You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda

You don’t invest millions of dollars and hire riders like Ken Roczen or Justin Brayton if you’re not in it to win it, as Honda HRC is for supercross in 2020. But the brand is also going big on a second objective: helping anyone competing aboard a Honda

WORDS: AARON HANSEL
PHOTOS: SIMON CUDBY

RACING IS A CUTTHROAT endeavor, and the idea of one team lending a hand to riders under different tents might seem counterproductive. After all, the goal of any high-level race team is to win. Anyone who isn’t working to further those efforts is part of the competition. This is a fact, and no matter what words are spoken in any interview, written in any press release, or posted on social media, it always will be. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t subplots in racing’s screenplay, and at Honda, the supporting actors are starting to get more lines. It’s as if they’re reviving the old line that sold so many motorcycles in the 1960s: You really do meet the nicest people on a Honda.

You don’t invest millions of dollars and hire riders like Ken Roczen or Justin Brayton if you’re not in it to win it, as Honda HRC is for supercross in 2020. But the brand is also going big on a second objective: helping anyone competing aboard a Honda

WORDS: AARON HANSEL
PHOTOS: SIMON CUDBY

RACING IS A CUTTHROAT endeavor, and the idea of one team lending a hand to riders under different tents might seem counterproductive. After all, the goal of any high-level race team is to win. Anyone who isn’t working to further those efforts is part of the competition. This is a fact, and no matter what words are spoken in any interview, written in any press release, or posted on social media, it always will be. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t subplots in racing’s screenplay, and at Honda, the supporting actors are starting to get more lines. It’s as if they’re reviving the old line that sold so many motorcycles in the 1960s: You really do meet the nicest people on a Honda.

O

f course, providing assistance to riders who aren’t in the direct employ of a race team is nothing new. From mechanics giving away barely used parts that would otherwise be trashed to a crew chief dispensing precious jewels of technical wisdom, helping other supercross racers is something that’s been practiced by plenty of teams and brands for decades and will continue for many more. At Honda, however, there’s a fairly new “One Team” attitude in place, with an emphasis on helping anyone who’s aboard a red machine.

“Brandon Wilson [Honda’s advertising and motorcycle sports manager] got this going in 2016, and it’s come a long way,” Red Rider program coordinator Joe Monge says. “The idea is simple: if you ride a Honda, you’ll have someone who can help you. Guys like Adam Enticknap and Kyle Cunningham when they were on Hondas, Carlen Gardner, Freddy Noren, Ben LaMay, John Short—all of those guys have received help from us, whether they need a part or maybe help with diagnosing a problem.”

Adds Honda HRC team manager Erik Kehoe, “We’ve done it at a certain level for quite a while, but I think right now we’ve really extended it. We’ve got several teams that are helping, too. We’re just trying to be conscious of the times we’re in. Budgets are tight for everybody, so supporting the people who support our brand is a good way to give back. It’s not a new concept, but we’re really trying to focus on it.”

The friendly faces can be found beyond the reaches of professional motocross and supercross, too. SLR Honda, JCR Honda, and Phoenix Honda all provide some level of on-site assistance to Red Riders in their respective series. And thanks to Honda’s partnership with Factory Connection, amateur Honda racers always have someone they can turn to at the larger amateur events.

Red Grassroots

If you’ve recently been to any of the nation’s big amateur races, you’ve probably seen the Honda support rig and may have even spotted ace mechanics Lars Lindstrom and Mike “Goose” Gosselaar spinning wrenches—all part of Honda’s program to provide onsite assistance to anyone on the brand. What you might not know is this service is provided free of charge.

“We don’t charge anybody anything, which is something I’m quite proud of,” Monge says. “We’re not there to sell you parts; the idea is to make you a better racer.”

Monge says one of the most satisfying moments of helping people on the amateur side is being able to take a bad situation and turn it good.

“At the Mini O’s, we once had a lady who had just bought two brand-new 250s for her kid, one of which was having an issue with the clutch,” he recalls. “She was really heated, but we treated her like Kenny Roczen. We went in and found out some aftermarket parts weren’t working properly, so we took it all out and put original stuff back in. Her kid was able to ride all week, and she was thrilled. I love seeing someone’s look of despair turn to happiness and excitement. It feels so good. And sometimes they even bring you beer!”

Back on the track for GEICO Honda in 2020 will be Christian Craig, the veteran who has been suspended since late last summer after testing positive for a banned substance at the 2018 Daytona Supercross. In December, the FIM settled his case as his appeal was being heard by the Court of Sporting Arbitration in Switzerland. Needless to say, he and the team are glad the whole saga is behind them.

(Clockwise, from below left) Jeremy Martin is also back after missing a year and a half with a back injury; Chase Sexton will wear the #1 plate in the 250SX East Region; GEICO Honda co-owner Jeff Majkrzak and the whole GEICO Honda team strike a pose.

The Honda Pros

With four teams—Honda HRC, GEICO Honda, SmarTop/Bullfrog Spas/MotoConcepts Honda, and Phoenix Racing Honda—and more than a dozen professional riders to worry about, you might think there wouldn’t be any remaining resources, human or material, to be dispensed. Yet somehow a host of riders have been assisted by the Honda folks in one way or another.

“It’s something we’ve talked about for a long time,” Kehoe says. “A lot of the privateers are just out there on their own. They’re going to the nationals, trying to get in there all by themselves, and if they have issues, be it mapping or whatever, we’ve really tried to help. That’s come from the top. It’s really easy to just be focused on our team and what we’ve got going, but we’ve realized that there are a lot more people out there supporting our brand. It doesn’t take a whole lot extra to extend our help, and we’ve really tried to do that.”

Help can come in many forms, too, whether in the form of a tip, trick, replacement part, or even physical assistance. This is something privateer John Short knows firsthand from the past few years.

“I travel alone, and I fund racing out of my own pocket,” Short says. “During supercross, I had an electrical issue, and of course I didn’t have any electrical parts, and GEICO helped me out. It made me feel like I was welcome over there. In Denver, I showed up on my practice bike, which had ten hours on it, and the thing wouldn’t start for free practice. I didn’t have a mechanic, but the Honda guys started spinning wrenches on my bike to make sure I could get out and put another red bike out there.

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“They were a big asset last summer, too,” adds Short, a top 450 privateer outdoors. “At one of the rounds, I didn’t have a mechanic, and [Honda tech] Jordan Troxell did a top end in my motorcycle. I had the parts and he did the labor. They helped throughout the year, whether I needed a specific bolt, some brake pads, a cable, whatever, to make sure my bike was ready to race. It’s huge just to have people at the races if you have an emergency. It’s big to know there’s someone who can help you figure it out. Collectively, throughout the year, those little moments add up and make you feel welcome. It makes you feel like you’re part of the brand.”

The Red Riders’ best bet to land their first Monster Energy AMA Supercross title since 2003 is Ken Roczen (94), who is coming off his first full season since joining the team three years ago. The Honda HRC factory team of Roczen and Justin Brayton (10) will be managed by Erik Kehoe (bottom center).

“They were a big asset last summer, too,” adds Short, a top 450 privateer outdoors. “At one of the rounds, I didn’t have a mechanic, and [Honda tech] Jordan Troxell did a top end in my motorcycle. I had the parts and he did the labor. They helped throughout the year, whether I needed a specific bolt, some brake pads, a cable, whatever, to make sure my bike was ready to race. It’s huge just to have people at the races if you have an emergency. It’s big to know there’s someone who can help you figure it out. Collectively, throughout the year, those little moments add up and make you feel welcome. It makes you feel like you’re part of the brand.”

“In the summer, we helped a lot of guys,” Honda HRC crew chief Lars Lindstrom says. “Ben LaMay, John Short, Jeremy Smith, Jeremy Hand, Bobby Piazza—guys like that. At Southwick, LaMay blew an engine and we were able to let him borrow a whole engine. It wasn’t our full factory engine—giving out that stuff is a big no-no—but it was pretty close. We really try to help out, especially when it comes to production parts. We rebuild our bikes every weekend to make sure they’re perfect, and there are a lot of production parts like brake pads, chain sliders, and things like that that get changed long before they need to. I like to give that stuff to the privateers because I know it’s tough for them. Those parts are expensive for an average guy. I’ve been there myself, and I know how much that help is appreciated. Seeing these guys, how stoked they are when you help them, it feels good. It’s us giving back to them.”

Lindstrom strives to help out on the technical side, too, putting knowledge gained over decades of pro-level experience to use. And as much as he’s learned, he’s still actively going out of his way to learn more every chance he gets.

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Supporting the people who support our brand is a good way to give back. It’s not a new concept, but we’re really trying to focus on it.”

ERIK KEHOE

Supporting the people who support our brand is a good way to give back. It’s not a new concept, but we’re really trying to focus on it.”

ERIK KEHOE

Malcolm Stewart (27) showed he’s back up to speed with a solid outing at the Monster Energy Cup. (Insets, from far left) Ryan Dungey and Roczen, once teammates at Red Bull KTM, are both Red Riders now; the SmarTop/Bullfrog Spas/MotoConcepts Hondas and team riders Vince Friese, Justin Hill, and Malcolm Stewart, along with team driver Donald “Cooler” Ruiz; John Short is one of Honda’s top privateers.

“I like to go to a lot of amateur races and help out,” explains Lindstrom, who has worked with everyone from Jeremy McGrath to Chad Reed to Ken Roczen. “You see things you don’t normally see. When we work on our bikes here, they’re maintained very well—to the extreme, even. We don’t see a lot of issues that can happen, but you do see them at the amateur ranks and with the privateers. It’s kind of cool when you can help them out. They’ll say, ‘Hey, have you ever seen this before?’ And I can say, ‘Yeah, actually I have. That’s happening because of this,’ or, ‘You need to do that,’ or whatever. It helps me learn, and it helps our team get better too. I’m a Honda guy, and I want to help the entire brand. And on the production side, when I see these issues, I can report that to Japan or make it part of our planning here so we can fix some issues for next year.”

The Rev Limiter

As with any form of assistance, there are limits to what the Honda crew can do, and if a rider is gaming the system, he or she can expect to see the faucet dry up quickly.

“We have situations where you give a guy an inch and he tries to take a mile,” Lindstrom admits. “Sometimes guys simply don’t come prepared. We try to stress, especially at the amateur level, you can’t just come to the races completely unprepared with a hammered bike and expect us to fix it for you. That’s not the goal. If you’re prepared and you still have an issue, then we want to help you. We’ve had to squash some situations so that we don’t get taken advantage of.”

It’s a sentiment shared by Kehoe.

Malcolm Stewart (27) showed he’s back up to speed with a solid outing at the Monster Energy Cup. (Insets, from far left) Ryan Dungey and Roczen, once teammates at Red Bull KTM, are both Red Riders now; the SmarTop/Bullfrog Spas/MotoConcepts Hondas and team riders Vince Friese, Justin Hill, and Malcolm Stewart, along with team driver Donald “Cooler” Ruiz; John Short is one of Honda’s top privateers.

“I like to go to a lot of amateur races and help out,” explains Lindstrom, who has worked with everyone from Jeremy McGrath to Chad Reed to Ken Roczen. “You see things you don’t normally see. When we work on our bikes here, they’re maintained very well—to the extreme, even. We don’t see a lot of issues that can happen, but you do see them at the amateur ranks and with the privateers. It’s kind of cool when you can help them out. They’ll say, ‘Hey, have you ever seen this before?’ And I can say, ‘Yeah, actually I have. That’s happening because of this,’ or, ‘You need to do that,’ or whatever. It helps me learn, and it helps our team get better too. I’m a Honda guy, and I want to help the entire brand. And on the production side, when I see these issues, I can report that to Japan or make it part of our planning here so we can fix some issues for next year.”

The Rev Limiter

As with any form of assistance, there are limits to what the Honda crew can do, and if a rider is gaming the system, he or she can expect to see the faucet dry up quickly.

“We have situations where you give a guy an inch and he tries to take a mile,” Lindstrom admits. “Sometimes guys simply don’t come prepared. We try to stress, especially at the amateur level, you can’t just come to the races completely unprepared with a hammered bike and expect us to fix it for you. That’s not the goal. If you’re prepared and you still have an issue, then we want to help you. We’ve had to squash some situations so that we don’t get taken advantage of.”

It’s a sentiment shared by Kehoe.

“There’s a fine line,” the team manager says. “Maybe you have a guy show up on Friday at a race and he’ll say, ‘Oh, hey guys, I need a clutch.’ Well, it’s like, ‘Uh, you just now found that out?’ We aren’t a parts supplier. That’s not what our intention is. We don’t want someone to wear out a chain, clutch, or whatever, and instead of going to their dealer and buying it think, No worries, I’ll just get it from Honda this weekend. We want to help with issues that pop up, things that are unforeseen.”

No matter, the system does get abused at times, especially at the amateur level.

“I’ve seen guys take new parts off their bike and bolt on old clapped parts just to try to get us to change them out for new parts, or they’ll show up on hammered practice bikes and want us to fix them up,” Lindstrom says. “One year at the Mini O’s, a trainer came up to me and asked for some brake pads for his rider. We said to send her right over. ‘Just give them to me, I’ll change them,’ he said. Well, we can’t do that due to liability, and long story short, she never came to get the pads. I saw him later and asked him about it and he admitted he just wanted some spares. We try to avoid that kind of thing.”

Shared Value

As valuable as the assistance is to the racers who receive it, Honda isn’t leaving these transactions empty-handed. Remember how happy everyone was for Fredrick Noren when he was taken under the red factory wing as a fill-in rider several years ago? Positive press is always a good thing, and it happens at the amateur level too.

“You save someone’s race, and next thing you know they’re thanking us and posting things online,” Monge explains.

Staying in close touch with the network of privateer riders can also pay dividends in other areas too.

“You get to know a lot of these privateer guys who are up and coming,” Lindstrom says. “If they’re on the track and they keep improving, who knows? We might have a fill-in ride, or GEICO might have something, and you go, ‘You know what? John Short. He’s a super nice guy and a really good rider.’ He may be someone we want to put on a bike. You never know.”

It’s nice to know that today’s Red Riders really are looking out for one another, at every level.

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