by Davey Coombs
Racerhead #18
Friday, May 6, 2011 | 6:00 PMHonda is the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles, and the undisputed leader in motorcycle technology. More motocross riders have won titles on Hondas than on any other bike. When you’re serious about winning, Honda is the machine for you.
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Welcome to Racerhead and to the last weekend of the 2011 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series. It's been a banner year for the stadium tour, with great racing, big crowds, lots of drama and intrigue, and a championship still up for grabs. Granted, it was a lot closer before James Stewart crashed in Salt Lake City and Ryan Villopoto calmly held off a spirited charge by Chad Reed. Now it's all going down to the wire in Las Vegas, and you can watch it all live on Saturday night on SPEED.
And to keep up to date all afternoon long about what's happening in the pits at Las Vegas, visit Racer X Online and our Thor Race Center for constant updates, breaking news, photos, and more.
Before we get into all of the week's activities, here's a job-well-done to the brave soldiers who found the baddest bad guy of all earlier this week and dealt with him accordingly. And leave it to Johnny O'Hannah to come up with the first joke of the post-Osama Bin Laden era: “I walked into a bar last night and asked the bartender to make me a Bin Laden. He said, 'What's that?' I answered, 'Two shots and a splash of water.'”
This afternoon the folks at Feld Motorsports had a couple of big announcements. First came the 2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross schedule:
January 7 Angel Stadium Anaheim, Calif.
January 14 Chase Field Phoenix
January 21 Dodger Stadium Los Angeles
January 28 Overstock.com Stadium Oakland
February 4 Angel Stadium Anaheim, Calif.
February 11 Qualcomm Stadium San Diego
February 18 Cowboys Stadium Arlington, Texas
February 25 Georgia Dome Atlanta
March 3 Edward Jones Dome St. Louis
March 10 Daytona Int’l Speedway Daytona, Fla.
March 17 Lucas Oil Stadium Indianapolis
March 24 Rogers Centre Toronto, ON
March 31 Reliant Stadium Houston
April 14 Louisiana Superdome New Orleans
April 21 Qwest Field Seattle
April 28 Rice-Eccles Stadium Salt Lake City
May 5 Sam Boyd Stadium Las Vegas
So no Syracuse—I was hoping it would happen, but parking all the rigs would be a huge challenge, I'm told—and no more Jacksonville, but a return to New Orleans (which is awesome).
Feld also announced the return of a big race in October in Las Vegas, only it won't be the U.S. Open at the MGM, but rather the new Monster Energy Cup, which will offer a quarter-million-dollar purse, with a chance for a full $1 million in bonus money. To read more, check it out right here.
Tomorrow night will not only mark the title in the AMA Supercross class, but both the East and West Region Lites titles will be decided, followed by the East-West Shootout—the Dave Coombs Sr. Memorial Race—which will match the best riders from either region in one last race for bragging rights.
I would like to take a moment to thank Feld Motor Sports, and Charlie Mancuso in particular, for continuing to hold the East-West Shootout and naming it for my dad, who died back on August 3, 1998. Dad and his friend and fellow promoter Bill West pushed for the inclusion of a 125cc class in AMA Supercross, and the class has become a mainstay in the series. He would get a kick out of how big it's all become, and I am sure he would be honored to know there's a race out there with his name on it. I know it means a great deal to my mom, and also my brother and sister and myself, so thanks again to Feld and Mr. Mancuso for their kind gesture of continuing to name the series finale for the Lites class the Dave Coombs Sr. Memorial.
Okay, I have been working hard on the upcoming 2011 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship kickoff, which takes place in exactly fifteen days (!!!), and so has everyone else at MX Sports and Alli Sports. Look for some big announcements in the next couple weeks about the TV package, the free online shows and race streaming, a really cool pit promotion, and lots and lots of other stuff. And you can also brush up on all of the series stats, years gone by, series news, and more on the new series Facebook page. Just visit and “Like” and you will soon have the chance to win some pit passes, race tickets and more.
Revisit great battles like this one between Jeff Stanton and Mike Kiedrowski in our 40-Year Countdown.
Photo: Paul Buckley (Buckleyphotos.com)
And if you've missed our 40-Day Countdown, year by year, to the kickoff of the Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Championships at Hangtown in a fortnight, please have a look. We started at 1972, the first year for AMA Motocross, and have added one year each day. We are not on 1996. We have been digging up amazing old photos from super shooters like Paul Buckley, Thom Veety, Fran Kuhn and Steve Middleworth, and recycling some great old motocross tales. It's the perfect way to get ready for motocross! Check them out right here.
Okay, enough outdoors. This week it's all about Las Vegas, the grand finale for supercross 2011, and much, much more, so let me turn it over here to the men on the scene, beginning with Jason Weigandt:
This is it, folks. It’s billed as “the greatest season in supercross history,” and the facts don’t lie. We still have four riders with a shot at this Monster Energy Supercross Championship, we still have both Lites titles up for grabs, and we still have the “with the way this season has gone anything can happen” to keep the hype going. Remember this year the next time the season year the next time we have a blow out. Enjoy it.
The annual pre-race Las Vegas press conference just finished up here at Sam Boyd Stadium, with Eli Tomac, Broc Tickle, Justin Barcia, Dean Wilson, James Stewart. Ryan Dungey, Chad Reed and Ryan Villopoto sharing some thoughts on this season. Once that wrapped, the riders headed onto the track for some laps. It’s incredibly hard and dry here, so be careful, guys (we remember well when Grant Langston crashed on press day here in 2006, breaking his wrist).
Reed has some new gear and graphics for Vegas.
Photo: Matty Fran
Not much to report from the Lites class, Tickle and Tomac had short answers to their questions. I asked Tickle if he has been riding more conservative while battling for the points lead, but he says he wishes that was the case. He’s not purposely riding conservative; he’s just plain struggling with some things, and he admits he hasn’t ridden as well from San Diego on. He said he had a good week and he hopes to have those issues resolved.
Once the East Lites boys, Barcia and Wilson, came up, Barcia quickly made it clear that there have been some great battles between himself and Wilson this year, and since Vegas is always crazy, why not have one more? And of course Barcia smiled just thinking about the prospects of another bar-banging battle. Wilson agreed, said they’ve had some great races and said he expects another here. Clearly, they’re replacing the term “stop and go battles” with “great racing.”
James Stewart was next. Jim Holley asked Stewart how hard they have been pushing the pace this year, and if that has lead to the many front-end washouts we’ve seen. Stewart countered by saying he was actually riding easy in Salt Lake, he just simply lost traction, and he will have to work on some issues for next year as far as bike set up and tires. He also said the way he sets his bike up, he needs to ride it hard, so taking it easy in Salt Lake doesn’t work.
Stewart says he expected to perform better this year, but he doesn’t lose sleep over any of it. He said the off-track distractions didn’t effect his riding, and he was happy that in Daytona, at least, he gained some more respect from the fans for picking himself up and still finishing ninth.
Stewart was expecting more in 2011.
Photo: Simon Cudby
For Ryan Dungey, the inevitable question about last year and this year came up. TV producer Chris Bond asked Dungey if he felt he had proven himself against the full field by staying in the championship hunt all season, even with a mechanical problem. Dungey said, “First of all, I don’t ride to prove anything to anyone. I ride for myself.”
Chad Reed says that as much as this year has been hyped up, it feels the same as any other year here, like when he came here practically tied in points with Ricky Carmichael in 2006. He said he’s had a blast this season, so he doesn’t harbor any grudges against the teams that didn’t hire him or give him more support this season. Then he added, “I don’t race for money anymore. I make my money from my investments—racing is just a hobby.”
Finally, Ryan Villopoto took to the stage and I asked him how he comes up with the mental strength to overcome a big injury and all of this pressure down the stretch. “I guess it comes down to when I was an amateur, and always being the second-best guy,” explained Villopoto, referring to his old rivalry with Mike Alessi, and how he knows how to keep believing in himself. “Now I just know that if I put in the work it will pay off and I don’t have to second-guess anything.”
And now we turn it over to Steve Matthes, who's in Vegas because he's always in Vegas—he lives there!
Like Weege said, the press conference just wrapped here at Sam Boyd Stadium and this just in: Chad Reed still doesn’t know if he’s doing the outdoors yet! That’s the official word I got from Reed himself, but then I spoke to someone else close to the deal who said “it’s real close to being done,” which means Honda has probably stepped up with some bonuses for the Two-Two.
Is FMF coming out with an energy drink?
Photo: Steve Matthes
I spoke to Honda’s Erik Kehoe and he didn’t know much about Reed but did confirm that Kevin Windham will be riding for the factory team for at least four rounds. By that time one of or both members of Honda, Trey Canard or Josh Grant, should be back and riding. Kehoe mentioned that Windham told him he just doesn’t want to race Southwick! With the ‘Wick being at the end of the schedule, I think KW is safe—unless he does really, really well in those first four rounds.
Little bit of buzz this week when it was rumored that FMF is coming out with an energy drink, and it was sort of confirmed by Donnie Emler Jr. on the Pulp Show last Monday. Well, in case you didn’t realize it, Kawasaki—one of FMF’s big teams—is sponsored by a well-known energy drink called Monster. This is a conflict in Monster’s eyes and they’re not really pumped on this. So to ease the tensions right now, the FMF pipes that the Kawi guys run this weekend apparently won’t have any FMF logos on them. The three sides will work toward a resolution for Hangtown, but in my opinion, I wouldn’t look for any Flying Machine Factory logos on the Monster Kawasaki anytime soon.
Tonight at 8 p.m. PST, make sure you tune in for a special edition of the Pulpmx Show presented by BTOSports.com Las Vegas edition with myself, The Weege, Jason Thomas, and Nick Wey all in-studio to take your calls and talk supercross. Go to Pulpmx.com for more information.
RV getting ready at Vegas.
Photo: Matty Fran
I went down memory lane this week over at Pulp MX when I started going back through my old magazines and looking at all the bikes tests from the bikes that I once owned. I got some great emails from people about this and even my mom emailed me to say that it brought a tear to her eye. Anyways, I had a lot of fun doing it, and you can check it out here.
Okay, here's Ping:
For the first time in a long time, I’m not racing in the MiniMoto event going on tonight in Las Vegas. I’ve decided that I’ve rolled the dice with my ankles one too many times, and right now healthy feet are more important than being the guy who can ride a kids’ bike the fastest. I’m pretty bummed out, though, because the race is being held at a different venue this year with a larger arena floor, and the track is insane. If you haven’t been to a MiniMoto event, you should check it out. There is more bumping, crashing, and drama than you can imagine. And since all the qualifying is done during the day, you get to see nothing but main events in the night show. The race goes down tonight at the South Point Hotel and Casino. Go to www.minimotosx.com for more details.
MiniMoto track in Vegas.
I did hear that Eric Sorby is racing, and he will have the world's fastest man-friend in his corner as James Stewart switches roles with his French butler. Sounds like that will make for a funny episode of Bubba's World.
A few things to consider before tomorrow’s SX finale: The format is different than usual in the 250 class. Typically, there would be a heat from each region and then a shootout between the two. Now, the first race you see on Saturday will be the East Lites main event. That will be followed by the West main event. These are for points and champions will be crowned.
Hopefully they will all get a parade lap before the mains, because this track is notoriously slimy for the first couple races of the night. The track gets hard-packed all day and then they throw a bunch of water on it for the night show. All of this equals a skating rink that Nancy Kerrigan could throw a mean triple lutz off of... Yes, I just used a figure skating reference. And Nancy Kerrigan or Tonya Harding were the only names I could come up with. Anyway, watch out for crashes in the East Lites main event—they could play a role in that race.
The track will be better by the time the West Region guys get out there, and there is a tight battle for that title. Eli Tomac is on a roll, but he’ll have to go through Broc Tickle to get this championship. What will Hanny do? Roczen? Seely? And remember how fast Cunningham went here last year on a 450? There are lots of spoilers in this race, and it could be the best fifteen laps of the night. The Shootout will follow those races and will include the best ten from each coast. It’s tough to pick a winner for that, but I think Wilson and Hanny will have reason to hang it out for the win.
JS7 getting ready for Vegas.
Photo: Matty Fran
RV is in charge of his own destiny in the 450 class. It seems like he is back on track after last weekend’s ride but anything can happen in Vegas. Good luck to all the guys in the points chase.
Okay, here's a few things to ponder over the weekend:
Check out the cool videos posted on the AMA's Kids Just Want to Ride page.
What's MDK Motorsports' Mark Kvamme up to? He's now the director of job creation in Ohio and is recovering from a motocross injury. Read more here.
Check out Stewart doing some outdoor testing on Insidermx.com.
Check out the feature in the new “Danger Issue” of ESPN The Magazine. Defending champion Ryan Dungey, currently the third place rider heading into Las Vegas this weekend, highlighted the potential danger areas on the Sam Boyd Stadium course.
Brammo Electric Bikes featured on Wired.com.
Here's a cool Travis Pastrana interview over at SBNation.com.
And how about this? A band called Airport from Seattle has released a song about Ryan Villopoto. Check it out HERE.
Marvin Musquin will use the GP at Glen Helen to get back behind a starting gate before the AMA Motocross tour starts up.
Photo: Greg "Trip" Beehler
My friend Trip was at Glen Helen yesterday and got some pics of what he says is one of his new favorite riders, Marvin Musquin. “Marvin showed up about 11 a.m. when the track was pretty torn up, and the guy just shredded the place. Looking for big things from him come GP time....”
File this under one of the odder rivalries to have emerged in our sport. Ricky Carmichael told us this week that he's developed a Twitter battle of sorts with NFL wide receiver Chad Ochocinco (formerly Chad Johnson) after Ochocinco tweeted him a challenge to a car race. If Ochocinco wins, RC would have to run an Ochocinco Condoms logo—"#85 has you covered—logo on the hood of his care; if RC wins (and Ricky says he would win, absolutely) then the brash wide receiver would have to wear one of Carmichael's #4 Fox Racing jerseys during warm-ups of a game next season (if next season happens). Like I said, it's an odd rivalry! But Chad has attempted professional soccer, reality shows, and some other hobbies during various off-seasons, so you never know—maybe #85 can drive as well as he talks!
Having grown up in a motocross family, I know firsthand that you're never too young to pitch in and help out. Same obviously goes for little Cayleigh Miller, daughter of former pro Clayton Miller and granddaughter to Freestone MX owner Tony Miller. With the national coming up quickly on May 28, it's all-hands-on-deck down there in Texas, and Cayleigh is part of the crew painting the starting gate!
Clayton Miller's daughter Cayleigh applies a fresh coat to the starting gates.
Finally, look for the new spot for the 2011 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship to air during the Las Vegas SX's SPEED TV broadcast this weekend: once at 10 p.m. and again at 1:30 a.m. (ET).
That's it for this week's Racerhead. Make sure you tell your mom Happy Mother's Day come Sunday. If you can't, make sure you think about her. See you at the races.
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HOLESHOT
If I did my math right, if Stewart had held it together at Salt Lake and won, we could've had the perfect ending in Vegas.
After SLC, the points would have been RV(315), JS(309), CR(307), and RD(304).
Then if Dungey wins Vegas, Reed gets 2nd, Stewart 3rd and Villopoto 4th (it could happen), we'd have a three-way tie for second in points, with Ryan Villopoto crowned the champion, the way god intended from the season's beginning.
DAMN IT, STEWART!
So for the lites east/west coast mains will they take the top 20 from tomorrows practice or top 20 in series points? Anybody know?
Is it just me or does Reeds new gear make him look like a Rocket Pop?
Mmmm. Ice cream...
Anyone know what place RV2 has to finish to win the title? I'd hate to see a "take out" to possibly make him DNF or anything. Not like that ever happened, right Reed? a-hole!!
GO RV2!!
Practice times seed the east/west mains, from my understanding
NO JACKSONVILLE SUPERCROSS!? Man, that REALLY sucks! Building a fan base takes time, even more so in this economey, so I'm pissed they didnt give Jacksonville more time to develop. Now Florida only has Daytona, no Orlando and no Jacksonville, yet Florida is the new "place to be" for many top pro racers!?
lol @ Rocket Pop
@ muehterc - If Reed should happen to win RV has to finish 5 or better to win the championship
HELL YEAH MONSTER ENERGY CUP.
With that kind of money up for grabs, even your mom will enter.
It should be in November, though. You know, split the difference evenly between September and January. Oh well. Christmas will cheer me up.
i love reeds graphics and gear it looks awesome
Invitation only? I guess your mom's SOL.
Also: You're RECYCLING old motocross tales with your 40-day countdown? With recycling, don't you take a bunch of parts from other things, mash them together, and wind up with something that looks nothing like it did originally?
TUNNEL JUMP!!!!! Sweeeeet
Take him out Reed and pin it!!!
Scews Supercross in the fall! Bring back the Trans-AMA!
Spoiler alert, sorry guys jumped into my time machine and have already watched the vegas race, this is how it all unfolds.
I can already see how this weekend is going to play out the way this crazy season is going.
Villo is going to have trouble in his heat and have to qualify for the main event through the LCQ, which will then have him lined up on the outside gate for the main event.
The gate will drop on the main event James will holeshot and start to check out straight away, Villo on the outside will re mount his bike and put a charge on, mean while Dungey has moved into second and Chad third.
Chad knows Villo is down and knows that Dungey is 3 points back so sits in behind Dungey knowing he now has a great shot at the title, but he also thinks If Villo works his way through i may need a extra couple of points so sits right on Dungey's back wheel looking for a way through.
With Two laps to go James with a 30 second lead gets out of shape and launches of the side of the triple trying to scrub to hard and lands perfectly in a isle in the crown managing to miss all spectators and not hurt himself in typical James style.
Chad sees James in the stand and after having a small chuckle, realises if he does not pass Dungey he will tie on points with him but he and Dungey both have 1 win each so it is now a winner takes all situation.
What neither of them realise is that Villo has worked into 8th place and with James down just moved into 7th and is actually back leading the points by 1 point over Dungey and Reed.
They enter the final lap 3 riders 1 point separating them all, half way through the final lap Villo makes the move into 6th and looks to have things all wrapped back up, but out front Reed is now right on Dungey’s back wheel, they head to the final corner Dungey plays it safe expecting Reed to dive up the inside, Reed Rails the final corner and wins by half a wheel, He currently has the Championship but Villo still has half a lap to go and has Alessi in front of him in 5th place.
Villo heads to the final corner on Alessi's back wheel, Alessi makes a move to the inside, Villo goes to rail the outside, but Alessi sees his old arch rival and moves to the out side they hit the lined tangled together with Alessi just in front.
The title goes to Chad by 1 point over Villo.
@Aaryn
ORLY??
Whoops Blitzer (great name, BTW), "recycling" was a poor choice of words, my bad. We are "re-inventing" bench-racing.... No, we are "re-building" motocross hist.... No, we are "rejuvenating" the.. That's probably not even spelled right.... We are replaying motocross history. That's what I meant!
Either way, thanks for reading Blitz.
DC
MX Sports
Poor Aaryn, his dreams of being a motocross journalist are destroyed by the fact that he has NO grasp of the english language and obviously does not believe in a spell checker. By the way, if you want to try out your journalistic skills (or lack of) you should at least have the work ethic to spell out peoples last names. For Gods sake man, finish what you started (it's 4 more letters man)!!
Hope RV2 wins, but Reeds blacked out frame is sweet.
The track looks terrible!! Long straights throughout and hardly any corners! LAME!!! I don't care who wins, i would like to see a good race on a good track!! A INTERESTING TRACK!!! It's VEGAS were everything is supposed to be awsome! WHat a JOKE!!! Whoever made this track sucks!!!
@brett33
Thanks for the advice mate, sorry for not taking a couple of hours to type out something for a bit of fun and making sure all the words were 100% correct, when your sitting at your desk at work trying to get away from the realy world for 5 minutes or so and type out something for a bit of fun those fractions of seconds not spelling out full names become vital :)
Next time i jump forward in time ill search out a better spell checker as mine seems not to be working to well :)
Enjoy the final round, I will be cheering on Chad for sure, but will be happy to see Villopoto (look i can do it ) win, or even Dungey, both have put in great seasons and deserve the title, really is hard to see any one but Ryan V win the title at this point now.
I have never seen Reed take out anyone for a title, and the guys who keep saying that cant tell me when the takeout was. So why do guys say that all the time?? But this has been a great season. And I cant wait to see Chad Johnson wearing a Fox number 4 jersey and the field before a Bengals game.
I call BS on Dungey and Reed both. I race for myself? I'm sure Suzuki is psyched about that. Ryan, you race for yourself when you're not getting paid. Reed says racing is a hobby? That's the biggest bunch of crap ever. Must be nice to spend millions on a hobby, and risk your life doing it. Bunch of PC non-Scottishness.
Does anyone know what dates the MGM GRAND US OPEN is this year?
Reedy's vegas bike is the best looking bike in the pits!! 22 wins tomorrow you all watch! Poor stewart fans, thats a sad story!
@ shredder
jealousy is a curse.... good luck to the 22 if he can race for a hobby at that level... also if the money predominately comes from his pocket of course its a hobby... just like when I race
So I wonder what Factory Kawi ( Mike Fisher) is gonna do about exhaust now if FMF And Monster have a conflicting interest.... might have to go crawling back to Pro Circuit haha should not have switched in the 1st place
@Shredder ... Look at this way, Reed was smart enough to hire an agency who is taking care of his money, he earned throug out the years.. Many athletes do this. (At least the sensible ones..) A good friend (An agent) of mine does this for a living... And trust me... If invested properly... You can earn way, way more than what you earn as an athlete.
As for Ryan... He's being sour as 2011, just proved he's no match to RV2, JS7, TC41 & even a CR22.
Nevertheless, he still deserved what he has accomplished in '10..
Bring it home Chad. Will be great to see all the remarks from the keyboard hero's when(if) you do. aussie, aussie,aussie.
Red arrow can kick Yellow arrows free styling ass in supercross.
Hey Davey,
Great commentary on an exciting season of twists and turns full of drama and unexpected outcomes. The racing has been great so far and I expect the best man to prevail in Vegas. The outdoors is looking great also. Your insight on the racers and the on and off track exploits are great to follow and your commentary is spot on , usually well researched and factual.
One thing though, your comment on the brave soldiers taking out the the ultimate bad guy is incorrect. Bin Laden has actually been dead since 2001 and what is playing out in the media is just a propaganda soap opera to boost Obama's low ratings and make him into the successful war president.
A top government official confirms it here. http://www.prisonplanet.com/top-us-government-insider-bin-laden-died-in-2001-911-a-false-flag.html
Keep up the great work, I'm loving the 40 day countdown on the Nationals and reliving so many great old tracks, racers and races from my youth.
In regards to your comment about James Stewart:
"Stewart says he expected to perform better this year, but he doesn’t lose sleep over any of it. He said the off-track distractions didn’t effect his riding, and he was happy that in Daytona, at least, he gained some more respect from the fans for picking himself up and still finishing ninth."
The correct word is affect....not effect.
Thank you.
Reed's gear looks great. I like more solid color areas like that. When it's a jumbled mess of overly busy graphics designed by crystal meth-snorting speed freaks, you sure don't need an ice mocha frappuccino with two extra shots of espresso to wake up. Just take a quick glance at the busy gear. Shift made a good move in the right direction - toward more solid colors.
True, Stewart's bike might be set up too stiff, but his main problem with the front end washing in the turns is trying to turn hard while laid over while his front tire is on the off-camber surface of the back of a small berm that is hardpacked underneath with soft blow dirt on top. The soft stuff slides off the hard stuff, front end washes, Stewart sucks soil, then the Stewart suckers loose the floodgates of excuses, justifications and recitations of lap times, practice wins and other pandering that doesn't amount to a hill of chitterlings.
Whoop de Choos (now that's a blast from the past) - I don't like Obama's policies as president any more than you apparently do, but I have much better contacts (than a retired Navy Captain) that were involved with last weekend's hunt in the mountains. There is no conspiracy. Bin Laden was alive until last weekend. We have not been chasing a ghost for 10 years. This conspiracy theory is complete BS.
article is boring ..track looks like poop..can you guys suck on monster's ween any harder..????...no heat races..stupid! ..davey coombs shootout should be monster energy is my butt buddy race...lets hope eli tomac wins and denies mitch his little trophy ..then mitch goes crazy and gets really drunk and rolls out in front of the factory connection rig ..driver see's opportunity..floors it..crrruuunch!..mitch is left with oldly shaped head..wait a minute..he already has that..mitch is left without use of his right hand therefore ending his love life .lol!!
That would be Whoop-de-chews. Anyone actually ever eat any of those??
@CR500AF don't you find it interesting that the story keeps changing. 1st a firefight, woman shield,$ million compound. Now- OBL unarmed, no firefight, no shield, home worth about 250K.
Strikes me as odd that they shot & killed an unarmed man (with vast intelligence value) and dumped him in the ocean, and the only pictures realeased of OBL was an obvious fake.
By the way Dr. Steve R. Pieczenik Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State under three different administrations is my source. He was the guy Tom Clancy based his "Jack Ryan" character on in "Patriot Games" etc.
We both agree on how awesome this SX season has been , can't wait for tonight.
Whoop, I read it all. At first I was apalled, but by the time I got to the bottom of the comments section, I was more confused than ever. I agree with the points being made on BOTH sides! Highly articulate/educated posters BTW.
@The real deal, thats pretty MEAN.
Whoop - my take is that multiple leaks in the Obama administration are trying to spin the outcome for their own ends without regard for operational security. That, and multiple press outlets are getting info for stories from multiple sources outside the Obama administratiion, some in the know and some speculating. Since the press is clueless about spec ops, and is so enamored with getting any info about a special forces raid, they have no ability to separate fact from fiction and report whatever they hear, right or wrong.
While I certainly respect Dr. Steve R. Pieczenik for his service to our country and his personal accomplishments, my sources are much closer to the operational community and are in a position to know directly. Dr Pieczenik is well outside operational channels.
You are right about this years SX season. It has been full of suspense and incredible racing. Wish it was a little closer going into tonight's race, but RV earned it, almost threw it away, and looks like he will earn it back tonight. I think Dungey and Reed haven't been given enough credit for this season, Dungey especially. Stewart, while incredibly fast at times was amazing to watch but just not consistent enough for the entire 16 races.
The lites racing tonight should be excellent.
Villapoto thanks Pro Circuit on TV... FMF pulls money from Kawasaki... Kawasaki pulls stickers from mufflers.
Energy drink? Bahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
WTF! No East/West Shootout? I thought that was the whole point!
@CR500AF , The final SX mains turned out eventful with the best man coming out the champ. RV earned it this year by being smart, fast and consistent. Stewart entertained as always and retains his crown as the worlds fastest lawn dart. I think his forks are so stiff they don't compress much in corners and anything less than WFO and he is in trouble. Kudos to Reed for a valiant effort while running his own team. Dungey was right there but needs to find a quick burst of speed to make passes.
I was happy to see Ken Roczen get his first win ( I expect many more to come.) Tickle dug deep and passed Tomac and held on for the championship. He really showed his desire there.
As far as the OBL thing I respect your position and your respectful disagreement, I also was relying on many other high placed sources who have claimed that OBL was already dead.
President Musharraf of Pakistan,
Dale Watson, the head of the FBI’s counterterrorism unit;
Oliver North, who said: “I'm certain that Osama is dead.
President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan;
Sources within Israeli intelligence, who said that any new messages from bin Laden were “probably fabrications”;
Sources within Pakistani intelligence, who “confirmed the death of . . . Osama Bin Laden” and “attributed the reasons behind Washington's hiding news on the death of Osama Bin Laden to the desire of the hawks of the American administration to use the issue of al-Qaida and international terrorism to invade Iraq.”
Since the Gov. lied about WMD's, yellowcake,Sadam involved in 9/11, gulf of tonkein, USS Liberty, etc. isn't it possible that lied about OBL also?
Switching gears, I am totally stoked for the outdoor Nationals and hope that both Reed and Stewart show up. There will be at least 10 guys that are legit top 5 contenders. Maybe the greatest MX national season to follow this incredible SX season.
Whoops do choos, you are an idiot. Dont be so politically biased to spout out conspiracy crap. If Osama bin Laden was dead in 2001, why wouldnt Bush had announced it?? He would have gained from it. The first imfo that came out was speculation from the press, nothing from reliable sources. Now get back to moto, conspiracy theary?? what a joke.