Still Kicking!

Well folks we are sorry we have been away for a while, but it has been overwhelmingly busy at work and I have been slacking with my dedication to Motodirt, and it's millions of readers. OK so I'm lying about the millions of readers part. But there are enough of you out there to keep us coming back to writing. Problem is my partner in crime never gets time to write anything, either.

No too much new to talk about in the SX scene this season that is not getting beaten to death by everyone else. RC retired (for now) and left Bubba to be the new king. And thus far the big #7 has lived up to the billing. There is no championship battle in the big boys class, it is Reed scratching his head looking for speed, and Stewart handing out beat-down after beat-down!

The boys in the East Coast Lites division are throwing down, that battle is going down to the wire, spread between 3 SX rookies in Darcy Lange, Ryan Morais, and Ben Townley. But the real story could be the fact that Makita/Suzuki rookie Ryan Dungey might have been just as dominant as the other Ryan out West, had it not been for a string of amazingly bizarre incidents, virtually none of which were even close to his fault.

IRONIC TWISTS: In Ryan Villopoto's domination in the West Coast Lites series, the kid was just so much quicker than everyone that even a mid-pack start could not keep him off the box. Or even out of the #1 spot. On one occasion, Villopoto had to overcome a strange crash, in which a rider from another part of the track crashed in front of him as he landed a triple. RV had no chance to avoid the tumbling bike and crashed pretty hard. He was able to get up and still win the race. It was one of the few bumps RV saw in his run for the title.

In an odd twist, Ryan Dungey in the East series had the same exact thing happen. As he broke into the lead, another rider who had a bad start crashed from another part of the track and took out Dungey. He was able to get back up and into the race, and still had a chance to win. It would have been a huge win for the Suzuki rider, and could have propelled his momentum. But impossibly, the original crash that caused the rider to cross lanes and take out Dungey, eventually resulted in a Red-flag, and a restart of the race. But in an amazingly bad twist of fate for Dungey, his bike, having suffered some electrical damage in the crash, would not restart once it had been shut off for the Red-flag. There was no time to fix the problem, and Dungey was forced to take a DNF.

This is not something you see every day in Supercross. You might see it once every 5 years if you are lucky. And I'm not sure I've ever seen it where the leader was taken out by an errant bike jumping across lanes. Yet this year we've seen it twice, once to a title contender in each series. RV was able to overcome his, Dungey was not. But the argument could be made that had Dungey been able to win that race, his season might have been much different.

Tune in next week for a special feature about Mike Alessi.

Crazy Canadian Nights:

Well the World Supercross GP got off to a raucous start last weekend and the chips literally fell all over the place. Because of Speed Channel airings, we won't talk about the Lites class and ruin any of the fun of catching it as it happens.........er....happened. But there was enough excitement in the big class to keep people talking for years.

It was cold outside the dome, but inside the engines and bodies kept it toasty with the help of the massive heating system. And right away the new rules for practice got things cooking so hot they boiled right over onto the stove. For those of you who've not heard, practice times are now directly related to gate picks, which means throwing down the quickest lap times in practice is no longer just about bragging rites. The big class has also adopted the Lites class of only two heat races in which the top 9 riders will go to the main, and one LCQ.

Getting back to the heated practice laps, four of the top guns were out in the first practice session. And as Reed followed RC around in the front of the pack, James Stewart and Ivan Tedesco battled each other for a foothold on a spot. As the two entered a dragon back section with two options, Tedesco shot out of the corner in front of Stewart. The two chose two different lines and at the end of the section Bubba either did not see Tedesco going inside, or he (more likely) tried to beat him there to jump in front. But Bubba did not have the line and he landed right on Tedesco's left side. Ivan was visibly hurt when he got up and later discovered his hand was indeed broken. It was in ill-advised moved by Stewart who would have been wise to back off at that point and wait to catch Tedesco on the parts of the track where Bubba was easily quicker.

That practice mishap was only the start of the problems for Stewart as the main event roared off the gate. Nick Wey shot into the lead and looked sharp with Reed, Carmichael, and a slew of others breathing down his neck. Wey managed to stay out in front long enough to RC to clip a tough-block and scatter himself to the ground. With no championship to worry about, RC was in such a good mood you could almost see him laughing under his helmet at his mistake.

It wasn't long before Reed made his way around Wey and pulled into the lead. Meanwhile Stewart was making his way through the pack, taking aim on the leader. About mid way through the race Bubba was on Reed's rear wheel and the battle began. Stewart gave Reed a look at his wheel and eventually put a block-pass on the #22 Yamaha. But Reed would not be denied and quickly fought his way back into the lead. The two went back and forth for a couple laps. Than just before the finish line jump Stewart once again got by Reed, but CR was right back on the gas when Bubba made a mistake and ended up slowing and pulling into Reed's line on the approach to the jump. The two made some contact, Reed bumped Stewart's back tire sending him off the track.

Reed rolled the jumps and quickly shot passed Stewart who was still off the track. As Reed exited the turn following the finish line leap, Stewart in an attempt to lose as little time as possible shot back on the track with nary a glance to oncoming traffic. The result was a wicked crash in which Travis Preston literally slammed into Stewart as he landed the jump.

Preston was out of the race with a broken bike, but Stewart managed to get back into the race favoring his right leg. It a few more turns Stewart had more problems as Ricky Carmichael's charge to the front found him taking 2nd place away from the Kawasaki rider, settling Bubba into 3rd spot where he would finish.

Chad Reed sailed the rest of the way, his hard work behind him and confidence riding shotgun. Make no mistake, had Stewart not crashed there was a good chance Reed would have had too much for him anyway. You could feel the tenacity billowing off Reed as he just seemed like he was not going to be denied the race win no matter what. Stewart was giving all he had and he could not get Reed behind him far enough to make it stick.

After the race, Travis Preston was not at all happy with Stewart and went over to tell him so. As JBS reeled on the dirt in pain, clutching his right leg, Preston came over and grabbed the mouth piece of Stewart's helmet and had a few words. We tried to get a comment out of Preston as he walked by but he just shook his head, red-faced and angry as he walked by. One member of Preston's team commented by saying it was "the most retarded move" he'd seen in a pro race in years. One of the mechanics coming back was no so nice, his words and name we will not print, but he suggested that a move like that could have killed someone.

The reality is that Stewart had a rough weekend pretty much from start to finish. Still there is no excuse that is reasonable for what he did during the race. No matter what level you are at, hell even trail riding with your friends, you simply do not pull onto the track or trail without looking. This is off-road riding 101 and every kid knows it, or needs to learn it before going out in the dirt. And a glance out of the corner of your eye as Bubba claims he did in his apology letter at TransWorld Motocross, is not enough. A glance will not cut it, only a full on stare or even a double take is enough.

JBS might be the most naturally talented rider to even throw a leg over a dirt bike, but sometimes his head seems to be in another place. He is generally more of a danger to himself, but there have been several occasions where he has taken out others. The image of him jumping into RCs back during an MX race two seasons ago is still burned into the minds of many people. The thing is that Stewart is getting too old for rookie mistakes, or over excitement to the point of catastrophic breakdown. He needs to race more in his head and less on the track. His creativity and talent often give him ideas that other riders would not dare to fathom as possible, and sometimes this comes up to bite him. Such was the case in taking out Tedesco in practice. But what he did in taking out Preston was just pure the stupidity of being caught up in emotion and adrenaline. We've all been there at some point in our lives, but most of us know what to do in order to limit the danger to ourselves and leave others out of it.

We can all only hope that this is Stewart's final lesson in stupidity because the guy is an amazing racer to watch and can only do good for the sport. To top it off he's a hell of a guy who you just want to root for and you know in his heart he has all the best intentions in mind. He just needs to learn how to race smart at the times when racing fast is just too dangerous.

Reed: "I'm ready"

If there is one rider on the planet with the experience and the skills to run at this upcoming Supercross Championship it's Yamaha mounted #22 Chad Reed. While there will be other threats to win races and perhaps more, Reed is the guy with the credentials to back up his attack.

Let it be known that there is blood in the water. With RC in retirement mode and likely to only compete in selected events, the other top riders can smell the blood and are looking to move in for the kill. And while Bubba Stewart might be the new big fish, Reed is a shark and he knows the sight and smell of blood when it is present.

The truth is that while Stewart might be the odds on favorite to capture the two Supercross Championships up for grab, and perhaps an newly inspired Kevin Windham should not be forsaken, Reed is the guy with the proven record and the will to take the throne. The big #22 in blue is going to be a real force this season and Reed has recently said he is ready to compete in the two Canadian rounds that lead to the World GP title and into the AMA title. Reed says he's been working harder than ever and feels he has the speed to run with anyone on the planet. With Stewart's inconsistent ways and Reeds determination and skill it is safe to say the titles are wide open and there for the taking. Both riders are going to have to be smarter than the average bear if they are going to come out on top.

Last season was the closest Supercross title in history with Carmichael and Reed tied for the lead, and Stewart just three points behind going into the final round. RC won the race and the title, but not without working for it. This season is promising to be just as close with Reed and Stewart to fight it out. Or course Windham would like to be up there to and K-Dub may in fact surprise some people. There are other spoilers out there to, including Lites champs Grant Langston and Ivan Tedesco, as well as Davi Millsaps who is on the mend from a broken leg and should be ready for the AMA series that kicks off in January in SOCAL.

So Long Binghamton!
11/13/06

The first year was 1994. My neighbor and good buddy was there to race the amateur nationals on Saturday, we had no plans to stay for the pros on Sunday. As the pros came out to rip up the Broome-Tioga track for Saturday practice we decided that staying the extra day might not be such a bad idea after all. So stay we did, but members of our party could not stay long because of prior engagements back home in New Jersey so the day was short and we left wanting more.

The following year we made it our number one priority to return for the entire weekend, a tradition that would continue until this summer of 2006. Sure the routine changed, details changed, the amount of beer changed, some of our addresses changed, I myself went from a NJ resident to a NY resident living just 15 miles from the Broome-Tioga track, but one thing never changed....we all made the race virtually every single year. In fact for the last several years we rode our own ATVs and motorcycles to the track through the woods from our house. It had not only become a tradition to attend the AMA National but to camp out and ride ourselves through the NY State woods and into the rear entrance of the track. Those of you who've been there probably saw us, sometimes a group as big as twenty-five people all hanging around our machines during the race at the top of the hill in back. When we heard that this might be the last season at Broome-Tioga we all hoped the rumors were wrong. But we here at Motodirt looked into it and we are not-so-proud to claim that we broke the story right here on this little blog. We were the first on the Internet to have the information, but he hoped that perhaps the deal would not work out and our scoop would be thwarted. It was not.

This week it was made official when the AMA released the new schedule to include the race from Texas as we indicated last month. From the standpoint of spreading the series around more, it is a good move. It will bring a race to a part of the country where there was none, and probably should be. But from a personal standpoint it will be missed. Even complaining about it seems silly since the Unadilla race is less than a two hour drive for me, and for most people who attended the Broome-Tioga race driving a little more in some cases won't matter a bit. Of course now the Unadilla race is going to be packed beyond all imagination. Sure a lot of the same people attended both, but to guess another 10,000 people could show up is not out of the question. In turn Southwick could also bring in some more fans which it can handle.

We at Motodirt just wanted to give a big thanks to all the people involved with the Broome-Tioga National over the years. It has been a blast to be there for the last eleven years. Maybe with the announcement of the new AMA ATV Nationals being announced for 2007 there is some hope the guys on four wheels might come to Broome-Tioga and rip it up. Either way I guess my plans will probably include Unadilla next year, and probably several nostalgic trips to Broome-Tioga for the local District-6 races.

Bad Break:

Team Honda suffered a bad break when a couple weeks ago top rider Davi Millsaps suffered a broken femur. Word is that Millsaps took a spill at his practice track and suffered what is being touted as a "clean break". The good news is that he has surgery the same day, and because the break is clean it will heal quicker than the usual six weeks needed to heal bone. Couple that with Millsaps' fitness and still fresh 18-year old body, and he should be back within a couple races of the start of the season. In fact there is speculation that he will be ready by the start of the AMA Supercross series after the new year in Anaheim. A healthy Millsaps certainly means we will be seeing his red #118 machine near the front of the pack all season, and he is certainly a legitimate threat to the championship.

We hear at Motodirt want to wish Davi a speedy recovery.

US OPEN: closed, McGrath Invitational: empty

In the past couple of weeks, Supercross started up again. Or at least I think it did, well certainly something that looked a lot like Supercross took place.

The US Open came and went with little more than a blip on the radar. James Stewart took home the championship just edging out Ricky Carmichael in what is certainly GOAT's last US Open event. A mistake by Bubba that should have given RC the victory, ironically lead to a bigger mistake by RC. After Bubba stalled in a sharp turn, RC tried to pass on the outside, but the insanely small track configuration did not allow it and RC hit a tough-block and went down while trying to wrangle his machine over it. Kevin Windham cruised to a respectable 3rd overall, just beating out an impressive weekend by David Vuillemin.

The promoters of this event really need to rethink the entire thing. While the US Open of Supercross should be a great race, it is seemingly limited by the track every year. The track is too small for one thing, it is closer to Areanacross than it should be. They need to find a real venue for the event or they need to do something radical with the stadium to make it work. For those of us who yawn at Arenacross (no offense to those riders, but I prefer a little more speed and space in my racing) the US open is almost boring. It has it's moments and parts of the track seem to bring alive the feeling of Supercross, but the truth is the entire thing as a whole seems to be a little contrived. The lack of passion on the track could be felt in the stands, even through the telecast. The track designers need to build things to let these guys stretch their legs, cramped little tracks just don't allow that no matter how close the battles are.

Next up was the first annual Jeremy McGrath invitational. All the hype leading up to the event was sadly just that. Of course McGrath himself was not to blame for the event lacking luster, it was just a matter of circumstance.

To start with, J-Mac himself was supposed to race his last ever race as a SX rider. But a crash earlier in the day brought an end to that idea. McGrath leaped into a rhythem section and got bounced out of shape. His subsequent bail-out resulted in a broken toe and cracks in his neck vertebra. While the injuries are not as bad as they might sound it put a hault to McGrath doing anything more than spectating.

Another rider people were looking forward to seeing was Travis Pastrana. Pastrana's performace was really not even worth mentioning, perhaps with the exception of the backflip he did while racing Josh Hansen during the unique and entertaining bracket racing event. Pastrana was in fact eliminated in that event by Joe Oehloff....who? No disrepect to Oeloff, but I think if you asked 100 moto fans which of the two would win head-to-head in a two lap race, 100 of them would have said Pastrana without hesitation.

There was no Ricky Carmichael to be seen, and we could get no official word on why. The Kawasaki camp pretty much admited they wanted no part of the race for Bubba Stewart. Obviously they did not want to discuss it, but certainly they did not want to risk any injury to Stewart. They have their eyes on the World and AMA titles most certainly. We expect similar ideas were running through the heads of Honda with the absence of Davi Millsaps, but we were told that Millsaps himself had the same reservations after seeing the track configuration.

Other notables who were missing were MX Lites Champion Ryan Villopoto, and runner up Mike Alessi. We could get not response from either camp as to why their rides did not attend. But speculation was made that the same issues were at hand and the risk factor was too high. Those large metal stunt ramps in a Supercross race just did not sit well with team managers from what we could gather.

Of the riders who did make it, most of the excitement was supplied by Kevin Windham and Josh Grant. Grant rode an inspired ride on his 250cc Honda CRF, most of the time battling the bigger 450cc giants right at the front of the pack. Windham should get full props, he was far and away the fastest and most driven rider out there. K-Dub looked like he was in mid season form already. He won the bracket racing with little trouble, blazed down the quickest lap time, and swepped every moto. Though some might call it hollow, K-Dub did what he had to do. Anything less than domination would have been a let down to Windham. But there were some talented riders there that could have and should have given the #14 Honda a push, including Vuillemin, Ivan Tedesco, and maybe a couple others.

The format of the event was a mish-mash of things, but it had is moments. The big jumps, metal ramps and wicked dragon back sections were all interesting, and well done. The bracket racing was at times exciting and at times a little boring. My guess would be that with more competition it would have been better. All in all I think McGrath will work on some things and come back next season with an even better show.

Next up the real season starts.

Details Contracts Details!

I hate the fact that details are often so sketchy and unrealiable when it comes to finding out which riders is going where in the contract season. The AMA needs to start making this stuff public like every other sport on the planet.

So far here is what we all know:

Tim Ferry: Word is Team Kawasaki has signed "Red Dog" for the SX and MX season next year. The length and terms were not released as usual, but it's expected to be a done deal.

Broc Hepler: Team Yamaha needed to make a move with Chad Reed saying he won't race the MX season in 2007 and even hinting as retirement. So they went after the 20-year old Hepler to be their top guy next year. It's expected that Helper will jump to the 450cc class perhaps as soon as the SX season but that is not confirmed.

Michael Byrne: No confirmation, but it is rumored that "Burner" will be offered a deal with several teams and may have his choice. Team Bookoo was rumored to be interested in the Aussie for their team, as well as Sobe Honda. We will have to wait and see where Byrne lands.

USA RULES!

Once again the good US of A proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that when it comes to racing in dirt we are the best. While no one from Motodirt was able to be there in person, we did get first hand information from our part-time corrospondent Ms Yvonne who lives for men who drive things fast.

Ms Yavonne was quick to point out that much like the AMA Nationals this summer, the most exciting rider on the track was young Ryan Villopoto. While Bubba Stewart played it smart to make certain the USA would not throw it away with top gun Ricky Carmichael unable to suit up to race, Villopoto was as usual letting it all hang outm Much to the delight of the Euro-Crowd. Villopoto was the only 250f class rider who got a real sniff of the top competition, and he did it in true RV style.

James Stewart played it smart by not pushing his luck. The track was rough and not a lot of time could be made up quickly because of the fast open nature. So Bubba was conservative in falling in behind the great Stefan Everts for most of the racing.

Villopoto's 3rd overall in the mixed moto-1 was enough to make the difference in the overall team standings. Young Ryan baffled the top Euro 450cc riders who could not deal with the agressive American speedster. Even with nearly twice the engine the 450cc riders could not catch Villopoto's screaming 250cc Pro Circuit Kawasaki. You have to give full props to Mitch Payton and the boys for keeping that thing running like it was, and of course full props to Villopoto for squeezing every inch of speed out of that machine.

Late addition Ivan Tedesco rode admirably on his Makita Suzuki while filling in for the injured Carmichael. Team USA took a gamble running Tedesco, who has missed most of the season due to injury and had not really been riding much. Many people felt that Team USA would have been better served to send Honda pilot Kevin Windham who ended the season as one of the hottest riders. Or even Honda's Davi Millsaps who managed a 3rd overall in the points as an 18-year old rookie. But Tedesco gave it all he had and managed to stay inside the top 10 to give Team USA much needed points. Give "Hot Sauce" credit for a gritty performace, true American style.