Monday Kickstart – Freestone National

After winning the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto was the heavy favorite heading into the outdoor season not only due to his championship but his past success outdoors. In the week leading up to Hangtown, however, RV was sick, which sapped much of his energy come race day. All recovered for Freestone, the Kawasaki rider was a new man in the intense Texas heat. Unfortunately for him, though, bad luck struck in both motos, holding him back from running at the very front of the pack with Chad Reed and Ryan Dungey. Still, RV finished third overall and sits second in points.

With little testing or time to prepare for the outdoors, Team Honda’s Kevin Windham rode very well at the opening round in Hangtown. Undisclosed bike problems in the first moto at Freestone, however, held him back from duplicating his Hangtown performance. He went 28-9 for 17th overall.

While walking through the pits, it was difficult to not notice the huge line that formed outside Windham’s pit area, as he easily had one of the longest autograph lines in the pits. It’s also worth mentioning that K-Dub signed up for Twitter this week and in one day his followers grew to 3,000. His screen name? @kdub_14 if you want to follow him.

Freestone has become notorious for its high temperatures and unforgiving humidity. During the riders’ meeting, Asterisk’s Doc Bodnar spoke about the importance of keeping hydrated. According to AMA rules, if a rider gets an IV due to dehydration between motos, they cannot ride the second moto. When it was all said and done, quite a few riders visited the Asterisk Medic rig for an IV to replenish their fluids following the final motos of the day.

There is still no word on if or when James Stewart will be racing the outdoor series. We spotted these die hard fans riding around on their quad before the racing action got underway.