Through the Valley…….No Shadows.

Well the Phoenix round has run and it is really turning into an old school slugfest in both classes. How fitting that we should be running the 80’s throwback night as they head to Cali again for A-2. Your two fastest guys in the big bike class tied in the points looking to make a statement and take the momentum on through the first part of the series.

Kicking off the night for the Supercross class in heat one Factory Yamaha’s newest member Josh Hill showed he has earned that move up to the 450 taking the holeshot and running very strong. There didn’t seem to be as much luck for Hill in the main but I am going to predict that there will be no shortage of chances to watch Hill at the front of the pack soon enough. Heading into the main it was pretty clear that the famously hard surface in the valley had been well baked by the sun and throttle control was going to be way more important than willingness to crack it open. In particular the flat sweeping turn after the mechanics area looked vaguely similar to Vegas’ Thunder Alley by the time they dropped the gate for the final time of the evening. The number looked the same but the bikes brand has been changed as Mike Alessi took the holeshot just edging out Stewart at the line.
Alessi has been impressive to me, very good at adapting to the racing in the 450 class along with a new team. Not to mention that Mikey has been put in the unenviable position of constantly being referred to as “Carmichael’s replacement” under the Suzuki tent. Every time I hear that in an interview I just cringe for the guy, those are some boots I wouldn’t want to be fitted for if it were my first year on the RMZ450. An encounter with a tuff block early on ended his try for the podium but he rode the whole race dragging that afore mentioned tuff block’s cover which is a feat in itself. Meanwhile out front James and Chad were in the process of hammering it out as fast as they could at pretty much the same insane pace. I have to admit I was surprised when Reed went for the throat on lap three as they entered the split section Chad blazed the inside on the option and pushed it in on Stewart, taking the inside line in the following turn to briefly get a wheel ahead on James. The close racing didn’t seem to fluster Stewart though and he seemed able to wick up the speed enough to get away. The mistakes by both riders in the option section on lap four is what I think made both riders think twice about over riding the track and throwing away too many points.
The racing behind them for third was excellent as well and what do you know……Kevin Windham stepping it up to hold off Short and Tedesco for most of the main. Not bad for a guy who is “washed up” according to the internet experts.
Grant Langston on the other hand just can’t seem to catch a break on the big bike indoors. The disastrous bike failure he experienced in the main could just be enough to take the wind out of Grant's sails and end his hopes for even a top five finish for the year.

Now on to the real fight for the evening in the Lites class main event.

It has been a long time since we have seen so much action, passes and re-passes bringing multiple lead changes in a race like we did in this one. I can’t actually say “seen” yet as I was a web cast spectator but Weege and Holley make it pretty easy to “see”. Coming into this round I honestly thought that we were going to have a Dungey/Lawrence re-match but Broc Hepler and Jake Weimer had a different idea. Weimer’s holeshot set him up right where he needed to be after Anaheim’s less than stellar run and the Torco Honda rider made the most of it.
Dungey and Hepler battled to the front then the Suzuki pilot made some big mistakes and let Broc and Jake take the battle forward. Hepler promptly lost the back end allowing Dungey and Weimer to continue to press each other hard. It was a precursor to the battle we would see in the Supercross class as Weimer gamely held the lead and Dungey attacked with neither rider able to push too aggressively on the hard packed surface. To his credit Dungey never settled in and had Weimer not shut the door on him pretty forcefully on the final time through turn four he might have captured the win.
Meanwhile it was Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Brett Metcalfe showing why Mitch Payton was right to keep the faith, working hard inside the top five and eventually scoring that final podium spot. Jason Lawrence seemed to have issues with ramping it up to his obvious speed potential in the main and smartly settled into fifth while Aussie Daniel Reardon keeps adapting to the US racing style with a solid top 10. Once Reardon gets comfortable on the new soil I think he will be a podium contender as well and sitting in Fourth overall right now could even put him in position as the dark horse contender heading into Seattle.
The real winners in all of this Lites class madness are of course the fans like me, it is awesome to be this excited about the racing from week to week. The East-West shootout should be an absolute barnburner and if Reed can keep up his push forward and stay on Stewart we might just see things in the SX class go down to a battle in Vegas like we had in 2006.

The X factor going into A-2 has got to be the old-school track layout and personally I couldn’t be more psyched for a change in the program right now. A good healthy shot of fun at a time when things are getting dead serious…..now if we could only get a two-smoker on the line for that main event the picture would be complete.

Hey, I can dream can’t I?