Past Present and Future

Past

Supercross 2009 is now the past. The last 3 rounds saw amazing action, unbelievable turn of events, and surprise winners. Seattle saw Ryan Villopoto take his first 450 win in front of his home crowd, and Chad Reed have his first and only finish off the podium the whole season. WOW.

Next weekend, things got even more insane as Kyle Chisolm stepped in and effected the championship in ways NO ONE would have predicted. That topic seems to be controversial, and get some people pretty heated, and old so I'm not going to go there. I know what I think.

Vegas was the end all be all of vegas finales. All the racing from all 4 heats, both LCQ's and both mains were exciting. Congratulations to Christophe Pourcel for winning the 250 East Title and the Vegas shootout, Ryan Dungey for winning the 250 West title, and riding like a champ in LV. Congrats to James Stewart on his second SX title and coming back from pretty far down, and battling tooth and nail with Chad all season. Huge props to Northwest hero Ryan Villopoto on another win in Las Vegas. And finally big props to Chad for getting out there and riding like he deserved that number 1 plate from 2008, and making this season exciting. Thanks to everyone. The fans loved it!

PRESENT

Now there's 2 weeks off. Time to get out and ride and enjoy the newfound sunny weather, as the season changes. Unless you live in Oregon with me. Then you can enjoy the pouring rain. My good friend and his brother bought "6" old Honda CT 90's. I put quotations around the number 6 because those "6" little bikes are going to be an end result of 3 bikes total. It's definitely going to be a summer project, but I will try to put some before and after pics up sometime later.

FUTURE

The future consists of the 2009 Lucas Oil AMA Nationals. What a bright future it is. New sponsor, new management, new day, new riders, and a new 450 Champ!! I cannot express to you through this computer written text how excited I am for the nationals to start. Normally, once the supercross season heads east, I am bored already. Supercross doesn't have that badass allure that makes motocross so great. No big ruts and bumps. No 35 minute motos, let alone 2 of them. It's just a whole different ball game, and the real men will rise to the top.
Will Chad Reed be riding the Nationals? There have been hints at it, and it sounds like he wants to, but it also sounds like it's not up to him. What kind of world do we live in where it's not up to the riders? I'm sure it's more complicated than that, and I'm sounding like a dumbass right now, but it seems ridiculous to me that a rider can't line up at Glen Helen if he doesn't want to. I know there is insane amounts of money involved, but come on. Chad is their star rider. He deserves to mix it up out there if he chooses to. But either way, if Chad is there or not, it is going to be a great outdoor season in both classes. They are both so stacked with talent, bit is not inconceivable to think that every weekend is going to be an all-out crapshoot.

Both images were copied from the fine folks at Racer X, as I am not a real journalist or anything cool like that, and don't have media passes to the races, or secret underground photos of Chad Reeds national bike straight from Suzuki.

Get out and play

It's almost May, and outdoor motocross tracks across the country are opening up again, for all your moto-heads to enjoy. The supercross season is winding down as well, and while it has been one hell of a roller coaster season, the Lucas Oil AMA Nationals will start just 2 weeks after the lights go down in vegas!

Nothing tops true outdoor motocross. Hopefully there will be a few James Stewart and Chad Reed sightings, but I'm pretty sure this seasons championship will be from the rookie classes from a few years back in either Mike Alessi, Ryan Villopoto, or maybe someone like Davi Millsaps. All 3 are rivals dating back to the radical 90's, with cool shades, and all kinds of hues of green and pink.

Speaking of the 90's, check out www.foxracing.com and view the original Terrafirma videos for free! I can vividly remember being about 7 and 8 years old, and renting all 3 of the original Terrafirma videos from Blockbuster. It's safe to say that those videos got me hooked. How come we can't rent the TGO movies from Blockbuster these days?

If you're too young to remember the Terrafirma vids, or too old for that matter, or you're from another country, or you've lived in a nuclear fallout shelter for the past 2 decades, seeing these old videos is mandatory. Seeing the best of the best like Mcgrath and Lusk and Henry and Reynard just out having a good time, dressing up like Elvis, reminds you of why you got into this crazy sport of broken bones and the consumption of all your paycheck in the first place. For FUN!

Braaap Braaaaap!

Digital Video Recorder

Since the age of DVR, I have missed very few races. I had Washougal 06 on my DVR, where it was supposed to stay until the end of time, til my dad pulled a major bonehead move and accidently deleted it. I haven't forgiven him and neither has he really. It sure is nice knowing that I will not miss a race no matter what my plans entail.

But part of me misses the old days of checking the TV guide the day it came out, and planning my weekend around the races on ESPN2. I remember spending the night at my friends house across the street, and setting a "sub-conscious alarm clock." I woke up right around 7:30, and walked home to catch the SX race that started at 8. It didn't surprise my friend either. Something about making that extra effort to make an excuse to bail on church, or postpone going to lunch with the grandparents just another hour, made it all that much more rewarding. I was only 8 or 9 at the time as well. Not many of my friends were up at 8am on Saturday mornings. Of course I wouldn't want to go back to those days, but looking back on it, it sure was fun, and going through such efforts to make sure I got to see Ricky's first straight up win over MC, and Travis Pastrana's wild outdoor crashes, helped mold me into the die hard moto fan I am today.

Toy's R Congress

If this doesn't make your blood boil, I don't know what will. What a bunch of bullshit!

Leaving Fow Hawaii

I'm leaving for Hawaii tomorrow morning, but there is PLENTY going on in the world of moto right now.

First off, I got to ride an outdoor motocross track on Wednesday for the first time since October! Oregon has some long winters, but man did it feel good to finally hit some ruts, some bumps, some whoops, and and some jumps that don't require landing with the brakes locked up. Too bad I couldn't hold on for more than a few laps. I don't have any pictures yet, but just imagine me gooning it thru the whoops with my bows at my side and my hands on the verge of falling off. It was brutal, and I'm still feeling the effects, but it was a shit load of fun at that. Thanks to my sponsors: SPY, Dunlop, SixSixOne, Tag, Filtron, Braking USA, Sunline, Renthal and AMSOIL for making that goonability possible.

Tom Self, the guy I've been linking to about the Lead Ban, will be a "guest of honor" at the STL Supercross tonight. This guy deserves tons of kudos for the effort he's put into helping the moto industry get past this bullshit lead law, and all of it's "undesired effects." I'm not one to partake in conspiracy theories, but the Gov't has been attacking motocross since before I was even born. This just seems like a small piece to the overall plot to make sure outdoor riding areas are for the elitist, exclusionist jerks that want to hug trees and whipe their asses with leaves.

Travis Pastrana will also be riding STL tonight. He designed the track and it is rad to say the least. When the track maps were first released, STL was the one I was most excited about. Unfortunately, I won't be able to watch the race until next saturday, as I'll be on my way to the big island when the races start on SPEED. I guess unfortunate is a strong word considering I'm going to a tropical island...



KEEP IT ON 2 WHEELS TRAVIS!

N'Awleans

It's hard to go from the awesome unique track under the lights in Daytona, back to the mostly boring, small SX tracks under the domes. But nevertheless New Orleans is this weekend and it is getting interesting. Reed has an 11 point lead over Stewart. This season is coming down to the wire. Bubba has to be nearly flawless from here on out. That's a tall order, and he has somewhat of a habbit of cracking under pressure. He can pull it off, but so can Reed. It's anyones game.

Big thanks to my sponsors: SPY, Dunlop, SixSixOne, Tag, Filtron, Braking USA, Sunline, Renthal and AMSOIL

DAYTONA!

Daytona was Awesome. A real classic for sure, in both classes. Congrats to Davalos and J-Law for making some inspiring and somewhat unexpected rides. Here's some cool youtube vids just to keep it all fresh.

JOSH HILL'S HEAT RACE WIN AND SUBSEQUENT ONE-FOOTED CELEBRATION WAS SUPERB!!!