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.
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.
posted by motoguru at 11:57 AM
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