2010 AMA Supercross

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Justin got in some weird fight earlier in practice today. The other dude got disqualified. Not sure of the details.

Here's an article that has the "details."

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/727/6137/Motorcycle-Article/2010-Atlanta-AMA-Supercross-Insider.aspx


A few more photos from Atlanta...

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There has been some great motorcycle racing over at Bikeweek in Daytona. Superbike, Pro Road Sport, Flat Track, National Enduro, and tomorrow Supercross. Daytona marks the halfway point in the Series.

No update on Chad Reed (ME Kawasaki). Last week he said he was going to be back for Daytona. He won there last year.

The Daytona Track was designed by none-other than Ricky Charmichael himself, who also has a SX/MX school based over in Daytona.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYAsbM8FVEw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYAsbM8FVEw</a>

Live on Speed at 8PM tomorrow. Don’t miss it!

P.S. >> First photo is New Jersey-based Mike Lafferty who won the National Aligator Enduro Event in Daytona yesterday. It was the first ever win for Husaberg!
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“Maybe next week.” No. 22 Chad Reed  




Is Christophe Pourcel (Kawasaki) fast? He had the fastest qualifying time at Daytona. Faster than:

   Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki)
   Ryan Dungey (Suzuki)
   Grant Langston (Yamaha)

Yup, a 250 Lites bike was faster than the top three SX 450 class bikes.




Lites Podium:

  1. Christophe Pourcel
  2. Austin Stroupe (Suzuki)
   (Is this ^^^ not getting a little predictable?)
  3. Dean (I’m going to be 14 next year) Wilson (Kawasaki)

Where was our boy Justin … 5th.


Does that really say "The Kid" on his rear?

Speaking of South African No. 8 Grant Langston, holy crap did he crash bad tonight in the SX Main. It caused the first red flag in the Supercross this year. Dang, he was having a hell of a night, too.



…and what a track! As mentioned, none-other than Ricky Carmichael himself designed the track. It was super fast and super rough. Weird looking thing, the surfaces included dirt, sand, clay and … grass. Yeah, the stretch right out of the gate was grass. See Justin’s photo above. Then past the grass was the tightest hairpin first turn for the hole shot you ever saw. By the SX Main the thing had deteriorated pretty bad. I’m not sure that was the reason Langston crashed, but it was bad. Deep grooves formed in some of the turns, or should I call them trenches. I noticed Kevin Wyndam come out of the grooves once with about four inches of dirt on his pegs.

SX Podium:

1. Ryan Vilopoto
2. Ryan Dungey
3. Trey Canard (Honda)

That’s Trey’s second third (uh..yeah, second time, third place). Not bad for just coming up from the West Region Lites three weeks ago.



Next stop…Toronto.
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Grant Langston’s crash at Daytona last night is already on Youtube. It was early in the race, so they red flagged and restarted the race. I couldn’t find any articles on his condition, but he was waving when they lugged him off on a stretcher.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjATmySzi3U" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjATmySzi3U</a>



Here are some more shots from the race on mcUSA this morning.

Kevin Wydam had a respectable fourth place finish. They call him the old man. He’s 31. 



Apparently Josh Hill was a little more banged up from that practice crash in Atlanta than we’d thought, with some rib injuries. Nonetheless, he hung on for ninth and still holds third in the points standing.



Ryan Dungey was less than three second behind Ryan Vilopoto at the finish. Trey Canard was half a minute later crossing for third. Those two guys are fast.



Choose your line. 

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Lites Podium:

  1. Christophe Pourcel
  2. Austin Stroupe (Suzuki)
   (Is this ^^^ not getting a little predictable?)
  3. Dean (I’m going to be 14 next year) Wilson (Kawasaki)

Where was our boy Justin … 5th.

I heard that some people (one of them was probably the crybaby with the #1 on his bike) was complaining about Justin being too aggressive so Justin was told by his trainers to ease off some. So he just rode around not giving 100% to please the complainers. I haven't seen him do anything so far that some of the other riders haven't done as far as being aggressive. To me if you are not aggressively going for the win then you aren't doing your best.

Too bad I wasn't where I could watch the race either Sat. or Sunday   

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I heard that some people (one of them was probably the crybaby with the #1 on his bike) was complaining about Justin being too aggressive so Justin was told by his trainers to ease off some. So he just rode around not giving 100% to please the complainers. I haven't seen him do anything so far that some of the other riders haven't done as far as being aggressive. To me if you are not aggressively going for the win then you aren't doing your best.

That would be truly disappointing if Justin is being told to back off. MX and SX aren’t just about speed. Granted, that’s pretty important, but it’s also about strategies, including blocking and, yes, there’s a little gamesmanship in the sport, just like any other. I think I’ve heard it said that you need to get psyched up … not psyched out to be worth a shit at MX. Being told to back off doesn’t strike me as something to get psyched up over.

I’ve been watching Justin closely and it’s clear to me that The Kid has been “coached” well in strategy and has developed a winning attitude (a want-to-win attitude). Even though it’s very early in his pro career, I’ll go as far (dating myself in the process) as to compare him to Bob Hanna. That is, Bob “Hurricane” Hannah.



For those who don’t know or remember him, Hurricane raced MX and SX from the mid 70s to the mid 80s. During his years in racing, he’s the one who had the reputation somehow falling today on young Barcia. That is, an outrageously cocky and dangerously aggressive racer. However, the fact is, today Hurricane is the most successful American motocross racer, ever, including three straight SX titles, and a bajillion other titles. He’s also an AMA Hall of Famer. This is the dude that in 1976 inspired me to strip down old DTs and TSs, pop some big knobbies on and go battling.

I appreciate that Christophe and Austin are a couple of super fast sobs, as are some others, but that shouldn’t mean that they get a free ride imho. As long as it’s within the rules, Justin should be able to apply all the winning skills he’s developed. And shit, if Hurricane was out there today, he’d block all their asses into the stands and still go on to be a Hall of Famer in the future.

                                 


Want to hear a little “attitude” from the Hall of Famer himself? Watch this:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQskCHzVZXM" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQskCHzVZXM</a>

I have watched this whole program on tv a couple years back and I’ll tell you, it’s a hoot!
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Don’t forget, the AMA Supercross is in Toronto Saturday. Live on Speed Channel, starting at 7:30PM.


Some more photos from Daytona last week:

Supercross Start



Supercross restart after Langston’s Crash



Justin Brayton



Kyle Chisholm, Kevin Wydam, Justin Brayton



HAH! So no one [but young Barcia] blocks on the straights? LOL. Here’s SX No. 3 Ranked Josh Hill (75 plate) blocking No. 1 Ranked Ryan Dungey (5 plate) into the bales on the straight. Found this on VitalMX. That’s the exact same thing that has Christophe all shitty faced! Oh, but then certainly Josh isn’t doing that on purpose though or it’s a bad camera angle or … LOL. Alright, I’m done. Watch Saturday.

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If you watched the Supercross tonight, you might have noticed the lack of riders on the starting line, particularly in the heats. That’s because only 23 riders in the Premier 450 Class made the trip, and MotoUSA reported today that Canadian riders were being recruited to ride in the Premier Class to fill in. Uh, what am I thinking … lame. Yup, that its.

This weeks trivia tid bit: Jeff Emig, former SX/MX star and commentator tonight, did a brief bit tonight on some of the factory bikes. Get this...the factory bikes have $30,000 of handmade titanium parts, mostly for weight reduction.  The way Emig put it, the factory (Kawasaki in this case) spends $30,000 on each bike to cut 10 pounds. Those are some serious mods!

Toronto offered a real tough track tonight, complete with bullet sized rocks. That was the reason for the extra armor and even hand guards, unheard of in SX.

Justin Barcia:


Anyway, the Lites were awesome. The Kid, or whatever he’s called now, won the race owning the lead from start to finish. Not that it was that simple. No … first he got a block cover stuck to his foot peg for about three-quarters of a lap. Nothing good ever comes of that, but it fell off on its own. Then with three left he went flying off the track for some unknown reason, finding a gap to get back in after a painfully long time. Fortunately, some of the lapped bikes held up Stroupe who was coming on hard.

Podium (Lites)

1. Justin Barcia (Honda)
2. Austin Stroupe (Suzuki)
3. Christophe Pourcel (Kawasaki)
   (Christophe got a block cover too but, unlike Justin, stopped to get it off. He also crashed in his qualifier. Both cost him.)

Justin has a fan club:



Home town boy (Toronto) Dean Wilson (Kawasaki) had a respectable fourth place finish:


Some nasty crashes tonight. First, unknown Tevin Tapai (KTM)…no, not a typo or mistake…had a real nasty fall in the Lites LCQ trying to regain second position from Brett Metcalf (Honda), Barcia’s teammate. Yes, there are a couple KTMs out there, not many. I’ll be looking for this crash on youtube over the next couple days; quite spectacular. Then, Davi Milsaps (Honda) had a bad fall in the SX Main. Neither guys needed a stretcher, but Milsaps sat in the middle of the track and didn’t move for a long time.





Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki) won his fifth main tonight, only getting three more points on Ryan Dungy (Suzuki) who now leads the series by seventeen.

Supercross Podium:

1. Ryan Vilopoto
2. Ryan Dungey
3. Trey Canard (Honda)
(Yup ^^^ same as last week.)





Ivan Tedesco (Yamaha) rode great tonight with a fourth and has been all series. Needs to step it up a little.


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As mentioned ^^, only 23 riders showed up in the Premier 450 and MotoUSA said they were filling gaps with Canadian riders. Not correct. Apparently, they were discussing that earlier and the AMA said NFW. Ha Ha, think about it … what if a fill-in won! Anyway, that’s why the start grids looked so sparse. To cut to the chase, they still had two heat races, no LCQ and all riders went to the Main no matter where they placed. So, I guess, the heat races were a little more practice for the riders and show for the spectators. Lame!


Here’s a shot on VitalMX on Justin with the block cover. It caught on to the foot peg and came off on it’s own eventually. When that happens, the cover can easily get caught in the chain/sprocket, wheel. Barcia’s damn lucky!


Here’s a great shot of the “sandy” corner in Toronto…and this was the second Lites Heat Race! That’s Pourcel front and Barcia back. Justin got pulled into the back of the corner and both Pourcel and Stroupe overtook him. Then Pourcel crashed and Stroupe went on to win the Heat.



On a side note, I know the sponsors of the non-factory teams are real important, but geesh, sometimes these riders standing up on the podium rambling about every damn sponsor is ridiculous. What’s more ridiculous was in San Francisco when poor Ryan Villopoto had to hold up a jar of Mandigo Pickles and say how much he loved them. How embarrassing. Just found it on youtube; watch yourself:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlS7q4zlJac" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlS7q4zlJac</a>


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I didn't get a chance to watch the race until Sunday and then all I got to watch was the Lites, which was the one I wanted to watch most anyway. I was laughing my a** off when Pourcel took his fall in the heat race. Then when he picked up the cover off the bale in the main like Justin did I was smiling again. It was good to see Justin get the hole shot in both the heat and main. I just hope he can keep that kind of stuff up for the rest of the races this season. He needs to work on keeping it on the track though. Although he did do a great job of getting back on track very quickly.
I am still hoping to get over to Jacksonville week after next.

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My co-worker just showed me the April edition of the Racer X magazine and inside the front cover is Justin Barcia double page ad for foxracing.com.
Hopefully Justin can do as well this weekend in Texas.

[dcameras]

On a side note, I know the sponsors of the non-factory teams are real important, but geesh, sometimes these riders standing up on the podium rambling about every damn sponsor is ridiculous. What’s more ridiculous was in San Francisco when poor Ryan Villopoto had to hold up a jar of Mandigo Pickles and say how much he loved them. How embarrassing. Just found it on youtube; watch yourself:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlS7q4zlJac" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlS7q4zlJac</a>

At least the lady doing the interview helped him out on the pickle promo.

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He got help there, but not when he had to take the stupid pickles up on the podium with him. Christ! First that Enzite Penis Elargement NASCAR sponsor deal...next, like Tampax will sponsor someone. He won't be able to say he loves them.

My co-worker just showed me the April edition of the Racer X magazine and inside the front cover is Justin Barcia double page ad for foxracing.com.

I checked the Fox website and they got him on the first flash.

http://www.foxhead.com/us

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I checked the Fox website and they got him on the first flash.

That has to be a photographer's dream.. to get THE shot on the first couple of clicks yet even better the first click..

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If you watched the Toronto SX last week, you probably saw a few commercials for the upcoming series “Bubba’s World.” Bubba, of course, is the nickname of Haines City-based, reigning SX Champion James “Bubba” Stewart, although pretty much out of the season with an injury. I just got around to Googling a little to find out what that is. This is out of an article in Cycle News:

"Bubba's World is a 10-episode docu-series that provides exclusive access into the daily life of America's number-one motocross racer, James "Bubba" Stewart. At age 24, Stewart is the highest paid rider, earning more than $10 million a year, and a pioneer as the sport's first African American superstar. In 2008, Stewart completed a perfect outdoor national motocross season: 24 wins in 24 races. He followed that up by winning a hard-fought Supercross Championship in 2009. "Bubba's World" presented by Geico, premiering on Sunday, March 28, at 10:00pm ET/PT. In an unprecedented move, the premiere will be simulcast on FUEL TV, FOX Sports Net, SPEED, Fox College Sports and Fox Reality Channel.”

http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/supercross/2010/03/01/bubba-world-set-for-tv

  $10 MILLION! WHAAAAT! Note to self: Discontinue criticizing sponsors, including Madingo Pickles.

Anyway, March 28th at 10PM and it looks like you’ve got several channels to choose.






This weekend the Supercross is at Cowboy Stadium in Dallas. It looks like it’ll be on Speed Channel Sunday at 5PM.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I’m reminded that Chad Reed committed in Daytona to be back in action in Dallas, if not Toronto. So, since he wasn’t riding last week, hopefully we’ll see him tomorrow. Just an FYI, Chad practiced and then qualified in Daytona before deciding not to race. He had the fastest time in qualifying. Obviously, he’s out of the Championship, but he could really shake up the Villopoto – Dungey thing going on if he comes out charging, like I’m sure he will.


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