Racer X Films covers the Dealer News trade show!

Okay, you've got to see these hilarious clips over at Racer X Films.... first, there's the warm-up, then the pitch for Day 1 and then the swing for the bleachers on Day 2.

I'd say it was a homerun. While the first video consists of "survival tips" from insiders like Troy Lee and bonafide superstars like MC and RC, the funniest to me is when Davey Coombs checks out the latest, greatest Chinese motorcycles on Day 2.

Another SX knee injury; this time it's David Vuillemin

VitalMX reports that team Suzuki rider David Vuillemin has traveled to France to see his doctor, following his DNF at the San Francisco supercross. Sounds like DV12 dislocated his knee during the main. Ouch.

What is up with these recent knee injuries?

Was David wearing a knee brace? I don't know.

Would a knee brace help in a situation like that? I don't know.

Hmmm, rain didn't stop Chad Reed from winning

Gotta give props to Chad Reed for doing it in the deeep dirt in the City by the Bay, no weird pun intended. I think this win should erase any lingering doubts about Reed's ability to ride in the mud.

Biggest shock of the race, to me, was watching Tim Ferry jet out to a humongous holeshot. But I was having a really happy weekend, so I just figured the stars lined up just right for Ferry, too. I didn't see his slow fall from grace, though. He could only manage 10th in the main.

Chad Reed: "I think they’re going to try and do something..."

Chad Reed implies that some entity will attempt to make the competition closer in supercross in this interview by Steve Cox for Racer X online.

Wow.

Ladies and Gentlemen, how about a warm round of applause for...

... your current Supercross Champion, James Stewart!

I just watched the press conference on Racer X films, and I must give James all the credit in the world for his decision and how he handled himself.

Of course, his next test will be how he handles himself during his time off. The injury is to his left knee, which could affect his clutch control should he try to get some car driving in. Well, I hope that he is able to get his knee completely repaired in time for a solid assault on the outdoor title.

And I also hope James takes some of his "down time" to get online and start interacting with his fan base, even if it's to simply sell merchandise.

Get well soon, James.

Didn't see this one coming...

So yesterday I was walking out the door when I got a call from one of my moto friends, Paul. He told me Stewart was out for Anaheim 2, something about his leg, but at the time no one was sure. Not good.

We chatted about how James would have to just kill it the rest of the season, to overcome what would surely be a 25-point deficit to Reed. I ended the call and went about my business, which did NOT include making the 1-hour drive to Angel Stadium to actually see the supercross. Personally, the news only affected my fantasy supercross team selections...!

But then the news that James wasn't just sitting out a race, he's stepping off the scene for the rest of the season. It's not even February yet!

Racer X Films captured the press conference. As I write this, I haven't viewed the footage... I'm enjoying the Giants-Packers game right now... but I did read Jason Weigandt's take. My insta-opinion is man, that sucks for supercross.

In my eyewitness opinion, Chad Reed is riding the best he ever has. Watching him come from behind to win his heat race impressed me, and while I confess I didn't watch him as much during the main, it was clear that except for that one fall, Speedy rode... speedily. Had to do it, sorry. Anyway, I thought Chad was gonna give James some serious competition this season.

We can forget about that now. Instead, what we have here are conditions very similar to the last time (ONLY time) Chad Reed won the U.S. Supercross title, when the great Ricky Carmichael sat out the 2004 season. Seems the only difference, besides bikes and brands, is that RC made the call BEFORE the season began.

Guess I'll look at that video before I comment further.

Was it cold in Phoenix?

This is what I want to say about that: yeah, Monster found some cutie-pie twins in the town of the burning bird. But what's up with the packaging? Is it me, or are they not sexy enough?

And what has the world come to when I turn the discussion to the fashions of the 30-second board girls?

What I saw at A1

It was a mighty fine night of racing, that’s for sure. LiveNation and Dirt Wurx are to be commended for keeping their sanity and doing a great job at presenting a program in which the racers could do their very best. It may have been hell on the track, but it looked great from where I sat in the stands.

I saw Ryan Dungey establish himself as the man to beat for the West Coast regional division, and it wasn’t during his main event win that he sent this message. Dungey fired the first shot with his resounding heat race win, dominating in almost Villopoto-esque fashion.

I saw the “new” Jason Lawrence confidently stake his claim to fastest practice time, and I was pretty convinced that he was going to eventually pass Dungey for the win in the 250 main. So I was pretty surprised to read a race report in which Lawrence admitted he was “nervous” with Dungey stalking him, so he let him by…! J-Law may be working hard with Ryan Hughes on his fitness, but it seems he might need some help with his mind-game strategies.

I saw Chad Reed crash in practice and go down again in his heat race, and it made me think he was mentally struggling. But when he came from behind to win that heat race, I was very impressed. Reed can really ride Supercross, not that that’s news to anyone. He’s great fun to watch.

I saw James Stewart drag race a red bike deep into turn one during the 450 main start; it turns out Ivan Tedesco went down as well. It’s my speculation that James was bumped and that’s why he went down, but I haven’t read or seen anything to support that. In any case, after watching Stewart calmly dominate practice and his heat, all I felt after seeing him get up in last place was a building excitement. I knew it was going to be a thrill watching him slice through the pack catching up, and I was right. And he saved his most spectatular pass for last, when he tripled past both Langston and Ferry at the same time to take over second place.

In the pits before the races, I saw Jeremy Albrecht entertaining well-wishers wearing Kawasaki green over at his JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) transporter. They had some very nice looking Yamahas.

I saw James Stewart’s dad, “Big” James, giving out his own autographs, which seemed kind of weird. But I guess his name IS James Stewart…

I saw more Monster Energy logos than I cared to at the souvenir stand. I mean, I appreciate the company stepping up and sponsoring the sport, but man… the ubiquitous “claw slash” logo is starting to feel tired. I ended up forgoing an event t-shirt, instead settling on a pretty cool #7 hat (with NO Monster logos).

WHO I saw… I saw the Icon, David Bailey, as well as a very fresh-looking Ernesto Fonseca. I also saw MXi publisher Steve Cox, and Mototalk legend BobbyM. I missed seeing the scourge of Motodrive, Big Lenny, and his protégé BammBamm.

And I just missed Marty Moates altogether.

Anaheim the First: Chad Reed won but "Stewart rode smart"

Check out Jason Weigandt's great race report from last night's Supercross opener at Anaheim. I'll weigh in with my own observations shortly.

First LOL of the new season!

I just read Steve Matthes' 2008 Supercross Preview over at Racer X online... I am much amused!

FINALLY... the off season is over!

And regular posting will resume because IT'S TIME TO GO RACING!

I just got back from a holiday vacation with my parents, two weeks in "flyover" country. And I just picked up my A1 tix from Pasadena Yamaha (no link, I paid full price!). Planning ahead, I got us seats that are out of the rain...

More coming soon!

Katherine Prumm will Kick Your Ass

Shown here graciously accepting her trophy for winning the FIM Women's Motocross World Cup at the FIM awards shindig last week, New Zealand's Katherine Prumm looks like a class act. Read the rest of the story at Vital MX. And yes, that's a GuyB photo, straight outta Monte Carlo...

Clayton Miller!

What?

Looks like this guy has style. A superb photo by Aaron Remkus.

Who Made What in 2007

MXi magazine has become, as far as I am concerned, the "bible" of prize money statistics for pro motocross in America, and I always look forward to each issue to see numbers that amaze and confound me. In the November 13 issue, MXi listed the rankings current as of October 23rd. These are essentially the end of the year standings, and it should be no surprise to anyone to see "Lucky" Grant Langston finish in the top three after adding the U.S. Open win to his 450F National Championship, bringing his total winnings to $138,920.

I must admit that it seems weird that Chad Reed grabbed the second place spot ($271,250) without winning a single major title AND while sitting out all but one race of the entire outdoor season, but such is Supercross, an earnings powerhouse for the right riders.

The prize money is correctly skewed towards the winningest riders, but the funds drop off steeply as it moves down the list. It is hard to believe that only five professional racers were able to win more than $100,000. The fact that three guys on this list of 35 didn't even pass $20k in winnings seems even more implausible because these are well-known racers: Kevin Johnson, Tyler Evans and Kyle Lewis!

Now I know that many if not most of the racers on the list make the bulk of their earnings from salaries and endorsements among other things, and that some people think that therefore prize money is superfluous, and in any case, those who win should get the lion's share of the purse (killed that metaphor), but... looking at this list still bugs me. I think racers of the quality that we feature in the American series deserve the honor of competing for large stakes. Hell, would the U.S. Open be as popular with the riders if the top prize was only $10k?

Well, maybe, but only because these guys are hungry!

Remember Yamaha of Troy fast guy Jason Lawrence? The one who caught a wheel in the grill at Hangtown, courtesy of now TWO-time 250F National Champion Ryan Villopoto? Yeah, J-Law only won $20,565... good for 32nd place on the money list.

Speaking of RV, winning ALL of his possible titles brought him all the way up to tenth place on the leaderboard... but even he only took home $51,360. 250F racing does not pay.

More weirdness: Travis Preston nailed 20th on the list... and I can't even remember if he raced this year. Seriously, I'm not sure if he finished SX and sat out MX or what... but whatever he did, he was able to win $35,050. Mike Gosselaar's new rider, the guy who took an astounding second place in the 450F title chase, Mike Alessi, made less than that: $32,870. That just don't seem right.

And fittingly, considering the lopsidedness of the purses for the two series, the dude who won BOTH Supercross crowns won the most prize money. James Stewart won $402,090. That's only about $75k less than what golfer Ernie Els won for finishing third in the 2007 PGA Championship. Um, that's just one event. One weekend. But I digress.

To put it plainly, supercross kicked motocross' ass. The earnings list vividly demonstrates that focusing on supercross is in the financial benefits of these racers. The question now is, what is motocross going to do about it?

Just about the coolest thing ever: the Vintage Factory RC125 replica

Okay, this is just off the charts. For $7500, Vintage Factory will sell you this freshly restored Marty Smith Honda RC125 replica! What a little jewel of a bike... it's pretty enough to put on display in your office or rec room.

David Vuillemin, Factory Suzuki

Wanna see something cool? Check out these photos of Vuillemin getting used to his new factory ride, from his website, DV12.com. His wife, Erica, worked the camera and does a great job with it!

Even Laster Minute Stuff: Stewart Scratches

I had a choice of two headlines for this one... I almost went with "Guess Who's NOT Racing?"

After participating in two practice sessions, James Stewart met with the motocross press and said, “I just want to let you guys know that I won’t be racing tonight. Over the last few weeks we haven’t had a chance to ride because this was last-minute decision.” Here's the story from VitalMX.com.

Here's the thing: it sounds like he's making a sound decision. And he even notes that he's got the pace, reportedly he set fastest times in both practices. 2008 will be interesting indeed.

Last Minute Stuff

First Carmichael surprised everyone with his announcement, earlier this year, that he would race the Bercy Supercross for the first time in his career. It was to be his last race on two wheels.

Then James got injured and sat out the tail end of the Nationals... then announced that he wouldn't race for the rest of the year.

Shortly after that, Kawasaki announced that Stewart's surgery went better than expected, and the next thing you know, James is spectating at the Motocross of Nations at Budds Creek, and then riding some promo laps at the Kawasaki Race of Champions at Englishtown, New Jersey.

Then RC announces that he is suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and withdraws from both Bercy AND the U.S. Open.

And then Kawasaki announces that James Stewart will now race in the U.S. Open.

Say what you will about the timing of these announcements, but here's my take: there's a lot of money on the table for this race. If any racer has a chance at winning it, then they really need to be on the entry list.

That said, I think James would have welcomed the opportunity to race Ricky indoors one more time.

Just In: Mike Brown wins British National Championship!

CAS Honda team rider Mike Brown, former 125 National Champion, has just won the MX2 (250F) British National Championship at the final round today at the Pontrilas Hereford circuit.

Heckuva job, Brownie! (sorry, I couldn't resist that) Seriously, that is awesome news.

Boy, were my Outdoor Predictions wrong!

Wow, was I off! Of course, who could have predicted that James Stewart would get injured and not finishing the season? I mean, just because it happened the past two seasons doesn't mean it's ALWAYS going to happen, right?

Okay, some DID predict it. But not me... when I made my picks for this year, I saw it like this:

450 class:
1) James Stewart
2) Tim Ferry
3) Davi Millsaps

I even went so far as to actually write, "I also do not believe the "Alessi Threat" will materialize into a top three finish..." I was REALLY wrong there. Congratulations to Mike and Team Alessi on that unbelievable second overall on the season! That's a great accomplishment to take to an equally amazing new job at Team Suzuki. I'll have to write more on Mike later...

Notice the missing Grant Langston. He wasn't even on my radar, so to say I was surprised by his late season run would be an understatement. Now on to the 250F class... here were my picks:

250 class:
1) Ben Townley
2) Ryan Villopoto
3) Ryan Dungey

Close, but no cigar. Truthfully, I wasn't even close because I wrote: "I also think that it will be a Battle Royale between Townley and RV all year long, and luck is going to play a big part of it. But I think overall we'll see Townley come close to dominating the series." Uh, WRONG. Yes, it was a close battle, but if anyone deserves the word "dominating" it would have to be the redhead from Washington State, Ryan Villopoto. When RV won, he WON. He's amazing to watch and he certainly rose to the occasion of having to race against a team mate that already holds a world title.

Plus, and this is no small thing, I think Ryan Villopoto deserves credit from all American motocross fans for keeping one of our outdoor titles under the Stars and Stripes. I mean, I know Langston is practically a citizen (actually, he may already be naturalized, I'm not sure), but still...