10 Things We Learned at Freestone
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 | 3:15 PM
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10. It’s Hot There: Who knew that a Memorial Day weekend in Texas would be hot? Riders and teams were prepared, but prep only goes so far. Bikes and bodies were feeling the effects, for sure.
9. Find Musquin in the Shade: Only one rider didn’t feel the Texas heat—but only because a dark cloud seems to follow him everywhere. Marvin Musquin was just making his way back to racing after tearing his ACL last fall, and then he was taken down by a flipping, flying Justin Barcia bike in the first moto. Now that’s some bad luck. The Marv Attack is on hold with a broken thumb for at least eight weeks.
Musquin will miss at least eight weeks with a broken thumb after a crash at Freestone.
Photo: Simon Cudby
8. Baggett Reset: The Moto Gods weren’t going to let Blake Baggett have it this easy. After crushing Hangtown, he was fastest in practice in Texas and had the lead in the first moto after Barcia and Musquin went down. Then he crashed on his own and ruined his day. He’ll have to rebuild that speed and momentum for round three.
7. Fiolek Fights: Ashley Fiolek isn’t just going to hand a championship over to Jessica Patterson. She came into Texas looking faster than she did at Hangtown, and when she and Patterson crashed into each other in the first moto, her bike restarted quickest, allowing her to win the moto and the overall—and grab the points lead.
6. Still Waiting on RV: We still haven’t seen the Ryan Villopoto we expected to see outdoors. His credentials mean we must be very patient before declaring that there is a problem.
Have we seen the best of RV thus far in 2011?
Photo: Simon Cudby
5. We’ve Got Surprises: Christian Craig goes out and does some damage in the first 450 moto and sticks around for another top-ten in moto two. Ricky Dietrich is on the gas in both races, fighting for a podium. We may be adding some new names to the weekly list of who and what to watch for.
4. Wilson Likes Texas: If you want to pick a favorite in the Texas heat, you probably shouldn’t go with the rider born in Scotland and raised in Canada. But in 2010 and 2011, Dean Wilson was ready to win this race. He didn’t get the W, but he’s set himself up to get plenty as the year goes on. Bring on the heat!
3. Ratters Isn’t Rattled: The kids in the 250 Class are going to do what they’re going to do—hang it out, go fast, and occasionally crash. And Tyla Rattray, the veteran, is going to do what he’s going to do—maintain the same pace, mistake-free, to the end. On a rough day in Texas, the Rattray strategy works. It just might for the whole season, too.
Reed is off to a blistering start to the outdoor season.
Photo: Simon Cudby
2. Doing It the Hard Way: Ryan Dungey and his Rockstar/Makita Suzuki team are still working hard. Still doing all the right things. Still in contention to win races and titles. But last year’s golden touch is gone. Last year it just seemed like everything went their way; this year the momentum and good racing fortune has flipped. But they’re not going to give up.
1. Bet On Red: Chad Reed snapped up the full kit of factory Honda stuff before the Salt Lake City Supercross, and he’s won three out of four races since. No more controversy over who gets to run the red plate—the points lead is all Chad’s.
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holeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeshot
pretty sick that factory honda is backing chad and his team..
#11: Gas boils at 100 degrees.
#12 - Reed will still whine when oppurtunity presents itself.... I can see his view and the other which is why they probably say both guys run the plates, but to keep crying about it , arguing with Coombs, Tweeting, and doing a "silent protest" c'mon.....He hasnt had much to whine about this year, but it's coming....
The only whining we hear is the whining talk of Reeds possible whining that hasnt happened yet.
So stop whining about someone elses right to whine.
Whineywhinewhinocerouswhinerridiculous.
Man, Musquin looked like he took an upper cut from Barcia's wheel.....looked worse than a thumb at first...too bad...
Snake in the grass...
I get the feeling the #2 is just waiting to strike...
bad luck for Dungey with another DNF. Reed is the man and letting him build confidence and a points lead could be the demise of Dungey & Villopoto's title hopes. Dungey is still confident and riding great, RV will wake up soon and kick this flu bug. I expect the set up right now is going to make for a nice close points battle in the last few rounds. Like whoever you like, but i think the order of speed and wins right now is CR, RD and RV, but i think by Unadilla or just before it will have changed to RV, RD & CR, thus making PALA a winner take all race!!
VillaZilla the Crowd Thrilla is going to show up and make this interesting one of these days... Still waiting...
I`m sick of this bum bashing dungey all the time. dungey is doing fine everyone, and as for that "golden touch" being gone? I say......... we aint seen nothin yet.
ANYONE REMEMBER REDBUD last year! REED,Townly, Dungy all three within 20 yards ( most of the time ). Dungy will have to be FLAT OUT beat with pure speed, because the boy has developed confidence that he can run with ANYONE. ( except maybe stewie----but he's not there. And Metty, but he's not healthy. ) ?????
Just my two cents
#12....please stop being such a baby, Reed has you whining and it is hilarious.
Snowman..... A dreaming snake in the grass? It's hard to strike when your 30-50 seconds off the lead!
Give credit to Reed for what he has accomplished this year. Starts a team from scratch with no real support from Honda, brings bel-ray back into the industry on a good note. Takes second in supercross by 4 points in a year that everyone is there (including js) and now has full factory support for his team and possibly dungey next year. The guy is riding great and deserves this mx title. I know for a fact no other rider that has claims in a team could pull this off. Reed is ONE BAD DUDE!
Dungy is doing fine and is not out. Villopoto is being smart like he rode in the middle of the supercross series. Reed is riding great but due for bad luck (hate to say). At 2003racer8m, stewie isn't any faster than anyone else unless he rides over his head like everyone else could.
Reed was gracious to concede that Dungey won the second moto. There seems to be quite a bit of respect between these two. Maybe there is something to the rumors about Dungey riding for Two Two motorsports in the future...
I've never been one who's had a soft spot for any of the Euros but I feel bad for Musquin. The guy's clearly very fast but the Moto Gods appear to be aligned against him. Barcia, on the other hand, seems to have incredible luck. He goes down in a heap almost every weekend and bounces back up like Gumby.
reed great job
2003racer8m !
I remember , thats why I am amazed at people dissing Reeds moto cred. HaHaHa
all you keyboard jerkies bagging on Reed and Dungey !!
Dirt
I'm just old enough to have raced plenty of air-cooled Mini's and some of the first water-cooled bikes when they came on the scene in the early 1980's and something just dawned on me...
Could the next water-cooling innovation be a 'jacket' around the gas tank [just like a cylinder/head] with fittings attached to a smaller auxiliary radiator to keep fuel from boiling on those occasional 100 degree+ days?
I know..., it's just a crazy thought...
but after what happened to Dungey, I wouldn't be surprised if somebody isn't already thinking in that direction.
Maybe if the factories wouldn't have taken a step backwards in fuel tank technology as in aluminum gas tanks, like my 1979 KX 80 and 1980 RM 125 had and instead used a plastic or carbon fiber tank that would allievieate some of the boing issues. I do know that team Suzuki uses an insulated foil liner on the bottom of the tank to help shield heat from the motor.
This is a relatively new problem in MX because of the HOTTER running 4 stroke and now teams are running aluminum gas tanks because of the vacumn pressure created by fuel injection.
The of the technolgy used on 2-Stroke machines of the day are now looking like better technology. lol
(on boiling fuel) In days gone by, wasn't there simply more air space between the top end and the bottom of the gas tank ......?
Running outta fuel,.....boiled fuel......whatever the case, its just not acceptable for a factory race team to have a problem like this. Is it?? That may just be the Marine Corps left in me though. Id have undoubtably lost my "cool". Mumbling something about a Hodaka pushing that hog back to the pits. again.
Maybe I'm way off here,...but I picture a conversation something like this....." Hey man,...freestone in 2 weeks"....Supposed to be hot".......(Other dude)"Yeah, been thinkin on that a lil bit"....Dont these pigs burn alotta fuel in the heat?".....yeah either that or it boils"? then vaporlocks" still a D.N.F...." Yeah thats what I been thinkin"....maybe we should put a extra liter of fuel in there? " we dont need a damned D.N.F..... weighs almost a pound"? "So what, whats a D,N,F, weigh?....."Yeah man, you got a point there..." I'll make sure that don't happen to us".......Maybe I'm way off......my mom was kinda nuts.
@stewartfannowRV2whateveryoucallyourself -
RV is only off the pace for the length of the moto... He's set the fastest lap in almost every moto so far which means he obviously has the speed to run with Reed and Dungey.
Talk to me about mid season.... if RV2 is still finishing 3rd with no signs of a win then I'll concede that there is something wrong and he really is off the pace.
I'm all for Reed and Dungey having a 2 man battle all year... but something tells me RV2 has not yet had his best race of the year.
I like Rattray, but a former world champion shouldn't be in the Lites class if he's described as a "Veteran".
Reed and Dungey are riding great and they're both going to go at all season. RV will be in the mix after the two week break, he can't afford to be losing points to the leader.
Great series so far....only Round 2 remember, lots of racing to go..... I think its great to have Reed, Dungey and RV in the mix as well as Milsaps picking up some speed too....Milsaps came up in the US amateur ranks like Dungey, Villopoto, Stewart and RC....His outdoor riding skills I feel exceed the SX skills since he is a big kid.....Any event, the series will be tight in upcoming weeks once RV gets going. ... I dont think a 19pt lead after two rounds is anything for anyone to worry about.I dont even think Reed thinks its a big deal...one bad day, a DNF or even a midpak moto finish will dwindle that lead down to a few points....
I thought there is only a 1 week break....this weekend....High Point is June 11....maybe folks mean 2 full weeks before the next race....yeah, thats it.....please forgive me, I am a little slow....HAHA!!
I just want to know what gear James Stewart will be sporting this weekend?
Flip flops ? Tank top ?, a new JS7 t-shirt ?, c'mon, give me some news.
@big fan
he'll be sporting the new RedBull Tampax Pad with Wings
Insiders say its a full blown ride with "Depend".....semi, gear whole nine yards.
Iam an aussie who follows AMA from Australia.
Chad Reed is our greatest motocross export ever.
You guys have no idea how lucky u are to have a level of competition u have in states
I am coming to the usa on holidays and will attend one of your meetings wherever it may be.
I have been watching RV2 and he is special
Bubba just needs to get consistent and he will be king