Loading summary
Transcript1 lines
- [00:00]
Jason Thomas
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 Blow Wash Works Connection, Bass Foundry, TL Speed Shop Concept, COD Design Company, Grandstone Boots and Fly Racing. Welcome to the Industry Seating podcast. My name is Jason Thomas. Coming to you right before we kick off the SMX World Championship playoffs, we will be in Charlotte. And I know we're supposed to say Concord, North Carolina or Concord, but I mean, it's Charlotte. Like my hotel literally says Charlotte. So whatever it is what it is, Z Max Dragway is the place we will be. And before we jump into all of that, which we, we're gonna really not cover Iron man, we're kind of gonna move on from outdoors and just talk about smx because it's been a week and a half. But I want to 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, Grant Stone Boots and Fly Racing. Thank you to all of them for being a part of this. And yeah, let's jump right into this thing. So what do we have facing us? We're gonna talk about motocross nations a little bit too. I should have mentioned that. But yeah, I think in the 250 class, I mean, Deegan has to be the favorite, right? Like, I don't see really a way around that. He won this championship last year and it was kind of his breakout moment. He won the Pro Motocross championship this year. He got second in 250E Supercross. Like, he, he's coming into his own. You know, his, his star is shining pretty bright. And, and I don't agree with everything that goes on over there. Like, let's be clear, I don't agree with some of the things that are said, some of the things that are done. But yeah, you can't, you can't really disparage the riding. Like, he has been phenomenally good, right? Like that second moto he engaged, he won. Like, he, he's doing all the things. So, you know, my opinion doesn't really matter on the other stuff. In the end, riding is what pays the bills, riding is what counts. But, but, but there is a branding aspect to this and no one is more worried about their brand than they are. Right. So where do you go? I think they're. Everything they're doing, they're doing consciously. So it's not like you could say, well, you know, they're unfortunately missing this part of that. Like, they're making their own decisions. Right. They steer the ship on what they say, do how they act. A lot of those comments are all premeditated. You know, he's taking shots at people, whether it's writers or media or myself or whoever. Right. I'm not even in the story. I'm just saying it's. It is without really. There's no censoring where he's, you know, firing off comments to, like, it's not like he's only trying to start stuff with writers. Like, he'll, you know, there's been stuff. Comments made to Mathis on social media, like, everywhere. Right. Like, they don't care about that. So I guess I respect that to a certain extent. You know, certainly not my style. It's not how I would do it. But to each their own. And he's making a ton of money. He's winning championships, he's living the life that most people would dream of, if you like this sport anyway, so, ah, whatever. More power to him. Doesn't mean I have to like it. It's kind of irrelevant. But in the end, he is, I think, the favorite on paper coming into this championship. And now we'll see what he can do with that. You know, I think Levi Kitchen comes in with some momentum, though. You know, that second Moto, he crashed and hurt his knee, which I think is okay. I'm hearing he's fine. The question really is, does he still have that momentum? Because he certainly had it winning three out of four going into Ironman. Then the first Moto was really strong, and then the second Moto, it all fell apart. So keep in mind, he would have won four out of five overalls, most likely, if the second Moto just kind of goes normally because Vial won with a 1 4, and I think Kitchen kind of was in place to. To beat that. Like, I. I think Kitchen could have won that overall, which would have been four out of five to end the series. Now, if you're a Deegan, you. You would hate that comment and you would tell me to shut up and, you know, you would tell me about all the great things that you did, and that's fair. Like, I'm. I'm not mad at that, but the facts are that he had won three out of four going in and had a real shot at winning four out of five to close the series. Those are the facts. Now, you can interpret that however you want, and whatever your biases are will probably dictate how you Lean into those facts, right? And that's normal. That's. That's a part of racing that's no different than being a fan of any sport, right? Like you can take statistics and manipulate them to paint whatever picture you want to paint. That is how it's always been. It's how it's always going to be. And I'm not here to really do that. I'm not trying to tell you what to think or what to believe. I just want to make sure that we know kind of every. Every aspect of this or look at every angle. Anyway. Tom Vial, I mean, he won his first overall of the season, the last round, so clearly he has some momentum, too. But I did not like the way he fell apart in that second moto. It was hot, really hot. But it's going to be hot this weekend, too. And it's a day race, so do we see any of that? Do we see him struggle with the heat? Because I can promise you, standing there in person, he was overheated after the second moto. Like, he still did enough to win, but he was not, like, just kind of weighing up and doing the math. And he said that's not what was happening. He. I'm not. I want to say he was cooked, but I'm not saying in the way these kids say it. Like, he was just cooked by heat. Like he was too hot, couldn't push anymore, and kind of had to let those guys go by. Because I don't. I can promise you he didn't want to. That's not what he wanted to do. But he got the better of him. So we'll see what he does with this race. Because this was a race where he really kind of broke out last year. Like, oh, man. Like he could be a threat now. He pointed towards his familiarity with tracks like this. If you think about a race like Turkey, which also happens to be this weekend for nxgp, it's kind of similar to this red clay. It's all flat, flat corners, not a lot to separate anyone. And he was always great at that race. So that's kind of where I look at as far as why he had success here last year. And maybe while he'll. He will have success again is because of this kind of layout and dirt and just the whole atmosphere. It's one he's found success on in the past. Chance Hymus. He's been great, right? And we've talked about this a lot this summer about. He's really turned things around. He's figured out his Diet, he's figured out his fitness, he's got his confidence. There's been a ton of things that have gone on with he and Deegan as far as, like, comments back and forth. And truly, I kind of don't get care about that stuff. You know, that's for kids to sort out. And I have no. No placement or bias or any of that. So I just. Whatever, do your thing. Say whatever you want. I'll stay out of all that stuff. But I do think it is a great opportunity here for Jaime to press the reset button. If you look at where he was in the championship, like, he wasn't that far out of it at a certain point, right? And he had crashes. The. The Spring Creek thing was really what killed him, you know, that that was what ended any real, real chance at a championship. And. And you could say, well, he was still way far back. Fair like that. That's fair. But the crash when he was winning, not even a crash. He didn't even crash. The contact with Hayden Deegan while leading the second moto is where it. It all came apart, right? Like, there was no coming back from that. So this is a chance for he, for Levi, Kitchen, for V, for anybody who thought that they were going to be a championship contender. And it. It just kind of all came unraveled at some point, and it did for everybody. Make no mistake, it unraveled for everybody not named Hayden Deegan at some point. I think Kitchen was pretty early on where we expected him to win in Thunder Valley, and then he really wasn't very good at High Point. Then he wasn't very good at Southwick. Like, those are all races in the middle where Kitchen unraveled. Jaimis was at Spring Creek. That's where it pretty much ended for him. Vi, think about all the crashes. High Point, Southwick, Red Bud. Crash, crash, crash. Just kept crashing out of the lead. Those things will kill you in a championship, right? So this is their chance to undo all of those mistakes. And that's the uniqueness that of what this championship is. We never had this before, right? Season would be over. Jaime would be looking forward to motocross, the nations, which we'll get to. But they wouldn't have this big reset where it's like, okay, what went wrong? Let's fix it. Three races. Let's absolutely crush these three races. And whatever else went on this, this year, I can basically wipe it away. I can wipe it out of people's memory if I come out and just stomp this SMX World Championship playoff like that, that is a, that's a huge thing in the, for these minds. Like that's huge incentive. Forget about the money, which is a crazy amount of money. Like forget about all those really important things for a second and just think about the psyche of these riders. Looking at it going, man, I could redefine this entire year, right? Like, think how Kitchen felt leaving Salt Lake so bummed that he didn't win the championship. If he goes out and wins this, these, this SMX championship, nobody's going to be talking about that. Everybody will be talking about this. Think where we were with Deegan. We weren't talking about Supercross his rookie year. We weren't talking about him, his bike breaking at Unadilla and then the red flag. We weren't talking about any of that. We were only talking about the fact that he won that SMSMX championship in LA. And you think anybody was thinking about how the rough days at LA Coliseum? Absolutely not, right? So that's where these guys really have their opportunity. RJ Hampshire, he could be a real surprise because he, he basically missed the whole summer. You know, he raced the last two and he came back early just to get it in. But think about how good he was at Ironman. Getting a podium like second race back, that was, that was incredible. Like I was much, much more than I expected. So how much more improvement can he show in two weeks? Get start? Anything's possible. I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna put that out there on the front end. If he gets the starts that he needs over the next three weeks, anything is possible. Is he good enough to win? I don't know. But I can promise you that the start will either determine his chances of success or not. And that's going to be true for lots of these guys. I'm going to talk about how important that is here in a little bit, but I just want to be on record saying if, if you see RJ whole shot, buckle up. Because he's gonna, he's gonna go for it, right? He's got contract signed, he's futurist pretty much locked in for the medium, medium term. So he has zero incentive to kind of weigh up and take it easy. Like he's gonna, he's gonna absolutely go for it. Joe Shimoto is the last 250 rider that I wanted to mention. And honestly we really shouldn't expect anything at all. Here he is, I don't even know if he's gonna race. Maybe by the time this, you're listening to this, we'll know. But sitting here, I'm recording this on Thursday morning. I don't know yet. I think he was going to try to ride maybe today and make a decision, but remember, he broke his collarbone at Unadilla and it's not been very long. We're talking what, three and a half weeks, something like that. So it's very, very quick turnaround. And if he races, I wouldn't expect a lot. That, that's just kind of where I'm coming down on it. So we're all Joe fans. Like he. I don't know how you could not be a Joe fan. You know, you could criticize the racing, whatever, but he's like the nicest guy ever. We all want to see him do well. I just don't think this setup is very good for that. So we'll see if he's able to, to race at all. Now we're going to jump into the 450 class and then we'll go to motocross. The nations now in the 450s. You know, it looks so great on the outside for Chase Sexton. Like he has so much momentum coming off a promoter cross championship. Jed is not 100. Tomac's not 100. Webb is not 100. Roxon's not 100. He's better than AP. He's shown he can beat Hunter Lawrence the second half of the summer. It doesn't get any better than this as far as a setup. You know, like you could say, okay, the final few rounds of pro motocross, fine. But when you're talking about a series that has everybody in it, you can't ask for better than this. You cannot. So if he can't win when it's like this, that is a really tough look. It truly is a really difficult thing that he's going to have to answer to all along, all season long if he can't win against a field that has the elite riders, not at 100%. Like, how do you expect to go into 20, 25 and, and beat everybody when they will have time to be prepared, when they will be at their best? Because. Because they're. They're not right now. If you think, and I've seen comments on Instagram, people posting like, what do you think Jet's going to do? How's he going to do? And people riding, he's going to win. He's going to getting first place. And I'm like, I'm out. I'm out on that take. Like I am. I am not there yet. And I'll talk about Jet in a second. But this is a must win for Chase Sexton. It truly is. I. I believe that. And maybe that's not fair. Maybe Chase would be like, why? Like, why? And I would tell him, like, because you're coming in with all this momentum. You won all the lot, what, six races in a row or something like that. You cannot let these guys take your confidence back away, especially when they're not prepared. Like, you can't. You have to, you know, pardon the term, but you have to basically stand on their neck, right? Like, you have to choke the life out of these guys when you have them down. That's how it's done. That's how the best guys in the world would approach this. And I don't say that because I could do it. I say it because I've seen it. I've watched it. I know what that looks like. And they. When they have you down, when they have everybody vulnerable, they will not, absolutely, absolutely will not let any air into the room. And that's where. That's how the guys dominate. That's how riders become legend, is they get up on everybody and they never give it up again. Like, they just continue to get better. And, yes, things will be different in 20, 25 at Anaheim. I get it. But this is where it starts, right? Or I should say it started in pro motocross. He's taken a step forward, he's gotten his confidence back, but he cannot take a giant step back here at Charlotte. He needs to go out there like the alpha, right? Like, he needs to go out and show everybody right away. First practice, first session, set the fastest lap, show everybody what's up. That is how this gets started. And if he can do that, the messaging there is so powerful because everybody's going in thinking that's what's going to happen, or that's what's supposed to happen. And if you reinforce that, if you act on it, they're just going to go along with it. And that's how this works. Like, the mental aspect of this game, you just want to confirm what everybody already expects, and then life will be much easier for Chase Sexton if he can do that. So something to watch for. This is incredibly, incredibly critical. Big picture in the story of this kind of shifting paradigm of who's. Who's the elite, who thinks there's the best? Who is everybody else looking at as the best? This is a big, big moment in that story. Now, for Jet, he's only ridden for three weeks, right? And that is a huge deal. Riding for three weeks after an injury like this, where you actually had to have surgery is not good. I. I've been there. I know what that is. And for anybody expecting him to be the old Jet, I think you're going to be disappointed. Now, I'm. I'm willing to accept the chance that I'm wrong. That could happen. That's always a possibility. But I don't believe that I am. I believe we're gonna see a Jet, Lawrence. That's about 80 or 90%. And I. I got chastised on a message board for saying that. You know, I think at one of the races, I. I said Jet was riding at 80%, and they just broke out all this math. And if he was truly at 80%, his lap times would be here and just like, calm down. Right. You understand the point I'm trying to make. He's not riding his hardest. Right. And that's where I think he'll be this weekend. He's still going to be trying to get back up to speed. I don't think his fitness will be where it needs to be. I don't think his hand strength and grip will be back where it needs to be. So I think there will be moments where you see him kind of laying up and he can't be his best self. He can't do the heroic things and push weight and. And make all the moves that we're used to him, see, used to seeing from him. And I just want to give context as to why, so people aren't freaking out, going, oh, he's lost the edge. You know, Sexton, the guy, like, everybody just pump the brakes and understand the why when we see that. And it's okay. Like, if Sexton goes out and wins and does his thing. He deserves that moment. I just don't want one thing to turn into another. This isn't Jet coming into Fox Raceway. This is Jet coming off of hand surgery, doing everything humanly possible to get back onto the racetrack long before anybody would say it's a good idea to. I'm just telling you, like, if you talk to doctors, you talk to anybody in the know, they would say, I get it. Yep, we understand why he's doing it, but would we recommend this? Of course not. Nobody would. So we're gonna. We're gonna find out. We're gonna learn a lot altogether. I just think it's gonna be a very, very tough ask from him. I have very low expectations. I think if he finishes top five overall, that's A win. If you look at the day's difference of when Jed had surgery, which was right before July 4th, it was like July 2nd, I think something like that. He got on the motorcycle three weeks before the race. Thursday of three weeks before the event. So like 23 days before, if you look at where Cooper Webb and Eli Tomac got back on the bike, it was more like anywhere from like 67, I think to 80 something days, right? 3 to 4 to 5 times. 3 to 4 times more riding than Jets. Getting that. That's a lot. That is a huge deal. Huge deal. And we're going to talk about it on race day Live this week. Quentin Fowler went back and counted the days and has the exact statistics. I think we actually did it on SMX Insider also if you want to check that out on YouTube. But it, that is, that is why I have the opinion that I do is because if you look at Tomac at Buds Creek, like he was okay, 4:12, 410, whatever it was Iron man better. But Is that vintage UI Tomac? Is that 100% UI Tomac? No. And look how much time he had. Look at Cooper Webb. He had a little bit less time than Tomac, but much, much more time than Jet. How did he do? Not really relevant, right? 5, 6, 7, something like that before he crashed, like it's fine. But I don't think he was like thrilled with that. Like that's not Cooper Webb esque, you know, one of the best riders we've seen. So that is what Jed is up against. That is why this is going to be so difficult is you already seen what these other legends look like after much more time than Jet's gonna have. So I hope that makes sense to you. Hunter Lawrence, he's gonna be solid, right? I expect a podium this weekend and we'll see what Jet looks like and we'll see what Tomac looks like. That maybe that affects that. If jets much better than I expect. Maybe he can get in there and displace Hunter, but I don't believe so. If you looked at how close they were before, I think, I think Hunter will just be too strong for Jet right now. That will change. But right now and the, the biggest thing for Hunter, like the kind of the feather in his cap are his starts. He is so proficient on the starts and this track. If you look at the track map, I would, I would challenge you. Go look at the track map and if you're used to looking at track maps, go find places to pass. Go find them because they are Incredibly difficult to find on this racetrack. Incredibly difficult. The only place I could really find that's going to be kind of an every lap opportunity is the big rhythm section before they head out to the back section. And even then you're going to have to really stay low, carry momentum, like push forward and get alongside and then you can try to close them out at the end. Like it's not a no brainer. This is where everybody's going to pass. Everything leads to the inside. You can garden every corner. You know, not enough 1-80s where there's inside outside options. It's just the way the track is laid out. Passing is going to be tough. And it was the same last year. So we already kind of know that this kind of layout doesn't portend to tons of passing. So for Hunter Lawrence, that's a great thing. For Jet, it could be a great thing. If he's strong enough to hang in there, it could really help him as well. But I'm just telling you, if you get a bad start at this race, and this could work against Sexton, this could be a big problem for Sexton. If you don't get a good start at this race, your life is going to be very difficult. Like that is just a, that is just a fact. Like there is no other way to really look at it. It's just a fact. So we'll see what happens. But that's, that's the ask, can you get the starts? Can you get the starts? And if you can, it's going to get a lot easier for you. If you can't, good luck. Like that's just what it's going to be. So yeah, I don't think it has to be much more complicated than that. As far as ap, I think you just do what you've been doing and it kind of falls into that same type of thought process as Hunter Lawrence. Like everything's going your way, right? You're getting good starts, you're showing your fitness at the end. Like him, his Iron Man, Iron man ride was great. Be opportunistic. Know that Web's not his best. Know that Tomac's not his best. Know that Jet's not his best, right? Know that when you're sitting on the starting line and ride accordingly. That is how you, when I say be opportunistic, that's what that means. Instill yourself with confidence. And then when you get on the track, don't think about Jet, Web, forget about all that. You should be thinking, these guys aren't ready to do this. Like, I've been hammering motos and I've been on the podium all summer. They're not ready to beat me yet. Well, we'll think about that down the Road, Anaheim 1. I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Right now, they're not ready to beat me. And he needs to be telling himself that the entire race. Like, if they're behind him, if he's got a pass them any of those situations and that those will happen. Of course that needs to be the foremost thought is I'm better than right them right now because of X, Y and Z. And you could say it, but you. He, he should believe it. I believe it. I don't think these guys are as ready as he is right now. He's been proving that, so why wouldn't he enact that, right, like take that point? That is a fact, in my opinion. I'd say, in fact, that's terrible fact, in my opinion. It has been a fact so far from what we've seen and act on it. That's it. Jason Anderson. You know what? I don't know what to think of Jason Anderson here. If you watch him, he's been okay. It hasn't been awful. It hasn't been like 20, 23 supercross or anything like that. He's been on the podium in motos, which is good, right? Of course. But it just feels like he's missing that last 1% to me, and I don't know where that is or if he can find it, you know, like, we always look back at like 20, 22 and how great he was. He wins seven Super Crosses, he wins Hangtown National. And I was just like, this guy's back. Like, he is back. And ever since then, it just hasn't felt the same. Now I think he was battling the bike a little bit in 23. I just think they got lost in settings a little bit and. And he was not his best self. So that explains some of it. 24 is a brand new motorcycle, so I don't necessarily think it's worse. I think it's better, but I just want to see the Jason Anderson that is up front, like trying to win. And that's. I know not everybody can do that, but he's, he's capable. He has the potential to do that. That's the difference, right? Not everybody can be as good as Jason Anderson and not everybody, very few can be as good as Jason Anderson. When he's at his best, I want to see his best. So I don't Know if it's a, you know, motivation thing or a bike thing or. I don't know. He's older. I don't know. I don't have an answer for him. I just. No, I'm not seeing his best stuff and I want to see it. Eli Tomac, he's going to be better than he was, right? Look at the improvement from Buds Creek to Iron Man. The question is how much better right is. Does that mean on the podium this weekend? Certainly could. Does that mean he's in the mix to win? I don't know. You know, there we have more questions and answers on Tomac. We know he's going to be solid, but is he vintage Eli Tomac or is he not good enough for the top three? And. And they kind of drop him, you know, like AP and Sexton dropped him in Iron Man. They just did. Like there's, you know, nothing wrong with that. Tomax, not 100. It was really hot. I mean, extremely hot. So has he found that last little bit? Right. And it's only going to be 20 minutes plus a lap, so that'll help. But I do think Tomac has a real shot at the podium, like legitimate. But I'll go back to the same point that I've been hammering on this entire podcast. If Tomac doesn't get the starts, it's not going to happen. It is not going to happen on this track, period. End of story. Just keep that in mind. If they're going around on the first lap and Tomac's not on the screen, you can't find him. Don't expect a good result because you're just talking. It's not going to happen. Cooper Webb, he's a wild card here. I don't expect a lot because he came in unprepared, then he got re injured, had to take more time off, then he started riding again. So that's not a great setup to say the least. But he thrives when everybody counts him out, right? Like, he loves to be considered the underdog. He loves to have that chip on his shoulder. So maybe that's what he needs. I will counter that and say last summer he was. Or, excuse me, last September, he was not very good. We know that, right. It was a very underwhelming September for him. I mean, he was battling with Phil in Chicago. Okay. It wasn't a good. It wasn't a good September. Now LA was better. He was relevant in LA at least. But I want to see how he looks compared to that and I want to see how he looks compared to Supercross where he was elite, like he was a championship contender. Took jet down to the wire. I don't know which one we're gonna get. I think it's gonna be somewhere in the middle. I do not think he can be as good as he was in Supercross just because he's not as prepared and you know that. That's as basic as I can put it. Justin Cooper, he could surprise here and I'll tell you why. I've been talking about the starts, right? And I'm not going to back away from that. I. I just think the starts are going to be everything, especially with this first round. And we know how good of a starter he is. You know, nobody's going to run the scoop tire, which helps him because he doesn't like the scoop tire. So his normal tire choice should help him on the starts because it's not so much help him, but detract from everyone else, which by default helps him. How about that? There will be no whoops, right? And I'm not saying he can't hit whoops. I just think it's a little bit of a liability for him and he doesn't have to worry about that. So. So that helps. That's another. Just check in the column for, for Justin Cooper's chances of success. And he's just a solid. He's solid, right? Like, he doesn't do anything flashy, doesn't blow you away, but his lap times are always really fast, like surprisingly fast. And he's just kind of always hanging around. Top three, top five. Why would I not think he won't do that? He's prepared. He's in shape. He's been racing all year. Yeah. So if he's standing on the podium on Saturday in Charlotte, we will all be surprised to an extent. That's, that's a fair statement to make. But. But I hope you listen to this podcast and think, well, yeah, like we talked about it, good starter, no whoops. He's in shape, he's confident. Like, he's not fearful of these guys anymore. Why? Why not? Right? I'm. I'm more of why not than I am going to be shocked that he gets on the podium. So we'll see how that kind of plays out. Once again, want to thank the sponsors of this podcast before we transition into the motocross of nations aspect. Pirelli tires. Guts Racing. You can go to Guts Racing on Instagram. Seat covers for power sports and ebikes. Complete seats for betas, custom graphics, gutsracing.com Pump Creek funding rates have come down a little bit. So if you've been waiting to buy something, if you need to move, call Zack Morris at Plum Creek Funding. Ask questions. He's accredited in a ton of states now. He can help you. Regardless if he's accredited in your state he can help you. Trust me. Concept coding design don't you hate when people say trust me. You don't have to trust me, just call him. If he can't specifically help you, he's going to put you in some in contact with someone who can and he's going to be able to answer questions in a general on a general basis regardless of state that you have. That's why I say trust me. Concept coatings design company Dawson is owner operator there and Cerakote Anodizing laser engraving custom bike builds. They do it all. They're based down in Temecula. They work on some of the factory teams parts now they are the real deal. So if you want to build like a badass built like build a badass build great. If you want to like take your bike and make it like a race bike. You see all these builds that all these freestyle guys. Do you want to do something like that or you just want some custom parts for it? Concept coatings design company is the place you want to be. Use the con, use the promo code Concept10 to save yourself some money and if you want me to connect you with Benji, I'm happy to do that as well. To answer specific questions Works connection Listen they all these guys want to say all but most of them use a pro on start device. Jet Tomac, Webb Hunter Justin Cooper, Hayden Deegan. All these guys use a pro on start device because it's the best one. Real simple. It's easy to put together. The performance is unbeatable. They have Yamaha foot peg mounts. They have all sorts of new things for the 24 Kawasaki New Chain gauge tool. All sorts of great things happening there. And you can use the promo code JT23. That will save you some money at there as well. Pro glow wash. Great formulated specific wash for any sort of power sports item. TL Speed Shop Listen, we're starting to go into the fall. We're not there yet. It's like a million degrees still but that is prime time. October, November, December, January, February, March. They're in Arizona. You can fly in corporate event, family event. That is where it's at, right? Get down there in the desert when it's you know, it's the land of the Rising sun. Like it's beautiful and you don't have to deal with 100 degree temps. Maybe you live in Wisconsin. You want to get the hell out of the snow, get down to the sunshine and ride side by sides or trophy trucks across the desert. That is what they do. They have it dialed. They know all the maps. They have all the equipment. You just fly and get yourself there. They will do the rest. So check out tlspeedshop.com they are the foremost experts on all of that stuff. Grandstone boots. I have at the best boot collection and shoe collection of anybody I know. Period. End of story. Because of Grantstone boots. So go to GrantstoneShoes.com their products are amazing. If you had told me when I first talked to Wyatt Gilmore and the team over there that they would have this collection, I would have laughed. I. I just didn't think they would get there right. It's. It takes a lot to build out a collection like they have. And the quality is like, it's the best I've ever come across. I just put it that way. Yes, it is. You know, it's expensive, right? But if you want the best stuff and these products are going to last you a very long time. That's the thing about, like leather boots like this. Okay, yeah, they're a few hundred bucks, but they're going to last you years. Like literally years. I still have the first pairs they've ever sent me. They look brand new. I should post them and just give everybody an idea of what they look like. And I got my first pair in 2015. Right. Something like the fall of 2015. So almost 10 years of working with Grandstone boots and products have stood up like a champ. Fireracing.com 2025 collection is out. Go get some. We're shipping it stuff is bomb. Evo is my favorite. I really like the blue light stuff. This. Hopefully RJ maybe wears it this weekend. I like that stuff a lot too. We will have an LE set that will release at the third round of SMX and Las Vegas. So that'll be fun. But yeah. Flyracing.com@flyracing global is. Is the handle for that. So check it out. Okay. Motorcycles Nations. What do we got? Well, we got our team. Right? That's a good start. And you all know that already. So I won't waste a bunch of time talking about who the team is. But there was so much drama behind getting this team picked. I mean, chaos. Just ridiculous. Okay. A lot of this is my opinion, but it's an informed opinion, so keep that in mind. I have information that I don't want to blow people out, but I feel very strongly, in my opinion, and I can back it up because I. I talked to people that were involved. Okay, so how I see it was Eli Tomac decided he didn't want to go. Okay, that was, I think, a fair decision. I think if he had beaten AP at Ironman, he would have gone like that. I really feel strongly that that would have happened. And I would argue with anybody who wanted to say I'm wrong. I. That, to me, is a undeniable fact that UI Tomac, if he beat AP at Iron man in both motos, he's on the team, but he didn't. He got beaten four straight motos by ap, and I don't think he would have felt right taking that spot, going 0 and 4 against AP like he. I think everybody likes apart. I think he felt like if he. If Eli truly felt like he deserved to go and was better than AP at that moment, he would have just stuck his hand up and said, hey, I think I'm the right guy, and I think I've earned your trust when I say that. And I think everybody would have been like, yeah, we get it. But he didn't. He didn't do any of those things, and he bowed out, which is, I think, admirable, right? To a certain extent. I wish. Say I wish. I kind of wish it was going to be fair. And that doesn't mean I don't like ap. AP is my, literally, my favorite interview to do of all time. Like, I really, really like ap. I orchestrated trying to sign AP a year ago for a ton of money, a ton. Most I've ever personally offered anybody. It's not my money, but I'm. I was the. The representative doing the deal. So whether or not I like AP is. Is beyond reproach in my mind. You can't offer somebody that much money and then somebody claim you don't like him. I just think it comes down to this. Do I think that AP can go to Matterley and win his class, win a moto? I don't. I don't. And that's me being brutally honest. Do I think Eli Tomac could go to Matterley if he's. Everything's dialed and win a moto or win his class? I do. I do. I've seen it happen before. That, for me, is where all of this came down to, like, that's. That is the reason for my decision to want A Tomac to Go. Like, you have to take your best team to this race. If you don't, I promise you on Sunday, if you're like, whatever team you're cheering for, if you don't go with your best team, you will wish that you had. I hope that makes sense because you're going to be there getting smoked and you're going to be like, we're not, we don't have our best team here. Like, we're not, we're not prepared. Right. And, and you're going to wonder what could have been. I've been there too many times and felt that way to, to see it any other way. So that's where I came down on it. That's why I wanted Tomac to, to go is because I thought, or I still think if Tomac's right, it gives us our best chance to win. I, I just, I believe that in my heart. And if that's what I believe, then I feel like that I, I should share it right here on this podcast. So moving past that, once Tomac said he was out, I believe that Deegan then said, I'm out, too. I believe that Deegan was waiting to see if Tomac was going to go. And if Tomac went, I believe Deegan would have gone. Now, I can't prove it. I. Deegan could deny it. It's okay. He could call me names, they could say I'm an idiot. They could say I'm lying. Well, not lying. It's just my opinion, but that's how I believe it went down. I think they were waiting. That's why they didn't give anybody answer. That's why they were telling the ama, like, we think we're in. Just give us time, give us time. Like, this wasn't like an all season thing where they're like, hey, give us time. We think we're in. We think we're in. Otherwise he could have said, I'm out months and months and months ago. But I, I believe that Tomac was the linchpin for Deegan. And then when he's out, Deegan could say, well, I need to get my wrists worked on. The team has his back. Like, if you've seen any of the comments from the Deegans or Hayden or whatever, they're like, basically like, the team didn't want me to go. They want me to get fixed and be ready for 25, right? Like, it's cool that the team has his back. I commend that. But I don't believe that is the whole truth. That's my opinion. That's what I believe. Right? Like, you can believe whatever you want. They can have their story in the end. It doesn't matter. Deegan's not going to go. I just don't love the smoke and mirrors. I don't love the politics. I don't love. And if you listen to, like, Chase Sexton on Pulp show, he's kind of hammering on egos and all the bs. I believe that's what he's referencing is like, hey, do you want to go or not? Right? And I'm speaking for Sexton, which I shouldn't do, but I think that's what he was trying to say is like, if you want to go, then let's go. If you don't, then don't. Right? Like, enough with this other stuff, right? So Sexton would have went last year, but there was. There was a lot going on behind the scenes with Monster and Red Bull and KTM and Honda. There was a lot to work through there, and in the end, Sexton just bailed because of that. It wasn't like, I don't want to go. This is. This was a very different thing than that. There was a lot of politics that were not necessarily in Sexton's control last year, otherwise I think he would have went. I remember being at Buds Creek and him. Him saying, like, I'll go. Like, I will go. And then everything kind of fell apart in the aftermath of that because there was too much to. To sort through on a legal and contractual end. And that's normal when somebody's switching teams, especially one of the best riders in the sport and all of the. All the things that come with that, it's just a lot to ask. So that's how I see it. I'm not blaming anybody. I don't really care. Right? Like, I, I, you know, like, if. If this seems like I'm coming down on Deacon, I'm not. I truly don't care. Right. In the end, it was awesome because, you know, like, we all know my affinity for fly racing. I work there. I love that Jaime is going, right? Like, I. I want Team USA to win. I want our best team. But if Jaime gets to go, that's cool. You know what I mean? Like, I don't. I don't hate that at all. But I just. I don't like all of the sidestepping and the narrative pushing and all like that stuff. I hate that stuff. I hate it. Just, if you don't want to go, say you don't want to go. Right. Like, it's okay. Like, I think Steve has been really fair talking about all the guys that have said no. Bradshaw said no. Like, lots of guys have said no. McGrath has said no. Stanton has said no. You know, I think they probably regret it in hindsight. And if you listen to, like, RV on Title 24 pod talk about, like, this is a big thing for him to say no. Like, I would not do this if I was him. RV Has a much louder voice than me and a much more qualified voice on this subject because he's. He did it, what, four times? So maybe listen to him, right? If you. If you're looking for more relevant or more connected opinion, listen to what he says on it. But as for our team, it is Sexton, AP and Jaime. And for ap, he's wanted to go the whole time. So by all means, man, like, if you want to go and you're all in, let's do the damn thing, right? I think it's going to be tough, right? I think he had big aspirations last year. You know, he's talking about, I want to make up for last year, which, you know, last year he was talking about, he want to make up for 2018. It's just not as easy as that. These guys are incredibly good at motocross over there, and this is a track they've raced on a million times. Like, all of these guys that they're going to race against have ridden this track so many times. And that is something that should not be understated. A really familiar track that they've raced on on Saturday and Sunday. Think about the guys that are racing. It's the best of the best. And how many years these guys have been just hammering motos and races at this particular racetrack, then you factor in it's probably going to rain at some point in the weekend because it's freaking October in England. Like, I was there in 2017. All it did was rain the entire time. Literally the entire time, all it did was rain. And we got a little reprieve on Saturday, and then it just started raining again. That could happen, right? It doesn't have to. I. I hope it doesn't, for lots of reasons, but it could. And there's no way you can tell me that we have a snowball's chance in hell of winning if it's raining like I do. I do not believe that. I do not believe that. And I wish the best for our guys, and I'll be cheering for him nonetheless. But if it's muddy, we're not winning. Like, I, I hate to say that, it's like punch me in the face to say that, but that's. Those are the facts. So we'll see. I think Sexton can win his class if it's dry. I do believe that. I don't know if he will. The starts are really important. Those guys are really good at starts, especially on their particular style of great. They have it so dialed in. If you've watched the motocross nations over the years, you've seen how proficient they are in starts and Sexton has been really hit and miss. So if he starts 12th in the Moto and we think he's going to go past Prado, Geyser, Hurlings and the rest February, I don't know about that. Right. Like that's, it's a lot to ask. I would say that's very unlikely. Just, just being completely honest. But we're gonna find out. As for Highness will stack up, I don't know. You know, the MX2 class is not that impressive to me. DeWolf's really good. Lucas Koonin's really good. Langenfelder can be really good. Adamo, he's been all right, you know, like it's not been a great year, but it's not a, it's not the strongest 250 field I've ever seen. MX2, you know, no Yago Geerts, no VL. I'll be, I'll be back, right. He'll be back on the next two, so that, that will strengthen things. But Jaime has been right there with vl, so the difference would be conditions and the, and the track. Jaime hasn't ever ridden that track. But Jaime is pretty good at adapting. Like he figures things out pretty quickly and he can ride any condition pretty well. I just don't, I don't know what to expect with Jaime. Right. I don't think he's out outmatched on a talent level from many of those guys. Remember how young most of those guys are. It's a, it's an age limit class so he's not going to have to race a bunch of veterans outside of the Owl, but they have this track pretty dialed too. So he's been good at the starts. He's going to have to make sure the starts are there and then a lot of it too will come in, will come down to where do they put him as far as the starts. Remember, for motocross the nations, you have two riders in each moto and let's say we qualify fourth on Saturday. Okay, so we'll go to the gate on Sunday in each moto as the fourth pick and the 24th pick. So what do they do? Do they put Jaime on the inside and hope he can get the start and get out front, and then they pray that Sexton and AP can get a good jump and kind of move over and come out, you know, inside the top 10? That's ideal. Or do they assume Jaime won't get a great start, which sucks, and put him on the outside, which he's guaranteed to get a bad start? Or do they put. And then they put AP and Sexton on the inside, and then you just pray that they get a good start? Because if the worst case scenario, you put AP, you put the. The 450 in the. In the MX, two motos, right? One of the motos, AP and Sexton be together. But the other two, if you put Jaime outside, you're guaranteeing him a bad start, and then you put your 450 on the inside and they get a bad start anyway. Oh, it's. It's catastrophic like it is. It's almost impossible to come back from that in that scenario. It sucks so bad when that. I've seen it. It happens all the time to somebody, but it's rough because you strategically gamble. But you have to get a good start with your 450 guy. And if they get pinched, if they start next to Prado, like in between Prado and Geyser, and they get squeezed and they get a bad start, then you have two guys that are in 18th, and you're just. You're screwed. Like, you're. You are. You are screwed. So that's some of the strategy that will come into play. And I'll certainly do a podcast leading up to it, kind of laying out all the scenarios, but it's going to be a really interesting weekend. You know, I love to take our best team all the time. I don't think we necessarily have our best team. Like, I don't think you can say this is the best team on paper we could possibly have. Like, I don't think that's true, but we have a really respectable team that is capable. And I've gone to this race with a team that wasn't 2017. Matterly. Our team wasn't capable. Like, Zach was good, right? He was the champion that year. But Sealy and Thomas Covington, they had no chance. Like, they had no chance. Like, before we even got on the plane, I knew we had no chance. And. And that's. I'm not. I'M not blaming them or casting throwing stones. Right. Like, I sucked. I would have gotten murdered at this race. Right. But this is Team usa and you're expected to win. We're the winningest country that's ever attended this race. That team had no chance. None before we showed up. This isn't that we have a chance. I just don't know what that chance is. So we shall see. It should be a fun one. I hope you enjoy. Charlotte. Thank you to all the sponsors. Thank you for listening. And yeah, we'll talk to you this week. I'm gonna try to knock this out early next week so we can cover this race specifically and get ready for the Texas Motor Speedway. See you.