Speaker: 0:09

All right guys. We're back with another a DB podcast and today we have Ad B's Jeff Briggs. Now Briggsy has been over to the Motocross of Nations for us. And he actually only flew back in this morning on Wednesday, the 8th of October, he went over to cover the event for us. And everything that happened behind the scenes and on the racetrack. Briggsy, are you feeling jet lagged?

Speaker 2: 0:30

Yeah, I'm pretty cooked to be honest. Um, I went back through my gar and sleep monitor and I think I averaged like five hours of sleep a night. It was just, I, I really couldn't sleep. I had jet lag over there and then we had a pretty decent flight home. Um, I got a little bit of sleep, but then we got off the plane, um, going through Sydney. Some lady pulled out on us and t-boned us in the side. So that sort of. Topped our trip off and, uh, yeah, got home, seen the family, hung out with the kids. We went to the beach and yeah, now just sort of hanging around the arvo waiting for the sun to go down.

Speaker: 1:06

Now I'm pestering you for an interview. The, um, mate, it, your trip looks absolutely unbelievable. Um, you know anyone that's listening to this, that followed a d b's social media on Facebook and Instagram. That was all Briggsy. Briggsy was our man on the ground. And um, he, I think he did a phenomenal job at covering both off track and on track. And, I mean, speaking of On Track, we're gonna get into your whole experience from, you know, turning up in the US and your motor home right through to after the race and running around with some of the Lawrence brothers. But mate, you were there, you were the first Aussie that Hunter saw when he crossed the finish line after Modo three. There's, you are on the telecast, you're there with your hand in the air. Holding your phone up for a DB social media cheering hunter on as he came down the backside of that jump, having just won, gone, won one and won that final moto, which put Australia, uh, in the gold, uh, gold medal position. What was the feeling before we get into the rest of it, just tell us straight up, what was that feeling like being the first Aussie they saw, uh, as they crossed the finish line?

Speaker 2: 2:08

Uh, probably poor hunter, but no, um, it was, it was surreal. Um. For me, I mean, they're like, I'd love to call'em mates, even though I'm not mates with'em per se, but they're just doing Australia proud, riding their hearts out, and it's the sport that we all love, right? So they're like, they're our Michael Jordans. So to see, see them do so well and just be so stoked for, because I, I'm just, I'm a passionate sports enthusiast, but motocross of all, I really enjoy it. For me, it was just surreal, like the crowd, the people, the atmosphere, seeing how spent they were, that they just rode their hearts out and gave it everything. Um, it was really, really cool. And then running down, um, in some, in amongst all the photographer, like even though I probably was like one of the first five or so there, within 30 seconds there would've been. 30 other photographers and at least 500 to a thousand spectators had just stormed the track with rider still going. So it was pretty crazy.

Speaker: 3:14

Yeah, it's funny, I've seen the footage of the guys crossing the track and kind of getting in the way of guys who still hadn't finished the race and um, yeah. And your footage as you kind of came running back down the track where Jet and once Jet had crossed the line as well and Hunter were hugging Kyle and Burner, uh, you can see the look on, uh, Hunter's face of like. As though he couldn't believe what he'd just achieved, um, having gone one one. But we're gonna get to that reaction and what that felt like. And anything you might've heard or seen or felt, uh, when the boys crossed the line. Later, uh, in this interview, we want to kind of start with, you know, where it all kicked off. You flew into the us the race was in Indiana. So, yeah mate. Ha, talk us through you got to kind of get in a camper van with some mates and camp out at a motocross destinations camp out area. We, we heard. That there was something like double the amount of motor homes that there was this year there at letter Loretta Lins. Um, and it was like a half an hour walk just to the track if you were the furthest point away from the track in your motor home. So tell us, mate, what was to start us at the start of your trip? Where'd you go when you flew in and, and how'd it all start?

Speaker 2: 4:21

Yeah, so, uh, went just with a mate. Um, Pearcy, one of my, my good mates. Um, we flew into LA to start and he'd never, he's never been to America, so. We wanted to do the Pro Circuit Factory and just show him around some Supercross tracks and all that sort of stuff, which was really cool. Um, they were so accommodating, pro circuit. I mean, we turned up there unannounced, walked in and, and just said, can we have a tour? Um. The young fellow behind the desk went, master his manager. He comes out and he goes, yeah, let's go. So we walk all through the pro circuit factory. We're seeing how they make everything, everything they do, and anyone from the public can actually do this. Um, normally you have to book, but it is a bit of a quiet time of year for'em since they've finished the season and they're between sort of waiting to start the new season and about to get into testing. So it kinda worked out well for us that we, we were the only ones there. So we did that. That was a really cool experience. And then we went to Troy Lee, um, which is now closed to public, but because one of my best mates is the importer for Troy Lee Johnny. Um, he got me into there. We went through, I took PC through there, which I'd done previously as well. Um, and we went all through the paint shop and all the design shop. Gotta to see how their new factory being built for the Ducati at the back. Um, the race team. So that was. Pretty cool, surreal experience. Um, and then from there we just went out to. The Kawasaki test track where we ran into AC and Brock Tickle. Um, they were doing some shooting and testing for Kawasaki. Um, caught up with them and then pretty much just motor, motored it out to, uh, Vegas for a night and then jumped on a plane to Chicago, picked up a motor home and down to the track. So that was about two hour drive from Chicago.

Speaker 3: 6:10

Mm.

Speaker 2: 6:10

Um. We, I think it was about 1500 bucks for the motor home, for the four nights. So it wasn't too bad really, um, between two of us. Um, and yeah, it was really cool. So we got out there, parked the motor home up and we were actually about, oh, it must have been a 25 minute walk away from the track. So I went and picked up my media pass prior to that and. I was sort of like, oh, this is pretty shit, to be honest. Like we we're gonna be walking to the track nonstop back and forth charging stuff all day and yeah, blah, blah. So then I sort of went round and there was a VIP media car park. Anyway, I went for a walk with pcy and um, we found one of the other guys,'cause they wouldn't let us through with the pass we had. And I showed him my media pass and he goes, oh yeah, you can park here. So we ended up packing up the motor home, driving around the block and going in another entry where we weren't getting stopped and this guy, Sonny, legend of a dude chauffeur us in and like gave us our own private spot, like a hundred meters from the track. Um, so that was really, really cool and it worked out pretty awesome for us. The perks of being

Speaker: 7:21

media mate. The perks of being media.

Speaker 2: 7:24

Yeah. Yeah, that was actually it. It worked out really well and then that also helped me. Get more, um, content, but also we went through for a walk through the all the motor homes that a few of the nights and, um. There was some pretty gnarly parties going on actually, and some fireworks and explosions and a lot of drunk people and chainsaws and air horns. And so yeah, it was pretty wild in the, in the, uh, motor home area.

Speaker: 7:52

It had a bit of a festival vibe from some of the videos you put up that we got to see on our social media page. And did I also see they had like a DJ and like a, um, kind of party area where people were dancing and drinking and, and that kind of thing.

Speaker 2: 8:07

So every night at seven, um, they did like a live show with Pulp mx, like Steve Mathis, racer X, Jason Wigan, Jason Thomas, and then they'd have like the winners from the day plus. I think Chad did a few. Um, and they had some other guests, McGrath and Carmichael just doing like. A bit of a recap of the day and, and doing some fence tracing. And then after that they had some DJs and some lights and a big light show. And yeah, it was a bit of a rave. They had like a rave every night, which was kind of cool'cause everyone sort of come from the, their motor home areas and come in and, and then that area got pretty packed each night as well, um, which was really cool. And that kind of went for probably two or three hours, but then they'd go, all went back to their motor homes and just. Got their party on, which was, yeah, it was pretty wild.

Speaker: 9:00

Yeah. So it's a good way for to do it, I guess, because you can, you know, essentially everyone's there to watch the racing, but they're also there for what, two or three days most people. And so it's a way to kind of make sure there's no downtime between racing and, and you can almost make like a long weekend slash holiday out of it. Do you reckon?

Speaker 2: 9:19

Yeah, definitely. Well, that's the bonus of it. Sprite is, you're camping there and you're with a few mates, so you can have a few drinks and if you go for a walk, everyone's really friendly. We're all there for the same reason.'cause we love motocross and, and we were having a bit of banner with the Yanks over there and that about who's gonna win and, and whatnot. And, and they were all for it. And a lot of them even said, we are winning because either way, jet wins and Hunter like Australia wins. They're ours as well. And we're like, no, they're still ours. But

Speaker 3: 9:47

yeah.

Speaker 2: 9:49

It was, it was just a really good atmosphere. And even I, like when I spoke to the boys, um, they said that they enjoyed m mix of nations'cause they can make it like a camping trip and they go out and the whole team was all camping together like Honda. And then you had like Jet and Hunter in their camper. With their wives. And then Kyle had his own camper next to him with Ross and Verna had his own camper and they were all sort of parked in so that no one could actually get in around them. They had some, some cars blocking off the entries as well.

Speaker 3: 10:19

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:19

Um, but yeah, they just camped there for a few nights too and, and took it all in themselves. So,

Speaker: 10:24

so, so we'd heard it last year'cause Mx ization was in Europe. We'd heard that. The Lawrence brothers were, um, you know, especially jet with such celebrities that he, you know, could hardly get to the toilet for a bathroom break from his camper home. Um, what was the, was it similar, we kind of discussed this before you left. We didn't think it'd be quite as manic because they get to see him, the American fans get to see someone like Jet and Hunter Lawrence every weekend. But was there still was the vibe around Jet and Hunter Lawrence at Destinations, were they still number one celebrities or were the Americans probably, I'm guessing. You know, the most, uh, sought after writers there?

Speaker 2: 11:00

I'd have to say it was 50 50 to be honest. Um, there was a lot of Australian fans there and Jet being Jet, he does cop probably more than anyone of it. Um, so I was a little hesitant to push Jet for interviews and that, and he was. I think he felt like that too with a lot of it. He, he seemed, even Hannah said like, oh man, we have not stopped. And I'm like, yeah, I can imagine. He goes, this has been the busiest nations we've had.

Speaker 3: 11:29

Mm.

Speaker 2: 11:30

And um, he just said that we, we haven't stopped doing interviews and then we're doing a VIP thing with like, and all that, which they love and they, and they love supporting the Aussie fans, but he just said it's just been really busy. So I, I sort of was reluctant to push him for too many interviews and we hung out a lot off camera. But yeah, it was. It was awesome. I, I spoke to Tomac a bit and a few of them guys, um, and they were all pretty friendly and I, I guess it's their job at the end of the day. But yeah, like anyone who goes there, you buy the pit paddock pass, you can go up and talk to the riders and you, you know, I spoke to Dungy v la Poto read. McGrath Carmichael, they're all walking around and, and they're all willing and happy to, to give you five minutes of their day, which is really, really impressive.

Speaker: 12:15

Yeah, I think that's the, the, um, you know, I'd, I'd, I'd like to say it's rare in our sport, but maybe it's just rare in the, on, in the Aussie scene. But, uh, every time I've gone over and covered a Supercross over there, I've always felt like the writers have plenty of time to talk to you. And, um, as a journo, they give you their, they give you the time, which is. You know, refreshing. Um, so then tell us, uh, you know, you've camped out, you've got the, you've done the first night there. You've kind of, you know, gone and had a look at the track, I'm guessing, and, and what it's gonna look like. Then you've got qualifying. How, what was the vibe like around qualifying? Who was everyone expecting to win? What was, tell us everything that happened on day one?

Speaker 2: 12:52

Uh, day one was just starts. Um, so what they did, they did like a. They went down the track and they just did practice starts. So it's like 40 minutes of practice starts with two groups.

Speaker: 13:04

Yep.

Speaker 2: 13:04

Um, so the first group out was obviously the Aussies, the Yanks, Lavenia, um, the Netherlands, Belgium, all the top teams, Italy. Um, so that was really cool. Um, I got, obviously with the media pass you got unlimited access and with track access, I was on the start line watching'em all do practice starts, which was really, really cool. Mm. And they got practice great set up. And it's funny, like Jed or Hunter and a few, and Tim Guyer and all these guys will do a practice start and you get a little bit outta the crowd, but as soon as Eli left that gate from the moment his front wheel got over that gate. To the time that he was sort of going around the first corner and rolling back down the, the opposite lane. Mm. The crowd was just going nuts. Like for the Americans, they were just, you could hear, you couldn't hear the bikes over the top of them, but everyone else, they were kind of just sort of giving them little cheer for, but the Americans, it was really, really impressive.

Speaker: 14:02

Wow. Yeah, I kind of, I would expect, especially term Max, such a crowd favorite. And, you know, with, with them losing Chase and Hayden. Um, you know, not to take anything away from Cooper, um, and rj, but you know, I guess Tomac was their main hope, so I'm not surprised that he was also their most, the most popular writer. Um, so after you'd done qualifying, we then had this MX of Nations Junior Yamaha Cup thing where, uh, Aussie, so it's a couple like little Aussie kids ripped. They frigging took it to the Yanks. Um, tell us how Yeah, well they had,

Speaker 2: 14:35

they had practice practice that day. Um, where Blake qualified second fastest by 0.2 to TAs Morgan,

Speaker 3: 14:43

I think

Speaker 2: 14:44

it was. TAs is a young kid who's won two Loretta's titles. Um, he's currently riding at the Lawrence factory and he's a full on pretty much factory Yamaha rider over there. Um, and Blake stuck it to him in practice. It was really, really impressive. Um, I'm not sure. We had two other kids in the 65 class, Stella Harding, which young girl? Um, she, she crushed it. I think she might've qualified about eight or eight to 10 around there. And I think, um, we had another kid, Hudson Francis. So Hudson's won a few junior titles in Australia. Um, I think he won the Sunny State title this year on the 65. He's a great little kid. I think he qualified fifth, so we were sitting pretty in the 60 fives two, and that was our qualifying then. And then from there that afternoon, they had the parade in town. So that was next level. Yeah.

Speaker: 15:41

Yeah. I saw some footage. We ran some footage on our social media channel of. Some of the Aussie fans getting in the back of Jet and Hunter's Ute and Carl's Ute and jumping up and down on it. We looked manic. They couldn't even move the cars.

Speaker 2: 15:55

Yeah, we, we couldn't even, so we,'cause we, a camp event was parked up. We, we walked a little bit to Walmart, which was probably a 20 minute walk and got an Uber from there. Um, and then old mate in the Uber said, I'll get you as close as I can. So he ended up getting us two blocks away and then we just walked in. And when we got there, it was like something I've never seen. Um, I can't, it's hard to kind of describe the amount of people going for three blocks around corners and up and just lining the streets. There would've been at least a hundred thousand people in this street. Just with cars going through and chainsaws and horns and flags everywhere. There was a boatload of every nation that was being represented. And it was, it was something that I, it's hard to describe because it was just so impressive. Um, I, the biggest, best way to describe it would be something like a, a football grand final, um, with some of your more pa like, um, strongest supporters like the bulldogs or something. Just going nuts. Like, um, there was flares going off and smoke bombs and just It was, it was something, yeah, it was something else for sure. So even,'cause we kind of worked like we had a pretty big day and. My mate Pearcy was like, oh, do you reckon we should go? I'm like, yeah, we're here. Let's just do it. So we, we, we made the effort and I'm so glad we did.'cause it was, it was next level.

Speaker: 17:26

And so tell us then, who was, when they were doing the, um, the, you know, drive through in the back of the Utes, I'm guessing the Americans were the favorites and the most popular. The, but the Aussie truck looked like it was pretty hectic. Were there any other teams that had anywhere near the support that America and Australia had?

Speaker 2: 17:43

Yeah, so. Every team got a decent cheer, to be honest. Like as they come through, there wasn't one team that didn't get a cheer, uh, which is really, really cool to see that they got behind the whole event as well. Um, Kenny was definitely a crowd favorite. Oh, yeah. Rock. He, when he come past the crowd, gave him as much of a cheer as what they did. Australia or America. Mm. Um, Australia really got the cheer going when the, all the, the whole truck got like, yeah, just. Invaded by all the Aussie boys and they were on there and they were just bouncing the crap outta these F1 fifties and Dodge Rams going down the road. Yeah. But then Amer America was probably definitely the loudest. Yeah, it was. It was. But even the kids, they had like some marching bands from schools come through and the crowd was just really into it. They, they really are. Patriotic, but they also are massive fans of motocross over there.

Speaker: 18:37

Yeah. All you gotta do is look at how they do like college football and the celebrations, and the ceremonies around just their local, you know, club sport events, um, to know that they, they know how to do entertainment. The Americans. And when I was watching that parade, I was like, man, they, they don't, they don't do anything in halves. I mean, they've got the population to support it, but. That was really cool to see. Um, so, okay, so they do the parade and then the following day are the qualifying races. Yeah. What was the vibe like

Speaker 2: 19:09

in the morning they had the, um, 1, 2, 5 80, 65, 85 and 1 2 5 races, or 1, 2 5 qualifying. Um, so that was when, so we had two Aussies podium had. Hudson Francis Podium in the 65 class, and Stella Harding got a fifth, which you know, is so bloody impressive from them two kids. Stella being a girl as well. To go up against 40, 40 other riders and pull a fifth is pretty damn impressive. Um. Then Hudson to he, he come around the first corner in probably fifth and pushed to third and ended up getting a podium. So that was really, really cool for him. Um, and then Blake, I, I said to Pearcy,'cause I know how strong a rider Blake is, he is gonna be one of the greats if he keeps heading on the path he is. He, I said to pissy, he will whole shot this kid you watch. And he did. He come round the corner in first and he started to check out and he got to this bit in the track in the, the woods where it's kind of hard base and he'd just come round the corner and just cross right a little bit and made a mistake and dropped back to about fifth. Um, but he ended up fighting back to third and set the fastest lap of the race, which was really impressive. Huge congratulations to all them kids. It was awesome to see that. And massive props to Yamaha over there. Um, I'm not here nor there for either brand or manufacturer to be honest, but Yamaha put in such an effort with that. They had a tent that would've been near a hundred meters long with every Yeah, it was insane. And there was three bikes for every country. Um, so 120 bikes that they supplied except for the American ones, obviously, and most of the riders were American. But then every other rider that, so Blake's bike, and this is what Tim Blake's dad was explaining to me was Yamaha fully kited every bike out with GYTR parts, jetting heads. Exhaust everything. So they were pretty much like a factory, little 85, and all Tim had to take was suspension for Blake. Wow. And Blake said that it was pretty much as good as his bike back here, which was super impressive like that. That's a lot of money for Yamaha to spend on that event. And. They were so grateful and thankful. It was like something I've never seen.

Speaker: 21:37

Wow. I mean, we talk about economy of scale. I know they've got, you know, 350 million people, whatever it is over in the us but, so they can afford to do these kind of things. But that is impressive and that's really cool to see that kind of support. And it was also cool to see the kids have a go on the same track, uh, in front of a world. You know, a global audience, uh, and to see our Aussies ripping it up, man, it's good to know that like it's, you know, the future looks to be safe. I mean, I say the future, jet and Hunter and Kyle are also very young, so they're also the future. But when, when they, I guess come to the end of their time, there's, you've got guys like Blake, um, who Yes, of we've previewed, we've, uh, profiled before and he's fast and he's gonna be fast. And I guess that weekend proved it. Um, so kids raced and then everyone's kind of hanging what, after that,

Speaker 2: 22:25

straight onto the MSGP qualifying race. So that was Jet Guys at Tomac, um, all them kind of guys. Um, so as Jet does, jet pulled a hole shot and was out front. Uh, Lucas Kan was in second and Tomac with 35th Gate pick, um, was buried. Uh, he was. I think he must have been 25th or something around the first corner. Um, so I, I didn't know what to expect, but every single lap that Tomac done, the crowd were just roaring. Uh, he is so popular over there and every time he would go past, he couldn't hear the bikes. He ended up, he didn't ride too great that first qualifying race, which actually surprised me. He only got back to ninth.

Speaker 3: 23:14

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2: 23:15

And. I was really, really surprised. He, I ended up walking through the pits that afternoon and I, I ran into Will Hahn, um, Mike s leader said, if you see, will Hahn tell him, you know, me and I had a good chat with Will about it'cause he was there with team USA and. He said he had spoke to Eli, and Eli sort of said, ah, it got to the'cause they're only 20 minute races. He said it got to 15 and and the next ride in front of him was five seconds in front. And he said it wasn't really worth the push. He wanted to save a bit of energy for tomorrow. He said that he's been to enough of these to know that the business ends tomorrow. So he just settled in for the ninth, which kind of, I, I was kind of like, wow, that, that's impressive. He really looked outta sorts, but at the end of the day, he wasn't. Mm-hmm. Um, straight after that, went into the MX two race where Kyle raced, um, Sasha Kan won that race and Kyle managed to get a fifth. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 24:13

So

Speaker 2: 24:14

he beat sim and Felder actually, um, wow. In qualified. Really impressive. And got and finished just behind Sim and Felder, so.

Speaker 3: 24:22

Mm.

Speaker 2: 24:23

Tim and Langfield had just won the MX gp. Yeah. MX two world title for those who don't know. But yeah, Cole dropping down to a two 50 out, qualified him and was on the same second, I think as Der Wolf and, and Sasha, I think Cooper set the fastest qualifying time, which is damn impressive. Um, he, yeah, he was the standout rider for me. All weekend. Um, Justin Cooper. Oh yeah, Justin Cooper won that race. Sorry. And Sasha Kon got second. Mm-hmm. And then after that was the MX Open. Um, and Hannah. Did the same thing as Jet. Just got a great start and checked out and I think the boys both won their races by eight or nine seconds, so jeez, the 1, 1 5, 1, they dropped the highest score being the five gave us a one, one for a two and gave us. First gate pick leading into Sunday.

Speaker: 25:13

Okay, so let's talk, I mean, like you said that Kyle ride in qualifying was impressive, but we're gonna get to his rides in the actual designations because yeah, it was kind of one of those rides where you're like, oh no, he's down on both occasions. And then to do what he did, he's incredible, but we'll get to them in a second. Um, gate pick. Where did you want to start? Was there anywhere? Was, was getting going? One one and having number one gate pick. A huge benefit at that track. And where on the start gate do you want to be?

Speaker 2: 25:43

Yeah, so when I walked the gates and I spoke to the guys about it, and it, I think Burner and um, Kyle sort of mentioned it in their interviews that I got with'em, is that it's not like a lot of other tracks where the inside gate is such a big, um, advantage. Mm-hmm. Uh, and especially on a two 50 being softer, like they really ripped the start straight, real deep. Mm-hmm. Um, so. In that interview I spoke with Burner about it. He actually describes what happens really well, but they gave Cole first gate pick, and I think he must have been about eight or nine in from or out from the inside, which is a straight line to the first corner.

Speaker 3: 26:23

Okay?

Speaker 2: 26:23

But then what happened is it was almost like with the MXGP MX two race, which is the first one. A lot of the teams were happy to sacrifice their two 50 result in that field because it wasn't, the MX open field wasn't quite as strong, so they were hoping that the MX two riders would ride better in the open class.

Speaker 3: 26:42

Mm.

Speaker 2: 26:43

Um, and that's exactly what happened to Kyle. He was next to G and, um, Fe. Fe and guys are on the, each side of him, and Roxon was right there as well. And he just got swallowed up. And then as soon as Jet come around the outside. Somehow from, oh, he must have been five outside the doghouse. Come round in first and got the whole shot alongside. I can't remember who Luc was.

Speaker: 27:12

Lucas. Lucas, Nan was, it

Speaker 2: 27:13

was Lucas got the whole shot. Jet was in second, and then Gza was in third. Yep. Um, but then I'm standing over at the whole shot line. I filmed that first start, and then I'm like, where's Kyle? He was picking his bike up off the ground dead last, and I, and I'm, my heart dropped. I'm like, oh, you're joking. Anyway, I took my hat off and started wave. Now, not that he would've seen it, but he just, me and that guy can just get the job done. He just rode his heart out and I seen him after both races, like after they'd won. It looked like someone had stood in front of him and just peppered him with a paintball gun for a half an hour. He had that many welts on him. He was bleeding. Um, he really did put his body on the line for that. But yeah, he ended up getting back to, I think 14th in that first race, maybe 15th. Um, yeah, it was a super impressive ride in a stacked field. Um, really stacked field, and I think Justin Cooper only got to 10 so that. Kind of helped us, you know, I think the Americans didn't quite perform how we expected them to perform, which worked in our favor. But yeah, that was the, the race one, jet One, um, coal 15 from the very back of the field.

Speaker: 28:33

And do you think if they had their time again, the Aussies, you chatted with them after the races? Would've they done what everyone else did and just forfeited, you know, and accepted that Kyle's probably gonna drop that. We're gonna drop Kyle's position at the end of that first race anyway. Stuck Kyle somewhere else and then put Jet in the best possible position. Or do you think it was validated because in the end, jet did what Jet does and somehow went from what crap Gate picked to second. And so I guess it almost was justified or, or if Kyle was further outta the way of all these four 50 riders. He may not have crashed, he might have had a better start, could have got even further up. Did they, did they have any regrets?

Speaker 2: 29:11

Um, I wouldn't say they were regrets because they still won by, I think, 13 points overall because might've even been 15, which is a lot in that race. Um, so it did all pan out in their favor, and I think there's so much trust around that team now that they know their jobs and they know the capabilities of each rider that. They're comfortable that, you know, I think they knew that Kyle would at least get to that 15th and if that was their worst score, they had to drop with Jet and Hunter throwing ones and twos up. It's always gonna be a benefit for them if they have to drop a 15. Yeah. Like versus say a 25. So, and when you look at the final scores as well, Kyle potentially could have gone 25th and we still would've won.

Speaker 3: 29:58

Wow. Uh,

Speaker 2: 29:59

so that was. A bonus for us, but you just never know. And that was what, what they said. We, you never know what's gonna happen, but when you ride your heart out, you'll always do well.

Speaker: 30:12

Yeah. Yeah. Kyle, we've, we've got an interview coming up with Kyle and, um, you're gonna be on that one too, Briggsy and, man, I can't wait to talk to him about what he did because, you know, we talk about, obviously the Lyons brothers are incredible to do what they did. Just ridiculous. But to do what Kyle did is he an, you know, hunter anchored the team, I guess, but Kyle saved it by that, that, that impressive ride. But that probably leads us to the second moto. And mate, you must have been lining up, watching them, right. Sitting there and right next to the start gate thinking it can't happen again. And then looked across to the whole shot and gone, you're kidding me, he's on the ground again. What was the feeling for the second race and I guess before the second race? Was Australia panicking after seeing Kyle crash in the first corner thinking, oh no, we're actually not even first in the points after race one, we're gonna need Kyle to put in a decent effort for the second one. Was there any panic? And what was your feeling at after race two, seeing the poor guy on the ground again?

Speaker 2: 31:09

Um, I don't think there was ever any panic. There's always that un like that unsurety because. And it's hard to speak to'em during the racing because it, it's the business end of the deal, right? So they've got their job to do and that's all they're focused on. Mm. Um, I did sort of speak to, I can't remember, it was one of the mechanics and he just said, no, no, we're sweet. We'll, we'll be right. We know the boys know what they need to do. And when you know that you've got Jet and Hunter lining up for that final mo, um, you've just got a. Feeling of confidence. And that's what they, they were saying that, you know, we'll be right. We know what we have to do. These guys are one and three, one and two rider like that. And to be honest, coming in, I had, in my my eyes, it was always gonna be jet win hammer two or vice versa. Mm-hmm. Um, and then Tomac could get in between and or be right there with him. And then hamshire that five to seven guy, you know, you throw a Lucas or a Gza or a February in front of him. Mm. Um, Kyle was, he's not our weak link, but, uh, you think like if Deegan's there, Deegan's probably gonna be a little bit better than Kyle. You've got Kyle to Wolf, Sasha Kan, um, Simon Felder, who just, it is a little bit like that, a one you don't know where some people are gonna stack up. So I wasn't really sure how Kyle would go against them just being a normal four 50 rider and dropping down. But when I seen the qualifying race, I knew. I knew then personally that yeah, we're in a good spot. Like if, if he, if he can be the fifth best two 50 on the day, that's great.

Speaker: 32:46

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 32:47

Um, that's gonna stack us up somewhere with the points. You gotta think there's gonna be seven, four fifties in front of him to eight, maybe five, two fifties. And if he's at fifth one, he is gonna be around that 13, which he did from the back field. So looking at it now, um, man, that guy done is stellar a job. If he'd got some good starts, I think he could have been that maybe six to 10 result. Really. Definitely and, and probably given Australia one of the lowest scores of all time.

Speaker: 33:18

Yeah, yeah. True, true. And was there, so when he crashed in Moto two, was there any, at the start there, did you notice the Australian team panicking? You were on the track, I mean, you were in the best position, you were kind of standing right next to the mechanics there. At one stage we could see you and then wandering around the track. Was there any panic from the mechanics or, um, yeah, the team,

Speaker 2: 33:37

no, not really.'cause, um, Moto two, I started. In a different spot. Um, I was up on the hill, but you can still see the, the mechanic's box from where I was. And as soon as Kyle come round, halfway round the track, he was already up to the back of the field, so he pushed hard straight away. Once he got back up and caught up to the back of the field. And I'm like, okay, sweet. He did this first mo. That's probably a weaker field. With the open versus the the MXGP.'cause they don't have some of the, the teams don't have their strongest, you know, we're lucky we have two amazing riders. America does too. But a lot of the other teams like Japan had shimoda. But then guys you've never heard of. Yeah, and Cole's a lot faster than guys, so I knew he could probably. Go a little bit better in the second motor than the first one. Provided he had the en uh, energy because um, they are a back to back mo. Yeah. So he would've been pretty cooked. It was hot. Um, but he pushed, he pushed that whole mo and he wrote his heart out. He was our unsung hero. The team, to be honest, um, jet and Hunter sort of did what they always do and just rode how you expect them to ride. Um, but Kyle. Man to drop to that two 50 and to put in them two performances from the back of the field, I think it, he doesn't get the credit he deserves. Um, and yeah, I, it, it'd be hard to take him outta that team now after going back to back and winning two donations in that team. Even if Jed beats him next year, you still kind of gotta give Kyle a chance to. To defend again, I think, um, just being a Honda Rider too and fitting into that team so well, they know exactly what he wants his bike set up and, and it just all seems to work. So yeah, it was definitely impressive. Mm. And I, I think, yeah, he was the rider of the weekend for Australia for sure.

Speaker: 35:29

Yeah. Okay, so we go, um, Moto two, um, hunter one. Yeah, Kyle came back to a similar-ish position. Um, yeah, kinda

Speaker 2: 35:38

had

Speaker: 35:38

two crashes in

Speaker 2: 35:39

that MO too, so

Speaker: 35:40

I know that was so odd. And they were kind of tiny little tip overs, but he was so far ahead. He, he still won by a fair margin.

Speaker 2: 35:48

I caught one on video, surprisingly, like, so random, but he come past me after the start straight around the first turn and he, he went in and. Went into this rut and I just caught the back of him going down. But then there's another view from the front and a massive clump of dirt had fallen into the rut. Ah, so he'd hit that like a boulder and it just popped his front wheel out and he dropped down. Um, and that actually got the crowd going a fair bit too, because I think at that time RJ was in second. So before RJ went rj and yeah, it um. The crowd went pretty wild for that one.

Speaker: 36:22

Cool. Yeah. Before RJ went and ran into a, um, a, a stand or something by looks of things. But anyway, we'll focus on the Aussies.

Speaker 2: 36:29

He had a camera. Yeah. That was second mo for him. But, um. First motto, he had three crashes. Second motto, he had three crashes, or he went down seven times he said in the press conference. So gosh. Yeah, he hasn't done that all year, which is surprising. I mean, he, he rode really well all year and was a, that sort of three to. Seven guy in the, in the outdoors, which I thought he was gonna be again, but it just didn't pan out that way for him.

Speaker: 36:58

No, RJ did. Rj Um, yeah. Uh, alright, so then that takes us through to the last moto. Now w was, what was it like being there for that last moto? Everyone knew that the other teams probably needed a bigger lead than what they had over Australia going into that last moto because. Jet and Hunter. I mean, you know, they've topped qualifying in their respective classes. They've both won the, their first two races. Yeah. There was a very high chance they were gonna go, won two do. Was it, was it a bit deflating for the other nations knowing, oh no. Now I've got both the Lawrence brothers in the same race. Well, this is a done. This is done and dusted. What was the feeling when everyone lined up B before the gate dropped?

Speaker 2: 37:38

Yeah. I think it was a little deflating for everyone. The crowd sort of knew. Um, I think we were tired with America going into that final motor, but we had scores to drop, right? So if our worst score was a 14 that Kyle got in, our best score that, that we kept was a 13, and we had two ones already. We were sitting on 15 points essentially. Mm. Um, and then America, their worst score to drop was. Rj, um, which sort of really, really smashed them and, and put them in a bad spot. So I think, I mean, it is that race, anything can happen and we've seen that so many times in, in the past, like with Tomac the last few years and, and breaking his leg and Jet doing his Lean Supercross and all that sort of stuff, and Tomax, Achilles. So you just dunno what can happen. But as soon as you've seen Jet. And Hannah come round, like I think Hannah Hole shot and Jet was in fifth. Yeah. The life of the party got sucked out pretty quick. I mean, like

Speaker: 38:44

as Aussies, you're like, ah, sucked in. But I guess if you're any other nation, you'd just be like, again, really like, you know, those boys are so fast. But then things changed pretty quickly because Hunter just checked out like, you know, everyone, this has been pretty well. Vocalized. But you know, if it wasn't for Jet Lawrence in the world, hunter Lawrence would be also considered a freak considering what he's doing, you know, two years into his four 50 career. Um, and so to take off in that third moto where he did have jet in the same MO as well as all the other fast four 50 riders, um, was. Was impressive. But then Jet went down, he ran into Isaac gifting from Sweden at the top of that hill. And you know, I'm watching the telecast thinking like, where is he? He's not, he's not there. And starting to panic just a little bit, although it is Jet. So you, you never know. You, you know, he is never in trouble. What was the feeling at the track when Jet didn't come through the finish line after the first lap in second or third?

Speaker 2: 39:36

Um, I don't think anyone was worried to be honest. Like if. Jet won his first race. And you've seen, he was always, he qualified two seconds lap faster than anyone. Um, and then even in his first motto, he, he was riding really comfortably in front of Lucas Kon and like he wasn't put, he pushed for two, three laps and then he just settled. Um, so, you know, with him you kind of don't have to worry. And even Michael Byrne, when I spoke to him after the race. He kind of said I wasn't panicked at all. Like I knew Jet would at least get through to fifth and we still would've won it. Um, and I think everyone kind of knew that Tomac really surprised me on the Sunday, like after his ninth and then going. Um, three, two, I think it was, or four, two. Um, he really rode his heart out for America and just shows that like even last year, he got the late call up at Madely Basin and, and went two, two, um, and showed that me and that guy can perform. He's, he's super impressive when it comes to race day. Uh, so he kept, he kept Hannah, honest. I wouldn't say it was honest, honest, but he kept him there. If Hannah made a decent mistake liking the other moto. Tomac would've been right on him and, and would've made it a little harder for him. But even Hunter just, they just looked so comfortable. The boys really looked like they were a level above everyone this weekend. Uh, and it was pretty impressive. Mm-hmm. And then there, they jet sort of worked his way through pretty quick. The first two or three laps, he made up five or six positions and then sort of settled in and just started slowly picking him off until that sort of five minutes ago when he was in third. And he sort of just. Didn't put the anchors on, but he just settled for where he was. He, he probably could have caught Tomac if he really wanted to with the couple of the laps he threw down in that race. But he, whether he was a bit buggered or he just settled,'cause the team was like, we've got it, just take it as a third. Um, so then he settled the last few laps and Hunter comes across the line and yeah, I, I sort of knew. Halfway through the race when Depp got up to about six or seventh, I'm like, oh, we're gonna, we're gonna win this. I'm, I'm gonna go over to the finish line'cause this is pretty historic sort of thing. So I made my way over there and, um, I actually went live to on a DB mm, um, Instagram, which was really cool. I thought a heap more people would. Been in, but obviously everyone might've been at work.'cause it was a Monday here and a a Sunday there. Or asleep.

Speaker: 42:17

Yeah, early morning. So

Speaker 2: 42:18

I had, I think it was about a hundred viewers on the live stream. But yeah. Um, then Hunter comes across and yeah, that's the real moment. And then Jet comes across and then so I chase them down that pit lane straight and across. And they were just knackered to be honest. Um, hunter was especially knackered. That was part of what Burner said too. That was, um, they wanted to give Hunter the inside gate pick'cause Jet had that little bit more recovery time between Motos. Yeah. Because he did the third Moto. So they wanted to give Hunter the easier option in case something did happen to Jet. They knew that he'd have a bit more energy to work his way through, which I think paid off from, as that's what happened. Um, but yeah, and then so they. They went down and just seen the team and, and man, they were stoked. They were kind of not shocked, but just, I think they were just buggered, to be honest. They rode their hearts out and just so over the moon that it was sort of still hadn't sunk in at that time. Mm-hmm. And Hunter sort of just sat down and collected his thoughts and grabbed a breath and he had some cameras in his face and he just. Hopped on his bike and just sat there. Just, it was hard to describe the, what he must have been thinking, to be honest.'cause um, yeah, he was, he was just sort of really still for a bit there and then just started his bike and rode off. And I, I ran down the podium and met Kyle halfway and man, he was just ecstatic. And, and then yeah, went and watched the podium celebrations. So yeah, it was, it was a pretty insane thing. The crowd just flooded the track. I, I reckon there must have been 20, 30,000 people just flooded the track with 10 minutes just going off chainsaws and every, you couldn't hear anything. Um, it was, it was like something I've never experienced and I, my best thing that I could say to anyone, obviously having the media pass was. An insane experience being able to walk the track and see the guys and and do all that. But if you ever get the chance to go to an A race overseas, go to an MX Nations because it is. I've been to an a MA Supercross, I've been to some outdoors and that, and nothing compares to, to this race.

Speaker: 44:44

Yeah, yeah. Based on, mate, your experience sounds so wild and so epic and having that access to the track and other bits and pieces must have been awesome. Um, to tell us then, like when you, you, you mentioned running over to where the Aussie boys had just finished the race to us on the screen. Honestly, it looked like it meant more to go back to back than it did to for Australia to win the first, our first ever MX Nations last year. Um, did, was that the vibe or was that just how it kind of seemed on camera? I mean, the boys looked so speechless after this event that it looked like it almost meant more to them. Is that, would you reckon that was a case or not? Um,

Speaker 2: 45:24

yeah, definitely. I think. There was a lot of pressure weighing on them in other ways. Um, obviously they had their dramas throughout the year with certain things, and then being the favorites to come in. Um, and it's, it's one of them things, right? Like it would've been nice to see Chase and Hayden there just to, to see if the outcome was the same. I, I kind of feel like it would've been,'cause Degan is gonna be stronger than. Kyle, but how much stronger is he gonna be? Five positions? Well, Kyle was fifth anyway, right? Mm-hmm. So it still probably would've ended up the same, but that points margin might've been a bit closer. And you just dunno, with Chase whether he does similar to rj, that guy can is probably the only one apart from Hannah who can beat Jet on his day.

Speaker 3: 46:14

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2: 46:14

Or Eli maybe, but he can also crash with the best of them, so. Mm-hmm. You know, you just don't know what you're gonna get. And it's hard to bench trace that sort of stuff because I still feel like in the end, Australia did what they had to do and, and being the favorites, they had that pressure. Um, but when I spoke to, to all of them, they, they said it meant more for other reasons, not just being the back to back, which was really impressive to see. Um, and, and they were stoked. I haven't seen Hunter that. I don't know what animated. After a race ever. Um, he was so raw and animated and, and real jovial, and the Aussie actually come out in him, which was really cool to see.

Speaker: 47:01

Yeah, that's good. I, I know in, in one of your interviews with Hunter afterwards, he used a word, which I won't repeat right now, but it was, um, it was a typical Australian colloquialism that I think when we stuck it up on social media and that post went viral, uh, a lot of people picked up on that word and loved it. So you could tell he seemed relaxed. He seemed very. Happy. Um, now in those interviews that you're talking about, you, you actually got a few, you know, exclusive bits, especially I think it was outta Burner or, and Lars, but they talked about Jet potentially riding a two 50. Was that, did, did they go into detail? I mean, I, I can guess as to why. It's because you give, uh, Kyle a better chance of doing good on a four 50 than he would on a two 50 and Jet, well, Jet's probably gonna win on a Honda CT one 10, so it didn't matter what you put Jet on was that. When they talked to you and they told you that, were they being serious?

Speaker 2: 47:51

Yeah, so it was a couple of reasons. Um, firstly, they didn't know if Kyle, it was gonna be Kyle or Jed Beaton. Um, obviously Jed was leading the championship and then broke his leg unfortunately, and Kyle won the championship, which sort of ruled jet outta donations as well. Um, but then it was more like. Jed's a little bit bigger than Kyle. So stepping back to that two 50, would Jed do as well on a two 50 versus maybe Jed or Hunter? So they had played with the thought of Jed stepping back to the two 50 and leaving Jed and Hunter on the four fifties. But then when I spoke to Burner about it, and it makes sense, how can you. What you are essentially doing is taking a one and turning it into maybe a five to 10. Mm-hmm. Uh, and maybe Jet could go one, one on the two 50 and that's what Berna said. But he said, when I can guarantee that I'm probably gonna get a one outta jet and either a two or a one or a three outta Hunter. It makes sense to leave Jet on the, the four 50 and then. When Kyle come in, it just seemed to all work out perfectly. Um, they did think about leaving Kyle on the four 50, but I think he proved his worth last year and, and they were just so happy with his, his. Performance leading up to it on.'cause he, what was really cool was when I spoke to Kyle, um, he said that he just essentially rode Chance high masses bike. So not, he didn't change anything. Wow. Um, not a setting, no motor, nothing, the levers, everything. He just left it all the exact same. So he didn't do any major testing, they just refined it a little bit. And that setting works really, really well for him. Um. But yeah, he, so, which made it a lot easier for Team Australia as well. And not saying that Jed never deserves, um, to ride for Australia.'cause Jed wrote had an incredible season until his crash. Um, but I think just with. Kyle being able to fit into that team so easy. It just makes it a little bit easier for Team Australia in that sense.

Speaker: 50:02

Yeah, we've, we've done an interview with Kyle about that whole, uh, sorry with Jed about that whole situation and yeah, he's not giving up hope of ever being able to qualify, uh, for the MX designations. And he's hopeful that if, um, he's the best rider, um, at the end of the year, that he'll be picked and, you know, I think ma would, would do that if he's the clear, the clear standout. But it is an interesting topic to discuss. The, the likelihood of a Yamaha rider getting on a team. With Honda Bound Lawrences. So, but okay. So let's come back to, um, the race is finished. You started getting some pretty cool interviews. Was there anything said in and around the recording when it was, when the, maybe the, uh, the mic was off recording that we didn't hear, or we didn't know that the guys endured during the race or during the week?

Speaker 2: 50:44

Yeah. Um, so I spoke to Hunter a fair bit actually. Um, I seemed to get along a lot better with Hunter and Jet was just so busy as well with interviews and he had a, a lot more fans around him, but Hunter actually hates that track. Um, he really doesn't like it. And we started talking a little bit about bike set up, which is funny'cause he, he won his first outdoor national there this year, um, during the season and. His first overall, but then, and also to win the nations there, you'd think that he'd probably like the track, but he really didn't, doesn't like it. And I don't think Jet's a massive fan of it either. He said it's a really busy track. There's a jump or an obstacle on every straight and then the G outs. And when you walk the track, the biggest thing that people don't realize is how different that track looks on tv. Um. The wall jump after that finish line, kind of where I was standing and where Jet jumped over the marshal. Yeah. A bale, um, that is a vertical wall, about 15 feet higher. Wow. Um, no joke. It's, it's, you would struggle to walk up and it is that steep. Um, wow. Yeah. And so people don't realize that. And then it had a really hard base to the track this year. They didn't rip it. They ripped it fairly deep, but the younger bikes went out first and kind of packed the track in a little bit. I was walking around with Josh Mosman, who obviously used to race pro as well, and um, works for MXA over there now, and he was saying, yeah, this is nowhere near as deep as what they normally rip it for a national, um, which worked well for'em, but it also sorted, threw their bike setups out a little bit. So Hannah was saying that they essentially, some of the G outs here, they would. Wanted to run like a Supercross setting, but then you can't for the rest of the track. So it was this, he said it was almost like an SMX track where you just don't know which way to go.'cause it had a lot of hard pack, little choppy bumps.'cause it had a really hard base, which was good in a sense'cause it allowed him to move around is what they said. But the gouts, they were dragging pegs up, jumps and, and through. The G outs everywhere, which sort of made it pretty sketchy for'em too. So it was really cool to hear that side of it and then to walk the track after it and see how deep some of the ruts actually are. Um, the, there was four or five ruts before the big jump there, so when they come back down from where Godzilla used to be over that little roller and go left over the big jump, um, those ruts would've been waist deep and. TV just doesn't do it justice, how fast they're going through Wasy ruts. Um, it was really impressive to see that side of it. And even the double over the back after that, they come down and go around and then there was like an off camber corner, um, with like a roller on the inside, and Jet and Hunter were the only two to jump. Off the roller, over the inside hump. Mm. All. And I think Lucas may have done it once and Ka Wolf done it once, but Jet Hunter were both doing it through the race consistently. And that for me was like a really big thing. Like of Wow, that's impressive.'cause you got the best rider in the world there. And if them two are the only ones consistently doing. Obstacle that just shows the level that they're at, at the moment compared to everyone else.

Speaker: 54:13

Yeah. Yeah. I remember seeing, watching them jump to the inside of that corner and, and even the commentators were like, you know, pretty blown away by it and couldn't believe they're the only ones doing it, so that is impressive. Um. I guess last little question we've got for you then is once it was all kind of said and done, did the boys finally let their hair down? Are they allowed to party those boys? I mean, I know they got Supercross coming up over here in a, in a few weeks, so they probably can't let let it go too much. But did they did, did they let their hair down?

Speaker 2: 54:40

Um. They did, but they don't drink, which is respectable. I actually commend them for that in a world where it's sort of weird not to drink or do drugs and probably at their level where they've got the money and, and the fame to just do whatever they want, that they're still so focused on the job at hand that they, they went and party and they had spent a lot of time with their friends and I went over under the A one Stars tent with'em. And hung out and they had a good bunch of people around who were all having drinks and the mechanics let their hair down probably more than the boys. Um, Azzy had a bit of a glow on and, um, a few of the other guys. But yeah, they were just, just stoked. They were just stoked to be hanging out their friends, celebrating another awesome win for Australia. And yeah, unfortunately they um, they went straight back into testing today, so Wow. Yeah, doing some motor testing today and yeah. Pretty impressive. Lars said that. Yeah, he, they were driving straight back to their facility to take the truck back and, and get underway tests and ready to order parts that they may need to try and get a, a head up for next season. It's a big season for them guys over there and to be finishing up their season and then going and. Testing two days later. You gotta commend their efforts and why they're where they're where they're at, to be honest.

Speaker: 56:01

Yeah. Well, mate, it was a, a very impressive, effort on your behalf to capture everything that happened at the MX destinations. It was a really a moment to remember for Australia, which is, which is really cool. Um, before we let you go, have we missed anything that happened behind the scenes that I've forgotten to ask you? Or is anyone anything that, uh, people should know about MX destinations this year that they probably dunno already?

Speaker 2: 56:23

Um, not really. Uh, I think if you get a chance and you want the VIP tour, definitely pay the extra money. Um, Leki Steven Gold? It was doing it. Um, they did the tour, um, through the VIP experience and. That was a really cool, I ran into a few of the guys over there that were doing that and they said that was definitely worth the money. Um, they gotta see a lot of cool stuff that you don't normally see. They got a lot of access into the trucks and all that too through that, which is really cool that Jeff and, and Gly off of that, um, for Australian fans. And then you also get that VIP area, which no one else can go in, which is where. You know, all the likes of Dungy and, and Vow and, and RC Hangout, um, during the race. Mm-hmm. Um, so that was really cool. It's all food expenses paid for. Um, it is dear, but if you, it's a bucket list thing, it's definitely worth doing. And yeah, I. Mate, to be honest, I'll take a media pass next year and, uh, the problem, so,

Speaker: 57:27

hey, I think you've earned one, so we'll have you at every round, if that's okay. Yeah. Well, mate, it was, it was incredible to see everything from behind the scenes. You did an absolute bang up job, you know, bringing us here in Australia. What we couldn't see from the television coverage. So, uh, yeah, we really appreciate that. Thank you very much. And um, yeah, it was cool to get a bit of an insight as to what happens behind the MX designations. We're gonna get you on the phone with us and Kyle as well in the, in the coming days to talk to him about his experience at designations, so mate, we'll speak to you more with Kyle. But for now, thanks for coming on, telling us all about designations and we will speak to you soon.

Speaker 2: 58:04

Thanks mate. Cheers.