Notebook: Anaheim 2
Monday, February 6, 2012 | 5:10 PM
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Print- After last week’s soft Oakland soil got beat down, rutted and chopped up, the return to Anaheim was supposed to bring harder soil. It did, kind of, but parts of the track were still soft enough to pose some challenges. “The track will get better every time out there,” explained J-Star/JDR KTM team manager Nathan Ramsey, the 1999 125 West SX Champ. “You got soft soil at the bottoms of the jumps, so it’s making things cup out and making the transition kind of abrupt. But it’s going to keep working in and getting better.” Indeed the track got faster throughout the day, with early lap times just breaking the one-minute mark, but times dropped into the 55s by the end of qualifying.
- A little track maintenance did contribute to the faster times. The whoop section was super-gnarly at first and the Lites riders were struggling, so the track crew cut down the first two whoops to give the riders a better run. The 450s then hit the whoops at warp speed, and James Stewart nearly looped out at the end of the section! By the end of practice, the whoops were super beat up, so the track crew worked them over, leaving clean, but smaller, whoops for the races.
A late crash would cost Sipes a spot in the top ten.
Photo: Simon Cudby
- After a first-lap crash in Los Angeles ruined his chance for a good result, Supercross.com Honda’s Andrew Short delivered a solid fifth-place finish last weekend at Oakland, which he then followed with….a first-lap crash in Anaheim, that sent him to the mechanic’s area on the first lap for repairs. Shorty fought back to finish 14th, and showed impressive speed when the leaders went by to lap him. You just never know in this series—one week is great and the next one is sub-par, and usually only because of the start.
- Justin Sipes, Ryan Sipes’ younger (but bigger) brother got a shot with the Motosport.com/TiLube/Foremost Insurance team in place of the injured Chris Blose. “Pooh” responded by making his first-ever SX class main event, and took 17th in the main.
- Ryan Sipes was fast as usual in practice, topping one Lites session and setting the second-fastest lap in another. He was running sixth in the main event when he crashed twice in one lap and lost a few spots. He finished 11th.
- The Sipes boys weren’t the only brothers pulling double main event duty. Mike Alessi and Jeff Alessi qualified for the SX Class main on their MotoConcepts bikes—Jeff ‘s first main of the year.
Jeff Alessi joined his brother, Mike, in the main for the first time this year at A2.
Photo: Simon Cudby
- Nico Izzi had a breakthrough race of sorts. He landed the fastest qualifying spot in the Lites class with his strong time in the second Lites qualifying session. In the main, he finally got a decent start and got to hang with the leaders a bit before finishing fifth.
- It was a busy night over at the J-Star/JDR KTM rig, as Ryan Marmont noticed a mechanical problem in his heat race, prompting his mechanic Richard Matchett to swap an engine before the main event. Matchett won the MMI Top Tech Award for his efforts.
- Marmont is now heading back to Australia, but his (fellow Australian) teammate Matt Moss looks like he could be here to stay. He followed his fifth-place finish in last weeks’ Lites race with a last-to-seventh charge after stalling early in the main. You probably don’t even remember Matt Moss’ previous U.S. chance as Ryan Dungey’s Rockstar Suzuki teammate in 2010. He’s probably okay with that.
- Rockstar Suzuki’s Jason Anderson had a sore leg after his collision with Marvin Musquin last week in Oakland. Anderson also had a crash in the main event in the same spot where Cole Seely went down, and finished a disappointing 20th.
- And Martin Davalos had more struggles for the team, with a crash in the main knocking him as far back at 16th before fighting back to tenth. On the bright side, the team served up some great food at lunch and we were all over that.
Hansen had his worst finish of the season after a first lap crash.
Photo: Simon Cudby
- Rough night for Dodge Motorsports Hart & Huntington’s Josh Hansen, who crashed on the first lap and damaged his front brake in the process. The front brake was locked on, and that was it for Hansen’s night.
- Josh Hill was on hand hanging with his H&H team. Hill said his broken leg is healing well, and he expects to get back on a bike a week from today (next Monday), with hopes of racing by Atlanta or St. Louis.
- Michael Leib, returning from a lost year in the GPs, finished sixth in Lites, a career high finish. That’s one better than his solid seventh in Los Angeles.
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My friend's son is racing his 1st sx season in the lites and has been placed in the Lites C qual groups which go 1st. The track was unusally hard to break in for the 1st group. Times were way off later quals. Then I hear they knock the whoops down after. As if factory equipment, and getting to ride the track friday morning for press day wasn't enough advantage for the big guys. The lites privateers walk the track and go for it. My friend's son is having to get the whole thing down his 2nd lap and start riding hard. He is doing great, making progress, and will hopefully see his 1st heat race in San Diego. Watching him try and qual against the system is an uphill battle against alot of unfair advantages. Lots of guys are talking with him and helping alot.
Special thanks to Mitch Payton who has gone above the call of duty and helped a local kid trying hard. I am now a huge fan of Pro Circuit and think very highly of a team who helps there potential competitors. I would gladly purchase Pro Circuit equipment knowing they give so much to the few kids who actually get to the top and have a shot at qualifying for a sx. My friends son broke his pipe on his suzuki and they had one delivered to the race to get him some more HP. The pipe was awesome and gave him more HP. Just thought I would mention it as a Thank you..his dad was stoked.
Thats a real cool story. Mitch simply gets what it's all about.
Cool story is right Ripdown. That's what's so great about our sport!
Great story yamilubes.The hell with the A2 notebook.
As far as press day goes, I think no one should be able to ride the track. Let the top guys talk to the media and thats it. You are right it is unfair for the other racers who can't ride it before race day.
Cheers from Canada.
I just hope everyone can get or stay healthy for Toronto. All the other races are just too damn far to travel to.
You know, those B & C group riders reallydo have to work their butts off to try and make the night show. I'd like to see some mention of them on the TV broadcast. Just watching the unopposed front runner lap after lap gets kinda old.
I hear ya Teeps. Hope everyone stays healthy as I'm looking forward to Toronto also. Brought my girls for the first time last year and they're now hooked.
@yamiblues, thanks for sharing, best of luck to your friends son!! Mitch is a great ambassador to our sport.
Great story, one thing to remember though is those top riders have all put in the work and have earned there spots in the "A" group. We want our sport to continue to grow and that is through the media coverage, and the media wants to see the top riders. "The System" definitely is not perfect and the extra practice is a little unfair, but to the riders who have overcome it (such as Jimmy Decotis) the rags to riches story is one they will never forget.
The A riders should get extra practice they are the show people pay to watch. I doubt there is any C group rider who could qualify for the main anyway.
The most important award at any race is the Rockhard Ridehard award.
I can't stand it no more, sombody please tell me who was the Rockhardest Rideharderest Man On the Planet?
Awesome story @yamyblues. Best of luck to your buddy in the future, tell him to keep pushing hard and never give up, now matter how bad the system is. And hey, if you think the system is bad in AMA, come here in Europe and see how corrupted and sucky the Youthstream is...
To the producers of the broadcasts: please show us what it is like in one of your segments for the "Group C" guys. I am extremely interested in seeing what they are faced with in their attempts to qualify. And one more thing: please select one of the Group C guys who didn't make it through to participate in the LCQ via a lottery process. This will still give them an outside chance to make a main event.
Good story @yamablues.............Those are the kids that makes the sport go round and make it what it is. It's tough these days for anyone to get the time of day when you aren't an amateur phenomenon first, regardless of your abilities or future promise. You have to pay your dues many times over while the industry sticks with supporting the same crowd of riders even when they don't pull their weight.
Will be interesting to see how Anderson regroups after two disappointing rounds. Hopefully he doesn't mentally implode and gets back to the "new" rider of 2012.
yamyblues story was better than the orginal story up top!!!
@RHRHMOP Absolutely. The prestige of that award cannot be overstated, as well as his contribution to modern music composition.
Supercross qualifying is a tough egg to crack. I know a few guys locally who try a few, and struggle just to make it into the top 40, and they are really fast amateurs. The guys who ride every round have a big advantage, because many of the multiple jump sections are often exactly the same from one track to another. They just arrange them different, have different corners before them etc.
But I have to agree, the guys in the A group earned their way there. The best of the best.
Pretty Obvious Tomac's Got This Wrapped Up. Gieco has both Lites series wrapped up this year. RV1 in dialed in. Gonna be good.
Wow, they have the East wrapped already and it hasn't even started yet. They are good.
obvi barcias gonna kill it. or roczen
You guys rock.. I am glad at the feed back from what I shared. His name is Johnny Jelderda #276. By the way to make the story even better he is riding a 2008 rmz 250f. If there is a team looking for a pure raw talent go meet him and his dad in the pits. They would be open to hear any offers or suggestions.
In one of the various interviews, recently, with Chad Reed, he said that the privateers should be getting the most practice / track time.
Basically, the more experienced guys didn't need the extra time.
Now, I'm sure some cynics would just throw out that he may want the lower level guys to work the track in for the experienced blokes ( I'm pre-empting what some noodle may dive in with), but he was pretty spot on with what he said.
I daresay, it won't happen, as some experienced riders may want all three practice sessions, but I think the big 'stopper' on it would be the thinking fro promoters that the crowd 'just has to see as much as they can, of the Stars". I think, they are seen, plenty.
It would be a good thing to happen - more practice tie for the lower tier riders.