Troy Dog
One of the feel good stories of the summer has been the emergence of Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX’s Jett Reynolds.
The nine-time Loretta Lynn’s champion has spent the majority of his career on the sidelines with injuries. Reynolds actually turned pro at the end of the 2021 season as a member of the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Team, but has spent the last couple of years trying to stay healthy.
In fact prior to the 2024 Pro Motocross Championship, Reynolds had only raced four professional races in his career. He’s now strung together eight races and 16 Motos in a row and he’s progressing as he goes.
At Washougal he accomplished his first ever top ten Moto score and overall. A feat that his Team Manager Mike Bonacci was quite proud of.
“Jett went 12 – 10 = 10 for his first top ten overall performance of the season,” Bonacci wrote in this week’s post race press release. “Pretty impressive for never racing that track before. Jett has been the model of consistent growth and makes steady improvements every round.”
Speaking of this growth, here is a rundown of his progression so far this summer.
2024 Pro Motocross Results – Jett Reynolds
Fox Raceway: 16-16 | 16th Overall
Hangtown: 27-17 | 22nd Overall
Thunder Valley: 20-19 | 20th Overall
High Point: 17-18 |18th Overall
Southwick: 12-DNS | 15th Overall
RedBud: 15-11 | 12th Overall
Spring Creek: 14-11 | 12th Overall
Washougal: 13-10 | 10th Overall
As you can see, Reynolds has been trending upwards all season long despite a rough first Moto at Hangtown. It’s cool to see that he started to turn it around at Southwick and he’s been teetering on the verge of a top ten since then.
Now he’s breaking into that next group of riders within the top ten, which will lead to more growth. Reynolds, despite many setbacks early in his pro career is only 20 years old. He’s got plenty of time to turn this ship around and that’s what he’s been doing this summer. He’s finding his pace again.
His “rival”/ Bakersfield companion in Ryder DiFrancesco has found himself in a different scenario since turning pro. As amateur phenoms coming in, they didn’t exactly light the world on fire right as they stepped into the pro scene (Reynolds couldn’t due to injuries). DiFrancesco has been consistent and finishing respectful top tens in the results and points. He also had a career best day at Washougal, in which our Slaw Dog covered here.
My point in bringing Ryder D up here is that the hype of ‘being the next greatest thing’ is kind of played out now. The game has changed and the classes are so deep now. Most riders need a couple years now to develop and find the pace of the pro ranks. They need time to figure out how to handle everything from training, traveling, schedule, among other things.
Reynolds had to figure everything out while trying to recover from some serious injuries. His road has been tough. Yet, the results that he’s been putting in this summer truly shows his mental strength and his ability to overcome adversity.
This’ll be an interesting and inspiring story to continue to watch unfold.
Main Image: Octopi Media
