Matrix Concepts is in Primm, Nevada .

Stop by and see us at Primm @worcsracing this weekend!

Steward Baylor confirmed as AmPro Yamaha announce 2021 race plans

AmPro Yamaha Race Team has confirmed their 2021 rider line-up will include Steward Baylor, Layne Michael, Mike Witkowski and Rachel Archer to race GNCC and National Enduro series’.

In a year which has seen many ups and downs in racing, not least for Steward Baylor, the AmPro Yamaha Race Team has been one of the more consistent and successful in the major race paddocks of North America.

Baylor surely made his case for the full contract with the Yamaha USA supported team by jumping on their bike mid-season and having the most successful run of any rider in the second half of 2020. Four wins and a second place since round nine of GNCC plus National Enduro win show why he has been on many team’s radars.

Layne Michael retains his seat in the AmPro camp having notably upped his FG Sprint Enduro game in 2020 taking a win and being Kailub Russell’s closest challenger – although the statement (below) neglects to mention the team's participation in the 2021 Sprint series. Similarly, Rachel Archer has upped her game in 2020 taking runner-up position in both GNCC and Sprint Enduro series.

Completing the championship challengers on this team is Mike Witkowski whose second place overall in the super-competitive GNCC XC2 class this season was impressive. Four wins and only one round from 13 where he didn’t stand on the podium (he was fourth) put him in contention for the win right to the wire.

Posting on social media, AmPro say they are putting speculation to bed with the team announcement:

It’s official, Steward Baylor Jr. of Hodges, South Carolina will be joining our program and piloting the all new 2021 Yamaha Motor Corporation YZ450FX in both the Grand National Cross Country Series and the National Enduro Series.

Along with Stew, Layne Michael will be piloting a 2021 Yamaha YZ450FX in the GNCC Series as well as the Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series. AmPro Yamaha will also be supporting two pro lites divisions riders, both utilizing the all new 2021 Yamaha YZ250FX. Michael Witkowski of Indiana will fight for the XC2 Championship in the GNCC Series as well as New Zealand's Rachel Archer in the WXC women's pro class.

The team’s primary focus will remain on the Grand National Cross Country Series however, with the addition of Steward Baylor to the program, a fully backed National Enduro Series effort will be managed for the first time in nearly a decade.

JUSTIN HILL LEAVES MOTOCONCEPTS HONDA: REPLACED BY BROC TICKLE FOR 2021 SUPERCROSS

JUSTIN HILL LEAVES THE MOTOCONCEPTS HONDA TEAM AND IS REPLACED BY BROC TICKLE FOR 2021 SUPERCROSS

Broc Tickle was first seen on Tony Alessi’s instagram story wearing Leatt gear and hanging out with the rest of the Smartop Bullfrog Spas Honda team on the morning of Friday, November 13th. This raised questions on if he would be joining the team. Would the MCR Honda tent host five riders? Broc Tickle alongside Shane McElrath, Vince Friese, Benny Bloss and Justin Hill? Vital MX was the first to reported that Broc would actually be replacing Justin Hill on the team.

MXA reached out to Justin Hill to confirm the allegations and he said that they are true. Justin was quick to clarify his respect for Team Owner Mike Genova and also to give credit the team and their sponsors for the exceptional motorcycle they provided him. He wasn’t leaving the team because of bike issues or an issue with the team owner; it was issues with the team’s management and with how he was treated. Although the press release has already been released for the team’s 2021 Supercross rider lineup, Justin did not break a contract by leaving the team because he and the team hadn’t signed paper yet for 2021.

Rodney Smith Still Fast!

Rodney Smith, Beta’s Off-road manager and former Team Suzuki super star, finished tenth overall at the Idaho AMA Western Hare Scrambles Championship. Not bad for a 56-year old pilot! And yes he won the Super Senior class…Photo Kato.

JGRMX Folds Up the Tent

JGRMX RACE TEAM IS OFFICIALLY DONE: ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

It’s no secret that the JGRMX Suzuki team has struggled to find sufficient financial support to go racing over the last few years, but it’s still a surprise to see the factory Suzuki effort go. Even before the 2020 season began, JGRMX was struggling to find a title sponsor, but circumstances have got even harder now as the Covid-19 pandemic has completely shaken up the world and the live entertainment industry.

Motorcycle racing at the professional level is a business and the Gibbs family has invested a lot of time, money and energy into creating a team capable of battling at the highest level of Supercross and motocross. It has come with it’s fair share of highs and lows and through it all, the Gibbs family has continued to support and press forward. The JGRMX team was in talks with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians looking to build a mutually beneficial partnership, but unfortunately they weren’t able to get the support right away and the process was taking longer than expected.

MXA has learned that Suzuki wasn’t able to provide the JGRMX team with sufficient support to keep them going for the 2021 season and this is ultimately the straw that broke the camel’s back.

JGR MX announced their official departure from Supercross and motocross racing by sharing a video on instagram and adding a brief caption reading: “Thank You The JGRMX family would like to thank all of our fans, riders and sponsors for 13 great years. #JGRMX” 

AMERICAN SUZUKI ANNOUNCES DEPARTURE FROM JGRMX:

Brea, CA (November 12, 2020) – Suzuki Motor of America, Inc. has concluded its partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing. The combined efforts of Suzuki and JGRMX were able to deliver solid results and raise the level of performance of each of the team’s riders.

Together, Suzuki and JGRMX demonstrated the potential of the Suzuki RM-Z250 and RM-Z450 motocross machines over several successful racing seasons.

“Suzuki Motor of America, Inc. is honored to have worked with a premier racing partner like Joe Gibbs Racing,” said Chris Wheeler, Suzuki’s MX Support Manager. “This partnership produced solid success and many strong friendships over the past several seasons and we would like to thank the entire team at JGRMX for their hard work, passion, and dedication to Suzuki racing.”

Wheeler added that Suzuki will announce its plans for the upcoming 2021 Supercross and Motocross racing season in the coming days.

 

Enhanced Australian Supercross Championship in the works for 2021

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  Post: Alex Gobert

AUS SX Holdings to elevate series involvement across multiple areas.

Image: Foremost Media.

The Australian Supercross Championship will be enhanced from 2021 by series commercial rights-holders AUS SX Holdings in a bid to solidify the sport, which could see the AUS-X Open organisers promote multiple rounds on the calendar.

Since becoming involved in 2018, AUS SX Holdings has taken an arms-length approach in the series operation while utilising an assortment of individual promoters, but will elevate that involvement from next season.

Last year, Troy Bayliss Events hosted the Brisbane, Gillman and Wollongong rounds before the S-X Open International FIM Oceania Supercross Championship events in Auckland and Melbourne completed the calendar. However, from 2021, expect AUS SX Holdings to promote at least one round internally and will potentially partner with incoming event promoters for additional rounds.

“We’re definitely looking at it, whether we expand the amount of events that we run, although there will still be only one AUS-X Open event,” confirmed AUS SX Holdings co-founder Adam Bailey. “If there’s the potential for another Australian championship round or more, we’re evaluating that.

“The plan is five rounds in total for next year. That seems to be the general consensus within the industry – the manufacturers and brands – that they’d rather have five good ones than stretch to more than that until we can. That gives us the platform to build from and hopefully it might grow further again in 2022.”

AME Management, which is the operated by the same team behind AUS SX Holdings and the AUS-X Open, will takeover the commercial and sponsorship elements of the entire championship, which will add integral consistencies and opportunities across all rounds. The series will be rebranded altogether as part of this broad overhaul off the back of the 2020 series’ cancellation.

“Since we bought the rights to the series from MA, it’s been a staged approach,” Bailey explained. “When we first got involved, we were very gently involved, because we didn’t want to make any drastic changes, but slowly over time we are becoming more integrated, giving it more time and also focus.

“Last year we were more heavily involved in the background, which highlighted some areas that needed even more attention. AUS-X Open at Marvel Stadium had been such a huge focus for us, but now that we’ve been through that and done it, we can now ensure the rest of the series continues to move forward and grow as well.

“The next stage is for us to completely rebrand the series, which we had planned for this year, but it will obviously now roll out next year. All sponsorship elements will be managed internally by us, which allows us to have a consistent message across the whole series, to ensure that the delivery of sponsorship is done properly and that’s such a crucial, super-important area.

“That’s what we do full-time at AME Management – that’s our specialty in a lot of ways. For us to be able to bring that in-house, it will help other promoters, but will also help us attract new promoters that may not have experience or contacts in the motorcycle industry. A concert promoter, for example, could get involved in Supercross not having to handle any of those elements.”

A post-produced television broadcast is being targeted for all rounds in addition to the live AUS-X Open event in Melbourne, while AME Management will also continue to produce its behind the scenes ‘Supercross Life’ program in order to further showcase the personalities of the sport, according to Bailey.

“We obviously need to make sure that we will have the commercial support, which we have already started working on, but that’s definitely the goal to have a post-produced TV package for the whole series,” he added. “That will include at least Fox Sports and Kayo, perhaps a free-to-air network as well, to increase exposure for the series and value for the sponsors so we can lift the sport.

“Supercross Life is our behind the scenes series away from the racetrack, which we definitely want to do because we feel that’s the best style of content to show who the athletes are and get non-hardcore fans engaged with who our riders are. Unless they really know their stories and what goes on behind the scenes, it’s really hard to expect them to become true fans, so that will be in addition to the highlights packages.”

Viewpoint: Antonio Cairoli

Lewis Phillips November 11, 20200

Antonio Cairoli had a tricky time of it in the 2020 FIM Motocross World Championship and ultimately fell short of his primary goal, which was to clinch his tenth world title. The week at Lommel, in Belgium, was disappointing for the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing star, but it turns out that the knee has become even more of a problem. Cairoli goes into detail about the injury in this, as well as dropping some interesting hints at what the future holds.

MX Vice: It has been a while and a lot has happened since we last did an interview. Firstly, on today, you were just never in a position to do what you are capable of. Start wasn’t great in the first moto. Start was actually really good in the second moto, but you went off the track and that was that. Thoughts on your day? What actually happened in that second moto?

Antonio Cairoli: Yeah, actually this round wasn’t my best. With the knee problem and the track this morning, with the sun very low, I was struggling a lot to make time. We ended up bad with our position [Ed Note: Cairoli qualified in seventeenth]. The start in the first moto, in both races actually, was not so good. I was about ninth or tenth, so I could make some passes, but not much, because the track is also very difficult to pass on. I was like sixth and [Jeremy] Seewer was third. I was watching a little bit for the championship. Okay, second place.

Second or third does not really change much, for me, only bonus-wise, but does not really change much. If you are not winning then for me it’s already lost. Going into the second moto we were only one point apart. I said, “I need to start in front with this kind of track.” I had a very good jump and almost a holeshot. Just before the corner I saw a blue fender coming my way. I got hit from the back and my shift lever was completely off. I went off the track and tried to go back on, but I was in twenty-fifth and almost last.

With that problem… You cannot ride on this track with the second gear. It was too dangerous – so many sketchy jumps. We just gave up. Unfortunately, that’s not what we do normally. I have ridden with so many problems, but this time it was impossible. Seewer was also in front. We weren’t often on a high this year, but with my knee problem it’s actually a relief now. I can fix it and see if next year we can solve this problem and go for the last attack to the title, because we always ride for the win. That is not what we did in the last part of the season.

You mentioned something there that I kind of thought would be the situation with you and Jeremy too, actually. You want to be world champ. The bonus money is nice, with second or third, but whether you have got a silver medal or a bronze one, I guess it doesn’t really mean too much to you?

Yeah, exactly. It was not really pressure for me. Only bonuses. I never cared about money, so for me the most important thing is be healthy and be safe on the track. We tried to get a better start in the second moto. I tried to stay in front of him, but it didn’t work. It’s racing. We try to move on and try to fix this problem. Hopefully we can be back on a stronger level next year.

Ray Archer

We haven’t spoken since Mantova, so has the knee gotten a lot worse since then? Is it still just the same level of pain, but the wear and tear with so many races has gotten to it?

No. After Mantova actually we had some treatment and it didn’t work immediately, but after Lommel (before I arrived at the first race here) it was actually feeling the best this year. It only lasted for one race because, when I won here at the first round in Trentino, I put it down a couple of times in the race and nothing happened, because I didn’t feel it. The day after there was liquid and fluid inside. I had to stay with my leg up all week – I had to ice again all the week, so it’s been a lot of trouble. We didn’t really solve the problem. We just covered for a little bit. Let’s say for ten days I felt better, but then it got worse again.

Is surgery on the cards now then? Do you know yet?

No, we don’t know about the treatment yet. For sure we had some investigation already. It’s not easy, because the problem is quite difficult to solve. I’ve seen already three or four doctors. It’s not really clear. We need more investigation.

It sounds like we are going to start at the beginning of April, so that’s five months. That’s good news to you, huh, because you can take the time and speak to more doctors? You can try to figure out what the right thing to do is, and hopefully come into round one at your best.

Yeah, that’s my goal, because otherwise it’s going to be difficult. If not one hundred percent, I want to be close to there. I think that this year I’ve been riding at 60%, especially with the last part of the racing.

What do you think about your season as a whole? It’s kind of been a tale of two halves, because you were going strong and right in the title fight up until the end of Mantova. Since then it has tailed off a bit. Ignoring the results and the bronze medal, are you happy with how things have gone at all?

Let’s say that during the first part of the season, with the two rounds we did Matterley and Valkenswaard, I was not ready at all with my shoulder. I was riding again at 60% or maybe even 50%, whatever. We managed to stay on a good result though. The lockdown was, of course for me, good, because I could resolve the problem on my shoulder. Now it doesn’t bother me at all. I started to work, because I couldn’t ride with the bike, so I started to work on more physio with running and whatever. My knee got worse though. The problem was this. I’m not satisfied, because I wanted to end the season fighting at least and not just be conserving to try and save second place. It doesn’t really count for anything for me. I didn’t really like the last part of the season. I didn’t enjoy it.

Clement has obviously called it a career now. Just talk about any memorable seasons or races you have. Is there anything that stands out between you two?

Yeah. Clement has been one of my toughest contenders, also physically because I’m not a physical rider. I don’t like to hit somebody – he was quite strong. We had good battles and quite good contact also. It was always with respect and with a mind that you go hard, but you know where to go hard and enter. I was always respectful with him and he was with me. I really enjoyed riding with him. When he won the moto last week, it was nice because I remembered a lot of battles together.

Words: Lewis Phillips | Lead Image: Ray Archer

GASGAS Factory Racing complete successful first term in MXGP

Isak Gifting (Image: Juan Pablo Acevedo)

Making history, enjoying both GP winning results and stand-out rookie performances, while also frustratingly seeing riders sidelined through injury, GASGAS Factory Racing has successfully completed the 2020 FIM Motocross World Championship.

Ending the season in style, Isak Gifting placed fifth overall in the MX2 class on his MC 250F at the MXGP of Garda Trentino, courtesy of the super-Swede’s 6-3 results. Gifting’s DIGA Procross team-mate Michael Sandner enjoyed another point-scoring GP, securing 20th overall on the day. In the MXGP class, Standing Construct’s Ivo Monticelli enjoyed some time out front on his way to securing 13th overall.

Isak Gifting joined the DIGA Procross Factory Juniors team at round nine, arguably becoming the stand-out rider of the 2020 MX2 World Championship. Since then, he’s done nothing other than deliver impressive results and the MXGP of Garda Trentino was no different.

A sixth-place finish in the opening moto set a positive tone for the day, with the MC 250F rider charging to an impressive third in race two. In claiming fifth overall, it elevated the Swede to 12th in the final championship standings despite the only contesting 10 of the 18 rounds.

Isak’s team-mate Michael Sandner also ended the season strongly, scoring points despite crashes in both races. Since joining the DIGA Procross team, Sandner’s shown true determination by battling for position in each and every moto, with the Austrian’s best overall result of 12th coming at round 16.

In the MXGP class, Standing Construct’s Ivo Monticelli fired out of the gate to claim the race one holeshot! Leading for two laps, he showed he has the pace to run up front in the MXGP class before disaster struck. With a rock damaging his front brake it forced the Italian to slow his pace, dropping down the running order and ending the moto in 17th. Frustratingly, moto two didn’t see Ivo produce quite the same start as he had in the opening race. Battling for position just outside the top 10 for the whole moto, he claimed 12th for 13th overall. In a season blighted by injuries and illness, Monticelli enjoyed four holeshots along with five top-10 moto finishes on his way to placing 15th in the final standings.

Absent from the tail end of the 2020 FIM Motocross World Championship was Standing Construct’s Glenn Coldenhoff. After claiming GASGAS Factory Racing’s maiden MXGP moto and overall wins during the summer, the Dutchman was poised to secure a top-three championship result. Unfortunately, a heavy crash at round 13 ended his season early and despite missing six rounds, he finished eighth in the final standings.

Enjoying a successful first term in MXGP, GASGAS Factory Racing secured their first MXGP overall win, multiple holeshots in both classes, podiums, and top-five results throughout the year. Now, with the 2020 FIM Motocross World Championship complete, the Standing Construct and DIGA Procross teams will take a well-earned rest following 16 Grands Prix within the last 13 weeks.

Isak Gifting: “A great end to the season for me. I felt good on the bike all day and it showed in the results. Physically I felt strong, which is good this late in the season. Another podium finish in race two is another great result for me and the team. Joining the team to end the season as a fill-in rider has been fantastic. It was a great opportunity that I grabbed with both hands and it’s been a great experience. It has helped me to improve every part of me. My physical strength, my mentality, and most of all, my riding. Knowing that I will return to the DIGA Procross team for next season means that I can focus on my training over the winter. I am in good hands with the team and I can’t wait for next season to start already!”

Michael Sandner: “It was a big a struggle for me today but I still scored points in both races, which is good. Some mistakes in both races cost me some positions, which is disappointing and in the first race I was in the first turn crash so it was good to get into the points in that one. Being part of the DIGA Procross team for just over half of the season has been an amazing experience. I am really thankful for the opportunity and the team has been great to me. They are so professional and welcomed me into the team and I’m happy that I was able to score points for them in nearly every race. Thanks guys.”

Ivo Monticelli: “The final GP of the year started off so well for me with the holeshot in race one. I then led for two laps, which was nice, and it was good to be up front and race with the top guys. A good start is what I’ve needed and I got it, so I was really pleased with how my race was going. Unfortunately, a few laps into the race a rock damaged my front brake, so it was difficult to stop for corners and caused me to crash a few times. Race two was ok, but it was difficult to pass, so 12th was the best I could do. This season has been very challenging, with a shoulder injury, stomach virus and a sprained ankle but I always gave my best effort. I had four holeshots and one today so it’s always nice to be leading races! Overall, not quite the season I was looking for but I have to thank the Standing Construct team. They have been behind me the whole time and built me a great bike. We’ve been together two years with many highlights so I wish them well for the future.”

Racing Keeps You Young!

Here's two old racers that showed up to race the Dirt Diggers Lilliputian Hare Scrambles. These guys have been racing each other at district 36 events for more than forty years. Read more about their day at 21J''s blog.

Final MXGP of 2020...Trentino