Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Rev Up. Wow, times are strange. Our industry has been turning a wide, sweeping corner of change for the past few seasons. As the 2009 season approaches, things are going to look, sound, and feel very different. New class names, riders on different bikes, bikes with different – well, everything. Who would have thought that one day the Supercross championship could be decided by Electronic Fuel Injection? It very well could, folks. As I’m sure you’ve heard, one of the many perks of having EFI on your machine is that it will start, hot or cold, every time. How many races have we seen be decided by a four-banger refusing to fire back to life? Ask James Stewart that question. And as he enters into what will be a very, very pivotal year in his career, he will be without it again. Oh well, I’m not shedding any tears for Bubba. As predicted he can ride any bike, anywhere, and anytime a second faster than anyone. They’re going to need more than EFI to beat him.
I know the supercross season is still a long way off, but when I sit back and try to imagine the starting line at Anaheim 1, I can only shake my head. Weimer on green, “Brettcalfe” on red, Reed’s on yellow, Stew’s on blue, and RV Park is on the big bore. That’s pretty crazy. Then, when I switch gears and imagine what it will be like watching my brother Clint on Sunday and him being in a yellow and red #33 Cheerio’s car instead of the black jack attack #07, dude, stuff’s going to be straight weird.
How about that little note MX Sports dropped about the outdoor nationals? Man, I thought it sounded awesome. I’m a little biased, but not really. I think the Saturday thing is going to revolutionize our sport. I think more folks will be going riding and hitting up dealerships on Sunday. And my liver is already hurting thinking about the 10:00 p.m. broadcasts Saturday night! Think about it? If you can’t make it to a race, you can fire up the grill around noon on Saturday afternoon and have your bros over for a tailgate. Just get the computer set to the LIVE FEED for the first motos, house a couple steaks and a dozen wings, crack open the good wine or a twelver of brew and get ready to watch the second motos on SPEED. This should make for the best summer the sport of motocross has ever seen.
{LINKS}Before I go, I wanted to touch on something I usually do before I begin a column. I always go back to the article from the same date the year previous. I noticed that one year ago I wrote a column called “Pops.” He rode his Harley up from Martinsville to see me and it brought back a lot of memories. I remember how gorgeous the weather was that day. A year later, some things have changed, some are eerily the same. It’s been a cold, rainy day here in West Virginia, and there have been no surprise visits today. But Martinsville is this Sunday and Clint’s in 5th place, just like last year. What were you doing this week last year? Take a spare moment and think about it.
It should be another good weekend for riding though. Better use it, because time is running out! Everyone around here is either hitting up Steel City or driving down to the Top Gun Shootout at Muddy Creek. If you’re going riding, be careful and have fun.
Thanks for reading, see you next week.
Racer X - Motocross & Supercross News
