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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 Works Connection Racerattos.com unmatched supplements, firepower parts, Grandstone Boots and fly racing. Hello and welcome to the Industry Seating podcast. I am Jason Thomas and It is Sunday, March 15, also known as the Ides of March. I think there's a negative connotation with the Ides of March, which is for good reason. I think it goes back to Roman times. Don't. Don't at me if I'm wrong on that, but is it when Caesar was murdered? Say beware the Ides of March? I don't know. I'm already way off track. But it is today. I know for sure is the Ides of March. I'm just not 100% sure on the historical reference. But I think I'm, I think, I think I'm close on that. Maybe even when Brutus betrayed Julius Caesar. Anyway, we're going to bring it back to Super Motocross mxgp. The things that I feel like I'm much more up to speed on or at least qualified to speak about it. Certainly not Roman history, as we can already tell. I'm guessing at lots of things. Probably just making a mockery of history in general. Before we jump into what we saw in Argentina from XGP and Indianapolis for Monster Supercross and what we're going to see in Birmingham, I want to thank the sponsors of this podcast, Guts Racing. Go to gutsracing.com works connection TL Speed Shop has changed their name to Race- rentals. So Race- rentals is where you want to go. Race rentals.com side by sides trophy trucks, they are the place to be. Unmatched supplements, you can go to unmatched. Sups s u p s.com they just launched a brand new peptide company as well, which is going to be called Nova Prime Labs. So check those guys out if you know anything about me. In the last few years, I've really been trying to get in better shape, get stronger, get fitter. Unmatched has been a huge part of that journey for me. Grandstone Boots, they have such a great product. They're working on a brand new one. I don't even know if I'm allowed to talk about it yet, so I won't. But yeah, shoes, sneakers, men's and women's boots. I. I've been there from day one with them and yeah, I just really enjoy being partnered with Grandstone Firepower Parts and of course fly racing as always. And let's talk first about what we saw in Indianapolis. So Indy was a triple Crown. It was also pretty soft and ruddy. But I don't know, I've been going to Indy since 1997, so to see it soft and ruddy and that be a storyline to me is kind of shoulder shrugging just because it's always like that. I mean, yeah, have we been there when it was a little bit harder pack and a little bit more slippery? Sure. You know, that's a little bit of a nuance of it. But also remember that we can't use any of the drying substances that we once upon a time used. So that is always going to be always. For now it is a limiting factor on if we have soft dirt, if it rains the week coming in, we only have so many ways to kind of normalize that or find solutions for it because. And that all stems back to the 2019 San Diego round in the pouring rain. Like all of this is a direct result of that. But for me, like I don't have a problem with tracks like that. I think that championships of this caliber should have nuance. They should have differing types of tracks and dirt and obstacles and it should be demanding. You know, like the same thing over and over and over to me doesn't really determine who's the best or who had the best season or who could adapt the most adeptly. Is that even a word? I don't know. But I'm going to use it anyway. And even at my own peril sometimes in racing, like I wasn't very good when it got hard and slippery and low traction environment and flat corners, that was not a good thing for me. I knew it as a racer. Like this was not a surprise. You know, riders know their own strengths and weaknesses better than everybody. Everybody else, they usually try to mitigate them or you know, mask them in some way. But I knew that was going to be a challenge for me every time. I just didn't ha. I didn't grow up in conditions like that, practicing on it. And I developed habits that made riding conditions like that more challenging. You know, I was heavy on the throttle, heavy on the brakes. I wasn't great about weighting the pegs in the right way to give, you know, like if you wait the outside peg, that's going to put more traction on the outside of the motorcycle which is going to have the tire knob stick more. So it's all these little subtle things that I didn't really learn in My development years because you didn't really need to like that. You know, growing up in Florida, there's so much sand and tacky or dirt that you could get away with a lot. You can't when conditions are really tricky. So having those mixed in there, I just think it, it adds to the championship. It adds to just knowing who is the best guy. Can you suit your skill set to be the best everywhere we go or at least not have a significant drop off versus what you do best? And it's tough. That's tough. That's why this is the most difficult championship there is, you know, for the 250 class. First, I was kind of waiting for Cole Davies to, to show up, you know, honestly. And he did like we, I think everybody had been like, this is going to be a real opportunity for Cole Davies to show himself, to emerge into the rider that I think is working underneath there. And I kind of compared it to Deegan. Like Deegan is obviously way more accomplished. We know that. I'm not comparing them as riders so much as I am comparing their seasons. Because Deegan, we came in going, this is the year where he's going to break out and he's going to start dominating and this is kind of how things go, you know, if he's going to be the rider that we think he can be. This is the year typically when you would see a step taken, like a significant step taken where he not only wins but he is a dominant force in the field. And after the first round where I was, everybody was like, huh, that's not great. Since then we saw it, you know, and it's not like he can't be challenged. Like sure, Levi Kitchen gave him everything he wanted in Seattle, but guess what happened in the end? Deegan found a way through superior fitness, through superior mental. I think he just has a confidence edge over Levi, especially in a head, head to head scenario. And he still got the job done even at Levi's home track. So that, that's really been the story of the west for Hayden is he has emerged as that guy, you know, with quotient marks around, quotation marks around that guy. I wanted to see if Cole Davies could start to show some of that. And through two rounds it wasn't really there. You know, the first round was the crash. Second round was Daytona, which I didn't really expect anyway. I don't think that's necessarily perfect for him to show that dominance. You know, he's good, he got second, but it wasn't, I didn't think it was the setup for him to have this breakout. Well, we got it in Indian and the opposite of Daytona, where I thought Indy was exactly the setup. Indy. If he didn't do it in India or at least show us that he could win in Indy, I would be concerned about this season. Not. Not long term. His skill set is too tremendous to be concerned long term. But, like, this season, I would have been like, I don't know, maybe it's not happening as quickly as I thought it could, or maybe he just needs more time to mature and grow into this role. But in Indy, we got it. And it wasn't like he just crushed everybody he was battling. He was a little bit better than, I think everybody. But he. He was challenged at times, too. It was really just the whoops. Honestly, everywhere else, he was about the same. You could argue Joe was as good or better in other areas of the racetrack, but in the whoops, he had such an edge over everybody, and it wasn't really that close. And when you hear a guy like Joe Shimoda talk about, like, I wasn't. I couldn't even believe he was going that fast. Like, there's no way I was going to go that fast through there. That, that is, to me, is noted notable because riders don't typically tip their hat that way to their rivals or, like, serious championship contenders. They don't want to give them that credit. They don't want to kind of. I don't even know the right word I want to say, like, bend the knee. I don't think that's what it is. It's just they're. They're never going to give credit and let that confidence kind of build. But I think Joe was just being really transparent. He's just like, yeah, I. I wasn't going to be able to do that, so. And I think he was almost alluding to the fact that he thought Davies was kind of, like, taking way too much risk in the loops. I don't think David Davies believed that. I think Davies is like, no, this is. This is what I do. This is. This is my opportunity to really flex on you guys, because I'm a lot better in the whoops than you guys are. So that's all going to be a matter of opinion and perspective, you know, from. From each side of it. But in the end, Davies, Davies perspective certainly won out and he got the job done. He goes 1, 1, 1, wins a triple crown, and now he's firmly in this championship fight. Like, not that he wasn't before But I think anybody who was kind of, you know, scratching their chin a little bit wondering is this going to happen? I don't think they're wondering anymore. Speaking of Joe, he was really good. If he was as good in the Whoops or if Davies wasn't as good in the Whoops, I think Joe maybe wins that race truly. But yeah, the Whoops are always, well, say always. Very often the Whoops are a huge factor in racing. And you know, these were, and they were last year, these were really difficult. So they were a separator when a lot of weekends they just haven't been, you know, like our guys jumping or blitzing. Yes, Arlington certainly was. But a lot of races we have, they're just kind of like an also ran factor. Not, not a pivotal aspect of the race. But this one, this Indianapolis round, they were. And we saw how, how much it mattered because I thought everybody liked Pierce Brown, Joe, Seth, I thought they were all really close in many ways. But the Whoops were a separator and bring Seth in right away in that conversation. He was really good. But what happened in the Whoops in the second one, he crashed like that. You can't, you're not going to. If you crash in the Whoops, you're not going to win races. And I know it was just one crash, but let's think about this for a second. Huge crash in Daytona in practice, right? That could have, that could have been a championship ender. It could have been a season ender. How big that crash was like the fact that he did not injure his shoulder in that crash, to me, still surprising, honestly now two weeks later, it's surprising he didn't injure his shoulder in that crash because that type of force coming to a dead stop like that usually ends in some sort of injury. So I'm thankful. I'm a big Seth fan. I really, really like that guy. But man, the crashes have need to come out of the program. I know he's not trying to crash, he's just trying to push, trying to get every ounce of power out of that 250 and speed. But crashes of that sort, big ones where they're not just falling over, but they're big crashes like Daytona or in the Whoops in Indy. Those will derail a championship really, really quickly. And it's not like this is any sort of departure from the norm for Hamaker. He had lots of, he's had a lot of. If I could talk. He's had several seasons where, you know, injuries and big crashes have been the narrative. They haven't been the exception. They have been the norm. And that has been his downfall. So let's see, can he remove that? Because I do think to win this championship, those have to go away. Those can't be a one per weekend type thing. I just believe that if you're, if big crashes are a weekly or bi weekly thing, in the short term, forget about the long term, in the short term, that is going to jump up and bite you and take you out of the championship. That's just what I believe. That's over. Watching decades of racing. If crashes are a norm for you, especially big ones, injuries will follow. They just go hand in hand. It's just, it honestly is just a matter of time. It's a ticking time bomb with, with big crashes as far as you being sidelined. And I don't want that for Seth in any way, shape or form. But it has to be said, it has to be said. Pierce Brown, he was back, right? The crash on in race one was the defining factor here because the rest of the night was pretty good. Now was he going to win the race? No, I don't think so. Davies was too good. But he could have been right in the fight for, you know, second, third, fourth, and he was still, he was still right there. Like, I don't even remember what he got overall. May 3rd. But I don't think this is over for Pierce Brown. You know, Daytona wasn't great for him. It was okay, but wasn't great. And then that crash in race one of this round was the difference maker. So he's gone what, one, three? And then what'd he get? Third or fourth at Indy? I can't really remember. I think fourth. But I mean, he's a real player, you know, and that's the consistency and the staying power for Pierce Brown has been what's missing. Like, this is the first year where we've seen Pierce hang around the front. It's always been flashes and then nothing, or I would even say nothing. And then a flash has been more what it's been like. But this, this year, it's been different. So good job to Pierce Brown. Let's. Let's go to 450s because I do want to talk MXGP as well. Let's talk the power rankings and it's going to be a weird list this week because we have a lot of injuries. So I don't want to like, Sexton's not in here. I did leave Savage because I don't know if he's racing or not, but you know, some of these guys, I took Ferrandis out because he missed the race. So it is going to be a little bit of a strange list. But just know going in that we have a bunch of injuries and a bunch of guys sitting out. Now I'm not doing any honorable mentions this week just because I feel like most of my honorable mentions got in to the top 10 now. Now if you want to throw like a McElrath or some of these guys and they're Colt Nichols, that's fine. They've, they've been riding better. I will give them credit, no problem. But I feel like we're in a position in the series now where I don't have to like force guys in. Right. You're either in or you're out because the opportunity has been there now to get into this top ten. So number ten is Justin Hill. And you know, the beginning of the year wasn't anything spectacular, you know, and we all know Justin Hill has crazy amounts of talent. He can put things together on a racetrack that like the, the best guys are a little iffy about. Like that's the level of talent Justin Hill is working with. Being able to finish inside the top six or seven is not always there. You know, it feels like he has a little bit more variance and what he brings to the weekend. I don't really know why. He's, he's a pretty unique individual. You know, you can tell he's kind of artistic. He just kind of has that different type personality. And if you out there in the working world as I am, you have like marketing departments and you work with graphic designers and artists, they're just different people, right? They're, they're a little bit more connected to their emotions. They're a little bit more emotion based versus like, I don't even know, fact based or like they don't think or like their, their emotion is kind of steering the ship versus like logic. And that's just personality types, I think. And I don't know exactly this is the right reference, but I think that's kind of how Justin Hill is. Right. You can just tell when you talk to him he wants to play his guitar. He's into like a lot of different things. He was also a sheriff, so I think he's got, he's a pretty complex individual, you know, So I don't, I don't think it's all of that. But when I think about Justin Hill, I just think about that kind of alternative personality, the artist mindset and I think that brings a little bit of variance to his results as well. Let's compare that to a guy like Tomak or Webb who are just hammerheads. It's always hard, you know, just always work, always a stern face, always serious, always pushing. They're just very different types of personalities, just different people. And I think that affects Hill's results sometimes in the best ways where we see him, like, things are clicking and he's just feeling it and he can go battle in the top five. But sometimes in the worst ways where it's just like, nah, man, I'm not, I'm not feeling it, you know, like, I, I don't even want to be here. I don't like this track. I have other things I want to be doing. And you'll see him riding around in like 16th and you're like, what is he doing? He's so much better than this. But my assessment is of that it is just a. The range of the, like, the spectrum of performance is much more dictated kind of by his mood and feeling on particular weekends. And I, I could be way wrong on that, by the way. It's just kind of how I feel about it. But he's been coming on lately, so good job. Justin Hill. Christian Craig did not have the start to the season that he wanted. I think a lot of people, including myself, were like, hey, man, where was that Australia thing? Like, where was that? Where is that performance level? And I don't know, it's off season stuff. The track was super unique in Australia. Really hard packed, gigantic whoops. So I would say it's probably more the conditions in Australia more than it is Christian just riding worse. That, that's my particular opinion. Doesn't mean it's right. So I think Christian Craig's doing fine. He's riding better. There's no question about him riding better as of late. But I think there are those out there that are like, that guy was like passing Deegan passing. Tomac, passing. Like, I haven't seen that. But I truly think that it was just more of a really unique set of circumstances in Australia. Tomac was on that scoop tire. It was the last race he raced on that scoop tire, by the way. And the whoops are super gnarly. And Christian Craig is a master of the whoops and he's a master of low traction. He grew up like his dad. For those of you who don't know his dad, Mike Craig was incredibly good in these conditions too. The only supercross he ever won, Tampa 94 rock hard just as incredibly rock hard. They grew up on tracks like Carlsbad, which are like riding on pavement. So you develop like the top of this show where I talked about skill sets are developed from what the tracks you grow up on. Christian Craig grew up riding super hard packed tracks. That's why he's so good in them. Doesn't mean he can't ride other stuff, but his strength is low traction environments. We'll go back and YouTube Australia, that supercross and guess what? You're going to find no traction whatsoever. And I think that that was really the difference for Christian, but he finds himself in ninth here. Good job. Coming around, number eight, ap. It has not been a good season for ap. He's got some top tens, but there's been no real magic there. He hasn't had that breakout ride. He hasn't, you know, kind of shown us the spark that he has had at times. He had the red plate, he won races. He's just, man, I think he's just in survival mode, right? Everything that can go wrong seems to like Cooper Webb. Makes a huge mistake. Gets way too aggressive at Anaheim one in the heat race cleans him out. That crash at Anaheim 2 for AP, like he steps over the bars in the heat race, the last, last lap, like he's just cruising. Steps over the bars. Huge crash there. Had a concussion, I believe he said. He thinks he did too. It's just been that type of year. This crash with Roxanne, not his fault at all. Literally not his fault at all. Guess what happens. He dnfs the weekend, has this huge gash on his arm. It has been a rough go for ap. He is eighth because he every time he finishes he's since had the top 10. But it has been difficult for Aaron Plessinger, number seven, Malcolm Stewart. And Malcolm's kind of finding himself a little bit again. That Instagram post of him riding the whoops one handed is. Oh man, that is, that is some all time footage right there. I cannot even express both how lucky he was and also how much skill he has to not end up a pile of human and machine on the ground. Most everybody alive crashes in that dynamic. Truly. Like when your hand comes off, typically you're using the handlebars to hold yourself in position. Right. Hold yourself from going forward. Most often when your hand comes off and you're in the whoops, your front should drop because you're not able to pull the bars up or maneuver the motorcycle. You should go forward which is going to drop the front end by just Your weight, momentum, and then you should do a front flip. I should go right over the bars. And he did none of those things. He wrote it out. He got his hand back on. It was incredible. I'm very happy to see it because the last thing he needs is another big crash. But that was. That was a miracle. Finds himself seventh year. It's been okay as of late. We've seen some flashes from him. So I'm getting a little frisky there in Arlington. But we haven't seen the Malcolm of Tampa 2025. I think that's fair to say. But it's been. Yeah, there's been some huge crashes this year. I mean, that start the season off. That one at a one with Barcia that probably derailed most of this season. The momentum he could have had probably got pushed permanently. Well, permanently, at least for the foreseeable future. Off track, that, you know, dislocated shoulder, can't ride. He's battling strength. You're not practicing, like, it's just really hard to go beat the guys like Tomac and Hunter and these guys when they're on their game. When you have a setback like that, it's just. I mean, it's pretty much common sense. But I think that has been really the story for Malcolm was just right away the season got off on the wrong foot in the worst way. Number six, Joey Savage. If you didn't see his foot pictures, I would suggest checking those out. Good grief. I've had that type of injury. Uh, I twisted or the bike kind of landed on my foot. Um, I stuck it down and then I landed on the. Off a jump and my bike, like smashed my foot in Arlington 2012. And it was brutal. I mean, absolutely brutal. My whole entire foot was black and purple. I thought it was broken for sure. Thankfully, it wasn't. Um, that's what Joey's dealing with right now. And it's not any fun. Can't walk. Can't really do much of anything. I raced the next weekend, barely. I was just trying to race. So we'll see. You know, thankfully he gets this weekend off. Couldn't not have come at a better time for him. But I will say the second week was better. I don't even know what. I don't know if he has a broken bone or what the prognosis is. So maybe he's out, maybe he's not. But I've been there and it's not any fun. But he finds himself sixth. It's been a heck of a season for Joey this crash, he even crashed, this injury notwithstanding. So let's hope that Joey's back in Birmingham. Number five is J. Coop Justin Cooper and he's been riding pretty damn good. Like that Indy round was race two and Indy, bar none, the best I've ever seen him ride. That's it. Like I've never seen him have that pace before. And like consistent pass Eli Tomac with aggression and finality. That was like if you wanted to make a career highlight tape, that's going on it, you know, like maybe there's a lot more of those to come. I'm not, I'm not stamping anything like a career wise. But that's going on it. That is going on the tape. Like that does not really happen to Eli very often, especially for a win in race two. So kudos to Justin Cooper, man. That was, that was really impressive to watch and you hope that it just bears, you know, it's foreboding. All the best things for Justin Cooper. I'm sure that's what he wants. He's in a contract year too, don't forget. That is a huge thing. I don't know where he's going. I could see him going to Kawi. I could see him going to Ducati. Honda's a no. Maybe he stays at Monster Yamaha Star Racing. That's possible. He's not getting paid a ton, so maybe that's possible. I'm just trying to think of landing spots for him. I don't think Red Bull KTM is in the works because I think Toma. I think their team probably stays the same. Could Husky? I don't think so. RJ is locked in. I don't know that they would move away from Malcolm yet. Maybe so. Yeah, it doesn't seem like there's a ton of options, but maybe Cowie, Ducati or stays where he's put where he's at. But I think he's deserving of factory equipment, especially when we get into motocross and it's just going to be where, where does he land? Ken Rockson. That was tough. Like he, he probably was the fastest guy in Indy and to have that happen in race two, I mean he dominated race one like it wasn't even really close. And then race two, one mistake just in the wrong time. Like he is so usually so picture perfect, precise. And he really screwed up there and it cost AP big time. It cost him too. But honestly, in the end they got really lucky here. Like truly, truly fortunate that neither of them got injured. So I'm just Going to say that we caught a break there. As bad as that crash was, I still think we caught a break. And it could have been so much worse. I mean, just endlessly worse and. But in the end, he deserves to be fourth. Like he's, he's crushing it. He's fourth in points, fourth in here. So all this makes sense. And just move to number three, Cooper Webb. I felt like Indy was a really important race for Webb. I talked about this a lot. You know, to bring the points back down into the teens instead of going to the mid-20s was the goal. It went the other way. Now he's 25 down to the championship. And I don't want to say it's over. That's not fair or right for me to do. I'm not the, you know, I don't decide these things, but I can tell you that that was, that was an important one in a bad way. You don't want to go 25 points down into the off weekend. He would tell you the same thing. Remember last year, how important this race was? He won it and it really felt important and the championship went that same way. I feel like this was, man, I just feel like it's as close to kind of closing the door on this championship as you can get with, you know, six or seven rounds to go, whatever there is left. I don't know that he would admit it publicly, but I think if you, you know, got a few drinks in him or hit him with some truth serum, he would probably tell you the same thing. Like it's going to be incredibly difficult to claw back 20 plus points from two guys with the amount of racing left. So anyway, it's nothing to like, you know, hang your head about if you're a web. Just a little disappointing, I'm sure. I know, I kind of know how he operates. Talk to him quite a bit and he knows when the pivotal rounds are, he knows when you, you've got to do it. And these kind of make or break moments, you know, last year Indy was one, Pittsburgh was another, and he stepped up to the plate both times. And this year he just, he, he just doesn't seem to have that. He doesn't seem to have the edge mentally or speed wise over these guys to do it. Last year he had it over Sexton, this year over Hunter and Eli, he doesn't seem to have it now. Here's where it's going to get a little controversial. I still have Hunter at 2 and Eli at 1. There's a lot, there's A lot here. It's legacy, it's body of work. I know. I get it. Like, I understand if, if you are yelling at your speakers right now that Hunter's not one, I understand it and I really almost did it. But I just think when you look at. Eli has 57 wins. He's won this championship twice. He's been able to match Hunter step for step for the most part, even though he's down four points. I think the most likely outcome is he wins a championship because he's been there and done it. I have no confidence in that. I am a huge Hunter Lawrence fan. Truly I am. And I like. If I could do like a 1.3 and a 1.7 to total three points between, you know, I have three points to hand out here, a 2 and a 1. If I could narrow. If I could go like 1.3 and 1.7 or 1.4 and 1.6, I would. But that's not how this works. So I have to go a two and a one and I'll go Hunter two and Eli one and I'm totally okay with that changing moving forward. This is as close as I've gotten. The race three and race two, race two and race three where Hunter just took it to him. Was it race one? I don't know. They're running together now. That was wildly impressive. It was race one and race three where Hunter just took it to him. And that matters. Like, sentiment, not so much. Well, points a little bit. But the, the internal mental struggle between these two for dominance, it does matter. It does. Like when Eli got passed and dropped by Hunter, he didn't like that. He did not like that. Just telling you, as a racer, he did not like that. But he did it to Hunter at Daytona. So it's, it's an ebb and flow thing right now, right now, back and forth and the points are hanging in the balance. You know, it's gone from 1 to 4 to 4 to 1, and I don't see anything changing. I think they're the best two guys, you know, Like, I don't see a reason why Sexton would come back and immediately be a factor. He wasn't a factor before he left. Webb can for sure. Kenny definitely can. So we shall see if any of that changes. Like, do these guys get back in the fight per race? I just think now, championship wise, it's down to two. I really, I really do believe that it's down to two now. One crash could change all that. We know racing is fickle and A bike malfunction, a crash, a first turn, you know, a Glendale type first turn crash could change all these things, you know, like. But all we can do is kind of look at it in a vacuum of what's the most likely outcome. And I think it's down to two. And for Tomac, I think you just have to lean on your experience. You have to keep just infinite pressure on Hunter and you have to. You have to get the starts. The starts to me, for Eli, are the most pivotal factor. I don't think he's going to have an issue with the riding or the pace or anything moving forward. He's already proven he's got the bike dialed in all conditions. I have full confidence in that now. But what I would. What I really think this comes down to is Eli starts. If Eli starts inside the top three or top five all the way into Salt Lake, he's going to be really tough to beat. Look at the races where Eli hasn't been very good. It's typically when he's gotten an iffy start and either has had a crash or some sort of problem getting to the front. So I think you can just draw a parallel of what is going to be the defining factor and who puts themselves in good position most often. I really like Hunter's chances of that. His starts are so consistent. I just think if all things are equal, Eli is a little bit better. Indy has never been good to him. We need to factor that in. India has never been a good race for Eli. I say never. It's historically been on the lower end of performance for him. It's probably a much better way to phrase it. So I'm trying not to put too much emphasis on Indy because he knew, he knew going in it was going to be tough. The stats would tell you it was going to be tough and then it ended up being tough. So I'm just going to say, yep, everything we thought about Indy turned out to be true for Eli Tomac. I just don't think it's going to be the norm. I think Indy was more of an outlier than it is. Something to really lean into. And I think in the end that will be the difference. And that's why I have them at 2 and at 1. Thank you again to our sponsors, Guts Racing. Go to Guts Racing on Instagram. Gutsracing.com they have all sorts of graphics, custom seats. They have stuff for mountain bikes, E bikes, full seats, everything. Surrons like all these kids are riding electric bikes now. They are the number one name in Custom graphics and seats. Works Connection Pro on start device. They have all these cool knickknacks and they are an accessory company. So like moving the geometry around on the motorcycle. You know, clutch levers, frame guards, starting devices, all that type of stuff. Works Connection is the absolute leader, unrivaled. They've been around for going on 40 years now and factory teams use them. That's really in the end, if you're looking for validation, factory teams choosing to use your product is the highest compliment you can possibly get. It is because they would just build their own like they have every, every possible piece of machinery on earth and they choose to, they choose to depend on somebody else. And I'll tell you the backstory of why that is a thing. For years Yamaha wouldn't wet. Bridgestone changed their tires because they didn't want a malfunction and have to blame their sponsor. 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We saw Jeffrey Hurling's win on the first time he's ever raced that Honda, he looked better than he's looked on the bike through the entire off season. We saw Tim Geyser kind of iffy, had a huge crash. We saw Lucas Koonin have a crash, not really look like himself. That's why I say just everybody pumped the brakes on the first round. We saw Tom Vial look the best I've ever seen him look, full stop. So there's way too much nuance there, way too many things that were surprising for me to think like that is going to be what we expect. I just don't believe that. I think it was more, you know, the guys that have high expectations can oftentimes ride really nervous and feel that pressure. And the guys that have no expectation, everybody's not even thinking about them. They go out and are world beaters because they have no pressure at all. They feel like it's all opportunity and no pressure. That's all. That's I would say always, very often a real dynamic that shifts results at opening round. So we'll see. You know, the 250 class langenfelder is going to be great. I think he, he didn't care about the pressure. I think he believes he's the best guy. He asserted himself. He, he was aggressive, maybe overly aggressive, to be honest. Like, he took a lot of chances I don't think you necessarily need to take when you're the best guy. That, that would be the one thing if like, hey man, great weekend, but what would you say? I need to be better? No, he's not asking me this, by the way, I promise. But if somebody did, I would say take less chances. Like, you don't need to blast Ferris out of the last corner. It wasn't the last corner but the corner before the finish. That's unnecessary. Could have been huge crash for both of you. He just was pressing the envelope more than I thought he needed to. That's. And that maybe he would be like, no, I'm good. Okay, no problem, I don't care. But that would be the only critique I have would be when you're the best guy, you can be a little bit more patient than he was being Sasha Kunin super fast and stop me if you've heard this, but super fast, but big crash and I don't know if that's ever going away. I keep thinking he's going to grow out of it at this point. Maybe not, you know, like maybe, maybe it's just not. The kid is so good and so talented, but he clearly does not know where the limit is. Clearly has no clue where the limit is before he's going to have a big crash. And it doesn't seem like he's sorting that out. So I don't know. I think he can win races, I think he'll win races all year, but I don't know that he can win the championship. Not without. Not without having a real kind of come to Jesus moment with his own limitations. I thought Liam Everett was really good in race two. That was really promising for Liam. I did a podcast with his dad, Stefan everts, you know, 10 time MXGP world champion. That's over@livemotocross.com so I thought Liam was good. I think he can be in the podium fight all year. I don't know that it's going to be like a championship year, but he's taking steps, he's getting better and that's, I mean, in the end that's really all you can ask for, is to continue to get better each and every year and take steps forward. And I think he did that so good for him. The rest of the MX2 class, I don't know that there was a ton there. You know, it really feels like it's Langenfelder's year. I don't know that these other guys really have, you know, the raceless brothers were impressive, good for them. But I don't know that I see other guys kind of battling other than the ones I mentioned. I, you know, could Ferris be in the fight at times, sure. But I think you'll see wild inconsistency from him at times. Also. I feel like I'm leaving someone out, but no one's coming to mind. Oh, Valen Matisse, van He'll be better. Get him on some hard pack tracks, he'll be much better. Sand, he's okay. It's not like he's terrible, but when we get into some hard packed tracks like France he's from, he's French, he will be much better. So I think we'll see better days to come from Voann. But MX2, I really feel like it's going to be the Langenfelder show for most of the season. Just, it's just my opinion Kunin will be in the fight. I promise you. It's just going to be, he's going to be in the fight and then he's going to be upside down. That's, that's just, he's proven to me that's what he's going to do. Mxgp, that class is wide open, man, it really is. Like, I know Hurlings went 1:1. February was much better than I think a lot of people expected. So he's going to be, he's going to be good again. Like, age is not the determining factor for, for February right now. And I think a lot of people are like, well, coming off a championship, he's going to have the motivation. Is he going to be the same guy? I think a lot of people are kind of wondering that, myself included. But he's doing the thing like, good. He's champion last year through consistency and through one round he's shown speed and consistency. So why would I think he's not going to be right back in the thick of this thing. He knows what to do. Don't throw away points, don't have the big crash, don't make it easy for anybody. Win when you can and when you can't, make sure you're on the podium. That is the recipe for Roman Febre. Truly it is. And I think that's what you'll see him try to execute with perfection in 2026, just the way he did in 2025. Lucas Koonin, I expected more, but at the same time he had an eye issue. So there was a problem. I didn't know that during the day, but, but he had a real eye problem. I'm very, very. For using a stock market term here, I'm very bullish on Lucas Koonin. Look at his age, look at his skill set. Look at his, his. The rate of improvement. I think that kid is the real deal. If I was ktm, I would have that kid walked up for the next 10 years. True. Like, I would, I wouldn't even hesitate. I would make sure there's no way someone's stealing that kid away from me. Whether it's in Europe or America, so be it. But that kid is, he has what it takes. I just, I could be wrong and if I'm wrong, I'll own it and I will apologize to anybody that wants me to. But when I look out over the next decade, it's really hard for me to see Lucas Koonin not a huge factor in that decade. That, that's just where I come down on it. And yeah, he wears fly racing. Cool. That's only given me more insight. It's only given me more access. Watching him practice, getting to know him, understanding him as a person. I, I'm not backing away from that take at all. I would be signing Lucas Koonin up however I possibly could. If I was KTM and I'm sure they're not shying away from that. Like I think they understand and would probably agree with me but I, I could not speak more highly of the, I think the things to come for Lucas Koonin. Who else we got? Kaido Wolff did not race. Hopefully he'll be back. I don't know the extent of his injuries but I think a lot of people are looking forward to seeing what he can bring to the table. That kid is really special. Kind of the same thing as Lucas Koonin. Like they have what it takes. If you watched him at motocross nations just kind of dominate to MX2, I think that was a pretty big sign that he can bring his, his skill set to America with ease. And he make no mistake, he wants to be in America. I just am telling you that right now. If you had any question, don't have any more question. He wants to be in America as does Lucas. They both want to be here. Andrea Adamo I didn't think Adamo would was ready to step up. I didn't think he was ready for the MXGP class. It was a big surprise to me that he did move up and I was also really surprised at the speed he had in the first moto. Now he kind of got shuffled back. I think fitness wise he has a step to take with the intensity and the brutality of the 450 class. I think that was exposed a bit but he can work on that. Getting in shape if you're, if you have the speed and the talent and the skill set, getting in shape is the easy part. And I say easy, not as in it's going to be easy, but it's of all of those, it is the one that there's a pure, direct and 100% attainable way to do it. You just go out and bust your ass, ride, train endlessly to get there like the rest of it. Getting faster or having like elite speed, those are really difficult things to accomplish and, and there's no guarantee you will get them. I would say it's very unlikely that you'll get them. It's the hardest skill to acquire in my opinion. Fitness is just whether you're willing to put in the work or not. Is it going to be hard to do? Is it going to be painful? Is going to be long days? Sure. But it's also the one where there is no question if you do A, you will get B, like the other things like trying to get faster. You can try. You're probably going to crash your brains out and might get hurt. And there's no guarantee that those things will be attained. Fitness is the, that's why I say it's the easiest one because it's a 100% success rate. If you do the right things, you will get there. You can't say that for any of those others going as fast as hurlings, because he was going as fast as anybody on the racetrack. That is, that's almost like a inherent thing. Like, you know, all these guys are practicing, all these guys are trying. Not everybody can go that fast. Like, I struggled with that. I know it all too well. I know that dynamic all too well. Fitness is the easiest one. It's hard work, but it's the easiest of them to kind of figure out. You don't have to, you know, have. You don't have to kind of put it together, this crazy equation to figure out the fitness aspect of it. So I like, in the end, I like his chances of being able to sort that out if he's willing to put in the work. Who am I missing? Paul's Jonas was good. I really like Paul's Jonas. He's a really nice guy and I was happy to see him kind of back in the mix, battling for top fives, running around inside the top 10. If he can stay healthy, he can do that every time. It is not beyond his skill set or anything like it. He just has a really hard time staying healthy and I don't know that that's solved. I have no reason to think that it's solved. But for now he's healthy and I think he'll be pretty good. Tom Vial, I touched on him. That's the best I've ever seen him ride. But he's won MX2 championships, he's won Supercross championships, he's won motocross races in America. That's the best I've ever seen him ride. And I don't know if it's a one off, I don't know if it's a first race thing, I don't know if it's a Argentina track thing, but good job, man. I have a lot of respect for what I saw because it's better than I thought he would be. 100 better than I thought it would be. And I have no problem being wrong. I, I make, I have a lot of opinions and I share a lot of opinions. You're going to be wrong with some of them. That's just, that's just the game. And when I'm wrong, I am happy to, happy to apologize and say my Bad so far, I am wrong on Tambiel. That was a hell of a good job in Argentina. What else we got? I think maybe that's it. Ruben Fernandez is fine. You know, he kind of did what Reuben Fernandez does. Uh oh, Tim Geyser. How am I going to leave out Tim Geisser? So Geyser, I think, is going to be a lot better. He had a huge crash and I think that was kind of the defining factor. I'm not really that concerned with Geyser himself. I think they need to continue to improve the bike. The bike has been not great. If you look over the course, whether it's Renault or Geyser, so far, that Yamaha has been problematic the last few years. And talking to riders, talking to the teams, they haven't got it sorted out. Like, I don't think that they're there yet. So I don't have any particular concerns with Tim Geyser. It's more, can they get that motorcycle to a place where it's as good as the other bikes? I don't know. They haven't been able to in the past, I don't believe. But I have confidence that Geyser brings something to the table that they haven't had, which is World Championship winning talent on a 450. So I think they will get there. So I'm not really that worried. You know, it wasn't the best start to the, to the season for Geyser, but I thought he showed some promise in race two and I think he'll be fine. Like, Tim Geyser is a bad, bad individual and I think they'll be fine. So Renault kind of falls into that group too. It's going to be some flashes of brilliance, but I have not seen anything from Renault that's. That shows me he's going to be a factor all season. I just haven't seen it. So once you prove, once you show me something several times, I'm going to assume that's the norm instead of the outlier. Right. Like Renault speed. But crash seems to be what we should expect, not the opposite. So I'm just going to. I'm going to think accordingly. So that's it for this week. Thank you to the sponsors, thank you to everybody for listening. And we have 52 minutes. We'll talk to you soon, hopefully right after Birmingham.