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Tuesday, July 5, 2011 | 11:30 AM
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Interviews by Steve Matthes and Jason Weigandt
Chad Reed TwoTwo Motorsports Bel-Ray Racing Honda, 1-3 for 1st overall in 450 Class
I learned a lot this week, last week I got my butt kick. This week, every time we rode the bike today we changed it. Some of the changes felt good. First one was good, second one, I almost passed Dunge through the first couple of turns. And then I unfortunately made my own mistakes and Alessi got around. It was game over. I don’t know why I always struggle to pass Alessi. I just had to hope Villopoto held off Dungey for the win so I would get the overall. Dissapointed in that second moto, but with saying that, I’m excited to get the overall, and we learned a lot today. We made changes to the suspension in both motos, we were testing all day. Honestly, the second one I think we were a little off, I wasn’t quite as comfortable and I don’t think we had the pace we had in the first one. So I think we would have at best been a third-place guy anyway. So we learned a lot and we can put that into the data for Millville.
"I learned a lot this week, last week I got my butt kick." - Chad Reed
Photo: Andrew Fredrickson
Dean Wilson, Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki, 2-2 for second overall in 250 Class
It was a good thing, 2-2, I collected good points, to be in the championship you have to be consistent and that’s what I’ve been. I’ve had an up and downs this year but this has been pretty good. I just need more speed a little bit. I’m pretty close, I just need to work on that. Look at Chad, he’s gone 1-3 and won races, I went 1-3 two times and I went 2-2 twice and I still haven’t gotten the overall. I don’t want to jinx myself because I really think my starts are coming around again. If you’re top five every start that’s pretty good. The track was pretty good, but it was real rough. All of the nationals this year, I haven’t had one track where it’s smooth. There aren’t any boys tracks, they’re man’s tracks.
Andrew Short, Red Bull KTM, 6-8 for 7th overall in 450 Class
I rode good today, the track was really tough, but considering the weather they did an awesome job. I didn’t even jump Larocco’s Leap until the first lap of the moto, that was pretty hairy. We had the world racing head of KTM here, and that was good to see, it’s good to have that kind of support, and for them to watch us ride. The first moto I got cooked from the heat, and the second moto I faded a little bit. No excuses, it was rough today. We’ve had some issues at home—the simple version is my son has a cataract, and we don’t know where that’s going to lead. We’re hoping he gets his vision back and doesn’t lose his eye. He’s pretty fussy and I’m gone a lot, so when I’m home I have to be on dad duty. No excuses, we all deal with things in life.
"I didn’t even jump Larocco’s Leap until the first lap of the moto." - Andrew Short
Photo: Andrew Fredrickson
Tyler Keefe, Team Manager, Lucas Oil Troy Lee Honda
(Christian Craig, 10th in 450 class, Cole Seely and Travis Baker, 9th and 11th in 250 class, Tarah Gieger, 3rd in WMX)
It went alright. Baker hit Tomac when Tomac ran across the track after he crashed in practice. He busted both radiators, so he qualified 31st. First moto, Cole started around eighth and tangled with Stewart on the first lap, went back to 25th, came back to ninth. Baker crashed early and came back to 12th. Christian got a good start, ran good, battled with some guys and ended up tenth. He went 10-10, second moto he battled with Short and Weimer. Cole got a good start in his second moto but just couldn’t quite find his groove. Baker got a good start in the second moto but he fell in the second turn. So we had ups and downs but we still got the guys into top tens. And we got third with Gieger so it was an okay day.
Mike Alessi, Red Bull KTM, 8-4 5th overall in 450 class
First moto, I had a good start. I was running 4th or 5th, and all of a sudden I got hit by a Honda. I thought it was JG, and it turned out it was Windham, and Villopoto was down, too. I think Windham got cross-rutted and his bike hit me. Second moto I got a good start and I passed Chad, I don’t know what he was doing, it looked like he was messing with his goggles or something. I don’t know, I have X Brand goggles so I didn’t have any problems. I got into third, and I was battling with Chad for half the race, but I made a mistake and he got by me. I tried to charge all the way to the end and almost got him back, but congrats to him, it was a good race, and congrats to Dungey and Villopoto, also. That first moto really hurt me but that’s the way it goes. They told me I was 24th on lap one, so 24th to 8th, that’s not that bad.
Tye Simmonds, J-Star JDR KTM, 17-15 for 16th overall in 450 class
I had bronchitis that nearly became pneumonia, and I was having a tough time even getting through a moto. So I missed Budds Creek and Colorado. Today went pretty good. First moto I went down in the first turn and came from about last, so that was good, second moto, I started pretty good, I died a bit in the beginning of the moto, and then charged hard to the end. So we have a weekend off now and I’m going to work hard through it for the next one.
"I had bronchitis that nearly became pneumonia." - Tye Simmonds
Photo: Andrew Fredrickson
Tommy Hahn, MotoConcepts Yamaha, DNF-12 for 19th overall in 450 class
First moto, it was a yard sale, Villopoto crashed pretty hard and his bike came after me and ran me down. I got a little bump on the head, and my bike was pretty mangled, too. So, throw that one away. Second moto, I had 40th gate pick, lined up on the very outside, fell in one of the off-cambers on the third lap, went to the back, got back up to 12th. I rode as hard as I could the whole time. That’s about all I could do, I guess.
Alan Brown, Team Manager for DNA Shred Stix Star Racing Yamaha
(Gannon Audette, 18th overall, Kyle Cunningham 4th overall, Ryan Sipes 7th overall, Gareth Swanepoel 13th overall in 250 class. Jessica Patterson, 2nd overall in WMX)
How about this? Gannon Audette came back after the first moto and said, “How did I do?” And I said, “I’ve only got ten fingers.” First moto, two of the guys made it on to my right hand, with five fingers, we got a third and a fourth with Sipes and Cunningham. Sipes, excellent race in the first moto, he rode up there as long as he could. He got the lead from Barcia, but he’s still kind of racing himself into 100 percent shape. He got a third which is darned respectable. Cunningham was a solid fourth, can’t complain about that. Sipes in the second moto had a good start but he got tangled in the second turn. From what I heard it was a big crash/ Like I said, I only have ten fingers. Swanepoel had a good start but he had a crash, and I was on the other side of the track, so I didn’t see it, but from the way they were yelling over the radio, I am picturing a cartwheel and getting run over by guys like Alessi did here a few years ago. My guys are pretty dramatic on the radio some times. So Swanepoel was tough, he came back from some crashes. And I shouldn’t be so hard on Audette. We’re just pushing him to get into the top ten, we think he can be in the top ten, so I’m just poking some fun at him. Jessica has some bad memories at this track, she rode well buts struggled pretty badly in the sand whoops. She almost got Ashley but not quite. That championship is going to be a battle, it’s not going to be easy.
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Troy Lee Designs/Lucas Oil Honda’s Cole Seely is a man of many talents— skateboarding, BMX, import drifting … and he’s pretty good at this motocross thing, too. Page 156 .
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what!
DANG IT...1st moto crash!!! RV was on fire and one thing Reed also learned is that if RV is up front at the start, he has no chance at staying there with him..that is what 3 or 4 motos in the past few weeks RV has walked away from these guys when they were 1,2,3 at the start....take your pick 1st or 2nd moto....RV looked to be top 5 or 6 in moto 1 before that carnage took him out.....not sure who's fault it was, but we saw a determined champion get back on his damaged bike and pass 30+ riders then come back out in moto 2 and stomp.....GO RV!!!
Reed needs to take lessons from Allessi.
Mike actually complimented the other riders as to how well they did.
reed says, "I don't know why I always struggle to pass Alessi"...why not say Mike was riding good !
I was at the race and VilloMOTO put on a riding clinic for those guys...he rode has ass off both motos...nice job Ryan !!
Now get out there and start beating the whiny aussie so he doessn't get this championship !!
Great article in MXA about 2 vs. 4 strokes. About a year ago I came to the conclusion that I am going back to 2 strokes and my next bike will either be a YZ 250 or a KTM 250 SX. I'll keep my 09 CRF 450, but I can't wait to go back to zipping around a track again.
http://www.motocrossactionmag.com/Main/News/CALL-TO-ARMS-JODYS-MANIFESTO-OF-AN-UNREPENTANT-TWO-7970.aspx
I agree jeff Blascoe, RV is the best of the 3, But he needs to get starts like RD and Reed do every moto, If he does he should win it.
This might not be the place for this reply, but MouthS3B started it. You know what I say to MXA? F U!! Those morons started the 4 stroke craze now they want to end it? Let me explain. I used to have a subscription to MXA for years. But I ended it years ago because they were jamming the 4 stroke down our throats. Every page had something about the YZ400F on it. And they knew it too because years ago they put out a q & a about their mag. I filled it out saying how I'm sick of all the coverage of 4 strokes and I am cancelling my subscription. They actually emailed me back saying these bikes are the cats ass and they are the future of all motorcycle racing and I should man up and get over the 2 stroke...they are dead and 4 strokes will be the best thing to happen since sliced bread. I despise that magazine. Once again... F U Jody and all of MXA!!
You obviously edited these interviews when compared to the podcasts, so why quote chad as getting his "but kick" when you know damn well it was "but kicked."
clueless jerks. GFY
C'mon Blascoe - Reed always makes up some clever sounding reason for why things happened the way they did...even if he just says " i got my but kicked", he does it in a fashion that down plays what happened and somehow people eat it up and take him seriously, when deep down you know he is frustrated ....Funny thing is, how many times this year has Reed been behind Alessi to make such a lame statement like having trouble passing Alessi.....
Prime,
Thanks for responding. When i grew up riding in SoCal I think Jody's Box was the first piece of literature i read that wasn't school related, so I hear you.
Then I joined the Navy and eventually moved down to San Diego and became an avid surfer. In the 90's SoCal was no longer the heaven for motocross that it was in the 80's. I kept to surfing and eventually finished college at SDSU.
Then I went back into the Navy to pursue my dream of flying. I got lucky and was able to become a Jet Naval Aviator flying the S-3 Viking. When I got stationed in Jacksonville FL I got back into riding and got a 06 YZF 450.
When i bought my YZF the sales guy said, "the 4 strokes are where it's at." In the beginning it was cool just riding again, Florida is a great place to ride. But after a while I realized that I was getting tired a lot quicker and although Jody's article is not what is making me switch, I agree with mostly everything he said in the article. I just don't know if I will get the KTM or the YZ.
I didn't know that MXA was originally pushing 4 strokes, as i was away from the sport then. But they have to get some kudos for their current efforts.
If I were a betting man I would bet that Davey Combs is a huge Jody fan. Considering that Davey is young and is the right age to have been influenced by him.
I have subscriptions to RacerX and Transworld. They have completely taken over the motocross mag market. But I do have found memories of riding at the famed Honda Valley in Hesperia and while I was resting in the back of our 85' Silverado, I would flip through MXA.
Sorry for the long winded post.
Mouth
Mouth,
I must confess that I still have all my old MXA mags! But I still hate them. I don't even give a sh@t about their shootouts anymore. All the bikes are so close for the average racer that the bike you end up buying is usually based on your favorite color and which one will have the best deal. I have 3 four strokes and 2 two strokes. I like my YZ450F for trail riding, but I love my 250 CR for racing. If I buy a new bike it will be a YZ250. The four strokes are good bikes. It just erks me what MXA is doing. They are on a bit of an ego trip I think. They changed the direction of motocross once now they are seeing if they can do it again. Even tho that mag sucks a$$ I hope they actually pull it off.
Poor ol Chad Reed.Villo and Dungy are so fast that he needs to retire.Bless Chads heart.He's only won 7 out of the 12 motos .4 out of 6 overalls.Damn he's washed up.I just wish he would just quit racing.
Boohoo,boohoo,Poor ol slow Chad Reed.Age and treachery beat youth(RV2,RD1) and skill every time.He lost the SX championship by just a handfull of points on a team he put together about 1month before the SX season on a new brand of motorcickle while the other guys(youth) rode their same well developed bikes that they been riding for years.Poor Chad, you need to quit.
MXA gave the Cannondale "Bike of the Year" before they had even seen it!
One year Yamaha won every single shootout including playbike of the year being the TTR175 or some cr@p, there was like six pages of Yamaha this and Yamaha that. It was more like a Yamaha advertisement. I think this was around 2000. Last time I ever read that overpriced 60 page toilet roll.
Do they still ask those questions in the shootouts?
What did Honda change?
Does the KX125 have asthma?
Are we too opinionated?
@prime and mouth--You guys are a riot. I myself am not a fan of 4-strokes. Not that they arent grreat bikes. Both my sons ride and race them. But they are too darn expensive, the repair and maintain. It is a proven fact that if all new bikes were 2-strokes, the average price of a new bike would be just over 1000 dollars less. And they cost about 1/4 to rebuild. They are lighter, and make way more pwer per cc than a 4-stroke, so they are way more efficent. MXA jumps on whatever is poipular, that is it. They have some good info in thier mag, and things like that, but thats all I read it for. Racer X is my first choice, I read Transworld too, And I get Dirt Bike, because I trail ride my 2-stroke alot.
@Prime, you say yopu trailride your YZF450-- how do you keep it from getting too hot??
EJ183 MXA didn't give the Cannondale the Bike of Year award.That issue had a question mark beside bike of the year.ex.Cannondale bike of the year?You should of read their test on the bike vs the testing all the other mags did.They told the truth.I don't care what any one says.Their test are the most accurate.They also tell you how to fix the flaws of the bikes on the cheap.They also tell if the bikes have freak problems that the other mags don't tell about .MXA probably caused Cannondale to go bankrupt,but thay told the truth about the bike{POS} and saved a lot of consumers a ton of trouble and money.
bd200,
You are right. There's been a few times coolant has dripped out of the over flow from the radiator. But that has happened when it's been a hot day and we have been riding along way and we stop and the bike is sitting idling. Once you start moving again it cools right down. What I love about trail riding this bike is put in third gear and you never have to shift.
Fred beat me to the counterpoint but, yeah, MXA's bike / product tests are the industry standard.
It was Dirt Rider that gave Cannondale "BOTY" awards, sight unseen.
It's funny, as time goes by, someone is always complaining about "Yamaha Action Magazine". Back in the '80's, it was "Honda Action Magazine". I'm waiting for "KTM Action Magazine".
As far as MXA tooting the four strokes horn, they sure did. So did every other mag out there so, the point is???
Let's see......was it the AMA's ridiculous fuel mandate for racing bikes (no lead), the manufacturers, enviromentalists, political climate and Ca. Air Resourse Board (CARB) that killed the two stroke or did MXA single handedly accomplish this?
Survey says.....you gentelmen should try being informed instead of just opinionated.
MXA is STILL the only mag that will tell you a roach is a roach. Any other mag out there mention how much CRF450 clutches suck? Rather than glad handing out the bike test and go on about how they're all winners in the right hands, MXA actually said how jacked up the CRF became when they took the new direction with the '09-'11 450's & '10-'11 250's. Hondas are the best selling bikes out there thus, they stand to piss off a significant portion of their readers when they bash them.
Most "journalists" nowadays are just ad-hacks for whatever carpet baggin' S.O.B. comes strolling in with a check and I for one, will stand for integrity in journalism any day over what the media is becoming / has already become.
Ask yourself, is it harder to say something you know the people don't want to hear or continue to give out journalistic hand jobs to every swinging duck coming in the door?
These magazines / editors / writers / etc. are accutely aware of the economy, financial climate of their target audience, need for advertisers and lots of other reasons for keeping their mouths shut and "keep on keepin' on" so, don't be surprised when the next 250F shootout, brought to you by Quan-zen, is won by the Happy Joy 250.
Rant over.
Amen Carlsbad,When it comes to testing and set of bikes MXA is the mag.When other mags give you suspension,carb or fuel mapping setup I usually go WTF.That didn't even make sense.MXA makes it simple with no happying endings.Carlsbad it not swinging ducks but swinging Richards.
Carlsbad,
You have some good points in your response. Do you work for MXA? But the 2 stroke is not dead. Look at Jody's article. I see it this way, my opinion of course: All industries need to keep developing their product or they will dwindle away. The motorcycle industry did water cooling, the aluminum frame, the upside down forks, the single rear shock, the power valve. What was next? Four stroke powerplants. Not just because of the California Resource Board. MXA jumped on that bandwagon first and force fed us. Now my b@tch is they are dogging the monster they helped create. The manufacturers seem like they are in a pinch. They can't afford to keep improving and manufacture both, except Yamaha and KTM. And you can still by a 125 2 stroke RM, just not in this country. And yes, MXA's bike shootouts are really in-depth. But can you ride a stock 450 to it's potential? If you can you need to be out on the national circiut. I bought Yamaha four strokes because they were ahead on the four stroke curve of development, not because of MXA's bike tests. Your repsonse was good. You know what you are talking about, which is a real pleasure compared to what you usually read on here. Thanks!
Bros,
I definitely think that RacerX has the more mature crowd, but it is comical to read the forums on Transworld also.
Other than being stubborn, i have no idea why MXA does not have user related forums or comments on their website. I look forward to reading the comments of bd200 and BillC more than the actual article of which they were commenting on, especially after a race coverage article. And you know that the staff at RacerX is glued to these forums. Imagine if you could have instant feedback of your work, wouldn't you be reading it? Bench racing is the newest hip thing in motocross coverage and sports coverage in general, it's Monday morning quarterbacking minutes after the race is finished, it's brilliant. I bet Ping and Davey have had more than a few laughs reading Jairtime's comments, allegedly.
Back to the 2 vs 4 stroke deal...I don't remember getting arm pump 3 laps into a practice session growing up on 2 strokes. I know I'm older now but i didn't have to steer around the 'muscle car' that i ride now back in the day, I'm sure that is a big contributing factor to why my arms pump up so quickly now. Either way, like i said before, I'll keep the 450, but my next bike will be a 250 2 stroke.
I have been lucky enough to try a lot of different sports; football, baseball and motocross growing up and surfing in my 20's to name a few, I still surf now when I get the chance. But i have to say that I have met the best dudes on the motocross tracks while riding. Even the really fast guys are usually great dudes. In surfing there are only so many waves and sometimes people get impatient, but in motocross, that jump and berm are always right there for you to try and conquer.
One more concern, "your an idiot" is not grammatically correct. You can say "your idiot", like a personal idiot, like, "hey Bill is that your car?" But when you call someone an idiot using "your an idiot", it's like saying to your bud at the track, "man that guy really sucks, he didn't get out of 2nd gear...now help me tighten these training wheels before I head out."
Keep up the smarmy comments dudes.
Mouth
@ Fred, I just swapped the "I" for a "U" to keep it PG.
@ Prime, Haha. No, I don't work for MXA. I see your point and would add this premise: If the auto manufacturers simply perfected the Model "T", we would all have cars / trucks that ran forever & they would all be out of a job (which would/could never happen) but, maybe we never would have seen the Mustang, Corvette, Edsel, Corvair or any other significant model (good or bad).
@ MouthS3B, I fell into the four stroke trap right away as well. Bought the '99 YZ400F and thought it was so great.............until I chopped the throttle leaving a jump face (like I always did on a two stroke). Then there was the weight, then the compression braking, then the starting, then the maintenance. I sold the "four stroke revolution" before I adjusted the valves twice and bought another two stroke. I've always been a bike person and have a quiver as of now (street, dirt & ATV) but, the two strokes are my favorite, probably because people rally against them (must be my love for the underdog).
One time, at a (Tankslappers) Grand Prix race in Carlsbad (06/99), Marty Moates (gratuitous name drop) asked me "why are you still riding that P.O.S. (CR500R), your four stroke is way easier to ride". I wanted to tell him that if I was for the easy way, I'd still be home in bed. Unfortunately, it came out something like "F.U. go shave your back" (we actually liked each other, it just never sounded like it). My (long winded) point is, newer for the sake of newness isn't always better. I appreciate intelligent conversation from the posters such as yourselves. One can only read so many "He sucks", "you suck", "they suck" posts before you wonder if you're actually losing intelligence for reading these comments. I don't have much to spare............