This Is Gonna Hurt!

In the second 450SX main event at the 2020 Arlington SX main event, Red Bull / KTM’s Cooper Webb got out of sorts off the top of the dragon’s back and was taken for a very scary ride and dropped onto the concrete like a ton of bricks. It was the same exact section and crash that Adam Cianciarulo had earlier that broke his collar bone and took the #9 out of commission.

After being looked at by the medics, Cooper was helped onto the medics mule and taken to the pits. The KTM team has since confirmed that Cooper was taken to the local area hospital. We will update you on the defending champs’ condition as soon as we get more information from the KTM team.

Updates: Blake Baggett

Blake Baggett confirms Texas status

Those watching the seventh round of 2020 Monster Energy Supercross were confused that Blake Baggett did not take part in the premier-class main, despite the fact that he qualified out of the heat race. A crash in that heat caused a nasty case of whiplash that led him to withdraw from the event prematurely. Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM just confirmed that he will be ready to race in Arlington, Texas, this weekend though.

Press Release

We here at Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM WPS are very pleased to let everyone know that team rider Blake Baggett will 100% be lining up for this upcoming weekend's race in Dallas. This news comes just a few days after Baggett and his team made a last-minute decision to pull out from the Tampa main event based upon the rider's health after very harsh crash on lap one of the heat race.

Upon crashing with another rider on lap one, Baggett himself was hit hard by the bike of a third rider resulting in a severe case of whiplash. He would remount and put on an absolutely amazing comeback ride, earning a transfer spot and closing within less than two seconds of the sixth place of [Jason] Anderson.

 

 

Unfortunately upon returning to the team hauler after the race, Baggett's neck and upper back muscles began to spasm and lock up from the whiplash.  Within a twenty-minute period, and roughly fifteen minutes until the 450 main event gate drop, the muscle spasms and pain had rapidly escalated to a point where Blake could not even hold his head up. After trying everything within the team and Blake's power, the team made a final decision that it would be both impossible for him to complete the race and not worth the risk of furthering injury. While at the same time not knowing the extent of what could have also been an already potential injury.

Baggett would return home to see his doctor yesterday, and we are relieved to say that there was not any bone, ligament or tendon damage, nor any injury of that matter past a severe case of whiplash and muscle sprains. As of today, the team and Blake plan to take the week very lightly in order to be ready to battle for the podium at this weekend's Dallas SX.

HRC - The History

Team HRC is the factory Honda outfit in the FIM Motocross World Championship, known as MXGP. After more than 20 years away from the sport, the HRC name reappeared alongside the Martin Honda squad in 2014 with an ambitious plan – to win the MXGP World Championship in three years.

They didn’t do it. Rather, they didn’t just do it. It took just two years to win the MX2 World Championship with Tim Gajser in 2015, and the young Slovenian stepped immediately into the MXGP class in 2016 and enjoyed the most dominant performance of his career to take back-to-back world titles with HRC. Mission completed.

 

Three years later, Gajser would put in an even more impressive season as he wrapped up his second MXGP world championship three rounds early in emotional scenes at the Imola race track. During the season he won a record-breaking seven rounds in a row and ended up with a 202 point gap over second place. If he wasn’t already, Gajser was writing himself into Honda’s history books.

The Martin Honda team was the precursor to Team HRC, and was originally formed in the 1980’s by Paolo Martin and his brother. In 2011 the squad was renamed the Honda World Motocross team, a reflection of the Japanese marque’s increasing presence in the sport, with their focus on the 450cc larger-capacity class, but always retaining a role developing the 250cc machines.

The Gariboldi Racing team joined the Honda stable in 2014 with a young hopeful (with many European titles already to his name) called Tim Gajser. After a learning year in 2014, Gajser’s first full season in MX2, 2015 was a breakthrough season for both Tim and the team with their first MX2 World Championship title, and the first for Honda since 2000. The Slovenian’s rise was then meteoric as he lined-up behind the gate on the CRF450RW for the 2016 season and had a blistering run to become the first back-to-back World Champion of the MXGP and MX2 era.

These titles evoke memories of HRC’s golden era, when Honda sealed a raft of 125, 250 and 500 MX world titles in a period of domination that started with Graham Noyce’s 500cc title in 1979 and was continued into the 1980s with the likes of Andre Malherbe, Dave Thorpe, Eric Geboers, Georges Jobe and Jean-Michel Bayle to name a few.

Indeed, 12 500cc World Titles were delivered on Honda machinery between 1979 and 1992, including nine in a row from 1984 and podium clean-sweeps in 1985, 1986 and 1989, and a further five titles in the 250cc and 125cc classes in the same period.

Towards the end of the 2016 season, Evgeny Bobryshev and then also Tim Gajser became the first to campaign the all-new 2017 CRF450RW, totally redesigned by Honda based upon the very dominance in MXGP that marked the CRF as the weapon of choice when the going gets rough. In 2018, Calvin Vlaanderen will become the first rider to campaign the all-new works CRF250RW in the highly-competitive MX2 category.

In the 2018 season, the Honda Gariboldi Racing squad, with whom Honda won both the 2015 MX2 and 2016 MXGP World Championship titles, ran both the CRF450RW and CRF250RW entries for Team HRC with Tim Gajser and Brian Bogers running in the MXGP class while Calvin Vlaanderen joined the team to race in the 250cc MX2 class. After injuries meant that Todd Waters replaced Brian Bogers for a large portion of the season, the original 2018 trio returns again in 2019 to challenge for both world championship titles.

A year later and HRC would return to the winners circle, with Gajser wrapping up his third world championship title in dominant fashion as he took the championship three and half rounds early. The Slovenian rider would win seven rounds in a row in the middle stages of the season and moved up to 24 GP overalls, joint-second in the Honda wins list with legend Stefan Everts. He would also win the ‘hardest race in the world’ at the treacherous Lommel facility, further showing just how much he had improved his riding and also how well he had gelled with the Honda CRF450RW. It was a record-breaking season and one that takes him into 2020 full of confidence.

Dave Thorpe interview - The Brits

 

Leading into the opening round of the 2020 FIM Motocross World Championship, which will be played out at the magnificent Matterley Basin circuit in the south of England on February 29 and March 1, we decided to give the greatest British rider of all time, Dave Thorpe a call.

Now we have interviewed Mr. Thorpe a number of times, talking about his career, but this time, we decided to ask him about the other leading British riders he either watched, raced, or on some occasions managed in his team.

Thorpe obviously also runs his own team in the British Motocross Championship, the BuildBase Honda team. We also asked him how things are leading into the new season, for the team.

MXlarge: Firstly, I wanted to ask how the dynamics of the team are, because you have a really nice team for 2020 with Jake Nicolls and Tommy Searle. How are they doing together, two strong characters?

Thorpe: Well, we have three also with Steven (Clarke) as well, and we have had a good winter to be honest. We were in Spain before Hawkstone Park and we are off to Spain again now. The guys have been good, and the bikes have been amazing. We have had a good winter for riding and testing and slowly getting ready for the season. Hawkstone was a bit early, because the first round of the British is a long way off.

MXlarge: Do Jakes and Tommy practice together and can you tell who is faster at the moment?

Thorpe: It is funny really, because there is a little thing on social media between the two. Jake has this amazing facility at his house and Tommy would drop a note if he saw Jake riding there with other people and jokingly ask for an invite. The other day we had a practice bike at Jakes and Tommy’s mechanic picked it up and Tommy wrote we had to wait an hour (to pick the bike up), surely is worth an invite now. We had that little bit of banter and it is brilliant. The answer to your question about who is quicker, when we were in Spain, and I am not sure if they do it consciously or not, they don’t really ride too much track time together. Normally one is in and one is out, and I was there back in the day (during his career) and do you really want to put yourself up against somebody when you are focusing on the testing and the engine? You want to focus on what you are doing rather than lap times; it is all part of the sport really.

MXlarge: If you look at it, Tommy has the better credentials, but Jake is a bit of a bulldog isn’t he and doesn’t want to give the better credentialed guy the upper hand.

Thorpe: Yes, but we see them as equals, they get the same testing time, the same time from everybody. At the end of the day, they will be judged on their end of season results.

MXlarge: Obviously every year this time I do an interview and ask you stuff about your career. I thought maybe this time we do something different and ask you about British riders that might have had an influence on your career, or guys who you have worked with, or the current crop of GP riders. So, my first question is, did you see the first British World champion Jeff Smith race (two-time World motocross champion)?

Thorpe: No, I did see him race and I was young. More my memory is Vic Eastwood, Vic Allen, John Banks, Andy Robertson and Stuart Nunn. When I was a little lad, my dad used to take me to the race and get there early to get in for free, and he would just say, I see you back at the car at four o’clock. I was 8 years old and you wouldn’t do that now.

MXlarge: Tell me, because I was talking to somebody the other day about it. If I see Jeff Leisk, or any of the leading Australian riders from when I was younger, I am really nervous to approach them, because they were my heroes, but I can easily talk to you, or Stefan (Everts) or any of the great champions. Now you are one of the all-time greats, but do you get nervous talking to some of the older British riders, from when you were a kid?

Thorpe: No, because I was really lucky as a kid, because my Dad worked in a big motorcycle shop, that sold Bultaco’s. My Dad used to take me to the shop, and I would sit in the corner and watch everything going on, so I was always around those guys, and they have always been helpful and kind.

MXlarge: Who was your first favourite British rider?

Thorpe: It would have to be Graham (Noyce), without and shadow of a doubt. As a youngster growing up, when Graham won his World title in 1979 for Honda, it was a massive thing.

MXLarge: How old were you then, like 15?

Thorpe: In 1979 I was 16 or 17.

MXLarge: Tell me about him, I remember him in his Honda gear and how cool he looked. I remember you once told me that Graham also taught you things no to do, because he did have that party boy character, but that wasn’t all he taught you was it?

Thorpe: You say that, but Graham had an amazing work ethic, and while he liked to have a lot of fun and a bit of a party, he worked hard, and he raced hard, and right until the end. You could never fault his determination. When he broke his leg, shortly after he won his World championship, that was really unfortunate. When you look back on your career and I am sure he does, there was a championship that got away then.

MXlarge: I remember being a kid at the races and seeing Roger De Coster on the podium at a big race in Australia. He looked so cool and he had the podiums girls around him all looking flirtingly at him. Can you remember moments like that with Noyce, because he was also a pretty good-looking man and knew how to get the girls attentions?

Thorpe: Oh, absolutely. One of the big races I used to attend as a kid was the Hans Grand International, held on Good Friday. You used to have Graham, Roger, Sylvain Geboers, Joel Robert and the riders they had them was amazing. I used to look at them and they just had something, that extra little bit everywhere. It was an early season race and I always used to think they are probably not pushing, but it was just amazing a little kid growing up.

MXlarge: Kurt Nicol was, I think the guy who without doubt should have won a World championship and never did. What is your memory of Kurt?

Thorpe: Oh, Kurt, in the beginning, when we were all on Hondas, that was the bike to be on and it helped all the Honda riders, we had a big advantage. The World championship that got away from Kurt was when he broke his leg in Holland. He would have had a title there and people forget he was remarkable in the 250 class. His work ethic was second to none and what he finally understood what was needed in physical training, then he really dialled himself in.

MXlarge: Obviously you won championships and Kurt didn’t, was there any sort of animosity or fighting on the track between you two?

Thorpe: No, I would imagine Kurt was one of these guys, I mean, I remember seeing a picture of Kurt with a punching bag and my face was on it. He had that mentality, but for me, I am an aggressive person, but I didn’t need to do that type of thing, because it was all in my head. We had some skirmishes and some words when we were younger, but as we grew up racing against each other, it was always pretty good really.

MXLarge: What you see in sportsmen, when they retire, the level of respect for their rivals is usually massive.

Thorpe: Yes, and I like that. When Eric (Geboers) and George (Jobe) were alive we had a great relationship and that is the key for me. You race hard all your life and then you can be friends and laugh and joke.

MXLarge: After Kurt there was Maler and what about Maler, because I saw him racing at Vimmerby in 1990 at the Motocross des Nations and I remember thinking, wow, this guy is good. He seemed to have the talent without question?

Thorpe: I mean, at that time, you had James Dobb and Paul Malin in the British scene and they were super competitive, and James went on to win a World title and Paul went on and almost won a World title. I guess, anybody who runs top four or five in the World championship is very good and anyone who wins a World championship has that extra bit. When James was focused, he won a World championship and that will never be taken away from him.

MXLarge: It is funny with James, because I followed the 125cc championship when you had the Honda team, and he rode for you. What I remember from James was he made excuses when things didn’t go right and sometimes seemed not that fit. Like you said that year he won the championship, even the year before against Langston and Brown, he was so fast, and the following year in the early going in the 250 class, he was really focused and on it. What is your opinion of James back then?

Thorpe: You know, if you look at a lot of peoples history, taking away people like Stefan, or Pichon, who did it week in and week out and there were other people who had signs of brilliance, and with James when everything was good, it went really good and when it went bad, it went really bad. When he was really on it, he was amazing.

MXlarge: Was James difficult to deal with when it went wrong?

Thorpe: No, James rode for me and he would be the first to admit his physical condition wasn’t that great, but when he went to KTM, he really started to understand the benefits of being in good shape.  With Maler, I don’t know for sure if he ever really had the raw speed. While James maybe had more of a package.

MXlarge: Since James won in 2001, Britain hasn’t had a World champion and you could only really put Tommy Searle in the list of guys who came close but didn’t get it. He had like 14 GP wins and battled Herlings in 2012.

Thorpe: I think the thing with Tommy, if you look at his career, he finished second in the World and then went to America. Had he stayed in Europe, would he have won a World championship, who knows. That was his window of opportunity. Riders make decisions for the reasons that suit them.

MXlarge: I guess Ben Watson is the guy who has a chance to win a World championship from the current crop of Grand Prix riders. There is a lot of older guys, but do you think Ben is the next guy with a chance?

Thorpe: Ben is definitely in with a chance. He is in a difficult class, and he is in a brilliant team, which is important, and he has the potential to do it. With the age restrictions it is difficult, with a lot of pressure when they get to around 22, but he has potential to do it, and he has the right team, and that makes a difference.

Toni Bou makes it five in a row in Bilbao

Repsol Honda Team rider Toni Bou has taken the victory at the fifth round of the FIM X-Trial World Championship in Bilbao making it his fifth win in a row for the season.

For the third Round in succession, rival Adam Raga (TRRS) took the X-Trial to a decisive Final Section.

Raga put in his best performances in the opening two Rounds, getting the better of Bou by four marks in the preliminary phase then three during the Heats. But the pendulum swung back to Bou in the Final, when Raga suffered the first fiasco of the lap and dropped four marks behind. Bou survived a scare in the penultimate Section, falling heavily with the bike following him to the ground, when Raga also failed the hazard.

A Look Back at the Hurricane

Hurricane Is the Duke on a Motorcycle

By JIM MURRAY - LA Times

You get a pretty good fix on Bob (Hurricane) Hannah, the motorcycle racer, when you know he has prints of every film John Wayne ever made, all 91 of them. He also has a standing offer of $10,000 or more to a charity of choice for the copper band the Duke wore on his left wrist over the years.

Hannah is to dirt bike racing what Wayne was to the sound stage Indians, a scourge, a legend, an implacable foe. Rambo on wheels.

He carries a magazine interview of Wayne around with him to remind himself constantly of what his idol would do in a given situation.

When he gets on a cycle, he's Wayne against Geronimo, the Japanese Imperial Marines, the commie pinkos sabotaging a war effort. He's a gung-ho attacker with total identity with his hero.

You get a clue into what his sport is all about when you know that he is almost the grand old man of motocross. At age 29.

When you ask him how he got his nickname, Hurricane, he can tell you right away: "Three broken wrists, six broken ribs, four broken ankles, one broken leg, one collarbone and one pelvis, twice. It was either that--or Crunch."

When you ask him what caused all those orthopedic calamities, Hannah answers: "Bravery."

Bravery, he contends, is a leading cause of broken bones in this country, ranking right along with holiday traffic and soap in the bathtub.

Fortunately, you can outgrow bravery. It's a young man's disease, like measles. It tends to diminish, like your hair or your hearing, as you get older. Hurricane figures he has it controlled to where he might merely be classified as a tropical disturbance on a race track today.

"When I was 19, I'd never crashed a lot of times, and my ankles, my wrists and my arms all felt brand new, right? Well, after you break 'em all about three times, you don't like to break 'em any more. Am I scared? Sure. Those big jumps, I respect now and I never did before. You go into a corner that's 20 feet wide with 40 bikes on it and I respect that a little bit too. And the more respect you get, the slower you go in.

"It gets old getting hurt, man. If you don't like sitting in a hospital, if you don't like being in a cast, if you don't like itching where you can't scratch, it gets old. I just like being in one piece. I like being able to walk on something besides two pieces of aluminum.

"My doctor drives a new Ferrari. But, I got even. I wore out two X-ray machines. I've had more pictures taken of my bones than my face."

Hannah the widely held notion that motocross racers have to be in the best shape of any athletes in all sport.

"All crap," he says in his best Green Beret tone of voice. "Prize fighters have to be in the best physical shape of any athletes. Marvin Hagler has to be in better shape than anybody who ever climbed on a motorcycle. Of course, the motorcycle doesn't try to thumb your eye out. At least, not on purpose."

He pooh-poohs the notion that any other motor racing calls for the stamina bike racing does, however.

"Indy car racing? It's like sitting in a lawn chair," he says scornfully. "It takes the physical resources of a 95-year-old. You get more tired in six minutes on a motorcycle than you do in two hours in a car.

"You take a car driver out there, you take Rick Mears or A. J. Foyt, put 'em in a motocross, they won't go six minutes. You won't see any 54-year-old riders in motocross.

You won't see many 34-year-olds."

The outspoken Hurricane has been likened to golf's Arnold Palmer, the man who lifted his sport out of the weeds of tank towns and put it on the Saturday afternoon sports anthologies.

He has won more Supercross races--stadium spectaculars built to duplicate the hazards of natural terrain--than any rider since Hitler's scouts reached the Channel. He has won the national title three times and has won 26 Supercross events, not to mention 35 other Motocross races.

He has been on a motorcycle since he learned to walk. His second pair of shoes had lead in the toe. He grew up in Lancaster, the high desert area of California, where his backyard was a perfect motocross course as far as the eye could see.

He has grown with the sport. "I signed with a manufacturer in 1976 for $1,000 a month and my total earnings that year were $51,000," he said. " I get more money than that now just to wear a brand name of boots for a year."

Now signed with Suzuki, for whom he will ride in the Coors Superbowl of Motocross Saturday night at the L.A. Coliseum, Hannah has made more money on two wheels than a casino. He not only owns and flies his own plane but keeps a condo in Sun Valley, Ida. But when you ask him what his permanent address is, he answers, "Holiday Inn."

When you ask him what the danger of Supercross racing is, he replies, "Landings. No one gets hurt in the air. If you land in a spot already occupied, or you land in a spot that shouldn't be occupied, there goes the old collarbone. Racing is easy. Landing is what makes you old. Pilot error."

On his chances in Saturday's Supercross, Hurricane scoffed. "Don't bet on me," he said.

Then, after reflecting a minute, he added: "On the other hand, don't bet on any of them other guys I have to beat, either."

Rooster Cogburn or the Ringo Kid couldn't have said it any better. Like his idol, the Duke, the Hurricane means to hold the fort.

Supercross debut of Hunter Lawrence remains up in the air

Competition Post: Alex Gobert

Australian still healing from shoulder surgery as 250SX East series arrives.

Highly-rated Geico Honda standout Hunter Lawrence is yet to determine if he will be fit to contest any rounds of 2020 Monster Energy Supercross, which will see the gates drop on 250SX East in Tampa this Saturday night.

Lawrence, 20, continues to recover from extensive shoulder injuries sustained in December and hasn’t yet been cleared to return to riding after undergoing surgery.

An incident while riding at the Honda test track in Southern California was the cause of Lawrence’s latest injury, which will likely delay his Supercross debut altogether for another season.

“What I did was, I tore my rotator cuff and labrum in my left shoulder,” Lawrence told MotoOnline.com. “I smashed the humerus in my shoulder as well, so I had surgery the day after Christmas and have been training every single day since then.

“We’ve invested a lot in physio and stuff away from the bike just to get back, try and make – if not round one – some of the rounds. We tried doing everything we could, but I had a doctor’s appointment and he said it’s looking great, but it’s a case of what if… They would love to see it have another three weeks just to heal.

“It’s really a three-month injury, but I’ve already been mountain-biking for the past three weeks and it feels solid, really good. I was ready to get back on the bike, but they don’t think the risk is worth it and the crew in my circle feels the same.”

Planning to get back on the bike outdoors and then assess his fitness next month will determine if Lawrence will be able to make any 250SX rounds before the end of the year. If there is only a limited amount of rounds remaining once he’s ready, instead expect a return to competition at Hangtown’s Lucas Oil Pro Motocross opener on 17 May.

“As of now we’re not 100 percent sure, because I’m not going to come back and race Supercross if I’m at 70 or 80 percent,” he explained. “It’d be great to get gate-drops, but at the same time I feel like I’m nothing less than a contender and a guy to go for a title at this point of my career. I don’t want to do anything less than that.

“My goal was originally Daytona, which wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do now that I haven’t been given the okay by doctors. There are too many variables with the unexpected when racing, so for sure, I’m bummed – I love Supercross with a passion and would love to be able to race it this year, but that’s not how it’s gone for me.”

If he isn’t able to make it back in time for the latter stages of the 250SX East series this season, Lawrence – who is now based in Florida – has indicated he will look to gain off-season experience amongst a series of international races prior to 2021.

HAWKSTONE PARK INTERNATIONAL HERLINGS WINS MUDFEST!

The first big international motocross of the season was the Hawkstone Park International (at least for those who don’t speak Italian), came with severe weather warnings and rain that lashed the track and turned it into a mudfest. As with all storms, be they hurricanes or drizzles, the weathermen named this one”Storm Ciara.” It hit Shropshire just as Jeffrey Herlings, Glenn Coldenhoff, Shaun Simpson, Thomas Covington, Evgeny Bobryshev, Adam Sterry, Tom Vialle, Jago Geerts and a host of top riders were getting ready to slug it out for victory in the 250 and 450 classes. MotoHead.com’s Adam Duckworth was there to capture all of the action and a really bad cold. It goes with the territory.

Yamaha YZ 250...How Do You Measure Greatness?

 Yes the tracks across the country are dominated by 4 strokes but you don't have to look far to spot YZ 250's. Go to a cross country race and they are everywhere. Used YZ 2 strokes may be the most popular play bike. Here is some history.

Eli Tomac - Moving Up

Monster Energy Kawasaki rider Eli Tomac might not have won last weekend in San Diego, but he did win the previous week, and moved a step closer to the top five in the all-time winners list with his 29th main event win. In taking that win, he moved past American legend Ricky Johnson, who has 28. 

While 29 wins is amazing, this era does give riders a much better chance to move up the top 50 as they hold 17 rounds, while back in the 1970s, and 1980s riders like Johnson, Bob Hannah, Jeff Ward and others had far less rounds, usually around 12. Back in 1993, when Jeremy McGrath came into his own, they held 16 rounds, so just one less than 2020.

Tomac could pass Ryan Dungey in fifth place, and close right up on Ryan Villopoto, Chad Reed and Ricky Carmichael. Amazing to think the fastest man in USA at the moment, doesn't yet have a supercross title, and is the only guy in the top 10 who doesn't have an AMA supercross championship in the premier class. 

Two guys just outside the top ten, Damon Bradshaw and Kevin Windham also failed to win the big one, but won plenty of main events.

The top ten AMA Supercross champions are: Jeremy McGrath 7 , Ricky Carmichael 5, Ryan Villopoto and Ryan Dungey 4, Jeff Stanton and Bob Hannah 3, Chad Reed, James Stewart, Ricky Johnson, and Jeff Ward 2.

I don't think too many people would be disappointed to see Tomac get that first title, and also move into the top five all time list. Without question, Tomac deserves at least one indoor title to go with his four motocross championships.

Like Tim Gajser in Grand Prix, a couple of great seasons can see a rider move from average in the all-time list, to a legend. Gajser of course has three World motocross championships and 24 GP victories.

AMA Supercross - Top 50 Winners

1. Jeremy McGrath (72) 
2. James Stewart (50)
3. Ricky Carmichael (48)
4. Chad Reed (44)
5. Ryan Villopoto (41)
6. Ryan Dungey (35)
7. Eli Tomac (29)
8. Rick Johnson (28)
9. Bob Hannah (27)
10. Jeff Ward (20)