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Welcome to Racerhead, where the off-season is now in full swing for most, and the countdown to the 2022 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations is now at nine days, eight if you’re talking about next Saturday’s qualifiers. Somewhere out there in this big land of ours #101 Eli Tomac, #102 Justin Cooper, and #103 Chase Sexton are getting themselves sorted and ready to ride for Team USA and to hopefully get that Peter Chamberlain Cup back in Roger De Coster’s hands for the first time since 2011. I also have a feeling the grass is being cut to PGA-fairway quality at RedBud in Michigan in preparation for next week’s big race.

I was going to use the intro of this column as a sort of pep rally for the upcoming race, but then out of the blue (or maybe red) we get some really, really interesting and unexpected off-season news. While it’s not quite on the level of Jeremy McGrath switching from Honda to Suzuki in December ’96, it was something of a bombshell… I think. It started earlier in the week on social media, spilled over in an epic podcast, and then ended up drawing a press release from one of the biggest players in the entire industry. And it was confusing enough of a situation that many still aren’t sure what exactly it means moving forward. Confused? Welcome to the club.

It started with Team Honda’s Ken Roczen posting a shot of a mangled chain, guide, and rear sprocket and hub after an obvious malfunction while out riding. Fortunately, he was not injured, but after spending so many years as a consummate professional, posting failed parts on social media seemed out of character for someone at his level of professionalism (six years with Honda alone). The post came down within a few minutes, but by then the photos had been copied and spread all over the place. Honda could not have been happy—no team would be.

Next came James Stewart’s Bubba’s World podcast (and it’s another epic one, by the way), where James introduced Roczen as his surprise guest, introducing K-Roc as “the German Chocolate.” Roczen said he had a special announcement, and then he got straight to the point: He was now a free agent because Honda “decided to pull the offer they gave me… which by the way was a great offer,” and then he explained it was supercross-only for 2023. But he had committed to ride in the two World Supercross rounds in England and Australia, and Honda did not want him to go do those extra races, likely because of his ongoing health issues that have plagued him following his awful arm injuries from a few years back—he’s not even doing the Motocross of Nations next week for Germany, which Honda fully supports. Roczen then said he’s sticking to his commitment to do the two World Supercross rounds as well as Red Bull Straight Rhythm (which is a fun one-off event), but beyond that he’s a free agent because Honda pulled his deal.

Roczen is, however, still going to race a Honda in the upcoming World Supercross rounds, just not a factory Honda, nor with the Honda factory parts that he wanted, like the motors and ECUs that he mentioned to Stewart (who has quickly become an excellent host).

This morning, Honda responded. American Honda Manager of Sports & Experiential Brandon Wilson made the following statement:

“We genuinely enjoy working with Ken and have loved having him on our team for the past six years. We have a ton of respect for the speed and talent he regularly demonstrates on the track, and even more so for the heart and dedication he has shown in returning from severe setbacks. In light of recent comments, we felt the need to clarify a couple of points. We were looking forward to continuing with Ken in 2023, and we recently made him an offer of a contract extension. That offer has never been rescinded, but it was declined by Ken and his team. It’s true that the offer included a stipulation that Ken not compete in a series that has positioned itself as a direct competitor to our supercross and motocross racing partners. We feel it’s important to support our racing partners and to treat all of our riders the same. That said, our esteem and appreciation for Ken are as strong as ever, and they won’t be altered by the fact that our priorities don’t happen to align on this issue.”

It has long been known that American Honda focuses on domestic racing series': Monster Energy AMA Supercross and Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross. Their budget comes from the U.S. market, and that is their focus. Same goes for all of the other OEMs racing here. They will, however, fully support the MXoN when one of their riders are chosen—American Honda have three racing next week, with Sexton on Team USA and the Lawrence brothers for Australia. But it was like twisting arms for Feld to get them to even go support a single international round in Toronto, Canada.

Roczen is not the only one who got offered money from World Supercross, as all three of his Honda teammates were pitched offers too. The Lawrence brothers racing in the Australian round would have commanded quite a pay day, but they didn’t take the deal, nor did Sexton. However, the Lawrence brothers are racing the Paris SX. What’s the difference? Paris remains a one-off, fun event, and the other is a newly-minted FIM-sanctioned “world championship” that American Honda does not want to commit to. And neither does Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing, which is only allowing Tomac to do one World Supercross round, but they are okay with Tomac also doing the Paris SX.

Pretty much every U.S.-based OEM has long been fine with one-off overseas races that are fun and where the results don’t really matter as much, because they are not for a major championship, and having an FIM-sanction on a championship series makes it just that, whether it’s two races or ten rounds, or whatever the plan is for next year. As one team manager told me a few years ago, “We can go easy and not put as much effort or resources into a race like Bercy (the old Paris venue) because it’s not that important, but as soon as it becomes a championship series (like the old FIM World Supercross rounds that were running in December in Canada) that changes everything, and suddenly we have to go all-in, send three more techs, our factory parts, suspension… We already have enough races here at home to worry about.”

All of this must be part of the reason why Roczen did not take any recent off-season offers before this one—he says he hasn’t raced abroad since 2013 or so. He’s also been injured or dealing with his lingering fatigue issues for years, trying to get right for what American Honda hired him to do, which is win an AMA 450 championship. That also had to affect Honda’s position in this whole matter.

So where will this all end up? Roczen says he’s sticking to his commitment to World Supercross, and Honda obviously is going to help him there, but they say they did not pull their offer, but rather that Ken and his team declined it. Said Honda in their press release: “That offer has never been rescinded, but it was declined by Ken and his team.” However, neither the rider nor the team slammed the door completely shut, and there is the silver lining in Honda’s PR—it’s conclusion: “Our esteem and appreciation for Ken are as strong as ever, and they won’t be altered by the fact that our priorities don’t happen to align on this issue.”

In other words, this partnership may not be as close to being over as it seems. If Roczen’s doing World Supercross, he’s going to have to do it on his own. Beyond that? American Honda is focused and budgeted for SX championships in America, and that’s something a healthy Ken Roczen could still compete for. Stay tuned.

Our man Kellen Brauer offered his own take on this whole saga here:

Speaking of Kellen Brauer, he and I headed to Pala for the Canvas Ride Day. We got to listen to Michael Leib and Chuck Carothers talk about the reason they started Canvas and the vision they have for the company. It was interesting to hear that Michael invested in his own manufacturing facility so he can make all of the gear in-house right here in the good old USA! If you want to hear Michael talk about the company and its background as well as trajectory, check out the video right here! 

What an experience I had earlier this week when Motosport.com and Gold Creek Lodge up in Idaho invited myself, my producer Tallon Taylor, Jake Weimer, and Ryan Villopoto up there to do some off-road riding. The lodge is pretty cool, (https://goldcreeklodge.com/  for more info) and really offers up a lot for people to do. This trip will be on an upcoming Motosport.com Driven to Ride video series and it will focus on accomplished off-road/moto guy Rory Sullivan teaching me (and the other two yahoos) how to ride off-road obstacles. It was fun and totally outside of my comfort zone, I've spent 90 percent of my dirt bike life on a moto track, I'm not an off-road guy, so this was a challenge. We did a two-hour ride with over 5K of elevation, epic views, and riding single-track on the side of a mountain and all of that. RV was actually pretty impressive on the technical stuff I have to say, and Sullivan was impressed. I ate crap a few times also so that should be super fun to watch. We even had 1981 Team USA member Chuck Sun there to hang out and ride with! 

Of course the hanging out afterward and drinking beers at the lodge was awesome, as was the E-bike ride I went on after day two of riding. If you guys know RV, Weimer, and I's relationship, then you're well aware of the crap talking that happened. We did a little "loose" remote PulpMX Show from the lodge you can listen to as well.

Thanks to Yamaha for getting us some bikes up there, I rode a 250X (two stroke) while RV and Weimer rode 250FX's so yeah, we were full off-road guys! Hand guards and everything! 

Stay tuned here and other media sources for the video in the next month or so. Thanks Motosport.com!

Back in the early 1980s I remember my friend Dickie Bellora (whose family owned the land Steel City Raceway was on) getting a call from Kawasaki Team Green to go over to England for a big youth races that was happening there. Bellora would be teamed up with fast minicycle riders Larry Ward and “Hammerin’” Hank Moree, as well as California hotshoe Paul Denis. They would form Team USA and race against fast kids from England, the Netherlands, and other European countries. I remember being really jealous of Dickie too, because it was always a goal of mine to go race in Europe (and eventually I was lucky enough to get invited to do a few). The race didn’t get a lot of attention, though I do remember that Bellora and his American teammates all did pretty well. There was no internet back then, no YouTube and no way to really see any highlights from the event as the platforms just weren’t there for a youth motocross race in England to make it onto TV in America.

Recently, someone sent me a link to something called the 1983 International Youth Race in Trentham Gardens, Great Britain, and I was blown away—this was the race! Turns out that besides the American kids that I knew, future friends like Paul Malin, Marc DeReuver, Warren Edwards, Mark Banks, Colin Dugmore, and future world champs James Dobb and Pedro Tragter were all in this race too. The production is really good, and the track looks amazing. If you’ve never see the late Paul Denis race a motorcycle, this is your chance:

I forwarded the video along to Hank Moree and he sent back a picture of one of the souvenirs he had from the race, a hand-painted plate from the North West School Boys Motor Cycle Club:

What a weekend! I went to The Mountaineer GNCC to check out one of the most unique Grand National Cross Country [GNCC] races of the season. The Summit Bechtel Reserve facility in Glen Jean, West Virginia, one of the homes of the Boy Scouts of America, played host for the fourth annual The Mountaineer GNCC event. And let me tell you, this event is like no other! On a property with over 10,000 acres—basically with power and WiFi connection throughout the entire facility—this event isn’t just an open field or a motocross track like some other GNCCs are. This site is more of a true venue.

What makes The Mountaineer GNCC event unique is the infrastructure that is already there: a lodge in the middle of the campground with a restaurant and large wooden pavilion attached to it, along with numerous bath/shower houses located throughout the entire camping space. Want to rinse off after pushing through a muddy eMTB race? Need to wash your face after racing through the woods for over two hours? Time to clean off before the long drive home? No worries, just walk over and use one of the buildings! Even off the start, the first few turns navigate around a bathhouse before sending ATVs and dirt bikes into the woods. This was my first time at the facility, and I was blown away by how much this one differed from the rest of the event venues.

Tim Cotter gave my dad Mike, girlfriend Caity, and me a behind the scenes tour of the entire facility, from the glamping spots to the rock-climbing wall, skate parks, and shooting ranges, to the hotel on top of the mountain with the scenic overlook. It was truly unbelievable to see. And while Cotter’s tour provided a nice bird’s eye view of the facility, the Babbitt's Online/Monster Energy Kawasaki GNCC Team provided me with Josh Strang’s Kawasaki KX450X to race to get a first-person up-close tour! In June I raced an AmPro Yamaha YZ250FX factory replica bike that was basically Mike Witkowski’s bike duplicated for me to race. But this time, I was on Strang’s actual race bike! The Aussie is out for the time being with an arm injury, so I was given permission to race his beast of a bike to get an up-close look at the event. …and maybe a little too close as I had too many falls to count! Let me tell you, that bike would be a handful on a good day, let alone how tough it was to navigate on a tough course! A huge thank you to Fred, Denny, Doug, Joe, Josh, and the entire team for providing me this opportunity.

After the race, we hit the road back to Morgantown where I dropped off Caity and my dad and then I hit the road to drive east—I was shooting photos of a bike build project for Brett Smith of We Went Fast at Tomahawk MX early Monday morning. Smith restored a 1996 Honda CR125—the bike he had in high school—so we took over Tomahawk MX for the day to break in the fresh rebuild. I got into the hotel late, got cleaned up, organized all of my stuff, and we were up and at it first thing in the morning. The soggy, muddy conditions from the other corner of West Virginia followed me to Tomahawk but Brett and his crew made the best out of the day. Smith had the biggest grin on his face, even after taking the bike through a handful of puddles and laying it down a few times. You could see the memories from his teenage years coming back to him. Once the important part of the day was done, Brett let me rip the ol' machine for a little bit, before we packed up for the day just in time for rain to come pouring down. Phew! Easy to say Smith’s Project 809 was a success!

Stay tuned for more on Project 809!

After a few days at home prepping the trailer, I hit the road again this afternoon as the 32nd annual Big Dave Vet Homecoming event is this weekend at High Point Raceway. We have our bikes and gear loaded up and are setting course for another fun weekend on two wheels. The last few years this event has been awesome and with some ideal fall weather, we should be set for another fun weekend with friends and family at the track. Going off the grid for the weekend!

Alpinestars 2023 Gear Intro at Perris Raceway, featuring Eli Tomac on the all-new 2023 Yamaha YZ450F, Jett Lawrence on a Honda CRF450R, and more.

Here’s a vlog from Jo Shimoda about his return to Japan to race the All-Japan Finale:

Mitch Payton was a guest on PulpMX last week and he talked to Steve Mattthes and Kellen Brauer about some of his past team riders and the races from back in the day:

"WILD VIDEO:  CALI SURFER FIGHTS WITH SEA OTTER... After Animal Steals Board" - TMZ Sports

For the latest from Canada, check out DMX Frid’EH Update #37.

Thanks for reading Racerhead. See you at the races!