Welcome to Racerhead, coming to you from the packed paddock at The Wick 338, better known as Southwick. This is the sandiest and, some would say, roughest track on the AMA Pro Motocross Championship schedule, as well as the most old-school layout. The local riders are notoriously good, and over the years we’ve seen plenty pop up seemingly out of nowhere to lay down the fastest laps, holeshot some motos, and, in the case of New England legends Doug Henry and John Dowd, win the thing.

That said, Jett Lawrence and Haiden Deegan are the favorites to continue their winning ways. Jett has won 20 overalls in 21 starts in 450 MX, including all four overalls this year. Haiden is three out of four so far this year; his only blemish was a 2-2 in Colorado, where he barely finished the first moto due to engine problems. Last year, he absolutely shined here. Remember that crazy pass on Levi Kitchen off the start last year? We reposted that earlier this week, and someone implied it was really a save, to which Haiden himself commented, “Not a save. Practiced that line the week prior LOL cheat code.”

Both Haiden and Jett almost got some new competition in the form of 18-year-old twins, as MXGP contenders Lucas and Sacha Coenen made an 11th-hour push to use the off-weekend from the FIM Motocross World Championship to come over and give Pro Motocross a try on a track the sand-loving brothers would have probably done very well on. Unfortunately, there’s a lot more to coming over than just buying plane tickets, as Steve Matthes will explain below. The good news is, the brothers may have time (another off-weekend for MXGP) to show up at RedBud next weekend. As they say, stay tuned.

For those who are coming to Southwick tomorrow, keep an eye out for your Racer X 2025 Southwick National event stickers, which will be available at the Racer X trailer in the paddock, right next to the Legends & Heroes display. This week's featured rider is Ricky Carmichael, who won the Southwick National for eight straight years in the premier class, and on several different bikes: Kawasaki KX250 (twice), Honda CR250 (twice), Honda CRF450 (once), and Suzuki RM-Z450 (three times). He also won at the Wick 338 on a Pro Circuit KX125 two different times. The only time he ever lost here was in 1998, when Yamaha's John Dowd, a local legend, as mentioned before, went 1-1 while RC's bike quit running while holding second in the first moto and then was runner-up to Dowd the second time out. Southwick is the one and only track where Carmichael scored 10 career wins—a record for any national track.

Dowd, by the way, has his own record at Southwick. He has competed in 25 different Southwick Nationals and 50 motos, which is more than anyone else at any outdoor national track.

Also adding interest this weekend is the return of GasGas factory rider Justin Barcia, who was injured toward the end of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, as well as the wildcard entry of Progressive Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) frontrunner Josh Toth, who won the Snowshoe GNCC last weekend on a 250 but has signed up to race here in the 450 class. Another local legend, Tony Lorusso, will try to qualify again this year, only this time in the 450 class. Lorusso, who only missed by a few spots last year, is 54 years old! If he does get in, that will make him the oldest rider to ever qualify in AMA Pro Motocross.

And there’s another set of SMX Watch Parties for tomorrow’s races, as two of the motos will air live on NBC (and the 450s go first). Below are the 11 Hooters locations around the country that are hosting SMX Watch Parties for tomorrow's Southwick National. They will have some giveaways and prizes as well, so if you’re in one of these neighborhoods, stop by Hooters and check them out:

Arlington North
1511 North Collins
Arlington, TX 76011

Denton
985 S. I-35 East
Denton, TX 76205

Fort Worth
5350 Southwest Blvd.
Ft. Worth, TX 76109

Pasadena
3656 E. Sam Houston Pkwy.
Pasadena, TX 77505

Mason
9890 Escort Drive
Mason, OH 45040

San Jose
8938 San Jose Blvd.
Jacksonville, FL 32257

Newnan
1001 Bullsboro Drive
Newnan, GA 30265

Conyers
1099 Iris Drive, SE
Conyers, GA 30012

Tara Blvd.
6785 Tara Boulevard
Jonesboro, GA 30236

Dayton
6851 Miller Lane
Dayton, OH 45414

Davenport
110 E. Kimberly Rd.
Davenport, IA 52806

The weather here is the big question right now. The forecasters were calling for rain all week, but it’s mostly held off. It’s showing rain tomorrow, but not as much as before. And thank goodness they aren’t going to get the rain here like they got at Unadilla for last weekend’s regional for the Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch. The rain hit so hard on Saturday night and Sunday morning that the New York Governor issued a state of emergency, which meant canceling the second day of racing, as all emergency personnel were focusing on the storm. Needless to say, the whole thing was an unfortunate mess.

Looking ahead to next week’s RedBud race, we will see the U.S. debut of the Ducati Desmo450 MX in the very capable hands of Antonio Cairoli, who raced it to eighth overall last weekend in Great Britain. He’s here for tomorrow’s Southwick National, but he won’t be racing. He will serve as the Grand Marshal of the event and will probably be in the TV booth with Jason Weigandt and James Stewart at some point. In the meantime, #222 is said to be riding today at a nearby track. With that said, here’s JT.

• Motocross

  • Race Day Live (Qualifying) 

    Live

    June 28 - 10:00 AM

    

  • Race Day Live (Qualifying) 

    Live

    June 28 - 10:00 AM

    

  • June 28 - 1:00 PM

    

  • All Four Motos (450 First) 

    Live

    June 28 - 1:00 PM

    

  • All Four Motos (450 First) 

    Live

    June 28 - 1:00 PM

    

Ah, yes, the sands of Southwick. Leading up to this race, riders in Florida would head to Croom and just pound motos until we ran out of gas or ran out of energy—or both. Riding sand is an acquired skill, and there’s no replacement for repetition. Understanding the way that sand lines flow and how momentum can keep the motorcycle “light” are must-haves for the ‘Wick. Going fast means being “in the berm,” but not too much, either. Being underneath the berm will create too much wheel spin on the hard base, while burying your wheels deep will kill much-needed momentum. It’s a slippery slope that sand masters execute with ease.

These are the types of things that Haiden Deegan needed to figure out, and he did just that. He’s not a sand guru, but he’s honed his craft through hard work and dedication. This skillset is one he set out to master leading up to this round in 2024, and he left with a win to show for it. He will likely never be as comfortable in the sand as a Dutchman, but winning is winning, regardless of how it occurs. That’s what champions do. They negate their vulnerabilities and find ways to overcome.

This weekend will be a test for many. A rider like Aaron Plessinger isn’t naturally blessed with sand-riding prowess. Success will be harder to find but still possible. That’s what I’ll be looking for. We know the sand masters will shine, but who can look past the uphill climb and overperform the expectations? When the odds aren’t in your favor, who can still stand tall?

Something happened last weekend at the British Grand Prix in Matterley Basin that I don't recall ever seeing. In the second MXGP moto, which was won by series points leader Romain Febvre, there was not a single pass made inside the top ten, from start to finish, after 35 minutes and 50 seconds of racing. I've seen the top three not change, maybe even the top five, but never the entire top ten. I've been to Matterley Basin too, and it's never seemed one-lined to me. It was the site of last year's Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations, which ended with one of the best motos I've ever seen, with Jett Lawrence charging through from around eighth place to the lead, only to lose it at the very last moment to FIM Motocross World Champion Tim Gajser. There were plenty of passes in that race, including five for the lead. It would appear the track was prepped differently on this visit to the British track which was first opened 20 years ago.

Jeffrey Herlings, winner of the previous couple of rounds, was not happy about the setup; the Bullet started fourth and finished fourth. He sarcastically posted: "The track was great for passing yesterday. No passes have been made inside the top 10 in moto 2. I think it deserves a warm applause for being able to mess up such a beautiful track as badly as they did."

The first MXGP moto had its own anomaly: Dutch rider Glenn Coldenhoff rode into the history books as the first Fantic-mounted rider to ever win a moto in the FIM Motocross World Championship. Fantic is an Italian motorcycle brand born in 1968. The bike that Coldenhoff was riding, the XXF450, comes with a Yamaha engine and other components. He ended the day third overall with 1-5 moto finishes behind Febvre (3-1) and Lucas Coenen (2-3).

In the MX2 class, German KTM rider Simon Langenfelder added to his series points lead with 1-1 moto scores in Matterley Basin. He is now 52 points ahead of fellow KTM rider and former MX World Champion Andrea Adamo. The Italian lost ground in Italy with an eighth place overall finish.

The Belgian brothers Lucas and Sacha Coenen are certainly tearing it up over in Europe this year. The KTM duo is winning motos and overalls. In fact, Lucas is second in MXGP points and is within striking range of the points lead. His move to the MXGP class had raised some eyebrows, but he's crashed less and won more than many thought he could. So, with a break in the series, the brothers and their father Rafael made their intentions known that they wanted to race this weekend at Southwick. Both brothers want to move to the USA and race SX/MX soon; some think it will be 2026. No matter, I think both of them will be here by 2027, barring some sort of blank check from KTM to stay in Europe and win there.

Also complicating things a bit is that they're represented by Lucas Mirtl, who is embroiled in a civil lawsuit from his old clients, the Lawrence brothers, and has been a, let's say, strong presence online in this dispute with the Lawrences. From what I know, he's been working back channels to get the Coenens to the USA this week, with Lucas (the rider) calling KTM bosses here and in Europe and both Coenens posting social media hints about coming to the U.S. this weekend. There's just been one issue with all of this, however: their bosses in Austria and the USA, the ones who pay the brothers to race, do not want them to race Southwick. Lucas especially, who is in a tight title fight over there. The bosses in Europe, just like with Jeffrey Herlings and Antonio Cairoli all those years—outside of one where Herlings was way behind Cairoli in points and the week after the Ironman National there was a USGP—don't want the risk of injury, time zone changes, etc., affecting either brother before the Finland MXGP in two weeks.

Over here, KTM USA doesn't have the staff, parts, or bikes to make this happen this quickly (after all, this was mostly cooked up early this week), and then finally, there's a cap on entries at our nationals, and Southwick was full anyway. Despite the desire of the brothers and their dad, there were a ton of hoops to jump through to make this happen.

It's not impossible though, especially given another week. Now there's word the brothers want to come to RedBud, and that would be great for the series. Imagine the Coenen brothers and the U.S. debut of the Ducati (with Cairoli!) all at one time? That would create great buzz for the SMX series as a whole, but to me, them not racing makes way more sense. Having been on teams for a long time, it's a ton of work to do it properly with riders of the caliber of the Coenens. I can't say I blame the bosses at KTM, both here and in Europe, for shutting this down this weekend, but the additional week for planning just might get them there.

Speaking of Cairoli racing RedBud and Millville, Paul Perebijnos and I did a Renthal Reaction podcast about this news and more. Check it out on PulpMX.com!

Will we see the Coenen brothers racing full-time in the U.S. in 2026?

While others are at Southwick, some headed to the mountains of California. Every summer since 1968 racers have flocked to Mammoth Lakes, California, for this classic motocross event. This race is one of the oldest continuously running motocross events in the USA. The track has changed a little over the years, but the tradition has not. This event is also one of the major amateur events in the country. Factory riders of tomorrow are on hand this weekend in Mammoth in order to try and score that classic bear trophy that you see all over social media. The family and I got up here Wednesday, and practice went off Thursday. Friday is the Open class (all A, B, C riders), Saturday is all 250s, and wrapping up the week is all the 450s on Sunday. The track is fast, choppy, and loose, but does provide some good racing. This is the first time my son Aden has been here, so he will try to adapt as quickly as he can in order to try and get his first B Class featured amateur title. I said it before, and I am going to say it again: chasing all of these amateur races isn't cheap!

This past Monday marked the 50th anniversary of the first Blackwater 100, which was the birth of what became the Progressive Grand National Cross Country Series (GNCC) Racing. The race took place in the tiny town of Davis, West Virginia, and was based in large part on the Elsinore Grand Prix that was featured in the motorcycling documentary On Any Sunday. Now there’s a documentary in the making on the Blackwater itself, by the man behind The MX Files, Todd Huffman, and his crew. They were on hand Monday to film a Blackwater 100 reunion in Davis, which was attended by hundreds of riders and race fans who still remember the event, which ran from 1975 through 1993. The original start scene was recreated, with five different Blackwater 100 overall winners—Mark Hyde, Kevin LaVoie, Frank Gallo, Scott Summers, and my big brother Timmy Coombs—on the front row, followed by a mishmash of bikes and ATVs, some new and some very old, and even a handful of three-wheelers. It was very hot, but also a really cool event. Here are a few snaps of what it looked like to be back in Davis, West Virginia, for the Blackwater 100 reunion:

Our guy Cody Darr has been killing it lately, covering four different Regional Qualifiers for the Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch. Plus, he was at ClubMX recently and was able to get some photos of Kawasaki rider Jorge Prado and WMX Championship leader Lachlan Turner. Follow Cody Darr Photography on Instagram at @ co_darr327, Facebook at Cody Darr Photography, and on X at @DarrPhotography.

Vurbmoto looks back at the last Carmichael vs. Stewart battle at Southwick in 2007:

A MONSOON EVACUATED OUR RACE! Aaron Plessinger [High Point]

"Central Park hits temp record last seen on this date in 1888 as heat wave hits eastern US"—CNN

"'Best place to have herpes': New Zealand advert wins top prize"—BBC

"2 bears escape wildlife park enclosure, devour a 7-day supply of honey, then fall asleep"-CBS News

“Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Forge Ahead With Venice Wedding After Activists Threaten to Block a Canal With Inflatable Crocodiles”—Variety 

Thanks for reading Racerhead. See you at the races.