Webb Learning New Bike

New YZ450F signing 'a little bit bummed' with Charlotte result.

Image: Octopi Media.

It was a steep learning curve for Cooper Webb in Charlotte upon return to Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing, adapting to the latest YZ450F and new surrounds, as well as the unique hybrid track layout on his way to eighth overall.

After spending more than four years at Red Bull KTM, Webb split with the brand and his reunion with Star Racing was made official just hours out from the opening SuperMotocross World Championship playoff.

High levels of anticipation surrounded his return to the team where he won a pair 250SX West titles, plus a 250MX crown, and after not lining up since the High Point National in June, he qualified sixth fastest ahead of the motos at ZMax Dragway.

Webb was 10th after the first lap in moto one, able to gain two positions by race’s end, before another tough start left him with work to do and he was then able to go one better than he did in the first moto for P7.

“The race day was up and down for me,” explained Webb. “Practice was decent – I was second and then sixth overall, which was good. The first moto, I definitely didn’t ride very well. I got a bad start, and the track was really tricky to pass on today. You kind of got stuck in a pace and I feel like that’s what I did.

“In the second one, once again, I got a really bad start, which didn’t help, but I felt like I rode a bit better. I’m a little bummed with the overall result, but at least I know what we need to work on and I think we made a good game plan on what that needs to be. We’ll work hard this week at the Star Racing facility and come back next weekend swinging.”

The points system for the SMX post-season works in the favor of riders like Webb who didn’t score as they would have liked in playoff one. Double points are on offer next time out in Chicago, before a potential 75 points are up for grabs as the post-season concludes at LA Coliseum.

We really got thrown a bit of a curveball' – Barcia

Greater potential than Charlotte explains GasGas 450SMX rider.

Image: Octopi Media.

Unable to strike a balance between Monster Energy Supercross and Pro Motocross Championship settings, Justin Barcia admitted that ‘we really got thrown a bit of a curveball’ at the opening playoff of the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX).

After qualifying 10th fastest in Charlotte, Barcia stormed to the early lead in moto one before being relegated as the race progressed, ultimately taking the checkered flag in P6.

In the final outing at ZMax Dragway, Barcia started sixth at went on to complete the moto in eighth, landing seventh overall for the event. While there were some mixed opinions about the opening ‘hybrid’ layout, Barcia is clear that he and the Troy Lee Designs Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing team did struggle to find an ideal set-up on debut.

“We really got thrown a bit of a curveball,” he recalled. “Everyone has to deal with the same conditions on the track, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to find a happy medium between supercross and motocross with our settings, so we kind of fought it all day.

“We should have been near the podium, with how I felt body-wise, but I struggled with some arm-pump today. We’re going to go home, regroup, try some stuff out, and come out swinging next week in Chicago.”

While layout presented in Charlotte was a split of sorts between supercross and motocross elements, this week’s event in Chicagoland looks to be weighted more toward motocross, while the finals at the LA Coliseum appear to represent more of a supercross format.

Ahead of the two remaining post-season events, Barcia is eighth in the 450SMX standings and 23 points from red plate holder Chase Sexton (Team Honda HRC).

FIM WSX CHAMPIONSHIP CANCELS THREE MORE RACES

2023 FIM WSX CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE UPDATE

Press release, September 11, 2023: SX Global, the promoters of the FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX), today announced revisions to their 2023 calendar. The 2023 WSX Singaporean, German and Canadian Grand Prix will not proceed as planned this year; however, the 2023 WSX Abu Dhabi & Australian Grand Prix will still run as scheduled, ensuring an exciting world championship battle of world class supercross racing remains for 2023.

SX Global’s CEO, Adam Bailey, noted WSX’s continued commitment to hosting exceptional events as being at the core of the decision, with the calendar revisions being made for the long-term benefit of the championship.

“Singapore, Germany, and Canada remain crucial growth markets for WSX, and we intend to return to each of those markets very soon. 2023 was to be WSX’s first foray into these markets and we want to make sure we do each of these crucial markets absolute justice,” said Bailey.

He continued: “We want to do everything to the highest standard, and to ensure that every WSX experience is a fantastic and memorable one. In keeping with this mantra, the new ownership group decided these calendar revisions were required at this time. The recency of the ownership change has created logistical challenges that are difficult to overcome in a matter of weeks. Therefore, we’ll instead refocus to make sure the 2023 Abu Dhabi and Melbourne WSX events are executed to the best possible level, and to continue the important progress of building the championship for 2024 and beyond. The 2023 WSX Abu Dhabi & Australian Grands Prix remain on-sale and the demand has been very strong. It is all systems go for both events and they are shaping up to be our best events yet, with plenty of compelling and exciting racing still to come before our 2023 FIM World Supercross Champions are crowned.”

WORLD VETS MX MOTOCROSS 2 STROKE VMXDN

De Coster and Everts interview...Great History

While attending the Monster Energy United States Grand Prix back a dozen or so years ago, I got to organize an interview with two of the true greats of the sport Roger De Coster and Stefan Everts.

Between them 15 World Motocross Championships and 137 Grand Prix victories, not to mention at the time both are playing leading roles in management of the World effort of the Red Bull KTM Factory team. I would like to take you back to that special day for me.

De Coster and Everts

Just meters to my right was possibly the most charismatic World Motocross Champion of all time Roger De Coster. He was going over some important information with some of the KTM mechanics. A little further away the greatest Grand Prix rider of all time Stefan Everts was talking to his riders, preparing them for the USGP.

Since I was a boy, I had wanted to interview De Coster and while I have done the odd short interview with “The Man” I had never really done anything that would ask him about his career, nothing really in-depth. For whatever reason I always found him to be a little unapproachable and I didn’t want to waste his time with silly little interviews.

On the other hand, Stefan Everts I have known for around 20 years, and while at first, we didn’t have much contact at the peak of his career I penned Stefan Everts columns for magazines and actually became good friends with the GOAT of Grand Prix Motocross.

Now was my chance to sit down with both and ask them questions about each other, their greatest moments and the circuit that inspired them both to unbeatable success.

For the rest of this very interesting interview go to www.mxlarge.com

Hunter Matches Jett... Wins Title

The reigning 250SX East champion in Monster Energy Supercross added to his success in 2023 as Hunter Lawrence captured the first Pro Motocross Championship 250MX title of his career at the season-ending Ironman National.

The day’s first moto had an immediate championship impact as a second-turn pile-up affected both Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) and Justin Cooper (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) — the top two in the points standings.

Cooper fell in one of a few small crashes in the corner that led to a large stack-up that held up Lawrence.

Both riders recovered and began charging through the field while Tom Vialle (Red Bull KTM) ran in the top three early surrounded by the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki trio of Ryder DiFrancesco, Seth Hammaker, and Jo Shimoda.

DiFrancesco broke away to an early lead, but Vialle soon cut into it and made the pass for the lead with just over 21 minutes plus two laps still to go. Shimoda began to pounce on his teammate DiFrancesco as well and swiped second on the same lap while Haiden Deegan (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) caught this trio from fourth.

Shimoda was soon on the rear wheel of Vialle and challenging for the lead, which he successfully passed into with 15 minutes to go. Deegan soon made a pass of his own, relegating Vialle to third and finalizing this moto’s podium positions.

Shimoda beat Deegan to the checkered flag by 7.696s, with Vialle ending up a further 10.322s back. A mistake for Hammaker just a few turns from the checkers dropped the Pro Circuit rider from fourth to sixth behind Austin Forkner (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) and Lawrence, whose run from the back of the pack culminated in a fifth-place result — more than enough to clinch his first 250MX title one moto early.

Levi Kitchen (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing), Vohland, DiFrancesco, and Talon Hawkins (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) rounded out the top 10, with Cooper climbing to 13th but falling short of delaying Lawrence’s finalization of the title to the second moto.

The one-two Pro Circuit punch of DiFrancesco and Shimoda ran up front from the get-go in the second moto for the 250MX division, with Kitchen, Julien Beaumer (Red Bull KTM), and Jalek Swoll (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) pursuing from just behind.

Shimoda applied heavy pressure to DiFrancesco and passed for the lead 10 minutes into the moto.

The Star Yamaha duo of Kitchen and Cooper soon worked passed DiFrancesco to take over the two other podium positions, which may have set the top three spots in stone if not for a crash for Kitchen that marked the end of his day. Instead, Deegan moved into the third position, ultimately finishing the race about half a minute behind Cooper who took the final checkered flag of the Pro Motocross season 2.177s after Shimoda.

With his 1-1 result on the day, Shimoda took the overall victory in Indiana in commanding fashion.

A heavy crash for Forkner, like with Kitchen, didn’t seem to injure the rider who was battling near the front but left him in serious pain and receiving attention from the Alpinestars medical team, and also had the effect of altering the running order near the front of the field. Vialle finished fourth, ahead of DiFrancesco, Daxton Bennick (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing), Vohland, newly crowned champion Lawrence, and Pierce Brown (TLD Red Bull GasGas).

Deegan’s 2-3 moto scores were strong enough for second overall, with Vialle joining Shimoda and Deegan on the overall on the strength of his 3-4 results. Title rivals entering the day Cooper and Lawrence ended up fourth and fifth overall.

With the 2023 Supercross the Pro Motocross schedules complete, the sport heads next to Concord, North Carolina to kick off the first-ever trio of SuperMotocross World Championship playoff rounds on September 9.

Jett does It!

Australian rookie goes 22-0 in first 450MX season.

Having spent the summer answering the question of where he would stack up in the premier 450MX class during the 2023 Pro Motocross Championship season, Jett Lawrence won his 21st and 22nd motos in succession at the Ironman National to complete a historic perfect rookie campaign at the highest level of competition in America.

The penultimate 450MX moto of the 2023 season kicked off with a stellar launch from Lawrence, with the rookie and recently crowned champion assuming control of the race with Aaron Plessinger (Red Bull KTM), Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy Kawasaki), Jason Anderson (Monster Energy Kawasaki), and Dylan Ferrandis (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) in tow.

Sexton started directly beside Lawrence but didn’t time the gate nearly as well, but almost immediately moved into second position in pursuit of his undefeated teammate.

Sexton limited Lawrence’s lead to about a single second but eventually lost touch with the leader, who went on to lead all 19 laps without trouble and closed out a 5.883s victory over Sexton for his 21st consecutive moto win.

Ferrandis took the checkers third, about 40s in arrears of the Honda duo out front. Anderson finished fourth with Plessinger, who challenged Lawrence for the lead early on, ending up fifth.

Cianciarulo, Garrett Marchbanks (Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha), Dylan Wright, Harri Kullas (BBL Racing Yamaha), and Jess Pettis rounded out the top 10. Seeking SuperMotocross World Championship points, Shane McElrath (Rick Ware Racing Mobil 1 Yamaha), Josh Hill (Monster Energy Mountain Motorsports), and Colt Nichols (Madd Parts Kawasaki) finished 25th, 31st, and 37th.

With 21 motos won and just one to go for Lawrence to close out a perfect season in his rookie 450MX campaign, the feat was almost in jeopardy right from the start as a few riders near Lawrence on the starting line flinched before the gate drop.

Lawrence stopped his Honda CRF450R before it was too late and still timed the gate well enough to exit the first turn near the front. With Sexton and Ferrandis joining Lawrence at the head of the field, Ferrandis crashed heavily just a few corners in, ending his race early.

The chase was on for Sexton in his final chance to best Lawrence in a moto in 2023. Lawrence never broke away to an insurmountable lead, but Sexton never seriously challenged Lawrence. By a margin of 1.736s over Sexton, Lawrence secured the perfect 22-0 season with a commanding victory in the last Pro Motocross race of the year.

Plessinger joined Lawrence and Sexton on both the moto two and overall podium with 5-3 moto scores on the day. Anderson secured fourth overall with 4-4 results, while Cianciarulo turned 6-6 finishes into fifth overall. Justin Barcia (TLD Red Bull GasGas) was fifth in moto two but ends up mired in the seventh overall position due to his 11th-place finish in the first moto.

After Cianciarulo in sixth, Phil Nicoletti (Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha), Marchbanks, Wright, and Fredrik Noren (Twisted Tea HEP Suzuki) completed the top 10.

The premier 450MX category next faces the trio of SuperMotocross World Championship playoff rounds, kicking off with the sport’s first ever post-season round September 9 at zMAX Dragway in Concord, North Carolina.

RED BULL “TENNESSEE KNOCKOUT”

USA MXdN Team?

World Supercross Trouble?

The 2023 FIM World Supercross season has already seen its fair share of difficulties and things seem to be trending to a more difficult path.

After one round already being canceled in 2023, there's a potential for two to three further rounds joining that list. Current rumors and sources point toward rounds two and three (Singapore and Germany) being axed with round four in Canada being shaky at best. On top of this, the strongest rumors also point to the series funding and capital partner pulling out. Leaving the SX Global group scrambling to find funds to continue on.