Ok, it's Sunday morning before practice and the weather it's a bit chilly and it's kinda foggy. As a matter of fact, the fog that was in the woods outside our hotel made me think of American Werewolf in London when the two main dudes just left the pub and are walking across the moors before the wolf attacks them. Anyways, scary stuff for sure.
We all know the races and the results but nobody knows how I feel about them and because I have the ability to post a blog, I'm going to tell you what I think. The track is, ummmm, ok. The disced soil that had it looking so good in practice all got pushed away and it was hard and slippery with some ruts. It's pretty one lined and easy (something James alluded to in the pc) so the start is huge and the ability to pull out and dominate is tough. Except nobody told Ryan Villopoto that because he put the smack down and won big time. James had a fall and a bobble and still won, but not by his usual thirty seconds. Tim Ferry had an OK race, but here's the thing with Red: he's not a good starter and so with the USA having 19th pick and the start very favorable to the inside, the odds were stacked against him getting a good start. And he didn't. Then he fell. But he did have the fastest time in the race, so all is well if he can just round the first turn in a decent position. I spoke to Mike Fisher about the teams strategy in the starting gate selection and he said that they will again give RV the inside selection until the final MX2/MX3 where they might give Red the first pick to help him out; it depends on where the team is at that point.
1photo: Steve Matthes
Ferry cutting it loose.
Also, I have to thank him for not passing Dusty Klatt in the qualifying race because with Canada's troubles yesterday, we needed Klatt's finishes to get into the "A" main and the one spot he would've lost to Ferry would've hurt. Thankfully, Klatt (who was riding really, really well before stalling) beat Ferry and I heard it from everyone about how I must've been crying and upset at my country and my guy battling it out. Ferry told me that he saw it was Klatt, thought about taking a run at him but it was last lap and the fact it didn't really matter if he made the pass. I asked him what he thought of Klatt's riding and he told me "He looks like a euro." Then he mentioned that he had no tear-offs because "I got roosted by every third world country out there."