At the end of the 2024 AMA season, longtime Supercross rider Phil Nicoletti will be stepping away from full-time professional racing.
Nicoletti has spent 18 seasons competing in both Monster Energy AMA Supercross and AMA Pro Motocross — a lengthy career that will come to an end on Sept. 21 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the SuperMotocross World Championship finale.
“I actually made this decision at Anaheim 1,” Nicoletti explained via a press release. “I rode press day, then I called my dad and told him, ‘It’s over.’ Just a feeling I had. Main thing, I just don’t have it in me anymore to take the chances I need to during the week. It’s not even a results thing, really.”
Currently a 250SX West rider for Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha, Nicoletti’s best finishes of the season thus far have included a fourth-place result in San Francisco, Calif., and a more recent eighth-place effort in Glendale, Ariz., during the Triple Crown event.
“This sport is so freaking gnarly, you have to push to your limit every day even in practice. I don’t want to go search for tenths [of a second] on a random Tuesday. It used to piss me off when one of the kids went faster than me but lately, I’ve found myself not giving…a care about it on some days. I’ve loved the grind, but I always said as soon as I don’t want to do that anymore, I’m outta here,” Nicoletti said.
He still plans to contest the full Pro Motocross season in the 450cc class for ClubMX and will continue to run in the premier class during the end-of-year SuperMotocross playoff rounds.
Throughout his career, Nicoletti has collected 71 total top-10 finishes in professional AMA competition.