So far the Lites class riders have provided some of the best racing and certainly the most dramatic turn of events in the 2008 season. The frenetic pace that is set by the shorter series length has definitely shown how quickly fortunes can turn and provides a chance to see some great breakout rides. With the approach of the Atlanta race on Feb 23rd it seems like it’s time to cover a little preview ground. I am particularly looking forward to the start of the East Coast rounds since it will my first chance to see the spectacle in person as my son and I will be making the trip south.
Jumping right in with the Pro Circuit squad you have Ryan Villopoto who is of course the odds on favorite or at least was. With the wrist surgery announced at Anaheim he has suddenly become an unknown at least for the opener and I honestly don’t know how he will do in SX this year, his skills are obvious but I think a lot will depend on how well he heals.
Branden Jesseman; who has gotten the ride to replace the injured Pourcel has shown he can ride at the front with last years Orlando win, now he just needs to keep healthy. Jesseman has set the bar high saying at the press conference before A-3 “I expect myself to be on the box every weekend. If I’m not I feel I’d be very much a disappointment”, that has got to be music to Mitch Payton’s ears.
The Torco Race Fuels team will be headed by Josh Grant now a perennial Lites rider who has just never really had a good run at a championship without injury. Josh will be joined by the talented young Okie Trey Canard. I am going to go ahead and make a another pick from the Factory Connection and Honda backed squad as my dark horse contender by saying I think Canard will run steady and be in it for the Top 3 in the long haul. The capable and poised young rider showed stamina in the outdoors as well as great focus and looks to be ready to do some damage in SX.
MDK/KTM is coming to the east coast rounds loaded for bear with Martin Davalos who has certainly got the SX skills but had some bad luck in last years west coast rounds. Matt Goerke is my pick out of the three to make some things happen, I have seen some practice video and Matt looks to be ready to make some noise. Can fellow MDK/Lites Ryan Sipes stay healthy?
Now for this edition of how the Ben turns; with Ben Townley hurt is Ben Coisy for real and can he make some noise ala Pourcel in 07. Coisy certainly looked strong in smuggled footage from the Honda test track breaking the news on DV12.com in early February. The real question is going to boil down to how much time has he had to prepare and is he comfortable on US soil?
Looking at the Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy East Coast effort I would expect Ryan Morais to try and follow last year’s strength and consistency and definitely come out charging after last years near championship run. How about Tyler Bowers? The lingering question for me will be; is Bowers too big for the Lites bike? We saw him last year at the Boo Koo AX final and he was killing it on the 250F but as Josh Hill has proven some guys just ride the 450 better and SX may be the difference that affects Bowers speed.
Kyle Partridge will be running with the flag for Team Solitaire and I think we could see a breakout ride from this kid at least once during the season and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he came out swinging at round one.
Another new kid on the SX block is Rockstar/Makita Suzuki recruit Nico Izzy, after watching Izzi grow up as a dominant mini riding force on DVD it will be interesting to see how he flexes his muscles as a pro.
Phil Nicoletti and Kyle Chislom are heading up the effort for Extreme Lites and both of these young riders can ride top five on a given night the question is will they be able to sustain that kind of pace. Unknowns coming into 2008 include Amateur standouts Sean Hackley and Blake Warton, I know that Hackley had some injury issues last year and I flat out don’t know what Wharton is up to now.
So that is how I see it at the outset of the East Coast rounds, let’s wait a few weeks and see how my crystal ball has worked out.
Now I'll move on to the Supercross class and with that train coming into the ATL station I only have one thing to say;
Kevin Windham has found his happy place and that ladies and gentlemen is a very dangerous occurence.
This is a guy that has snapped a couple winning streaks by a guy named Ricky that used to run the table a whole lot and I think before all is said and done we are going to see K-Dub on the top step again in 08.
While some may say that the Houston victory was a freak event I have to think that knowing all it takes a bad start for Chad to struggle will only feed the fires that 14, 15 and 118 have been stoking on Reeds heels.
Now all Reed really has to do for the Championship is ride smart and he could clinch it getting second every night from here on out.......we all know that is not going to happen. Chad wants to make a statement with the wins and that could allow the kind of mistakes that we usually don't see out of the L&M Racing pilot.
One thing is for sure, for a series that is supposed to be so boring.....it is starting to get real interesting.
2/19/08
2/3/08
Scenes from the house that McGrath built.
Well some of the biggest news out of A-3 wasn’t what happened on the track but rather what didn’t happen. Broc Hepler was a no show on the start line after his string of bad luck continued with Broc sustaining a broken thumb in practice. Ivan Tedesco has apparently not shaken off his bad juju with the new team as he suffered a broken hand that takes him out for the near future. Completing the weekend’s no luck trifecta was Grant Langston who is fighting some kind of an issue with blurred vision that sidelined him as well. These are three guys who have had some great rides over the years but just can’t seem to shake the specter of bad luck; all I can say is there must be an army of black cats and broken mirrors following this crew around.
So what about some of the things that did happen on the Anaheim dirt?
Well in heat one of the Lites going into the final turn Torco Race Fuels pilot Dan Reardon got a lesson in why you don’t leave the door open with Jason Lawrence on your back tire. Boost Mobile’s J-Law gave Reardon a chance to sample the soil and then the Aussie rider pulled a desperation move not seen since the days of Ryno when he tried to push his bike over the finish jump in this case however the effort was unsuccessful. The first season in the AMA series for Reardon has been a brutal education as he has had to take to the long road to the main event a few times after getting caught up in some unfortunate tangles during heat racing action. At the final Anaheim it came down to the last couple turns in the LCQ as Arenacross veteran Jeff Northrup gamely held onto the final transfer but finally gave it up allowing Reardon to squeak into the main.
Red Bull Honda’s Davi Millsaps continued his strange attraction to the tuff blocks although this time it was in his heat race and didn’t cost him nearly as much as his close encounters with those track markers in the past.
Working class hero Joe Oehlhof has been getting himself to the races on a shoestring budget after team issues right before the start of the season. The fine folks at Wonder Warthog racing have been helping Joe get to the gate thus far but things went horribly bad for Oehlhof in the LCQ when his bike grenades in the air over a big triple sending him down hard. Joe was able to get back up and walk the crash off but the real disaster for him might be with his ride, being a full-on privateer with just one bike to run this might spell the end of his season.
The man in control of the points thus far Ryan Dungey seems to have lost some of his momentum and Lawrence has picked it up as the gate drop for the Lites main saw Makita Suzuki’s golden boy on the ground while Lawrence ran away for the lead. Austin Stroupe grabbed the holeshot and kept a strangle hold on the second spot for the duration. Pro Circuits Brett Metcalfe battled with Kyle Cunningham and Billy Laninovich on his way to the final podium spot while the other two rounded out the top five. The wheels came completely off for Dungey on lap 6 when Wil Hahn crashed hard and Dungey slammed into his bike, Hahn came away with the worst of it with a possible wrist injury while Ryan took a tweaked bike around the track to try and salvage some points. With Dungey only able to struggle back up into thirteenth the points race has been turned on it’s ear as Lawrence is now up to within eight points of the leader and Metcalfe’s right on Dan Reardon with two points separating the battle for third overall.
The Supercross class main started out with the usual suspects out front as Reed put his San Manuel Yamaha to the holeshot line first with Windham and Millsaps right behind him. K-Dub wasted no time in putting the pressure on Reed in the early laps but was not able to make it stick and had Millsaps pushing hard behind him. As they crossed the mid-point in the race Davi was finally able to get around Kevin but the battle between to the Honda riders allowed Chad to run out the gap at the front of the pack. Monster Kawasaki’s Tim Ferry just keeps on plugging away and put himself around Windham as well to lock down the third spot. Davi Millsaps has really stepped up his game and it looked as though the nearly identical lap times for the two might have allowed him to challenge Reed for the win but Chad was able to use his considerable experience picking through the lapped traffic to hold the top spot on the box. Tim Ferry was fired up on the final lap as he made a run at Millsaps for the second spot but Paul Carpenter got in between them forcing Ferry to back it off. Red Dog was pretty fired up and got in Carpenters face after the checkers to let him know exactly how he felt about it.
For the overall points picture things are looking rosy for Chad Reed as he has now opened up a 26 point gap over second place Windham as Ferry proved that fighting for every point is the way to go taking over the third spot for the season tally.
So what about some of the things that did happen on the Anaheim dirt?
Well in heat one of the Lites going into the final turn Torco Race Fuels pilot Dan Reardon got a lesson in why you don’t leave the door open with Jason Lawrence on your back tire. Boost Mobile’s J-Law gave Reardon a chance to sample the soil and then the Aussie rider pulled a desperation move not seen since the days of Ryno when he tried to push his bike over the finish jump in this case however the effort was unsuccessful. The first season in the AMA series for Reardon has been a brutal education as he has had to take to the long road to the main event a few times after getting caught up in some unfortunate tangles during heat racing action. At the final Anaheim it came down to the last couple turns in the LCQ as Arenacross veteran Jeff Northrup gamely held onto the final transfer but finally gave it up allowing Reardon to squeak into the main.
Red Bull Honda’s Davi Millsaps continued his strange attraction to the tuff blocks although this time it was in his heat race and didn’t cost him nearly as much as his close encounters with those track markers in the past.
Working class hero Joe Oehlhof has been getting himself to the races on a shoestring budget after team issues right before the start of the season. The fine folks at Wonder Warthog racing have been helping Joe get to the gate thus far but things went horribly bad for Oehlhof in the LCQ when his bike grenades in the air over a big triple sending him down hard. Joe was able to get back up and walk the crash off but the real disaster for him might be with his ride, being a full-on privateer with just one bike to run this might spell the end of his season.
The man in control of the points thus far Ryan Dungey seems to have lost some of his momentum and Lawrence has picked it up as the gate drop for the Lites main saw Makita Suzuki’s golden boy on the ground while Lawrence ran away for the lead. Austin Stroupe grabbed the holeshot and kept a strangle hold on the second spot for the duration. Pro Circuits Brett Metcalfe battled with Kyle Cunningham and Billy Laninovich on his way to the final podium spot while the other two rounded out the top five. The wheels came completely off for Dungey on lap 6 when Wil Hahn crashed hard and Dungey slammed into his bike, Hahn came away with the worst of it with a possible wrist injury while Ryan took a tweaked bike around the track to try and salvage some points. With Dungey only able to struggle back up into thirteenth the points race has been turned on it’s ear as Lawrence is now up to within eight points of the leader and Metcalfe’s right on Dan Reardon with two points separating the battle for third overall.
The Supercross class main started out with the usual suspects out front as Reed put his San Manuel Yamaha to the holeshot line first with Windham and Millsaps right behind him. K-Dub wasted no time in putting the pressure on Reed in the early laps but was not able to make it stick and had Millsaps pushing hard behind him. As they crossed the mid-point in the race Davi was finally able to get around Kevin but the battle between to the Honda riders allowed Chad to run out the gap at the front of the pack. Monster Kawasaki’s Tim Ferry just keeps on plugging away and put himself around Windham as well to lock down the third spot. Davi Millsaps has really stepped up his game and it looked as though the nearly identical lap times for the two might have allowed him to challenge Reed for the win but Chad was able to use his considerable experience picking through the lapped traffic to hold the top spot on the box. Tim Ferry was fired up on the final lap as he made a run at Millsaps for the second spot but Paul Carpenter got in between them forcing Ferry to back it off. Red Dog was pretty fired up and got in Carpenters face after the checkers to let him know exactly how he felt about it.
For the overall points picture things are looking rosy for Chad Reed as he has now opened up a 26 point gap over second place Windham as Ferry proved that fighting for every point is the way to go taking over the third spot for the season tally.
2/1/08
DVD Review - Velocity 2
Velocity II
Released by RS Films
-5 Stars-
Velocity; \və-ˈlä-sə-tē, -ˈläs-tē\
Function: noun
Meaning: quickness of motion : speed
The release of Velocity II by young Filmmaker Robb Swiatek may have gotten by you if you are not lucky enough to be around the New England MX scene. One thing is for sure, miss out on picking up this excellent study of a season in the life of some of the northeast’s best riders and you will be the one who is left behind. From the opening scenes of frosty winter weather sending the serious riders southward in search of softer dirt till the ending sequences, back in the dead of winter at the Boo Koo US Open of Arenacross Velocity II brings home the heart and soul of why Motocross gets in your blood.
The release of Velocity II by young Filmmaker Robb Swiatek may have gotten by you if you are not lucky enough to be around the New England MX scene. One thing is for sure, miss out on picking up this excellent study of a season in the life of some of the northeast’s best riders and you will be the one who is left behind. From the opening scenes of frosty winter weather sending the serious riders southward in search of softer dirt till the ending sequences, back in the dead of winter at the Boo Koo US Open of Arenacross Velocity II brings home the heart and soul of why Motocross gets in your blood.
Swiatek, or “Robo Robb” as he has been referred to during his tenure as one of the tireless shooters for last seasons Racer X Motocross.com shows spreads the focus wide on this release. Shifting through the gears at local NESC races to sessions with veteran riders like John Dowd and Tony Lorusso, showcasing the pressure cooker of the New England Regional Championship and the craziness of the Transworld MX Masters of Mini events. What really shines through in this film is the grassroots of families that have raced for generations and riders who do it just for the love of the sport.
So what separates this film from the myriad of other offerings cropping up now that everyone has a video camera and a computer editing program?
The film is beautifully shot throughout, paired with an excellent but unobtrusive soundtrack and it really brings out the dedication that both the riders and filmmaker have for their craft. There is a balanced mix of riding and interviews that paces the film well and keeps the viewer interested and engaged throughout the entire 80 minutes.
I think what I like best is the films ability to show the human side of the riders, the work, dedication and effort it takes along with the silliness and fun without ever declining into the “Jackass on wheels” format that so many new films have a tendency to.
Superbly shot and edited with the focus squarely on the subject at hand Velocity II puts RS Film and Robb Swiatek firmly into the same realm of industry standards like Troy Adamitis and gets a Five out of Five stars on my scale.
Velocity II is available for sale online, purchase and preview clips at;
http://www.videoxsports.com/velocityii.html
For more info on RS Films and additional trailers
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
