By Josh Allen, Brendan Lutes, and Donn Maeda
We are opening this week’s edition of Monday Kickstart with a letter from TWMX test rider Michael Sleeter who lost his brother Cole to cancer on New Year’s day…
Cole Anthony Sleeter
October 5, 1982 — January 1, 2007
It has been almost one year since my younger brother Cole was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Cole was determined to beat this disease and there was no doubt in our family’s minds that he would. From the beginning things just didn’t seem to go Cole’s way. He got a small infection from the surgery where they removed his testicle. Cole never once complained and was going to do what ever it took to beat this disease. Cole underwent rapid chemo and radiation right away and things were looking really good until his body became immune to chemo. All this time Cole was riding his bike! He would undergo 50 hours of chemo a week then head out to the races to watch me or head out to Ocotillo to go riding himself. After they realized that the chemo was no longer working and that his cancer markers were growing, he had to get a chest port and that meant no more riding. He then underwent a stem cell transplant, but it was all to no avail, as it didn’t work. Cole was so mad, but he never complained the whole time. He was so mad because he spent one month in the hospital, and it was for no reason in his eyes. When Cole got the chest port out he started to ride once again and rode all the way until Thanksgiving weekend of 2006. He then became too weak to ride, and that’s when it all went wrong.
It took less then a month for Cole’s body to become so weak that he could no longer walk. This was not the Cole that I knew! Cole was wide open his whole life and he accomplished so much racing. He finished top 10 at every amateur national as a B rider but couldn’t stay healthy to keep that dream alive. Cole’s last pro race was against me at Mammoth in ’05, when Cole and Carey Hart battled it out!
My brother is my hero for so many reasons. Throughout all of his trials with this disease he never complained or gave up. He was such a strong kid that he would never want to let anyone know that he was sick or in pain. My brother would give his right arm for me, or for anyone for that matter. That’s just the type of person he was. He loved to go to the races just to watch his friends ride because he knew how talented they were.
In the end, Cole was so strong for our family that he kept it together for us, not himself, because he knew that it was his time to go. But still, he wasn’t going to let it happen until he knew it was ok. He passed away at 4:00 a.m. on January 1, 2007, on his own terms! What I mean by this, is moments before his passing, he told the family, that he will never complain because there were people that were worse off than him. Cole is my HERO!
Cole, you will be missed forever, but never forgotten. Special thanks to all the riders and friends who gave Cole hope and support: he used all of it. This year, I am racing for “RASCOLE, which is what his close friend knew him as.
- Mike Sleeter
Rest in Peace Cole.
__________________________
Anaheim 1 started exactly how it should; with the crowd on their feet cheering for the Greatest of All Time as he made a grand entrance into a packed Angel stadium. Live Nation put on a very cool presentation for the G.O.A.T. where a video of his racing history played as he descended a staircase, and was greeted at the bottom by all the team managers of his previous teams. “It was a fun weekend—very emotional for me,” Carmichael said. “I feel bad for the other racers out there actually. They had to wait for me, and I’m sure they get tired; they’ll have their day though. I’m just very grateful for Live Nation for doing all this for me. It means a lot, and it has an impact on me. I still feel like have that desire to win, and I still feel like it’s not over. It’s nice to know, though, that I can race next weekend at a place I love to race at (Phoenix), and then take the next weekend off.” It was evident that Ricky was fighting back his emotions as he spoke to the crowd and talked about his final appearance in Anaheim. Although Stewart would eventually win the race Saturday night, Ricky has said repeatedly that winning A1—a feat that has eluded him—does not define his career. With five Supercross championships to his credit (second only to McGrath, who has seven), it is hard to disagree with him.
Before reading any further, be sure to click on the “Monday Kickstart Photos” link to the right of your screen for an insider’s view on A1 that only Swap can provide, including updates on Josh Hill, Josh Grant, and more…
During Thursday’s press conference, and repeatedly Saturday night, Ricky reiterated his commitment to a partial season, with the 2007 season opener in Anaheim as his last race in Angel stadium. Carmichael has confirmed that between preparations for his venture into NASCAR, he will be racing the Phoenix, San Francisco, St. Louis, Atlanta, Daytona, and Orlando Supercross rounds.
Certainly you’ve noticed the red number plate on RC’s Makita/Suzuki RMZ450. According to FIM rules, RC was running the red number as the current World Supercross GP Series points leader. You may have also noticed that RC is no longer wearing Berik boots, instead he was sporting a fresh set of Fox boots this weekend.
Ricky’s bike wasn’t the only one looking a little different than we’re used to this week. Earlier last week the Factory Kawasaki team announced a deal with Monster Energy that included running the Monster logos on their riders’ gear and on their bikes. This meant that James Stewart—long-time Red Bull rider who’s contract recently expired—also now sports the Monster logos.
For the first time in Supercross history, A1 was broadcast on live national television. SPEED has stepped up their coverage of Supercross beginning last year with a live telecast of the season finale in Las Vegas. To help fit a night of Supercross racing into a live TV timeslot, the AMA made changes to the racing format—the biggest of which was eliminating the semi-final races in the SX class—starting with the World rounds in Canada. As we cruised the pits Saturday morning we informally polled riders to see what they think of the changes, and overall the riders we talked to felt the changes were a good thing. No Fear/Sobe/Samsung’s newest rider, Travis Preston, said he liked the changes, but feels they could use some tweaking. “I really like it. The only problem I have now is the way that the practices go we have what seems like three hours after the first practice where we don’t do anything. Then after the second practice we’re trying to cram in all the autographs and eat dinner right before the night show. I’d like to see us do autographs right after the second practice so that we could relax a little bit more.”
We went on to talk with Travis Preston about his new spot on the Sobe/NoFear/Samsung Honda team and what his goals and expectations were with his new Supercross-only deal. We loved his answer so much, we just had to include it in Monday Kickstart: “I’m kind of switching it up. I mean, what’s a goal? If you don’t make your goal, that’s a disappointment, right? Goal is too restrictive, too judgmental. I’m here to have fun, and if I’m riding badly, I’m not having fun. I always want to ride good and do the best that I can.” Preston’s admirable attitude—and his solid riding—helped him take fourth place in the main event later that night.
After crashing while practicing and injuring his shoulder blade and collarbone, it was still questionable as to whether or not Team San Manuel/Nike/Yamaha’s Chad Reed would be lining up for the start of the first race of the 2007 Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series. In practice, Reed toughed it out and put down laps fast enough to qualify for a heat race. During his heat race, however, a crash forced him to climb back up into the top-nine in order to qualify for the main event, where Reed’s luck changed as he surprised himself by grabbing the holeshot and promptly running with Team Monster Kawasaki’s James Stewart and Makita Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael before dropping back to take third. At the end of the night, though, it was evident that Reed was hurting, but at this time the true extent of his injuries is still only known by him and his team. “I had to do it. I couldn’t sit at home on the couch. I want to win this title and if this is what I have to do, then this is what I have to do. Sometimes you get dealt a shitty hand, but you have to pull through,” Reed said. ” At this point my shoulder is stable. With it being in my shoulder blade, and dealing with that, it’s not as big of a deal as my chest is. When I crashed, the bike drilled me into the berm, and it feels like there is a knife through my chest and shoulder blade right now. Hopefully, we can work on that this week. Last Sunday I was in the hospital coughing up blood thinking that my season was over, and here I am now up on the podium.”
Team Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy’s Jason Lawrence grabbed the second Supercross podium of his young career at Anaheim. After getting a decent start, J-Law battled his way up to third-place. If you ask Jason, though, why he races and why it feels good to him, he says it’s not about impressing anyone. “I’m not so much redeemed now,” Lawrence said. “It doesn’t really matter much to me what people in the industry think about me personally. I’m doing this more for everyone that helps me. I’m not really doing it for the people on the Internet, so it doesn’t really bother me (what people think).”
Last year, the AMA Supercross season opened up with arguably one of the toughest tracks seen in a long time. This year wasn’t too much different, as riders found themselves battling huge whoops, treacherous rhythm sections, and difficult jumps. At the end of the night, though, the opinions of the top riders varied when questioned about the course. “The track was kind of treacherous; the whoops were really big, and the jumps weren’t very forgiving,” Stewart said. “I thought it was pretty tough. Especially after Anaheim 1 last year when they started taming the tracks down a little bit. Even the Canada races weren’t that tough. It was cool, but I think the hardest part of the track were the whoops.” As for Carmichael, his opinion was a bit different. “I didn’t think that the track was that good; they need to work on it a little bit,” Carmichael said. “It was a tough racing track. I would like to see that they change a couple of things for Phoenix, so we can get up there and do some racing.”
One of the trickest sections of the entire track was the first whoop section after the second triple. Over the course of the night, that single section claimed quite a few riders—especially in practice. “It was one of those sections that you could tell, just by all the riders that went down in it today, that you would go down in them if you weren’t ready,” Stewart said. One rider that we actually caught a photo of almost taking a soil sample was Team Moto XXX’s Kyle Lewis. Lewis saved it, but it was a scary incident nonetheless.
Christophe Pourcel mamirable attitude—and his solid riding—helped him take fourth place in the main event later that night.
After crashing while practicing and injuring his shoulder blade and collarbone, it was still questionable as to whether or not Team San Manuel/Nike/Yamaha’s Chad Reed would be lining up for the start of the first race of the 2007 Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series. In practice, Reed toughed it out and put down laps fast enough to qualify for a heat race. During his heat race, however, a crash forced him to climb back up into the top-nine in order to qualify for the main event, where Reed’s luck changed as he surprised himself by grabbing the holeshot and promptly running with Team Monster Kawasaki’s James Stewart and Makita Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael before dropping back to take third. At the end of the night, though, it was evident that Reed was hurting, but at this time the true extent of his injuries is still only known by him and his team. “I had to do it. I couldn’t sit at home on the couch. I want to win this title and if this is what I have to do, then this is what I have to do. Sometimes you get dealt a shitty hand, but you have to pull through,” Reed said. ” At this point my shoulder is stable. With it being in my shoulder blade, and dealing with that, it’s not as big of a deal as my chest is. When I crashed, the bike drilled me into the berm, and it feels like there is a knife through my chest and shoulder blade right now. Hopefully, we can work on that this week. Last Sunday I was in the hospital coughing up blood thinking that my season was over, and here I am now up on the podium.”
Team Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy’s Jason Lawrence grabbed the second Supercross podium of his young career at Anaheim. After getting a decent start, J-Law battled his way up to third-place. If you ask Jason, though, why he races and why it feels good to him, he says it’s not about impressing anyone. “I’m not so much redeemed now,” Lawrence said. “It doesn’t really matter much to me what people in the industry think about me personally. I’m doing this more for everyone that helps me. I’m not really doing it for the people on the Internet, so it doesn’t really bother me (what people think).”
Last year, the AMA Supercross season opened up with arguably one of the toughest tracks seen in a long time. This year wasn’t too much different, as riders found themselves battling huge whoops, treacherous rhythm sections, and difficult jumps. At the end of the night, though, the opinions of the top riders varied when questioned about the course. “The track was kind of treacherous; the whoops were really big, and the jumps weren’t very forgiving,” Stewart said. “I thought it was pretty tough. Especially after Anaheim 1 last year when they started taming the tracks down a little bit. Even the Canada races weren’t that tough. It was cool, but I think the hardest part of the track were the whoops.” As for Carmichael, his opinion was a bit different. “I didn’t think that the track was that good; they need to work on it a little bit,” Carmichael said. “It was a tough racing track. I would like to see that they change a couple of things for Phoenix, so we can get up there and do some racing.”
One of the trickest sections of the entire track was the first whoop section after the second triple. Over the course of the night, that single section claimed quite a few riders—especially in practice. “It was one of those sections that you could tell, just by all the riders that went down in it today, that you would go down in them if you weren’t ready,” Stewart said. One rider that we actually caught a photo of almost taking a soil sample was Team Moto XXX’s Kyle Lewis. Lewis saved it, but it was a scary incident nonetheless.
Christophe Pourcel made his U.S. debut in style as he set the third fastest lap time in the timed practice qualifying sessions with a 58.403 and went on to grab the holeshot and finish in third place in the Lites main event. During the post-race press conference, Christophe, who hails from France, required the help of a translator to answer questions from the media. While his U.S. racing schedule this season is only part-time, he did confirm that he is slated to race here fulltime in the 2008 and ’09 seasons.
Early last week, it seemed Ivan Tedesco’s chances of racing A1 were questionable at best, that is until we got a call from Hot Sauce on Wednesday and he told us he was cleared to ride. After we met up with Ivan on Thursday to shoot some video of him at the Suzuki test track, we were impressed to see him riding so well after breaking three bones in his hand just one month prior. Ivan credited physical therapy and the use of a CVAC pod with his quick return to health. Although certainly not a full 100%, Ivan was able to come out and compete this weekend, and compete he did, taking fourth place in his heat race after leading several of the opening laps. Although Tedesco came in 14th in the main, we know he is happy to have salvaged seven championship points from the opening round.
The Team Honda pits were pretty much just for show at Anaheim, as all three of their riders were out of action due to injuries. In the week leading up to the race, Tommy Hahn bruised one of his lungs; while both Andrew Short and Davi Millsaps were both still recovering from injuries that they suffered months ago. When we checked in with Tommy he said his doctors have told him to stay off the bike for at least two weeks. We figured that meant another week or so after that to get some seat time on the bike before returning to racing, but Tommy said he may “just go for it” once the doctors give him the green light. Millsaps also confirmed that he is still very sore, but has returned to the practice track and is feeling better. Davi says he plans to be back in action at Anaheim 3.
Although Team Honda didn’t have any Factory riders on the track, their tent was a very popular stop for fans making their tour through the A1 pits. In addition to an autograph session that featured Millsaps, Hahn, Short, McGrath, and Fonseca; Honda also had a lineup of past championship bikes on display—including bikes that had been ridden by MC, O’Mara, and Hansen.
A number of East Coast Lites riders were in Anaheim taking in the first race of the season as spectators, including Makita/Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey, Factory Yamaha’s Broc Hepler, and Red Bull/KTM riders Mike and Jeff Alessi. Jeff told us his feet are back to 100% and he and his brother are feeling ready for the East Coast Series.
The MDK/Wonder Warthog Racing crew pulled it off, pitting 11 riders out of one semi. Believe it or not, with the three the WWR Interns on one side, and the eight Hog Haven riders on the other, they actually fit nicely under the big P-LOK/WWR/Decal Works canopies. Be sure to check out our WWR Privateer Update later this week on transworldmx.com.
We couldn’t help but notice Ricky Johnson’s Championship Off Road Racing truck sitting in the pits. The motocross legend is planning to start racing the CORR series in the Pro 2 class, and there are rumors that McGrath may also show up in the growing truck racing series. Check out www.corracing.com for more info.
As a major sponsor of the series,
