Summer’s Coming | Pro Test Day At Fox Raceway
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The champagne-soaked championship shirts hadn’t even come out of the washing machine yet, but on Wednesday, teams were at Fox Raceway in full test mode for the 2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. Taking a cue other forms of motorsport, where organized practice and test sessions are held for all competitors, MX Sports invited every AMA pro-card-carrying rider to the Southern California track with the promise of a prepped track and organization. Given the disastrous outcome that occurs when the world’s top talent shares space with a local C class riders (see Dean Wilson and Jason Anderson at Glen Helen for example), this was a welcome offer that nearly every team and rider accepted.
Many jokingly call this time of year the Stopwatch Nationals and yeah, we noticed more than a few team staffers with a list lap times in front of them, but we didn’t run the clock on anyone ourselves. When Formula1 and MotoGP hold tests of this nature, every single lap is recorded via transponders and exhaustively analyzed. While it would have been nice to have a print out of every rider’s laps for our own articles, to do so would have brought a major sense of tension to the first-ever organized test.
The push for the organized test was started by Jim Perry, team manager for the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing. It’s common for multiple manufacturers to rent California tracks on certain days of the week, as it eliminates the chance of run-ins with less skilled riders, allows more focus on testing, and can be groomed in a manner much more consistent with pro racing, but this is an option limited to only those with the financial means. With this open test day, everyone was able to benefit from the rough track and free entry.
Speaking of Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing, they might be the one team that had the most to gain from the test. After a lengthy stint off the bike for assorted injuries, Justin Barcia joined the team in California eased into a testing stint that will run for a few weeks. A pair of broken wrists from the Nashville crash was the last straw for a rider that endured his share of slams in the Supercross season, and with Mobius braces on both arms, Barcia said he was able to ride at a controlled pace without getting out of sorts. The majority of the test seemed to be chassis related, as the Kayaba suspension was addressed by technicians and “proto 1” was written on the rear shock in Sharpie. On the other side of the truck was Dean Ferris, who was hours removed from the last-minute flight from Australia to LAX. His time on the YZ450F as a way to break the jetlag and to sort out the factory bike before his three-round stint as a fill-in rider starts. We’ve got an interview with Ferris about the decision to come to America in the works and from our talk, the defending Australian MX champion knows this is his best chance to secure some sort of future ride in the US.
Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha riders are going to be very familiar with Fox Raceway by the end of August, due to a team decision to keep all riders in California for the full summer. After a much-deserved championship celebration in Las Vegas, Dylan Ferrandis was back to work on Wednesday. He and riding coach David Vuillemin didn’t relish in the recent accomplishment and put in motos on Wednesday and Thursday. Colt Nichols and Justin Cooper did their work quietly, and many are eager to see if the two can be at the same level this summer.
There was a fleet of CRF250R bikes outside of the GEICO Honda rig; each rider had an A and B bike to test drastically different setups on without time being wasted for rebuilds or part swap. The team will take on the series with Christian Craig, Hunter Lawrence, RJ Hampshire, and Chase Sexton, and it’s a line up that should be in the top-ten of every moto. Lawrence is one of the biggest question marks of the 250 field, as big things are expected from the Australian native-MXGP raised racer in the Nationals. Sexton, meanwhile, is coming off his 250 East Coast SX championship and could prove to be a title contender in time. Eagle-eyed social media users noticed that he was riding without his usual Atlas neck brace. Craig and Hampshire have experience and a vastly improved motorcycle on their side this summer, and both could wind up as moto winners at any point. The development of the CRF250R might be the biggest asset for Hampshire, a rider that was openly upset with the bike last summer and pushed to make improvements.
Team Honda HRC had racers Cole Seely and Toshiki Tomita plus tester Trey Canard on the track Thursday. Seely has been solid in his comeback from last year’s injury and he’ll use the first few races as a chance to get back into a rhythm, then will relocate to Florida to ride with Roczen and Sexton on rougher tracks. Tomita is back again for another summer on the factory CRF and the Japanese rider is hopeful for top-twenty finishes at all twelve rounds, which would be a year over year improvement. Roczen did not ride Wednesday but did on Thursday, when the track was rented privately between a few teams.
As defending champions of the series, Eli Tomac and Monster Energy Kawasaki made sure to run their well-earned number one at the very first opportunity. Compared to some other riders, Tomac did very few laps and spent some time with the staff going over the still new KX450. We don’t think that was necessarily a bad thing, because Tomac and the team seemed relaxed and at ease in the pits, something not common of intense test days. It’s impossible to bet against a defending champion and Tomac’s recent speed should be considered an indicator of what’s to come. Joey Savatgy was not on hand, as he used the time off to take care of lingering issues with Doc G.
While most teams pitted along the back row of the property, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki kept to themselves and parked on the backside of the track’s lone hill. Was this a way to avoid attention and keep the public away from Adam Cianciarulo after the outcome of the 250 championship? Probably and if so, smart call by the team, because it allowed the rider to focus only on the KX250. Cianciarulo clicked off his share of laps, took in advice from coach Nick Wey, and relayed the information to the team. Absent from the day was Martin Davalos, but Pro Circuit still gained plenty of feedback from racer turned tester Ivan Tedesco. The former National champion has taken Garrett Marchbanks under his wing and he chased the second-year pro on the track all day. Marchbanks missed much of last year with a knee injury, so this summer will be a chance to prove to the critics why he’s worthy of a place on Mitch Payton’s team. Right now the plan is for Pro Circuit to field only three riders during the Nationals: Cianciarulo, Davalos, and Marchbanks. There has been a rumor of a replacement rider, but the team told us recently filling the fourth spot is not necessary and that if anyone was to get the call, it would be current amateur Seth Hammaker, who is coming off of a shoulder injury.
Which leads us to Cameron McAdoo, a rider that sees his future in limbo immediately after the highlight of his career. GEICO Honda brought McAdoo back under their tent with a fill-in deal when Lawrence and Craig were hurt before Supercross, and he repaid them with a third-place finish in the 250 Showdown at Las Vegas. But now that Craig and Lawrence are back, GEICO Honda is full and McAdoo is on the bench. The team has loaned McAdoo a CRF450R with outdoor suspension as a thank you and way to stay sharp should they or another team need McAdoo at a moment’s notice.
The shared knowledge of KTM and Husqvarna was kept together by the organization of Red Bull KTM, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing, and Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM all in a row. The related brands are never far from each other and on Wednesday, the riders and staff members of all three teams shared notes about the track to each other. Yeah, we’re years into the KTM-Husky deal, but it’s still strange to see two OEMs and three separate teams work together in such a manner. For perspective, Team Honda HRC and GEICO Honda were parked together and passed some words back and forth, but the Kawasaki and Yamaha’s 250-450 teams parked on complete opposite sides of the property from each other.
Days removed from the prestige and glory his 450 SX championship, Cooper Webb was at the track and pitted out of a Chevy Silverado. With the rebuilding of his career complete, Webb doesn’t want to fall into a sort of championship hangover. His dedication to the Nationals was brought up during a post-race speech to the team in Las Vegas and he logged long motos on Thursday. When you consider how well Webb fared on the soft, rutted tracks in Supercross, one has to assume he’s going to be just as capable outdoors. Marvin Musquin has finished second overall in the past two summers and the veteran racer is expected to be a title contender again in 2019. This is a sort of consistency very few riders are able to match and many are looking to see if Musquin will go to the next step this time around. Oh, and despite Musquin saying his intent is to stay with Red Bull KTM in a new contract, expect to see plenty of debate online about whether or not he actually will.
With Dean Wilson still recovering from a shoulder injury (Wilson has said it doesn’t sound like he will make the first few races, but he has a spot on the factory team all summer) and Jason Anderson locked down in Florida, Zach Osborne was the only 450 rider on hand for Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing. Osborne credited his late-season surge in SX to a breakthrough in setup for the FC machine and he should be considered a contender for moto wins this summer, an impressive feat for the experienced rookie.
Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM’s Jordon Smith and Shane McElrath used the day to get up to speed after time off with injuries and to shake down settings developed by Broc Tickle. The team hired Tickle to test the 250 SX-F when Smith and McElrath were unable to ride, and from their early feedback, it sounds like things are going in the right direction (Smith and McElrath were not fans of the rigidity of the 2019 SX-F during the Supercross season and much like McGrath back in the 90s, rode an old style frame with new bodywork. Their issues with the ’19 bike have been corrected and both will be on the current model this summer). A few weeks back Tyler Keefe confirmed that the team would grow to five riders for the summer thanks to Derek Drake’s graduation from the amateur ranks. A long-time part of the TLD-KTM advancement program, Drake has spent ample time around the team during the weekly work and knows what’s expected come Hangtown.
With the JGRMX/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory Racing truck already on the West Coast for the first rounds of the outdoors, the team worked out of their race rig at the track. With the recent staff restructure and downsize for the summer announced, all attention will go to Alex Martin and Justin Hill this summer. As stated by team manager Jeremy Albrecht in our interview, Enzo Lopes/Jimmy Decotis/Kyle Peters are not going to be a part of the team this summer, but the hope is to continue something with them in the future. Other major news for the team that was announced this week was the switch back to Pirelli tires for the next few years and staff members from the Italian tire maker were on hand putting rubber on wheels for the team.
CycleTrader/Rock River Yamaha will field Brandon Hartranft, Jacob Hayes, and Yusuke Watanabe through the Nationals. Hartranft missed much of last summer with an injury, so it’ll be his first time going for the full series. For Hayes 2019 is set to be his first full National season since 2013. Both riders should be well within the top-twelve at every moto this summer. Watanabe, meanwhile, has made the move to the CycleTrader/Rock River Yamaha team after spending last year with the 3D Racing team (Watanabe is supported in the US comes from Yamaha as a thank you for his 2017 success in Japan).
Riders weren’t the only ones that benefitted from the test day, as MX Sports used the time to take notes on the facility. Fox Raceway was a stop on the National series for two years and anyone who attended those rounds is quick to share their criticism or concerns about the traffic of the two-lane roads, the view of the flat ground, the high-speed layout, and the other assorted mistakes that come with any first-year event in a remote location. Davey Coombs, Tim Cotter, and other MX Sports staff members charted the layout of the venue via drone footage and listened to concerns and feedback from riders and teams regarding the track. No, there’s no chance that they can widen the 76 into a six-lane freeway in time for the second round of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, but they’re doing all that they can to make sure the issues of the past don’t occur again.
