Racer X Notebook: Anaheim 1
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 | 12:00 PM
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Print- It wasn’t hard to get quotes from the riders about the Anaheim track, because it definitely drew some criticism. But some riders did call it more odd than bad. Part of the odd layout is dictated by Angel Stadium’s dimensions. As a baseball field, the floor is shaped like a diamond, instead of a rectangle like the factory test tracks (and a football stadium). But Anaheim has always had a baseball layout, and this track was still stranger than most built there. What the track did create was longer lap times, as no one broke the one minute mark. And passing didn’t turn out to be quite as difficult as many expected.
- In a pair of deep fields, just making the main events would be tough. In the SX class, names like Nick Wey, Josh Hill, Austin Stroupe, Kyle Partridge and Jeff Alessi didn’t make the cut. Wey finished third in the SX LCQ, Stroupe ran into mechanical problems in his heat and got a bad start in the LCQ and finished fifth. Hill reinjured his leg and foot, Alessi struggled to 16th in the LCQ, and Partridge ran in a qualifying position early before a crash sent him back.
Josh Hill suffered yet another setback in his return to racing at Anaheim.
Photo: Simon Cudby
- Definitely not good to see Hill’s already-injured leg and foot get jacked up again. We talked to the famous Dr. G about Hill’s leg after the race, and he explained that x-rays were negative, however, Hill did push the leg well beyond his range of motion limits, and he was in major pain throughout the night. Plans were to get an MRI on Monday, we’ll provide an update as soon as we have one. Get well soon, Josh!
- Quietly, Hill’s Dodge Motorsports/Sycuan Casino Hart and Huntington teammate Josh Hansen logged a strong ride in his return to 450 SX racing. Hansen was sick coming into the event (enjoy this hilarious interview with Hanny via Eric Johnson on Friday before the race). But he dug deep, starting about last and passing half the field en route to a tenth place finish.
- And speaking of quietly, Team Honda Muscle Milk’s Justin Brayton, yes, quietly, finished fourth. Brayton did overcome some drama, though, when an early crash in his heat race sent him to the LCQ, which he won. Someday we’re going to say that Brayton won a main event. Quietly.
Brayton quietly finished an impressive fourth at Anaheim.
Photo: Simon Cudby
- GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac had a long day at the office, getting taken down off the start in his heat race. He charged all the way back to eighth position to salvage a transfer spot, only to have his bike stop running with electrical problems on the last lap! That sent him to the LCQ with the last gate pick. AMA officials even had to pull tuff blocks out of the way to open up his gate, since only the LCQs feature 22-rider fields (heats and mains only have 20). Tomac then ripped a start from that fresh start pad, made the main, and then overcame a bad start in the main to get third. It was a tremendous effort by Tomac to salvage podium points, and we’ll have more on him later in the week. But what caused that bad start in the main? Read on…
- Here’s what we hear: For the Lites main, the 30-second card holder, Miss SX, Dianna Dahlgren, glanced up at the 30-second board and saw a zero. But it wasn’t at zero, it was actually at 10. But she only saw the zero in the 10, so she turned the card sideways and ran off the track. The AMA starter was only looking at the gate and didn’t realize the card had turned sideways 10 seconds early, so the gate was held for the normal amount of time. This basically added 10 seconds to the gate drop. If you watched the race, you’ll notice that the gate was held for an extraordinary amount of time, because the card turned sideways 10 seconds early.
- Rockstar Suzuki’s Jason Anderson got the worst of the deal, as he was left sitting when the gate dropped, and started dead last. The sophomore came back through to finish seventh.
Jason Anderson was impressive in Anaheim, fighting back from a tough start to finish seventh.
Photo: Simon Cudby
- Rough night for the Hahn brothers. Wilbur crashed in the Lites main and broke his nose, and Tommy took a rock to the tooth on the first lap of the SX main event, knocking the tooth out and exposing a nerve. Both brothers were left looking worse for wear when the night was over. “We feel each other’s pain,” joked Wil.
- Josh Grant made his return to action for the new DNA Energy Drink/Jeff Ward Racing Kawasaki team, but he crashed on the first lap of the main, and then crashed again. He took 19th, but he’s healthy and he’ll be back.
- Ivan Tedesco and Mike Alessi logged some impressive laps in the their heat races and the main event, but the results don’t show it. Partially because they ran into each other in “Glen Helen ’05 part deux.” Alessi hit Tedesco hard enough to shove IT’s brake lever up. That kind of shook up the rhythm of both riders. Check out the Simon Cudby wallpapers we posted this morning—we’ve got a good shot of the get together.
- Tomac wasn’t the only Lites contender to save his season. Rockstar Valli/Star’s Ryan Sipes logged the fastest overall time in Lites qualifying (his specialty) but had a crash in his heat race. He too had to get in through the LCQ, which he did, and took fifth in the main event. His teammate Gareth Swanepoel wasn’t as lucky, and a tough LCQ left him watching the main event.
Sipes fought back from a spot in the LCQ to finish fifth in the main.
Photo: Simon Cudby
- The Anaheim Lites field included a bunch of riders returning to U.S. racing after time spent aboard. After moving to Europe to race GPs, Zach Osborne hadn’t raced supercross in two years. He qualified an impressive third overall! He also hung a sign of the front of his #338 Yamaha in the pits that read, “Not J-Law.” Englishman Max Anstie is also racing some SX before returning to the GPs, like Osborne will do. Max qualified 14th and finished 16th in the main. Australia’s Matt Moss took a solid 11th on his J-Star JDR KTM. And California’s Michael Leib returned home after a lost year in the GPs in ’11, but he missed the main event.
- Also back, from retirement, was former Lites race winner Billy Laninovich. And he rode well, making the main and finishing 14th.
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Yes, both Tomac and Anderson and unreal rides in the lites! Those two rode very strong to finish where they did, big shout out to them!
Friese on the other hand went from first to 15? What anchor was he dragging? And Alessi went back about 8 places as usual. I think the MC team has anchors on their bikes!! ha ha
Besides the track evidently being crappy, I like the longer lap times. Being an old-school old MX guy, I think some SX finals are a joke, with total times sometime only running about 15 minutes.
I thought the track was cool and different. Not the usual big air fest. More like the SX of the 1980s with more bar banging.
Loved the fact that Laninovich came out of retirement and made the main. Wish Josh Hill had made it too. That would have been awesome to see.
Round 1 is always crazy....lots of things going on and like RV said in his press day interview, you just want to get through the night and let everything settle....too bad for Hill. Was cool to do a feature on him, but his foot looks jacked up...and somebody...please cut his toenails....
Also suggestion for TV coverage, maybe go to commercial break before the rider interviews with the head sets???...poor Stewart didnt even get to whipe his face off and had snot dripping down his face while dude was trying to put the head set on and Reed looked like he couldnt hear....give the guys a second to to get themselves together...
I'd like to know why, when Speed showed the list of riders and race results, the Honda riders had the logo for Honda cars after their names. You know, the big 'H' in sort of a isosceles trapezoid shape. The motorcycle division, of course, uses the wing emblem. I've lost lots of sleep over this.
Zach "OZZY" Osborne getting mistaken for jlaw is pretty funny. I thought the same thing when i saw his bike. Then i realized it couldnt be jlaw, he was probably at a miley cyrus concert or something.
A1 was a great opener and was glad to be there. As for Osborne that must have hurt," hey there is J Law". Loved the Malcohm Smith for president ad shown on the jumbotron, " These are CHAINS that we wil have".
endoman38 -The group I was watching the race with noticed the incorrect Honda logo also, giving its use a firm thumbs-down. Bring back the Little Wing!
Osborne could have put "Not Donnie Cantaloupi", but that would have probably puzzled most people.
RE: TV coverage, I also found the camera angles and cuts to be a bit awkward. It seemed as if SPEED was going for more ground level shots but I think some of the cuts were too slow. I would see a battle between two riders, then they would sort of fade to the edge of the picture before getting picked up again. I honestly thought higher camera angles would have worked better.
I too saw that SPEED channel showed the Honda CAR logo for the Honda riders instead of the wing motorcycle logo. I too lost a lot of sleep over this.
Where can I score one of Carmichael's hilarious and oversized zipper suit jacket??
Don't worry MX Bob.....Donnie is still fast and fun! The Origional "Wild Child" for sure! J-Law is a wuss compared to Donnie!
I enjoyed the race and I am also very happy just to have some racing to watch, however im not sure who is calling the shots @ SPEED TV but those guys really suck at staying with whats exciting for the viewers! The last few laps all they show is Villy off in lala land and I could clearly hear the roar of the crowd responding to some battle that we never got to see!!! COMMON SPEED SMARTEN UP AND SHOW THE ACTION! Several times last year I remember shouting for a view of the action and it seems this year might not be any different???? If they need a director that knows what the people wanna see hire me! Anybody second me on this??
Tommy Hahn can't get a break unless it is on his body,got a tooth knocked out.You don't see that very often,that sucks.Him and Will with a broken nose must have looked like they came home from a bar fight.Hope they have better luck.
I also noticed the Honda car logo,We will see if they fix it this week.
Seemed like Anderson sat at the gate for a lot longer than everyone else, looked like he was hoping for a restart.
Zach Osborne might have had the LA police department come over and try to arrest him thinking it was L-LAW, or someone he might have owed money to, or his old room mate from being locked up. Whatever it was he was able to laugh about it!!!
Anderson is going to be impressive this year. I think he has the fasted corner speed in this class. He puts the bars nearly into the ground.
I also liked the track. Everyone can jump at this level but keeping them on the ground more and technical track made overall riding skills very important.
I think I should spank Miss Supercross Dianna Dahlgren's sweet little tushy bum for her mistake with the 30 second board. Don't worry, I'll be gentle.
Speaking of Tommy Hahn, I think a helmit/goggle redesign could easily stop rare stuff like that and still let plenty of fresh air to the riders face. that was shitty luck
Other notes,, congradulate Weimer for his ride. Went from 11th to 5th overall and passed some huge names in the process.Alessi rode way better than I thought he would indoors. Short looked great all night and almost won his heat race. Glad Brayton got props. I had picked him to finish 5th place. I think him and Weimer will be battling to make the top 5 each week. Possible podiiums... But the 2 big stories were---- Dungey looked as good on his new KTM as he did on a Suzuki, and Reed was the 2nd fastest man that night period. Dont count either of these guys out.. Villo won't win em all...Count down to Phoenix
WTF!!!!!! You talk all of the guys that have come back and did not cut it and make the main, what about the young kid that was 16 when he left home in Australia to come and race A1, he qualified 26th, placed 6th in his heat race and made the main event first time out. What's more he has no big sponsors, his parents foot all the bills, they turn up in a Uhaul box trailer and smoke half the seasoned campaigners. His name is Jackson Richardson no. 968. Please give some credit when it's due.
chang