MOTOCROSS ACTION MID-WEEK REPORT

On Aug 3, 2021 Last updated Aug 3, 2021

#WHIPITWEDNESDAY

Rider: Dean Wilson
Bike: 2012 Pro Circuit KX250F
Location: Anaheim
Event: Anaheim Supercross
Photographer: MXA Archive

MXA TELLS YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE 2022 CRF250

DUBYA EDGE COMPLETE WHEELS

Edge forged aluminum hubs in factory colors
Built with Dubya by Excel rims (21” Front / 19” or 18” Rear)
Built with Bulldog stainless steel spokes and nickel plated steel nipples

Professionally assembled and trued at Dubya USA in Orange, California
Available for select Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Husqvarna and Yamaha motorcycles
Price point wheel set ($639.95)
Sold as complete wheel sets

Edge Wheels are available for purchase from dubyausa.com; or your local dealer.

TWO-STROKE SPOTLIGHT: PAUL HOEY’S 1998 YAMAHA YZ250

“I have just completed my 1998 YZ250 Ohlins 360cc Noleen replica. This bike was an original used and abused survivor. I completely restored and refurbished almost every part of this bike including a NOS Noleen race team ported Ohlins 360cc top end kit, UFO plastics, Throttle Jockey original Noleen race team graphics and seat cover, GP alloy fuel tank, Ohlins Shock, factory Krooztune Suspension KYB fork internals, Lightspeed Carbon Fibre Parts, Dynoport USA 360cc big volume exhaust pipe and carbon fiber silencer. Excel A60 rims, Talon hubs, Renthal sprockets, chain and handlebars. SCAR grips, Applied Racing triple clamps and Pirelli MX32 Pro tires. It’s been awesome fun building this bike and I can’t wait to race it. –Paul Hoey from Australia

EDITORS NOTE: Please keep those submissions coming. If you would like your bike to be featured in the “Two-Stroke Spotlight,” please email me at [email protected]. All I ask is that you give a breakdown of your bike and a detailed description of the build. Please also send a few photos of your steed. By submitting your bike for the “Two-Stroke Spotlight,” you agree to release all ownership rights to the images and copy to MXA.

MXA | MOTO | TRIVIA

Name the rider and year. Answer at the bottom of page.

MXA INTERVIEW | MAX VOHLAND

When Red Bull KTM announced their 2021 team, many were caught off guard. Not only was KTM bringing their 250 program back in-house, but they were also doing so with a rookie to the pro ranks. Of course, this was no ordinary rookie, it was Maximus Vohland, son of former motocross racing legend Tallon Vohland. Starting out in 2021 with racing Supercross was not originally the father and son’s intention, but with GasGas coming on board, an opening arrived at KTM, and Maximus took the opportunity to agree to a three-year deal. We recently talked to Max about his outdoor motocross summer where he is currently thirteenth in points.

BY JIM KIMBALL

MAX, BEFORE WE GET INTO RECENT RACING, LET’S TALK ABOUT PALA RACEWAY NATIONAL. IN YOUR VERY FIRST PRO MOTOCROSS YOU LED MUCH OF MOTO 1. Yes, it was crazy. I had some bike problems earlier in the day and I missed the first practice. I ended up just trying to learn the track in the second practice. They over-watered, and it got one-lined. I was not the greatest in qualifying, but I got super lucky on a gate pick. I ripped a killer holeshot and when I was out front, I was like “okay, let’s see how long I can lead for”, and I was just counting the first three laps. After the first three laps I felt “okay, I am going to be leading this thing for a while.” I was out there running out front and I felt good out front. I was comfortable, not nervous and not making too many mistakes until unfortunately, the bike ended up quitting on me, but it was a great moto, and I was stoked about it.

THIS COULD BE DEBATED ALL YEAR, BUT COULD YOU HAVE WON THAT MOTO? There is always a chance I could have. It was two laps and the bike started slowing down before Jeremy Martin got me. It was bogging and almost cutting off at jumps, so I was even taking it a little cautious myself. I could have seen a possible win or a guaranteed second for sure.

YOU HAD A LONG WALK BACK TO THE PITS AFTER YOUR BIKE DIED, BUT FANS WERE CHEERING YOU ON, AND YOU DIDN’T APPEAR MAD ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED. That might just be because I am young and, to be honest, it was my first moto. I was leading out front and I was just happy to be out front and running that pace. A lot of these guys have been racing for many years. A win does not come easy, and everyone knows that. I could see that maybe I could win. So, I was happy and did not really feel mad about it. I just thought “well, it happened, let’s try to get another good start for the second moto and try to do it again.”

OBVIOUSLY, YOU WERE BUMMED, FRUSTRATED, DISAPPOINTED BUT ON THE FLIP SIDE, THE BIG TAKEAWAY IS THAT YOU CAN WIN A RACE. I think so too. There is no doubt in my mind that I can’t come here to any National and do the same thing again. A start helps so much, so get a holeshot and run out front – anything is possible.

ONE MORE ASPECT OF PALA WAS THAT BEING YOUR FIRST PRO RACE, YOU HAD TO GET USED TO A COMPLETELY NEW FORMAT. Oh yes, absolutely. I ran up front before when I was racing amateurs, but it is nothing like a Pro National. You must do it for 35 minutes and all the routine is different. You must try to learn all the routines that day and it was even far off from a typical National because there were so many things going on off the bike. It was different, but as soon as I got out front, it felt like home.

AT LAKEWOOD, YOU HAD FOOD POISONING, YET YOU STILL LINED UP TO RACE. Yes, that was a scratch race. Unfortunately, I got sick, was vomiting and could not sleep at all. Going into Lakewood, I had no sleep, no food and I was just dead. I was just out there trying to survive. I could barely hold onto the bike sometimes. We scratched that one, and just put it behind us. We took High Point as our second round.

SPEAKING OF MILLVILLE, REDBUD AND SOUTHWICK, HOW DID YOU FIND THE TRACKS? BEING THAT YOU ARE FROM CALIFORNIA, I WOULD IMAGINE THE TRACKS OUT EAST ARE MUCH DIFFERENT. They were different with all the elevation they had there. You were either on an uphill, downhill or off-camber. So, they were a little bit different, but I have ridden a lot of places, from amateurs all the way over to Europe so, I have gotten my feet wet on pretty much anything you could ride a two-wheel dirt bike on.

YOU DEFINITELY DO NOT FEEL LIKE BEING FROM THE WEST COAST IS A DISADVANTAGE? No, I like the softer dirt more. I like tracks where I need to run the sand tire. I love that tire. I always have liked deep sand or deep loam with some nice soft ruts. I have also done pretty well on hard-pack, but I have always liked the soft stuff better.

A LOT OF THE KTM GROUP TRAIN IN FLORIDA. WITH YOUR DAD BEING WHO HE IS AND BEING ABLE TO HELP, IS THERE A BENEFIT TO STAYING IN CALIFORNIA? Right now, its just my dad and I doing our program. Of course, my dad has raced his whole life, and he has been everywhere as well, so I think that is my biggest advantage. He has all the experience so we can skip a lot of the things because he has already done it, so we don’t make that mistake twice. This first year, we wanted to stay close (in California), and the team did too. They wanted us to stay close so we could do a lot of testing and figure the bike out. It is also their first year having a factory 250 team in a while. Maybe next year we might head back to Florida and do some training. After these next couple rounds, we are going to head there, get our feet wet, and check it out. Next year, you never know, I might be there full-time.

MOTOCROSS HAS CHANGED SINCE YOUR DAD’S ERA, BUT A LOT IS STILL RELEVANT. Absolutely, he has trained me my whole life. He and my uncle Tyson raced everywhere and did pretty much everything in the sport. He has a lot of knowledge of certain tracks, certain bike setups, and mainly training. He trained hard when he was riding during his last few years, and he knows how to work hard. He has taught me everything I know, and it has gotten me here.

YOU ARE THE ONLY FACTORY KTM 250 RIDER. WHAT IS THAT LIKE? DOES IT CREATE MORE PRESSURE? No, it doesn’t at all. The team is not putting any pressure on me to get results this first year. They just want to see improvement. Of course, they don’t want me way back in20th place, but so far, I have been pretty much top ten almost every moto. I don’t feel any extra pressure. I don’t feel like I should not be on the team. I feel like I belong here. They make me welcome, and I am glad for them giving me this opportunity.

DO YOU HAVE MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO RIDE WITH COOPER WEBB OR MARVIN MUSQUIN? At the beginning of the outdoor prep, after Supercross was over, everyone was on the West Coast. So, I got to ride with Coop for a couple of weeks. He put me out in front of him and he would try to chase me down, so that was cool.

YOU HAD THAT HIP INJURY DURING SUPERCROSS, BUT YOUR RACES WERE PRETTY CREDIBLE. WERE YOU SATISFIED WITH SUPERCROSS? Yes, considering that I did not get as much prep as I would have liked. Going straight into Supercross instead of doing a year of outdoors first, was super difficult. Almost always, when rookies do that, they get hurt. Of course, I was in line with everyone else with my hip injury, but it was not that bad. It was just good to get my feet wet into racing, and then it gave us some extra time to get ready for outdoors.

ARE YOU THE KIND OF PERSON THAT SET’S SPECIFIC GOALS? AND IF YOU DO, ARE YOU MEETING THEM? The team gave us an idea of where they wanted us to be but, of course, I always want to be upfront, especially outdoors. I have ridden outdoors my whole life, so I know I can do well, and I want to do good. Of course, everyone wants to win, and everyone wants the top three, but realistically, top five is a great weekend for me, and top ten is still good. So, top five and better is really where I set my goal every week.

TESTED | 2022 HUSKY TC125 TWO-STROKE

LOST BUT NOT FORGOTTEN | 1999 KAWASAKI KX500

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MX SPORT SCOUTING MOTO COMBINE

Press Release: MX Sports Pro Racing has announced a significant initiative to further the continued development of the next generation of talent in American motocross. The MX Sports Pro Racing Scouting Moto Combine will serve as a critical tool in preparing racers for the transition from the amateur to professional level of the sport in both the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship and AMA Supercross.

Developed in partnership with all of the sport’s competing manufacturers, the program will debut in conjunction with the 2021 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, with an East region gathering at the Guaranteed Rate Ironman National on Friday, August 27, and a West region gathering at the Fox Raceway II National on Friday, September 3.

A total of 50 elite A & B class riders, 25 per region, will be invited by the amateur race team manager from each manufacturer, where an all-day combine of classroom-style racing education will help provide a framework for the expectations and demands of the sport’s professional level. The elements of the combine are wide-ranging and will emphasize some of the most important aspects of the sport – competition, media, fitness and nutrition. Key figures from these areas, from National and World Championship-winning coaches to Pro Motocross broadcast host Jason Weigandt, will lead the various classroom sessions.

“As the demands on our athletes continue to grow in concert with the ongoing expansion of the sport, it has become increasingly important to bridge the gap between the amateur and professional levels,” said Tim Cotter, MX Sports Pro Racing Event Director. “The scouting combine is a proven concept in major team sports and given the level of investment each of our competing manufacturers have in amateur motocross, it is vitally important that we do our part as the competitive organizers to develop a structure that serves to benefit our sport and, more importantly, our athletes. This is arguably the most critical transition in the career of any competitor and we are committed to do our part to give them the support they need.”

In addition to the educational component of the combine, riders will also take to the track at each respective National. A pair of 25-minute-plus-two-lap motos will be contested on the same layout as the pros at both Ironman Raceway and Fox Raceway, providing an opportunity to gauge the potential of this collection of riders who aspire to embark on a successful career at the professional level. These racers will also be recognized with a ceremonial parade lap during opening ceremonies at each event, along with two half-hour highlight shows on MAVTV Motorsports Network.

The invited participants for the inaugural MX Sports Pro Racing Scouting Moto Combine will be announced in the coming weeks.

SEASON-ENDING CRASH FOR FREDDIE NOREN?

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CLASSIC MXA PHOTO

2011 Daytona Supercross start with Kevin Windham (14), Ryan Dungey (1) and Ryan Villopoto.

Moto Trivia answer: Jason Anderson in his rookie year in 2011