Cycle News Empire of Dirt
COLUMN
Hindsight is 2020
AMA Supercross and Motocross dominate the off-road racing landscape for nine months out of the year, and for the other three months, it’s all about preparation for those nine months. There’s no rest for the weary, that’s for sure.
But the outdoor series is over now, and by the end of September, racer contracts will be officially ending (like the federal government’s budget, racer contracts in the USA tend to run from October 1 through September 30), and we’ll start receiving a plethora of press releases about 2020 rider lineups. The only press releases we normally get prior to that are for teams who have racers staying on the same brand, such as the recent press release announcing Team Honda’s 2020 structure (with Ken Roczen, Justin Brayton and Chase Sexton—all Honda racers in 2019—on-board) and the earlier releases about Adam Cianciarulo joining Eli Tomac at Monster Energy Kawasaki, and Marvin Musquin and Cooper Webb remaining at Red Bull KTM.
That said, here’s a rundown of the press releases we expect to receive starting in a few weeks. There may be some slight changes here, or some racers added to some of these teams, and some of the numbers could vary a little bit, too, depending on whether Cole Seely relinquishes his number 14 and things like that. Here we go:
Monster Energy/Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha
250cc team
12 Shane McElrath (likely in his last year racing 250s)
14 Justin Cooper
18 Dylan Ferrandis (his last year racing 250s as well)
28 Colt Nichols
41 Ty Masterpool
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki
250cc team
28 Jordon Smith
30 Cameron McAdoo
36 Garrett Marchbanks
52 Austin Forkner
Likely one more racer here to fill in for any who might be injured
TLD/Red Bull KTM
250cc team
31 Brandon Hartranft
58 Derek Drake
TBD Brian Moreau
Likely at least one other TBD, such as Wilson Todd
GEICO Honda
250cc team
6 Jeremy Martin (he’s been back riding again for a couple months)
23 Chase Sexton (250cc West, 450cc East, and 450cc outdoors for Team Honda)
35 Hunter Lawrence
63 Christian Craig
85 Jo Shimoda
Likely at least one more racer TBD before outdoors from the team’s amateur program, such as Jett Lawrence.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna
250cc/450cc team
15 Dean Wilson (450)
16 Zach Osborne (450)
21 Jason Anderson (450)
24 RJ Hampshire (250)
29 Michael Mosiman (250)
83 Thomas Covington (250, but after his completely disastrous 2019 season, who knows?)
352 Jalek Swoll (250)
Possibly another racer at some point, such as Mitchell Oldenburg
JGR/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory Racing
250cc/450cc team
17 Joey Savatgy (450)
22 Chad Reed (450)
26 Alex Martin (250)
At least 2-3 more 250cc racers, and possibly a second 450cc racer for the outdoor series. One hang-up for signing Savatgy is that Savatgy wants a two-year deal, and JGR only has one more year left on the team’s contract with Suzuki. Freddie Noren may stay with JGR and race a 250 indoors and 450 outdoors.
Motoconcepts/Smartop Honda
450cc team
27 Malcolm Stewart
65 Vince Friese
Possibly a third racer here, such as Martin Davalos (if he decides he doesn’t need a full-factory 450cc opportunity to avoid retirement), or Tyler Bowers.
Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM
450cc team
4 Blake Baggett
19 Justin Bogle
50 Benny Bloss
(This team may end up with only two racers, unless both Bogle and Bloss sign for very little up-front money.)
Monster Energy Yamaha
450cc team
7 Aaron Plessinger
51 Justin Barcia
Here’s a list of 2019 factory racers who have no homes yet for 2020:
- Martin Davalos (injured most of the year, but has undeniable speed and past 450cc success already)
- Jordan Bailey (young racer with a consistent year, may end up back at Husqvarna)
- Kyle Peters (veteran 250cc racer showed flashes of brilliance)
- Mitchell Oldenburg (unlucky year with injuries, should end up on a good team)
- Jacob Hayes (from arenacross, struggled outdoors, but may get another shot)
- Justin Hill (wants another shot at a 450cc ride, but has a reputation for underachievement)
- Jimmy Decotis (solid veteran 250cc pilot, supercross-only in 2019)
- Sean Cantrell (reputation for underachievement despite obvious talent)
- Mitchell Falk (tough first couple of years as a pro, may not get a chance to improve)
And then there’s this group of 450cc privateers, which as a group are people who often get overlooked by factory and support teams despite the fact that they beat factory racers fairly regularly:
- Tyler Bowers (was 12th in 450cc supercross points, and 18th outdoors, and he might be a perfect fit at the Motoconcepts team if he and Vince Friese don’t kill each other in the truck)
- Ben Lamay (had a very solid year as a Honda privateer)
- John Short (also had a very solid year on a private Honda)
- Kyle Cunningham (hard-working veteran who can still race 250s indoors)
We should start getting the official word in only a couple of weeks. Stay tuned.CN
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