MILLVILLE, Minnesota: Phil Nicoletti is hoping to make his 2024 SuperMotocross World Championship less stressful than he experienced last year and that is a goal that could easily be accomplished this week at Spring Creek MX Park.
Nicoletti put himself at a disadvantage at the start of the Pro Motocross season, giving up the points he earned in Supercross in the 250 class to move to the 450 division, but he had the same experience last year. This year, things have gone much closer to plan. His season has not been perfect, but on Friday, the veteran dirt bike racer was loose and prepared for the challenge.
“Anything can happen and we are not taking it for granted, but it will be nice to have a transfer spot automatically,” Nicoletti told NBC Sports on Press Day ahead of Round 7 of the Pro Motocross Championship. “It takes a lot of stress out of if. The LCQs, I’m a good racer and I don’t mind them, but you never know what can happen in an LCQ. So the goal is to get in the top 20, go racing, and have a good time.”
Nicoletti advanced through every Last Chance Qualifier in 2023 and earned a best feature result of eight at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois.
In 2024, Nicoletti is embroiled in a four-man battle to see who will take the spots vacated by Adam Cianciarulo, who announced his retirement at the end of the Monster Energy Supercross Series, and Benny Bloss, who is not riding in the outdoor series this year. Cianciarulo is six points ahead of Nicoletti in 19th; Bloss is one point further back on the cusp of the top 20.
But Nicoletti also has to worry about Kyle Chisholm, Harri Kullas, and Marshall Weltin, who along with him occupy positions 21st through 24th.
“I was injured last year going into outdoors, so I didn’t get enough points and had to go through the LCQ [Last Chance Qualifier],” Nicoletti said. “It was quite stressful, but this year we’re pretty close. My Supercross points don’t count (since they were earned in the 250 division), so I’ve been digging myself out of the hole. Everything is going according to plan. I left some points on the table missing Colorado to injury. I’m looking forward to it. Just keep clicking away the motos and we’ll see where we’re at.”
The good news for Nicoletti is that he has out-earned Chisholm on average through the first seven rounds of 2024. If Nicoletti has an average day by his standards and takes home 18 points in the pair of motos, he will easily climb into the top 20.
The bad news is that Kullas has been just as strong and sits only 12 points behind Nicoletti. There is not a lot of room for error.
The SMX Championship will be Nicoletti’s swan song. Like Cianciarulo, Nicoletti announced his retirement prior to the Supercross season-ender in Salt Lake City, but there was too much at stake for him to simply walk away midway through the year.
“If the sport wants to get together and obviously it brings more money for myself, my other competitors, I’m all for it,” Nicoletti said. “The teams are going to go because there’s a lot of money on the line. I wish we didn’t have to do it. I wish that money would go into Supercross or Motocross. I wish we didn’t have the extra races, so we had all of September off like we used to, but there were other competing organizations that were coming up against that, but it’s cool regardless. Extra money helps.”
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