Jeff Alessi Update
Since the middle of summer, everyone has known that Mike Alessi will be moving from the Red Bull KTM team to the Makita Suzuki squad in 2008. But what about younger brother Jeff? The #801 Alessi has shown flashes of brilliance, but he's been battling with injuries for the last two seasons. According to an e-mail we received from Tony Alessi, Jeff is trying red -- they just bought him a 2008 Honda CRF450 from Chaparral Motorsports in San Bernardino, CA. Terry Varner put together a race package for the engine, and Race Tech prepared two set of Showa suspension left over from 2007.
"Spent two testing days setting bike up at AR supercross facility, with Varner and Ronnie with Race Tech," reported Tony Alessi. "Jeff is looking very good, smooth, comfortable (Jeff says he loves his bike ) ... lap times are 53 -54 seconds, compared to last years 57-58s."
Jeff Alessi's first race on the bike will be the Rockstar U.S. Open of Supercross, October 12-13, in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Tony added this at the bottom: "Jeff is still seeking a program for 2008 SX/MX race season."