Monday Kickstart - San Francisco
Chris
- February 02 2009
- 19,436 views
- 20 comments
It’s Monday, and there’s an entire week before we get another fix of Supercross. Next Saturday we go back to Anaheim for the third and final round in Orange County, CA, but before we start speculating about what’s in store in six days, let’s recap San Francisco.
For the first time in who knows how long, the weather in S.F. cooperated, and the fans definitely welcomed it. Just shy of 40,000 fans piled into AT&T Park by the bay to witness some Supercross. All day long, the pits were absolutely overflowing with people. Once autograph signing started, it was nearly impossible to navigate through the pits.
The started off like any other, although as practice wound down, we noticed Jason Lawrence never made it out. It wasn’t until quite late in the day that the official word from his camp made itself public. Crown Management released an announcement that said Lawrence was “nailed with a bout of food poisoning, hospitalized, and [would] miss the miss the S.F. Lites round.”
Other reports, including an unconfirmed rumor posted by MXA, said there was an altercation amongst J-Law, Josh Hansen, and Steve Boniface just after the race. We are sure the message boards are spewing out all you can handle with this, but we will see if we can learn a little more as the day goes along.
Walking around the pits, we always try to keep our eye out for cool stuff, especially when it comes to the actual bikes. Race after race, however, it gets increasingly difficult to spot new things. This week, though, we did manage to spot a pretty trick feature on the KTMs. As shown below on Ryan Sipes’ MDK/KTM 250SX-F, the has been an addition to the rear shock. It has an added reverse top-out spring. just above the main spring.
The top-out spring is designed to absorb some of the impact from top-out. It can be adjusted, and the individual springs are removable. Initial word is that it is great in the whoops and for seat-bouncing. Swap talked to Martin Davalos and he said it was quite noticeable and a huge improvement. No word on how long this will be solely a factory race feature.
As for actual racing, a big surprise came from Tim Ferry when he failed to make the main event. We don’t remember the last time we saw a main without Red Dog (other than when he was injured), of course). In the LCQ, suffered from first-turn pile-up woes and it was over before it had started. Ferry’s teammate, however, enjoyed better results. Ryan Villopoto scored his second podium in a row, and it is apparent that he is becoming not only more comfortable on his 450, but can go faster late in the race. The transition from a 15-lap moto on a 250 to a 20-lap moto on a 450 can be daunting, but RV2 seems to be taking the graduation well. Villopoto is currently sitting fourth overall in points, just seven behind third-place Josh Grant.
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February 2nd, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Great Coverage TWMX!!! Best supercross coverage around…. ofcoarse, Jeff “turn N’ burn” Emig must of got the whole SPEEDTV crew HIGH including Erin Bates….you could make a gag reel out of them messing up names,races… and anything that involved their mouths while calling these races… haha TWMX still bounces my rev limiter!! Tell the girls (Reed and Stewart) enjoy their glory indoors…they’re chumps! OUTDOORS GO RV2 on 450’s and Izzi in lites… Nationals RULE!
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:45 pm
you guys have the best jobs in the world (besides getting paid to ride haha)
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I was wounderin who the blonde is holdin the 30 sec board upside down? u guys need 2 get her 4 pin-up in ur mag
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Already one step ahead of ya. She’s on the poster of the March issue. It should be in mailboxes anytime now.
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:21 pm
did anyone else see the crazy whip chad reed did while passing alessi over the triple?
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:31 pm
yhr outdoors is still stewarts to loose remember he went undefeated
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:45 pm
yea with Reed already being SX only and RC gone it shouldn’t of been too hard for him., not to mention he had the RED DOG for a wingman…..outdoors is just where you let it all hang out….the real whoop monster lives outdoors, thats my only explanation for the chumps to be staying inside…that and they get paid to much for only riding part time…the rest of the time they get to be hmmmmm JAMES BON JOVI?
February 2nd, 2009 at 3:10 pm
NO I WAS WATCHING BUBBA KILL BOTH OF THEM! LESS WHIPPY MORE SPEED REEDY!
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Jlaw I have nothing but love for you but dude it takes you and hansen to fight Boniface and to get in it with Troy Lee dude you would never last as a city kid swap orange helmets did it first
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
that was sweet, i was siting at that section 5 rows from the fence where he did that pass. I was like whoaaaa.
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:28 pm
yea reed is not exactly my favorite rider, i just thought it was a really good whip
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Yah so, we need to drop the usage of the term Lites class - can’t really stand to hear that anymore. I really like the 250 and 450 classifications. Another note, Erin Bates seems totally over her gig now. Messing up names, etc. while conducting interviews on the podium….Somebody mentioned to me the other night that they thought she always used to wear a wedding ring and now it is gone - any info on the one?
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Karma is a bi-Otch isn’t it Jail-bird? I mean J-Law…. Track is San Fran was the WORST yet, race was BORING. RV is gettin’ his legs though, so look out! BTW, that Monster Energy 30 sec brunette girl is my future wife in waiting…HOT! Thank you for putting up the big pic of her last week.
February 2nd, 2009 at 8:50 pm
I want a bikini poster of Bubba.
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:50 am
Part time? PART TIME? Clearly Droptiny you have no idea what you are talking about!!! Firstly, the supercross season goes for 17 gruelling rounds (not inclduing weeks off) in between which, the riders train extremely hard and burn-out becomes a real threat. Secondly, last year Chad Reed went back to Australia to endorse, develop and RIDE IN his own supercross series called SuperX. Between commitments such as this, media commitments, sponsors, training, testing, racing and somehow fitting in a bit of spare time….I would hardly call these riders “part time!” Have some respect! Oh and lastly, what Bubba did last season in MX is nothing short of unbelievable, regardless of RC and CR being absent. Get a clue bud…
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:57 am
Not happy with the T.V. coverage. Speed and CBS need to get with the program. They put bothe races on at the same time, same day, on different channels. Really sucks when you dont have a DVR!!!! Arin Bates needs to get her head out of her butt, what a joke!!!! If it wern’t for TWMX, we wouldn’t know what was going on. Thank You!!!!
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:16 pm
haha Izzi? maybe he should drop a few habits first…….
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:48 pm
love that flat track photo of 727
February 5th, 2009 at 2:39 am
im concerned for ur sexuality…… and bubbas well being
February 8th, 2009 at 11:28 am
whos to say its not a female typing?