EnduroGP France 2020 - Highlights Day 1

Dungey Return Rumors

Comments: Ryan Dungey

Lewis PhillipsSeptember 19, 20200

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Rumours have been circulating at quite a speed recently, as paddock gossip suggesting that Ryan Dungey is looking at making a comeback has picked up. Now, for the first time since the reports surfaced over a month ago, Dungey has spoken out and confirmed that the fire that he once had has returned. The quote below is what he said when questioned on the NBC Sports Gold broadcast of qualifying at Millville today (September 19).

“Strictly being transparent: I have been looking at some options here, knocking on some doors and seeing what’s available. Kind of getting that fire back. 2020 obviously has been really interesting – budgets have changed and things are different. It’s not like there has been a lot of openings in our sport as it is. There are 450 guys fighting for spots as it is! If the right opportunity comes along and things look good, then we’ll seek it out. As of right now things are calm and there are really not a lot of opportunities out there. That is where we are at.”

Dungey retired following the conclusion of the 2017 Monster Energy Supercross season, in which he clinched his fourth 450SX title. Dungey raced a Suzuki for the first five years of his professional career, then spent the rest of his time as a professional athlete on a KTM. The transition to Honda was made after his retirement, first as a co-owner of the GEICO Honda outfit and now he rides a CRF450R when he hits the track.

Words: Lewis Phillips | Lead Image: KTM Images

Trail Ride Idaho With #22...Chad Reed

Roczen and Herlings - Expectations

 

There was no doubt about it, when Ken Roczen and Jeffrey Herlings came into the professional ranks around 10 years ago, they were going to dominate the sport, and it didn’t matter where they raced, be it in America or Europe, these two 15 year olds were on the way to becoming the two best European racers ever.

Until now, both Roczen and Herlings have had massive success. The German a World MX2 champion ship and two AMA 450 motocross championships. The Dutchman, three World MX2 championships and a World MXGP championship.

Roczen’s achievements in America rank him as one of the best non-America races to run the AMA championships, right up there with names like Chad Reed (two SX and one MX title), Grant Langston (two MX titles) and J. M. Bayle (two MX titles and one SX title), a list of riders very much among the all-time greats.

How can we forget the way Herlings dominated the best American based riders at Ironman in 2017, winning both races and one of those from the very back of the pack after an early fall. No GP rider had done this since maybe DeCoster in the 1970s. 

Both have MXoN team victories to their name, and both are still capable of winning another two or three championships each, but damn, the sport is cruel.

Roczen’s body has been so damaged from that one big crash in January of 2017, when he dislocated his wrist, dislocated his elbow and also compounded his radius and underwent 11 surgeries between January and July of 2017 to repair compound fractures to his radius and ulna, scaphoid fractures, torn ligaments and a dislocated elbow. Since he can’t seem to put together a full season without having some issues and his results are very up and down. He went from dominating the Outdoors to hardly winning a race, let alone an overall.

This whole coronavirus 2020 hasn’t helped and no doubt his body is open to picking up any virus going around. His aim to be AMA supercross champion is still something he is capable of, but when he decided to take off the summer and rest for the 2021 AMA supercross season, you had the feeling this is the start of the end for the rider who arrived on the scene in Europe and made everyone (but Herlings) look average.

His two AMA motocross championships were perfection and it seemed he would dominate in America for years to come, yet now four years after his second outdoor title, he hasn’t added to his tally. Hardly a main event win in supercross and totally dominated by Eli Tomac in motocross.

Yes, motocross is a cruel sport, a sport that spits out the most talented riders and ends careers quickly. While Herlings has proven to be unbeatable when fit, his injuries will probably be the thing many people remember in 20 years, despite his staggering GP win ratio and his four World titles.

On many occasions “The Bullet” has been the man, losing titles through injury when he was clearly the best rider. It happened when he lost to Jordi Tixier in 2014, Tim Gajser in 2015, Antonio Cairoli in 2017 and now again while leading the World and heading for a seemingly easy fifth World title, it happened again. That is four World title he really should have won, but of course, should have, could have, would have means nothing when the points are added up at the end of the season.

When Herlings injured his ankle in 2019 he thought about retirement, having worked hard to come back, and then win a race (with the ankle broken) in Latvia, another six months on the couch seemed like a bad idea. He had already damaged his ankle so badly that still to this day he has less mobility and suffers from pain in the ankle. 

The talk of retirement is something many have expected, having been through so many injuries and financially more than stable, it seemed pointless to risk more damage to his health, but for somebody as competitive as Herlings, the idea of no racing, not doing what he loves just didn’t sit well. 

There was that 101 GP victories to chase, another World title or two and pass the greats like Roger De Coster, Joel Robert, Eric Geboers, Georges Jobe and Joel Smets. The risk was worth it, and despite his injury riddled career, it was just in ankle that gave him trouble.

This last crash was a bad one, maybe the worse as far as what could have happened. Having sat and watched the footage of his crash and then the aftermath, I felt this might finally be the end, my gut feeling was he will retire. Watching the Dutchman laying on the ground, not being able to move his lower body and then seeing him on the stretcher, seemingly screaming from under his helmet was something I can’t watch again, once was more than enough.

As reports came in that he had lost feeling in his limbs is frightening and I know, if it was me, I would tuck my helmet away and start spending some of those dollars he has earnt through blood, pain and hard work. But I am not Jeffrey Herlings, my work ethic is somewhat lazy, and my attitude to pain is of a little boy who often got picked up by his mum after falling, getting a kiss on the minor damage and getting a big cuddle, yes, I can handle pain about as much as ice can handle a hot day.

If Herlings retired today, he retires with four World titles, 90 GP wins and a Motocross of Nations victory. A legend, and one of the most successful riders in the sports history. He could look back in 20 years and smile about his achievements and be more than satisfied as he maybe drops his kids to school, heads back home to his large house in Holland and enjoys the spoils of his success with his partner. But we all know though, Jeffrey Herlings isn’t easily satisfied and deep inside, he will remember those lost opportunities, those seasons when he was clearly the fastest man in the World, and still came home with zero, just pain and discomfort from his injuries. He might regret not getting those extra 11 GP wins to become the winningest GP rider of all time.

For me, I hope if he does come back, I hope he can remain fit, healthy and get another title or two, win another dozen or so GP wins a couple more MXoN team victories, and then retire satisfied, knowing the sport was also kind to him, and gave him as much as it took.

Now, as we sit in this very strange 2020 season, and those two 15 years olds are both 25 years old, both with a nice list of championships to their names, and plenty of dollars to spend in the future, they also both sit on the couch, either mentally done for 2020 or recovering from injuries, we can just think back to 2009 and 2010 for the moment, when they arrived and quickly won GPs and World titles and gave us something to look forward to in the future.

A decade is a short career, but for these two brilliant young men, injuries and bad luck have really cruelled their expectations, or maybe more so, our expectations. If I could make a wish in this mental season of Covid19, I would wish both these guys could come back in 2021, race injury free and win titles, main events, GPs or whatever comes their way, because they both deserve that.

Ray Archer image

Zmarzlik claims first Prague win to snatch FIM SGP World Championship lead

 

Bartosz Zmarzlik

World champion Bartosz Zmarzlik was elated to break his Prague jinx after storming top of the FIM Speedway Grand Prix World Championship with victory in Visit Czech Republic SGP round five on Friday.

 Zmarzlik arrived at Marketa Stadium having reached just one semi-final in four appearances at the Czech capital track.

 But after battling to a strong 11 points in the heats, he won a semi-final showdown with Tai Woffinden after Jason Doyle and Leon Madsen were both excluded for moving at the start.

 He then topped the podium after beating three-time Prague winner Woffinden, Slovak star Martin Vaculik and Russian racer Emil Sayfutdinov in the final.

 Zmarzlik’s victory and 20 championship points saw him overhaul Fredrik Lindgren for top spot in the SGP standings on 79, with the Swedish ace in hot pursuit on 78 after scoring 12 points for finishing fifth in the meeting.

 Victory in Prague was a huge moment for Zmarzlik after missing out on the Czech SGP semi-finals on his last three appearances at Marketa Stadium.

“I am very happy. This is the first time in my career I have won in Prague. For me, that is very nice because the previous rounds here have been a big problem. The most I have scored recently is eight points, which is not such a good result," Zmarzlik said.

“What a special meeting today! The first two races were not so bad, but after that the setup changed and my bike wasn’t working so well. But after the last heat, it was better and I am very happy. I would like to say a big thank you to the Polish fans and everyone. This is for you,” he added.

 Zmarzlik lines up in Aztorin SGP round six on Saturday night – the record-breaking 25th SGP event to be staged in Prague.

 So the Pole insists there will be little time to celebrate his eighth SGP win. “Today I have won and I am very happy of course. But now this is history and I am looking at what will happen tomorrow.”

Nine of the last 16 Prague winners have gone on to be crowned world champion in the same season.

 Zmarzlik would love to keep that run going and is pleased to top the World Championship standings once again.

 But the grounded 26-year-old isn’t getting ahead of himself. “I am happy, but we will see what happens. There’s a lot of work in front of me. Now I must go to bed. Tomorrow is a new day,” Zmarzlik concluded

 

VISIT CZECH REPUBLIC SGP ROUND FIVE POINTS:

 1 Bartosz Zmarzlik 20 Points

 2 Tai Woffinden 18 Points

 3 Martin Vaculik 16 Points

 4 Tai Woffinden 14 Points

 5 Fredrik Lindgren 12 Points

2021 Honda CRF450 - Dirt Bike Magazine

Antonio Cairoli vs Tim Gajser insane battle MXGP of Lombardia-Italy Mantova 2016

Honda Gariboldi's Tim Gajser goes bar-to-bar with the eight time FIM Motocross World Champ Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Antonio Cairoli on home turf at Mantova, Italy.

Gajser vs Cairoli - The Battle of Mantova

We thought he was done then, yes, I am talking about Antonio Cairoli. The young brigade had arrived, led by MX2 World champion Tim Gajser it seemed as though the eight time World champion was finished. Gajser had won his debut in MXGP at round one with a 1-1 performance in Qatar and a round later the defending MXGP champion Roman Febvre did the same, going 1-1 at the Grand Prix of Thailand.

Febvre and Gajser would split moto wins at the third round and then Gajser would win three Grand Prix's on the trot, going 3-1-2-1-4-1 in Mexico, Argentina and Latvia. Cairoli would fight back with a GP win in Germany, going 1-1, but Gajser answered back with another two in Spain and Great Britain with Febvre winning France with 2-1, while Gajser went 1-2. The writing was on the wall, the former King of MXGP was struggling.

When the series arrived in Mantova Gajser and Febvre seemed to have complete control over the Italian legend, but we all know now not to write Cairoli off, and the battle that commenced in the Italian sand was as epic as anything we have seen (well, maybe not as great as the Gajser vs Cairoli battle in Trentino).

Below watch the legend battle the rookie, as they set the Mantova circuit alive and gave Paul Malin enough action to talk forever. 

Cairoli didn't end up beating Gajser in the 2016 title race, but it is history that he came back in 2017 and won his ninth championship and now, as we are set to return to the sand of Mantova, the 35 year old holds the red plate once again nd has his 91st GP victory in the pocket. He also has momentum on his side and confidence. What can we expect in 2020 as we enter round nine of the MXGP championship?

Ray Archer image

MIC Says Off Road And Dual Sport Motorcycle Sales Are Soaring

There’s good news in some segments of the US moto industry.  According to the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC), off-road and dual-sport motos are flying off the shelf.  That’s welcome news for motorcycling in the USA overall.

The MIC says that off-highway motorcycle sales jumped 50.3 percent in the first half of the year compared to 2019.  There is also good news in the dual-sport motorcycle category with sales rising a very substantial 20.9 percent versus 2019’s sales for the same period.

The off-highway motorcycle category includes dirt bikes, trail bikes, competition motorcycles, and other motorized two-wheelers that cannot be used on public roads.  Dual-purpose motorcycles are classified by the MIC as street-legal machines that are also designed to be used on off-road trails.

MIC President and CEO Erik Pritchard

Erik Pritchard, President, and CEO of the MIC believes that the sales increase can be attributed in part by the COVID pandemic.

 “Riding dirt and trail bikes has always been one of the best ways to spend time with family and friends.  Now, with the pandemic, it has amplified what’s positive about getting out on motorcycles.  You can get out of the house, have fun with your loved ones, and still maintain social distancing.”

But the story is not completely rosy for the US’s moto sales.  “On-highway” motorcycle’s sales dipped 9.6 percent.  Slightly offsetting that loss are scooter sales which saw their sales climb 4 percent compared to last year.

“There are many benefits to motorcycles and scooters. In normal times, studies have shown that they help alleviate congestion.  During this pandemic, being on a motorcycle means being able to avoid crowds and lessening the chance of spreading and picking up germs.  And many riders say it adds fun to a normally mundane commute. Our Commuter Distancing social media posts are a reminder of these benefits.”

Helping people wanting to commute on powered two-wheelers is the MIC’s FindYourRide.org website.  It provides information on how to get rider training and where they can find an appropriate bike.

Pritchard once again chimes in saying:

“It’s just a first step, and many in the powersports industry are waiting to help riders-to-be explore their options.  Sales from the first half of the year indicate growing interest in powersports products and we’re excited to help them on their journey.”

It’s great to see moto sales on the rise for many of its moto categories.   Let’s hope that on-highway bike sales are on the increase soon.  And, congrats to the MIC for providing the resources to help new riders into the moto community.

Rippin Thru Idaho Corn Feild

2020 Idaho NGPC: Robby Bell Sings the 2021 KX250 in the Vet AA Class. This looks like lots of fun on a great day in Idaho.