one as a present, whereas this one I got myself. I won, I raced upfront and I deserved it. No one beat me. It feels amazing after all that I have been through this year and where I have come from. I struggled all year with my health and mentally. I started to feel better a few weeks ago, and I am really happy to sit here now after getting first overall. I feel really good, and have felt good on this track, even during the last two races here. I was just really unlucky to miss the podium twice, by nothing, but it was worth the wait to be here now.”

 

 

 

Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP’s Jeremy Seewer made a blistering return to the hard-packed, tight and compact Ciclamino circuit for the 16th round of the FIM Motocross World Championship in Pietramurata, Italy. The Swiss star dominated the opening race and finished second in race two for his first Grand Prix victory of 2021 – and second of his career inside the premier class.

Seewer got his day off to a sensational start, narrowly missing pole by 0.128 of a second. The Swiss rider put in a blistering 1’40.298 lap to qualify in second position behind the championship leader Jeffrey Herlings. Glenn Coldenhoff posted a 1’41.138 for eighth, fractionally quicker than Ben Watson’s 1’41.718, which put the ‘919’ in 12th.

In the opening race of the day, Seewer rocketed to an incredible holeshot. The ‘91’ immediately stretched out a comfortable lead, and even though he had a massive high side at the bottom of a steep descent in the middle of the race, he still managed to regroup for his first race win of 2021 – and 11th of his career.

Another flying start in race two saw the Swiss rider bounce back from a frantic first lap where he was shuffled back to fifth position. But, by lap six, the YZ450FM star was back on form and charging after the race leader. After stalling his engine mid-moto, the Yamaha ace refired the bike in good time and made another astonishing recovery to finish second place, 5-seconds off of the defending World Champion Tim Gajser.

Coldenhoff chased his teammate around turn-one in the opening race, but with plenty of bar-banging happening between the main title protagonists, the Dutchman was shuffled back to sixth. Watson put in a strong ride after a mediocre start where he managed to battle his way back to ninth.

In the second and final race, Watson opted for a different tyre, changing to a ‘scoop’ which is typically a sand or mud tyre, in hopes of gaining an advantage off the gate. With the dirt on the start straight being a lot deeper and softer than the rest of the track, the Briton’s gamble paid off. He flew to a top-notch start and completed the opening lap in seventh, hot on the heels of Coldenhoff.

After challenging some of the most experienced riders in the premier class for the full 20-lap race duration, Watson finished seventh after an impressive pass on his teammate, Coldenhoff, with two laps to go. Coldenhoff crossed the line in eighth. .

As a result, Coldenhoff and Watson were classified seventh and eighth overall at the MXGP of Garda.

Going into the penultimate round of the 2021 FIM Motocross World Championship, Seewer is fifth in the standings, while Coldenhoff and Watson are seventh and 11th, respectively.

The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP team now heads 128 kilometers south of Pietramurata, where they will contest the final two rounds of the FIM Motocross World Championship in Mantova, Italy, on Sunday 7th and Wednesday 10th November.

Chad Reed to Line Up Again!

Retired Reed to headline delayed Paris Supercross

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 Post: Alex Gobert

Lining up alongside Cairoli, Musquin, Febvre, Brayton and more.

Image: Foremost Media.

Longtime international Chad Reed will make a surprise appearance in the 2021 Paris Supercross on 27 November, the off-season event delayed and with a revised line-up headlined by the retired Australian.

It was initially supposed to go ahead on 6-7 November with the likes of Cooper Webb and the Lawrence brothers in attendance, but had been postponed due to travel restrictions between the US and France.

Since then it’s understood that an exemption has been sought and 39-year-old Reed will be one of the headline attractions alongside Marvin Musquin, Justin Brayton, Justin Bogle, Alex Martin, Josh Hill, Ryan Sipes, Cole Seely and Canadian Dylan Wright.

MXGP contenders Antonio Cairoli and Romain Febvre will also be in the SX1 division, while MX2 World Championship leader Maxime Renaux will be in SX2, as well as Vince Friese, Kyle Peters and Ty Masterpool.

“I haven’t raced SX in 18 months,” Reed posted on social media. “I have done exactly what I said I’d do – just focus on being a really good dad to my three kids and spend time with my wife. Traveling the BMX race scene and now the amateur MX scene has kept us all busy and happy.

“I got a phone call from [Paris Supercross] to come over for a race and I couldn’t say no. Off the couch isn’t a new thing for me and we can all wish for better prep, but mostly, I’m excited to drop the gate with the boys again. Antonio Cairoli and I haven’t raced SX against each other before, so we’ll tick that box before he retires!

“There is no feeling like that gate drop – you cannot replicate it. I will get to work this month and hopefully muscle memory serves me well. [It’s] 20 years since the first time I was in Bercy.

“This race has stood the test of time and remained a great race to be part of for all international riders. I’m really happy to be going to Paris Supercross to support them and what they do for the sport and the riders.”

Upon initially making his retirement announcement at the AUS-X Open in Melbourne during 2019, Reed indicated that he intended to continue competing in one-off Supercross events after he officially hung up his helmet at the close of the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross season.

Rocky Williams (RIP)

Earlier this week the motocross world lost one of its all-time good guys in Rocky Williams. He was a race mechanic in the 1970s and early ’80s, most famously with "Gassin'" Gaylon Mosier when he was riding for Wheelsmith Maico and later the Kawasaki factory team. Rocky's backstory was the kind of stuff with which one could make a movie. Our colleague at We Went Fast, Brett Smith, wrote about Rocky on Wednesday after news of his passing. Here's what he wrote: 

Gerald Williams died in the evening of October 26. Rest In Peace, Rocky.

Many here might not recognize the name. It's been over 40 years since Rocky spun wrenches at the races. His career as a mechanic was notable because he was talented, funny and profoundly deaf.

He couldn't hear a damn thing, yet he was able to thrive in a world that's often filled with nothing but noise.

The story of Rocky Williams is one of many in various stages of completion in my projects folder. There's no specific reason why it's unfinished. He would have appreciated the tribute.

In April 1978, the LA Times featured Rocky on the front page of the sports section. "I feel the vibrations," he told Shav Glick. "I can tell if the engine's OK or what's wrong with it by the way the handlebars feel. I must communicate well with my rider. I ask him to tell me when the engine is running properly and then I feel the handlebars and get the proper vibration. From then on I can tell if it's running rich or lean or needs work by the way it vibrates."

Acceptance of a deaf mechanic made it a tough road for him. He said he started working on his brother's bike and then Bob Hannah when Hannah had a Husky. He also said he worked for Broc Glover and Bruce McDougal before they turned pro. He went to Suzuki and Yamaha and cited his experience with the riders above but was turned away because he was deaf.

In 1975 Rocky said a rider named Gaylon Mosier found him he worked for free for 6 weeks at Maico before he was given $300 a week and expenses. When Mosier decamped for Kawasaki in 1978, Rocky thought he'd be left behind again. Mosier called him and said, "get out your green pants!"

They won the 1978 Anaheim Supercross together (pic 8), a handful of AMA Pro MX races and many other events between the Trans AMA and CMC Golden State events. When Mosier was killed riding a bicycle in the fall of 1980, he was left without a rider who advocated hard for him and was ultimately dropped from Kawasaki.

He loved motorcycles, however, and later worked as a Harley-Davidson mechanic. He was 74.

What's This?

This Is A Mud Race!

 A last-round championship fight between Ben Kelley and Steward Baylor with the Grand National Cross Country Series title was drama enough, but then massive rain nearly drowned the Yamaha Ironman GNCC course. Yet the swamp monsters of GNCC still raced to win, and the famous 'mud flea' fans were there to push them through the water and the muck. Mason Rader nailed these spectacular highlights from the final GNCC of 2021, an off-road epic.

Arco 2 – Cairoli and Hofer victorious as the title chase is blown wide open!

And breath. Can this championship get any better? This was another unbelievable day in the 2021 MXGP world title chase that ended with an ill Cairoli winning the GP and three points between the top three in the championship with three rounds left! This is simply the best motorcycle series in the world right now.

Race one and the drama was instant as Herlings went down in turn one and got his bike run over, damaging it in the process and ending up with a DNF – turning the championship on its head just when it looked like he took control! Up front Gajser had the lead but Febvre was putting the pressure on, until he tipped over! It looked like Gajser would take the win until Febvre regrouped, reeled Gajser in and then they went to war for the last five minutes with Febvre coming out on top – and at that point led the series by one point!

Race two and the pressure was high as Cairoli holeshot from Seewer but the title contenders were at the back of the top ten! Herlings was ahead of his rivals but he spun out on a slick turn and that let Gajser through and Febvre right on Herlings back wheel!

The trio, all riding under incredible pressure where one more bad mistake on a slick track could mean the end of their championship hopes, caught and passed Coldenhoff and were all coming together as the race ended with Seewer holding Gajser off for second as Herlings and Febvre closed right in – another five minutes and it was an all out battle! But Cairoli took a brilliant win as he wound back the years to control the race as the world title fight is on a knife edge with three to go and three points between Herlings, Febvre and Gajser with Herlings the one just about hanging onto the red plate!

A jubilant but hoarse Cairoli (3-1) said: “I really didn’t expect because Sunday I was feeling bad in two days recover a bit. The start was good and I could control the race and stay in front. I ride with a free mind and could ride a good race (no title pressure).”

MXGP Penalty

Penalties: MXGP of Pietramurata

Lewis Phillips

The results from qualifying at the Grand Prix of Trentino, the fifteenth round of the 2021 FIM Motocross World Championship, were not published instantly like usual, as penalties were handed out to four premier-class riders. Alessandro Lupino, Jose Butron and Benoit Paturel lost their fastest lap times at the end of the session – each rider was penalised for stopping on the track. It’s difficult to get away with that one.

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• Benoit Paturel went from tenth to twentieth (1:40.489 to 1:41.348).

• Alessandro Lupino went from eleventh to thirteenth (1:40.610 to 1.40.805).

• Jose Butron stayed in twenty-eighth, as his lap times were so similar (1:43.623 to 1:43.744).

Jeffrey Herlings ended on pole position at the fifteenth round of the 2021 FIM Motocross World Championship, the Grand Prix of Pietramurata, and has the advantage heading into the motos