BUD LITES:

It was not long ago when 17-year old Ryan Villopoto and 18-year old Mike Alessi were doing battle for Motocross' most prized amateur titles. In those mini days it was Alessi who got the better of the younger Villopoto more often than not.

Early on in his pro career Alessi was more mouth than he was results. He jumped right into the Motocross class as a 17-year old, passing on the Lites class. Alessi quickly proclaimed that he could run with the big boys like Ricky Carmichael and Kevin Windham. But Alessi's hype was just that and it was quick to see the kid was over matched on the bigger machines.

This season Alessi looked to do the right thing. He and team KTM-RedBull were looking forward to contending for the Lites Class Championship and early on it looked like it was going to come up all orange.

Some of the faster guys had early season trouble. Josh Grant could not string it together, Andrew Short fell on some bad starts, Broc Hepler started the season on the IR, and Villopoto was having starting problems and was even forced to DNF an entire moto due to mechanical failure.

But week after week something was happening. Villopoto was consistently putting together the fastest lap times in practice each week, and was charging through the pack to make up points after poor or average starts. Slowly but surely RV started putting together some better starts and was taking it to the leaders, and putting them into his roost.

Now with half the season gone, Villopoto leads the points by a slim but still significant margin. But the most important by product is that RV is now getting into people's heads. He has proved he can catch and pass anyone, and that so far no one can run his pace, not even Alessi.

It seems that perhaps the worm has turned. All those years of Alessi dominating Villopoto must have been educational and now the student has become the teacher. It is Alessi who is scratching his head looking for speed that just does not seem to be there at this time.

Alessi's inability to move up in the pack has killed him. It seems that if he starts in 7th, he cannot make up many points by passing more than a couple spots. And at times he's been caught and passed by riders who are not in any championship hunt for places like 4th. You just don't win an MX title by getting passed more often than you pass.

Villopoto has been exactly the opposite. A poor start for RV just means it will take him longer to work his way up to the leaders. And thus far he has not failed to make points in every moto he's been able to finish. His fitness is excellent, and he's got that extra gear much like Carmichael. Just when you think you've made time on him, he seems to be able to wick it up another notch and break your spirit. That is something that all the great champs have been able to do.

There are a lot of great young riders out there right now under the age of 20. Davi Millsaps is having an amazing year as an 18 year old rookie in the big class, he's been nothing short of excellent for Team Honda. Add to him Villopoto, Alessi, Hepler, Grant, and a handful of other teenage dark horses like Jason Lawrence and Martin Davalos. And of course we cannot forget that a guy named Bubba Stewart is only 20 years old himself.

The future of MX/SX is brighter than ever.

SUZUKI NEWS:

As we continue our goal to get the dirt on what all the major manufacturers are doing, especially in the ATV world. It breaks down that the security on the ATVs is not nearly as intense as the security on the street and MX/SX machines. It's tough to get anyone to spill the dirt on that stuff. But ATVs are still in their infancy of mass appeal and this is one of the perks.

To get to the point there is a hot rumor coming out of the Suzuki camp that they are testing a big bore sport machine. One spy is telling us that someone is testing what looks like a z400 with a 700cc engine. While this may not surprise some folks it came as a bit of a surprise to we here at MOTODIRT. We had been expecting to hear of a big bore Honda ride, possibly a long rumored 650ex. But what we got was every bit as exciting for some.

LT-Z700:

The specs are totally unknown at this point, but we are told that it looks much like a z400. All the goodies are present, fuel injection, reverse, fully adjustable suspension all around. No doubt the engine is some form of the 700cc plant from the King Quad platform. That mill would take well to a valve and exhaust reconfiguration and make a snappy sport machine, especially in something as light as a 375 pound unit.

Word is that this machine is quite real and looking like a strong probability for Suzuki. The snag right now seems to be whether or not they want to kill the popular z400. A 700cc sport machine from the Yellow factory, with similar handling to a z400 might just be too much for them to sell both. They would appear to appeal to very similar crowds. Since the LT-R450 arrived, the z400 has stayed steady in sales, only declining in relation to other competition but not within the factory. The recreational XC or MX racer can still compete on a stock z400 on Saturday, and ride with his kids on Sunday. The z400 is notoriously trail friendly and a happy little bumble bee of a speedster. Yamaha's Raptor 700r has taken a chunk away from the z400 sales, and unless Suzuki makes a move that will continue to happen.

It is predictably so that Honda is suffering from a similar frustration. Would a TRX650ex effectively kill the 400ex? It is just as likely so that a z700 would kill the z400. Or would it?

It would not have to, both could easily survive with combined numbers. The question will become a financial one above all the initial investment and the potential risk involved. Would Suzuki have the guts to keep the z400 alive, as a cheap alternative? The z400 and 400ex alike could survive a big brother, just like the Warrior 350 and now Raptor 350 has survived the Raptor 660 and now 700. The middle class 400cc rider is the meat of the industry and killing off either machine would likely not be a smart move.

So in turn the only feasible alternative is to make a z700 or 650ex in addition to the 400cc sport machines. And as said, this gets to be a financial issue. The good news is ATV sales are up, and climbing, and have been steadily for years. The sport end machines are gaining more interest in their own right, and this bodes well that we may see some of these models hit the floors soon.

Several factories are leaning towards elimination of one utility unit in favor of adding one sport unit. This swap has already happened a few times since the sport machines started to return. There are still a ton of utility machines to choose from, and getting rid of one would not even be noticed by most potential customers.

KFX 450 IS CLOSE:

Word out of the Kawasaki factory is that the all new KFX450 is close to ready for mass production. The rumors of the all aluminum frame are all true. Our spies got some great pics of the new green machine (which we cannot post for legal reasons) and let us be the first to tell you it is one bad ass machine.

The engine on the new KFX450 is said to have some serious pop, one observer claimed it is easily as fast as any of the 450 machines, and appears to corner as if on rails. While it is not 49" wide like the Suzuki LTR450, it is thought to be a good inch wider than a Honda TRX450r, maybe touching into the 48" range. It is said to be a full 450cc displacement with a fuel injection system, and yes a reverse gear! It does appear that Kawasaki engineers spent a lot of time learning the ins and outs of the green z400 they used to sell, because the KFX450 has a similar stance to the Suzuki z400.

Since the KFX400 is no longer available, the KFX450 is said to be more tail friendly out of the box than the other 450s. A reverse gear will certainly be a huge step in that direction. And it is said that the handling of the z400 inspired the handling of the KFX450. People who love handling generally rave about the z400, especially in the woods, and the Kawasaki engineers took that into account with the suspension set up and the ergonomics and frame geometry.

KFX450 I:

So what is a KFX450 I? Well nothing yet, but one of our spies claims to have seen an IRS sport machine being tested by Kawasaki and it was not a Polaris Outlaw. This source claims that the factory has been experimenting with the IRS set up on a sport machine, trying to improve on the idea that Polaris attempted to do with the Outlaw. The Outlaw is falling far short of expectations, and on the racing circuit the heavy machine and it's bizarre handling is seemingly too quirky to get used to.

ATV DIRT: YAMAHA

Our spies are telling us that Yamaha engineers are currently working on two new models that are said to be close to ready for release as early as 2007. After emissions regulations forced Yamaha to kill the Blaster and the Banshee, the Blue factory will be slated to lose two very big sellers.

While there has been speculation that the new Raptor 700 is the replacement for the Banshee as well as the old Raptor 660, there is recent dirt that is saying otherwise. Our spies tell us that there has been some testing of a twin cylinder 500cc machine that is said to be a 12,000 RPM screamer of a street bike engine. Aimed at the dune lovers who made the Banshee a hit for 20 years, this rumored machine is said to be only in prototype stage and our Yamaha contact is telling us there is nothing to it. But our spies contend there is considerable man power working on a prototype. Well keep you tuned in.

However, the same cannot be said for the rumored YFZ250 that is supposed to drop is early 2007. Based on the powerful YZ250-F dirt bike engine, the YFZ250 is said to be a ready to pop entry level racer with a 44" wide track and a 325-pound dry weight. Rumors were not confirmed by Yamaha but they were not denied either. The fact that it is supposed to carry the YFZ badge and not the Blaster or Raptor badge should tell you all you need to know about this little screamer. It is said to use a modified version of the Blaster frame, much like the Raptor-350 uses the same base frame box design as the old Warrior.

MOTOCROSS:

Well it's MX season and we are now at the mid point of the season. Once again the little guy with the big #4 is running away with it. Top contender James "Bubba" Stewart has hit wall after wall in his bid to beat RC, and it looks like it may not ever happen.

Carmichael has said this will be his last full season, but he's left the door open a bit for a potential return. RC recently stated in a major publication that if he comes away from the first few rounds with a big lead in the series he may just keep going.

Stewart has been unable to keep the rubber side down, and there are concerns now in the Kawasaki rig that Bubba's continued concussions may mount into an insurmountable problem. Travis Pastrana might be the fastest MX racer to ever live, but concussions stole his career and that is the bottom line. Stewart should just shut it down for the rest of this season and let his brain heal. Time is the only thing that can help a concussion, and riding in any form can only make things worse.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:

Without a doubt this season's MX rookie of the year is Davey Millsaps. Although the title cannot be official until seasons end, there is no one who has done as good a job in the jump to the bigger class as well as Millsaps in recent years. Millsaps has managed to stay on the pace with the big boys, and right now sits in a 3rd place tie with Kevin Windham in the Championship. He even shocked the masses at Unadilla by snagging the holeshot in both motos and actually making RC work for a few laps to pass him.

MOTOCROSS LITES:

The lites class has been a dog fight between two former amateur foes. Mike Alessi on his Red Bull KTM and Ryan Villopoto mounted on his Pro Circuit Kawasaki have been battling all season. Villopoto has been the faster of the two most of the time, but Alessi's smart and consistent riding has kept the points championship too close to call yet. Villopoto has shown blazing speed in some motos that only the top three upper-class riders have been able to match. It's not hard to draw comparisons with Villopoto, and another small red haired kid of similar ilk.

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