by Andy Bowyer
One Industries Rev Up: Daytona
Thursday, March 8, 2012 | 11:10 AM
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Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Rev Up. Round 10 of the 2012 Monster Energy Supercross series arrives at a special place in Daytona Beach, Florida. Since her construction in 1959, Daytona International Speedway has played host to some of the biggest moments in motorsports history. She is arguably the most majestic race track in the world. Professional Supercross began it’s own part of the legend in the early ‘70’s and continues to be an event that most of the greatest of all-time have been able to win. Winning at Daytona sets you shoulder to shoulder with some the bravest racers that ever lived. Winning at Daytona is forever.
Some of my favorite memories of Daytona are the image of Johnny O’Mara leaving it wide open off the finish-line jump, the shot of Rick Johnson going head first in Ron Lechein’s rear wheel, and the muddy shredded face of Jeff Stanton after he won his fourth and last. Few can argue that Stanton remains the king of the Daytona SX. Then again...The GOAT lapped 4th place one time too. They’ve shortened the track in recent years and its more of a true SX course, but it still favors the toughest racers.
Daytona always produces special gear and graphic schemes, helmet paint jobs, and surprises. The hyper-dramatic action has mellowed the last few rounds, but we could be ready to burn again.
Daytona has a special place in the hearts of supercross fans.
Photo: Simon Cudby
Some of my favorite memories of Daytona are the image of Johnny O’Mara leaving it wide open off the finish-line jump, the shot of Rick Johnson going head first in Ron Lechein’s rear wheel, and the muddy shredded face of Jeff Stanton after he won his fourth and last. Few can argue that Stanton remains the king of the Daytona SX. Then again...The GOAT lapped 4th place one time too. They’ve shortened the track in recent years and its more of a true SX course, but it still favors the toughest racers.
Daytona always produces special gear and graphic schemes, helmet paint jobs, and surprises. The hyper-dramatic action has mellowed the last few rounds, but we could be ready to burn again.
Daytona has a special place in the hearts of supercross fans.
Photo: Simon Cudby
Supercross Class
“Rambo” Ryan Villopoto should be able to put these guys to sleep. Not sure how you folks like that moniker, but when I heard Colonel Trautman say, “He is a man who's been trained to ignore pain, ignore weather, to live off the land, to eat things that would make a billy goat puke. His job is to kill! Period! Win by attrition.” Well, RV showed up at A1 ready to kick butt and chew bubble gum. He’s been out of bubble gum since Oakland, pretty much.
Who can stop him? Ryan Dungey needs to grab another good start and get far enough away from Villopoto’s charge and win again. He has to do it on the frequent and hope something freaky happens to his rival, or the championship will slip away. Ah, but a lot of racing to go, son.
Another aspect of this weekend’s dustup is that is is one of the biggest races for American Honda of the year. With Trey Canard still healing up, Justin Brayton has to carry the pressure and step it up for the brass. He has the speed, but he is still a little banged up. Wow, what a win it would be for that team. Huge.
There is going to be great racing with the surging Davi Millsaps, his childhood nemesis Mike Alessi, and fan favorite Kevin Windham. Say what you want, but I think Alessi will top five this time around. Jake Weimer and Brett Metcalfe will be ready to dig a little deeper as well. It sure goes without saying that it sucks we have so many top guys banged up. Man, Canard would have been ready to go nuts. That said, we're going to see some intense racing. Especially in the heat races.
It’s hard to say what James Stewart can do this weekend. He hasn’t been himself this season, and Daytona has been especially hard on him. He was riding away last year when he carted huge. Hopefully he can keep it on two wheels and put in a good race.
Will anyone be able to stop Villopoto at Daytona?
Photo: Simon Cudby
Lites Class
Justin Barcia has the flow right now, and with Stanton in his corner for Daytona he is set to put forth his strongest effort yet and make it four in a row. The two riders that can stop him in Blake Baggett and Ken Roczen need to make a statement, and can do just that. The gnarly, inconsistent track should favor Roczen’s style and I think he is poised to get on Barcia’s fender and put on a show. Same goes for Baggett. "Bad" Blake was a beast last year here and needs a good showing. Blake Wharton can get it done, and we might see Justin Bogle bust out and shock the world. Kyle Cunningham will be in the mix since his “palms up” endo at Dallas.
The Ricky Carmichael designed track looks to be a high-speed, whoop-filled affair. It actually looks down right wild! Expect to see that black Florida soil chew up and bring a little old school back. The show is set to air LIVE on SPEED and the charge has kept us on our feet since the first drop of the gate. We have a big one on our hands this time though. It’s the Daytona SX, ladies and gentlemen. Only the hard and the strong have their names written on the wall. Let’s wish all the boys a good safe race, roll our necks and get ready to witness history.
Thanks for reading, see you next week.
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Sweet ! Bring on Daytona SX. Barcia's got "the Master" in his corner this year gonna be a wild one
Ktm's will rule Daytona
RD+KR all the way
I pick JS7 and Roczen.I got shutout last week.Lets see what happens this week.
I, too, am picking Bubba. I just think he's about due, and there's more room for passing and such at Daytona. Alessi top five? Yeah, if he cheats on the start again. Gotta go with Barcia in the Lites, until someone shows they can beat him.
Barcia has this one I feel, and I am not convinced that KR can Beat Bogle, wharton and DD. I feel Baggit needs to prove he can run top five, Last year was suspicious to me, his four come from behind charges with superhuman energy at the nationals are offset by completly different "normal" rides where his times slowed as the race wore on, leaving me wondering where his hammer went that he was dropping.
I hope RV takes this one BUT, JS owned him until he threw it away last year and RD is building and will be on a committed mission. It is really cool to se KW riding aggresive and I feel He will be on it, JW, JB, and Muskin will be up there trying to mix things up. Milsaps is a wide aggresive rider that needs to find a little more speed and endurance
dunge and rocky will be smokin em at daytona. barcia's gonna hit the deck, so is stewey
Podium for durham for sure.
There is only one Daytona ---Bring it on! I do miss the old format with the arternoon races and bigger gate, I was licky enough to see the "87" Daytona with the only privateer to win, I just had a brain fart, a yes it was Rick Ryan correct? that won! It is still the race 4 champions though!
I wonder if Claxton's dad wil be there on his Penton to race? WE can use some more fast guys out there. I am shure Jack Penton wil be proud!
If he gats a good start RV will be hard to beat, JS with a good start could be fun to see. RD is strong but I agree with Bowyer he will need to start out front and hope RV gets a bad start. I would love to see RD,JS and RV start 1,2,3 and see what happens.
I'm going with JS and KR..
Like @Fred said..
Hey what do we al know? I myself am gona bet my money on James #7 and now we are gona see if the longer race? wil help the others Big Blake and I think I coined that first on here? may show up as it semed he takes longer to turn on from what we saw outdors last year. Stil it is Barcia's game! I for sure predict a good race and some surprizes, there wil be one winer in each class and 19 losers so sad?
LETS RACE!
I think RV has the best chance to win, but we have seen some wild stuff happen here at Daytona.. They are racing the track too, and as it breaks down it can cause all kinds of havoc
Barcia having Stanton on his team has definately matured him and will help him at Daytona. Stanton is tough and will not put up with Barcia not being serious and putting in the work, so Barcia will be more than ready. I have been waiting on Roczen to step up this year and he hasnt done it yet. But this race might be the one. I look for Bogle to show up and make a statement this weekend too.
Fred and mxmofo both pick Stewart to win?? Big surprise there...
Wow Andy, RV went from being a Cub Scout to Rambo in a few races? He sure got schooled fast.
@fred, ok dude I am going with those picks too! If your wrong then you have to keep tons of fun for another week.
I like the idea of Stanton helping Barcia. It could lead to a Daytona win streak that eclipses all other records. THAT would really be something!
The optomist in me can see a KTM sweep at Daytona (Roczen / Dungey) but, the realist in me knows that is a tall order to fill.....Either way, Daytona!
@Welker, Claxtons dad on a Penton? If thats the case then Dunegy won't have a shot for the podium this weekend.
Any comparisons between RV and Stewarts Daytoma rides last year can be thrown out the window!!!!!!!!!!
Last year Stewart could run at or better than RV's pace most all of the time inSX.
This year Stewart can hardly match that pace any of the time. Yes Stewart is fast and particularly at Daytona. He does crash there often however.
This race is going to be the closest thing Stewart has raced to an MX race since last year. He is facing an RV and an RD for that matter that are DIFFERENT ANIMALS this year.
Based on SX results alone for this year and 2011's outdoor championship (and how that fitness and speed play a role at Daytona)
RV has to be the odds on favorite. I hope nothing funky happens just good racing by the big 3 with NO crashes for any!
Spoiler Alert ... Matt Kenseth wins Daytona
"Have to wait for the ever so crucial practice and qualifying times to know who will finish where though, right?"
Or we may even to wait until the races are over to really know.
In the meantime, why don't we use up another million words on if RV slowed down or RD sped up last race. There must some possible angle that hasn't been said already.
@MX Bob- it's Thursday and time to move on from the RV slowed down RD sped debate. Besides I think we covered almost every angle that modern science and modern technology has to offer. lol
Ahahahahah i love it when a journalist isn't to sure what to talk about so he over-sugarcoat everything:
" She is arguably the most majestic race track in the world." Peeeeelllease SpaFrancorchamps, Monaco, Washougal, are majestic. Where talking about an oval here. Granted an history filled one and king of the ovals but how much majesty can you put in a oval ?
"Winning at Daytona sets you shoulder to shoulder with some the bravest racers that ever lived." Agreed Daytona is special but pretty much all AMA race tracks put you up against the bravest....
"“Rambo” Ryan Villopoto should be able to put these guys to sleep. Not sure how you folks like that moniker, but when I heard Colonel Trautman say, “He is a man who's been trained to ignore pain, ignore weather, to live off the land, to eat things that would make a billy goat puke. His job is to kill! Period! Win by attrition.”
I'd say he's a Jedi, period. Pretty sure Ryan would get a cramp reading this. Ahahahaha
"Another aspect of this weekend’s dustup is that is is one of the biggest races for American Honda of the year. (...) Wow, what a win it would be for that team. Huge."
How is this the biggest race for Honda ? Any win for Honda in 450 class would be huge.
Don't get me wrong, love it, laughed my ass off :)
Would be cool to see the Goat suit up for this one. Rain Fri. night till noon on Sat. They might have to bring out the jet driers.
I was just joking about how many times that same subject came up this week. I didn't happen to see it on this one. Might not have been on that weird Brayton video either.
Someone should come up with a sarcasm font. Not on this story, but I've seen people get very angry when they don't realize another person is kidding.
This one has the potential to settle all the "Bench Racing" and speculation. Clearly RV has been on top with being and to run the fastest race line (At least since Reed is out), Stewart is always a threat and RD has demonstrated he might be the fastest outside the race line or at least it looked that way last Saturday. Finally we should have a track where the best start is not going to guarantee the top spot. Unfortunately I haven't been able to "See" all of the races so far been if memory serves (and it might not very well at my age LOL, but I'm sure someone here will correct me if necessary) but I think there has been only one occasion during 2012 SX where one of the top four has actually been caught and passed, albeit briefly, when Reed got RV in San Diego. If RV, JS7 and RD can start in the top 5 cleanly it should be on and excuses out. Here's hoping we all get a race for the Ages.
I love the movie references, Andy; I thought I was the only one who put such things in editorials!
"High speed, woop filled affair" -How can Alessi top 5 on a track with woops? Not gunna happen.
Lookin for Bubba to come out strong, home state, and his practice moto track is basically a glorified fast supercross type track anyway.
Barcia will be fast as hell and fun to watch him hanging off the bike like RC used to while valve bouncing the poor bike any chance he gets. Either a big off or a big win is my prediction
Bubba's and BamBam's race to win, although both are their own worst enemys on fast open tracks.
Intellicast shows a 30 percent chance of thunderstorms Friday and a 40 percent chance of showers Saturday through Sunday. Hmmm. Anyone want to adjust their picks?
If it rains, only guy that i can think that would pull it off would be KDub. I'm rooting for Stewart just like every other week, but I know RV is going to pull a hole shot and win.
K dub in the mud!
Going "all in" on Stewie at the beach ... and hoping he does not yard sale ... again.
Week after week they come into town thinking they can outdraw the new sheriff. Sometimes they don't even get a shot off or clear leather. You think hes fast indoors....get ready ....They need to start nailing boxes and digging holes in the beach right now.(even though I would find it amusing to see Havoc7 run a full main at speed and win just to shut up the stalkers)......and in the Lites ......Bam Digler is just EATIN THEM UP..(all i hear from the haters is the sound of crickets).................go DD go Mr Kotter.
Ah Daytona, this is your run of the mill supercross, priveteers have won here, riders who normally look smooth and fast will be floundering on the infield. So what do we expect to see....the unexpected of course...in the lites .. I would expect to see one of the bionic blondes in the winners circle, Justin "P.Star" Barcia or Kenny Roc, but I am goin out on a limb ...we will have a first time winner in this class...When the big boys line it up we expect to see the Kawasaki Firecracker explode and the KTM Locomotive attempt to run him down as he picks up speed, while JGR's Gambler comes thru the pack after a bad start or a fall...here again we will be suprised ...Could be the right hand for the Gambler will twist untill it pulls straight past the checkers...how about two first time winners this year...out on a thinner limb..if it rains....I will take K-Dub in Mud.....only sure thing ...Oh wait there is no sure thing..this is Daytona
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