May 26, 2008

James Stewart: "I'm looking forward to being in front of everybody"

That's from the Monday Conversation over at Racer X Online. And actually, what James is saying is that he's looking forward to showing up at all the nationals and racing in front of all the fans. Taken out of context, though, it sounds like he plans on being in front of his competition all season long.

Then again, maybe that's the subtext.

Mike Alessi: Credit is Due

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"The M", Mike Alessi, styling on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM450, deserves credit for putting some pressure on James Stewart at Glen Helen, although it IS Mikey's home track. Alessi should now be expected to run this hard all season long; let's not forget that he was runnerup in 2007. GuyB shoots a promo shot for the big GH.

This is Racing

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Looks like James didn't want to give up the second moto holey to the start artist M. Alessi, so he just kept it pinned through Talledega, dominating the inside. If anyone is going to beat James Stewart this year, they will have to keep it pinned, too. "GuyB is EVERYWHERE" photo.

Putting it down, East Coast Style

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The first 250 moto of the year, and New Jersey's Jason Lawrence took the win in impressive fashion. GuyB asserts his photographic excellence in another great gallery.

May 25, 2008

Of course, there is a lot more to Glen Helen 2008...

So I was sitting in a grassy field beside my Mustang, eating a baby spinach salad while observing what looked like the monumental meanderings of a mad tailor: a small airplane was performing acrobatic maneuvers over the Glen Helen racetrack in the distance, stitching up the sky with great looping threads of smoke.

Again, that spectacle was in the distance. I was also being entertained by an airshow of a different scale in the grassy field before me: a flock of tiny birds wheeled, looped and careened over the carpet of grass, pulling moves that made the aerobatic pilot seem lame in comparison. I was sitting in a field right next to the Pavillion (whatever corporate sponsor owns the naming rights), about to make the hike into Glen Helen with hundreds of others as the parking "lot" continued to fill, feeling pretty pumped about seeing the first AMA Toyota National (presented by FMF, don't forget) of the year. How many Nationals start with a friggin' airshow?? Glen Helen had two (counting the birdies).

Rode in the back of an overstuffed Toyota Tundra. I have to say the overcrowding effect seemed to override any other impressions I might have had about the truck. Um, the bed liner was fresh?

To the racing. Jason Lawrence wire-to-wire in the first 250 moto, say what? Damn, that was cool to see. Monster Pro Circuit, though, really flexed their muscle today: Austin Powers, er, Stroupe won his first National by going 2-3! Ryan Villopoto turned a 5-1 into second overall, and J-Law wasn't able to repeat his first moto win, but got on the box with a fifth in the second moto (holding Trey Canard at bay to do so. Hmmm.).

And in the 450 class, like I said before, James Owns Glen Helen. He is still poetry in motion for those able to see him without being blinded by politics or other distractions. He was flying his Monster Energy Kawasaki higher and farther than anyone over that crazy mountaintop step-over in the REM section of the track, which then plunged steeply downhill straight into some Prius-sized braking bumps, which James would jump over, landing in the turn. Just watching that guy ride is truly one of life's little pleasures.

You gotta give Mike Alessi credit for giving it his all to make it a race. No one else on the course (save James, of course) could hang with the M. Mike rode the crap out of that Suzuki trying to keep Stewart in sight. Roger D and Big Goose deserve credit for putting a great bike under Alessi, and the entire Rockstar Makita Suzuki team should be pumped with Alessi's 2-2 for second OA.

Red Bull Honda is loaded this season, but their top man today was a surprise: Davi Millsaps carded 3-3 for the last spot on the box, after team mates Andrew Short and Ben Townley both dnf'd moto two. The Last Dragon on RBH (last Bull?) was Ivan Tedesco, who's sauce hasn't been hot for a while now. Number 9 ran hard all day, though, finishing fifth OA. He shouldn't do any worse than that.

Tim Ferry looked strong, but couldn't handle Millsaps for some reason. Timmy is faster than that, so I don't know what's going on there.

Big surprise of the day? Has to be Sean "I'm Back" Hamblin going 8-8 for SEVENTH overall, beating out some factory guys on his TUF Racing-backed private Yamaha. Hambone might get invited back into a big rig soon.

So the day was great, the racing was fan-tastic, the weather was the best it has ever been at GH, I hear the riders actually like the track, and the AMA Toyoto Motocross Championship is underway.

So what was NOT to like? Little birdie airshow notwithstanding, the parking SUCKED this year, and what sucked the most was that I was using the side of the facility that was supposed to IMPROVE the parking experience. In the past years, I seem to remember parking in the same area, but this year they had only one way out, so all the cars, trucks and motorhomes were funneled into one path out. Yes, I sat in the grassy field by my Mustang and watched the aerobatics one more time.

James Stewart Owns Glen Helen

That's all you really need to know. And I'm sure it may be news to the Feldkamp family, but there you have it.

More later...

Is Toyota the greatest American Motocross sponsor ever?

It's raceday (speaking of race, I wonder if Obama has ever been to one of these?), and on the very first page of the Glen Helen 2008 Souvenir Yearbook it reads,

THE ORIGINAL OFFICIAL TRUCK OF MOTOCROSS.

In the 1970's, a sport called "motocross" was just getting off the ground in America. Toyota was there then and we're there now.

Oh man. Whoever wrote that line loves this sport as much as I do, if not more. And Toyota provides evidence of that claim on the inside cover, in a series of iconic images of legendary badasses like Hannah and Howerton. Toyota is a badass sponsor.

Time to for me to hit the road.

Glen Helen Practice: a nice day at the (raceway) park

Doom and gloom was the forecast, and there were dark skies and plenty of mud puddles in the parking lot this morning for sure, but by the time the pros hit the track for practice, the course was actually looking awesome.

And I mean that in a good way. I was struck by how fun the Glen Helen course looked; I'm used to it being the most fearsome track on the National circuit. There is no question that in years past, Jody Weisel and his crew have built some just plain scary racetracks... this year's course seems to be "lightened up" a little. Don't get me wrong, it is still very challenging, and the whole REM section of the track is all about major airtime. MAJOR airtime, do you hear me? They're jumping far AND fast to clear the triple step up and other jumps back there.

Still, the course this year looks like it would actually be fun even for a non-jumping, slow-ass beginner like myself. This obviously means I haven't been on a bike in a long time, to think I could actually handle this course.

On to the real deal: who was fast in practice?

Here are the top five numbers for the 250Fs:

1 - Jason Lawrence, Yamaha 2:44.053
2 - Ryan Villopoto Kawasaki 2:45.150
3 - Brett Metcalfe Kawasaki 2:45.913
4 - Austin Stroupe Kawasaki 2:46.134
5 - Nico Izzi, Suzuki 2:46.427

And here are the top five in the big bike class:

1 - James Stewart, Kawasaki 2:42.278
2 - Andrew Short, Honda 2:43.294
3 - Mike Alessi, Suzuki 2:44.135
4 - Jeff Alessi, Honda 2:45.000
5 - Timmy Ferry, Kawasaki 2:45.343

Okay. Stewart being a second faster than Short was to be expected; Lawrence more than a full second faster than Villopoto is a straight out surprise. Jason looked strong and smooth today. Ryan looked astonishingly fast, but sometimes he looked like he was fighting his bike a bit, just a little on the edge. But these are just the timed practice results. Timed QUALIFYING was a little bit different...

250F group A (or 3):

1 - Stroupe 2:42.502
2 - Kyle Cunningham, Honda 2:45.036
3 - Trey Canard, Honda 2:45.094
4 - Izzi 2:46.813
5 - Matt Goerke, KTM 2:47.127

250F group B (or 4):

1 - Ryan Sipes, KTM 2:46.826
2 - Jake Moss, Yamaha 2:48.112

blah blah blah, now I'm tired of typing this mess...

In any case, the track only got faster and so did the riders, as they learned their way around the course. The AMA's weird qualifying/practice structure still confuses me, but hey, it was all about watching the fastest riders in the world at one of the best tracks in the world.

More thoughts:

- There were a lot of people there! I was surprised at the turnout, considering the weather issues and the general alarm sounded throughout the motocross internet. I like the cool, unhurried vibe that Saturday practice has at the Nats.
- James Stewart looked healthy and humble in the pits, and ridiculously fast on the track. I think he has a lot in reserve as far as speed is concerned.
- Ben Townley looked really fast (and his fast time in qualifying, a 2:42.463 compares very well to Stewart's fast practice time. Towns reminded me a lot of Sebastien Tortelli with the way he rides, but more fluid like Chad Reed.
- Monster Energy drink does everything big. There used to be a big hue and cry about people setting up tents and canopies in the infield, blocking other people's view of the track. Well, Monster has set up the biggest (or at least tallest) infield structure I've ever seen at Glen Helen. The thing is HUGE. It has a viewing platform/lounge on the top (complete with palm trees!) that must be at least 30 feet off the deck. The bottom part looks to be a stage or something; maybe that's where the band Ten Man Push will play.
- The new Glen Helen sand section looks amazing.
- Ryan Dungey looked SOOOOO smooth, I can't help but think he's top three tomorrow.

Okay, I'm going to go enjoy the Racer X Preview show and call it a night.

How sandy is it at Glen Helen?

Check out the detail in this Racer X wallpaper shot by Steve Cox; they've got more over at RXO. Ryan Dungey was looking super-confident and crazy fast today... how that translated to only 7th fastest (2:47.416) beats the heck outta me. But consider that only 3 or so seconds separate the top 10 in the 250F class... it is going to be a hell of a race tomorrow. If you live in SoCal, you need to suck up that $4.25/gallon gas bill and get out to Glen Helen for this one.

Vital MX is Going Off

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This Glen Helen practice pic of Tim Ferry crushing it in the sand is by Vital MX member "RAK"... and this person is not the only Vital member putting in awesome work.

Ferry was feeling it today; he set 5th fastest time, a 2:45.343. Timmy was faster than Davi Millsaps, Ivan Tedesco, Josh Hill, DV12 (David Vuillemin), the afore-mentioned Ben Townley, and basically 70 other guys.

May 24, 2008

Glen Helen Practice: Killer Pics by Hoss

Check out Joe Gibbs Racing's Charles Summey railing this sandy berm at Glen Helen. He's looking pretty fast here, right? Dude was flying. However the AMA's stopwatch put him in 30th place, meaning there were 29 guys railing even faster. It seems almost impossible there are that many fast guys racing the nationals.

Summey's 2:53.987 put him in mid-pack, as there was a total of 75 big bike riders on the AMA's practice list, but it was more than 11 seconds slower than the 2:42.278 lap that James Stewart blasted to set fastest time on the day. Surprisingly, Summey did beat Ben Townley's 2:54.192.

This great photo was taken by Factoryphoto, who has a stunning gallery of today's practice pics here. Very impressive.

Glen Helen 2008: Practice Day

I'm feeling it. Or will, as soon as I get off this 'puter and get to the track. I hope to run into the future Champion of the 40+ Beginner class this weekend...

May 17, 2008

An Outstanding behind the scenes film of James Stewart by Fox Racing

Fox Racing's unique relationships with its long-time riders has allowed them to create some of the most memorable motion pictures ever made in our "little" sport. Fox has been sponsoring James Stewart since he was in first or second grade or something like that, so if this latest video seems like it was lovingly crafted by a family member, well, Fox and the Stewarts (and the Carmichaels and more) ARE family.