hen I heard that the Red Bull Straight Rhythm event at Pomona Fairgrounds was going to become a strictly two-stroke affair, my first thought was that they were taking a very big risk with the success of the event. Sure, everyone loves two-strokes, but not everyone has one. But as the event drew closer, it morphed into something very different and special—a mass tribute to the nineties and early 2000s. And rather than prevent a lot of top guys and their teams from participating, it inspired them to join the retro vibe of it all.

Jason Weigandt once made a really good point to me: even in polarizing times, everyone loves retro. We were discussing the various gimmicks that riders and gear companies often come up with for the fans, like wearing the local NFL team’s jersey for opening ceremonies to endear themselves to the fanbase, race promoters trying to organize a “pink race” for breast-cancer awareness, or even military salutes. It sometimes works, like when Monster Energy AMA Supercross goes to San Diego, where there’s a large military presence, but those successes are few and far between.

Red Bull’s Jeremy Malott, the driving force behind Straight Rhythm, began steering the event toward a retro vibe, having watched Gared “Stank Dog” Steinke and the Ronnie Mac character get an inordinate amount of fan support a couple years ago for riding two-strokes against fields of thumpers. Soon there was a two-stroke division, and in 2017, after Marvin Musquin won the main class on a 450 without much hoopla (but Stank and Mac drew raves in the two-stroke finals), Malott and Red Bull made the call to go all-two-stroke.

Now Red Bull Straight Rhythm is as much a competition as a costumed tribute to those halcyon days when the sport was as much about play as work. In other words, the laid-back days of Jeremy McGrath’s reign, not the always-on-the-clock era of Ricky Carmichael that followed. That’s probably why there were three all-in tributes to Jeremy: Villopoto’s “Villo Light” nod to McGrath’s Bud Light Yamaha tenure, Cooper Webb’s pitch-perfect Hot Wheels KTM look of MC in ’03, and Ken Roczen’s all-in homage to McGrath’s dominant Honda days.

Roczen seems to get the retro popularity more than anyone, along with Team Honda, Fox Racing, and Throttle Jockey, who did his graphics. His early-nineties kit was as spot-on as his skills aboard the King’s own 2006 Honda CR250. That’s why we rewarded his win (and winning look) with this month’s cover—his second as part of a nod to McGrath. Two years ago, when Ken did a shot-for-shot remake of McGrath’s star turn in Fox Racing’s Terrafirma video at Castillo Ranch for Red Bull, he landed on the cover (doing a nac-nac, naturally).

“Last night was so rad! The vibe around the whole event was so good,” Roczen posted after the event. “I am proud of the effort everyone put into their builds and gear. Makes me happy!”

Former pro Michael Leib also had a hand in making Red Bull Straight Rhythm such a surprising success, using his Canvas MX gear company to build many of the clothing tributes, including his own Ernesto Fonseca-inspired early-2000s look. Leib’s company also built AJ Catanzaro’s perfect Travis Pastrana-in-2000 No Fear MX-style gear, and they pulled together Pastrana’s own Suzuki-in-1992 fluorescents kit for his big-bore match race with Tyler Bowers’ Kawasaki KX500. As for Leib himself, he rode a mint 2002 Honda CR125 to the runner-up finish in the 125cc class, edging out Catanzaro, whom he kitted out for the event—though AJ stole the whole show with his unintentional Travis-style flying W, which he somehow saved.

In a time where off-season races can be more work, investment, and risk than a rider or race team wants to put in—see the lineups for the Motocross of Nations, Monster Energy Cup, and Paris SX as proof—Red Bull Straight Rhythm seems to have found a winning formula: short, easy racing with a heavy emphasis on fun. Like Weege said, retro is one thing everyone can agree on.