Steel City Notes

I was able to attend the penultimate round of the 2005 National Championship at Steel City, thanks to my friend Davey Coombs of Racer X Illustrated. It was a fantastic weekend, and I met so many great, great people that my head is still spinning. I'm so stoked that I'm not even mad that United Airlines lost my luggage on the way back...! But enough about that, here's some impressions that I picked up over the weekend... and if you want a full race report, check out Racer X's report by Jason Weigandt here.

1. Mike Alessi is a holeshot machine. And he's quite the gamester in practice, cutting the track and not really playing his full hand. When the first moto came around, he finally displayed the speed he was capable of... and it was very fast!

2. Newbie Ryan Villapoto rode more like a seasoned vet in what was his second pro racer ever! Fast, fearless kid.

3. Broc Hepler was a man on fire, "Iceman" nickname notwithstanding. He struggled the tiniest bit with traffic, but once he got into the lead, he was uncatchable.

4. All of the Monster/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team looked strong, although soon-to-be National Champion Ivan Tedesco, fast as he was, could not top the pace of Hepler and Alessi.

5. Davi Milsaps rode an inspired second moto, making the last few laps extremely exciting as he pressured Villapoto, Short and Tedesco.

6. Rick Carmichael was simply a joy to watch, even though we've all seen this story before. He did fall on the last lap of moto one, but he got up quickly and didn't even stall his Suzuki. Of course, his lead was never in jeopardy.

7. For a moment it looked as if Ryan Hughes would take third in the first 450 moto, but it just didn't happen.

8. Kdub had a masterful first moto, charging from next-to-last to second. It made everyone wonder "what if?" had he gotten a better start...

9. Sean Hamblin "looked" fast on his 250 Kawasaki, but he was never in contention for much of anything.

10. After the race, Carmichael gave an impressive podium speech, urging folks to pull together to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Then he donated his ultra-trick BBR-framed 110 mini to an auction for the hurricane relief effort! DC Shoes' boss Ken Block won the bidding for the bike, paying something like $16,000 for it! Good job!