2022 Red Bull Straight Rhythm | Kickstart Recap and Gallery

Back in 2013, our buddy Jeremy Malott pulled us aside and unfolded several pieces of paper that were taped together. On it, was the course design for the Straight Rhythm course, a "Supercross track with no corners." A few months later, we joined a host of riders including James and Malcolm Stewart, Marvin Musquin, and more, for a sample run on a course built at Jeremy McGrath's private ranch in San Diego County. It's been amazing to see the event come to fruition, then grow in popularity and morph into the biggest two-stroke celebration of the year. Congrats, Hammer!

On Friday, riders got to take to the track to figure out the possible rhythms through the obstacles. Motocross Action Magazine's Josh Mosiman rode on Friday (and looked great!) aboard a KTM 150 SX for some vlog content and to possibly throw his hat into the ring. Ultimately, he decided to work the event as a journalist, but it was cool to see him sending it. Here, he chats line choices with Mike Alessi.

In between the Friday practice sessions and Saturday race program, some of the on-off tabletop sections were tuned up so that they were safer to leap off of.

While the differences between all of the Austrian machines are usually fewer than the similarities, the Gas Gas MC 250 that Justin Barcia piloted featured a traditional carburetor rather than the EFI setup that the KTM and Husqvarna bikes had.

We're always impressed with the structure erected for the start. Complete with rotating colored lights, it certainly adds some flash and flair to the event on television. Riders blasted off the steel grating and straight into a 10-foot drop onto the course. It got a little slick when rain began to fall in the finals, though!

Fasthouse was a big sponsor of this year's RBSR and had a great presence on pit row, with riders competing both in. the Straight Rhythm and the Moto Beach Classic.

The Red Bull Straight Rhythm is all about having a good time, and we can think of no one who likes a good time better than Aaron Plessinger...

During Friday's practice sessions, Josh Hansen consulted with Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Team Manager Nathan Ramsey before pulling the trigger on the quad-quad rhythm. Before sending the first step-on-step-off in one massive leap, Hanny jumped off the side of the course to gauge the distance, and he stopped to see what Nate Dog thought of the send.

Lots of riders showed up with special one-off gear for the Straight Rhythm. Justin Barcia's Troy Lee Designs kit was fitting, seeing as Halloween is right around the corner. See the chalk writing on the jump? At the start of the day it said "Do not roll," as there was a wood step on the backside.

Cooper Webb's KTM 250 SX graphics were patterned off those during the Grant Langston/Ryan Hughes era.

Like most of the competitors, Webb told us that he spent only one day riding the two-stroke bike to prepare for the event. "It's a lot of fun," he said. "The way you have to attack the course is completely different."

Justin Barcia, meanwhile, said it was no big deal being on a two-stroke versus a four-stroke. "It's not like I forgot how to ride one," he said.

Kit of the event - in our opinion - went to Josh Hansen, who had a custom paint. job by AP Designs to perfectly match his new Fox Racing gear.

A week or so before RBSR, Nico Izzi reached out to see if we had a bike he could race before heading to a dealership to purchase one. As luck would have it, we were set to pick up our 2023 Yamaha YZ250 test bike. A few phone calls and rush-hour drives to pick up parts, and we were gone racing!

Nico Izzi trained in the days preceding the event at Carson Mumford's high desert SX track. This was Izzi's biggest gate drop in several years, and he hopes to make a return to Supercross in 2023.

Remember the big quad we wrote about Josh Hansen sending? Patrick Evans was actually the first to try the leap, but things didn't work out for the Fasthouse rider. Evans crashed hard and suffered this nasty burn on his torso, then sat out Saturday's program.

We joked with Austin Politelli that he looked confused, holding that tool in his hand. "My mechanic is too hungover to help," he replied.

We'll just leave this one here. haha!

We love Austin Politelli's Guns N Roses-themed paint job, created by Tagger Designs. What do you think?

Austin Politelli looked solid all day on his Three Brothers Husqvarna. Politelli eliminated Chris Blose in the first match-up, but his day came to an end when he faced Ken Roczen in the second race.

It was great to see the legendary engine builder Terry Varner out and about. Varner has tuned Mike Alessi's bikes for as long as we can remember, and he certainly tuned up the Yamahas piloted by the 800 at RBSR.

Mavis Alessi with her dad, Smartop/Motoconcepts/Honda Team Manager Tony Alessi.

Brother and sister. Mike Alessi and his little sister Mavis, both competed on Saturday. Mavis is a terror on her Stacyc stability cycle and competed in the Moto Beach Classic flat track aboard her heavily modified 12" machine.

With Malcolm Stewart back in Florida training for the 2023 Supercross Series, his mechanic Chris Loredo was free to tune the number 100 machine for Josh Hansen.

Justin and Amber Barcia are expecting their first son in December. Seeing as it's Bam Bam's kid, we wonder how hard he's kicking inside her belly!

To go along with JB's special TLD gear at Straight Rhythm, his Gas Gas MC 250 was wrapped in red chrome graphics. While we loved the look of the rest of the kit, we were on the fence about the number font...

The last time we saw Dylan Woodcock was in Barcelona, Spain, at the Stark Varg world press launch, where he was testing for Dirt Hub UK. In Huntington Beach, he was on a far-less powerful Suzuki RM125 that appeared to hold him back on the tricky course. We're looking forward to spending some time with him when he returns to the States for Supercross in 2023.

Woodcock. Love that name.

Sadly, the Huntington Beach fire marshall closed the event pits to the fans only a day before the race. A few dedicated fans still found their way in!

Earlier, we mentioned Aaron Plessinger's appetite for a good time. "Yeah man, this gear was all my idea!" he answered when we questioned him about the "unique" Thor MX kit he raced in.

Backside view. "Alan Jackson, man!" was the disappointed answer we got when we asked him what Chatta Hoochie meant. Haha! Guess we've gotta start listening to more country music.

We loved the custom Alpinestars Tech 10 boots AP wore, which were painted up to match the stars and stripes cowboy boots he normally wears off the track.

Hmmm...wonder is Dylan Woodcock was inspired by Aaron Plessinger's jersey?

AEO Motorsports teammates last season, Carson Brown and Joshua Varize faced off in the 125 finals at RBSR. Brown actually showed up with two different bikes - a Yamaha YZ125 and a KTM 125 SX - and practiced on both before deciding to race the BBR Motorsports KTM to the win.

Miki Keller is a key behind-the-scenes player in many big motorsports events like Red Bull Straight Rhythm, X Games, and more. She's also the founder of the now-defunct Women's Motocross Association, which helped propel women in motocross into the limelight in the early 2000s when they competed at the Lucas Oil Pro MX Nationals. It was great to see her.

We asked Cooper Webb if his Thor MX kit had a theme of sorts, much like the rest of the things in the pits. "No man, I actually designed this stuff myself," he said. "I was supposed to race motocross in it before I got hurt. I like the Carolina Tar Heel Blue!"

Marvin Musquin's KTM 250 SX graphics were patterned after the bike he won the 2010 MX2 World Championship on. How cool is that?

We spotted Marv and O'Neal's Marc Shear going over some details about the fit of the Hardware pants in between practice sessions. Like all factory riders, Musquin will get customized gear, though he reports that he is very impressed with the off-the-shelf gear hes been riding in thus far.

Marvin Musquin signed with O'Neal USA for 2023 and the Red Bull KTM rider is certainly excited about it. To the casual fan, one might have gotten Marv's new threads confused with his old ones, as many of the team logos, colors and name and number fonts appear to be the same. That's when we learned that KTM requires apparel sponsors to submit its gear templates so that it can place the sponsor logos. While Marvin's first set happened to be the new black/white vented Hardware and that gave the kit a familiar look, we expect to see some more unique design schemes once racing really starts.

KTM off-road hero Ivan Ramirez showed up at this year's RBSR and threw his hat into the ring! Ultimately, he did not qualify for the 16-rider program, but he was impressive as he negotiated the Supercross obstacles with a high level of comfort.

One of the coolest machines we saw in the pits was Ivan Ramirez's old restored KTM 500. Unfortunately, we never got to see or hear it run. Uh, Ivan...video shoot?

It was good to see our buddy Brad Resnick spectating at RBSR. Formerly the video editor at Vital MX, Resnick has branched off and joined The Brand Amp.

We spotted Marvin Musquin recruiting factory WP suspension technician for help with the Fox Factory dropper post on his Specialized Turbo Levo.

Does anyone else recognize this face? Eric Sorby is a former Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki pilot from France who earned several podium finishes in both. motocross and Supercross in the early 2000s. He was also James Stewart's"man friend" and a big part of the old Bubba's World reality tv show. Sorby has lived back in France for some time now, but has returned to the United States to help Justin Barcia with his 2023 racing effort. When we asked Sorby whayt his role would be: physical trainer or on-the-bike trainer, he replied simply, "man friend."

Speaking of Justin Barcia, we're starting to wonder if our jobs are in jeopardy.

After his much-publicized split with Honda HRC, Ken Roczen found himself without a two-stroke ride for Red Bull Straight Rhythm. David Pingree and Whiskey. Throttle Media sprung into action quickly, and their 2023 Yamaha YZ250 test bike was dropped off to see the wizards at Pro Circuit. Kenny looked right at home on the bike, in spite of it being his first-ever race on a Yamaha.

This was Marvin Musquin's first time competing at Red Bull Straight Rhythm aboard a two-stroke, as he was sidelined with a knee injury a few years ago when the race went premix-only. MM spent only two days riding the bike before the event but you would have never guessed.

How cool were the cool Roczen 94 shirts and hats at RBSR? We've got a hat that's up for grabs! Comment on this post below why we should send it your way and we'll choose a winner next Monday. Thanks to Kenny's wife Courtney for the prize!

These fans heard that Scrub Daddy was racing...

Moto Memes fielded Josh Thomas on a very cool Suzuki RM125. While the combo looked great on practice day, a thrown rod on Saturday morning kept the team from reaching the finals.

We asked Mitch Payton what went into Ken Roczen's Yamaha YZ250 race bike, and he told us that it was very similar to the machine he built for Ryan Villopoto a few years ago. When we mentioned. that his twin sons were far too big for the PW50s we last saw them racing the Swapmoto Race Series on, he said that his family is up to their eyeballs with multiple stick-and-ball sports lately, and that it's been hard to eve get them to the dirt bike track.

Justin Barcia, at speed.

We really liked Deven Raper's Kawasaki KX250 build from Kelly's Kawasaki as it was super clean and sounded amazing. Unfortunately for Raper, he found himself matched up with Ken Roczen in the first race of the day and you can guess how that went.

Fresh off his second-place showing at WSX in Cardiff, Chris Blose showed up at RBSR on a KTM 250 SX and put it in. the show. Not bad for a retired guy!

Sadly, the SML/Izzi project came to an end in the first race as he was matched up against Justin Barcia. Still, it was a blast and we cannot thank the brands that helped us enough: Yamaha Motors, Bill's Pipes, Dubya USA, Schmidt Performance, SDG USA, Backyard Design, Pro Taper, and Hoosier.

Because every inch of the two-lane track is important, Jason Baker and his crew had to get creative with tuff block placement.

Kevin Moranz and the Moranz Mafia were eliminated by Josh Hansen in the first race. We liked Kevin's "I tried" hand gestures as he crossed the finish line.

Like Moranz, Josh Greco too was eliminated in round one, falling victim to eventual winner Marvin Musquin. Greco rented his Gas Gas 250 SX from a kid in Murietta and brought his own Supercross suspension to bolt on..

Aaron Plessinger eliminated Robbie Wageman in their first-round matchup.

Mike Alessi has enjoyed tons of success at two-stroke races, but he was eliminated by Team Tedder's Justin Hill in the first race.

Andy Dibrino did double duty at the event, as he raced in the Moto Beach Classic flat track race and also tried to qualify in the 125 Straight Rhythm class. Sadly, he did not qualify for the main race on a motocross bike.

Big props to KTM's R&D rider Ryan Morias. Retired from professional racing for over a decade now, he defeated current pro racer and motocross coach AJ Catanzaro with a spectacular run through the whoops. Ultimately, Mo was eliminated by Derek Kelley, but it was still and impressive showing for the veteran.

The aforementioned run through the whoops...

Derek Kelley ended Dominique Thury's RBSR effort in round one.

We liked Plessinger's interesting body language in this photo.

We asked Roger DeCoster who he thought we;d see in the final. While his choice of Marvin Musquin for the win was no surprise, we were caught off guard when he pegged Josh Hansen as the runner-up. Hansen ended the day fourth, but he was still a fan favorite. Here, he eliminates Justin Hill, who will return to Supercross in 2023 for Team Tedder.

An interesting contrast in riding styles.

Joshua Varize looked smooth and fast aboard his AEO machine, but there was no denying Carson Brown in the finals.

Stoked is not a strong enough word to describe Carson Brown after he won the 125 final over Joshua Varize. The Pacific Northwesterner was right at home in the slick conditions and rode flawlessly aboard his 125.

Carson Brown takes the win!

The Fox crew: Kenny Day and Matt Mora.

Rain began to fall as the finals drew nearer, and the track began to get slippery in the Roczen vs. Barcia semi-final. Ultimately, the slick surface is what Roczen admitted was his downfall in the finals against Musquin.

After Roczen's rainy first race with Barcia, Day offered up a fresh pair of goggles.

Ken Roczen defeated Justin Barcia in the semi-finals, in spite of the deteriorating track surface.

In the 250 finals, there was no denying Marvin Musquin, who has never been beaten in his four RBSR showings.

And what would a Marvin Musquin victory be without a heel clicker?

One of the most interesting features on this years course was this massive jump, constructed over one of the Huntington Beach public restroom buildings. Though the leap was only 85 feet in distance, the sheer size and height riders reached on the obstacle was spectacular! Track builder Jason Baker told us that the jump worked out exactly as he had hoped, with the riders flying above the palm trees.

Former FMX star and current Monster Energy even t announcer Kenny "Taco" Bell celebrated his birthday at RBSR. We heard he went BIG.

Marv and Kenny...are they discussing next year's race already?