AMA Supercross 2023

[motogrady]

While the rest of the motorcycle world rests,
in America, what could be deemed our biggest
series is set to take off in less than a month.

And one of the biggest surprise’s of this pre season
isn’t traction control, or mandatory drug testing for
well, everyone, or they are gonna run 2 strokes
even up with the 4 strokes.  

Nope. None of the above.  

The shocker this week, is Ken Roczen.
He was Hondas main guy for the last 5 or 6 years.
The guy who came back from an arm injury that made
Marquez’s shoulder thing look like a hangnail.
The guy that pretty much told Honda to shove it,
with a year and millions left on his contract.

Rumor had him going to Kawasaki.  He went out and bought
a Honda, a Yamaha, a Kawasaki and a Suzuki,
just to see what he liked the most.  
Then it was him going to Yamaha.  
Then it was back to Honda, on a satellite team,
because, well, everyone knows, once Big Red cans you, you ain’t never going back there.  

Mystery Man had everyone guessing.

So many were, to put it mildly, surprised when it was announced yesterday that he’s going with a bike that hasn’t really changed in like, maybe a decade.
No electric fuel pump, no backward motor,
no firebrand or whatever engine.

Heck, if you look closely at the pic you will see a remnant of the past.  The only bike out there that has it.
Like a suicide clutch, or a tank for the auto lube 2 stroke oil,
something that maybe 10 years from now the vast majority won’t know how to use.  

Is he just milking it, or has he just had enough of big factory, who knows.

One thing for sure, if he pulls this one off, and wins the brass ring, heck, that would be a Rocky kind of deal.  

[oldironnow]

It’s a Dodge ?!?!




.

[motogrady]

oldironnow wrote

It’s a Dodge ?!?!




.

Lol....no it's not a dodge Oldiron.  
It's a thing.  

And it's in plain sight.

[Fatfatboy]

You got me intrigued.
I’m so far out of the motocross scene that the only thing I can tell anyone about the bikes is they are tall and fast.

I like to watch it when it’s on RV when I happen to be in front of it.
I think it’s mainly on the cable channels that I don’t have.

[motogrady]

Fatfatboy wrote

You got me intrigued.
I’m so far out of the motocross scene that the only thing I can tell anyone about the bikes is they are tall and fast.

I like to watch it when it’s on RV when I happen to be in front of it.
I think it’s mainly on the cable channels that I don’t have.

Ya, it's such a hassle trying to watch.
I usually just wait till the next day and do the u tube thing.

A month out.
Eli Tomac,#3, has to be the favorite on the works Yamaha.
Kawasaki Factory has the space cadet Jason Anderson, #21.
Honda has Chase Sexton, #23, who's shown flashes of champion speed, but just can't seem to get it together.
KTM, sticking with the Frenchman Marvin Musquin. #25.
GasGas is giving another shot to the longhair Justin Barcia, #51.
These are argueably the top riders in each factory effort.  

Well, all but one.

[motogrady]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JvCGaxUsAjE

[motogrady]

The Suzuki Ken Roczen has chosen to contest this years
SX series is an RMZ 450.

That Suzuki has no Factory Team in American Supercross suggests the bike you see on TV is pretty close to the bike you can purchase at your local dealer.

Factory Support is being funneled to what amounts to be a satellite Team called H.E.P.

The last time Suzuki won a National Championship here
in The States was in 2016.  The outdoors 450 AMA Motocross Series was won by none other than Ken Roczen,
shortly before heading to Factory Honda.

With the rather stringent AMA Class C rules in place here in America, there is a lot of talk on how much Suzuki can change the bike.  

Basically, the frame and engine cases must be stock, with 400 being available to the public.
Alterations to a certain extent are allowed on the frame and cases.  But they must begin as stock parts.

The fact that the RMZ 450 cases can be adapted to accept
an electric starter from its sister, the DRZ 400, Suzukis Enduro model, and still meet AMA rules is an example.

And interesting tidbit, as the Zook is the last,
and only bike out there that doesn’t have electric start.

Yes, the RMZ still has a kickstarter.

[oldironnow]

Yeah, it's the aluminum leg.

I couldn't help the Dodge gag.

I remember when Buell got around the 'stock parts' clause by re-melting the stock parts and casting a completely different top-end for the XBRR.

[motogrady]

oldironnow wrote

Yeah, it's the aluminum leg.

I couldn't help the Dodge gag.

I remember when Buell got around the 'stock parts' clause by re-melting the stock parts and casting a completely different top-end for the XBRR.

Lol……now that’s in keeping with the spirit of the rule!

[Fatfatboy]

Hey Grady, would it be too much of me to ask if you could post the YouTube that you use or what I type in to find the races?

Maybe I should go back and watch some of 2022 to get familiar.

[motogrady]

I just go to YouTube and type in AMA Supercross. During the season there will be a few guys putting stuff the day after. A lot of stuff I write about is just picked up on other places. CycleNews, Racerx is so big I don’t go there. But they have it. Coombs owns Racerx and runs the outdoors, along with GNCC Nationals. Supercross has the main series, the 450s which go national with the 250s broken into East and west

[motogrady]

With the season just about upon us, here’s a link to a pretty good preview of 2023.

https://www.cyclenews.com/2022/12/article/2023-ama-supercross-season-preview/

[motogrady]

This, the first round can be seen
2pm Sunday the 8th on NBC.

[motogrady]

Round 1, pretty good start for the season.

Tomac shows he’s the guy.
Riding the red plate, reserved for whoever is leading in points that weekend, shows a bit of old school running the #1, instead of his AMA issued #3.
Good to see someone doing that for a change.

Hondas top guy Sexton, I’m not gonna say chokes again, but, o wella, chokes again.

Kickstart Kenny has a good round, Malcom Stewart, Bubbas younger brother almost wins his first one but is lucky to get out of there walking. #2 Webb, shows what 6 months of training can do after a dismal 2022.

The rest, eh.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ylKUA-RfDm0

[motogrady]

1st event this year, Anaheim, sold out.
60,000 people.  40 bucks to park your car.
Scalpers getting like $400 a ticket on race day.
Beers, $15 for a draft. WTH?

Go figure. 🤔

Anyway, here’s another, what’s the word, anomaly?

James Stewart, some say the most talented rider at one time, the fastest man on the planet guy,
has had a podcast (who hasn’t), for the last 2 or so years.  

With no one to answer to, financially set, along with time on his hands, he’s been putting out one of the most outrageous
and popular reviews of the races to date.

Welcome to Bubbas World.  

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut01Vvih24c

[motogrady]

For the first time in history, an American Supercross round
has been cancelled due to rain.

That’s right, this weeks event, Rd. 2, in Oakland Ca.,
the Stadium there has an open roof, nada going to run.

It’s so wet they could not even get the bulldozers in there to
build the track.  

Talk is the round will be rescheduled and run at a later date.

[oldironnow]

I believe it.

The floor of that 'sinkhole' is not much above the tideline. There's nowhere for the water to go.

[oldironnow]

In fact, it might be below the tideline.




.

[oldironnow]

Thanks for the overview and Bubba's World. I watched a few minutes of it, and I bet the entire thing is worth the time.

The riding gear seems like form-fit Spandex. Seems to jar my equilibrium.

[motogrady]

oldironnow wrote

Thanks for the overview and Bubba's World. I watched a few minutes of it, and I bet the entire thing is worth the time.

The riding gear seems like form-fit Spandex. Seems to jar my equilibrium.

The gear, it's his company.  Seven. That was his AMA number they gave him when he hit it really big, in the 450s.

  Actually, imho, he was his very best as a younger guy, teens, early 20s, on the 125.  He went undeafeated a season on factory Kawasaki using #259. That's a very select group, to go undefeated in the Nationalsi. I think it was 17-0. That year was the year he made so much money it enabled him and his family to buy a compound in Central Florida. It was there they made their home, built practice tracks and really went after the big bucks in the 450 class.

It's a great story really.

His dad, Big James, was an amatuer Motocross racer back in the 70s/80s.
Only thing was, according to his son Bubba, he sucked at it.
But he loved it, and learned the ins and outs the industry.
And when big Big James got married, had 2 kids, James and Malcom, he started building
it.

Before Bubba was 4 he was racing.
They traveled from the beginning, always hitting the bigger and bigger races.
Always on a shoestring, running beat equipment, living in cheap motels, scraping just for gas money to keep it going.

And treating it like a business.  Big James became a strong owner/manager/agent, and figured out how to deal with dealerships, sponsors and the factories. And took no prisoners in that regard.

Bubba has talked about how it was kinda weird, things like Christmas and good meals
we're a given to other racers and friends he knew, but to them as a family, well, they struggled.
But, with Big James as the manager/owner, his wife as the backbone of the family, and the talent and dedication Bubba delivered, they were able to make a living racing Motocross.
Malcom, he was more a regular kid that like fishing and doing what kids do.  It's only been lately that Malcom has really gone after it.
Bubba, it was like a 9 to 5 job from the git go.