Mike Alessi went 20-17-13 at the 2015 Monster Energy Cup. Photo by: Hoppenworld
Every year seems to be an eventful one in the lives of Mike and Tony Alessi, but 2015 was more about the different path chosen than the usual drama that follows them on their path. After the #800 crashed out of the 2015 Monster Energy Supercross series in Daytona, the MotoConcepts team decided to skip any and all motocross championships and instead opted to ride what they wanted, when they wanted.
When it was all said and done, Mike Alessi raced two MXGP races, a Canadian National round and one round of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship in the summer of ’15. Mike injured his back pretty badly and suffered a major concussion in the Daytona crash and he never seemed to have the fitness needed to turn in good results at any of the summer events he contested, but 2016 is a whole new year for the Alessi’s and the MotoConcepts squad.
With rumors flying about MotoConcepts being a Supercross-only team and switching to Hondas, as well as Mike possibly signing to contest the Canadian MX Nationals with a top team, we thought we would call MotoConcepts team manager, Tony Alessi, and get the lowdown on their 2016 plans. You can hear what Tony had to say in his “Inside Story” interview below.
Mike’s crash was a bad one at Daytona and ended his SX season early.
Tony, what have you been up to lately? What’s your off season looking like right now, and how are you guys doing?
I think everything is going pretty good. We did a couple of races this off season. We did the Red Bull Straight Rhythm and we did Monster Cup with both of our riders, Mike Alessi and Vince Freise. I thought it was a good shake down of the bike, because we’re on Hondas this year—which is obviously something different—and we went to Race Tech suspension. So it was a good little shakedown of the bike, and now obviously everybody’s in work mode. Mike is out at ClubMX and Vince is back in California working with his trainer and stuff; everybody is putting in the work right now.
You guys have been with Suzuki for quite some time and on the same chassis for many years. What brought about the switch to Honda?
We ran the 2012 chassis Suzuki all the way through obviously 2012, ’13, ’14, ’15. So it was basically, at this point, obsolete. What I did last year was I did a pilot program with Vince Freise on the Honda, and we worked on the bike pretty hard during the motorcross season. Since our team wasn’t really racing motocross, we spent a lot of those months developing that bike. We were able to win races with Vince at Mammoth and he was very strong at Washougal with a couple of top 10 finishes and top 5 starts. So I knew at that point we had a bike that was going the right direction. When we were up there in Washington, Mike [Alessi] had the opportunity to ride Vince’s bike and thought it was really, really good, so it was an easy decision at that point what direction to go.
Yeah, I heard that you guys had ridden most of the bikes with MXA.
Mike came back to California after Washougal and he rode all the bikes except the Kawasaki. Of the bikes he rode, he liked the KTM and he liked the Honda. So at that point, we obviously had to make a decision on which to go with for SX. We had such good success with the Honda that we felt that it would probably just be better to go in that direction.
Is MotoConcepts getting any help from Honda in 2016?
We have talked to Honda. I think there’s a possibility of getting some kind of support with Honda.
How did the switch to Race Tech come about? I know you guys have used their suspension in the past. Is that a Supercross-only deal with them?
Yes, it is. It’s a Supercross-only deal. Basically Vince pioneered that whole suspension deal with Race Tech for the last 10 months or so. He kind of worked a lot of the stuff out already, so it was a lot easier transition for Mike because the bike was already 90% there. We actually really like their suspension and enjoy working with them.
Mike had a very up-and-down 2015 season and a very interesting schedule of events. You guys did the Monster Energy Supercross series, but contested no other Championships. You did a couple MXGP races in Europe and, I believe, even ventured to Canada.
Yeah, you have to keep in mind, though, that Mike was struggling with injuries throughout the season, so most of those races that we went to were more of a paid vacation type of thing. Everybody was just out enjoying a different country and such. Mike had broken his back last year, and he also had torn his meniscus in his knee. So he had two pretty significant injuries, and you can’t just get back on a bike and be fast at that point. So it was a case of we’re going to go do some races, we’re going to ride, we’re going to see the sites—and that’s how it kind of went for the summer. We went to Canada—Vince won the MX1 Class in Calgary. We went to England. We raced in France and we raced Washougal in the US.
In Europe, you guys went 13-23 in France and 22-17 in Great Britain. Definitely not Michael Alessi numbers, but overall, what did you think about the racing?
In terms of the racing, they’re so far ahead of what we do in the US, in terms of the way they raise the kids in racing. They have two-stroke 125 classes. They have an EMX 250 class, which is like young guys 15 years old age riding 250F’s. These guys are all riding on the same exact track at the same exact time as the GP riders are, and so I think that they’re creating and developing an infrastructure that I think will be very, very hard to beat in the future. These kids are growing up riding the nationals basically from the time they’re about 13 years old. I’ve seen every kind of coach out there working with these young kids. Guys like Stefan Everts, Mickaël Pichon and Ben Townley are all working with these kids. To me they’re building a strong base for the future.
They’re also using really, really old tracks—most of them. They’re hard-packed, they have big rocks, and it’s a whole different kind of mind set to racing. In the US, the motocross tracks are deep. You basically jump in a groove and you’re wide open. That’s how you ride motorcross in the US. In Europe, you have to be very creative with your riding and very creative with your bike setup. You can’t just jump in there and do good; it’s not possible. You have to go there and live it, experience it, whatever, for quite a while—at least a few years—to get yourself in tune with that.
For 2016, MotoConcepts has Mike and Vince on the team, but I did see an old face under the tent for the Monster Energy Cup: Jeff Alessi. I know Jeff is not “on the team”, but what was it like having him back at the races?
He’s a support rider for MotoConcepts, so he is not part of the SmartTop racing team, but he is a support rider. He’ll have his own van and his own bike and limited support from us, from MotoConcepts.
As far as Monster Cup, Jeff hasn’t raced in three years. When I went and picked him up, he was working at a Motocross track in Ohio, kind of as a trainer there, just staying at the track and training kids. I brought him back, made a program with [Mike] Genova. Mike [Alessi] really didn’t get to race that much last year, so most of his bikes were still new. He didn’t get that much time in because of injuries, so I was able to convince Genova to let [Jeff] use those bikes during Supercross. Because I don’t think that we can devalue them, there’s no loss, and at the same time, Jeff can jump out and maybe get the MotoConcepts name out there a little bit more.
Because the #800 turned pro way back at the end of 2004, a lot of people think he’s a lot older than he is. People talk like 116 years-old, but he’s only 26, 27, right?
Yeah, he’s 27.
With Mike coming back from injuries, and changing bikes in ’16, what are your expectations for him in SX, and what are your expectations for Vince as well? Vince has definitely taken it to another level lately.
Both of the guys actually are a very similar speed, and with the Hondas, I think we’re going to have a lot more consistent results for both of the guys. Obviously, I think that the number that we’re shooting for is somewhere in the 10-range, you know, plus 3 or minus 3. I think that it’s fair to say that they can be there at end of the season.
Mike and Vince are obviously your two guys, but there was quite a buzz in the rumor mill for a while that Justin Bogle might be Mike’s teammate in ’16. Did you guys go after Justin, and if so, what happened there?
Yeah, I was really hoping I could. I knew Justin Bogle didn’t have a ride for next year, and I was hoping that I could get him on the team. I wanted to get him to ride the bike and see that our bike is really good. I just wasn’t able to make it happen. I really did try hard and so did the team owner. I think that we had a program that we could offer him that would be very, very good. I think at the end of the day, he wanted to kind of stay in that factory loop and he wanted to ride motocross. I think those things helped his decision on trying to stay where he was or to try to get on maybe that Yamaha team with Chad Reed, but I guess he’s going to be a GEICO guy for next year on the 450.
That’s what we’re hearing as well. Was money a part of it, or were you guys in the ballpark there?
No, I don’t think so. I think that we were probably going to be able to offer him more than what he was going to get paid. I think that we probably offered him more. To me I think his decision was 80% that he wanted to race motocross—and our team wasn’t going to race motocross—and I think it was probably 20% about equipment. But, like I said, I think we have a great bike.
This year, MotoConcepts took the summer to travel to motocross events all around the world. For 2016, we’ve heard through the grapevine that Mike and Vince are signed up with a great team to contest the Canadian Nationals, but what’s MotoConcepts plan?
I can’t comment on anything Mike has going up in Canada—that’s his deal—but in terms of MotoConcepts, we’re a Supercross-only team for now, and I don’t know if that will change in the future. Obviously the guys [Friese and Alessi] have their opportunity to seek rides for outdoors if they want to or not if they don’t want to. They don’t have to, but both are free to seek rides in Canada or wherever for motocross.
If what we hear is true, and Mike contests the Canadian Motocross Championship, he’s obviously a Championship contender. What would your involvement in his Canadian program be?
Absolutely zero!
Really, so you’re taking a summer off?
Yep, I am.
That’s nice, especially considering you just got married. How’s the married life treating you?
It’s going great, and actually I’ll be quite busy in the summer because I’m going to have a baby. I’m going to have my hands full this summer. (laughs)
I heard a new Alessi was on the way. Congrats! Do we know if it’s a boy or girl yet?
No, we don’t know yet.
Do you have the #802 on lock down with the AMA just in case? (laughs) I just had my first boy at 44 years-old, and the last thing I want to be doing is battling an Alessi in ten years.
(laughs) If it goes that way there will probably be a whole new series, who knows? I mean, obviously I’m not the same person that I was when I was 30, and I’m 50 now. I’m probably a lot different than I was 20 years ago, you know. So I think at this point, whatever it is, I’m good with, and whatever path that takes me down, I’m good with it.
Well congrats again on the baby, and thanks for talking to us today. I will see you at a stadium in January.
Sounds good.
Then, I’ll see at Loretta’s in 10 years. (laughs)
(laughs) Yeah, maybe.
