Three races to go, and three championships yet to be decided. How cool is that? Did you think after, say, Anaheim 2 than anyone other than Ryan Dungey was going to lead the Lites West? And what about the East—I had Ryan Villopoto’s name down in ink as the champion before the Atlanta opener, only to scratch it out and write “Trey Canard” after Daytona.…
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And then there’s the 450 class. Wow! Talk about your reversals of fortune. Chad Reed had this thing in the bag by the time the series left California, then began a series of inconsistent results—2nd, 6th, 1st, 7th, 7th, 1st, 1st, 12th—and now he’s got a broken scapula, separated shoulder, and rode last weekend (in the immortal words of Steven Matthespeare) “with more drugs in him that Siegfried & Roy’s white tiger). He’s still 16 up, but riding hurt is riding hurt; anything can happen!
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While there are three championships left to settle indoors, there are two more major titles to be decided this summer when the AMA Toyota Motocross Championships take off, beginning May 25 at Glen Helen Raceway—the site of last year’s grand finale. It looks like all of the men that have been sitting out SX with assorted injuries (Stewart, Townley, Tedesco, Byrne, Alessi and more) will be back at full strength by the time they hit the always-grueling slopes of Glen Helen.
Jody Weisel, the GH track designer, has already been working hard to make things different and exciting for riders and fans alike. From what we’re told, he’s managed to make it both a little slower and safer, while at the same time making it even more challenging. They’ve also added a bike wash to the pits area, which is something you will likely see at all 12 rounds. To see some pics from Jody’s plane and check out some of the new obstacles, click here.
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Next, it’s off to Texas for a visit to the newest track on the circuit, Tony Miller’s Freestone County MX Park. Even though Mr. Miller and his crew had a great debut late last summer, he’s also been working to make things even better. He has added infield spectators areas, relocated the hospitality area to allow spectators into a grandstand-equipped area near the finish-line tower (where those nasty whoops are). This will be much better for the spectator this year at Texas, which has the same challenge that Kenworthy’s used to have—it’s pretty flat down there.
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May 24-25 Glen Helen Raceway Park, San Bernardino, CA
May 31-June 1 Hangtown Motocross Classic, Sacramento, CA
June 7-8 Freestone County Raceway, Wortham, TX
June 14-15 High Point Raceway, Mt. Morris, PA
June 28-29 Thunder Valley Motocross Park, Lakewood, CO
July 5-6 RedBud Track & Trail, Buchanan, MI
July 12-13 Budds Creek Motocross Park, Budds Creek, MD
July 19-20 Unadilla Valley Sports Center, New Berlin, NY
July 26-27 Washougal Motocross Park, Washougal, WA
August 16-17 Spring Creek Motocross Park, Millville, MN
August 23-24 Motocross 338, Southwick, MA
August 30-31 Steel City Raceway, Delmont, PA
The fourth film of the Toyota All Access series checks in with Troy Lee, and you can check it out over at www.racerxfilms.com. Check back next Friday for the fifth film of the series!
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Time to go watch some road racing. “Bad” Bill Ursic will take it from here.
Thanks, DC.
In Racerhead the past few weeks, we asked you some Travis Pastrana trivia, the winner of which would get two tickets to the premiere of 199 Lives, which was Wednesday and Thursday of this week. We emailed the winner the following week, but we didn’t notify anyone else. My bad.
The three winners turned out to be Brent Pierce, Abby Naguit, and Rod Horrell. And from what I’ve been reading online, everyone who went really enjoyed it. “Sell out crowds across the country came out to support TP and 199 Lives," 411 Studio's Christy Anderson told us. "From early reports, theaters in Spokane, Philadelphia, Maryland, and Oklahoma were splitting at the seams.”
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Dr. Corey King, D.C., chiropractor for Team All American KTM/FirePolice MX team, Charles Summey of JGRMX/Toyota/Yamaha team, Josh Hansen, and Metal Mulisha rider Taka Higashino, is giving local moto-enthusiasts the opportunity to learn more about an exciting new back pain relieving technology known as spinal decompression, and he’s doing it for FREE!
“What makes spinal decompression therapy so exciting for victims of back pain is that it works without drugs, without surgery, and without having to go through any painful and exhausting therapy”, says Dr. Corey. “And, because in some instances it works quicker than the most powerful, but dangerous drugs, it’s really revolutionizing the way motorcyclists are ridding themselves of the back pain”, continues Dr. Corey.
Moto-enthusiasts can learn more about spinal decompression therapy and find out if they’re eligible for it, by watching a free 8-minute video Dr. Corey has made available on his website, which can be found at www.DrCoreyKing.com/SpinalEntry. “For riders suffering with moderate to severe back pain… at their wits end… spinal decompression therapy is probably the most exciting medical breakthrough to come their way. It’s truly the wave of the future when it comes to back pain relief for riders of all age”, concludes Dr. Corey.
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I’m going to be attempting to qualify in the Plus 25 class, and this year is going to be plain stacked. Last year I talked to Matt Walker at Loretta’s, and he said he wanted to ride Plus 25 this year. And in the Northeast we have former pros like Keith S. Johnson, Mike Treadwell, Davey Yezek, Chad Sanner, and two-time champion James Evans in the mix. I changed my homepage to www.racerxvt.com, so we’ll see how it goes.
Our own Andy Bowyer will be hanging out all weekend at High Point pulling double duty as both my mechanic and representing MX Sports, and he added, “It’s going to be another big weekend for MX Sports with seven Area Qualifying rounds taking place all over the country. Please note that the Extreme Motorsports round in Washington that was snowed out and was originally supposed to take place on April 5th and 6th, has been re-scheduled to run this weekend. The other qualifiers running are listed below:
April 19 & 20 MX 338 - Southwick, MA 413-569-6801
April 19 & 20 High Point Raceway - Mt. Morris, PA 304-284-0084
April 19 & 20 Seminole Tribe MX - Clewiston, FL 863-983-1894
April 19 & 20 Thunder Valley - Livingston, TN 423-323-5497
April 19 & 20 South Central MX - Salem, IL 618-548-5259
April 19 & 20 Cooperland - Stillwater, OK 405-743-8545
April 19 & 20 Extreme Motorsports - Airway Heights, WA 509-218-2014
I’ll be on hand to help out with sign up and any technical questions the participants may have. And please take time to read The Pulse #7 on www.mxsports.com.
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The Racer X Gas Card winner in Detroit was Troy Adams, and the Asterisk Medic Card recipient was Moto XXX /Hooters Honda’s Mitchell Dougherty. Speaking of Adams, check out this 5 Minutes with… interview with the Rockstar/Hart & Huntington rider we posted earlier today.
I also ran into Justin Buckelew in Michigan and chatted with him for this week’s Sponsorhouse.com Privateer Profile.
Attention, TiVo Users: Missed a race? You must change Season Pass Info. Reader John Rayhill sent us this tip: “TIVO users will miss races if Season Pass Info not changed. Speed changed the description from “Motorcycle Racing” to “AMA Supercross.” I missed the Dallas Lites because of it.”
Mark Kvamme made the news. A website he funded for partners Will Ferrell and movie maker Adam McKay is going big-time.
If you want to get real smart about moto-x stuff read this.
If you want to listen to what one of the sport’s greats (no, not Rollerball) has to say about our sport, listen to this.
From Steve Cox:
Former Loretta Lynn’s champ Dennis Jonon is recovering nicely from his leg/hip surgery and is looking for support. He currently has no sponsors and is planning on buying bikes and starting from scratch. He is looking for either motocross/supercross/arenacross support, or even support for off-road racing. He can be reached at DennisJonon@gmail.com.
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However, many times with injuries like this, the race a week later can actually be more difficult than the day of the injury. This fact seems to give Torco Racing Fuels Honda’s Kevin Windham confidence as he rolls in on the last three races only 16 points behind an injured Reed. This weekend will likely tell the tale of the series. If Windham can manage to gain significant points on Reed in St. Louis, it could set the stage for a nail-biter of a championship going down to the wire in Las Vegas on May 3.
In the Lites class, one way or the other, we’re going to witness history, as either Windham’s teammate Trey Canard will defeat Lites legend Ryan Villopoto to win his first supercross title in his first try, or Villopoto’s legend will grow with one of the greatest come-from-behind supercross championship wins in history. Villopoto trails Canard by three points going into the final race, and both Villopoto and Canard have won three races each. That means that both Canard and Villopoto control their own destiny. If Villopoto can win his fourth race in a row, even if Canard finishes second and ties him on points, Villopoto will be crowned the champion by virtue of his four wins to Canard’s three. However, if Canard can beat Villopoto, it will be his championship. A third scenario is that if a third party wins the title (such as, say, Canard’s teammate Josh Grant), Canard need only finish one spot behind Villopoto to clinch the championship.
One way or the other, it’s going to be good.
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Perhaps it’s the fan in me, but I couldn’t help but root for Ricky Carmichael in the Step-Up competition in San Diego. Despite his fall, the guy never hit the bar once, and he did clear 35 feet when neither of the other two finalists were capable of it. I hereby declare Ricky Carmichael the winner. So there. Take that, ESPN.
A note from loyal reader Adam Tappe:
Daniel Muse is member of the Texas Cross Country Racing Association. He rides the Open Expert Class. On March 30, while riding at a friends house, Daniel suffered a tragic accident that has left him paralyzed from mid-chest down. Daniel has been married for 6 months and has a 3 year old little girl. He is 31 years old. Please visit www.supportingdaniel.com and show your support by donating and leaving him a few encouraging words.
Jason “Blogandt” Weigandt added this:
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Blogandt and Farber are doing a tour of the Budweiser factory in St. Louis today, and a couple other readers sent us more suggestions for things to do in St. Louis.
From Donald Nederman:
There is actually a St. Louis Cardinals game against the Giants during the day in St. Louis on Saturday. I thought you could let your readers know if they were interested. The ball park is only a year old and close to the Edward Jones Dome. Also, for great steak you can check out Mike Shannon’s. It is a little pricey but very good.
Geno Marchizza suggests this:
Just a note, you may want to check out Fast Eddies in Alton, IL (www.fasteddiesbonair.com). It’s just across the river – “Just minutes away from the Gateway Arch”. It’s a great bar/grill with live music, great cheap food, and a partying attitude. This place is usually standing room only, even after they expanded it into the street in the last year or so. (No, I’m not making that up and don’t ask me how they were able to buy part of the city street, but they have.)
I don’t own the place, or stock in it, or a business nearby, or stand to gain financially in any way. But, if you are looking for something fun to do and eat some great food that won’t leave you broke, check it out. See you there!
And finally, this from Chad Turbett:
You should put Kilroy’s Sports Bar (http://gotokilroys.com) on the things to do list in St. Louis. It is a fla ttrack bar. Old bikes hanging up and On Any Sunday plays on every TV in the place all day long. Pretty cool!
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Sadly enough, the most memorable moment of 250 Mod Intermediate Division Three had nothing to do with the actual race. Ian Trettel pulled the holeshot and after a brief battle with Blake Baggett settled into the second position for the remainder of the moto. After going down while battling with frontrunners Baggett and Trettel, Kyle Regal spent the majority of the moto forcing his way back through the pack, which he eventually did, but here's where things got interesting. After working his way around Weston Peick just before the white-flag lap, Regal, caught up in the moment, pulled off the track with one lap left in the race. As he began to exit the track through the mechanics area, the crowd went nuts. Regal soon thereafter realized his mistake and pulled back onto the track, but was much too far behind Peick to reel him back in. It was a heartbreaker for the talented Suzuki rider and a mistake that we are sure he won't let happen again.
Also check out www.amateurmx.com as Chris Hultner is staying on top of things in Vegas, and click here for live results from the World Mini Grand Prix.
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The inaugural ESPN Moto X World Championships are in the books, and while the competition was good, there was certainly some room for improvement. In fact, just about every event had some pretty major setbacks. The Supermoto course was way too tight on the asphalt with no run-off. The Moto X Racing lineup looked like a money race in the Midwest on an off-weekend in the summer between nationals. There was only one guy there in the top ten in points from the AMA supercross series.
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When I was in Boise a few weeks back for a vintage race, I bumped into a few old friends. Arenacross champion Danny Smith was hanging out with Bob Hannah and Steve Weidler. Those who raced in the 1980s will remember Steve’s performance business, Weidler Dynamics. Well, they are all big airplane aficionados, and they talked me into going up with them. We landed at Danny’s place just across the Snake River in Oregon and then flew around over the Owyhee Reservoir. I knew Hannah was a good pilot, but I was impressed with Danny and Steve’s skills behind the wheel (stick?). I even got talked into doing an aileron roll before we landed. Danny said he isn’t sure what he is going to do next year. If he gets a good offer he says he’ll race again, but he isn’t going to chase it. He is perfectly content to buy and sell airplanes in the Boise area.
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Congratulations to Davey and Dove Castillo who just welcomed Jonah David Castillo into the world today. He weighed in at 7 pounds, 12 ounces.
Here's a note from Mike Tosch:
"I was wondering if you guys could promote this benefit auction/fundraiser for a fellow racer from the Western NY area who has brain cancer? Joe has been pretty quiet about this over the past year or so but is trying to beat it and needs some help. He is a good friend of mine who got me into the sport. Anything you guys can do I really appreciate; Joe is not one to ask for help but he has already gone beyond what the doctors told him when they
discovered the tumor and I hope he gets every shot at beating this."
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Well, that’s it for Racerhead. Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you at the races.
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