Wednesday, April 14, 2021 at 9:27AM The TM EN300 can rightfully take its place beside anything made it Austria when it comes to off-road capability. It combines an aluminum frame with a modern two-stroke motor incorporating an electronic power valve. It’s also available with or without fuel-injection. Enjoy the sights and sounds of a 2021 TM EN300 as it rages around Glen Helen’s 6-Hour Endurance course.
Monday, April 12, 2021 at 12:54PM 
On this episode of the Dirt Buzz Podcast, my guest is Steve Matthes, Founder and Owner of the Pulp MX Network, Editor-at-Large for Racer X, and freelance contributor to motocross websites and publications worldwide. He is a pioneer in the podcast segment with one of the first dedicated motocross podcasts, the Pulp MX Show, where he’s produced weekly live shows for over ten years. Listen in as we swap stories, and Steve shares how Pulp MX has grown to become a powersports podcast empire from its humble beginning over ten years ago.
Click on Steve's picture to hear podcast
Sunday, April 11, 2021 at 9:23AM The Team Green rider keeps his championship hopes alive.
Image: Octopi Media.
Eli Tomac grabbed the first win of the 2021 Monster Energy Supercross residency in Atlanta after a last-lap pass on Chase Sexton to take his 37th premier class win.
A rain-soaked afternoon in Atlanta left riders with just one timed session for the day, as mother nature let loose near the end of the opening qualifying session, forcing a cancelation of the final rounds of qualifying.
As the rain cleared and the sun came out, racing got underway with Aaron Plessinger (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) launching out to the lead in the 450SX main event. It looked to be all Plessinger as he gapped the field early by over five seconds.
On lap six it all changed for the Yamaha rider when he lost the front end in a corner, dropping him to the ground and back to seventh place. This gifted the lead to Chase Sexton (Team Honda HRC) who looked poised to grab the first 450SX win of his career, leading the next four laps.
Eli Tomac who had recovered from a rough start began to close though, lapping over a second faster than Sexton as the race dwindled down to three laps to go, the defending champion chasing Sexton as the two worked through lap traffic.
With a lap and one corner to go, Sexton caught the back of a lapper, subsequently handing the lead to Tomac who jumped out to a three-second lead and never looked back, taking his 37th career main event win.
Third place went to points leader Cooper Webb (Red Bull KTM), who didn’t quite have the pace to run with the lead group, but will walk away from the round with a 22-point advantage over rival Ken Roczen (Team Honda HRC).
After taking his third heat race win of the season earlier in the night, fourth place went to a hard-charging Jason Anderson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna). Rookie Dylan Ferrandis took fifth place after a battle with his teammate Plessinger in the closing laps.
Plessinger’s run ended in sixth place after his heart-breaking crash, the Yamaha rider was followed by Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin who put in a solid ride for seventh. Eighth went to Joey Savatgy (Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM) who continues to show solid form through the later half of the season.
Championship contender Roczen had a day to forget, a mishap on the start saw him cross the line in 19th after turn one. He managed to get inside the top 10 by halfway, but was never able to mount a charge to pass the riders ahead of him, ending the day in ninth.
10th went to TLD Red Bull GasGas rider Justin Barcia after a horrific crash while leading the heat race resulted in stitches before the main event. Malcolm Stewart ran inside the top 10 for much of the race but ultimately crossed the line in 11th.
Max Anstie had an impressive night, running up from in both the heat race and the early stages of the main event, but unfortunately ending his night in the Alpinestars Medical Unit after a crash early on in the main.
The stage is now set for two more rounds of racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway, with racing continuing Tuesday night for round 14 of the series.
Saturday, April 10, 2021 at 11:33AM
The field is set for this afternoon's racing in Atlanta.
Jason Anderson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) and Cameron McAdoo (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) topped the opening qualifying sessions from Atlanta, just before rain hit the area cancelling the rest of the timed sessions for the day.
With the threat of rain in the area creating an already abbreviated schedule for round 13 of the Monster Energy Supercross series, riders went into the day thinking they’d get just two chances to learn the track and log their fastest lap.
As the rain started to fall toward the end of the first session, the second sessions were eventually cancelled, leaving the times from the one and only session for each group to determine the line-up for the races this afternoon.
In 450SX action, it was Jason Anderson putting his Rockstar Energy Husqvarna on the top spot with the fastest lap of 1:37.726s. Anderson comes into the weekend searching for his first win of the season after building momentum in the back half of the series.
Second place was 450SX rookie Chase Sexton (Team Honda HRC) who comes into Atlanta looking to rebound from a crash at Arlington 3 that ended his night early. The battle for the third spot was between Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha teammates Aaron Plessinger and Malcolm Stewart, the duo were the only two riders in the 1:38s range.
Rounding out the top five was Dean Wilson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) who continues to have solid pace in the latter half of the season, coming into Atlanta on the back of four consecutive top 10 finishes. Wilson was followed closely by defending champion Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Kawasaki).
Championship contender Ken Roczen (Team Honda HRC) took seventh in the session with his 1:39.312s lap with TLD Red Bull GasGas’ Justin Barcia just behind him in eighth.
Red plate holder Cooper Webb finished the session in ninth place and was the final rider in the 1:39s range. The final spot in the top 10 went to Team Tedder KTM’s Martin Davalos.
In 250SX West action, Cameron McAdoo became the first rider this season to top Justin Cooper in a timed session. McAdoo laying down a 1:39.185 to top Cooper who finished in second. The duo were the only two riders to log laps inside the 1:39s range.
Hunter Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) who sits just six points out of the championship lead, finished the session in third place with a fast time of 1:41.289s.
Veteran Ryan Sipes took fourth place overall after logging his lap in the 250B session. Sipes is making his second appearance in Supercross this season aboard a TLD Red Bull GasGas machine.
Chris Blose took fifth on his privateer GasGas with rookie Seth Hammaker (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) in sixth. Garrett Marchbanks put his ClubMX Yamaha inside the top 10 in seventh overall after the session.
Stilez Robertson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) was eighth place with fellow rookie Nate Thrasher in ninth. Kicker Arenacross champion Kyle Peters took the final spot in the top 10 with his 1:42.872s lap.
TLD Red Bull GasGas rider Pierce Brown made his return to action after injury, qualifying in 11th just a few tenths outside of the top 10.
Saturday, April 10, 2021 at 10:01AM
Issue 56 is now live and available for your enjoyment. Explore the world on motorcycles inside Upshift Magazine. Enjoy Issue 56 FREE of charge here: http://bit.ly/2issu56q
Friday, April 9, 2021 at 8:12PM Recently while wondering around a nondiscript industrial park with my wife looking for an exotic wood shop I came across a name that looked familiar. I was able to slip away to investigate and found the office of "Upshiftonline.com". A great bunch of guys producing an online magazine about Adventure riding. I suggest you add them to your regular reading list. High quality content as well as great photos!
MX43
The Year of Jubilee Episode 1
After watching On Any Sunday, a multitude of children, parents, workers and thrill seekers escaped the turmoil of their times on motorcycles. Nothing like that explosion of off-road motorcycle racing in 1971 had been seen ever since, until 2020. Fifty years later, when everyone was told to go home, a new generation discovered the passion of their fathers.
Producer Troy Adamitis and director Nate Scribner, who have created The Great Outdoors, The Moto: Inside the Outdoors, Supercross: Behind the Dream, MX Nation and MX World, have partnered with RIDE Motorcycles to bring you an account of American Motocross’ Year of Jubilee.
We knew that 2020 was going to be a year that people would remember for decades to come. We wanted to capture some of the moments from a year filled with challenge and triumph to inspire the next generation of riders. So, we partnered with Troy Adamitis, the very best story teller and Producer in the industry, to film 2020 and produce a series that we believe will connect with passionate, engaged riders and racers and we hope will inspire new riders to join the sport of motorcycling. We will be creating 3 full episodes and you will see content that represents all of our brands (and others), our teams, athletes and customers.
The title of the video series, A Year of Jubilee, recognizes the a special moment and comes every 50 years. For our sport, the iconic film, On Any Sunday, was released 50 years ago in 1971 and it inspired multiple generations of riders and racers. We hope that Ride Motorcycles can be inspire more people to be outside, enjoying time with family and friends and most of all… enjoying time on a motorcycle. Ride Motorcycles is an action, it is a verb, we want people to go do it. The Year of Jubilee is presented by Ride Motorcycles so we can reach a broader audience beyond our brands, our core customers and connect to new customers.
Monday, April 5, 2021 at 3:07PM Belgian Bash By Lewis Phillips
The pain of absolutely nothing happening in Europe got too much and, because of that, I jumped in my car and travelled straight to Belgium a week ago. The trip was not quite as spontaneous as that may make it seem – we had commitments over here and needed to visit riders at home for a project that we are working on this year. All is going to be revealed in due course, but it got off to an encouraging start with one of the most interesting interviews that I have ever done.
I was not quite sure what we would come across in Belgium; COVID-19 is really running rampant in Europe, there is no need for riders to actually push the limits with no races on the horizon and everything is just in a state of flux. There is a lot of riding happening though, with most riders opting to hit practice tracks twice a week. Arguably the biggest issue is that tracks are falling fast – Lommel is now the only option on a Friday. In the last week we hit Deurne, Geldermalsen, Lommel (two days in a row) and then Boekel. I had not even heard of three of those, but hey. Boekel had a tabletop with a concrete face. No, seriously.
Jeffrey Herlings was at two of those tracks and looks really, really good at the moment. Shocker, right? The Boekel track is effectively a smaller version of Lierop, with long straights in the trees, so watching him push around that circuit was just awe-inspiring. Perhaps most intriguing was that it just looked effortless for him, almost like he has made another step forward. I think I am now ready to lock my championship pick for the premier-class title fight in. Herlings is just due at this point anyway, right? It would simply be mind boggling for him to go three years without a title, especially when you think about how superb he was in 2018.
J.P. Acevedo
Listeners to The MX Vice Show podcast will know that I have pegged Pauls Jonass to overachieve when the 2021 FIM Motocross World Championship begins, and I am now prepared to double down on that. I talked to him at length on Friday and he sounds so happy in his new setting – he also stated that the GASGAS feels a lot nimbler than the Husqvarna, almost like it is his 250F. That bodes well. Oh, he also said that there are no lingering effects from his back injury last year and that he does not even need to consider that now. All of this, coupled with the fact that he looked so good, has prompted me to settle down on the bandwagon.
It has also been interesting to see that the air shock has made its way onto one or two of the Austrian bikes, but not all. The riders who are running it commented that it does indeed feel more predictable – something that Cooper Webb has also stated in the United States. The first race would have actually been run in Oman yesterday, had the original schedule stayed in place, so a lot of the riders have had plenty of time with their teams and testing is done. Tweaks are still being made, in the constant quest for greatness, but it is not like anyone is reinventing the wheel at the moment. It is more about logging laps.
Another thing that has become apparent whilst here is that very few people, if any, actually think that the Grand Prix series is going to begin in Russia on June 13. The common consensus is that the travel restrictions will make it too difficult to enter a country that is notoriously difficult to enter anyway. Time will tell, but it is actually down as TBC on the FIM’s version of the calendar anyway. There are also a lot of questions being bounced around about how easy it will be to enter the United Kingdom towards the end of June too. Being British, I have had to answer a lot of those like some kind of official spokesperson for the nation.
J.P. Acevedo
Back to the on-track action, Ben Watson looks very comfortable on the YZ450FM. I think ‘919’ will be the best rookie in the premier division. I actually visited the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP workshop for the first time and, well, wow. The place is incredible. Walking into the reception is like entering the headquarters of a multi-million-pound business, not a motocross team. There are a lot of finer details in the building that just reek of professionalism. Not particularly in the mood to open doors? Not to worry, there are sensors for that. I actually regret not doing a workshop tour for MX Vice, but time is of the essence.
Speaking of rookies, Kay de Wolf looks like he has made a significant step since moving onto the full-factory bike and setting his sights on the MX2 division. De Wolf could actually wow people this year – there will be some rough weekends, as there is with any rookie, but his ceiling is actually quite high. The new kid on the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing MX2 team, Maxime Grau, is actually very talented as well. Who knew that he was already under contract with the factory whilst racing for a satellite team in EMX125 last term? That fact alone should indicate just how much potential he has. Those deals are difficult to come by.
It has been good to be around the riders again – it has been so long since anything of significance happened. It is going to be months before gates drop as well, so get comfortable and try to enjoy the silence. It is going to be a long slog until we finally find out how these interesting stories pan out.
Words: Lewis Phillips | Lead Image: Bavo Swijgers
Sunday, April 4, 2021 at 12:21PM 
Infront Moto Racing have announced a host of updates to the 2021 calendar for the FIM Motocross World Championship.
Due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, the decision has been made to delay the start of the upcoming season, as the FIM Motocross World Championship will kick off in Orlyonok with the MXGP of Russia on the 12th – 13th of June.
The updated calendar will also welcome back the MXGP of Great Britain in Matterley Basin on the 26th – 27th of June, followed by the MXGP of Italy at the legendary circuit of Maggiora on the 3rd – 4th of July. MXGP of Latvia, MXGP of the Netherlands and Czech Republic will come next in July, before heading to the deep sand of Lommel for the MXGP of Flanders in August.
MXGP will then move to Sweden on the 14th and 15th of August, followed by the MXGP of Finland and MXGP of Turkey.
The newest addition to the 2021 racing calendar is the MXGP of Sardegna, with the popular winter training facility of Riola Sardo hosting the round 11 of the campaign, with the EMX65 and EMX85 Championship races held on the same weekend.
The championship will then continue with the MXGP of Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and Trentino in October, with a venue for the French Grand Prix to be confirmed soon.
The season will then conclude with three fly-away races, in Argentina on the 13th – 14th of November, followed by the MXGP of Asia and Indonesia on the 27th - 28th of November and 4th - 5th of December.
Meanwhile the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations will go ahead on the 26th of September, as originally planned, with the Italian circuit in Mantova confirmed as the newest host of the prestigious event.
Additionally, the FIM-E Motocross of European Nations scheduled on the 18th and 19th of September, will now be as TBA, with more details to be announced at a later date.
The same race format as last year will be used during the upcoming season meaning that MXGP and MX2 will all run on Sunday and EMX and WMX run all on Saturday. The decision to run a one day format was made due to the tight racing schedule in order to allow more recovery time for the riders and the team staff.
Infront Moto Racing is hopeful that with the recent development of the vaccine, there will be a possibility to finally welcome back spectators in the summer months.
Sunday, April 4, 2021 at 12:07PM The third season of the series follows the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team during a condensed and challenging 2020 season. Take a unique inside look at the challenges and aspirations of the sport’s biggest names as they gear up for the 2021 MXGP and MX2 championships.
