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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 raceredos.com unmatched supplements, Firepower parts, Grandstone boots and fly racing. Welcome to the Industry Seating podcast. As you probably can guess, my name is Jason Thomas and I'm the only person that's ever been on this podcast. So maybe, I guess if it's your first time listening, you would be unsure of that. But yeah, coming to you from the the most remote location I've ever been to in my whole life and definitely the most remote location this podcast has ever been. Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and oh man, if you're not familiar with where the Azars Azores are, then look on a map. I'm about, I don't know, a thousand miles or so out into the Atlantic off the coast of Portugal, like off of Europe and probably, you know, 3, 000 miles or so, 2500 miles from the coast of America, just way out here in the middle of the Atlantic. There's a couple of islands and I'm on the biggest one, it's called Sao Miguel. And it was just kind of on a whim not to make this podcast all about this trip, but I went to the MXGP of Portugal last weekend, which we will talk about briefly. I don't want to get too in the weeds on that because I know some of you don't pay attention to mxgp, but I went to that was on the broadcast team with Paul Malin, as I tend to do, and I didn't want to fly all the way back to Idaho on Monday, turn around, be in the office for, you know, 10 hours a day, which I always do, and then turn around and fly back across the country to Red Bud all day on Thursday. I just didn't want to do that. It's a lot of flying. I know what I would have felt like, I would just be absolutely torched by the time I got there on Thursday evening. And also I have about a million days of vacation time built up because I don't do anything but work. And I was like, you know what, I'm gonna find somewhere to go for a couple days and then go straight to Redbud. I, I probably deserve it. I don't know, that seems a little self serving. But yeah, I just wanted to do it. And yes, it is a little boring by yourself, but if you're adventurous and willing to take advantage of the opportunity in front of you and just be opportunistic this has been a pretty phenomenal couple of days now. Now I wish it was longer. I've been working while I was here up at, you know, 5:00am, shut my laptop at 10:00pm like, silly stuff like that. But I have had opportunities to get out and see some things like I'm doing right now. And, yeah, it's just an incredible place that I never knew if I would ever go again and how I got the idea for it. If you've ever watched any of Anthony Bourdain's work, rest in peace. Unfortunately, he took his life about 10 years ago. He used to do all these shows where he would travel to these remote destinations, and he kind of had wanderlust a bit. I. I see a lot of. I. I don't know, similarities. Not so much like he's. He was. Did a lot of drugs and he lived a much harder life than I do. But the traveling, the solo stuff, yeah, I just felt. Always felt kind of a connection with that guy and the way he saw some things in the world. And he did a. An episode from the Azores in a show called no reservations, which is 15 to 20 years old now, but they're just epic shows. I watch them all the time, and I always watch this, and I'm like, that would be a cool place to go. Like, I'm probably never going because it would take such a concerted effort to get there, but that would be pretty cool. And so this was my opportunity and I took it. And I didn't want to go. I didn't want to go the opposite direction from America. And I'm sure some people are like, why didn't you go to Greece or Mykonos or the French Riviera, you know? And I've done a lot of those things already. I've been to south of France many times. I've been to Greece twice. I have not been to, like, Mykonos or the Islands, which is on my list. The problem with that plan was I would need to fly Monday, and I would spend most of the day Monday getting there, because I'd have to go something like Porto to, you know, Paris or Rome or Athens and then connect down. So it would be two or three flights to get there, which I did not want to do, because that would soak up all of Monday. I would spend Tuesday there, and then I would have to do the same thing on Wednesday to get back to Lisbon for my return flight to America on Thursday. So my options were limited. This was just kind of the perfect one. And I'm recording this on Wednesday before Red Bud and I fly back to Portugal today and then I'm stateside Thursday. So anyway, that's been this trip. Great place. I very, very much recommend it. It's. It's easy to get here from Canada. There are direct flights. I think there might be direct flights from Newark also and Boston. But if you're looking for something different summer here, it's. It's pretty hard to beat super mild temperatures because the water's really chilly. But just, you know, great weather, a great way to escape the heat a little bit. But it's not, definitely not cold, it's just not 95. The hotel I stayed at is Verde Marin Verde Marin Verde Mar Hotel and Spa. And I could not recommend that place anymore. Highly. What an incredible hotel. So anyway, enough of all that. I apologize if that was a lot for some of you. Some of you probably don't care. You know, I talk about dirt bikes. I get it. And we're going to do that. I want to thank the sponsors of this podcast, Guts Racing. Check out their website, gutsracing.com works connection works connection.com race-rentals.com great side by side tour program they have there. You can learn to drive trophy trucks as well. Grantstone boots, unmatched supplements and Nova Prime Labs fly racing firepower parts. Everybody that helps this podcast, thank you so much for being a part of it. Now let's talk some dirt bikes while I'm sitting here overlooking the ocean. And if you see my story today on Wednesday that I'm posting, this is where I posted from. It's overlooking this ocean. And yeah, I mean this is just like imagine being able to record a podcast here every day. Like unbelievable. But anyway, if you get this, if I get this out in time and you can see my story from Wednesday, you will see where I was standing here recording and thankfully there's nobody around. They'd probably be looking at me like I was a crazy person. But let's talk about High Point a little bit. I don't want to talk about it too much because it was over a week and a half ago and we're going to talk about Red Bud and I want to touch on Portugal mxgp. So High Point, you know, I thought it was a pretty pivotal round on for a lot of reasons, you know, in the 250 class, we just really have no idea what is going on. Like what to expect, where do we go from here? Your guess is as good as mine. Like I have my thoughts on it, but that's purely all they are. Like, it's speculation, it's assumption. There's no real conviction in my thoughts because really, how could you have any. Like, it's been far too uncertain. There's been way too much variance in the results to have to what I think would be, you know, to draw parallels or draw, not draw parallels, but draw conclusions on what we've been seeing. And I mean, case in point, Seth Hammaker had really kind of gotten it together. He'd been overcoming adversity. Even when he'd gotten in first turn crashes, which had been too many, he had been finding ways to overcome it and get back near the front and salvage points. Which I think is crucially important for championships, is when things go wrong, and they will. Things always do in a championship. Like, it's very rare that you just have perfect 11 round series. Like unless your name's Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart or the like, you know, jet in 23, it just doesn't happen that way. And this was really no different for Hammocker leading up to this. Now this was finally a situation where he couldn't overcome troubles. And we saw what happened, right? He whoops out, which is one of the craziest crashes I've ever seen. Did not expect that, nor why would anybody expect that. Just, just caught traction when he didn't think he would. And you know, it just goes to show how quickly things can happen at the speeds these guys are going. And make no mistake, these guys are, you know, some of the best skilled craftsmen at what they do on earth. Full stop. Like, I very much believe that, you know, the top level of SMX or MXGP or MotoGP or Formula 1 or Indycars or any, anything like that. These guys are so in tune and in touch with their motorcycle and their skill set and they can put the bike exactly where they want it, how they want it, when they want it. For something that dramatic to catch him out and surprise him that badly is, is very rare. It's, it's really hard to kind of fathom, but you know, in the modern, in modern racing, these guys often will try to get the rear end down to maximize their forward acceleration on a landing. Like, it's a really skilled maneuver. It's almost like Excite Bike. For those of you who used to play Excite Bike, you kind of wanted to land like rear wheel down to drive first. That really wasn't a thing in Moto so much. Until the last few years guys have started to incorporate that. But it doesn't come without Risk, and this was the most extreme of those. And it really surprised me. He didn't think that there was any. This would happen and it might be champion deciding. We don't know. We shall see. I think he's going to raise Red Bud. There's been no official word yet. I do think he will line up, but we don't really know what the extent of his injuries are either. We have no idea if he's significantly hurt and just trying to gut it out and see how it goes, see how first practice goes. Maybe I can ride, maybe I can't. Or is he relatively okay and it's just been really sore and he should be fine once adrenaline gets going? Or is it like he's really hurt, but there's no reason to not try? Maybe there's a way he can gut it out because the alternative is basically just forfeiting the championship. I don't know. Right. Those. But those are the options. Those are the list of options on the. On the sheet for what could be happening. So time will tell, but that was a rough one. His teammate, Levi Kitchen, you know, I apologize for the wind noise here. I'm standing up on this cliff, but. His teammate, Levi Kitchen, really weird day. I would say arguably the least inspired ride of the season for Levi. I. I really don't know what he was doing, what was. What was wrong. Now, the other side of the coin, the other perspective is, well, hey, like, you went in tied for the red plate, now you have sole possession of the red plate. So that's good, right? Like, okay, yeah, if you want to be super, you know, Mr. Bright side Cool again, that's fine. I mean, I'll. I'll go along with it. It's just not necessarily where I see it. I just saw a very kind of. I don't want to say poor day, but it wasn't up to his standards. It has not. It was not as good as he has been as of late. And I think he left a lot of points on the table that Cole Davies and other guys absorbed. Bomare Shimoda, all those guys made up points on Kitchen. So choose your side and everybody will. And in the end, it really doesn't matter. We have a lot of racing that's going to sort all this out, but it was just a strange, strange day, and he's going to have to be better than that at Red Bud. Like, you cannot have many days like that and expect to be champion. Like, I can tell you that with certainty, to win this championship, you're going to have to win. And we've already seen Cole Davies have days where he was untouchable. A strong word. I don't. I don't think that's necessarily appropriate. But. But great. Fastest qualifier and win both motos, like, can't do it much better than that. And that's what we saw at High Point. We. Do we get more of that at Red Bud? I don't know. Do we get more of that at Southwick? I don't know. That's the whole, you know, shebang with this 250 class is. Is. I have far more questions than answers. And to be this many races in going into the fifth round, I think to have far more questions than answers still is an interesting dynamic. Usually you have some pretty clear trends and things you can rely on, but I. I don't know that we do. I. I don't necessarily believe that we do, to be honest. So time will tell, as it always does. We'll learn more as we. As we march on in this championship. But, you know, Davies has made some serious, seriously strong statements in the last few weeks now. He's had some bad days, too, and that's why he's not the points leader. I mean, it's a. The obvious reason why he's not the points leader, but it feels a bit like he's starting to figure things out. Is that a fair thing to say? And if this wind is brutal, I really, really apologize. I'm trying to dodge it. But if Davies catches fire here, he. He's going to be a real problem. And I know, like, some people think that is the case. I know Jason Wigan is a big believer that Davies is just going to kind of take over. I'm not saying he's wrong. I'm. I don't have a really strong opinion and that, you know, I've been accused of waffling a lot. I'm not really waffling. I just haven't made up my mind yet. Like, I need to see more. I don't. I don't think that anything has been decided yet because I've seen some really curious rides where I'm like, I don't know. That doesn't look very good. And then I've seen rides where he's just the dominant factor in the. In the moto, so, you know, which is the one that we're going to see more of. Or maybe it's just. Maybe he's just young and figuring it out and he's not ready to fully take command quite yet. We'll. We'll see. We'll all learn together. Shimoda is the last guy I want to touch on in 250s. I still have Shimoda as my championship pick. But I will tell you this. He's got to be better than he's been. You know, he's, he's one point out, which to have been underperforming up till now and be one point out is pretty tremendous, I will say that. But you can't just keep floundering around, unable to pass. You know, basically, smx next riders when it really matters and expected to end up champ. I don't believe that's true either. Like, I just think that there's got to be some winning along the way if you want to be champ. Like, it's very rare that you see champions without a significant amount of winning in their game. And I know it's happened like 97 ferry like, yeah, yeah, I understand. I get it. But it's, it's the anomaly. It's not, it's not the norm. So you don't want to be hoping that you're an anomaly. You don't want to be the irregularity. That's like, ah, There's a way, though. Like, it's not impossible. Like, that's not how you want, that's not the position you want to be in. You want to be in the position of, well, this scenario, me doing this most often leads to a championship. That's, that's the driver's seat you want to be in. And I think Shimoda has all the tools to get there, but he simply has not yet. And he's mentioned that the, the injury, the injuries have weighed on him mentally, which, that makes sense to me. You know, I didn't think it necessarily would because he came out at Arlington so incredibly quickly, like, just immediately to the front. I was like, whoa, that is, that is far better, you know, far better off of injury than I expected. And I, I, I was telling people to pump the brakes on Shimoda going into Arlington, and I, I kind of looked foolish there. But now I think this dynamic is what I was alluding to back in February. It's just taken. I, I don't know why it's just showing up now versus it did then. I have no idea why that is strange. Shouldn't go that way in my mind, but nobody cares. You know, my wife doesn't care what I expect of it. But it is a thing for Shimoda right now. And if he's going to be champ, I think he's got to break out of that. And you're going to see the SMX Insider show come out on Thursday. Comes out Thursday at 2pm Eastern. We interviewed Jeremy Martin, and my question for him was about this scenario, like, with Shimoda, you know, how do you break out of this mental block of being willing to take chances again, Again? Because Jeremy Martin has had to face this many times. J. Martis had some brutal injuries, neck stuff, head stuff, where he really questioned never racing again. Like, I. I remember very vividly him being on the starting line and literally him like the mechanics and the team and people telling me, like, he's terrified to. To race. He doesn't want to hurt himself. So he's faced this down. And his moto went at Nova last year would tell you that he was able to get to the other side. So I kind of wanted to know, like, what did that look like? How did he do that? What was. What were some of the things that he did to get over it? And how would he advise Joe Shimoda if he was asked? So, yeah, check that out. I just thought it was kind of an interesting perspective to get from a guy who had seen it. And for Joe, it could be the difference between winning this championship and not, you know, can he get back to his best self? Because if he can, the door is wide open. It is wide open and ready for him to go be champ this summer if he can figure it out. But if he can't and he just kind of lingers around this top five, it's a maybe. You know, it's hard for me to say it's a no when he's one point down in four rounds and he really hasn't done anything. But I can tell you, if he catches fire down the stretch, it's a yes. And I'm sure that's. That's kind of where he wants to be. So time will tell on Shimoda, but I. I very much believe this is a mental thing with him, not a physical thing. Can he kind of rip the band aid off and go, let it rip the way that most guys do their entire career? You know, that's. The guys that are winning are not riding in fear, and everybody rides in fear at some point. Like, that's a natural norm at some point in your racing. It was basically my entire last season. I didn't want to hurt myself because I knew it was. I knew it was the last one. I knew I was done. And the last thing I wanted to do is have some sort of Catastrophic injury my last year like that. I mean, it would have been terrible anytime, but when you know it's over and you're just riding the thing out and watching the clock tick races off, you definitely don't want to hurt yourself in a big way that could have, you know, impacts in the rest of your life. So I know what it's like somewhat to ride with hesitation that way, but I do very much believe for Joe to be his best self and for my. Me to be my best self. You can't race that way. When I went to Germany that offseason, I didn't race that way and I was on fire at certain times, but I just kind of left it all behind and said, I'm gonna go do this thing and I know how to race these races and I have a great track record and I'm just going to trust that it's going to work out. And I think that's kind of where Joe has to get to, and we'll see if he does or doesn't. So that's it for 250s. Let's touch on the power rankings on the 450 and we will wrap this up with some MXGP talk. So, power rankings, you know, as I mentioned before, some of this was going to change if guys did or didn't get healthy. Right. And if they're going to be around or not. So I made adjustments based off of that, like, Sexton's gone, Tomax gone, just because they're not racing and they're not going to race anytime soon. So there's no reason to keep them in here if you're not going to see them anytime soon. I just think that's kind of wasted spots and there's really nothing to talk about with those guys. So number 10 is Cooper Webb, and Webb is. I mean, listen, he's in his swan song. Pro motocross season. We know it, you know it, I know it. But he's still trying, like, for him to go to Southwick, like, rent the track, Go to Southwick and spend multiple days there on your off week, like, good on you. Like, I would. I didn't think he was going to be doing that. I don't think that I would want to do that. So, I mean, that was, I think, more effort than most would have assumed would be coming from Web. So I. That's cool. Like, I. That's. I don't know, good, you know, good effort. Way to keep your head in the game, I guess. But, you know, like, the results aren't necessarily there, nor do I expect them really to come around. You know, I think, like, fifth or sixth is kind of the ceiling for him in this field right now with the status of it. Like, he's not going to beat any of the top four with, you know, Prado being fourth. He's not going to beat any of them for 35 minutes, in my opinion, no matter really what happens, unless they dnf. So, you know, I think fifth or sixth is about as good as it can get, and I'm sure that's kind of where he wants to get. You know, he doesn't want to be 12th, that's for damn sure. Number nine. Sorry, I. Sip of coffee. Number nine is RJ Hempshire. And, you know, RJ's gonna be switching teams. I do believe he's gonna go to Ducati for 20, 27. And it's been a little bit up and down. Has not been fantastic for RJ yet. It's been okay. Nothing spectacular. You know, it hasn't been the breakout summer that he enjoyed last year, but it's still early. Like, I think there's time. I've seen flashes of good riding from him, but at the same time, I don't think this is what he expects from himself. You know, I think he wants more, I think he expects more, and I think he's working really hard to get more. You know, I think some people. I've heard other people say that it's hard to get super motivated when, you know, the team is kind of folding around you and. And the sentiment's not very good. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if I agree with that. Like, RJ's never one to question, be questioned for motivation, and his career's still in front of him. You know, he's going to join a new team. There's no reason, like, well, this husky thing's over. I might as well not try. I don't think that's it at all. I just think it's been a combo of not the best starts and a really tough top three or four. That's. That's really it for me more than anything. But I do think if RJ can get near the front, like, I think top fives are doable for sure. You know, I don't know if we're going to see a podium from him this summer. That's. It's a really tall ask with Deegs in there and two healthy Lawrence brothers. But being top five in this class, I. I think it's very Respectable, and I think it's very doable. So that's. That's where I would be aiming if I was rj. And that's not trying to, like, I'm not trying to put him in a box and say, that's as good as it can get. I'm just trying to be realistic about, you know, if you're saying, like, it's podium or bust, that's my goal or nothing. You're setting yourself up for disappointment a lot. You have to know who you're racing. And he's just not as good as those other guys. Right now. He's just not. Doesn't mean he can't be ever. But right now, he's just not. So I'm very much a believer in realistic goals. That way you're not just down in the dumps all the time. Like, if. If you like. My goal is to make $10 million in 2026. Yeah. I'm gonna be wildly disappointed, man. Like, that's not gonna happen. I know it's not gonna happen, and I'm just gonna be bummed because I'm not even close, like, to say the least. But if it is to improve my skill set, be better at my jobs, maybe I get a raise for 2027, and I get to continue this television life I'm living. Those are realistic goals, and they could have salary numbers attached or whatever metrics you want. Maybe I hit them, maybe I don't, but at least they're realistic and I can, like, stay motivated to chase them. And I think that that rings true for a lot of these guys, especially. Especially for. For rj. Number eight is Ferrandis. And he's. And Ferrandis has been okay. Like, it's been all right. You know, I think some people have really high expectations for. But I. I don't. Like, I know he was a champ in 21. Like, I know all that, but he's pretty old now. Like, he's. He's not a spring chicken. And. And I think these are the twilight years of his career. And I think to be battling around the top five at times, which he has, is good. It's first year team, first year bike for the U.S. like, all those things are calculated in there. So I'm. I'm fine with Ferrandus, you know, being eighth. Like, I don't think there's anything to be upset about, given all the circumstances, given his age, given a new team, given a new bike. I think all those things are, you know, not necessarily net positives. Right? So Those are. You're kind of swimming upstream with those things. Because every track is a new dynamic for the motorcycle, and you're. You don't have any data to draw from. You don't have any past experiences to draw from. So you're kind of winging it on a lot of these things. And I've been there. Like, I, I know what that's like. You come in and, like, the bike's not working at all, and you don't know what to do because you're. I mean, you're. You have guesses and you have even, even educated guesses, but they're still guesses. You don't. You can't say, well, this bike on this track last year, in these circumstances felt like this. We did that. And it resulted in that. Like, you don't. You just don't have that. You don't have any of that. So you look around and say, okay, this is what I'm feeling. The team tries to kind of translate that it into, you're feeling X because of Y on the motorcycle. And if we change that, then it will result in a feeling that you're looking for. Like, though that's a very realistic conversation that it's had. And it's. It's just in the end, you have a very strong chance of guessing wrong because it. In the end, anytime you're guessing, yeah, good chance of guessing wrong. Like, you're. You're trusting your team. If you have great people around, you're hoping you can get to the right spot, but it doesn't always go that way. So they're going to be weekends where it's just, yeah, man, bike just didn't work very good here. We couldn't figure it out. That happens a lot. That happens way more than you think. I think Jet. Jet was in that spot at Mount Morris. If you listen to High Point, he heard Jet talk about, kept losing traction, couldn't do what Hunter was doing. That's because he couldn't figure out his motorcycle on Saturday. And I don't know why. Like, you'd have to ask him and Honda why. Maybe I will. But that is a very, very common occurrence. And so, yeah, that's. It's just one of the things that I think Ferrandis has to deal with. And that's why. That's why guys don't like going to new teams and new bikes, because you're constantly in that spot where you're just chasing everything. You have no idea where to go. You don't have any experience with it and it can be very frustrating at times. And everybody goes in knowing that, like the team, your bosses, the engineers, everybody is on the same page with that. But it doesn't make it any less frustrating when it's your career on the line if your results suck. But the team's like, yeah, we get it. Guess who doesn't care is everybody else around you. That is like maybe a prospective other team or a gear sponsor or whoever that you have to go to for contracts and money in the future. They don't care about any of that. All they do is see. They just see a poor result from the outside. That is the frustrating part of it. Okay, number seven is apart and similar to rj, he's going to be departing Red Bull ktm. He's going to be going to Triumph. And he's been hinting around at it kind of in his interviews, talking about, well, we're packing all our things up and, and we've been cleaning our house and getting everything ready. Well, yeah, he's basically just telling you that he's going to be moving from Orlando to Georgia so he can ride at the Triumph facility every day. So that'll take him off of Alden Baker's program. He will relocate to Georgia. You know, whether that's good or bad, I don't know, nor is it any of my business. That's for them to decide. But he signed this Triumph contract. I would guess it's a two year contract and they're lucky to have him. AP is great people, great rider, huge fan base, a joy to work with. You'll never find anybody that works with Aaron Plessinger that has a bad thing to say. And really the only reason he's not staying at Red Bull KTM is because they don't have room for him with the Kunins coming in like that. That is it in a nutshell. That's, that is the main reason. And, and I'm not speaking from place of fact. I'm, I'm speculating. I would say it's an educated speculation on what's happening, but they can't afford everybody. Right. And, and I think Tomac is, is coming back to race Supercross and they just, yeah, they're over budget and you know, AP's been there for five years and it, and really, I mean, you have to be realistic. His results have declined a bit. You know, like he was winning races two years ago, so that has to be in the equation somewhere. He is not even close to winning races right now. So I can't Say it's not results based either. I don't want to say that. Like, I love ap. I'm a big AP guy. I offered him a ton of money to wear a fly two or three years ago, maybe four years ago, but also in the same breath, his results have gotten worse over the last two years. And I'm sure Red Bull, KTM is aware of that. And that had to play a role in there somewhere. And he's not young either. You know, he's not old, but he's not young. So if you have the opportunity to invest in the Kunin brothers that are 19 years old for the long term, I think you have to take that and that at some point that becomes a real thing. You know, budgets, especially if you look at KTM's past financial troubles, budgets are more important than ever for them. Like, they are, I think, under a microscope on their budgets these days, rightfully so. And they have to make smart decisions. And so I think this really kind of comes down to that. Number six is March Banks. And Garrett's been really good. I do think he's going to stay at Cowie. I think he deserves to stay there. Now, was Supercross good? No, it wasn't. It was not. It was not a good supercross season for Garrett marchbanks. But show me somebody on a Cowie who's had a good Supercross season anytime lately, and I, and I say that knowing that Chase Sexton won two races, but that's Chase Sexton. He's one of the best racers on Earth. Nobody's had a good season on a Cali 450 in Supercross in a long time. So I'm not going to hold March Banks too much to the flame for that. But motocross is coming around and when you're getting like fourth or fifth, like at High Point, and you're incredibly angry about it, like he was at High Point when I interviewed him. That's a good sign. Like, that shows me that he expects more and he feels like the riding and, and when he's in the situation, he's battling with ap, battling with Prado, he's not like, oh my God, it's going so well. I, I, this is awesome. I just need to be here. No, no. He's really mad that he didn't beat those guys. Like that, to me, is a really positive signal about the situation because he's not content. He is unhappy that he didn't beat those guys. Like that. That's a really good thing. Like you, if you are a March Banks fan or family member or a part of his program, you should be very happy about that mindset. That is a positive thing for Garrett Marchbanks. And again with the wind. I'm sorry, I'm trying to avoid it. So March Banks moving forward. I think you just, you get your Cowie deal done as soon as possible. Like, you don't, you know, you don't know what's going to happen, injuries, whatever. You want to get that locked and loaded because there are not really any spots left out there. And you just keep, keep working to improve. You got to get the starts better. He knows that it's one area he's. He's very mad at himself about. Got to get the starts better and then just keep doing what you're doing. Look for progress, try to. It's just small improvements, right? You're just trying to make small gains week in and week out, and small gains over time will end up being big improvements. So, yeah, I'm very impressed with March Banks so far this summer. Number five is J. Coop, who will be back this weekend. Huge crash. He had a hang town. Not his fault. Harup went down right in front of him and it'll be good to have Jacob back. He's signed again to stay at Star for 27. I don't know if he'll be there in 28 or not. I kind of have a feeling that won't be the case. But for 27, he's going to be there. And yeah, I think he's capable of being top five every week if he's healthy. I do think he can be in the fight with Prado and Digs, very much so. But he needs to be healthy and he needs to get some momentum back. So I don't know if that's going to be a red Bud thing because I don't know how much he's been riding, but I do think, you know, by the time we get to, like, Spring Creek or something like that, get into Unadilla, I do think he's going to be in that top three or four fight. Very, very much so. He is. He is capable of that. Number four and the next four are going to be really predictable. Number four is Prado, and High Point wasn't great. Honestly, it hasn't been great since the opener. Like, it's been okay. Like, not terrible, but not what I thought it was going to be. Not, you know, second all day. So he's got some work to do here. He can do it. No question. He can't do It. But, you know, I. Some questionable decisions in there. Like, I. I kind of railed against his decision to skip Friday riding at Colorado. I think that was a big mistake. So, again, I. He shouldn't be looking to me for advice, but I think he should be doing better than he is. And I'm not saying it's easy. Like, it's really, really difficult, but at the same time, I think he's. He's capable of more that he's doing. So time will tell. We'll. We'll all watch and learn together. But I. I don't know. I'm looking for Prado to be in the podium fight every week. Like, realistically, like, I. I think he should be beating Deegan, and, And I'm careful with saying that because Deeks is super legit, but you're talking about a guy that's done nothing but win his entire career on multiple continents. Like, that guy's legit man. And I don't think we're seeing the best of him right now. I think we've seen flashes of it, but not his very best. And I don't know if we'll see that until Southwick. I do think at Southwick, we'll see. We'll see Prado's best show up. Number three is Deegs, obviously. And Diggs is getting better. He is getting better. He's got some work to do to beat the Lawrences, because if you look at the differential at the end of the race between him and the lead, it's still a lot bigger than he would like it to be. He's getting closer to Jet, no question. You know, he's closing down ground on. On the overall dynamic. He is getting closer, but I still think to. For him to win, he still got a kind of a big gap to close. And it maybe doesn't feel that way, but if you just look at the math. The math. The. The seconds of differential at the end of the race tell a little bit of a different story about how it's looked. So anyway, it's just something to keep an eye on, you know, is. Is the excitement of it steering us a little wrong about how close he is or not? I don't know. I think maybe so, because I just remember looking up and he was like 30 seconds down on the lead at one point. I think maybe that was Thunder Valley or something. So anyway, it's just one of those dynamics where he is getting closer. But does he have the fitness? Can he do it his way for 35 minutes twice yet? And really be there in the last couple laps of those guys. We don't really have our answer quite yet. There's also the, the dynamic of, you know, Jet is very good at just maintaining a little gap and then whenever he needs to go really fast, he can. And there's. I know a lot of people that would just be like, yeah, like Deegs is getting close, but anytime Jet needs to pick it up, he just does. Yeah, true, I, I can't really argue it, but at the same time, he couldn't catch Hunter and I'm sure he wanted to. So it's not like he just can go infinitely faster anytime he wants. That's. That's for damn sure. Or else he would have gone and caught his brother because he, he could not do that. And we all know that he wants to win races. He was not happy. I'm just telling you right now, he was not happy with getting beat by Hunter at High Point. I mean, it's. He would rather get beat by Hunter than anyone else, but still not a happy, not a happy Jet. Lawrence, number two is Hunter. And that was an incredible ride by Hunter at High Point, but it's also a ride that I kind of saw coming a little bit. Like, he's really good at that racetrack. His skill set is well rewarded at that particular track. So that's not surprising to me so much. You know, like, if I had to pick a track where I thought Hunter was going to win, High Point would be right near the top. Like it really would just based off of prior results. It's not like I have a crystal ball. I'm just going off of the data we have and prior results would tell me that High Point is a very good one for him. And yeah, he showed up like he brought everything that he needed to bring in more and he really kind of dominated the day. He really wasn't challenged so much. So great job for Hunter. Some much needed momentum. Yes, he's not the championship leader, but you can't say he's not right in this thing, that's for sure. So we'll see what, we'll see what Red Bud brings. But hell of a job here by Hunter. Number one is Jet and he's your championship leader. I think he's the best racer on the planet and I think he deserves to be number one. You know, it wasn't a great effort from him at High Point. It was okay, so, so. But you know, like a two, two day. I'm not going to rail against too much. Like, I'm not Going to go hard on somebody. Get it going. Two, two. But it's, it's Jet Lawrence and the expectations and the, just the level I'm holding him to, you know, is really high. The bar he set is really high. So yeah, I'm, I'm certainly going to not give him full marks for a 2, 2 day but at the same time he's a championship leader. He's coming off injury and he's still getting healthier. Like he's nowhere near 100% healthy and he's still right in the fight and he still has a championship lead. So those are all, those are all really positive things moving forward. Like those are, you know, like if you're looking for a setup or a reason to be optimistic, you don't really, really need to look much further than that. So those are your top 10. Yeah, we'll, we'll keep those going. I do want to touch on MXGP before we do again. Thank you to Guts Racing. Check out all their custom graphics, seat covers, power sports, mountain bikes, E bikes, great products. They have great people too. I love the fact that all the companies I work with are run and owned by great people. It's funny how that works hand in hand, right. Works connection. Eric Phipps over there, fantastic company since the early 90s. And whether it's whole shot devices, accessories like brake cover, reservoirs, stuff to change the geometry of your bike, you can move your foot pegs up and down. They have all sorts of knickknacks and like it's really about accessories with works connection. 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Great track, great part of the world, great weather, great location, great hotels, great everything. And Portugal rules. So if you're ever looking to go somewhere different, Portugal is a great place and you can hop over to the Azores while you're there. But we saw kind of, I don't know, more of the same, you know, in MX2. Like, Sasha was pretty decent, but he did lose points. Guill was just on rails. Perfect weekend for Fez. And I don't know if it's Ferris or Fez. I've heard everybody say it different ways. It's probably more like fetus, you know, if you really want to be Spanish with it. But however you say his name, the guy was absolutely balls on the weekend. Like, he was incredible. Good for him. Cuts the lead down to, I think, 30, something like that. A lot of people talking about where is he gonna end up for the future? I think he should say a triumph very strongly Whether it's stateside or in Europe, stay at Triumph. They love you. You have momentum there. There's no reason to go looking for greener pastures. In my mind, unless somebody throws a. A ton of money at you, just stick with Triumph. Like, they're. They're gonna have your back. You can be their cornerstone. Like, they're building the brand over there. It's a really good opportunity to be the front man for that brand. I just think there's, you know, like, being around this sport for a long time, there's a lot to gain with that scenario. They. If you build loyalty with them, they will return that and they will pay you in kind and they'll stick behind your back if you're having a rough season. That type of thing is. Yeah, it's worth its weight in gold. So for us, and kind of. And Kunin kind of did their thing. Langenfelder, I don't know what. I don't know what's going on there. You know, it wasn't a catastrophic weekend, but again, the points are going the wrong way. He wasn't able to run at the front. He kind of got dropped by the leaders, and I really don't have any answers. The only thing I would point to is that we're going on. Year two of him riding by himself a lot. He's spending a lot of time in Germany riding by himself. He wanted to be different trainer, different around his house, and it worked. Last year, won the championship. So I can't say that it's absolutely that, but I do much. I do very much believe that you need to be practicing with really fast people during the week so you have intensity. Like, it's really hard to feign intensity during the week because you. You just don't push yourself as hard. Like, you just don't like. It's. It's almost impossible. Like, Tomac's the only person I've ever seen that's been able to do it and be able to just bring it on race day. After practicing by himself a lot, I. I think he is absolutely the exception to the rule. And I think that may be happening to Langenfelder, where he is just not as quick as he was because he's riding by himself every day. And you get. You just get comfortable, you get casual with your pace, and then you show up and you're like, holy crap, these guys are ripping. But guess what? They've been pushing each other to the limit all week. So this is just another day. And so I don't know like, again, I'm not saying that I have the answer. I'm just. I'm saying that that just might be. Might be a factor. Like, I've seen it before. I do believe it's a thing. And it might be showing up in Langenfelder, you know, now that it's been. It's been a long while, you know, it's been a long time that he's been doing this program. And I think maybe, maybe there's a flaw in it. Maybe not. Maybe, maybe there's something else that we don't know about. But anyway, he certainly kind of dropped off the back sucked to see Valen, you know, he's so good and so talented. Thankfully he's not like more injured, I don't think, but that was a big crash. Let's hope he's able to get on the plane for South Africa. I kind of doubt it. It's a long flight if you're not 100 to fly 10 hours and then. And be good to go. We shall see. I wouldn't shock me at all to see him skip South Africa. Then he would get another weekend off and then I'm sure he would be 100 at the return turnaround, which I don't even know where that is. Don't know where it is. But after South Africa because all the Kunan boys will be in Southwick. That's why I know there's a weekend off. So that wouldn't shock me at all to see Ban Skip the next two weeks and then be 100% when they come back. So time will tell on. On that front. Who am I missing in MXGP to talk about otherwise? McClellan was so, so not a great day. Not a terrible day. He was all right. I feel like I'm leaving somebody out, but maybe not. Anyway, we'll move on to mxgp. I mean, the battle between Kuna and Herlings is all time. Like, what. What more do you want than that? Like, if you're not entertained by those two right now, I would say you probably need to find a different sport because they're giving it everything, everything you'd want. Like, they are the best guys in mxgp. You could argue they're the best guys in the world. I don't think so. But they're close. Like, I think on their tracks they are. Like, I don't think you would put, you know, I don't. Jets just such an anomaly. I don't want to put jet in that category because I hold them in such a high esteem and They've been there and done those tracks. But I do very much think it's a. These tracks versus those tracks. The tracks are just so wildly different that I think they are specialists at each. So I. I would say each side has their own specialty, and neither of the other two would be able to cross over and beat the other. How about that? But, yeah, I mean, Jeffrey proves in the second moto that he can have a little bit more at times. I know Lucas didn't like the pass. I think it was totally fine. And I'm very biased towards Lucas. Like, he wears fly, so of course I am. But I also disagree with his take that it was dirty and over the line. I. Not at all in my mind. And I don't like those passes at all. Like, I am not a fan of dirty riding or even, like, overly aggressive riding. And I think that pass was totally okay. It was slow. He went and just made sure he brought Lucas to a stop, and then he went like, no contact. Lucas was really never in jeopardy of crashing, and that's about as slow of a block pass as you can make. He telegraphed it, came up the inside, met him at the apex. That's just. That's picture perfect. Textbook block pass. So anyway, would I be mad if he did it to me? I don't know. Maybe in the moment. But if I watched it back, I'd be like, yeah, that's my bad. I can't leave the door open there. You can't go to the very outside when somebody's right behind you. Like, that's not gonna work. So, yeah, just master class by Jeffrey. Really, it's a. You know, it's just great, great racing. I mean, those two went at it all day, you know, and for Lucas, if you get beat on the weekend for the overall and you still gain one point and you're up 57, you can't be all that mad. Like, you got. You know, like, I'm sure he's not thrilled about losing, like, 30 grand. He probably lost. I think he gets 50 grand for a win. It's less than America, that's for sure. I'm pretty sure it's 50. I'm sure he lost probably 30 grand. Not. Not stoked. But on the pass itself, nothing. No harm, no foul. Absolutely not. Jeffrey does not ride dirty. I've only seen him ride dirty, like, once or twice in my life. One time was to Arne and tonus on a 250, and that was over some personal beef they had. But he just doesn't like he can. Of course he can, but he. He chooses not to. He. He races super respectfully and I've always appreciated that about him. A lot of people have a lot of things to say about Jeffrey Hurlings, but he races as cleanly as I've ever seen. The guys at the top do it. Jet does it, Hunter does it, Jeffrey does it. McGrath did it. I don't know. There's just. There's a way to go about things and there's a way to not. And yeah, I've always appreciated that about Jeffrey. Even when he was saying the dumbest things, like cocky, arrogant, nobody liked him. That was when. His younger days. He still didn't race dirty. Back then, even then, he still kept it clean. But those guys have been phenomenal. You know, Tim threw away a podium, so I'm sure he's bummed. But, you know, like, him and Fevre just have been a touch off. They have not been able to match pace at the front and that's been a consistent theme. And I don't really see that changing doesn't mean they're riding poorly. They're just not quite as good as the other two. And that happens, you know, like it's. It's a really high level. So, you know, the battle for the third step on the podium is on and it's either going to be Tim or Fevre. You know, I. I don't know how much Adamo will jump in there. I think Kaido Wolf was obviously in there, but now he has this ankle thing going on. I don't know when we'll see him again. I think he's getting a bunch of tests done, but, yeah, I think we have clearly established trends in mxgp. Top two are in their own league. And then the battle for third is really, you know, there's one. One open podium spot and everybody's going for it on an. On a normal level, like, yeah, certain motos things, whatever, but on a week in and week out basis, that's kind of how I see it. So they're off to South Africa. New track elevation, you know, it's kind of the MXGP norm. A lot of variants thrown at them all the time, but they're used to it. It'll be a great race and we'll be at Red Bud this weekend. So thank you to everybody for listening to this thing. Thanks for being patient as I pump these things out as quickly as I can. And we'll get with you after Red Buds.