Saturday Night Live
Sunday, July 21, 2013 | 12:15 PM
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PrintRound eight of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championships has come and gone here at beautiful Washougal, Washington and we had a dominant winner in the 250MX class and a split decision in the 450MX class.
First though a streak (or slump) is dead. Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto won the 450MX class with 2-1 motos to finally capture a win on his home track in front of his home fans. There have been years and years of dominance by Villopoto in outdoor motocross, but strangely enough, never a win at Washougal. Well, scratch that off the list. Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey holeshot the first moto and led wire to wire for a first moto win with Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart close behind.
It took Villopoto some time to get by Stewart, he made a few mistakes early and had to keep remounting an attack on Stewart while Dungey got away. By the time Villopoto finally got around Stewart, Dungey was gone. Villopoto did make a charge on the final two laps to get close to Dungey, but not close enough to show him a wheel. In the second moto, Villopoto stalked Dungey and eventually passed him with a nifty move by going outside in the turn after the famous Washougal whoops. From there, he checked out. Stewart rode mostly alone to solid 3-3 moto scores. Despite the great riding by Dungey, the title chase is still Villopoto’s to lose as they tied in points today and RV maintains a 42-point lead in the series as it dwindles down. Dungey was very, very good today but Villopoto was a bit better.
Jake Weimer scored a much-needed boost of confidence with a strong fourth in moto two.
Cudby photo
Only a so-so day from Malcolm Stewart (13th overall) but his Lucas/TLD bike looked spectacular. The neon green plastic was designed to match the new TLD gear. Do not adjust your set!
Cudby photo
GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac dominated the 250MX class with 1-1 rides and in the process gained six points on series points leader Red Bull KTM’s Kenny Roczen who went 2-2 on the day. The points lead is just one for Roczen with four rounds remaining. Roczen rode great today to minimize the damage as he was a ways back in the first moto before making some clutch passes.
The second moto finally presented a Tomac vs. Roczen battle, as Tomac knifed past his teammates Justin Bogle, Zach Osborne and Wil Hahn to grab the early lead, and Roczen soon passed them as well to get into second by lap two. But Tomac just kept pulling away from there.
Roczen’s teammate Marvin Musquin went 3-4 on the day for third overall and broke his string of so-so finishes in the last few races.
Some other news and notes:
GEICO Honda’s Zach Osborne continues to have poor first motos followed by stellar second motos. This weekend Osborne went 14-3 for 6th overall. Osborne claims that his arms pump up for the first motos and he’s helpless out there.
Justin Bogle was on point in both motos, with great starts and solid riding leading to fourth overall.
Cudby photo
On the next to last lap of the final moto, while going up Horsepower Hill, Tomac hit a kicker and ended up coming really close to going over the bars. He barely saved it and even bounced off the track momentarily--a few folks standing trackside said it could have been a real disaster.
Villopoto’s teammate Jake Weimer scored a season high 4th place in the second 450 moto and also a season high 4th overall via his 10-4 moto scores. It was a nice ride for Weimer in the second moto as he passed and pulled away from Chad Reed and others.
The Honda Muscle Milk team had a weirdly consistent day with one bad moto and one great moto. Justin Barcia scored a 4th in moto one, and he was running second early until he fell down in a turn. Trey Canard was up there before having a small fall, also. In the second moto it was Barcia’s turn to crash twice and Canard got a terrible start. In the end Barcia salvaged a 17th while Canard had a great ride from way back to 11th.
Speaking of Reed, he had his best finish of the season with an 8th overall and we saw more fight from the 22 this weekend. We also saw more speed which is a good indicator going forward.
Privateer Weston Peick was back in action for the first time since Thunder Valley (round two) and was once again impressive, going 8-14 for 11th overall.
Defending 250MX champion Blake Baggett of the Monster Pro Circuit team did not have a good day and his chances of getting that number 1 plate are just about done. He rode well in the first moto and was running second until his bike gave up the ghost, leading to a DNF. In moto two he rode to a just-ok 8th place. The tough season for Baggett continues.
His teammates though had some bright moments. Justin Hill, a rookie on the circuit and on his home track, had by far his best race as a pro as he scored a strong fifth overall. The other rooke, Adam Cianciarulo, had his best pro moto in the first moto and Martin Davalos, the vet, came back from some missed races and got a top ten. The team's 450 rider Tyla Rattray finished way back due to crashes.
Mike Alessi worked his way through a tight pack of 450 riders in the second moto to finish sixth--one of his best rides, speed wise, of the season.
Cudby photo
Team Mafia Moto Crew’s Nick Wey crashed in the second moto and was taken to the hospital after complaining of tingling in his arms. All in all everything checked out for the 27 and he was released tonight.
GEICO Honda’s Justin Bogle was up front in both motos and had his best race of the season in getting 4th overall. Bogle was very fast and although late in both motos he lost a few spots, this was still something he can build on.
JGR Yamaha’s Josh Grant holeshot the second 450 moto and hoping to back up his first moto fifth when he started going backwards. From there he faded to a tenth but after the race said he had rear brake problems out there that prevented him from charging hard.
MCR’s Mike Alessi had a strong second moto as he charged from around tenth spot or so to get a sixth. Late in the race Mike had the third best lap times for a couple of laps.
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laser?
Yeah, I want to hear about the laser
Down to one point separating Eli and Ken now, this battle should get good. I think Eli takes the red plate next week.
Mathes I would love, scratch that I would pay to see you choke slam that little runt for threatening you. Jeff alessi is a pu$$y
Hopefully if (it's the only word that works caseypons) Eli is on Team USA this is the Eli that shows up!
Since Davey has a degree of involvement, he's probably not going to allow anything in RacerX until they can report it as 100% fact. When MX Sports concludes their investigation and bans Jeff and his imaginary scapegoat ex-girlfriend for life, they'll report on that. Tony used the word "slander" in the argument with Steve and whenever folks with a reputation like the Alessi's start using legal terms, everyone puckers up good and tight.
"WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AT WASHOUGAL"
Matthes:
Look what it says at the top of your column. I think you left some stuff out.
Who cares about "Lasergate" typical Alessi family BS. Serious racing went down. What an amazing facility and the action was great.
Every time I listen to Georgia Lindsey I think she should be the official interview chic for all Super and MotoX. She just makes your coverage worthwhile.
RV rides that 450 like its an 80 It's almost frightening at times.
So if Jeff Alessi claims that his ex-girlfriend pointed the laser at Villopoto, my question is this: At what point did she become his EX girlfriend. I'm assuming immediately after he said it wasn't me, it was her! Daddy, help me!
I saw tomac almost eat it on horsepower hill. Not sure if it was caught on tv but it was going to be nasty.
And this was my first time going to washougal (I'm from Dallas) and it tops redbud (my previous favorite) for me. I've never seen a track as beautiful as Washougal. TV does not do it justice and all the locals were very nice.
Congrats to Ryan Villopoto on his first win at Washougal!
Congrats to Dunge on a great comeback race after disastrous Red Bud!
Great rides by Stew, Weimer, Bogle, Hill, Tickle and Reed!
As usual, by the seasons end aka contract time, some riders results improve drastically. Lol
Washougal's picturesque track once again was ruled by the Ryans Express. Villopoto proved he can win at home, next he will try and take a victory at Dungey's home track. While Dungey may be the favorite at Spring Creek, I would have a hard time betting against RV..
Stewart seems to have found his speed, while not enough to match the Ryans, he has realized finishing 3rd is better than crashing, with age comes wisdom, Congrats to James for figuring that out, it could extend his career...
What is up with Bam Bam? Where is the rider who rode so confident at the first of the year? I am surprised to see his season fall apart as it has. Happy for Canard, 1st on his engagement and 2nd for leaving Washougal not in an ambulance...
Tomac is serious about this title quest and wont leave anything on the table! Roczen has all the talent necessary to win, but does he have the dedication to win?
Congrats to Bogle for taking a giant leap forward, holeshoting and leading is the first step towards finding the C&C to run up front...
The Department of Youth was served by hometown boy Justin Hill and the much hyped Adam Cianciarulo good rides for both. Next week at Martins home track it would be cool to see all three in the top ten.
Laser-gate, what a shame, there is no place in this sport for that kind of behavior, even if it was meant as harmless fun. If allegations are found true, the offender should not be allowed back at a track this year and since it appears he was wearing a team shirt that team should be fined.
On to Millville where I will be in attendance, roaming pits to cover the Oklahoma boys...plus attending the poster party held by Bucky...hope to see ya all there!!!
Good job to BD25 on his race report.
Does anybody know if MotoConcepts will be offering the Holeshot Distraction Lasers for sale or are they a Race Team issued device?
At last we can now understand that new technology Tony A was talking about
What a good laugh!!
Lol
Good racing and congrats to all. I love going to Washougal, but had to miss this year. To me that is the coolest place on earth. Glad to see James keeping it up there. He looks good the first half the race, just needs to find a way to carry it unto the second half of the moto. The lasergate thing is got to be the dumbest I have heard of. I guess Jeff Alessi and his old man were lucky enough to walk out on there own.
And I thought Jeff Alessi was some born again Christian???
Real honest Abe he has turned out to be!!! Back on the drugs again???
The Alessi's always have some trick up their sleeves, bunch of idiots!
@ JDubya & Singletrack..... That is some funny stuff boys! Keep it up!
RV had to be stopped. He is the only thing between MA and the title.
Genova should be held responsible for Jeff Alessi's actions. He was caught with the team's shirt on, with a headset on while using that laser pointer.
Genova is backing him up now too! What an idiot!
JA could have permanently damaged some of the racer's eyes! The Alessi's are such goons!
Imagine he did that to Peick?
End result would be identical to Jack Links beef jerky commercial " messing with Sasquatch " !!! Lol
So the Alessi's are guilty based upon one of them being in the vicinity of the offending laser when it was used, all I saw was a picture of pissed off DC, and that proves exactly what?
@Please don't hate us: Ha, Ha...My friend.
I think that is why I dislike predictions so much, especially in the sport of Motocross. When you have a sport such as this one, where the rider and the machine are asked to push and sustain the levels of each entity 110%, for 40 plus minutes over an ever-changing course where there are so many variables to go wrong (or right), in my opinion, anyone who predicts, speculates, envisions, dreams, believes or whatever emotionally based desire to see their favorite rider (or manufacturer) succeed... is based on (faith) purely, and not science.
Now, when you just enter in the human element, Eli has done everything imaginable to minimize his chances of failure out on the track. And when I say that, I mean his training regimen on and off the track and lifestyle. Though he has proven to be susceptible (as a human) to the psychological element of this sport. Anybody saying the mental aspect of this sport is not a factor is not living in reality.
I personally feel that when Eli is (on) his game his confidence level is such that he is (nearly) indestructible and unbeatable. Though, he himself will admit (and did) that at any moment your over confidence can bite back, as to the penultimate crest of "Horsepower Hill" did yesterday.
That is another character trait that I respect so much in Eli. He is never too full of himself that he doesn't forget he is only human and is also fallible, like the rest of us mere mortals.
So, in summary, one could only hope (if) he is selected to go across the pond to represent the US.. vs The World, the Eli Tomac that showed up in the little town of Washougal will be the same guy that shows up in Teutschenthal, Germany.
We will all have to wait to see, including Eli himself.
Washougal was killer. Tomac was just crushing the whoop section, and just about everywhere else. If Roczen and Tomac start together, i dont think the Roc can hang. Jeff Alessi needs a multi year ban, if not permanent.
I take it the Obama administration put pressure on the magazine (or financial incentives, or maybe threats of an IRS audit) to include a photo of 13th place Malcolm Stewart. That's some serious pandering and enabling, LOL!
It was killing not knowing why Alessi left supercross early to work on done Top secret weapon for the outdoor season.. Now we all know ..
Get the hole shot with the new state of the art " dumb top" laser...
These guys a brilliant...best MX product in years
@Mucas: No, there is a picture with Jeff holding the laser in his hand, and then another picture of him and DC with DC walking away with jeff's pass and the laser in his hand
If JA or motoconcepts is found guilty of these actions by the AMA, expect the Boo birds to be out in full force at Unadilla. I would love to know what RV is really thinking.
Here you go boy's Jeff Alessi sounds like he needs a big ole ass kickin!!
http://www.chronicmx.com/jeff-alessi-point-laser-villapoto-washougal-motocross/
It would have been fun to have been standing there! I would have definitely stood next to Mr. Matthes on this one. These guys Tony/Jeff were acting like big jack asses. I feel bad for Mike, especially if he had absolutely nothing to do with it and no knowledge of it. The guy has tried hard to clean up his image and these guy may have put a PERMANENT stain on it!!
Things will never change for Mike and it is because his dad never stepped aside.
What a shame.
@ FenderFreddy- too funny dude!
Don't feel sorry for Mike, he brought his Dad along for the ride. He definitely knows what's going on. They will try to pretend like he doesn't, but he def does.
So Jeff Allmessy is now a UFC fighter! lol. Oh how I wish Matthes sat on both those punks and fed them donuts in there eyeballs! Yes I do feel bad for Mike, his Dad is a little puke and Jeff is a punk.
And people were saying lately how "nice" and "cool" the Alessi's are!
Their true colours are flying high right now!
Ya gotta love Jeffies dumb “it wasn’t me” look as Davey is walking away with his pit pass / credentials and his light saber. The Alessi’s never fail to, ummmmm, fail. I can see why MotoConcepts brought them aboard, they look like a bunch of toolz as well.
If Motoconcepts does not do something publicly to admonish this behavior...I am done purchasing anything through them again. I am a NW guy and as such try to support the companies in our sport and particularly in the region.
It's to bad for Mike, but his family actually has a negative brand impact in my book.
I have little to no faith in the leadership of the nationals to be punitive, but I hope they surprise me... i really do.
Its pretty obvious that Jeff had the laser, not an ex-girlfriend, how else would Davey had taken it from Jeff?? Typical of those cowards trying to throw the blame on somebody else... I dont think Mike is an innocent either, or Tony.. They are always in this kind of crap.. They have been accused of dirty tactics their entire careers.. Its about time somebody made them be responsible for their actions.
matthes shoulda pounded that little punk into the ground..............and let the chips fall where they may. boo-yah !
Someone needs to put these people to sleep...
This shift picture of hanny is so bad!! lt looks like he's in jail.Sorry to complain but when will it go away!
Can't wait for the gopro of RV on the starting line. Bet Jeff didn't think of that the dumb ass.
Shift must be hurting to have lil Hanny advertising their gear. I agree the dude has got to go!
I don't think this is a really big deal. I mean, riders have these things called VISORS. They can block out practically any light source unless it's coming from the handlebar area. Kids play games. Let's not hang him, just let him learn his lesson and move on. That laser is weak anyway.
If Jeff would have pointed it at Stewart, that would have given Stewart a new excuse as to why he crashed.
Hey James. Why don't you say you had a laser light in your eyes every time you crashed in the last 10 years? This is the time to jump on the bandwagon!
hey Speedcornholer....guess you didn't actually watch the race..(shocker)..JS7 rode a great race ..beat everybody who wasn't named Ryan , didn't go down and looked good doin it...........go spew your race hatred and political blasts down at the Klan club. Your an A*shole ...........I'm not so quick to throw Mike under the bus as he was on the track AND I HOPE knows what something that stupid and childish would accomplish ....maybe it will be enough for him to leave that nest. Anyone involved should be held accountable , monetarily or worse.
SpeedShifter you are an idiot, no better than Mikes dumb ass Dad and shit for brains brother.
Newman, I hereby hit you in the eyes with a figurative laser, which you can ill afford due to the masturbatorially-induced blindness from which you currently suffer.
But seriously folks, it's not cool to shine lasers into people's eyes when they're flying airplanes or racing motorcycles. I just don't think he should be dragged down the road behind a 1972 Ford 1/2 ton like he's some kind of Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson...or tonewall.
I have two boys the same age as Mike and Jeff. They would never behave the way Jeff did in that video and use that kind of language in front of me, and never put themselves in that spot to begin with.
Jeff Alessi could have been identifying which racer was Villo.
Ask Hanny what he thinks. JH looks like he is very intelligent.
SpeedShifter or should I call you MinuteMan ! don't knock it till you try it, if you paid more attention to your dick maybe you'd be less of one, just saying!
From Steve Bauer on vitalmx.
"I posted this on FB earlier so figured I may as well paste er on up!
I was there for the entire pit incident, from before Tony got in Matthes face, through the whole argument, and then talked to Tony and Mike Genova for a long time just before they all left the track.
I heard early in the day from an MX Sports official about Jeff getting caught with a laser pointer in the woods by Davey and that he had his credential yanked. I know Davey was pissed about it and rightfully so. Because I am good friends with both Mike Genova and Davey Coombs, plus the fact that I was not covering the race as a journalist this week, I chose not to put the story out there. Matthes was simply doing his job as a journalist by tweeting it.
Steve Giberson and I were talking to Mike and Jeff Alessi after the races, as well as Genova and Tony. I asked Jeff what the deal was. He replied that his ex-girlfriend was the one who was shining the laser on the riders and that he was on the other side of the track and nowhere near it. He said he later walked over there and had just picked the laser off the ground and Davey walked up and asked him if he had one, then took it out of his pocket and yanked the hard card off his neck, which turned out to be Tony's credential, which is another can of worms.
Tony walked up to us right about then, wanting to know what we were talking about and we told him. He basically said it was a non-issue and walked away. For obvious reasons he had no interest in discussing it with me and GuyB, who runs VitalMX.
A couple min later Matthes walked up and we had just barely started talking when Tony barged up, cell phone in hand, screaming at Matthes, jamming a finger in his chest and accusing Steve of throwing Jeff under the bus by tweeting the story before having all the facts. Matthes showed remarkable restraint and verbally stood his ground, saying that he had gotten the info from an MX Sports official (the same guy who had told me earlier, no doubt) and he had written what he'd been told.
Tony claimed that it was slander and then Jeff popped in several times, threatening Matthes, and each time Jeff stuck his head in there, Mike Genova stepped up and shoved him back, telling him to get away. At first Genova just let his team manager, Tony, handle it, but eventually he joined in the discussion, never losing his cool. It was pretty much damage control at this point, but obviously Tony was doing more harm than good with his rant. By the time Tim Cotter walked up and told Tony to get back in his hauler and Matthes to leave, Matthes had had enough of it and told Tony that Mike needed to find a new goggle sponsor, because he was no longer comfortable coming around their rig after the threats by Jeff and Tony's rant. (Matthes wears a lot of hats at the races, and is the EKS Brand goggle rep, as well as journalist. Mike Alessi has been wearing EKS for a couple years)
I didn't believe Jeff's story about not being the one who shined the light and neither did GuyB. I don't think that he was doing it with malicious intent as a means of helping Mike. I think he was just being a dumb^)*k, f&$-c*^'n around and trying to be funny, seeking attention, which he sure did get. I told him he should just fall on his sword and suck it up, same thing I told Tony.
There's a bunch more I could write, but that's the gist of it. Tony also was adamant that Davey "assaulted" Jeff when he took the laser from him, which I cannot comment on, since I did not see that incident. I know that if you lay your hands on another person, technically that's assault, in which case I did see Tony assault Steve Matthes, a point that was not lost on both Genova and Tony. At the end of the day, Tony was thinking in terms of "Just because he had the laser does not mean he did it", and that may be true, but this isn't a court of law and public perception and appearances are what matters, especially when you have a track record like they do. He even said to Matthes that he could say that Matthes "rpd that girl over there" and that would be wrong for someone to tweet about it because no charges were filed yet, etc, and Matthes replied that if an AMA official gave him that info, it would then be reliable news and acceptable to pass on. I also made the point to Tony that if someone told me that Matthes had rpd that girl, then said that he'd also been caught with her panties in his pocket and they were confiscated, I'd say that was compelling evidence and I'd run it.
Both Tony and Mike Genova said that Jeff was not representing the team, had grabbed Tony's hard card without permission and was wearing a team shirt that was not his. I believe them. I also do not think that Mike should be sanctioned for Jeff's f*^-up, because I know he had no knowledge of it. I feel badly for Mike Genova, because he puts a lot into the sport and will likely have to pay a hefty fine for this, because the buck has to stop somewhere.
I sat with Mike after all of the hullaballoo and at that point he'd heard nothing from the AMA or MX Sports all day, other than Cotter's earlier appearance to quell the pit scene. I knew that this would blow up to epic proportions and I'm not sure that Mike or Tony grasped that. Tony feels that his kids are targeted, and to some extent they certainly get no slack from the media and public, but it's not like they didn't bring it on themselves from almost Day One of Mike's pro career. I just think it's sad that they make bonehead moves like this. Jeff should have been slapped silly and locked in the hauler closet after the incident, not allowed to chime in when his dad was already blowing it by going off on a reporter.
in the end, the sport loses and looks like amateur hour."
Tony physically assaulting a media member and Jeff verbally threatening the same media member just puts the icing on the cake for that crew. They are lucky Matthes has that passive personality that most Canadians do because if that was anyone else Tony would either have to fight his way out of his bull sh*t or have to deal with the authorities and the law. Same goes for Jeff. What a joke, makes our sport look like a circus.
If someone has proof of Jeff Alesi pointing the laser in RV's or any other guys eyes the kid should be sent to jail.
If I was Tony I would beat that kids A**
If I was Mike I would get as far away from Tony and Jeff as possable until his career in Moto is complete.
" ... in the end, the sport loses and looks like amateur hour."
Not exactly ....
Wow tony Is such a ass . Nice example he sets . I hope they ban him for life . Our great family sport doesn't need people like that . I can't imagine being so jealous of rv anybody would pull that kind of stunt. Some therapy would be in order or just a old fashion ass whooping!
Jeff Alessi is a low class mofo. I witnessed him walking up and down the pit area at a SX meeting in Germany last winter, shouting at the top of his voice how he was gonna kick the living sh1t outta some guy who was supposed to have balked him in the last cfhance race which prevented him from qualifying. Luckily, or conveniently, for JA, he failed to find the culprit, but he kept shouting until someone told him to STFU. After that he crawled back into his hole and normal service was resumed.
@Mucas Oil Blo Snotacross Championship: C'mon, we know that this is you, Tony Alessi. Face it, your idiot kid got caught. @SpeedShifter: You are just a fool.
As far as the confrontation with Matthes is concerned, it must be tough to be a Racer X employee. The conflict of interest is mind-boggling. Is Matthes just a mediocre journalist? Or is he a spokesman for the series. Since Davey Coombs owns both MX Sports AND Racer X, it must be hard for Matthes. As a journalist, WTF was HE doing confronting Genova and the Alessis? I totally agree that JA should have his ass kicked out of professional motocross for his BS, and I also agree that it should be investigated whether or not Genova or TA were involved in any way. But it seems to violate all basic journalism ethics for Matthes to be involved in that mess in any way other than to report it. As you can see from the distinct LACK of any mention of the affair on this site, both his and Racer X's ability to be effective reporters of the news have been seriously compromised. Just another example of why it's really not a good idea to have both the series promotion company and the most prominent motocross magazine owned by the same person.
I can tell you if I was RV and I saw the laser flash ( I don't know if he did) I would go after him as far as the law would let me. I would also pressure the AMA to place a ban on Jeff Alessi from entering or competing in any AMA Suppercross or National event for life. Yes life! just like the damage he could have caused to the eyes of RV would last for life.
I feel bad for Mike Alessi, I feel like the kid has grown up and is riding and representing the sport well. The kid needs to grow a pair and dump his dad and brother before they completely ruin his career.
@mit12: I agree with you. But as far as Mike dumping his dad and brother before they completely ruin his career?...Sadly, it may be too late.
idk man...........its taken a while, but i think i'm beginning to "BELIEVE THE HYPE"!!!! hahaha i cant help but think.........what would bob hannah do? villo should take a mid week trip to victorville and teach jeff a lesson or two about respect. shit......some of you are saying JA is a kid? bullshit..........he is a grown-ass man........who is a punk! a good beat down might do him some good...........