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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 Guts Racing Pro, Glow Wash Works, Connection, Bass Foundry, TL Speed Shop, Grandstone Boots and Fly Racing. Welcome to the Industry Seating podcast. My name is Jason Thomas. It is Sunday, August 24, and first off, I apologize for not doing a podcast more recently. Yeah, just been all over the place and no excuses, just haven't gotten it done. But I will tell you, if you're missing hearing my voice, I don't know why you would. Because I've been on, I feel like every show possible. Between all of Steve's stuff and fantasy podcasts and live motocross that is out of Australia, owned by a company in England. I'm all over the place tv. If you watch the Post show on Saturday from Buds Creek, that was a lot to manage, but I did the best I could. I enjoy that and I appreciate that the team at Feld and MX Sports and NBC would give me the chance and trust me with that stuff because there's a lot that can go wrong and I promise you that all of the things that can go wrong in the back of my mind the whole time. So I'm just trying to keep it flowing. And we were way off script, like having to go grab plaques and trophies and like, that's all supposed to be kind of seamless. And I knew it wouldn't be just because I know at this point kind of what to expect. It's just there's way too many moving parts and there's way too much left to chance for it to be seamless and perfect. But I'm just learning and growing into the fact that it's live television. You just go with it, you know, and my mentors at the, at these places, whether it's Aaron or Bondo or Doug or Ken or all these people that I answer to that really do a great job of helping me continue to learn. I think they would, they would know exactly what I'm talking about. That, you know, if the audience doesn't necessarily know that you're off script and it almost doesn't matter. You just have to keep going and make the. Make the most of whatever's happening in the moment. And I'm really trying to kind of lean into that. But anyway, you know, Buds Creek was, I thought it was a great weekend and if you've gone to Buds Creek in the past, you know that it can be just an absolute barn burner. It's so hot. And humid there typically. And we got incredibly fortunate. And a lot of that was due to Hurricane Aaron that came through the area. Well, it came east of the area on Wednesday. It rained some. It was like pretty overcast, not great looking outside on Thursday when I was there, which was just the remnants of it, but there was no damage done, you know, like rain, rain or otherwise. So that was an upside. And what it did was absorb all of the available moisture off the eastern seaboard and inland and took it with it. So I was like asking Steve Mathis, I'm like, well, you know how storms work. Like it absorbs all that moisture to build. He's like, I don't know what you're talking about. And I was like, oh yeah, you didn't grow up with hurricanes and storms to understand kind of how this stuff works. And for those of you who haven't, that's what happens. Like these hurricanes are like gigantic vacuums and they, they suck in all the available humidity, energy, moisture from the area. And that's how these storms build. Like you see them rotating. Well, that rotation is pulling everything into the center. That's why they build those, it builds an eye like that as the center is because everything's being pulled into it. And the most fierce parts of storms are right outside the eye wall because of that, because it's all being sucked inwards. So anyway, how that relates to the race is all that moisture got pulled out of the area and we had the lowest humidity Buds Creek event that I've ever been a part of. And I've been going there since 1996 and I'm sure I've missed a couple fine. But for the most part, I've been in all of them for the last, going on 30 years. And it was, it was truly enjoyable outside. And I can't say that very often for Buds Creek, it's usually just a scorcher. And even though I love the race, I love the track, you just know going in that it's going to be brutally hot. And anybody who's ever been to the race is nodding their head right now because they know that to be true. And it just wasn't like I, I, everybody was kind of remarking to each other because we've all lived through what that race typically is. And everybody was just like, man, this is unbelievable. Like, how is it so nice outside? And don't get me wrong, at 4 o' clock it was, it was warm, like hot ish. But like I wasn't really sweating badly. At least maybe a Little bit on my forehead or something, but not a big deal. And I have pants on. Right. Like, it's not like I'm doing much to, to help with the heat as is, but it was just, it was a great day overall. You know, the racing was okay. Wasn't, wasn't anything fantastic. Let's be real. You know, it's, it's been a little bit like that lately. But you can get that at the end of championships, especially when they're. You have 40 and 50 point leads in championships. There's a lot of people just trying to get through this thing. And now with the playoffs, the goal posts have kind of been moved to what they're thinking about because before they're just like, it's the last race. And some people really lean into that and be like, I'm going to give my best effort here. Other people would be like, I don't even want to be here. I just want to get this over as quickly as possible. Well, now that's shifted. Regardless of which side of the fence you were on, now you're thinking about the playoffs. And some people are like, I just want to stay healthy this last round. And there's a lot of money to be made at these three playoff rounds where that didn't really exist before. And it's really just kind of changed the algebra for how racers are thinking about their summer and then obviously the month of September. It truly has. And you know, like, I give Mathis a hard time because he calls these playoff rounds gimmicky. Like the double, double and triple points and all these things about them, different types of tracks and all that. It's fine, whatever. I understand the point that he's making in that it's not the traditionalist way of doing this and there are some changes and maybe you don't like that, but what I would say is it's been a net positive. If you look at how fantastic the championships have been down to the last lap of the last moto, especially in the 450 class two years in a row like the 250 class, the first year with Deegan and Shimoda was. But this, the 450 class, both years have been right to the end. Like we've had every bit of suspense, all the chaos, all the drama, all the intrigue. What more could you possibly be asking for than what we're getting, is what I would say. And don't let yourself get in the way or your own ideas or whatever, your own silly thoughts get in the way. Of what has been fantastic. You know, that would be a disservice to what we're getting is if you're like, well, I don't like it. Okay, well whatever, get over yourself then because this has been pretty awesome. That's, that's really my only point on it. But you know, the real point of all of that was just sometimes you don't get great racing because of other things. And, and I just think it was that type of day. People are thinking about the playoffs and unless you were fully locked in on kind of the points scenarios, you wouldn't be that engaged. Like the racing at the front wasn't all that awesome. But like Cody Shock's drama and hit Mitchell Harrison's DNF that almost took him out of the seating. Like that stuff was, that was great. Like that was all the suspense you could ever want. Like that's, that's why we watch is for, for moments like that. So that, that stuff I thought was, was pretty good. So let's just jump into this before we get too far. Let's thank the sponsors of this guts racing. You can go to gutsracing.com c covers for power sports E bikes. Complete seats for all of the above. All the OEMs. That company's been around forever. Second generation family company and, and I'm thrilled to be a part of that. And with them Works connection. Go to worksconnection.com they have the best starting device in Powersports, period. Look at where the holeshots are coming from. Look at what the best teams in the sport use. They use a WORX connection pro launch start device. Factory Honda, like that. I don't even need more than factory Honda, but if you wanted more. Okay, cool. Let's go. Monster Yamaha Star racing. The two best teams right now that I don't think anybody could argue with are both running the same starting device. And listen, for them to not engineer their own, like for factory Honda to not say, nope, we can do it better, we're freaking factory Honda. For them to go and use an aftermarket product says all you need to hear. That's it. Like maybe you don't really understand the context of that, but typically these factories don't really mess around with that type of stuff. Like they're not going to go outsource an engine build or something like that. They are the engineers. They're the oem. They are the ones creating this fantastic motorcycle. If they wanted to do it better or thought they could, they would and they don't. That's really all you need to know. TL Speedshop and race-rentals.com side by Sides Trophy trucks. You can rent them. You can fly to Arizona. You can go to places like Sedona. You can go to Baja. If you want to sign up for races like the Mint 400 or the Baja 500, Baja 1000, they do all of that. And you can sign up for things like that through their website, race-rentals.com so definitely that's a really cool program. There's nothing out there like it that I know of. Anyway. Grandstone boots, best boots in the game. And these are like casual boots. Like if you work in an office setting, you're a corporate professional. I'm just telling you. Go on GrantstoneShoes.com check it out. Amazing products. I have so many of their products. I wish I got to wear them more. I just don't like I'm at the races and in the office, I'm usually wearing tennis shoes. But anytime I go out, anytime I have like a big meeting, I have my Grandstone boots on. They have like loafers now. They have sneakers. Like more tennis shoes. Style that I can wear actually in that type of setting. But just a fantastic company. A great product that I've been with them since the beginning. That was one of my first, first sponsors of this podcast, Firepower. Firepower parts. You can go to firepowerparts.com sponsor. They used to be the title sponsor of what is now Quad Wakanda. That's probably where you would have heard it. We sponsor teams like Club mx, Cody Shock. They use the Firepower battery. That's probably the biggest claim to fame that Firepower has. It's. It's the best lithium lightweight battery there is, period. But there's a ton of new things coming from Firepower. And listen, you already probably already know, but flyracing.com 26line is out now. Go check it out. I am actually in Tallahassee recording this at the moment. We're, we're working on a project with Cooper Webb for his return to the first playoff round. So, yeah, that's literally on a trip for fly racing right now. Anyway, let's get into this. Why you want to listen to this podcast is for the racing talk. Deegan wins a championship. We knew he was going to win. He had a 43 point lead or whatever going in. He needed to get 15th in the Moto. All that was kind of already. We presumed that was going to happen. Not, not a big stretch. I didn't know how the Day was going to go, though. I could have seen him kind of laying up and taking it easy. He didn't do that. He went out and on the track went one, one. Now we know we got a penalty. He went from first to second. All those things are true. Yes. And actually a guy on Twitter was yelling at me because I said that Davies won the Moto. Well, officially, Davies went. Did win the Moto. So what do you want me to do with that? Like, I know that Hayden and Joe should have won the moto, and the penalty had nothing to do with them winning or not, obviously. But the record book said the Cole Davies won, and they said that Hayden Deegan got second. There's nothing I can do about that. But Deegan rode incredibly well. So congratulations to Hayden. And really, the only thing that I would say that wasn't great about his day was there was like some weird podium stuff that went on between the star guys and the Honda guys, and just some smack talk was happening up there. And I was kind of like, shaking my head at it because it seemed really out of place, honestly, at the time. But that's not for me to decide. You know, I'm. It's. That is not my style anyway. I really don't like disrespect, especially when it's not warranted and that in the right setting or what, you know, like, I just didn't think it was really the best way to kind of handle this. Like, this is championship moments. Like, you guys are celebrating podiums and things like, leave that for another time. You're gonna have plenty of time for that in 2025 or 2026. Trust me, that moment is all coming. I just was kind of like, shaking my head at it. And I know that several other people were shaking their head at it too, because I heard from them about it. So anyway, that other than that, Hayden had a great day, and he's probably like, yeah, I don't care what you think. I'm going to say what I want. That's fine. I 100% understand his take on it. It's not how I would do it. It's not. I'm old, right? I'm twice his age. It's not how I would handle that or want to handle that. And I think when he's 40 years old, he's going to look back and maybe wish he didn't handle it that way either, but time will tell. Maybe he will. It was just something that I kind of saw and was like, eh, just. Just go easy, right? Like Let it be a good moment for everybody here. I thought Deegan wrote incredibly well. He's a bad dude and it sounds like he's going to end up back at Honda and that's probably where he should end up. And really, it just came down to on this track on this day, he didn't have enough to beat Deegan. This is a Deegan type track and Joe just simply didn't have enough to go beat him. And there's nothing wrong with that. Like Deegan had or excuse me, Joe had a fantastic day and if you really want to look at, was really very similar to how the rest of the season was. It was almost a microcosm of this pro motocross championship. And the fact that Hayden was great, Joe was great, Deegan was just a little bit greater. That's it. That's how. If you really want to look back on the whole 20, 25 season and say what happened here, that's how I would explain it to you. These two guys dominated the championship. Deegan was just a little bit better than Joe consistently. That's all. Seven wins versus three. Tale of the tape. Enough said. Just kind of how, how the. The championship went. Kitchen, listen, I'm a big Kitchen fan. He might be. I really like Joe too, but he might be one of my favorite 250 guys. And it's really because of his personality. He's just a genuinely nice person. It doesn't take a lot to win me over. Just be nice, just be respectful and you're going to. That's going to go a long way with me. And Kitchen checks both of those boxes and so does Joe. I was happy to see Kitchen back on the podium. Truly, like, I said it to him, like, where you been? Like, welcome back. Like, I meant that. Like, that was a genuine comment that I meant personally to Kitchen. And, you know, it's not my job to be personal with these guys up there, but I truly meant that to Levi because he hasn't been himself. The results haven't been there for what I know that that kid is capable of. So I was happy to see him back up there. The last rider I wanted to mention was Tom Vial. Listen, I know there are things going on with ktm. I heard some things about the bike and there's. There's something apparently with the shock that they can't keep it from fading a bit. And if you don't know, that means that basically just the performance starts to fall off. And a lot of the time it can be like the oil boiling and Then the performance goes away. That not an engineer though. So don't take my word on what's causing it, but I've ridden plenty of times where my shock is fading. I know what it feels like. It's not a lot of fun. Your bike basically stops working very well and it's really hard to trust it anymore because you've heard me talk about this a lot. When you expect X and you get Y, that's about one of the most unnerving things that can happen to you. And when your shock fades, that can happen, right? It just doesn't perform in the way that it should. And it's not like it's a light switch. It doesn't just go off. Think about like a newer age house where you have like a dimmer next to the light switch where you can dim the light. That's basically what happens. The lights dim and the shock performance dims and it just gets worse and worse and worse and worse as whatever's happening, the shocks getting hotter typically is what's causing it to fade. And that's apparently why he didn't want to race the second moto is because he didn't trust what was happening with the bike. That's all hearsay. That's not official. I'm just telling you what the word on the street was. So take that for what you want. Let's get into the 450s power rankings. And remember, if you're not racing right now, you're not in the power rankings. And playoffs will get all these guys back, right? Like you're going to get Webb back and Sexton back. And who else is out? Kenny's going to be back, Anderson will not. But we're gonna, we're gonna get riders back and they're gonna jump right into these power rankings. So this is going to change. Guys at the back, a guy like Prado and a guy like Guode are probably exiting going in after this, this particular podcast. That's just likely what's gonna happen because you're gonna get really great guys back in. You know, that's a normal just progression. So keep that in mind. And number 10, probably the most controversial guy, and I really wanted him in there because I wanted to talk about him, is Jorge Prado. And I don't know that I've ever heard of a more. Well, Sexton leaving Honda was pretty contentious. It's bad over there right now. It is not good. And I truly think that if Jorge had his way when he didn't qualify, he would have went home. I don't think he would have raced. I don't think he wanted to race. I don't think he wanted to be there. I think he's trying to find a way out of that team. And part of that could be frustrate Kawasaki so badly that they just say, hey man, you want out of your contract, you're out. We're both going our separate ways. I think that's, I really think there is a part of that to this. I do. I think that's what he's trying to accomplish because it's impossible for me to believe that he just simply went that slow. There's no way. I do not believe that for one second. I've watched the guy ride. Listen, he got like 10th overall on the day. Like he, he's plenty capable of turning in a better lap time. This guy's qualified fastest and GPS like a million times he's been top five qualifying this year. You don't somehow go to 43rd on a track that's really easy to figure out. Like Buds Creek is really easy to adapt to. There's not shadows, there's not a lot to learn. Like it's really easy. I, trust me, I've written it a lot and just up and down the hills and it's not like winding to where you kind of get lost. It's really long straightaway so you can see where you're going. So even though like this is a new track to adapt to thing, not on this one. Like, I don't, I don't buy that for a second. I just know this track too well to even think that's a possibility. So to me, all of that in the end means he wasn't trying and he likely didn't want to race and, and I think he's looking for a way out in the end. I really do. I've heard a lot of things behind the scenes. Things are really bad things he's doing and not doing according to his responsibilities. And I just think he wants out immediately. I do hear that he's going to race the playoff rounds for Kawasaki, but I think that's it. I think that's the last time you'll see him on a green motorcycle. I do think there is a real possibility that he's on an orange motorcycle at the Motocross of Nations. For real, like I'm telling you, for real. I think that's a real possibility that he could be on a KTM for the Spanish team. At Motocross the Nations, there's just a lot Happening underneath the surface. And it's like an iceberg. Like, you hear this stuff, and it's getting a little bit public, and he's not qualifying. But, like, underneath the water, the iceberg, it is pandemonium and absolute and utter chaos underneath the surface. It's like the duck, you know, like, you see a duck kind of floating along the water, and underneath it's just paddling, paddling. Crazy. That's kind of what's happening with Jorge Prado situation right now. So just keep an eye on it. But it's bad, and I. I don't want to blame him, but I think I have to listen. You can't tell me the bike is that bad. It's not that bad. Like, I don't believe that it's that bad. So a lot of this is him giving up on the situation, giving up on his team. I've ridden bad motorcycles. I have. I promise. I've ridden really slow, really poor handling, just way below average motorcycles. I know what that feels like. And I'm not saying he loves his bike, but his bike is not a pile of crap in the way that I've. I've ridden before. And I know that I'm comparing apples to oranges of what his performance is and what he's expected to do, but it's all relative. It is all relative, and this guy should be in the top six or seven no matter what. That is what his talent and ability should dictate and his lack of effort and his lack of heart and grit right now is the difference. And I feel extremely confident in saying that. This is all effort and grit and backbone at this point. Period. End of story. Done. That's it. That's all I have to say about it. Number nine, Valentin Guillotine. He's like the opposite of that. Like, he's trying. He's on a pretty much stock bike. He doesn't really have a lot of help. He's not really making any money, and he's giving it, trying his ass off because this is his only shot. So I'm a gallant. I'm a Valentin Guillaud fan. Like, I don't. You know, I've talked to him several times. I don't really know him, but his effort makes me a fan. So great job. To Guillot. He's been bouncing in and out of the top 10 all damn summer, and that's hard to do. I know firsthand that's hard to do. So great job. To Guillotine, like, he's. He's doing it on a shoestring effort here. Number eight is Ferrandis, and you could argue that Ferranda should be higher, but it's mostly just because he came back late in the summer. He, you know, he didn't race the whole series and he missed races and all that. So I think it's fine. You know, it's not like he's losing money by me having him eight, but I look at, like, Barsha and Malcolm and these guys in front of him, I think he kind of has to be 8 for the moment, and we'll see what the playoffs bring. But kudos to Ferrandis. He's riding really well, and I applaud his efforts because I think at times a lot of people have kind of written him off, and he's hanging in there, hanging around. So good job, Dylan. He's going to be at Ducati next year, and we'll see what that entails. But it's a good opportunity for him. He'll make some money, be back on factory equipment. So all those things make sense. Number seven is Barsha, and Barcia has been quiet, you know, know, like, it's fine. He's getting back to trying to be his best self again. And we got to remember, like, Bar is pretty old, you know, like, he turned pro in 2009, and it's 20, 25, so he's been around 16 years, which is how long I raced for. And I know what that felt like at the end for me. I was pretty much done with. With everything, you know, and. And I know he just signed a Ducati deal, so he's not going anywhere, but it's not easy to stay really competitive as you get older, you know, your mind becomes something that when you're 27 is, like, your biggest asset because you're old enough to know what's happening and no risk, but you're not old enough to, like, let risk be the determining factor. Well, Barsha's entering that territory where, like, risk becomes something you don't want to take anymore. So I give him credit for kind of being able to quiet his mind a little bit and still go out there and battle really hard. So great job to Barsha. And let's see what. Let's see what the Ducati situation brings. I don't. I can't imagine. It's going to be fantastic right out of the gate. Like, the. The bike he's on is really competitive. You know, like, say what you want about the KTM and the gas, gas, whatever, it's competitive and I don't know what Ducati is going to have right out of the gate, comparatively. So this might be the best bar show we see. I don't know. Like, I'm just speculating, but this might be the best version we see moving forward. So, yeah, just take it in if you're a Bartra fan. Number six is Malcolm, and he got it done. He's gonna be third in seating. He needed to get sixth in the final moto, and guess what he got. He got sixth. So kudos to Malcolm. He won a race this year, which. That is a huge box to check, winning that Tampa Supercross. And again, he's old. Also, he's been around a long time. So we're watching the twilight years of a lot of these racers, and it's a joy to watch. Like, I'm a Malcolm fan. Like, he's a really nice guy. You know, I grew up around him, but I didn't really know him. And he's just. He's just one of the good guys. And I have the pleasure of working with his older brother every weekend. And, yeah, just. I'm a big fan of who they are and what they're about. Number five is rj. And, I mean, you got to give RJ credit here. Like, this has been. This has been a revelation for rj, seriously. You know, he. He really was talking confidently before the season, truly. Like, he was like, I'm going to. I'm going to make it happen. Like, I want to be on the podium. And I was kind of like, man, like, remember what that looked like? Jet Sexton, Tomac Hunter. Like, J Wake. The field was deep. Like, we were talking Prado. We didn't know what Prado was going to be, right? But there was a lot of Prado talk going in, and I was just like, I don't. I don't see how. Like, I don't. Cool. I love the spirit of that, but I don't see how that's going to. That's going to work. And I'll be damned. Like, he has found his way there. And, like, you could say it hasn't been every time or every week or whatever, but it's pretty damn close. Like, he's bouncing around. Three, four. He got a second. I'm. I'm pretty impressed with what I'm seeing from rj. Long story short, and anybody should be like, this guy has really stepped up to the task with a really jacked up wrist, and he's performing. It's awesome. Like, I love what I'm seeing from rj and he should be very proud of the effort that he's. He's given and the strides that he's made. Number four is J. Coop and Justin Cooper. Like, there was a couple weeks there and I didn't. This is my own fault for not really realizing what it was. But if you think about, like, Spring Creek and Washougal, he. He was nowhere near himself. And I was kind of like, what's up here? Like, is it an effort thing? Is it. Is he. Is he worn out from the season? And he did mention it is some of that. He did mention, like, the long season has caught up to him. But that crash, I think at Spring Creek really was a big part of it. I think it just kind of took some of his edge away. And that's a real thing, like being able to ride the Razor's Edge and take risk and be so sharp. It's a fickle thing. And you don't really realize how sharp you are or what your form is in the moment. You don't. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. I felt it and other times I didn't really notice and I was just like, I was my best self. Like, everything was clicking. I was super fit. The bike was dialed. I. It was just like another gate drop, another good result. And I think that J Coop lost that for a couple weeks, but he's got it back now. Like, he's refound it and it's a good time. He's refound it for the playoffs. His starts are coming back and yeah, he has a chance to make a lot of money. He's the number one seed going into the Super Motocross World Championship playoffs. Like, that's a. That's a big deal and he's gonna have to perform, but he's got a. He's got a chance here to make a lot of money, and I don't think he's gonna win. I don't think he's gonna win the World Championship. Like, I don't. I'll be honest with you. But that doesn't mean he can't make a ton of money here. Number three is Eli Tomac. And Tomac's an interesting one. He's so start dependent right now and remember how good he was at Charlotte last year. I remember watching a press day video of him at Charlotte and my mind was absolutely blown. Seriously, like, I could not believe what I was watching, how fast he was going. That's the. That's the Tomac I want to see again. And I Don't know if that's, you know, just preparation. I know it's harder to stay, like I talked about that edge. It's harder to stay there when you get older. But when I'm watching him now, like, he looks okay, it's fine. But it's not, it's not peak, Eli, that's for sure. So what do we see when we get to Concord? What do we see? Do we get that same 2024 battling with Jet just like they are sending it version, or is it kind of a watered down, maybe just like a battling for third, like sometimes fifth Ey, because remember, Sexton's going to be back. That's another guy he's going to have to contend with. And I would put Sexton a little higher than Tomac right now. I just, I would. I think Sexton is on a little bit higher plane than EY is at the moment. We don't know what Kenny's going to do. He's typically good at these. We don't know what Cooper Webb's going to do, but we're going to find out soon enough. Number two is Hunter. And you know, I've mentioned this before, but I have been so wrong on Hunter now for so long. You know, when he was winning, like, okay, let's go to 2022. Christian Craig was simply better than him and supercross and he beat him for the championship. And I was like, yeah, Hunter's riding good, but I don't know if he's ever going to be like that guy, like in air quotes, like that guy, you know, he proved that wrong in 2023. Goes out, wins a title, then goes out and he's even better that summer, wins a pro motocross title. But I was still, even then, like, well, he was battling Thrasher and then in motocross, like Deegan was better than him at times, Justin Cooper was better than him at times. So I was still like, I still was kind of like not a hater because there was no hate, but I was just really like iffy on the whole thing. Like I was always like taking the other side of, like, I don't know, like I wanted to like naysay everything. I think I have to just own it and shut up really, when it comes to that. Because he, he's proven himself. Like he's, he's an elite 450 guy, period. And kudos to him. Like, he's, he's earned every step of it. Like it wasn't handed to him. He's had to come from the brink of retirement in 2020 to get here. So, you know, round of applause to Hunter Lawrence. He's making a lot of money. He deserves every bit of it. You could see how happy he was on the podium. Like, usually when I talk to him, it's so. He's so stoic on the podium. Like, he doesn't give me anything. Usually if I try to lead him down a path, he doesn't even want to go down it. He usually tell me no or I'm wrong. There was none of that. And it's. After the second Moto, he was like. Like, he was, like, giddy almost. And that made me happy because for him to be that way, I know how he felt inside. And it's out of character for him to be that joyful, which gave me a window to what he was truly feeling. And I liked that. I liked that I was. I was able to see that and the public was able to see that because we don't get much of that from Hunter. So congrats to him. He had to be feeling awesome to do that and beat Jet in the last Moto. And he or he earned that race Moto win, period. Like, he earned it. And I hope that he soaks that in and enjoys and relishes in that for at least a day or two. And they'll get back to work. I saw those guys this morning at the airport. They'll be back to work in no time, but I know them also, and they will take the time to absorb this and rest a little bit so they can then try to be strong when we come back to Charlotte, you know, and it's interesting. Like, I remember talking to those guys in 2023 at Ironman, and they were kind enough to let me in the semi with them, and I was having to actually having a drink with Darren Lawrence. We're all done with the day, and it was just Dazzy and I having a drink. And the boys were there walking in and out. Their mom and Dazzy's wife, Emma, was coming in and out, and it was the first time that really gotten to just relax and talk to them without cameras on and pressure and just human to human, like, racing people that we all love the same thing. And it's been our entire life on both sides of the conversation, just get to know each other. Burner was there. Dan Truman was there, and I really enjoyed that. I really appreciated that they let me into that moment, and I got to learn from them and learn what makes them tick and who they are as people and it gave me a whole new respect for them. It truly did. Like, I am huge fans of them, period. Racers and people, because of who they are. Like, they are true. What you see is what you get. They're not going to BS you. They're not going to front and try to sell you something that's not real. That's not who they are. And I appreciate that with them. And if they don't like something about you or they don't like what you said, you're going to hear about it. And I've been like. I've said things and thought things. And Dazzy didn't like it. And he's called me out on it. And we worked through it respectfully, and I shared my opinion. He told me where I may have been misguided. And whether I agreed or not, we moved past it. And I at least knew more about the situation than I did before. And that's all you can really ask with anything in life, is to sit down. If you don't like something or you don't like something about someone or don't like what they said, talk about it. And maybe you leave with the same thoughts you had. But at least you got to hear them out and you got to at least learn more than you knew going in. And usually somebody's opinion will at least be altered a tiny bit because they have more perspective now. So I really appreciated that. And it's given me a lot of insight as to who Hunter is and how he works. And to bring it full circle to see him smiling and laughing and letting his guard down a little bit, that was really cool. So good job, Hunter. Now let's go to his brother, Jetson, who I still. He's the best racer on the planet at the moment. He is the best racer on the planet, and I don't see that changing. You can say, well, he didn't even win the last Moto. I know that's fine, but one race doesn't change anything for me. One Moto, he's still won the overall in the damn race. One Moto doesn't change anything. But that kid, he's simply special. And he's not perfect. He. You could say, like, man, you can't wet, like, you can't let your brother win there. You can't give other people, like, let other people see that because they're gonna think you're beatable. Like, I get it. I think that's what James Stewart would say, I really believe. And Ricky, I think that's what those guys would say is, you have everybody by the back of the neck right now, and you need to really hold tight. Don't give them any air to breathe at all. I think that's what they would say. That's my opinion of their take on the situation. But Jet apparently sees it differently, or maybe he just couldn't do anything about it. But I really think that if Jet needed, like, if the championship was on the line, I think you would have seen a different level of effort from Jet. That. That's my opinion. I think you saw a pretty uninspired Jet ride in the second Moto. I think he was just kind of going through the motions and he's thinking about the playoffs and there was really nothing to be gained. Like, he knew as long as he got second the Moto, he still won the overall. He still got that, you know, $100,000 check that's going to roll in this week. So, like, he was like, yeah, whatever. Jet Hunter can win. It's fine. Like, I don't care. And I'm really. I'm over it anyway. Like, he was. He was over it all day. Pretty much. Like, every time anybody asked him, like, what's going to keep you motivated? He kind of shrugged his shoulders. He didn't really have an answer. So I just think that's kind of what you saw from him in that final Moto, and I don't think you'll see that at Sherwood. I think you'll see Jet being Jet. Like, Jet winning the race. And the last thing I'll say about Jet before we wrap this podcast up is there's. There are some Twitter videos floating around out there from Jets Hot Lap on Saturday. If you see them, you will know what I'm talking about when I say that kid's special. There's one Matt Burkin, who is a pro racer. His father is Mike Brackeen with the ama. It's on X, which is Twitter. Go look at it. It's impossible to think that it's not in fast forward. And it's not. It's not AI. It's not sped up. It's just a perfect representation of how fast Jack can go when he really wants to go. And I was talking about this with Johnny o' Meara on Saturday morning. I was like, man, when that kid wants to go fast, holy crap. And he's just like, yeah, I watched the same thing you did. Like, Johnny just kind of like, shrugged his shoulders also. Because he sees it. He sees it more than I do. He sees him practice and he's behind the scenes you know but when I get to see it I know what I'm looking at that's why I get to do the things that I do and not that I know everything but I've been watching dirt bikes up close and watching the best racers in the world practice and race my whole life watching Jet do it is special and I've gotten to watch Chad Reed and Ricky and James and I watched all these guys practice you know James some not a lot but I have Ricky Moore and Chad 10 million times I know what special looks like that kid has it and more like he is special plus and it's truly a pleasure to be a witness to what that kid's doing and is going to do so that's it thank you to everybody thanks to guts racing thanks to Works connection thanks to TL Speed Shop and racerentals. Com thank you to Firepower Parts thank you to Grandstone Boots and thank you to Fly Racing and we will talk to you next time See you.