Anaheim Foxes

The first supercross of the season brings 'em out by the thousands.

Both of these cuties are running Fox Racing gear, and if the one on the bottom isn't sponsored by Fox, she should be!

Photos by Paul Willis

Don't Believe the Hype

Showtime is less than 24 hours away, and there is a lot of excitement about the sheer entertainment potential of the 2011 Supercross series because EVERYONE IS HEALTHY so by all rights we should see AT LEAST SIX men race for the win EVERY NIGHT of this tour.  Dungey, Stewart, Villopoto, Reed, Canard, Grant, Short, Tedesco, Windham, Millsaps, Hill and even the guy that took the phrase from Public Enemy (and made a mockery of it) Mike Alessi (healthy and backed by the powerhouse Red Bull KTM squad) are all capable of winning mains this year.  Wouldn't it be just magical to have 17 different winners by season's end?

C'mon now.

I'm really looking forward to seeing these guys race tomorrow night in Anaheim!

Simon Cudby rocks so hard: Dodge Motorsports Hart & Huntington

Hart & Huntington step up the look. Blose, Hill and Tedesco don game face. And moviemaster Cudby drops an another masterpiece of motocinema.

Enjoy: Racer X Films: Hart & Huntington Photo Shoot

"(T)he most complete broadcast schedule in the history of the sport"

Hyperbole?  Maybe that would sound better announced by the "voice of god" dude, rather than read as the latest press release from Feld Motorsports, Inc.   Either way, I still wonder if  by "most complete"  they actually mean "incomplete."   Because clearly they are NOT complete on the issue of airing race broadcasts as they happen in real-time (or "Live" as the TV folk like to call it), as only 7 of 16 Feld races will be broadcast in this manner. 

And they certainly could not be claiming the schedule is complete in terms of showing all of the races in the series, live or not, because Daytona is not on this schedule because Feld doesn't promote that race.  So what are they talking about?   From the Supercross Online press release:

"This is a huge step in the growth of Monster Energy Supercross," said Todd Jendro, senior director of operations, Feld Motor Sports.

Okay then.  Let's see some Supercross and see how they do.  It all starts the day after Christmas, December 26, 5pm Eastern on CBS, with a very special preview show featuring former Supercross Champions Ricky Carmichael, Jeremy McGrath, Jeff Stanton and Jeff Emig!

Dodge signs Carey Hart to a 3-year Supercross deal

In a positive but strange development, American car manufacturer Dodge has finally decided to get into supercross racing... and they turned to Carey Hart, the former racer and freestyler most well-known for being the first to huck and (sorta) land a backflip in televised competition, to bring them to the big dance.   According to this weirdly-worded PR blurb (thanks Racer X!), Dodge is committing to support the Hart and Huntington team for the next three years, leaning on Hart to bring "...his vast riding skills and marketing prowess to Chrysler Group’s performance vehicle brand."   


Oh really?  So where's the beef?  For 2011, Hart and Huntington have hired national number 9 and two-time regional supercross champion Ivan Tedesco, as well as one guy who was briefly tied for the lead in the 2010 Supercross series, Josh Hill.  They also have Chris Blose, who has shown some promise on the 250cc machines but has yet to make any noise on the 450cc bikes that H&H will campaign next year.   The team will compete on Kawasaki motorcycles. [Correction:  Blose finished 13th overall in 450cc Supercross in 2010, finishing as high as 6th place (Indy).  My bad, Chris!]


So let's see... in the past, MX and SX have seen Toyota, Mazda and Chevy Trucks pump in big sponsorship dollars in order to parade their wares in front of the race-going and -watching public, usually jumping in the deep end by either sponsoring the whole series (Toyota), or the series champion (Chevy, Mazda).  I'm glad that Chrysler Group has decided to pay our sport a little homage with a little fromage (excusez-moi), but I am curious why they decided to go with H&H instead of bigger names with better podium potential.  In truth, the way the press release reads, it seems Dodge is not particularly interested in winning, but simply seeking "...a significant at-track presence at major Supercross events throughout 2011. Dodge logos will appear on all team assets including haulers, motorcycles, tents, team personnel uniforms, athlete’s equipment and riding apparel, and all Hart and Huntington custom branded team vehicles, including the all-new 2011 Dodge Durango, all-new Dodge Charger and the new Dodge Challenger."

In any case, considering the competition this lineup will face, I do not expect them to be a factor in the title race, but I will be disappointed if they don't use the H&H logo with the word "Hemi" somehow.

From Subaru to Toyota: Travis Pastrana is going NASCAR racing in 2011

Only Travis could pull this off. (h/t to bturman at Vital MX)

The latter part of 2010 has been full of big announcements, and this one is the biggest yet: Travis Pastrana announced today that he is joining forces with Michael Waltrip Racing to campaign a Toyota stock car in selected Nationwide Series races next year.  From the press release on the new Pastrana Waltrip Racing website,

"Travis has built an enormous and unique following all over the world," said Waltrip, a two-time Daytona 500 champion. "As a race team owner, we are always looking for ways to deliver to our partners and engage our fans better. This is an opportunity to showcase our company and our sport to a new generation of young fans. We're also looking for that next big star. Travis already is one and action sports is full of talented athletes. Having Travis as a part of our program adds another great dimension to our team and NASCAR."

How big is the upside for Travis?  From the wiki on NASCAR's current TV deal:

On December 7, 2005, NASCAR signed a new eight-year, $4.48 billion deal^[3] with the Fox Broadcasting Company and Speed Channel. Also included in the new contract are Disney-owned ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, along with TNT. The contract came into effect in 2007. The rights were split up as such:

• Fox would become the exclusive home to the Daytona 500 and own the rights to the twelve points races after that. In addition, they will carry the Budweiser Shootout and two Craftsman Truck Series races. (In 2007, they were the Martinsville spring race, and the race in Mansfield, Ohio the Saturday before Memorial Day. In 2008 and '09, Fox aired the Kroger 250 from Martinsville, as well as the San Bernardino County 200 at California Speedway, instead of Mansfield. In 2010, Fox will not air any races in what is now the Camping World Truck Series; all 25 races will be shown on Speed^[4].
• TNT will carry the next six Sprint Cup races including the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
• ESPN and ABC (through the ESPN on ABC arrangement) carried the final seventeen Sprint Cup races, with the ten races comprising the Chase for the Sprint Cup airing on ABC (Beginning in 2010, ESPN will take over most of the coverage, leaving ABC with three Saturday night races in August and October). ESPN will begin the coverage with the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. The entire Nationwide Series season will be aired primarily on ESPN2 and ESPN, with selected races on ABC.
• Speed will carry the Gatorade Duel races and the Sprint All-Star Challenge, as well as the entire Craftsman Truck Series season, except for the two races each year carried by Fox from 2007–09.

That's serious exposure for Pastrana, already one of the most recognizable motor sport champion on this planet.  Now he's about to step onto his biggest stage ever, taking sponsors Red Bull and DC Shoes with him.  NASCAR will never be the same!

Ryan Dungey, the super Rockstar at Austin Livestrong Challenge

What did you do last weekend?  Ryan Dungey took in a training ride with Lance Armstrong and 3,000 fellow cyclists at the Austin Livestrong Challenge.  By the way, this film was produced by Dungey's own production company, RD Films.  Good stuff, Ryan!

Video courtesy OCScottie at Vital MX.

Supercross 2011 is going to L.A.'s Dodger Stadium!

Now, as a resident of Southern California, I am really looking forward to this event.  The 2011 MESS (Monster Energy Supercross Series) will visit Dodger Stadium in downtown Los Angeles for the first time ever!   And to demonstrate how cool this actually, Feld Motorsports took the media on a special tour of the Big Blue House.  Check out GuyB's great report at Vital MX.

What's really cool about this new Supercross venue is how close it is to Hollywood and the Los Angeles media centers.  The crowd should be off-the-hook with celebrities! 

Goodbye Ben: Townley Takes Off

Townley absolutely killing it at the U.S.G.P. at Glen Helen this year - photo by Guy B/Vital MX.

Former World Champion Ben Townley of New Zealand announced that he's leaving the U.S. to contest the World Championship in 2011. You can read the official PR here at Vital MX or for a slightly different feel, check out Motocross Action's take on it.

Townley signed a one-year deal to campaign a Pro Circuit-prepped, Monster Energy drink-backed Kawasaki for the CLS team. 

Good luck Ben!

Step Up or Drop Off? Bubba's World Season 2 trailer

I'd like to see a version of this without the drama music. Either way, this is a masterfully edited statement and is sure to create some heat for the new episodes and the upcoming supercross season. But it still smells like a reality show to me. Perhaps I shouldn't judge it based on one short trailer (instead, I'll judge it by season one), but I just don't like that smell.

From JS7.com

Red Bull drops American Honda, keeps Andrew Short

Okay, that may not be entirely true, but it sounds funny so I went with it.  Here's the actual KTM press release, courtesy Vital MX.  Suddenly, KTM appears to be flexing for 2011:

Andrew (Shorty) Short will ride for KTM in the SX and MX Open class competition in the USA and will be a factory teammate to KTM’s Mike Alessi and MX2 World Champion Marvin Musquin in the National MX competition. In addition, Ken Roczen, also new to the Red Bull KTM factory team in 2011, will, like Musquin, compete in the AMA Supercross Lites class. After the SX, the young German rider will return to Europe to ride for the KTM factory team in the World Championship GP series.

 Andrew Short is a great motocross racer, a legitimate fast guy indoors and out.  He has not yet managed to win any national championships, but he has come damn close for the past 4 seasons.  He has scored a lot of podiums while earning valuable air time and visibility for his sponsors. No wonder Red Bull likes him.

Now he's on a team featuring the two fastest 250cc racers from Europe, managed by living legend and man-on-a-new-mission Roger DeCoster.  Red Bull KTM is looking pretty strong; Musquin and Roczen could conceivably win every 250 motocross title on the planet next year, and Short and Alessi will represent well on the 450s.  Well played, gentlemen!

2010 MXoN: Dungey Doubles

Even the fastest racers in the world (that were well enough to qualify for their country's MXoN team, that is) couldn't stop the Dungey from scoring double moto wins this weekend.  What year is this again?  Dungey's year!

GuyB with the goods for Vital MX.

Team USA wins the 2010 Red Bull Motocross of Nations!

Congratulations to Trey Canard, Ryan Dungey and Andrew Short for winning the 2010 Motocross of Nations at the Thunder Valley raceway in Colorado this weekend!  This makes six in a row for Team USA!  Good job!

More Visual Splendor: Red Bull represent

Lady Gaga working it at the Motocross of Nations?  Maybe not, but it does seem that Red Bull gets the hot ones. 
Thanks, GuyB!

Visual Splendor: TWMX at the MXoN

Transworld Motocross has some great coverage of today's qualifiers!

Red Bull Motocross of Nations in Colorado, USA

Yeah, we're feeling it.   Check out GuyB's excellent coverage of Saturday qualifying at Vital MX.

National Champion Trey Canard

I would bet Trey Canard believes in miracles.  Now he's a National Motocross Champion, for American Honda no less.  Following along in the tire tracks of the many great motocross champions that won titles with Big Red (Marty Smith, David Bailey, Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael to name a few), TC is still special in his own right.

Pala podium pic by GuyB.

Pala Performance: National Champion Canard

Wow.   Trey Canard had a tremendous second half of the 2010 season, winning 5 of the last six Nationals (Red Bud, Spring Creek, Washougal, Unadilla and Steel City).  And in the one race he didn't win (sandy Southwick) he still finished on the podium in 3rd. 

Canard and the GEICO Powersports Honda team carried a lot of momentum coming into Pala, putting themselves in serious contention for a title that many (myself included) had already conceded to Christophe Pourcel and the powerhouse Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki squad.  Still, at the final round, Canard needed Pourcel to have a bad day order to have a shot at the title.  Pourcel, unfortunately, delivered. 

It was a pleasure to watch them ride yesterday, and my hat is off to the two champions.  Both riders rode as fast as they could and both of them made mistakes.  But Trey Canard kept it on two wheels and scored more points than his rival.  That's racing.

Trey Canard is the 2010 National Motocross Champion!   Congratulations to Trey, his team and his family!

Great shot by GuyB/Vital MX.

Roger DeCoster and Tony Alessi

Chatting at the end of the season. I imagine these guys will be talking a lot in the coming months.  Soon, they'll even be wearing the same shirts.

Photo credit: Paul Willis

Pala Shocker: Pourcel Crashes Out

The red plate on the #377 bike, seen here alone in the pits during the second 250cc moto at Pala, signifies the championship points leader.  Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki racer Christophe Pourcel carried this plate through most of the 12 race season, and came to Southern California with a seven-point lead over GEICO Powersports Honda's Trey Canard.  But complete disaster befell Pourcel in the first moto, as he crashed and dislocated his shoulder.   Allisports interviewed Christophe and got the full story . 

My heart was broken for Pourcel, I assumed all seasson long that he would win this title.

Photo credit:  Paul Willis