Jason Thomas (0:00)

A pulp MX Network production. A cerebral and experienced look into the racing action from the week that was. This is Industry Seating with Jason Thomas. Presented by Pirelli Tires, GUTS Racing, Plum Creek Funding, Pro Glow Wash Works, Connection, Bass Foundry, TL Speed Shop Concept Co Design Company, Grandstone Boots and Fly Racing. Welcome to the Industry Seating podcast. My name is Jason Thomas and it is Sunday. I'm finally getting a show out on a Sunday, even a Sunday morning. And what a race we saw at Spring Creek. Pretty incredible day, although, man, wild weather. We had tornado warnings, we had rain, thunder and lightning and lightning delay and all sorts of crazy stuff that went on. So we'll certainly talk about all the things that we came across in the lovely state of Minnesota. But before we do, let's thank the sponsors of this podcast. Pirelli Tires, Guts Racing, Plum Creek Funding concept Coatings Design Co. Works Connection, Pro Glow Wash, TL Speed Shop, Grantstone Boots and Fly Racing. And I'll get into those a little bit more in depth later on. But what happened at Spring Creek? And listen, I've had to learn kind of how to say these things. Like, I mean, everybody refers to this race as Millville, okay? I say Spring Creek because that's what the, the event is called. And I'm trying to be a professional on television and get the things right. And, and you know, like, it's been a learning experience for me, like interviewing people, getting their job titles correct, which are, man, there are a lot. And, and to be completely fair and transparent, you know, when I, I work for Fly Racing during the week, that's my, my main job, right? My job title is senior manager of media and communications. Okay? Like, that's, that's a mouthful too. So I get it. But when I interview these FELD representatives and, you know, it's senior director or of operations or Supercross or vice president of field operation, like, there's just so much going on that I, it's been a learning experience to me to nail those every time. And I don't know that anybody ever could just know him from memory. But yeah, that's just a little personal journey that I've been on to get those things right. And that, you know, that's why I'm trying to say, like, Spring Creek instead of Milk, like, get the correct nomenclature of these things and yeah, do it. Do it the right way. I don't, I don't think that's too much to ask, is to do it the right way. So that's neither here nor there. I'm sure probably nobody even Cares. But yeah, I like to give insight when I have it. The race itself, though, the TU50 class, man, it, it was, it was a wild affair. Like, the first Moto, I think was fantastic racing. And you think about like what this season has brought in the two bitty class and it's been nothing short of awesome. Like, it's just been amazing racing battles and Hayden Deegan charging from, you know, tip overs and bad starts and whatever and just really proving his worth and himself over and over and over and okay, yeah, there's the, there's the podium comments. Those are, those are really something. And he was there again this weekend and I'll get into that in a second. But the racing has been phenomenal. There's just no other way you could be watching these races and think otherwise. Like, we've had battles, we've had unpredictable results. We've had first ever winners. Had another first ever one one this weekend with Levi Kitchen. Like, it's just given you everything you could ever want. It has been the full package, like everything, all of it. So I'm very thankful to have such a great season of 250 racing. But that second Moto this weekend, holy crap. I mean, everybody, people are all over the place. That first turn crash was breathtaking in a bad way. It was such a strange crash too. You know, Deegan and Jaime kind of got together and, and I'll just get into it now. Like, you know, Deegan makes these comments on the podium any. And I guess they doubled down on it on his social media, but man, like, Jaime didn't do anything there. If you, if you truly think, whether you are Hayden Deegan himself or you are a fan at home, if you truly think that Chance Hymas did anything intentional to Hayden Deegan in this scenario, you are so misguided. You're just flat out wrong. And I don't mean that. That doesn't mean you're a bad person. That doesn't mean anything about your iq. It doesn't mean anything. It just means in this particular scenario, me as an analyst, me being around the sport my entire life, me having done this at a very high level, and me taking my opinion very seriously, which is probably a bad idea, but I feel like an expert on the topic. If I know much about anything, it's certainly this. And Jaime likely didn't even know where Deegan was. Right? Like, he's trying to get to the first corner first. He's trying to get his handlebars ahead of everybody so he can determine his own Fate going through that first corner, I read a comment and Deegan, you know, saying like, he closed him out or whatever and then, you know, something with his foot. Like, I don't know if those things come from Deegan not seeing a replay yet and just making a comment off the cuff about what he assumed kind of happened or what he felt like happened in the moment. A lot of times when you don't have any context or any hind. The ability or the privilege of hindsight from looking at the review, kind of digesting what went down, maybe that's why he makes these comments, or maybe he's just trying to get a reaction. You know, that's certainly within the realm of possibility too, because I know there are people that are very much believe that theory that he's just trying to get, you know, kind of cause an emotional response from people which furthers his brand and it gets people to either love him or hate him type thing. With Deegan, I think for most people, but this one was tough for me. And, you know, I think there are people they're going to look at and say, well, you just, you're saying that because Jaime. Swords fly. No, I don't, I don't care. Right? Like, that is, that's business and cool. Like, I'm, I think Jaime is awesome, great family. But I also really like Brian Deegan, and I didn't really know Brian closely. I've known him a long time on a very artificial level or superficial level, but I actually like Brian. Like, he gives really good information. He's very insightful. When I talk to him, he seems like an incredible dad from everything I can put together. Like, you look at the dedication he has to his children's success. It's hard to possibly come up with an argument that he's not a great dad. So for me, I, I could care less who's beating who. I just don't think that this one, that Deegan got this one right. I think this one was a bad take. It was probably misplaced anger, especially if, you know, Jaime is dealing with an injury now. Like, I, I don't really get it. Like, there's not a lot of upside here. You probably just leave that one alone and say, yeah, we got tangled up in the first corner. Like, we were both going for it, which is absolutely what was happening. They were both going for it. You know, going into a muddy first corner, wide open, like, man, things happen, you know, like that's, that's, that's a part of racing, unfortunately. So I hated the comment I hated the take. I haven't even looked at comments to see but I can already probably predict what they are. There's going to be a lot of both sides and people kind of piling on which they're also wrong. And then I think there are probably going to be people pushing back. I know there are people quietly pushing back behind the scenes because they're all looking at it like really like you. That's what you think happened? You think Jaime intentionally did something here which is, yeah, as of if you haven't already picked up on, I think is is crazy talk. Like there's just no basis to that. But you know, after that, after all the drama in the first corner, like Deegan did what he does and the guy say what you want, you don't have to like him. The guy is a fierce and I mean fierce with all caps competitor. Like the guy doesn't have any quit, you know. And I was sad, sad. I was bummed that I didn't get to interview him on the podium because I really wanted to like I wanted to convey how I felt about that ride. And yeah, that, I mean Will Christian did a fantastic job. There's, there's no that, there's no downside of that. I was just more bummed. I didn't get to conduct the interview but I got to speak to kitchen, I got to speak to Casey Cochran which was awesome. But I was ready. I felt very prepared for that conversation with Hayden and yeah, just the way the points shook out. It wasn't, wasn't my detail to do it but the kid is, the kid is the real deal, you know, and I don't want to get carried away or ahead of ourselves with what this will look like when he gets on a 450, you know, like long term career projections. Like I, I don't care about any of that stuff right now. Like that will all take care of itself when it's time. And I think trying to game out what that looks like three years from now, five years from now is a fool's errand. Like you just, there's too many variables. Can you stay healthy? What team does he go to? Is the bike really good or not when he gets there? You know who's left in the class at that time are guys like Anderson and Tomac and Webb and Roxanne. Are all those guys retired? Because that'll certainly change, you know, what's possible and what's, what's happening in the moment. You know, our Sexton and Jet healthy. Like there's all that stuff, all that plays into the fate of Hayden Deegan, right? And that's, that's true for everybody. Like that's. That world is constantly spinning and you don't really know what the situation is going to be until you get there. So I don't, I don't necessarily love trying to think about that far out because yeah, you're just, you're throwing darts at a dartboard. Like there's just too many, too many things that can change and too many ways for you to be wildly wrong. And I'll give Steve Mathis credit here because he always talks. We talk about, you know, football. We both of us were much bigger, I think NFL fans like two or three years ago than we are now. We're still fans, we still watch all the games, we still play fantasy. We still talk about football, but not to the extent that we used to go back maybe even three or four or five years ago, like we were. I know for speaking from personal, my own insight, I was way into it, right? Like I would watch all the pre game shows. Like I would get up, I get up crazy early. I'm. I'm doing this podcast right now at 4:50 in the morning. Okay. So I get up early anyway. But I would get up at that time. I used to get up at like 6, 6:30. I would get up at 5 or 6 to start watching the east coast and listening to the east coast pre game stuff. That was wildly early because I was so into it. I don't have that level of dedication anymore. You know, I think my interests have shifted. I'm much more into financial markets and world news and I don't know, I like making money. I want to set myself up financially for the long term. So that has kind of, my interests have shifted that direction. Like that's kind of grabbed all of my available spare time versus where football was before. I still love football, don't get me wrong. Like I'm getting excited for spring games or not spring games, preseason games now as we speak and people are about to report to camp and all that stuff. Like I'm into it, but I don't know why I got so long winded there. But Steve always would say, you know, we'd be talking about this guy, these guys can win the championship and look at the draft, look at their free agency, like they can win it. And he would always pump the brakes on that, say, yeah, but like injuries are so prevalent and one or two key injuries on the offensive line, quarterback, any sort of like a Hands, player, any sort of, you know, the, all the talent on the outside, any of those guys get hurt, it's over. Right? They're not going to be able to overcome that. So trying to, trying to guess who's going to win the championship in July and August is crazy. Like, there's just way, way, way too much that's going to go on. I feel the same way about Deegan right now. Like, Deegan's gonna be awesome, no doubt. But knowing exactly what that's going to play out. Does he win zero titles? Does he win five titles? Does he win 15 titles? Like, yeah, forget it. I don't even, I'm not even going to entertain that conversation because there's too many things that can happen between now and then. To have any sort of intelligent guess is exactly that. It's just a guess. Like, anybody can have a guess. So if that's what you want to do and you just want to bench race about it, go for it. Like, no problem. That's cool. Like, people love bench racing, but I just don't think there's any way to, to really, really kind of pin it down. Yeah, it's kind of impossible. So, main point, love him or hate him, Deegan is the real deal. He just is. And he still has a. Whatever it is. 40. He actually extended his points lead with all the chaos in the second moto. 48. I think it is now, maybe less, maybe more. I don't know. It was moving wildly during that second Moto, as you, as you can imagine. But Levi Kitchen gets his first overall win now he's second in points. He goes 11 on the day. And I'm a big Levi Kitchen fan. I think he has a very underrated personality. He's a, he's a really nice person and I like the way he conducts his interviews, which is my main engagement with him is that time before the podium interview. Around the podium. He's just very down to earth. And I think that comes from his upbringing. Right. I think his parents did a really good job with him. And I think he also just wasn't in the spotlight his old, his whole youth. So he's not. He doesn't have this unrealistic kind of trying to think of the right phrasing here. I think he just looks at the world normally, like, as an average person that happened to just kind of blossom as a dirt bike rider now. He makes a lot of money doing it, but he wasn't in this bubble, this unrealistic racer bubble as a kid. His whole Life that can really change the framework and, and manipulate how riders see the real world and their own value. Right. I don't know. There's just a lot there that's probably content for a different podcast, but I don't see any of that in Kitchen. He's just a normal guy. Like, he literally is just a normal guy. Like, he likes to have fun, he likes to keep it really, like, casual. You know, he doesn't take himself too seriously. So, yeah, I was happy for him. You know, in the end, I don't necessarily care who wins and loses, but there are people that I'm more happy for than others because of who they are as people, and Kitchen certainly falls into that category where I was, I was genuinely happy to see him get a win, you know, because this pro motocross championship's been really challenging for him. Like, he has not done what I think he felt like he should be doing. You know, he hasn't performed to the expectation of he, and I'm sure Mitch Payton, and I'm sure everyone around him, because they saw this fantastic Supercross season and they all assumed that pro motocross would go exactly the same way. And I know, I did, too. And if you look at the way Fox Raceway went, why would we not, why would we not think it was going to be a title fight for he and Hayden Deegan and whoever else wanted to join the party? And, hey, maybe it can be, you know, if Deegan DNF'd a moto or two, it's not out of the question that we could have a championship fight between those two. Still, like, it's not impossible. It's unlikely. Sure. Unlikely is fair, but not impossible. So in any rate, you know, it just has been a tough slog up until now. He's had flashes of brilliance, but underwhelming as far as what expectations were. And you could argue, if you'd like, that maybe expectations were too high. All right, I, I don't think so. I, I, I don't believe that. I think his Supercross season was so incredible that the expectations were realistic. But, sure, like, that's not how it played out. So anybody who would have said that would be right, you know, so who am I to, who am I to say that? What, what was right and wrong? You know, we just look back and we react to what has transpired, and then we try to make realistic predictions of what's going to happen based on that. That's the whole game. But Casey Cochrane, third overall, that was an incredible ride. I mean, he led for what, I don't know, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, I'm not exactly sure, but great job from him. You know, you could see how excited he was. You can see what this means to him. You know, whether it was qualifying fastest at Hangtown, this ride where he gets. He didn't even know he was third overall until far into the podium proceedings. So, yeah, congrats to that kid. I don't know him very well, even though he, you know, he wears fly racing. You think I do, but I don't. You know, I'm kind of learning as we go here. But by all accounts, he seems like a really nice kid, really nice family, and, yeah, it makes it easy to cheer for people like that, and especially when you see what a result like that means to them, that. That goes a long way, right? Like, you can certainly empathize with their emotion, and it's hard to not have a smile on your face. Even if your. Your favorite rider didn't do very well, you can. You can still relate to the joy of others because this is their life's work. This is all they've ever done. And you could say, well, yeah, he's only 18. Okay, well, this is all he knows, right? And this is everything he's ever worked towards and all of his, you know, he probably didn't spend a ton of time studying in high school. He's not gonna go to college. He's, you know, so there's a lot of sacrifice here to make this work. And you're also. You're gambling on your future and your future prospects by going this route. Ask me how I know, right? Like, I know firsthand what that risk is, and you better figure it out, because you are mortgaging future education and what that part of your life can be, at least in the short term. It doesn't mean you can't go back to school or find another pathway. It just means that it's going to be. It's going to be challenged. You're going to have to really kind of dig in later in life, understanding that you don't. You don't have the education, you don't have the credentials, you don't have a diploma on your wall that, that these other professionals are going to have one day. So you better make some money in your youth and bet. You better make it worth it or at least make a name for yourself where you can, you know, create opportunities later in life based off of the success you're having now. And that's what he's doing. That's you know, he doesn't understand that yet. He's too young to have that perspective, and no one will until they kind of cross that bridge. But these are, you know, getting podium finishes and is, you know, people around the world hearing the name Casey Crockman are going to open doors for him later on, and maybe he goes on to make so much money that he doesn't even need it. You know, like Ryan Vilpoto doesn't and won't ever need a diploma or someone to open a door for him because he has so much freaking money that he doesn't care. Right? Like, he does these things now. You see him doing stuff for Yamaha. He does stuff, you know, like all these events he does now, he doesn't need to do that. He does it because he wants play money. He wants to, like, buy toys. Like, literally, he has an agreement where the money he makes off of all this stuff he's doing, these ambassador deals, he's allowed to do whatever he wants with. Or at least that's what it was in the beginning. Maybe it's. That's changed, but I think it's to keep him from getting bored. Right? Like, he's a very driven person, so I think just sitting around all day is not going to cut it. But he doesn't need the money. You know that. Like, there's that saying, you know, what's the point of having FU money if you never say F you? You know, like, I don't think Bill Poto is trying to say F you to anybody, but he has that type of money, like, tens of millions of dollars, right? Carmichael. I don't know about James Stewart. I think he's pretty well off, but I know he spent a lot of money also, but he made tons of money. But there's a. There are a handful of guys. Dungy is another one. They have lots and lots and lots of money. Like, they. They did it right. They won lots of championships, they saved a lot of money, they've invested a lot of money, and they don't need to work now. Like, Dungey showing up and working for ktm, that's because he wants to. Him coming back to race in 2022, it's because he wanted to. He doesn't need the money. And I'm speaking for them. Like, maybe they would push back and say, I do need money. I don't, you know, I need to make more money. And that's their own. Maybe their own insecurity with it. But from someone who doesn't have as much Money as they do and understanding finance and how money creates more money and how you can live off of investments. I, I'm pretty well versed in that world without being, you know, I haven't passed my Series 7 or anything. Like, I feel like as from a racer's perspective, I'm very informed on that subject. They're fine like they are. They may not feel fine, but I, I can promise you that if they worked with a financial planner or they spoke with someone who knows a lot about this, they would be very reassured very quickly if they're not already. So we'll see where the future lies. For kids like Cochran, it doesn't have to be him, but days like Saturday, really, it makes big, takes them to another place as far as what their future opportunities will be even if they don't make enough money to kind of walk away. So anyway, great job for all them. Jaimus. It's brutal, right? Like, I don't know what the diagnosis is. Apparently foot ankle. I thought it was knee, but looks like foot ankle. They're going to run more tests. X rays on site look to be negative, but that doesn't always mean anything. It can be soft tissue, it could be ligaments. There could be things in there going on that an X ray machine on site won't pick up. So they're going to have to go back and figure out what's wrong. Right. And you know, I'm sure he'll get, you know, I don't even know. I guess an MRI would still work on his foot, but they're certainly going to have to run a bunch of scans and figure out exactly what's happening with his foot or ankle before we jump into the, the 450 class. Let's, let's thank the sponsors again. Pirelli tires. Listen, if you watch mxgp and I'm about to head over to Belgium at the end of the month, they win a lot and for good reason. They have. Their motocross tires are out of this world. Good. And I use them for a very long time. I'm very familiar with them. They have a scoop tire, right? We've been talking about scoop tires all summer, the Dunlop version. Mostly because Dunlop has kind of the market cornered in, in America and mostly because of supercross. To be completely honest with you, their supercross tires are very difficult for anybody to, to contend with. So that's why all the American teams lean on Dunlops. But in Europe, when it's all motocross, guess what? Everybody goes to Pirelli's. And for A reason Pirelli's are amazing, amazing tires. So please check them out. If you're gonna buy some tires and you just ride motocross or off road, I would implore you to give Pirelli's a shot. GUTS Racing whether you want graphics seat covers, they sponsor teams like Twisted T, Suzuki Rockstar, Husqvarna. They make the best. They are, they are the name in aftermarket seats. End of story. They do such a great job. Custom graphics. If you want stuff for Surrons. They're very big in the E bike market now as well. We all know how big that that space is and just the total market for that, whether it's mountain bikes or the Surron type stuff is exploding and Guts is really, really involved in. Yeah. Bringing better products to that marketplace as well. So check out gutsracing.com@gutsracing on Instagram to see more about their, their products and their racing success as well. Concept coatings design company. My friend Benji who is in Australia at the moment but coming back soon, he has a business in Australia and also in Southern California. If you go on their Instagram, go to oncept coatings design company, you can see all of the great things that they're doing. That's a concept coatings design code. Yeah, that's a long one. I want to make sure I get that right. But they do Seracote, they do anodizing, they do all sorts of stuff trick tricked out parts. Guys like Destin Cantrell, they build custom bikes for all these guys. And their newest project is their, their race shop. Right. So say you're a privateer. Say you're just well off, right. And you want to get out of the cold in the winter and you need to get to Southern California so you can ride your dirt bike all winter long and beautiful Southern California winter weather. And if you've never got to experience what it's like down there in the winter, do it because you can just ride all day. It's so nice out. But they have the setup for it. They have a rented space race shop set up, right. So you can call Benji and say, hey, I want to come down. I want to have my own spot so I can work on my bike every day and I don't have to worry about a garage or stuff getting broken into or whatever. And I have a bay set up. I can wash my bike. You know, if you're a privateer guy, they need a base to race out of. That's to me that's the biggest benefit. But I could see other people Wanting to use this too for leisure. But they, they have it. Like if you're, if you've always wondered what it's like to be on a factory race team and have a race shop to go back to every day like Mitch Payton does, like factory Honda, like they go practice all day and then the mechanics go back to the race shop and they have this super Sano amazing race shop to work on the bike, clean the bike, replace parts and then they close it up for the day and they're ready to go again the next day. It's such a great setup that I was a couple times, okay, Husky, I had that subway. We had it for a brief period. It was in Illinois though, so it wasn't all that beneficial. But man, it is a really awesome thing to, to be around and, and now my post racing days I get to see this type of stuff and I'm always in amazement when I go over to Belgium. I'm gonna go see a bunch of race teams in their race shops, negotiate with some teams about 20, 25. But I'm always just like wide eyed at how awesome these setups are. So that's the opportunity that concept coatings design company is trying to bring to the everyday man, the privateer guy. So check those guys out for pricing and availability. Works connection. Listen, if you're wondering who guys like Hunter Lawrence, guys like Chance Imus, guys like Jet Lawrence, guys like Justin Cooper, guys like Haiti Deegan, what do they all use for their holeshot device Works connection, Pro launch start device is the answer. Now I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna try to tell you that the only reason they're getting holeshots is because of this pro launch start device like that. That seems a little bit not a lie, but it's unfair, right? Like we know how powerful these engines are and the ecus and all that like fair. But the bigger point is people like team or factory Honda, people like Monster Energy, Yamaha, Star Racing, the best teams, they pretty much get to pick whatever they want to use as far as components, right? Like if they didn't want to use that one, they could use another aftermarket company or they could make their own. But instead of that they choose to use the WORX connection. And that to me that speaks wilder than anything else I could say. Like that's more of confirmation and validation of the product than anything else I could try to come up with on my own. Like that. That's it. The proof is in the pudding right there. Like if there was ever an example of that saying, like, that's it. Like these guys that get all the hole shots and win all the titles and win all the championships and do all the good stuff, they choose to use that product for that very reason. So check out work connection.com@works connection. They have all these other great products too. They have, you know, different foot pegs, they have different hangers to change the geometry of motorcycles. I have all these cool items and when I say foot pegs, I mean like the, they move the foot peg around so you can change the. The ergonomics of how you ride the motorcycle. They have a lot of cool items that you wouldn't necessarily think about. So go on there and do some exploring. You're probably going to come across something that you haven't seen before. They have like engraved brake reservoir caps. I saw Chan Thimus is getting custom engraved on Instagram the other day. That was pretty awesome. But all these things that can make your bike better. Chain blocks. They have a chain gauge tool, right? If you've ever ridden, you've certainly adjusted your chain and put your fingers on the swing arm and then it touches the chain. Then you have black oil all over your hand, which sucks. You don't need to do any of that. Get their chain gauge tool and avoid all that crap that gets all over your hands. And it's such a inexact science anyway. Like, you know, like you're going to know what I'm talking about if you've written. But you put like two to three fingers in there and that's your adjustment tool. Three is typically too much slack and two is. You're like, you want to be kind of in between. So it's. Yeah, it's really strange how we use something that ineffective as our guide. But works connection is trying to change that or trying to add more precision to things like that. Because that doesn't always work. I can remember. Sorry, I'm getting a little long winded here on this subject too. But I remember Factory Kawasaki and like 09, it was a problem. They were having chain derailment issues. And if you didn't have the, the tightness. I'm trying to think of the right word. The adjustment. There we go. The adjustment. Exactly right. You could derail a chain pretty easily. So this really ineffective, inexact method of adjustment that I was doing, they would probably be like, you can't do that. Like you're gonna. You're gonna have a problem. So you needed something like this and they had really had to focus on getting that right. I don't remember what it was. It was something about what the way the swing arm was designed. If it wasn't exactly right, it would get. It was just more prone to derailment than most bikes have been. Something about that particular design. But all I'm saying is there are tools out there that you don't have to work on your motorcycle like a caveman. So maybe check that out. Pro Go Wash. Check out their wash. It's formulated for motorsports, right? I don't know why you would ever choose anything that wasn't custom built for the job at hand. Just like I mentioned, that works. Connection Tool, Pro Go Wash is the same thing. Use something that was built with your bike or side by side or street bike or whatever in mind. TL Speed Shop Listen, it's hot in Arizona so I'm not gonna tell you to hey, you should fly down to Phoenix and hop in a side by side when it's 115 degrees, it's gonna be the best time you've ever had. I'm not gonna do that. I like to have some sort of logic behind my commercials here. But it's a great time to plan that out. Think about November, December, holidays, January, February, corporate events, family vacations, boys trips. Like I'm planning boys trips with, with my friends right now. Literally right now. That's when you want to go down there. That's when you're going to get fantastic bluest of skies, you know, high of 70s and 80s, like just the best weather you could ever come up with. That's when you want to fly down and visit TL Speed Shop. If you live in the area, they can certainly work on your side by side for you. But I think for the, the application of this podcast, it's a lot of people that are going to go visit and put trips together. We've already had customers. I appreciate you listeners that have taken part of this. Some of you have. It's a fantastic experience. They're getting into the trophy truck side of it. They race trophy trucks, but they're getting more into the rental side of trophy trucks as well. So if you wanted to you call them up and said hey, I want to go race the Baja 500 or the 1000 or whatever. But I have, I don't have. Just like me, I don't have any equipment, I don't have any knowledge of it. I don't have any way to do it. Can you help? They can do that. They can do all of it. I went down there in. When was that? Sometime this spring and they were down there. They were with a customer that did exactly that, went down and raced, had a great time. I met up with them a couple days after the event. We had dinner. But you can do exactly that. You don't have to own anything. You don't have to have any experience or knowledge. They can walk you all through that and set you up for success in a side by side or a trophy truck. So check out tlspeedshop.com for more on that. Grantstone boots. I have some in my bag. I always keep them with me. I don't wear them obviously at the racetrack because they would get destroyed. These are really, really nice items. Really high end sneakers, boots, leather, like low tops, high tops. They have women's boots now. They have all kinds of great products, wallets, belts. So check out GrantstoneShoes.com to see their entire lineup. And you guys have heard me mention this before, but I am so blown away at the progression of their line because I think I started my relationship with them in 2015 or 2016 and they had basically like two or three different items. You know, low top boots, which I prefer the high top stuff, just the way it, they kind of look with your pants and. But they've. So early on I was trying to find things that really worked with what I wanted to wear and to see where they've taken that now and the offerings and the ways, ways I can put outfits together to go to work, have meetings. It's incredible. Like, it is such a testament to the hard work that they've done behind the scenes to improve their offering and really take the next step. Like they're, they are knocking the COVID off the ball when it comes to these items. So congrats to them. Last but not least, Fly Racing 2025. Fly Racing goes live this coming Thursday, July 18th. Mark calendars. I will be doing a media event at PIR, which is Portland International Raceway for Thursday night motocross. And then Saturday, of course, all of our professional riders will be wearing the product. Hopefully Chantimus will be there wearing it because. And we're losing guys fast. We lost rj. We may be losing Jaime. I'm hopeful, but I'm not sure. So anyway, check it out. Check out the website flyracing.com on Thursday, July 18th and you'll see what we've been working on. Okay, 450s power rankings. And let's just start at 10th, Freddy freaking Noren. He's had a rough couple weeks. Like, it hasn't gone to plan. If you saw his crash from Red Bud. Good grief. That was a big one. But this guy's for real, man. He is. He is the real deal in pro motocross. And if things go, they don't have to go well, they just go normally. He's right around top 10 like that is to be week in and week out. A top 10450 pro motocross rider is no joke like that is. The amount of work and dedication and effort put in to accomplish that on a consistent basis should not be taken lightly. It should not. I'm just telling you how I know firsthand how difficult that is. And I could barely ever do it, you know, and then I was all in all the time. So I have a lot of respect for Freddy and what he's able to do in pro motocross. Now supercross, different story. He's not as good at it. It's okay. I'm sure he's trying. I don't think he efforts anyway. He's just not as, as good at it. You know, he didn't, I don't think he grew up riding supercross and you can kind of see that he's not as proficient at it and that's okay. He certainly makes up for it in pro motocross. Phil Nicoletti is number nine. And you're going to see as we go, I've removed some people out of this. Jets gone. If you're hurt, Barsh is gone. And they'll come back. They'll certainly come back, but they're out for now. And Phil Nicoletti is one of the beneficiaries of that. He's in ninth. Phil's, Phil's a great rider. And if you got to see our interview during the, the intermission, he's sitting there, he's driving away in a side by side drinking a Coors Light. Like I love to see that because Phil's doing a lot of hard work, but he's also enjoying these, these final races. Right. He's not going to look back and say, I wish I would have smiled more. I wish I had done things differently. I wish, I wish, I wish. Right. I think he's soaking it in as we go here and he's, he's aware that all of this is going to come to an end. Maybe before, you know, I don't actually it's not before he wants to because he's deciding this. For many people it's before they wanted to. He's going out on his own terms and he's doing it with a smile on his face. So I, Yeah, I loved talking to Phil on the weekend, but he's riding incredibly well. Like, you look at his results, I don't have him right in front of me. What'd he go, nine, eight, eight, seven something. Really, really good day. And, yeah, Phil's a bad dude. Like, he's a. He's a great, great rider and he's gonna go far, whether he's with, you know, a competing gear company or whatever. Like, he's. He's gonna land on his feet. He has such a good name in the industry and so many people like him. He's gonna immediately fall into something that'll be very good for him. Christian Craig is getting a lot better. And you know what? You always have to qualify it with Christian because I think many people had Christian pegged as, like, going on to win races in the 450 class, and that hasn't come to fruition. Like, we all know that. Okay. But I think he's continuing to work through the adversity here, and it's not over yet. Like, the book has not been written on Christian Craig, but I think it's just now you just have to manage expectations, right? Getting back healthy, getting his confidence back, taking baby steps towards being where he wants to be. Because it wasn't that long ago where he was battling for podiums in pro motocross. I guess that's within the realm of possibility for a ride. Oak Christian, now, you could argue that maybe it's not going to be on that Husky. He doesn't seem to be as confident or as proficient on the Husky as he was on the Yamaha. That's a fair take. But, yeah, I mean, I don't think he's going to be on the Husky next year anyway. So maybe that wherever he lands is a better place for him than he is right at this very moment. And we'll see. Time will tell. But I don't think. I don't think that him moving away from Rockstar husband is going to be a net negative. I just don't see that. I don't think he is anywhere near his potential in his current situation. And I don't know why. I don't know if it's just the bike. I don't know if it's. He doesn't get along with the geometry. You know, like, there's been a lot of commentary on riders not gelling with that. That framework. So maybe that. That certainly could be it. There's. That's what I would point to if you asked Me, I would just say he's doesn't like the bike very much, you know, does he hate it? Maybe not, you know, but I don't think he loves it. I think that's probably fair to say he doesn't love it. Malcolm Stewart, same bike, same frame, same concept, same everything. I think Malcolm could be a lot better than he is right now, especially in supercross, but I don't think he is in love with that motorcycle. And I think he's, he's there again next year. So maybe they can take steps. But we all know how capable Malcolm is in supercross when things are right. And I just don't think, think things have been right for a while there. And I don't know what to make of that other than they just have some, some challenges with the motorcycle that they haven't necessarily figured out. Maybe they will. Maybe, you know, the steps that AP took with the ktm and you could see Sexton getting better, certainly better in pro motocross now. Maybe that kind of spills over into Malcolm for 20, 25. Time will tell. We don't know. Dylan, for Andis, it's been okay, right? Like, this isn't, this isn't a championship winning season. I don't think it meets his expectations, per se. I think that's fair analysis. I think he would agree with that. But it, it's, hasn't been awful either. You know, they're learning a lot. That team has never really, has never really kind of gone full at it with a 450 program. And I think they're learning the challenges of that. They're trying to figure out the power they're trying to figure out. I'm sure they're working on chassis all the time because every 450 rider is all the time because 450s don't handle very well. Too much power, too much weight. They just don't handle like a 250 does. And it's just a constant battle to find comfort level and improve the handling. And I'm sure they're, they're still working through that every single weekend. So if I was giving Ferrandus a grade, excuse me, if I was getting Franis a grade on this summer, I'd probably say a B. You know, it's certainly not an A, it's not an F, because I've seen flashes from him, say a B, maybe a B minus. You know, he may be, he's pretty hard on himself, so he may give it a C plus. You know, I'm gonna, I know how hard it is to do what they're doing. So I don't like railing against guys, so I'll give it a B, B minus. And that's, that's also based on him being a former 450 champion and 250 champion. Like, I know where his ceiling is. It's really high. Okay. So when I see him not able to keep up with Anderson or Plusinger, that, to me, that's where I'm like, that's not good enough for him. He should be able to either be with them or ahead of them. That's my feeling. That's a, That's a. An opinion based on a former 450 pro motocross champion. And go back and look at him in 2021. Go back and watch some of the races. He was lights out, amazing. Like, he was by far the best guy in the class. Go back and look at 2022, some of the races he had. Go back and look at 2023. I, I remember 2022 so well. So maybe check me on that. But look at last year. Some of the, the, like, Unadilla in 2022, he was right behind Jeff. Like, he was legit, right? Like, he was not far off at all. And then you kind of look at now and he's. He's not there. Like, he's not really even close to where he was even a year ago. So it's hard for me to kind of be super positive kind of on that, on that whole situation, but it hasn't been terrible either. So BB Minus Justin Cooper. That was a good day. I was cracking up and I should have done a better job. I had one of the worst analysis moments there of my fledgling TV career with trying to walk through those. That scoop tire and the more traditional kind of. It's a intermediate to soft terrain pattern that Dunlop offers. I screw that up. But anyway, I was, I was cracking up with, with Jeremy Coker, who's the team manager, because, you know, I wanted to give. I wanted him to portray the things he said to me off camera, on camera. And he, he. He was too much of a professional to do that. And probably why he has the job he does. But, like, he was, he was so frustrated. He's like, I don't care if you don't like the tire. I can't watch another moto of you struggling with this. When everybody has a scoop tire and you don't. We're freaking putting it on, deal with it. Like it. It's going on your motorcycle, right? And I wanted him to convey that on television, because that would have been fantastic, right? And I know, I understand him being like, I can't, I can't do that. I can't say it the same way. I'm sure that's what he's thinking in his mind, but, man, it would have been, it was I. We were laughing, like, I, I, that's why I, like, went straight to, you know, the tv, like, hey, let's get Cocon's cool story, whatever. It just didn't come across as playful as I think it could have. It would have been amazing had he said it the same way, because he was like, I don't care if you don't like it. I don't care what. Do whatever you want. But we have the tools and we have the tires, and we're. And we're putting that one on your motorcycle, so prepare for it, right? And in the end, they were right, and Justin Cooper admitted they were right. Like, you see the start, you see how much better he rode. You don't have, sometimes you don't have to necessarily be comfortable, but if the results are undeniable, if you're just faster, your start is better, your, your drive and exit on corners is that much better. Like, sorry, man, you got to use it. And Jeremy Coker mentioned to me that he didn't like the tire under braking scenarios. Like, he just didn't like the way it felt under hard braking. It probably felt really squeamish and it's moving around on a lot and he doesn't have, like, a planted feel. Yeah, sorry, man. Not everything's going to be perfect. There's too much upside to negate the downside that you're feeling. That's, in the end, that's as, that's as concisely as I can put it. So. And you saw how much better he was once you made that switch. And I'm sure Coker's kicking himself for not forcing Justin Cooper's hand a week ago at Redbud, right, Like, where he, he was telling me, like, he couldn't keep up with Ferrandus exiting corners and things like that. So I think they just got to a point where they're like, in these conditions, we're going to the tire. We're just doing it because we've now proven that it's too potent to not use. So that was just, yeah, the things that go on behind the scenes, it was really funny to me. Jason Anderson, I have at number four, and that was a pretty good day, right? Like better fastest qualifier. He was just, he was better on the day rides really well there. He's got a lot of podium finishes and motos there. He's run near the front quarter quite a bit. So I think the summer's been pretty decent, you know, like, would he want to win a race again like he did at Hangtown in 2022? I'm sure he would. Right? I'm sure he would. But you know, Anderson has this reputation as kind of a really, kind of carefree spirit. Like he's, you know, a lot looser than a lot of other riders are. But don't ever let that fool you into thinking that he's not working really hard behind the scenes. Now I, I know he likes to have a good time too. Like when, when it's, it's the right time to let loose and have a little fun, you can be sure that Anderson is leading that charge. But when it's also time to put in work and motos and ride and ride and ride and train your butt off, that's also Jason Anderson and that's the side of him I don't think people really see or know enough about. So I try to get that point across is like, don't let the free spirited side of Jason Anderson deter you from understanding how hard of a worker he is as well. You know, I just think he's, he's open to experiencing both, he's open to having a good time when, when it's appropriate, but also when it's time to work. He will be putting in the work. Like he's the one that does the most laps and he's the one that, if you looked at the, the hour meter on the motorcycle, he's going to have the highest number. Number where you wouldn't, I don't think most people would necessarily correlate those two things. So yeah, I don't, I don't think there's any doubt about whether Anderson's putting in the work behind the scenes. It's just, yeah, the top level is pretty high right now. You know, you hear, when you hear Plessinger come in and talk about how fast Hunter and, and Chase are going, you know, those guys don't give out praise easily, right. Like they're, when they say things like that, it's because they, they truly mean it. And yeah, so when you see Anderson and guys like that getting dropped, Justin Cooper getting dropped in that first moto by Sexton and Hunter, that should tell you, that should give you a really clear indication of how fast Those guys are going. When. When guys is talented and former race winners, they just literally get dropped like a sack of potatoes, you know what I mean? Like, they just can't do anything. And they're just like. Then you see them getting ridden away from right now. Insert yourself into that. If you're a rider listening to this, like, how fast those guys are going, and literally they're just riding away. Think about if that was you, how fast they would be pulling away from you, and how many seconds a lap faster they would be going than you. That's what I always think about, is if I'm watching this guy that I could never be as good at just getting completely wrecked by the guys in front of him, like putting four or five seconds of lap into them, you know what would happen to an average human, right? It would just be like an unbelievable barrage that you would be trying to withstand. So it's just. I always try to humanize that a little bit compared to what these superstars are really like. It's just a. It's a really unfair thing, what we're watching, because we don't. It's like watching the PGA Tour and you're like, oh, I could do that. You know, golfers like, ah, these guys aren't. And you're just like, okay, yeah, go out, play that PGA course, hit from those tees, hit from the. The pro teas. Show me what that's like. Show me what you got right? You're going to be. You're going to be five over par every hole. You know what I mean? Like, that's. That's probably a little bit overstating it, but that's. That's what. We don't always know what we're watching. You know, NFL is the same. You don't understand because everybody in the field is so good. And that goes. That's the same for motocross. Everybody on the racetrack is so freaking good. It's deceiving to watch these guys ride around the track because you don't have an average Joe and there's. There are people on Instagram these things that are always talking about that, like, for the Olympics, just grab an average person off the street and have them do this competition so we know what we're watching. Let's see what this is really like compared to us sitting on the couch. Show us how fantastic these guys are. Because showing all of them together when they're all so great, we don't have any context for it. Like, we don't have the right perspective on it. So anyway, I just think those guys deserve a ton of credit for how great they are. And we really don't understand it because everybody in the track is all kind of, kind of going the same speed. You don't really get it. AP is number three and I thought it was a good day, you know, not over the top, amazing. But he was hanging in there and he just, you know, the third here, he didn't get third on overall in the day, but I think the body of work, you know, you look at he was your point. Sweeter in Supercross. He's been on the podium and outdoors like he's just putting together a great season for himself and I think it should be rewarded with this third place spot. I think that's fair. When you look at his entire season and he's still healthy, he's still out there. So I'm going to keep him at at three for now. Hunter Lawrence, this is an easy second. I don't think there's any way to argue it, you know, with guys that are healthy, guys that are hurt. And Hunter, I've come around on Hunter a lot. I used to not really have an opinion at all that's kind of like just very neutral. But I, I'm more of a fan. And it's not necessarily his personality that's gotten me there. It's the, the determination side of him, the dedication he has to his craft of constantly getting better. And that doesn't mean he has to train like a complete psycho. That's not what draws me to him. It's more of the learning and the on the bike, off the bike, thinking about how to be better, decision making, all the detail oriented stuff about improving himself as a racer, those are the, those are the qualities that I've really come around on. He's persevered through a ton of injuries. I really respect that because he keeps rebuilding himself every time he gets knocked down, goes back to the drawing board, won't quit, rebuilds himself and amazingly he comes back better, which is such a hard thing to do. It's hard to not let that, you know, slowly degenerate you over time to where you're just like, it's a lower high, like your high is a little bit less every single time you go through something like that. He's just getting better through that. So I think this has been a fantastic rookie season. If he doesn't win the championship, okay, right. He had the red plate for a long time. He really came around. Towards the end of Supercross, I think it's been phenomenal. And I don't want the success of this season to be undermined by the fact that he has lost the red plate or maybe he doesn't win the title. You know, nothing's been decided. Certainly still can. But if he doesn't, I don't want to hear anyone talk about how he had it and lost it. I want to hear them talk about how great this first 450 season has been. Because, let's be real, he is beating the tar out of riders like AP and Anderson and Justin Cooper and all these guys that are super legit. Justin Barcia, take your pick, right? He's beating the pants off of all of them in his first 450 season. That in and of itself is worthy of all the praise that we can weigh upon him. And many times he's beaten Chase Sexton, too. Right. Like, Sexton's gotten the better of him lately, but that wasn't the case early on. So, yeah, lots of praise should be directed towards Hunter Lawrence is. Is the main point. And then number one, of course, is Chase Sexton. He's really coming to his own. I've been kind of trying to beat this horse a little bit. I don't know if that's appropriate. Like, should I be beating a horse? I probably shouldn't be beating a horse. That doesn't sound very kind, but I've just been on this rant about Chase Sexton is so sensitive to confidence and the ebbs and flows of how confidence can dictate results. And when you think about a guy like Sexton, I think Chase Sexton has had, or, excuse me, Jet Lawrence has had Chase Sexton under his thumb for over a year. He's literally just been dictating Chase's everyday life, how he believes in himself, how he races the motorcycle. And when you remove that, when you remove any sort of stimulus to a situation, there's going to be a result. And when you remove Jet Lawrence from this equation, I think that Chase Sexton immediately responds positively to that. Like, he is just feels better about himself. He feels like he should be winning races. He looks up and down the starting line. I've said this a few times. He looks up and down the starting line and he doesn't see anybody that can beat him anymore. Jets not there. Tomac's not there. Say Webb's not there. I think he looks up and he's, yeah, I should win this. Like, I don't. Good start, bad start. Like, just give me a chance and I'll show that I can beat all these guys, you know, and that's the challenge of this. The top level of racing in any sport is at some point, like for Jet. I think Jet looks at the line now, and it doesn't matter who's on it. Take your, you know, put anybody on the starting line. I think he's going to look at and go, I can beat them. Right? That's not true for everybody. Not everybody feels that. And I think for Chase, he does not feel that right now. I think for a minute he did 20, 23 supercross, I think he felt that way. You know, it's before Jet moved up. It's. It was after Tomac got hurt. You could say he maybe felt it when Tomac was there. Maybe not. I would say probably not. But that's the way he's looking at this championship now. And I think you're seeing his results reflect that every single time he goes out on the racetrack, because there's no panic, there's no real sense of urgency. He kind of knows what's going to happen before the race happens, right? It's like a movie he's seen before. He knows how it's gonna end. It's just a matter of how it plays out. When he really kind of starts pushing, when the other guys get tired, when he, you know, like, okay, I'll give you another example. Like in. In the movie Rocky iv, you watch Apollo and Drago fighting at the beginning of the movie, right? Battling. And Apollo just jab, jab, like working the jabbies. You're like, oh, man, killing it. Like, you know, showing this Russian what's up? And the guy, the Russian trainer, yells something in Russian at Drago and all of a sudden, that. That was the cue for Drago to unleash hell upon Apollo's face. Like, he just starts beating the ever loving out of him. And I apologize for cursing, but he does. And that there was some sort of signal that they had plans. Like, okay, we're going to let Apollo get some punches in, build some confidence up, and then we're going to immediately switch into. Switch gears here and just end all of that. Like, that is over with. And now we're going to. We're going to go into psycho mode and end this. That's where I think Sexton, I think Sexton has that gear in him right now. So I think he's willing to let the race unfold. You hear he and Dungey and other people talk about the race coming. You know, let the race unfold, let the race come to You. That's what they mean. Pick your spot, let the race sort it out. Understand the situation, who's where, you know, don't let them get away too early in the race. And then when it's time, someone on the side of the. It's not happening. But when the signal is given or when you sense, and I tried to convey this in the race, when you sense that it's time to go, you just go. And if you don't have that fitness or gear, then you can't. Right? It's all contingent upon having that ability. But Sexton has it. He has that confidence. He has the fitness, he has the extra speed. He has all those things to be able to do it. And that is very uncommon. Not everybody's ever gonna feel that or have that or understand how that works or anything. But I know it when I see it. I've seen it many times before it. And it's absolutely unfolding for Chase Sexton right now. So first moto at Red Bud, I was a little nervous, right? And Hunter ended up crashing. But I think every time it happens now, you saw Chase do it this weekend, there's no panic. Like, we were almost halfway into the moto, and Chase was just kind of chilling back there, like, hanging out, no real worry, not stressing. And then all of a sudden, he really saw it in the second moto. I mean, he's just like. He goes to another place that these other guys can't go to. And that's the key, is they want to go. Like, trust me, they are. Their bodies are screaming out in agony because they're pushing and pushing and pushing, and their brain's like, we gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta go. And they're up against their. Either cardio fitness is giving out, or they're too hot, or their muscle fatigue or a combination of all those things. They just can't. Like, your body's just like, nope, we're. We're at the limit. This is all we got. And if we go past this, we're gonna crash our brains out or pass out or something bad, really bad is gonna happen. And that's where you hear, like, Hunters kind of said that as, like, yeah, if I. If I pushed past that. I can't remember where he said it. I think an interview for that he did with Will or someone. But he mentioned at Red Buddha, if he tried to push past that in the second moto, where he got fourth, he was going to crash. Like, he. That was. He was going to do something stupid. And that's you have to listen to yourself sometimes. You have to listen to your body and say, yeah, I'm at the limit here. This is all we got. And if I try to push through this, something really terrible is going to happen to the season or my health or this moto whatever, however extreme you want to go with that, that's when they just have to shut it down. And a guy like Sexton in that moment can push through that. And it's like, sorry, guys, this is where all my hard work and dedication and me being fitter than you, this is where it shows up. This is where I'm gonna actually absolutely lay the wood to you guys. And I'm out of here. Like, I literally gone. And yeah, it's, it's, it's really impressive to watch. And Sexton has that advantage right now and I don't know that he's gonna to give it back. I, I don't know. I've been trying to, trying to measure myself, but I really felt strongly about it. And sometimes when you feel strongly, you just got to lean into it. So I said, you know what? This is what I think. I think Sexton's going to go on a run here. I think he's going to lean on these guys hard because he believes he's the best guy and these guys are all in big trouble. That, that's what I think. And it seems to be working so far. We'll see if I continue to be right with that. But yeah, I think this is now till at least September. At least September. And I shouldn't say that. Maybe Tomac and Webb have something to say the last couple rounds. I don't believe so, but maybe. I don't think they can come in and go this fast, this quickly to deal with Sexton. But I've been wrong before, been wrong. I'll be wrong again. But I truly believe that these 450 riders are living in Chase Sexton's world for the, for the short term. Like he, he is going to dictate who does what for a little bit here. So anyway, that's it for this week's show. I appreciate everybody tuning in. It's now 5:45am on Sunday morning and yeah, show's completed over an hour. Good grief. I don't know that I've ever done one over an hour, but we did today and, uh, yeah, really enjoyed it. Thank you to uh, to everybody for listening. We'll be back with you next week. See.