March on Atlanta

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.