Rev Up: St. Louis
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Rev Up. With six races remaining in the 2009 Monster Energy Supercross Series, the boys arrive in historic St. Louis, Missouri. This race hits close to home for me in a gaggle of ways. I grew up in Kansas, but did most of my racing in Missouri and Oklahoma. That said, I have a steadfast love/hate relationship with the inhabitants of both states. I have some incredible friends and family from both, but from a competitive standpoint, I'm always happy to stare the eye of the tiger to anyone from Missouri. Throw in words and titles like, "The Border War", Carl Edwards, and the St. Louis Supercross, and it makes me crack my knuckles.
The Midwest brews and stews drama and competitive spirit in general. This has sprinkled nicely into the always-spicy St. Louis round. From Jeff Emig's first "real" win in his home state in 1996, to the GOAT's final charge in 2007, the event has manifested some awesome heritage and lore very quickly. This weekend's edition has everything in the woodshed to be the biggest dust-up yet.
How about it guys? Spring is all but here and I don't care what you do this weekend, you should be freaking stoked! Now, you supercross fans, if you don't think it's time to get the shoulders back, wake the hell up. It's on! With Pantera pounding in my headphones, I'm leaving dents on my keyboard to try to get the house Revved Up for STL.
LITES
Anyone remember when Ernesto Fonseca was trying to pass Kelly Smith on the last lap and clipped his bars? How about in 2007 when Darcy Lange threw on the full charge on the last lap and got bucked off that wicked dragon-back section? They play that one during the highlight footage. Gnarlboro.
I actually raced the 125 class there in 1997. I wadded 4 sets of bars and didn't even make the main. Later that night, Carmichael was running away with it, then yardsaled it off a three-foot double. Ron-Ron won it.
That said and forgotten, the Pourcel/Stroupe freight train will be tough to beat this Saturday night. I'm astonished by C-Pour; the guy has been fast, smooth and consistent and with St. Louis typically having loose dirt, he'll be the man to beat. Stroupe's only racing for wins now though, so that rivalry will be salty. It is straight chaos behind them. There’s a lot of talk about Lemoine, Wilbur Hahn's riding well, Izzi still hasn't won, and Jesseman's coming on strong.
These boys are poised to light it up.
SUPERCROSS
James Stewart hasn't won the St. Louis Supercross. So what? If there is one thing you don't want to put in front of #7, it's a challenge. James is most deadly when he is in a must-win situation, because that's what he does. The trick of it right now is that time is running out and he has eight points to make up on the unstoppable podium machine they call Chad Reed. Ah, the plot thickens! The biggest gun in The Thunder's arsenal is simply that he is the points leader. He doesn't have to catch anyone. All he has to do is put in 20 laps this weekend and get on the box and when he leaves he is still the man. But, he must beat James at least twice between now and Vegas, if Stew wins out. When does #1 make that happen? STL ain't a bad place to start!
Remember that 2007 event I was speaking of? Yeah, those two cleaned each other out and were shoving each other after the checkers!
Damn, what a weekend! I'll be riding my Harley to Thunder Valley to take in the bullring at Bristol. The Wheelman heads there as the defending Nationwide event winner, and the RCR boys went 1-2-3 there last Spring. Hopefully I'll be cleaning champagne out of my ears right as the STL webcast fires to life. Then bring me to Sunday with a Cup race and a probable match up between KU and WVU in round-two action. Blimey!
Get out there this weekend! If you aren't going to the supercross, shame on you, but get outdoors anyway. Get up and have your coffee early on Saturday morning. Maybe throw on the news around 8:30am. You might see helicopter footage of a maniac standing on the seat of a black Nightrod Special riding a 90mph wheelie. The anchorman could say something like, 'We don't know who he is, but he's headed west, screaming ‘Rock Chalk Jayhawk’ and has a Hattica sticker on the back of his helmet.”
Thanks for reading, see you next week.
