by Davey Coombs
250 Words: Freestone
Monday, May 30, 2011 | 11:00 AM
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PrintStop me if you've heard this one before....
Teenaged kid—great kid, great family, on a great team—goes to Hangtown, first national of the year, and somehow pulls off an upset win. It's the first of his career and it totally sets the motocross world abuzz. He's the next you-know-who.
One week later, kid shows up in Texas at the smokin' hot cauldron everyone calls Freestone, with his shiny red plate and huge, humble smile. Now everyone's picking him to win. But a funny thing happens: he takes all that momentum and runs right into a wall. Practically ends in tears. Still a great kid, great rider, but the winner is Dean Wilson instead. Er, wait, that doesn't work out—again! And the winner turns out to be Tyla Rattray. Again.
There is a striking similarity between Tomac in '10 and Baggett in '11.
Photo: Simon Cudby
As for the kid, Eli Tomac, he learned a lot of lessons that day, which was one year ago, and so will the new kid, Blake Baggett, who seemed to have the EXACT same thing happen to him exactly one Saturday after being crowned the Future King of American Motocross.
While Baggett's wall—a hard crash in moto one and a dizzy ride with a possible concussion to salvage points in moto two—was different than Tomac's in '10 (a hard battle with Christophe Pourcel and then a dizzy ride with possible heat exhaustion), the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team still came out on top with Rattray and Wilson. But they must certainly hope the effects of Freestone don't stay with Baggett as long as they have with Tomac, because one year later, Eli has yet to win another outdoor national moto....
Maybe you have heard this one before.
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Nice Morrissey reference! I think.
Very observant Coombs, a thought provoking article indeed.
The Smiths rule. :-)
Nothing's changed, I still love Bagget, only slightly less than I used to.
I still pick Wilson to win it, he was in the drivers seat again with one little mistake cost him the overall, nice ride anyway, he'll be up front all season long reaking havoc on the honda boys!
great read DC, your stuff is so good. I got goosebumps when I read, "because one year later, Eli has yet to win another outdoor national moto...." What happened to Tomac last season, winning and then never winning again, was soo odd. It would be insane if that type of thing happened again. Maybe hangtown as rough as it gets can only get 'hangtown rough," not American motocross style rough. You may be able to fashion a giant breaking bump, but you can replicate a gnarly sand track, or a pure outdoor style moto track. Hangtown is so jumpy with that hard pack soil, we have seen time and again racers who have done nothing with their careers do exceptional at that race shortly after the supercross season. It's a track that good supercross riders seem to do better on. DV was always getting 4th there even at the end of his career, when he couldn't do it anywhere else. Roncada battled with James Stewart and passed him there, the only time Stewart was ever passes in national 125 motocross. Bobby bonds had his one and only appearance at the front of the pack at hangtown, giving him enough time to annoy the Zulu Warrior and promptly be shown the exit of the track, and a return to the bottom of the results list where he was at every other national race. Yes, I guess I have heard this one before.
How about Wilson launching over that single sand jump. Made a huge pass on Tomac. Wilson admits he needs to settle down and focus on the whole race.
Great racing. Not long now until big mouth stikes again...
I believe some of these riders need to move up to the 450's, including Rattray, hes been on the 250's way too long. I think the AMA should have a 3 or 4 year time limit on them
Was hoping Musquin would win but now I have to go with Barcia. This is Barcia's 3rd yr. Its now or never
@Buffo - right on, that pass Wilson made on Tomac over that single was sweet - I didn't see anyone else take that line all day - had to save a second or more - not evan the 450 guys were able to get on that thing...
Ro Rattray!