Well, it’s begun! The 2024 AMA Pro Motocross Championship is here, and we kicked it off at Fox Raceway. The outdoors is always a bit of a shock to the senses when you’re watching it, seeing the riders hit the speeds they do, and seeing the roost and rocks flying. It’s just so different from supercross, right?
Look, I wish the series went back to Glen Helen. It’s a better track than Pala, has better viewing, and it’s got the history, but I also understand the difficulties in dealing with the owner of GH and I get why MX Sports doesn’t want to try for a three-peat with them. I've got plenty of stories of what it's like to work with the Glen Helen owner, for sure. Pala’s no one’s favorite track really, but you have to hold a national in Southern California and so, Pala it is. It’s an okay track, getting in and out of the facility is better than it used to be, but man, the parking is all over the place for credential holders and that’s something that needs to be addressed.
We have 11 rounds in the outdoor series, and I’d venture to say that Pala is probably most riders’ 11th-best outdoor race so that should say it all. In the words of almost every pro athlete trying to explain a bad game, “It is what it is.”
Here are some things that I liked about the MX opener and some things I didn’t like.
Things I liked from Pala
Jett Lawrence
I mean, duh. He went 1-1 again but as we said on the race review podcast, maybe it was the “worst” 1-1 of his career? I mean, his brother, Hunter, pressured him pretty well for 1.5 motos, and Chase Sexton was all over him in moto two. So…panic button for the #1? Kidding, but we know Jett wasn’t stoked on his bike setup but in the end, he went 1-1 so, yeah, the streak continues.
Keep in mind we saw Sexton pressure him hard in moto two last year as well and then Jett won every moto the rest of the year. Great day for Jett even though, maybe, JUST MAYBE, he showed us a weakness? Stay tuned.
Hunter Lawrence
I thought he’d be right in the mix with Justin Cooper, Dylan Ferrandis, Jason Anderson, and Aaron Plessinger but he was by far better than all these guys. Impressive opener for Hunter and I’m interested to see if he separates himself from the pack of above riders.
Haiden Deegan/Levi Kitchen
Very little to separate the riders who went 1-1 and 2-2 on the day. Both guys were noticeably better than anyone else out there and really looked like they had speed and fitness. I figured this would be what we would see from Deegan, but Kitchen, he was better than I thought he’d be. Kitchen’s whole attitude about Deegan going off the track three times and not being penalized was taking the high road. He said that Deegan beat him, and he didn’t want to win like that (with a penalty). This contrasts with Deegan saying that he knew Kitchen would fade because he used to train with him (Kitchen didn’t fade though) and that his win was for the people “talking shit.” With Deegs, it’s almost become full WWE at this point.
Joey Savatgy
I guess call me a non-believer, but I know Joey, in his return to the 250 class for the first time in five years, fully believes he’s a title threat. To me, it’s hard for vet 450 dudes to adopt the mentality of the kids in the 250s but this is an interesting experiment for the #17, who’s been getting trained by Zach Osborne (?!?). Title guy or not, he looked great in the first moto in getting a fifth. He just missed out on being the fastest qualifier and the Triumph bike again looks very good. This is maybe the coolest story in the pits and I’m here for it. I’m also here for Joey telling me to suck it every time he sees me.
Aaron Plessinger
AP’s third in moto one was very good, he was on it and challenging the top two guys for a bit. Great ride. Second moto, we won’t go there.
Justin Barcia
Okay, I guess Barcia is back! Justin made some bike changes and has been much happier in the last month or so. He also fired his coach and his motorhome driver to get some positivity back in his life, he told us on Monday night’s PulpMX Show. He rode well at Pala, 6-6 for fifth overall is a good showing for Bam. He also said that he’s got a knee injury that’s preventing him from riding his dirt bike much and that he’s not getting it checked out for fear that it’s actually hurt badly. Sounds about right for a motocrosser.
Jason Anderson’s First Moto Lines
After falling in the first turn in the first moto, Anderson was like 35th coming around. From there he put some work in and was using a lot of outside lines, at MUCH higher rates of speed, to get by a lot of the slower guys. Jason was pinning it!
Phil Nicoletti
The resident grouch of the 450MX class went 9-9 for, wait for it, tenth overall on the day. Either way, passing Hunter Lawrence for second in moto two after a great start put a warmth in everyone’s heart. I’m sure him chopping Sexton off didn’t warm Chase’s heart at all. Still, good job to the old man.
Chance Hymas
I know he got on the box one moto last year before tearing his knee, but I think this was the best race of Hymas’ pro career. He also agreed with me. Great job in both motos as he moved forward and was close to a podium. He’s figured some things out with his training and diet and he and the team are hoping this is more the usual from him instead of the up and down SX season we saw.
Casey Cochran
The kid got the most passing points on the day as he got by at least 35 riders in his two motos after first turn crashes. He was close to a top ten by the halfway point in moto one! And he qualified 13th, so pretty good. You won’t read or hear anything about Casey riding well anywhere because of his 19th overall but trust me on this one.
Chase Sexton
I don’t know man, Sexton’s day could’ve been either a like or dislike because the first moto, he fell twice and looked rather ordinary. Second moto he was great and pressured Jett until he made a mistake with two laps to go. I texted him to see what changed, if anything, on his bike for moto two but he ghosted me. So, I’m putting him in the “like” category, but I almost put him in the dislike column for not texting me back.
Marshal Weltin
Marsh is having a good 2024 season whether it was in 250SX as a privateer or here on a 450 outdoors. He was cruising most of the second moto in 10th in 450MX before Justin Cooper, who’d crashed, got him late. He moved up in both motos and looked strong all day. Now, he rides Pala a lot being a SoCal local these days, so we’ll see if his ride was track induced or he’s on this level all MX season. Either way, strong start for Weltin.
Dean Wilson
I thought it was a terrible idea for Wilson to go from the couch to Pala to get some SMX points. Besides that fact, I gave him some money from PulpMX to support this effort but I didn’t give him what he asked for so he just wrote “Pulp” on his helmet and left out the “MX”. Anyway, great rides for Dean in both motos as he worked up from a crash in moto two and then in moto one, the old man with knees of an 84-year-old was 11th.
Things I didn’t like from Pala
Tom Vialle
I know it’s the MX opener and I do treat it a bit like Anaheim 1, where it’s not really what we’re going to see the rest of the way because of the weirdo west coast track, brand new series, and all that. And I KNOW that Tom got third overall on the day so there’s that. It’s just that I, Steve Matthes, expected him to win that first moto and then also be closer in moto two. Again, NOT PANICKING but I thought he’d be closer to the top two.
Jo Shimoda
I know that the ankle injury from SLC SX was holding him back a bit, he’s got limited time on the bike coming into the opener but being 20 points down after one round is tough for a guy that fancies himself as being able to win this title. He hit his teammate Hymas in the second moto and went down also. Tough start for Jo.
Christian Craig
What a nightmare of a season for Craig, who came back early from his SX injury to start this series. All he needed to do, while he still wasn’t 100 percent, was get good starts, limit the damage, be drama free and go, like, 12-12. Then build from there you know? But nope, in 2024 Christian can’t have anything nice. He went down in the first or second turns in both motos and ate rocks all day to 15-17 moto finishes. Life sucks for Craig right now.
Ryder D
The TLD Red Bull GasGas rider got great starts on a track you would figure he knows well, but from there he seemed to lose steam as the motos went on. And ICYWW, it was not hot at all. Tenth overall is fine for sure but to me, Ryder D’s got everything he needs to be better with a good bike/team and sick riding style, and I hope he can get everything working together at the same time.
The AMA
After talking to some people about the penalties to Vialle/non-penalties to Deegan for off-track cutting, I get why they decided what they did. Essentially it boiled down to Vialle gained time by missing those jumps and not showing much regard to jumping back into the track while Deegs lost time in his instances as well as looked over to make sure he wasn't cutting anyone off, and checked up a bit. I don’t really agree and think they should’ve both been docked, or neither docked, but I understand the rational after watching the incidents. Why I’m putting them here in the “didn’t like” category was how long it took them to work through the Deegan part. They docked Vialle within an hour but for Deegan, it was multiple hours and even in the press conference we didn’t know what the penalty was going to be. This whole process needs to be cleaned up in the future. We had Andrew Short on the PulpMX Show, who was the rider rep at this race, and he thinks there needs to be a clearer rule about going off the track, as well as some supplemental rules.
Kitch’s Boots
I mean, first the buckles in Denver and now a stake through his boot that cost him the lead in moto one. What the hell is going on here with this dude and his boots?
Thanks for reading the kickoff to moto OBS! Email me at matthes@racerxonline.com to talk about this race, Deegan, or anything else.
