Southwick: Recognition Registering

Here's the man of the moment from this weekend at Southwick: GEICO Honda's Justin Barcia, shown here crossing the finish line of the second 250cc moto, while one of his crew signals that the rookie speedster had just won his first national overall. GuyB/Vital MX captured the moment.

Barcia won the first moto by chasing down and passing Ryan Dungey. Ahem. Then after getting stuck in the gate at the start of moto 2 (!!), put on a big time charge to 3rd place (passing Dungey again), which was good enough to seal the deal. Getdown Justin!

Southwick: Umbrella Nation

Southwick was the second consecutive "East Coast Rain" round of the LOAPMC, and you gotta give it to the fans who stick around to see their heroes battle for survival. Dungey doing it, as pictured by GuyB/Vital MX.

Southwick: Shifting Sands

Wow, #377 Christophe Pourcel had a rough day in the sand of MX338 in Southwick, MA., giving up 30 points to his championship rival, #10 Ryan Dungey. This is at the start of the first 250cc moto, moment captured by GuyB/Vital MX. Dungey ended up the day with 4th overall to Pourcel's tragic 18th OA, and now sits firmly in the championship points lead as the LOAPMC heads into the final round at Steel City Raceway in the Freestone State, Pennsylvania.

Budds Creek: Singing in the Rain

Chad Reed is the 2009 450cc Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Champion! He's the LOAPMC! Congratulations, mate!

Seriously, big ups and props to Chad for making smart moves all year long. And congratulations to Roger DeCoster and the rest of the Rockstar Makita Suzuki team.

These two great shots are from GuyB's always excellent coverage at Vital MX. Thanks Steve!

Budds Creek: Textbook Fast

This dude is fast. Chad Reed is one of the premier motorcycle riders on the planet, and it is just cool to watch him do his thing. GuyB caught Speedy laying down the quickest lap in qualifying at Budds Creek.

Unadilla: Horsepower Heaven

This is what open class motocross is all about. Ivan Tedesco puts it down into the ground. GuyB does it again.

Unadilla: French Fashion

Style check. Christophe Pourcel ripping. He went 1-1 unchallenged in New York. GuyB got it.

Determination

This guy haz it.

Photo from Youthstream's coverage of the FIM Junior World MX championship in New Zealand.

Introducing the latest American World Champion: Eli Tomac

Congratulations to Eli and his team and family!

Youthstream has the report and a beautiful gallery of photos.

Unadilla: core motocross

Tommy Hahn railing. GuyB wailing. Motocross.

XG15: Who needs Monster Energy?

Not these cuties. Ah, summer in Southern California, this is how we do. And yes, it's GuyB with the hotshots from the annual ESPN extreme sports lollopalooza.

Milleville: Man of the Moment

Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Ryan Dungey won both motos of his home National to edge back into the Championship points lead and reclaim the red front numberplate for the next race [correction: Dungey did not take the points lead]. Another great pic from GuyB's gallery.

Get yourself some more, Ryan.

Milleville: Davi DMX

Damn, that Honda looks pretty good in this shot. And Davi Millsaps is back.

Milleville: Pro Circuit Pretty

Ah, aren't these nice? I really meant it when I said, "GuyB got the goods." Steve posted some really nice shots from this weekend's LOAPMC in Milleville, Minnesota. Number 19 Jake Weimer blasts a berm on his way to sixth overall, and number 377 Christophe Pourcel styles over a rise while chasing Ryan Dungey. Pourcel went 2nd overall to Dungey, relinquishing the points lead to his rival [correction: Dungey did not take the points lead].

Milleville Motocross: Reed Leads

And I found what was missing, too: motocross photos! Look at all those diehard motocross fans, standing packed shoulder-to-shoulder on the side of a hill. GuyB got the goods.

Andy Bowyer found what was missing

Things are great for my family right now and while cliché, we are living the dream. Clint won at Daytona last weekend and as I drove to work Monday morning there was a “Congratulations Clint Bowyer” message on the sign out front. There isn’t anyone more proud than I am, but the message somehow stuck a nerve.

“What’s missing, dude?” I asked myself.

After a little practice track therapy Bowyer "gets nice with tha words" in this week's Rev Up at Racer X Online. Get down Andrew!

More Motocross: actually riding with James Stewart

Of course, THIS is also what a ride day with James Stewart is all about: actually riding with the man. The day was incredibly fun for everyone there, as these cool pics from JS7.com demonstrate.

This is Motocross: JS7.com Red Bull Ride Day

For me, this is what James Stewart's Southern California ride day was all about: hanging out with family and friends at the track watching this singularly phenomenal motorcycle rider go out and just do his thing: ride the wheels off that bike. I'm feeling this photo from JS7.com.

I also think James may have sold a few two-stroke YZ250s that day. He definitely made that bike look like a whole lot of fun. My 01 YZ250 was a fun bike, when it wasn't scaring me with its hard-hitting power; I had much more fun on the 05 450F I once rode (thanks to Donn Maeda at Transworld Motocross).

The Flip Side

And just like that, two foreign riders lead the points chase for the U.S. motocross national championship (using the word "foreign" seems kind of, well, foreign, but it stills sounds friendlier than "non-American" I suppose). This past weekend, a truly historic occasion for American professional motocross because of the tremendous live television coverage by NBC (tremendous, to me, because it was live; I have no comment on the production values yet, as I actually missed the broadcast due to the new digital tv bullshit), Australian Chad Reed and Frenchman Christophe Pourcel did the unthinkable and SWEPT both of their respective motos.

Now, how did this turn of events come to pass, only four rounds into the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship, or what I like to call, LOAPMC (because as we all know, LOAP is dope)? Well, it wasn't because these professional racers who used to contest the World Championship and now battle in the American series are any better than their American counterparts. It is because motocross is hard.

Racing motocross is hard on the body, the mind, the bank account, personal relationships, and much more. It is a hard sport and sometimes even the best get hammered past the breaking point. The 2009 season, as beautiful as it has been so far, is also turning out to be particularly hard on the fastest. First, American pre-season favorite Ryan Villopoto was injured while training and is out for the season. Then American pre-season "vice-favorite" Mike Alessi got hurt training and is no longer in contention. This left the door wide open for the rest of the 450 field going into High Point, but it was Speedy Reedy who stepped through to claim the points lead.

Pourcel did not need the same opportunities to move himself into the series lead in the 250 class. The former World Champion is very fast and amazingly smooth and was widely expected to be a title contender, if not an outright favorite to win it all. But motocross has been, and continues to be, hard on Pourcel. The terrible injuries he has overcome to make it this far in his short but stellar career, coupled with his fight with a current mysterious stomach ailment, are proof of the physical and emotional toll the sport takes on those brave enough to go for it.

But motocross was even harder on American Trey Canard this weekend, who broke his wrist when he crashed out of the lead of the second 250cc moto. According to GuyB (who took the photos and wrote the story for Vital MX), Canard took the fight to Pourcel, but it was apparently not meant to be. Trey was running third in the points chase, behind the American everyone (or at least I) regarded the title favorite, Ryan Dungey.

(And motocross was hard on Josh Grant this weekend; check out this crash!)

Will 2009 witness yet another historic milestone for American motocross, with two foreign riders winning both titles? There are 16 motos to go...

Oh No! Alessi Injured!

National motocross championship points leader Mike Alessi severely injured one of his knees while practicing on Monday, just two days after a dominant performance at the Wortham, Texas round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship at Freestone Raceway; Racer X Online has the news.

Get well soon, M. We'll miss the crazy holeshots, like this huge jump to start the second moto. Another cool capture by GuyB at Vital MX.