Should dirt bikes get faster or slower? Better might not be better. Carson Brown has top-five supercross speed but prefers to rip on old bikes, minis, two-strokes and more. He knows slower and simpler is definitely more fun, and ultimately, probably better. Even if it's worse! While today's bikes posses an amazing blend of power and traction and undoubtably better than old stuff from an engineering standpoint, that capability means more speed, bigger jumps and more cost. Brown has legit speed, and was a top-five threat in 250SX West Region as recently as as 2022. But his real specialty is pit bikes, two-strokes and more, as evidenced by his unbelievable Instagram account where he rips modern-sized obstacles with modern style on bikes that were never intended for such. It's unreal to watch!

As part of the famous BBR (Brown Brothers Racing) family that has become iconic in pit bike performance, Carson has ridden more bikes than most. He's having a really good time. What has he learned about mins, two-strokes and more? He's learned that they can be more fun than the big, new stuff. What's more, racing them could be better, too. Is this a message we should be hearing?

Jason Weigandt chats with Carson in the latest edition of the Racer X Exhaust Podcast.

The Racer X Exhaust podcast is presented by Yoshimura and Racer X Brand.

Jason Weigandt calls up Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha's Coty Schock to of course ask about his miraculous collarbone recovery in one week, but also to get his back story. Coty was absolutely, positively not on the motocross radar when he was younger, but he's gone from barely making the fast 40 night show qualification in supercross to on the verge of a podium. A lot has happened a long the way. Here's Coty's story.

The Racer X Exhaust podcast is presented by Yoshimura and Racer X Brand. Check out the Merch Madness sale and save up to 50%!

Randy Hawkins is a member of the AMA Hall of Fame partially for his success as a racer, with seven AMA National Enduro Championships, and also for helping carry the load for American off-road racing in general. This is Randy's 28th season running the Am-Pro Yamaha off-road squad, which is Yamaha's factory program in the Progressive Grand National Cross Country Series and basically anywhere Yamaha races in the woods.

Randy has seen the ups and downs for factory off-road racing, from "getting fired" by Team Suzuki as a racer, to setting up a fledgling Yamaha program in the early days, to developing four-strokes for off-road, and riding out the economic storm of the Great Recession. These days off-road is back in a huge way, from bike sales, to race entries, to factory budgets, and even the types of machines the manufacturers are now producing.

Randy, one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, had a chat with Jason Weigandt to explain how things started, and how it's going.

The Racer X Exhaust podcast is presented by Yoshimura and Racer X Brand.

Former WMX Racer Sara Price fought, battled, and clawed her way to a driving career, and nearly won Dakar in her first attempt. She was once a WMX racer with support from Kawasaki Team Green, but when her moto career, and the factory support for WMX racing, went away, she had to find a new way to stay competitive. She set her sights on off-road racing in trucks, but the process of succeeding on four wheels is far different from motocross. Sara joins Jason Weigandt to explain truck and car racing, which is based heavily on burning up the phones and emails to try to get financial support. It's a lot of hearing no, all in hopes of one big yes that can get you into a seat. After great success in Baja racing, Sara's goal has always been to tackle the famous Dakar Rally, which she finally got to do this year. And she battled for her win in her first attempt! Further, her boyfriend Ricky Brabec won the race in the motorcycle division. Sara's also an accomplished stunt driver and rider, and even appeared in a Toyota Super Bowl commercial on Sunday. There's a lot to talk about here. Check it out.   The Racer X Exhaust podcast is hosted by Jason Weigandt and presented by Yoshimura and Racer X Brand.

Acclaimed international journalist Adam Wheeler took a quick trip to California to check in on Monster Energy AMA Supercross, so Jason Weigandt and Jason Thomas found some time to ask him what his thinks about topics he's covered for a long time: Jorge Prado, Ducati and the Lawrence brothers. Enjoy a good conversation with one of the best journalists in motorcycle racing today.

The Racer X Exhaust pod is presented by Yoshimura and Racer X brand.

The 250SX East Region Championship kicks off this weekend at Ford Field in Detroit. A Tuesday night press conference allowed the media (and now you) to check in on the top riders. Hear from Triumph principals including race team manager Bobby Hewitt, then hear from 250SX class Athletes Haiden Deegan & teammate Daxton Bennick, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing; Tom Vialle, Red Bull KTM; Austin Forkner & Cameron McAdoo, Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki; Pierce Brown, Troy Lee Designs Red Bull GasGas; Chance Hymas, Team Honda HRC; Jalek Swoll & Evan Ferry, Triumph Racing; Guillem Farres, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna; Preston Boespflug, BarX Suzuki; Jeremy Martin, ClubMX Yamaha; Max Anstie, FirePower Honda.   The Racer X Exhaust podcast is hosted by Jason Weigandt and presented by Yoshimura and Racer X Brand.

After a wild mud race at round 2 of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, hear from podium riders Chase Sexton, Eli Tomac, and Ken Roczen (450), and Jordon Smith, Levi Kitchen, and Garrett Marchbanks (250) in the post-race press conference, hosted by Dan Hubbard. Sexton and Tomac were happy to go 1-2 in these conditions, but they were just as happy with the improvements they felt they made during the week, and they think they would have been much better in the dry, also.   The Racer X Exhaust podcast is presented by Yoshimura and Racer X Brand, and hosted by Jason Weigandt.

Justin Cooper isn't one to draw attention to himself, so he's actually okay coming into his first full 450 season under the radar. There's less pressure that way, especially considering Cooper Webb and Eli Tomac are his teammates, and the standards for those guys are very high. But JCoop knows how to ride, he's been up front for his entire 250 career, and Anaheim proved he could be good on a 450, also. When Ken Roczen and Malcolm Stewart got collected and went down early, Cooper got claimed as well. He got up in 20th, and then rallied all the way back to eighth against a stacked field. He even passed Tomac, who was struggling. Maybe JCoop should be getting more attention. Jason Weigandt ringed him up to give him some.

The Racer X Exahust podast is presented by Yoshimura and Racer X Brand.

Get your Anaheim fix in the car, in your headphones, or however you listen to your pods with this audio version of our annual Monster Energy Racer X Preview Shows. This pod loops all five video episodes together so you can head the scoops, opinions and arguments from Jason Weigandt, Steve Matthes and Jason Thomas, as they talk about every rider and every story coming into 2024.

The Racer X Exhaust podast is presented by Yoshimura, and don't forget to subscribe to Racer X to get the magazine in the mail, plus our Limited Edition 2024 calendar. 

 

After a week chatting up riders out in California, Jason Weigandt tries to cut through the clutter. There’s an annual pre-season tradition of every rider feeling faster, fitter and stronger for the new year, but that actually won’t be the case for everyone once the racing season begins.

Weege tries to cram in as many scoops and angles as he can in this podcast, summing up conversations with nearly every top racer, including Eli Tomac, Chase Sexton, Jett and Hunter Lawrence, Jason Anderson, Justin Barcia, Malcolm Stewart, Dylan Ferrandis, Christian Craig, Adam Cianciarulo, Justin Cooper, Levi Kitchen, Seth Hammaker, Max Vohland, Austin Forkner, Jalek Swoll, Colt Nichols, Benny Bloss and more.

The Racer X Exhaust podcast is presented by Yoshimura, Leatt and Steel City Men’s Clinic.