2008 Red Bull Motocross des Nations, Vurb Moto style

Once again, Price - Williams (Williams - Price?) deliver the goods. And once again, I can't figure out the margins thing.

The Best in the World: Team USA 2008

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They did not dominate, but they still reigned supreme over the best of the rest of the world. Hold your heads up high, guys! You make us proud. Excellent pic by GuyB.

Congratulations Team USA for winning the 2008 Motocross des Nations!

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Check out this shot of the start of moto 3. These guys are going for it! And the shocker of the year: James Stewart did NOT win this moto! The guy doing the Ricky Carmichael impersonation is #4 Sebastien Pourcel of France. Yes, Seb won the moto!

There are a lot of great stories trickling out of the motocross media, so your best bet is to do what I'm doing: check out GuyB's great shots at VitalMX, and check in regularly at MXerDWs Racetime Pressroom Daily, which links to all of the latest posts throughout the MX world.

It's a beautiful day! Congratulations for a hard-fought win Team USA!

MXdN Saturday: The Man They All Came To See

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No doubt about it, the World Motocross scene is hungry for James "Captain America" Stewart. Just like he did in the States at every outdoor National this year, James dominated qualifying for the Motocross des Nations, setting overall fast lap for the day. Despite falling twice (?), Stewart easily won the qualifying moto for MX1. GuyB catches a quiet moment.

MXdN Saturday: Ryan Rolled

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Ryan Villopoto dominated the MX2 class practice and qualifying in his own imitable style. GuyB downloads the transatlantic feed.

Price - Williams: International Motocross Sophisticates

It's Saturday on the Left Coast, the Motocross des Nations weekend is underway at Donnington Park in England, and this is a perfect time to just be a motocross fan. Check out this superb video of Saturday qualifying by the powerhouse team at Vurb Moto. And let's all raise a glass to Wes Williams and Gary Price for the fantastic compositions they're beaming back to us.

And I would embed it, but hey, today I'm just being a fan.

USA!

And now.... the Defcon series by One Industries

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One Industries stepping out in a big way, so big props to them.

Ready for some Cool Sh*t?: Zach Oz speaks

And Wes Williams delivers anotha stunna, this interview with potential 2009 World Champion Zach Osborne of the Utag Yamaha team. There's even more at Vurb Moto.

Pingree: I lol'd

Racer X's David Pingree has a funny short one on the MXdN. I'm kidding. It's really funny.

The Bike that will Beat the World

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Ain't it pretty? This is my current desktop. I love factory bikes, especially the outdoor racebikes. And if the move to L&M/San Manuel/Yamaha goes according to all the reports, this is the last ultra-trick Kawasaki outdoor bike that James Stewart will ride. At least for a while. From a cool gallery by GuyB.

Getting ready to cross an ocean to do battle

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Team Kawasaki personnel pack James Stewart's race bike in preparation for the Motocross of Nations. GuyB has a cool gallery of shots here.

And now for something completely different...

Scott Goggles rocks the Bat Wing. No, that's not what they're really called; Oakley probably has the trademark on that word anyway. This is the Voltage ProAir, according to this VitalMX article.

Hey, I lived through the first day-glo revolution, so I'm not entirely suprised to see this generation get the bright color jones for a while. It'll pass. Eventually.

The new owner of Supercross: Kenneth Feld

This picture of the CEO of Feld Entertainment is from this deeply jarring 2003 article by CBS News. The story is about a writer suing Feld for retaliating for an "unflattering" article she wrote about the Ringling Bros. circus. Holy crizzap.

"But that was back in 2003, Paul, why bring up that old news?" you might ask. Check this out: that suit has been in court since then and there were some significant actions in the District of Columbia Superior Court’s civil division just a few weeks ago:

The Court ruled that Jan Pottker had presented evidence leading to “undisputed facts [that] form a sufficient basis to deny judgment to the defendants on all of the counts brought by Pottker and WCI [her writing company] against the Feld defendants.” These undisputed facts are the following:

(1) [Kenneth] Feld did not want Pottker to write about his family or the circus;
(2) Feld wanted Pottker diverted from writing about the circus;
(3) Feld contacted [Clair] George [former Deputy Director of (covert) Operations at the Central Intelligence Agency] to commission the writing of a favorable book about the circus to be used if Pottker appeared able to publish her proposed book on the circus;
(4) George, with Feld’s knowledge, consent and money, hired [Robert] Eringer to carry out the twin goals to see to the production of the shadow book and to divert Pottker from writing about the circus;
(5) Eringer sought out and befriended Pottker to obtain information about her writing and plans to secure her trust as to his value to her in the publishing world so that he could provide information to Feld;
(6) Eringer reported his information and findings to George through memoranda and dixcussions;
(7) Eringer received the money he needed to carry out plans to divert, such as securing the money from Feld entities to partner with National Press Books to co-publish the Mars family book, Crisis in Candyland, by providing PPB the money that went for Pottker’s advance and securing the right to edit the book, but all in confidence with NPB without Pottker’s knowledge;
(8) Eringer entered into a written agreement with Pottker to publish Celebrity Washington, but made editorial suggestions that, under any reasonable interpretation, were designed, at best, to impede or delay the publication; and
(9) Eringer had to listen to “all of Pottker’s life plans” because he was paid to do that.

No, that's not moto. That's just nuts. This site calls it "... the latest chapter in one of the most bizarre stories in the annals of espionage..."

The supercross "circus" and the "real" circus... what the heck is going on?

Exhibit C: Yes, The Future again

Supercross. That word has changed hands again.

On August 29, Racerhead reported a rumor that "LiveNation has sold supercross to another entity..." Today, Racer X Online posts this press release from Feld Entertainment. Turns out LiveNation didn't just sell supercross, it sold its entire motorsports division, which is now called Feld Entertainment Motorsports. Sexy.

The press release states that the new entity "will maintain its current management, tour schedules, promotional partnerships and performance structure." So at first glance, it looks like the 2009 Supercross season should go along as usual. However, what's interesting to me is the way they refer to motorsports events as "performances." Now, I have referred to the "show" before, but coming from the folks responsible for Ringling Bros. Circus and Disney on Ice, for some reason it seems more disconcerting.

I was working for ABC News in the '80's when the network was bought by Cap Cities, and I remember that the transition barely registered at the studio level. Cap Cities was wise enough to leave the news shows alone, at least initially. I expect that a company of Feld Entertainment's size and experience will mostly do the same with Supercross. But change eventually arrived at ABC, and it will do so at Feld Entertainment Motorsports as well. Hang on, Sloopy.

Exhibit B: Another part of The Future

Okay, the last post looked funny 'cause I called it "The Future", but it featured a photo gallery from the past. I was referring to the fact that Racer X Online has completely revamped their site and now include easily linkable galleries featuring captions... something GuyB at VitalMX has been doing for a while now, I should add. But I think it's great that Racer X is stepping up it's online game even more, and they are the undisputed leader of online videos and race coverage in the U.S.

Anyway... in this post, The Future I am referring to involves a young man from the crazy state of Virginia (I can say that 'cause I know the place), Zach Osborne, who has landed a factory Yamaha ride to contest the World Championship in the 250 class, or what they like to call MX2. In this story from Cycle News Online, Osborne is joining the British Utag Yamaha.com team. Um, okay, guess I'll have to find out what the heck Utag is; unfortunately Cycle News didn't say. News, ladies and gentlemen, it's in the name.

ANYWAY, big huge props to Zach Osborne for landing a dream ride at the young age of 18, and for having the guts to take a different path by seeking the World Championship instead of the U.S. title. I wish him the best and look forward to following his progress in 2009.

Exhibit A: The Future

This just in (to me)... Racer X is dropping photos "gallery" style... here's the first one that caught my eye:

Photo Gallery » Flashback with David Bailey

You gotta read Bailey's caption on this one!
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Saturday is Stewart Day

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Check out this VitalMX Perspective on James Stewart. Excellent slides and interview by GuyB.

Warning: prominently features that very weird, but strangely cool Fox neon gear.

Stewart Says: I definitely want to come back to run the number-one plate and try and go 48 and 0

That's what James Stewart told Steve Cox in the Racer X Monday Conversation.

There ya have it. Even though the deal with L&M Racing/San Manuel/Yamaha team is '09 SX only, James wants to race motocross and extend his winning streak.

Just three short months away. Let the silliness really begin.