Welcome to Racerhead and the continuation of both the off-season and silly season. It's mid-November, supercross is humming down under with the Australian SX Championship in Perth this weekend, albeit without guest visitors and recent winners Ken Roczen and Cole Davies, and we're a week away from both the Paris Supercross and the start of what will be the 56th annual THOR Mini O's. Meanwhile, Chase Sexton news hovers over us as the former AMA Supercross and Motocross Champion still hasn't settled on a chair, giving us some bonus tracks on this game of musical chairs. I had made a guess last week that he would end up at Phoenix Racing Honda, but that is apparently not going to be the case, as David Eller's team's mission is to focus on the 250SX East Region in 2027 with Jalek Swoll, Avery Long, and a soon-to-be-announced Mitchell Oldenburg. Eller did say that there were some discussions, but Honda proper wanted them to stay the course in '27. As for Quad Lock Honda, they will focus on 250SX West, as well as 450SX, and with the addition of Kevin Windham to the program, he could make a great mentor for a talent like Sexton. K-Dub had some down years of his own in what ultimately ended up being an AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame career and worked his way back to the front.

Red Bull KTM also had an offer in to Chase to return, a la Jorge Prado, but the contract had some clauses that #4 did not like. Even though the money (a rumored $400K) was decent, given Sexton's recent struggles, the fine print was not to his liking. And I've also heard that a deal with Dustin Pipes' Suzuki group could yet be made, but they already have this year’s 450SX Champion Ken Roczen and former 450SX champ Jason Anderson, and incoming Justin Barcia. By subtraction and attrition, Yarrive Konsky's Quad Lock Honda is where Sexton's silly season will almost certainly end.

Which leads us to the Quote of the Week, from our friend Robby Renner:

"Am I the only one who secretly hopes Chase never tells anyone where he's going and just shows up to A1 like nothing happened?"

As for Phoenix Racing Honda, they do have a couple of championships to celebrate. Jordan Ashburn became the first Honda rider since Scott Summers back in the 1990s to win the Progressive Grand National Cross Country (GNCC Racing) overall title, and Angus Riordan backed him up with the XC2 title. The GNCC Series ended last weekend with the Buckwheat 100 GNCC here in West Virginia, and it was a true nail-biter that came down to the last turns. AmPro Yamaha's Liam Draper was in a position to win both the race AND the overall title, but his teammate Kailub Russell passed him at the very end, taking away both the win and the title. The pass, just miles from the finish line, gave Ashburn the title, and it raised some eyebrows as to why Russell, who was also battling with FMF KTM's Grant Davis for the win, didn't let Draper win.

"I don't know what to say about Liam and taking the championship from him," said Russell afterward. "That wasn't my intention. I honestly thought Ashburn was right there behind us, and it really didn't matter at that point because Liam, Grant (Davis), and I were battling. I saw red, I saw my chance to go for the win, and that's what I did. He got put in a sticky situation, and I really do feel bad about the whole thing. I race to win, and I only get paid a first-place bonus. That's it. I felt good, I was there, and when I smell blood in the water, I strike. I didn't see any pit boards; they said they gave them to me, but I didn't see them. That one is on me, for the team, and I do feel bad. It is what it is, man."

Russell later posted on his Instagram story that the Yamaha team gave two pit boards saying not to beat Draper, but he didn't see them. Here's more on the whole race.

All that said, there was an added moment of drama before Russell crossed the finish line as overall winner for the second race in a row to end the series: Ashburn's XC2 teammate Riordan had started on the second row, one minute behind the XC1 line. He entered the race tied with Beta factory rider Jhak Walker. Riordan was having a banger of a day, even leading the overall at one point on adjusted time. The Phoenix team quickly realized that if he finished within a minute of Russell, he would get the overall on adjusted time, and that would put the title back in Draper's hands. The team signaled Riordan to take it a little easier at the end, which he did. He took the class win as well as the XC2 Championship, giving Phoenix Racing Honda a title sweep in the '26 GNCC Series.

Now for the very sad news. Brad Benesch, a popular racing mechanic who worked with Justin Hill at Joe Gibbs Racing, as well as Rockstar Energy Husqvarna, Yoshimura, and more, apparently took his own life sometime last weekend. Benesch had been struggling with depression and made a post on his social media showing photos of himself over the years, but with a startling caption: "Goodbye" followed by "03/29/1987 - 11/07/2026," signaling his date of birth and last Saturday. That sent alarm bells throughout the entire industry as many reached out to him, as well as anyone who might know his whereabouts. Wellness checks were called in, but to no avail.

JGR posted:

"The Joe Gibbs Racing family is saddened to learn of former JGRMX mechanic Brad Benesch's passing. Brad was hard-working and committed to excellence, having won with rider Justin Hill. After JGRMX shut down, Coy Gibbs made sure Brad landed on his feet by offering him a job on the NASCAR side. Brad worked at the Cup shop for a short time before deciding to pursue the two-wheel dream again. We encourage anyone dealing with depression to please get help. Call 988 if you're feeling alone with nowhere else to go."

Godspeed, Brad Benesch.

Each year in November, the main staff from the SMX broadcast team gathers at the Feld Motorsports HQ in Florida. These are meetings with our own TV talent, like myself, Leigh Diffey, Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart, Will Christien, Jason Thomas, Justin Brayton, Adam Cianciarulo, Hayley Shanley, Katie Osborne, and Steven "Lurch" Scott. The talent for both the Spanish language and French language shows were also on hand: Tommy Rios Jr. and Edgar Lopez, Sebastien Tortelli and Maxime Martin. NBC, Feld, and MX Sports Pro Racing staff also attend, and the idea of the two-day "summit" is to exchange ideas and keep up with emerging technology and trends in broadcasting.

This year we got to watch and analyze some things NBC did during Winter Olympics coverage and how some of those ideas could transfer over to our racing coverage. What was also cool to know is that NBC actually used examples of SMX drone coverage to learn and then incorporate more drones into Winter Olympics coverage. NBC feels SMX might actually lead the way for drone coverage in all sports. Very nice. We also got to see all sorts of numbers, from broadcast viewership to digital and social media trends. I know everyone wants to see the numbers, but streamers (like Peacock) rarely publish them. What I can tell you is this sport is definitely growing in viewership, but the overall number of people who watch is still not, in my opinion, large enough. This is still a smaller sport, but it is very strong in terms of gathering a young audience and holding that audience's attention for a long time. These days that might be just as valuable as anything.

Really, though, there's only so much any sports league can do. The athletes and the on-field competition really drive the fans, and indeed this year's Supercross viewership on Peacock showed a rare increase into the final stretch of the season. Usually, the Supercross numbers just slowly trail off after Anaheim. They did this year, but then later in the year, they started to pick back up! No doubt that's the Ken Roczen effect. Also, the Pro Motocross opener from Fox Raceway was way up compared to 2025. No doubt that's the Jett Lawrence-versus-Haiden Deegan effect. Also, this year's SMX Playoff races generated much higher views than previous years.

When the meetings were done, we shot elements for the 2027 Monster Energy SMX Season Preview show that will air on NBC just after Christmas. There's a lot of bench racing to do on that show, considering how much is happening and how many names there are to cover. You've got Roczen, the Lawrences, Prado, the Coenens, Deegan, Webb and, finally, that seemingly never-ending Chase Sexton question. Where will he land, and how will he do? A lot of info points in the direction of Sexton getting back on a Honda. Hopefully, we find out soon enough. Or will this be the first-ever team signing unveiled at Anaheim itself?!

What a week! My travels brought me home from last weekend's Geelong AUS-X Open event and straight to Palmetto, Florida, for the annual Feld/NBC summit to prepare for the 2027 Monster Energy SMX World Championship. A brief 32-hour jaunt from Melbourne, Australia, to Florida had me feeling prime for these meetings (insert sarcasm), but it was a great couple of days, nonetheless. As for the Aussie series, they are at the penultimate round as we speak, way out west in Perth. Christian Craig is in full control of the SX1 group, while the SX2 group feels very up for grabs. If you haven't checked those races out, everything is available on the AUSX360 app, and it's worth the look; those boys are ripping. Speaking of ripping, Ken Roczen was in mid-season form in Geelong, and I very much felt that he was capable of winning A1 with the pace he had in early November. If there was any doubt about him being a contender after finally getting the championship he so badly wanted, think again. And SX2 winner Cole Davies is also looking good and says he will probably ride 250SX West, wearing his new #5 rather than the #1 he would wear in the East.

The Feld/NBC meetings in Bradenton went well, as per usual, with lots of talk about how to continue improving and growing. The synergy among the collective people of influence is like nothing I have seen in my lifetime around this sport. It's truly cool to see everyone rowing the boat in the same direction. The growth is palpable, too, as everything around the sport is clicking into a higher gear. It's exciting to consider where the sport can go from here with so many tailwinds.

Well, week two of North Carolina life has had its ups and downs, unfortunately. First, the ups: my landlord, Phil Nicoletti, went back home to NY for a bit, so I can turn the heat up past 63 degrees. That's been nice.

We also had a PulpMX Show at ClubMX where a lot of the team members, including owner Brandon Haas, joined us to talk about the facility and all that it entails. That place is impressive for sure, and the team announced on the show that they've hired Mike Brown as a coach as well. We had a good show, and it was fun to do with the riders/team people. We even had Meatball on!

Another highlight was attending the local AX a couple of hours away on Saturday night to watch Iziah Clark sweep both classes. Always good to catch some AX action, especially as the series rebuilds itself under new ownership. Several OEMs are offering good contingency, which is attracting some awesome riders. Another great day involved a two-hour MTB ride through the trees at the Whitewater Center—a welcome change of scenery from Vegas!

Another positive was a road bike ride with Weege, where we climbed to the top of some mountain. Phil, Brayton, and Coop started 14 miles below us! They thought they'd catch and pass us, but we held our end of the bargain, although that was a tough ride for me. Weege, by the way, simply took the visor off his MTB helmet and declared himself a "roadie."

Okay, now for the bad. Without Phil, I'm lonely, and there's no one here to argue politics with. Perhaps that's a good thing? I've been battling a shoulder injury for months, and it's getting a little better. My doctor in Vegas (the same one who did Sexton's ACL) thinks I might need surgery, but we're trying to avoid it. He said, "Just don't crash on it again," and well, at ClubMX, riding my YZ450F, that's exactly what I did. A slightly greasy left-hand corner, I came in, lost the front, and fell right on my shoulder/head with my hands still on the bars. DOH! My shoulder immediately started burning badly, which really stinks. Heat and ice helped a bit afterward, but I definitely took a few steps back.

So then on Wednesday, I headed to Top Gun MX to ride again because I wanted to check it out. Webb bought the place, Seth Rarick runs it, and the plan was to moto and then ride some MTB again. But, yeah, I somehow jacked my back up, so the mountain biking was off, but two chiropractor visits, heat, and ice were back on! Dirt bikes can be fun, but apparently, I'm old and I'm falling apart.

As my landlord likes to say, "You gotta pay the toll to rock 'n' roll." Off to Paris SX next week, so my RH will be from there.

There's a cool Facebook page I follow called Rider Files, run by our friend and longtime contributor Larry Lawrence. Larry is a moto historian truly dedicated to preserving the history of motorcycle racing. He uses scanners to digitize old photos from various photographers, as well as the vast Cycle News archives, very similar to what I was doing with Willy Browning at the AMA Archives in Ohio last Friday.

This week, he posted a photo of a sharp-looking Honda rider at the 1982 Superbowl of Motocross at the Los Angeles Coliseum. It was shot by Patrick Behar of French Moto Verte fame, but there was no mention of who the rider actually was, nor did Larry Lawrence himself know. The guy had on classic JT Racing gear, boot gatorz, and looked like the quintessential Honda factory rider of that era. However, there was no Honda factory rider wearing #360 that year. The only top rider I can remember wearing #360 was Denny Stephenson, but that was a few years later, and he was on a Kawasaki Team Green KX125, wearing MSR gear. Speaking of Denny, he was one of the Rider Files followers who was trying to solve the mystery of who this rider was. He messaged me to see if I had a program from that race that hopefully listed #360 in the lineup, but I was down in Florida for the TV summit. The mystery was solved by another member in the group, Baron Tiker, who did not have the '82 Superbowl program, but he did have one from Hangtown '82. Number 360 that year was David Hay, who hailed from Phoenix, Arizona. He did not qualify for the main event that night, but he sure looked good!

And upon returning to the office yesterday, I dug into the vast Racer X Archives and found the '82 Superbowl of Motocross program, and indeed it listed #360 as David Hay.

If you're looking for yet another social media page/group to follow to get your daily old-school motocross fix, check out Rider Files on Facebook. And here are some pages from that '82 event program (not scanned, just shot on my iPhone!)

With the demise of the MX6 Kawasaki team, it looks like Pipes Motorsports is gaining a 250SX rider. Cullin Park, a solid top-ten guy, has latched onto the team for 250SX East on the RMZ-250. Park rode for Pipes before in the FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX), and they’re familiar with each other, so this is a good fit. I asked Pipes at Calgary WSX about his team’s lack of success in the 250 class in WSX compared to the AMA and WSX 450 side, and he said it would be better. But then, well, Calgary happened, WSX imploded, and we never saw any 250 results from the team. I know Twisted Development does good work for them on the 250 side, but oftentimes in that class, it comes down to spending money. The more money you spend, the better the motor will be because then you rebuild it more (at a basic level, compression equals HP, which equals less time they run well). With Park’s size, it’ll be interesting to see if the team can up its 250 budget and get Park the absolute best motor he can have. Either way, it’s a cool pickup for both sides.

The second annual Matt Walker’s Vet Masters at Echeconnee is this weekend, and I am here to enjoy the camaraderie that is old-dude racing! Matthes was supposed to be here racing with us, but that lingering off-season shoulder injury has forced him to sit this one out. I have a house full of friends here in Georgia to race, so it is a weekend full of bench racing, Ben-Gay, Advil, and green Masters’ jackets! Zach Osborne is here racing his Beta two-stroke. There are also Women’s Pro classes amongst all of the other Sportsmen’s classes. Pre-entries have already exceeded last year’s numbers, so a big turnout is expected this weekend in Georgia. I went out last week and did a track preview, as well as spoke with Matt about what is to come for the ever-growing vet event:

Today marks 57 days until Anaheim 1—here's the jersey countdown! Follow Josh on Instagram: @alwaysbelieve331.

It was GNCC week in Cycle News with a bunch of great coverage and win ads. Phoenix Racing Honda's Jordan Ashburn got the cover; there's a big feature on the Buckwheat, and win/title ads from Honda (one for Ashburn, one for XC2 Champion Gus Riordran), KTM (WCX Champion Brandy Richards), Yamaha (Buckwheat GNCC winner Kailub Russell), and Dunlop, which swept all three major GNCC titles. Also featured this week were a Beta spread for back-to-back WORCS Championships for Dare DeMartile, a Maxima ad featuring Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Seth Hammaker, and a Nitro Mousse ad for NGPC 250 Champion Sam Pretscherer.

Cooper Webb: We filmed a Commercial!

"JorDon Hudson reportedly sues Airbnb owners over leak of topless Bill Belichick footage"—Awful Announcing

"Alligator walks into North Carolina bagel shop"—UPI

“Animal shelter raises more than $150,000 selling drunk raccoon merchandise”—NBC News