Matt Huggett ‘On the Road’ | 2023 Red Bud MX National

Matt Huggett ‘On the Road’ | 2023 Red Bud MX National

Story and Photos by Matt Huggett

The first weekend in July brings many traditions as both Canada and our rowdy neighbours to the south celebrate their nation’s birthdays. In the Motocross world, one of its greatest traditions celebrated a milestone of its own with the 50th running of the FMF RedBud National. The hillsides were packed, Lot B was in its usual form, and the racing was fantastic.

For those of you that may not have read my previous articles, I’ll take a moment to reintroduce myself. My name is Matt Huggett, I’m from Sarnia, Ontario, and as of last summer now reside in Sarnia full-time after 10 years in various hamlets of Southern Ontario. I work full-time in the Petro Chemical industry, and like most of you reading this, I’m very passionate about the sport. Thanks to Billy I have now had the opportunity to shoot a number of iconic Nationals, with this being my second RedBud inside the fences. 

During the week leading up to the race, I had the unusual gift of free time, which allowed me to be the most prepared I’ve ever felt going into one of these road trips. By Thursday night I had everything cleaned, packed, prepped, and ready.  RedBud is a 4-hour drive from Sarnia, which by motocross standards is relatively short. I left before sun up on Friday and arrived just in time to catch the final Moto Combine practice of the morning. For those of you unfamiliar with the Combine, It is an initiative that MXSports, along with the OEM’s have crafted to provide an opportunity to scout talent without having to attend week-long amateur races.  We had 3 Canadians in this event, including our reining 250 national champ #64 Ryder McNabb, #943 Noah Viney, and #800 Preston Masciangelo. While it was a great opportunity for all involved, the talk of the day around the facility was the speed of Ryder McNabb. 

Ryder struggled with starts, which can be attributed to his first dance with a paddle tire on grates. Many of the American riders hail from facilities that have grate setups and provided those riders with an advantage which was seen when the gate dropped. Nevertheless, Ryder charged through the pack in both motos bringing home 2-3 rides for 2nd overall. He is certainly on the radar with whispers of US teams prepared to offer deals being heard in the paddock.

After the final Combine moto, I headed down the road to South Bend, Indiana, where I was staying for the weekend. After a quick shower and a dump of some photos, I headed into town to grab beer and wings. While last year the Friday before the National was a rather busy evening in downtown South Bend, this year proved to be very mellow. I paid my tab and took a tour through the Notre Dame campus on my way to the hotel. I arrived back at the hotel to find a full tailgate party of Motocross folks occurring. Naturally, I cracked a cold one and chatted with them. I was rather surprised that one of the couples was from Italy and they were over in America on a coast to coast road trip, with Redbud being one of the major stops on their journey from NYC to LA. Bravo, folks. 

Before I knew it my alarm was ringing and I was off to Buchanan. Pro practice fires off around 8am and from there to 5pm when the final 450 moto ends it is basically wide open for the media. Shoot, Download, Edit, Upload, Repeat. This is typically a process that I have had limited issues with, however, with my camera upgrades and the age starting to show on my MacBook Pro the process did seem to give me more fits. Looks like a trip to the Apple Store is in my not-so-distant future. 

Some Observations from the day:

Jett Lawrence – The streak continues and at this point the only thing capable of beating Jett is self-inflicted mistakes. If you have not seen him ride in person yet, do yourself a favour and get out to a race. 

Haiden Deegan – I’m aware of the polarizing views surrounding Haiden and the Deegans. He has shown consistently this year both indoors and outdoors that his speed and race craft are legit, and to the delight of the RedBud faithful he won his first professional race. This is a feat that very few in this sport accomplish, and it has further solidified his place in the future of the sport. 

Hunter Lawrence – Bummer day for Hunter as he drops 25pts from his championship lead. The elder Lawrence was fast and smooth all day. Hopefully, he rebounds at Southwick

Ty Masterpool – The result sheets don’t show it, but Ty was blazing fast all day and was giving the factory boys fits. It is great to see a privateer finding success. 

Daxton Bennick – First Pro Race for Daxton, who is still technically an Amateur, and he sets the fastest qualifying time of the day and finishes 10^th overall. The future is bright for Dax. 

Star Yamaha – The entire 250 team was able to jump the leap consistently throughout the day. Whatever they have figured out in the dyno room it is clear that it is still a major advantage in the 250 arms race.

RedBud – I’ve been attending races at RedBud since the early 00s and this weekend was perhaps the best layout, and most pristine I’ve ever seen the legendary facility. Cheers to Ritchie family for 50 years of setting the bar for motocross facilities. 

Well, that does it for this week’s stories from the road. Time to load up and head East to Southwick, and cross another legendary facility off my moto bucket list.

See you at the races!