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This week we were in the dirty south for the continuation of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series. The Atlanta round is always a favorite among the riders and industry people, not so much because of the city but just the fact that the track is usually good, the dirt is primo red, and the dome is pretty much SRO. The pits are indoors at this place and are usually jam-packed with fans. You can’t swing a dead raccoon and not hit some guy with an old jersey on that is tucked into his jeans in Atlanta.
After coming down a little harsh on the track last week, it’s only fair that I praise it when the course is challenging and designed well. And that’s what I think we got in Atlanta. There was a quad for the first time in a long time (and I’ll let the other guy that reports on the races explain his theory on why those are the next step), a couple of whoop sections, two rhythm lanes that you could do different ways, and a sweet dual dragon-back. No, that’s not the name of a roll at my favorite sushi place-it’s an actual obstacle.
Having a quad was sweet although when they originally built it and Justin Brayton was doing press day, he was the only guy to jump it. I think it was around 92 feet and with the run they gave you, there was zero chance of 250 guys doing it. After press day on Thursday, Dirt Wurx moved it back to 84 feet or so (I figured this out by counting the plywood sheets laid down on the floor underneath it), fixing the face a bit and soon the 250 guys were launching it.
The only thing with moving it back was that someone forgot to tell JB about the alterations and I guess he aired it out using the amount of throttle that he used the day before and over-jumped it big time. Ouch!
So if you did the quad, you went outside to carry your speed. You could come inside and prevent a guy (and yourself) from doing it and this was used a few times to great effect. The only problem was it let the riders in front get away. I thought it was a cool option and something that made the riders think a little out there.
It was also interesting that if you didn’t quad it, all the riders double-doubled it. I was sitting there thinking to myself that a triple-single (because the triple was about the same distance if not shorter than usual) was probably faster and why in the hell is no one doing that? Then BBMX rider Troy Adams started doing exactly that (because Troy’s a six-foot something monster on a little bike and quading was out of the question) and it was faster than the double-double. Not sure why he continued to be the only guy who used that line, it was noticeably faster.
After reading those last few paragraphs, does anyone feel like getting some Wendys?
The Dunge needed a win bad and got it. He also has a big points lead!
I wrote last week that Ryan Dungey needed a win really bad. I think I even made a joke about it…imagine that. Anyways, his strong second in Indy wasn’t a win but it was a good ride and he reestablished himself as either THE guy or THE 1A guy with Ryan Villopoto. In Atlanta, he got himself the win that he needed so bad by riding a great race and leading all 20 laps. And so, 35 days after he last won at Anaheim, Dungey won his third race of the series and with Villopoto having a disastrous late-race crash that knocked him off the lead lap, The Dungeator has a nice 20-point lead on Josh Hill and 23 on Villopoto.
Just around the time that I was writing about Dungey’s uncanny ability to get the start and how good his bike works, the most important part of a race started betraying him. The ability to get out of the gate clean, more than anything else, is what contributed to his long drought. Well, this weekend his starts were back and he looks more comfortable out front and riding his own race than in traffic trying to come through. Then again, who doesn’t look better out front?
RV was certainly in good shape to bring it home in second. There would have been no shame in that; he would’ve only been three points down in the series going into Daytona. But Ryan did not become a multi-time champion in this sport by playing it safe. He was one of a handful of guys tripling into the second rhythm section (I saw Justin Brayton and Trey Canard do it also) and that was pretty gnarly. And in the end, that’s the jump that bit him when he came up a bit short on the first triple and then got bucked off and over the bars on the second triple. It was a crash that could have been brutal but as it was, he was basically knocked out of the race and credited with a 19th.
The track had a bunch of flat turns that the riders had to gingerly make their way around. If anyone knows anything about RV, it’s that he loves berms and looks for them when he can. I think the flat turns hurt him a bit and put him out of his real strength, which is more outdoors-ish stuff. Look for a big rebound this week at Daytona. That’s my prediction of the week.
The other title contender, Josh Hill, was on a flyer in practice when he went down hard on that triple/triple section. He was knocked a little woozy, hurt his ribs/body and up until the opening ceremonies, it was a real question as to whether or not the Hill-billy from Washington was going to line up and race. On the parade lap, Josh jumped the finish line and figured he was good to go in the night program. You just knew that he wasn’t going to be a real factor for the win with his body in the condition that it was and I think his sixth place was about the best one could hope for on the night.
The Duck got second and is now shopping for an indoor facilty in OK for a supercross track. Then he's going to buy a spaceship!
So now, to me, the focus shifts from Dungey needing a win real bad to Hill needing, not a win, but a podium finish ASAP. Imagine the pressure he’s under right now, he’s had two bad races in a row, he’s banged up big-time and going into the roughest track of the year, internet goofballs like me are saying he needs to step up. It’s times like this that these guys earn their money.
The 250 race was exciting…it was probably one of the best races all year to me. There were four guys going at it and the winner of the race was, to me anyways, the third or fourth fastest guy on the track (although lap-times tell me he was second fastest). First it was the pride of Canada, Dean Wilson, with a holeshot and eight laps led. Which was a nice way to start your second ever career supercross race and Wilson certainly looked the part of a future supercross winner.
But with the battle going on behind him slowing some of the guys down, I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, Wilson could sprint a bit longer and let the dudes behind him keep jacking themselves up. Christophe Pourcel, Justin Barcia, Austin Stroupe and Brett Metcalfe are probably the top four riders in the class and they were having a little battle-royale behind the #108 Kawasaki.
Christophe is not reading his pit-board right here. That's because his mechanic Kyle probably had on it "U have $20 I can borrow bcuz I owe Matthes for Canada winning gold medal in hockey" or something like that.
GEICO Honda’s Justin Barcia has not been making many friends out there on the track so far in 2010. The hyped up second year speedster (as far as the hype, well I’m as guilty of it as anyone because I’m driving the Barcia bandwagon and desperately trying to make room for everyone) has been aggressive and trying to let everyone know that he’s not going to take any shit from anyone. And I applaud that mindset because a big part of this supercross-racing stuff is mental and making your competition think about you and worry about you is key.
But I do think he’s taking it a little too far. I’m still on the bandwagon and all that but I wasn’t pumped on his Kyle Cunningham pass, I thought the Dean Wilson heat race pass was a little (just a little) dirty and throughout the day, I had people ask me “Did you see Barcia do…?”
As well, there was a problem in practice with Martin Davalos that got Davalos so mad, he was DQ’d from the race (more on this later) and even though Barcia kept his cool in that one, he was involved. So the kid from Jersey via New York via Georgia needs to just take it down a notch. A small notch, but a notch nevertheless.
So Dean Wilson could’ve won it, Justin Barcia could’ve won it but the guy that probably should have won it was Austin Stroupe. Stroupe-a-loop looked strong last week so when he took the lead from Wilson, most of us thought it was over. Especially with last week’s winner Pourcel banged up from a practice crash and more interested in letting Barcia know that riding with that massive chip on his shoulder wasn’t going to work out.
But then Stroupe washed out, Barcia had to divert around him and Voila! Pourcel was in the lead and looking good. What’s that saying about good to be lucky, lucky to be good? So Pourcel went on to win a race he looked most unlikely to at the beginning, Stroupe finished second and Metcalfe chugged along to end up third.
And Barcia? He crashed out while chasing after Pourcel. I would also bet that there was a long talk with Justin, GEICO, and the Honda guys about just calming down out there. Again though, I want to stress that I’m still on the bandwagon.
Oh by the way, do you want to hear what Pourcel, Hill and Wilson had to say after Atlanta? Then click HERE suckers.
Rockstar Suzuki's Blake Bagget was great this weekend. His teammate Jake Moss is coming on.
At some of the early races, I made a bad-ass list where I write down the riders that skied the triple on the very first lap of the first practice. To me, nothing says bad-ass than doing that. It’s a complete trust of body, bike, and your mechanic (my riders would probably have NEVER jumped a triple like that by the way) so I made a list at a few rounds of guys who were bad-asses. Andrew Short wanted to be on it but could never make it and Trey Canard told me it was an honor equal to his 250 title a couple years back.
But then a funny thing happened…I stopped watching the very first set of practice for some reason. Maybe it was the time Kawi served lunch, maybe it was me just talking to people, I just don’t know. I thought though that I owed it to you guys to crown a bad-ass guy this week so my pick for that was GEICO/Red Bull Honda rider Trey Canard for his second place.
Canard jumped up onto Shorty’s vacated CRF450 and made the podium in his second ever 450 race which was cool to see. Great for Canard and he just showed that, like Hill and Dungey in ’08 at Minneapolis, there’s another great 250 rider coming up. The reason he is a bad-ass is that with three laps left and Davi Millsaps catching him, Trey tripled into the rhythm section for what I believe was the first time. Imagine that-you’re a 250 rider racing for the second time in 450s, you’re a bit tired, you’re a bit excited, you’re getting caught, and THEN you decide to jump something that only four or five guys did all night for the first time? You sir, are a bad-ass.
Unless of course it wasn’t his first time, then ignore everything I just said.
I spoke to Honda manager Erik Kehoe about the choice of putting the second place 250 rider who’s not that far out of the lead onto a 450 and he acknowledged that it wasn’t usual but mentioned that Trey has to move up next year, they’re obviously looking at him for 2011 and that if Trey had said no, they wouldn’t have done it. There goes my buddy “Stan’s” theory on how Canard wouldn’t be the choice of Honda.
Let’s take a look at the top 20 in each class and my quick thoughts about them:
250s
1 1 Christophe Pourcel
2 45 Austin L Stroupe
3 24 Brett Metcalfe
4 108 Dean A Wilson
5 66 Blake Baggett-Great ride by Bagget. He ran in fourth for a while, crashed, and fell back to ninth. Then worked his way back to fifth and was on Wilson at the end. Again, good ride.
6 61 Vince A Friese- Vince was banging around back there and ended up with a good finish.
7 31 Matthew J Lemoine
8 40 Jake Moss- Moss is riding okay but was definitely better last year. He also didn’t have that broken arm that he is coming back from.
9 412 Levi Kilbarger- I didn’t know Kilbarger was this good. He’s now 11th in points.
10 32 Kyle B Cunningham
11 41 Kyle J Regal- Mark my words, Regal will make some podiums before it’s all over. He looks really good, hope he’s not frustrated.
12 341 Nico A Izzi- Izzi is struggling right now coming back from his nasty injury. He broke his heel at J-Ville last year and trust me, I feel like I know a thing or two about heels.
13 92 Michael L Willard
14 69 Adam B Chatfield
15 46 Ryan Sipes- Sipes was in sixth early on but crashed his way to the back. Still, he was fast all day again.
16 64 Taylor C Futrell- Futrell and Bagget really got screwed by this economy and teams cutting back situation. Normally, they’d both be more hyped up.
17 613 James A Decotis
18 17 Justin L Barcia- The rumor that Justin also took out a hot dog vendor and the parking lot security guard are not true.
19 50 Alex J Martin
20 130 Kyle D Keylon
450s
1 5 Ryan M Dungey
2 38 Trey G Canard
3 18 David D Millsaps- Davi rode well to get the last podium spot.
4 9 Ivan Tedesco
5 23 Justin D Brayton-JB was all over Tedesco at the end of the race but couldn’t make the pass. Good ride for both guys.
6 75 Joshua R Hill
7 26 Michael Byrne-Good ride for Byrner, we were starting to forget about him a bit. With his talent, bike and the lack of depth in the 450’s right now, there’s no reason he should ever be out of the top ten.
8 338 Jason D Lawrence-Great to see Jason put in another solid ride. He’s building his foundation back but I do have to say that he’s missing his “chi”…whatever it is he last year. He doesn’t look like the old J-Law, he looks more normal on the bike.
9 8 Grant Langston-Late in the race, Lawrence was on GL8 and I have to say, I wondered about the whole employee/boss relationship out there.
10 27 Nicholas A Wey- Look for Wey to be back on the Ti-Lube Kawi team for Toronto. I asked him on Monday if he would wear a Team Canada hockey jersey in honor of our gold medal USA beat down but he refused with profanity.
11 67 Chris Blose- A change in suspension has done wonders for Blose. He really has improved with the new settings.
12 55 Kyle P Chisholm
13 47 Matt Boni
14 14 Kevin W Windham- KW’s highlight? Having the massive balls to jump the quad in the dark during opening ceremonies.
15 62 Jason W Thomas-JT and Boni have a little feud going right now. The AMA had to get involved this week. Let’s just say they’re both being watched by big brother.
16 13 Heath D Voss – The Voss is back. Good to see Heath return to the series.
17 58 Weston L Peick
18 122 Dan Reardon- I know Reardon is hurt right now so it’s got to be tough to be out there trying to do something when you’re not 100 percent. He should be better.
19 2 Ryan D Villopoto
20 644 Kyle D Partridge
GL has been steady and for him, steady is a real victory. He should be great this weekend at Daytona.
I was arguing with Mitch Payton about European riders coming over here and why they make that decision when I realized that I was
A- Wrong
B- Getting worked over in my argument
Mental note to self- Don’t argue with Mitch ever again.
So as I touched on earlier, Davalos was DQ’d for swinging at Barcia, grabbing his face-mask and letting him know that he was not happy with Justin jacking up his hot lap. I heard that these two have been having problems down at MTF and it just carried over to the weekend. I can’t be sure though on this info.
Honestly, I thought it was a little much for a DQ as we’ve seen Josh Grant and Josh Hansen wrestling and throwing punches at each other, Reed putting his hand on Stewie’s neck and many other things. But it was pointed out to me today that Davalos and Kyle Partridge get DQ’d from Seattle a few years ago. Or at least we all thought they did. Anyways, that was all under a different administration and now John Gallagher, the new AMA ref (he was always the FIM guy) and Feld have adopted a ‘no touching’ rule. I spoke to John on Sunday and he was pretty matter of fact about the incident and said that Davalos basically wouldn’t leave it alone so John felt that was the right thing to do.
Like I said, it’s a little much to me but I’m okay with it as long as they stick to it and have it apply to every rider equally. That’s the real tough part and it bears watching.
Seriously though, and I was thinking about it today, how many different penalties have we seen assessed by the AMA over the last few years. There’s been 25-point penalties for fuel, DQ’s for fuel, heat race last gate picks, DQ’d for fighting, suspensions for fighting, fines for fighting, 40th gate picks given out, multiple seconds being docked and having to say you’re sorry at riders meeting. And no, I did not make that last one up.
RC came out to the dome that he helped sell-out to do a parade lap for the fans before the night show started. In a related note, I heard the Atlanta Hawks are going to have Dominique Wilkins dunk before the next game.
I watched the race next to Andrew Short and when Canard got a great start he yelled out “My bike’s in second!” and then realized that he wasn’t on it and slumped back into his chair.
Valli Yamaha's Kyle Regal looks good out there but just hasn't put it together yet. Soon, he will.
Good to see David Izer of DMXS fame at the race. I just can’t get enough of his bail bondsman/bounty hunter stories. I wonder if one of his kids is named “Boba?”
As I write this, I’m in Florida hanging out with my buddy Tim “Red Dog” Ferry and we plan on going riding this week with Reed and JT or RV and Wey. Or maybe with all of them, we’ll see. I have to first fix his Kawi 450 as it has a blown head gasket. Then the comeback will begin…
We went to RV’s on Monday to hang out and of course, RV made me shoot some guns. I’ve never shot anything other than a BB or pellet gun so Ryan, being the good host that he is, started me out with three shots on some sort of hand gun that looked like Jesse James could have used. Then we moved onto a gun that looked like Dirty Harry’s which promptly kicked back and almost hit me in the head. I think tomorrow its Bazooka day so I can’t wait.
Thanks for reading, I appreciate it and check back next week for a report from Daytona. If you would like to chat with me, e-mail steve@directmotocross.com and we’ll get it on! Wait, that didn’t sound right. I mean we can talk.
Thanks for reading this week!
