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Posted by Jason Weigandt on Saturday, January 09, 2010
Super pumped on opening night. The field in the Supercross Class is mega-deep, the track looks cool, the stands are getting packed, the pits were jamming, the weather is perfect...it's showcase time again for our sport.
The more you look at the field, the deeper it seems. You can divide the riders into different groups, but each one is motivated by the same thing: you have to earn your money now more than ever. When you see any of the 450 riders out there, you can point to a story with each and every one of them, with the ending being "he really needs to perform or else" You don't think Millsaps/Hill/Tedesco/Short/T Hahn/Wey/Reardon/Byrne etc aren't already thinking about making an impact this year?
Then throw in the guys who are always going to charge hard because they believe they can win: Stewart, Reed, Villopoto and Dungey. You watch practice and these dudes mean business, they all look focused, motivated, and maybe even relieved to be here and put all of that off-season stress behind them. Normally Anaheim 1 serves to just get the nerves out. I think the off-season handled that.
And of course James Stewart was numero-uno in practice both times out. I watched Hill smash through a set of whoops about as fast as I've ever seen anyone go....until Stewart went even faster a few minutes later.
Dungey looks very solid. Remember the Dungey from just a few years ago who was known as having trouble with pressure? Now he looks at relaxed as any rookie I've seen. Just looks like he belongs out there, and was second in each practice.
Unfortunately the news wasn't as good for the Kawasaki guys. Reedy didn't finish up the second practice, I later saw his mechanic Dana Wiggins who said Chad's stomach was bothering him just a bit. Then a few minutes later I saw Chad hanging out at the semi looking okay. He's a gamer and he should be fine. Villopoto crashed pretty good in the second practice, had his wrist checked out and it was okay.
Josh Grant also skipped the final practice, but he will race tonight. No one knows how to ride through pain better than JG. Remember, he is banged up from a big crash on Tuesday.
My dark horse pick in the 450s is Justin Brayton. He's actually about to embark on his first full 450 season, but he's ridden 450s here and there before and always rides them well. Would anyone have said, three years ago, that Brayton would be a big name in the big class in this sport? Probably not. You have to love stories like that.
Lites class, Weimer looks best, Hansen was also good but Weimer seems to have an edge. Trey Canard and Blake Wharton weren't quite as quick on times, but you have to expect them to be up there. My dark horses in this class are Will Hahn on Troy Lee Honda, Max Anstie, and Paulin, the French kid who won the second moto at the des Nations. He's working with DV. He's really tall and kind of even looks like DV back in the day. He is still working on the consistency each lap, but when he's going good, he's fast.
J-Law and Langston looked a little rusty today, as they should be. Still, it's just a cool story to see them out there. When it comes to SX stars, the more the merrier.
That's it, time to go on the air with Jim Holley and SupercrossLive! www.supercrossonline.com Word.
Posted by Jason Weigandt on Saturday, January 9th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Posted by Jason Weigandt on Saturday, January 09, 2010
Okay so everyone is usually fired up for Anaheim 1, mostly because we're hoping to see good racing and that ever-elusive season when 20 riders can win. But people seem to be in especially good moods this weekend, even better than usual for the opener. On the surface, everyone says it's because of the racing--last year's Monster Energy SX Championship was so close and so dramatic that it's making everyone believe this year will be, too? James Stewart runaway? We were afraid of that last year and it didn't materialize. Didn't happen in '08 either. So now everyone seems to think other riders can get in there....
Well after the first round of timed practice here, maybe not. Stewart went .5 seconds faster than anyone else in the first practice, which goes back to my old theory of how you can change EVERYTHING in this sport, and those same pesky tenths are still there.
But don't let Stewart's early speed upset you. Competition isn't the real reason everyone is so pumped up. They're excited because we're racing. The motocross news feeds will no longer be dominated by talk of economic woes. Now we get to bench race. And you know what? We still have a lot of talent, a lot of teams, and a big pit area packed with factory-supported rigs. Everything that makes you a fan of supercross is still here, and after hearing all of that doom and gloom over the last few months, that's what we wanted to hear.
I'm excited and so are you. Let's get back to racing!
Oh yeah,here's a plug for www.supercrossonline.com and for Monster Energy. I'm not the TV guy this year so I need to entice you to listen to the SX webcast--it will be on late so chug that Monster and stay up for it. If you do want to see TV, though, it's on live on SPEED, which is pretty darned cool. Yup, things aren't really all that bad in the world, despite that news you've heard for the last few months.
Posted by Jason Weigandt on Saturday, January 9th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
Posted by Jason Weigandt on Wednesday, October 14, 2009
I’ve been told that they really don’t pump oxygen into the ventilation units in Vegas, but this year I decided completed a baseline study to determine if that’s true.
My flight was supposed to get in Wednesday night at 8 p.m. but “high winds” led to a postponement, so I landed at midnight. I got to my room at 1 a.m., which is 4 a.m. eastern time. I should have been exhausted, but I was wide awake. Mind you, I fancy myself as something of an expert sleeper. You name the place, and I’ve slept there. Planes? Cars? Concerts? Races? Floors? Chairs? I can sleep anytime, any place, anywhere. I’ll put my falling asleep abilities up against anyone in the under-70 class, and I can attack in a number of ways. I can go to bed early. I can wake up late, but I can also wake up early without even setting an alarm. My skills are off the charts.
But I met my match in Vegas. I purposely did not sleep on the flight (very difficult for me but luckily I had to get through Joe Torre’s “The Yankee Years” book to prepare myself for the baseball playoffs, and that kept me from dozing.) I didn’t nap, I didn’t cheat. I was going to sleep as soon as I got to the room. But…I…could….not….fall…asleep. Vegas!
I was sharing the room with SX PR man Denny Hartwig. Denny had to wake up at 3:30 a.m. to set up a 5 a.m. press shoot with a local TV morning show. I was afraid of waking him up, but instead we ended up chatting for another hour. It was now 2 a.m., but Denny woke up 90 minutes later 100 percent ready to roll. I slept maybe 4 hours and even headed down to the track early. And I felt good all weekend, even tried to take a nap on Friday while watching the Yanks game but couldn’t fall asleep, again.
To further my study, I stayed away from the wild hijinks of the typical Vegas weekend, choosing to basically have some beers in the MGM circle bar and bench race with Matthes and his Canadian friends. I also met a cool couple from Montana named Joel and Jennifer, and I typed their names into my phone so I would actually remember them here. That was about it, bench racing and staying up late. My wife wasn’t on this trip with me so I made sure not to do anything crazier than that. I could understand staying up late during some crazy Vegas party, but just hanging out with Matthes for hours? Must be the oxygen.
This all paid off on Saturday night. I simply stayed up the whole time and headed to the airport at 4 a.m. with Denny. I got to put the sleep skills to work, finally, on the plane ride home, as the person next to me must have thought I was dead.
I probably slept a total of 10 hours during my four nights in Vegas and I felt fine. There’s your base line study.
But apparently, again, it’s not true. I found this link to help debunk the myth—apparently pumping in oxygen would create a fire hazard.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080422075254AAHrw8R
By the way, while looking for the answer to that question, I found this hilarious exchange:
Q: 4 Single girls going to Vegas...What to do?
A: WELL TAKE YOUR PILLS bring pepper spray and a knife and just enjoy yourself
When I got home, my buddy Chris immediately IMed me with “Dude, did Stewart’s bike look sick in person?”
Yes, it looked sick. Healthy sick,. Most notable is the giant hole in the side of the bike that helps cool the rear shock. I actually had to ask James’ mechanic Oscar “where is the cover for this?” There isn’t a cover—the airbox is no longer packed around the shock, so there’s room to just leave the side of the bike wide open. Could make a good hold for freestyle guys.
I was also asked if the bike sounded different with the “Tornado” exhaust, but I couldn’t tell. I had headphones on all weekend so I could listen to the sweet sound of myself.
It’s really hard to judge speed on a track this small, but James obviously was way faster then everyone else all weekend, so the bike must be working. Oh wait, James has pretty much ALWAYS been way faster than everyone else all weekend. On paper, the 2010 YZ450F is miles ahead of everything else, running the cylinder in reverse, putting the airbox in the front and the gas tank in the center makes so much sense. But Cannondale did the same thing and look how that worked out (Dirt Rider Magazine Bike of the Year in 1998. Followed by going out of business once people actually rode it). BMW has also tried to reinvent the wheel with their G450X enduro bike (which also has the air box in the front and the tank in the center) and the reviews have been, ahem, critical.
I guess at this level it comes down to more subtle things. Everyone can see a radical chassis and engine design, but it comes down to subtle effects on handling, suspension and power delivery. We’ll see how it turns out—everyone thought the aluminum framed 1997 Honda CR250 was going to dominate, but after a few months, bad news started to seep out, and I remember still seeing a lot of steel-framed 1996s at the local tracks that year. There are still fans of the 2008 CRF450R, too. Just sayin’.
Anyway Stewart had everyone covered, but from watching closely, I’d say they have some more work to do on that bike until he’s 100 percent comfortable. Once he is, though, he might totally dominate. Oh wait, James already does totally dominate.
Really impressed with Ryan Villopoto’s willingness to try. RV wasn’t even supposed to race this weekend, but he went for it. He bent his shift lever on Friday. But on Saturday, he gave it all he had. Selected the very inside starting gate. Ripped a mean practice start on the hot lap before the main. Got a good start, passed Dan Reardon and took off. Sprinted as fast and as hard as he could. James caught him and Ryan was already tired, but he even tried to pass James back and banged into him in a corner. That’s the kind of thing that impresses me about RV: he has zero intimidation. Is he as fast as Stewart? No. Was he going to win the race? No. But he tried as hard as he could. He didn’t hand it over or give it away. He tried. I really doubt any other riders, outside of Reedy, actually go to the starting line thinking “I’m going to try to beat Stewart tonight.”
Remember the last time we raced in Vegas? This is what I wrote then: “But then Ryan Villopoto started going nuts. His Seattle win looked pretty controlled, but this was 250-vintage RV. Mondo aggression, throttle like an on-off switch, head locked down—RV looked like a radio-controlled car again. And going after Stewart with zero intimidation with so much on the line? Balls, that kid has.”
I like it.
Chad Reed was actually at the track on Friday afternoon, then he left to fly to Australia Friday night. Look for him to make his Kawasaki debut next weekend Down Under. Anyway, we dialed him up for an interview on the Webcast, where he made it official that he is racing for the factory Monster/Kawi team in 2009. No separate team, he is RV’s teammate straight up. And he will be racing the nationals next year. He knows he’ll be squaring off against RV for that one, and I already can’t wait to see that.
Posted by Jason Weigandt on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Posted by Jason Weigandt on Saturday, October 10, 2009
It’s James Stewart versus lady luck tonight, as the fans packing into the MGM Grand Garden Arena are hoping for a race, and perhaps only the craziness of Vegas will be able to provide it. As always, Stewart is the man to beat here, but you could tell he was struggling with the suspension settings on his new Yamaha, the redesigned frame seemed to work well for him in the rutted corners, his bike was settling into the ruts nicely, but on some of the high-speed chop you can sense he was unsure of the front end, and perhaps it was the way the bike delivers its power with the EFI, or the rear suspension setting, but as he tracked through the higher-speed corners….
Okay I’m kidding. The new bike looks cool and I have no idea how it handles. James looks fast on it and he won easily yesterday. He’s the fastest guy today in practice—even after he skipped the “free practice” session, he still threw down the fastest laps in the first timed session.
I know Villopoto wants to give him a run, but I don’t see anyone giving James a run straight up. But what we do have in the cards (pun intended) is lady luck in Vegas, the against all odds (pun intended) longshot (pun intended) wild scenarious that seem to happen here.
James looked to have it dialed in 2006, but RC stuck with him on Saturday night, then Stewart stalled, and Ricky crashed trying to get around him. Chad Reed had everyone covered here easily on Friday in ’07 but all hell broke loose in the first turn on Saturday. Last year Stewart had an easy time of it on Friday but had to battle Reed on Saturday. Will he really just have an easy time of it all weekend long? History says know, but James’ riding says yes.
Ezra Lusk has improved dramatically in one day. He told me he had arm pump all day yesterday, when he finished 20th in qualifying and didn’t make the main event. He was definitely getting faster as the night went on, but time race out. He’s back looking like a totally different rider today, taking fifth overall in practice today. That’s 20th yesterday and fifth today—what a difference! Imagine Yogi making the podium tonight?
Ryan Villopoto bent his shift level last night, he’s not hurt or anything. Josh Hansen is here, he has a new deal with Pro Circuit and Monster, and he should be riding a 450 for them in supercross and the X Games next year. Before you go all “why does he keep getting chances” crazy, let it be known that Monster just wanted Mitch to put another bike out there, this wasn’t just Mitch handing out a ride for no reason.
Chad Reed confirmed to us on our Webcast yesterday that he is going to be on the full-on factory Kawasaki team next year, not his own satellite effort. He and RV are teammates straight up…and he likes where he stacks up on lap times looking at RV here, Stewart here, and himself at the test track.
We have one-on-one racing here for the first time ever, and Michael Byrne rang in the new event in style when his rear brake went out in the very first race, and he went over a berm and over the bars. Then he crashed half a lap later after hitting some mud. Crashed hard again today in practice. Remember, he’s on the mend from a big crash last weekend at the of Nations. Man.
The head to head racing is only cool if two guys are very close on speed, yesterday Villo and Millsaps lined up together and it was fun to watch. Millsaps looks good and into it here, his neck injury from the Nationals is all healed. That dude needs to bounce back after a tough 2009.
Dan Reardon rode really well yesterday, and he finished third. I don’t think he got to put his best foot forward during his two years in the U.S. and I hope he gets another shot next year. The way he was coming around on the 450 outdoors, had he not have gotten hurt, he could have gotten one of those Tommy Hahn or Goerke wins at the end of the year.
Georke is still riding the works 2009 YZ450F, but now pitting with his ’10 team, Motoconcepts Yamaha. Today the crew rolled a 2010 YZ250F out with 801 for Jeff Alessi, but he’s not riding it, it’s just his SX bike for next year. Jeff hadn’t even seen the bike until today.
The Lites bike experiment seems to be over at this event, most riders are on 450s. It’s all about getting the start here.
Speaking of starting, our Supercross Live! Webcast is about to get underway so go to www.ussx.com and tune in Jim and myself. Let’s see if luck is on James’ side or not.
Posted by Jason Weigandt on Saturday, October 10th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
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