Supercross: One Down, 15 to Go
The season kickoff at Anaheim Stadium came and went and the racing was solid. For those of you that thought the sky would fall, nobody would show up, and the racing would suck because current Monster Energy Supercross Champion Ryan Villopoto tossed in the towel or former Champion James Stewart was not able to race due to illegal drug use, could go suck an egg. To be totally honest, both WERE there, but not racing. Changing of the guard or just a shift? Champions and heroes come and go all the time—this time there was just a slight twist. There is no reason both will not return, yet there is a slight chance one may and a good chance the other will never line up at a SX race again. Some thought the sport was going to suffer when Bob Hannah broke his leg in late 1979 and might not ever race again, then it was Ricky Johnson with his wrist, and ultimately when the greatest Supercross showman of all time (Jeremy McGrath) retired, the show went on and a Goat took over his place. A1 proved there was new blood in the water and I know there are those that will discount the current winning riders because of the absence of RV and JS, but that will always happen.
Is Ken Roczen the new Bob Hannah, Ricky Johnson, Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael, or James Stewart? He very well could be. The kid is good looking, funny, and likes to have fun, and something the sport really needs—a showman. Yes he is from Germany but acts more like a California surf kid than most of the grommets that grew up on the sand in Huntington Beach in So Cal.
Yes there might have been a slight glitch in the Supercross force, but in a matter of rounds some will forget who that Villo-who kid was or the fast kid from Florida was.
Monster Energy SX after 1
450SX Class Season Standings
Ken Roczen 25
Jason Anderson 22
Trey Canard 20
Ryan Dungey 18
Andrew Short 16
Justin Barcia 15
Weston Peick 14
Broc Tickle 13
Mike Alessi 12
Chad Reed 11
Western Regional 250SX Class Standings
Jessy Nelson 25
Zach Osborne 22
Tyler Bowers 20
Justin Hill 18
Aaron Plessinger 16
Shane McElrath 15
Cooper Webb 14
Alex Martin 13
Josh Hansen 12
Michael Leib 11
SuperEnduro: USA to Europe
When it comes to indoor off-road racing the Super Enduro series in Europe is almost their answer to Supercross in the States. The racing is intense yet the format to extreme enduro has turned into more racing than survival. ALso the talents of the top riders has evolved to a level that they make what was once very difficult look easy. Here is a video clip from 2nd round in Riesa, Germany.
Dakar Rally is underway
In South America the Dakar Rally got underway. There may not be many Americans on the bikes but 11-time Baja 1000 winner Johnny Campbell is again sitting aside and navigating for Robby Gordon in the cars. Here is a link to follow all of the action and videos.
Also below is a video from the HRC team that is currently leading the rally.
Vintage bike Porn 4 Sale
Crazy how bikes back in the day were just passed over but now a solid 20-30 year old MXer people go all crazy over. Here are a few rides that we would love to gaze upon in the corner of any game room or spotless race shop. Click on the Ebay link see the rest of the rides. LINK ME
How To: Ride a moto bike like a trials bike, by Jonny Walker
Bike Skills: By Colton Haaker
Sometimes just goofing around produces results. Husky mounted Colton Haaker looks like he has almost taken a street stunt move and adapted it to the dirt—this kid has skillllls.
Shae Bentley Story
Spoteed this cool story over at Vital about former moto champ Shae Bentley. Nice little piece about a fan and how Bentley at the time reached out to a fan and it has stuck even after all of these years—good read. LINK To The Story
Supercross: Follow the Cash
Is it really all about the Benjamins? The buck does stop here, and we doubt that any of the top supercross racers only race for fun, they want to make money too, or at least find a way to be able to race at that level. If you didn’t have any sponsors, just building a race bike with kit suspension could easily set a rider back $30,000 to $50,000 or more. Between practice bikes, travel expenses, mechanic, cost to live and train, racing a full season in the 450 class is not cheap. Although we would love to brake down all of the numbers for you but that is a lot of work. However, MXA did post a nice piece on the purse breakdown for SX racers. Yes there is some money to be made but not sure at what level it might cover the costs for a privateer to race and at at what point can they make money if they are paying their own way. Yes the top riders can make some nice scratch but those are the riders that are already making nice chunks of change from sponsors and teams, purse money is just icing on the cake. Here is a link to the story
SX 450 Re-Run: Anaheim 1
Missed the race last Saturday or want to watch it again, here it is.
Phillip Nicoletti – My Path
Nice video on one of those bubble riders. Phill Nicoletti is fast and can make supercross main events but it is not easy getting a full time ride. Last year he had a deal to do a small number of events and that was it. This year he is still a racer but did not show up to the line in Anaheim. But as you can see from the video, he loves and lives to ride his dirt bike. He is still part of the JGR team but not as a full time rider but probably as a backup rider if Justin Barcia or Westin Peick is unable to ride. The second video below is of the AutoTrader.com/Toyota/Yamaha Team intro.
MXA has things you and James Stewart didn’t know about doping
Spotted this story MXA did called “10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT JAMES STEWART’S DOPING CASE” They say hold on to your hat. Check it out, here is the link.
Alias MX getting ready for the East at the Next
Alias Mx: The Nest – Ep. 4 feat. Tom Parsons, Eric Grondahl, Jimmy Decotis, Alex Campbell
The Goat 101
Yes Ricky Carmichael is a little pudgy after retirement but this chunk can still spank nearly anyone that knows how to ride a motocross bike except for a handful of blokes. Yes you can learn from the Goat and his team just won its first supercross.
Aaron to Gas Gas for this year
American Trials ace and Endrocross race winner Geoff Arron will be aboard Gas Gas cycles for the 2015 season.
