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Reed won the Vegas final SX with a holeshot and sweep of every lap. RC was not far behind and gave a strong chase, but a few bobbles in the whoops kept him back-plus he had to think about riding smart and winning the title. Fonseca passed Ferry for third. The three finished Reed 1rst, RC second, and Fonseca third for the last 6 races. The race was pretty much a snoozer, but with the title on the line, you can bet no one involved had time for a nap. When MC finished his last farewell lap, RC and Reed were waiting for him and shook his hand. Keith Johnson was top privateer (including world SX rounds) and drove out of the stadium after the main in his new Nissan truck. Heath Voss (just three points ahead of Ferry) was second overall in world SX standings and for that he got a $30,000 points fund bonus!
Lecture time. Motonews not invited. Before practice Saturday, the AMA's Duke Finch took RC (and boss Chuck Miller) and Reed (and boss Jim Perry) into his motorhome for a meeting on, well, you know. The last time we saw this was at Binghamton when Mike Brown and Grant Langston were knocking each other over too much. Motonews tried to sneak in and listen to the meeting but was politely turned away. :)
Andrew Short won his first main by taking the Dave Coombs East/West Shootout. Bubba was clearly the fastest guy on the track, and was working the crowd by jumping a 70 ft quad that event the 250s wouldn't do. Just when you thought Bubba's only thing left to do (since no one could race with him) was see how much he could work up the crowd and try and set lap times faster than 250s (his best heat race time was just a second slower that Reed's), Bubba went off the track and dropped a few spots. He tried to catch back up quickly and totally wadded in front of the mechanic's area. Watch it on ABC Sports Sunday. Sorby led 4 laps but fell, then DNF'd with a bike problem. Short won it, Tedesco was second, and Michael Byrne was third, even though Byrne was riding with a thumb still recovering from a nasty break. The latest on Bubba, unconfirmed, is that he went to have his shoulder X rayed, and has a broken collarbone. Again that is unconfirmed. With Glen Helen next weekend, this could cause him to miss the outdoor series opener, but no one is saying anything yet.
RC and Fonseca wore black armbands in honor of the Japanese road race GP racer Daijiro Kato that died from racing injuries recently.
Reed's parents flew in from Australia to watch Chad race vegas. They love listening to supercross on www.sxgp.com!
It seemed everyone wanted to show up at Vegas with different gear. Bubba and RC had camo gear. Jesseman and Lalloz had Fly gear that looked like "Lost in Space" costumes. It was way cool. Subway racing had all white ear like DV's at Daytona.
THQ's newest MX game "MX Unleashed" was announced at Vegas, available January 2004.
The post-race press conference was a full house! Bauer reports that Honda signed Billy Laninovich right after the show Saturday night. That must mean Honda wants a factory 125 guy. Stay tuned for details.
Racing: Art Eckman's notes for the Las Vegas supercross finals
Greg Primm's team. Thursday the 4th annual R2R Golf Tournament at the Badlands course in Vegas again brought a good turnout of riders and celebs. RC and Reed both golfed, also there were Fonseca, Byrne, Gossellaar, Ivan Tedesco, Brock Sellards, Josh Hansen, Emig, MC, Carey Hart, Nate Adams, Denny Stephenson, Shane Trittler (who says he is riding this weekend), Button, and the free beer cart manned by two Mototalkers. Broc Glover played too and made the required trip to the scorekeeper and made sure his team got a fair deal. Bob Moore and The Familie agency were there with Reed. Most of the goodies came from Ogio, Thor, Sobe, Oakley, and CCE, which sent cool wind vests.
Business: AMA Confirms Long Term Plans for Nationals Discussed with Promoters Business:
2 Ways to
Follow Nationals Live on Web
Life: People Photos from Houston (Still catching up!) For the first time since who-knows-when (maybe 1997), the supercross title will be decided at the last round this weekend at Sam Boyd Stadium in Vegas. RC has 10 points on Reed, and Reed has an incredible 5 straight wins coming into this. RC needs a 5th to win the title if reed wins the race. In the event of a tie in series points, the title goes to the one with the most wins, or if that is a tie, the number of seconds... Here is a detailed explanation of the title chase tie possibilities.
Time for some bike armor? RC's bent pipe at SLC. Don't be surprised if RC shows up at Vegas with a CR250 modified for battle, with extra covers and brackets, etc. Honda is concerned Yamaha teammates Reed and Ferry may be tempted to target RC's bike, and RC has mentioned a couple of times in press conferences he doesn't want the contact out there because he might bend a pipe or break a radiator. That was part of what set him off at SLC, since Reed's aggressive pass left RC with a bent pipe.
The talk of the night at SLC, besides the drama after the 250 main, was the KTM Jr SX Challenge winner Caden Hadley, who actually doubled the first two jumps of a triple. He just went high in the turn before and pinned it! Hadley became an instant cult hero on message boards all week. Motonews got this Jeff Gibson news in an email: "Jeff is riding a KTM 125 for KTM, out of DFW KTM. Team Owner is John Alencar." Note: email #2 on this one says they don't believe it, so use your judgement. Casey Johnson will fill in this summer on Team Sobe Suzuki on a 125.
Mutt and Pixie's Excellent Adventure! This report has become an instant web classic. Here's what happened when Mutt and Pixie that got the VIP passes to SLC from the Tim Ferry trivia contest!
Congrats to Mototalker "Rage" for this excellent TGN cover shot. Rage also does Holeshot magazine.
Business:
2003 SX
Championship Down to the Wire at Vegas (CCE
Version) Rider updates: Matt Walker dislocated his knee at SLC and may be out as long as 2 months, according to a press release from Kawasaki. Travis Preston's knee will probably keep him out about 6 weeks. He is having surgery for his ACL and MCL next Tuesday. Michael Byrne's thumb is healing and he plans on racing Vegas this weekend. He doesn't have all his motion back but he's ready to race again. Someone reportedly stole KTM's awning at SLC, sheesh. If you read this numbnuts, just give it back. What were you thinking?
Check out Red Bull's plans for a "Hydro MX" on water! Racing:
125 Racing at SLC
Short Cut to Mototalk post on the fuss at Salt Lake City
KW's rig for the nationals. Yamaha's Chad Reed was out trying a YZ450 this week in prep for Glen Helen. He isn't expected to make the move for sure, but just wanted to see how fast he went on it. Previously Reed raced a 450 at Glen Helen at the World Cup, when he was on the winning Australian team. Motonews got word that Amsoil Honda's Travis Preston hurt his knee again testing for nationals, so he will miss Salt Lake City, and maybe more.
New MX radio show. Pit Pass radio debuted last night. The first show is archived on their site: http://www.pitpassradio.com./ The hosts are Scott Casber, Mark Bonnell, (MXKing) and Tony Wenck-. Mutt and Pixie will be VIPs at Salt Lake City. The got the Motonews VIP passes since Mnews is sponsoring part of the Racer X gas card, along with bmizar, who also kicked in $250 to make the $250 card a $750 card. The two Motonews passes went to the winner of a Tim Ferry trivia contest, but the winner, tbteam, couldn't go, so he passed the passes to elepold, who couldn't go, so next in line was razdazbraz, who couldn't make it so they passed them on to the lucky couple! Here's a link to the trivia contest if you missed it.
"Just bump him a little more..." Tim Ferry is returning to racing this weekend at Salt Lake City. Ferry has been off since Daytona due to Epstein-Barr, which requires a lot of rest. Here's the press release. Racing:
Art Eckman's Media
Notes for Salt Lake City Motocross West has results from the World Mini right here.
Life: Who Wouldn't Want Their Own Poster?
There are two big golf tournaments coming up, both for a good cause. The first will be the Road 2 Recovery tournament at the Badlands Golf Course in Vegas, May 1rst. Go here to check out the full story on their site.
The next tournament is a week later, just before Glen Helen. Here's the press release for the Chaparral/Glen Helen golf tournament.
The happy couple from last week's news.
Tickets!
Supercross has two rounds left, with RC just 13 points ahead of Reed. It's unlikely anyone is going to get in between them unless one makes a huge mistake or breaks something. RC can finish second in the final two rounds and still take the title by 7 points, but that's not what RC plans on doing. He wants to win the next two and show Reed why he's RC. RC is not riding at his max possible speed limit, but has been riding as fast as his bike setup will let him. RC even said at Dallas he underestimated Reed, and now Honda and RC are still trying different things in SX at the same time they need to be testing for the outdoor series. Reed has the same speed as RC, something no one would have thought possible. He got a head start on the series by racing the world rounds, and Yamaha showed up at Anaheim as the most prepared team, with Reed winning round one, and 5 more since. Any way you look at it, the series is just as exciting as round one (but less top riders out there) and Salt Lake City is next! Don't miss it!
Life: 4 Questions with Nick Wey. (4th place finish at Dallas!) Wey just had his best SX finish ever. Check out what he had to say about it and what he is doing next. Supercross invades Salt Lake City: Bacardi, SHIFT and Lamont Racing are adding Salt Lake City to the After-party list. Immediately after the race the official Supercross After-party takes on the Bricks Club, Salt Lakes' hottest night club. Come join your favorite riders, race teams and race fans for a night filled with contests, drink specials and lots of promotional giveaways. This is the party you don’t want to miss, so make sure you stop by the Lamont Racing transporter to pick up you V.I.P. pass! For more information contact Serrina at 707-696-2506 or visit Lamontracing.com. Directions: Go Westbound 400 South, turn right on 500 West, make left on 200 South it will be on the left hand side. Honda's new boss will be ex-racer Takeo Fukui, according to this site: http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns11052.html
DV and Erica Harbaugh got married in Las Vegas on Tuesday. It was a spur of the moment thing. Congrats! DV is also going to test at Yamaha today for the first time since that crash at Daytona.
Mike Alessi sweeps 12 motos, 4 classes at World Mini. Mike won 85 Stock, 85 Open, Supermini, and mod 14-16. His brother Jeff was second place in both super mini and 85 cc stock classes, and a third in the 14-16 mod and 4th in 85 cc open. Mike turns 16 May 2004, and plans on doing some outdoor nationals that summer.
Win a trip for 2 to Steel City! Moto Tees is doing the “Steel City giveaway” for the 2nd year. You sign up at any Moto Tees stand during any GNCC, ATV National, MX National, CCE Dirt Track, or their website, www.mototees.com. After the Millville national, they will draw a name for the winner and their guest. The winner gets 2 flights, rent a car, motel room, 2- tickets, pit passes, and of course 2 event T-shirts for the Steel City National. You need to be 18 to win, check www.mototees.com for more small print and crap. Nate Adams will represent the US at next month's Global X Games in San Antonio, TX. Mike Metzger is not doing the event because reportedly he is taking a year off to focus on other things like Supermoto.
Check out minibike racing in Ohio, and Chrissy and Brandi!
Business: Record Payouts for Regional and National Arenacross Series Female racer Leah Cantrell had a bad crash last weekend. Here is a message board where friends are talking about her status. Get well soon Leah!
Kawasaki's 4-stroke KX250F-SR went 1-1 at a Japanese national last weekend. Here's an article about it on MXLarge.com Life: People photos from St Louis! If you have a digital photo you want a high-quality print for, check out www.huskyprints.com. He did a couple for Motonews and they are really awesome. You can even upload a high-res photo to his site and order the print.
RC and Bubba put in a few hot laps on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel show. The show was pretty cool, with all the show folks taking turns rubbing Bubba's hair, and Deion Sanders telling Bubba when he was starting his bike, "Hey! Your a brotha. We don't do this!"
Racing:
125
Racing at Dallas (Photos added!)
Life:
4 Questions with Brandon
Butler, Made his First Main at Dallas! Dunlop had a big tire day at Glen Helen today. Team Honda was there. Racer X is reporting from there that Honda's Jonathan Hyland will be KW's mechanic this summer.
Photos: Dallas-14 Photos from the Race of the Year (RC/Reed)
Where's Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf? That guy needs to be on Jerry Springer!
"We almost didn't make this race." When Bubba was picking up his first supercross #1 plate at Dallas, his dad Big James whispered to the photo gallery that they almost didn't make it. What was he talking about? Check the above photo. Bubba's boot is missing a buckle and underneath he had a special wrap covering a burn, because a couple of weeks ago his leg was on fire! No one said anything, but the young champ was the victim of a (ahem) microwave/sandwich accident, and he burned his leg bad enough he couldn't ride for a couple of weeks. They didn't say anything because they didn't want any of his competitors thinking they might have an edge if Bubba isn't 100%. He toughed it out at Dallas even though he was in a lot of pain, and still he was incredibly fast, and focused on the 250 transponder times, because he wants to leave very weekend with the fastest time, even if he's on a 125...
Teams that may need a truck driver, make a note: Jeremy Zamanski, email jl_1_2001@yahoo.com, of Dallas has a CDL class A, clean record, and wants to drive a semi or motor coach. Drop him a line if you might need someone. Thanks to Josh McMullen for helping the Carter Lake, IA police department recover Jeremy Riesenberg's XR 50 that was stolen a few months ago. This bike is also one of the MPN Magazine project bikes featured in a huge minibike blow out coming in the May issue.
The first Supermoto GP (Photo by
Mario Marini). The World Mini Grand Prix starts next Tuesday in Vegas and goes to Sunday.
Racing:
125
Racing at Dallas
Dallas was unreal.
The Dallas SX is one that will be talked about for a long time. Reed and RC went at it for the full 20 laps, with the loud fans on their feet the whole time. It doesn't get any better than this. Art Eckman counted at least 8 lead changes! Reed won by two seconds. RC conceded defeat and said he will work harder for next time. He can't afford a bad race at this point with just two races to go and now only 13 points between them. Fonseca was third, and Mach 1's team of Wey and Voss filled the top five.
Bubba won his first supercross title, and all anyone can talk about is when will he race 250s! He was on his own level at Dallas, no one else close. Travis Preston was second, Matt Walker third. Racing: Eckman's Media Notes for Dallas
Dallas practice report: Not much, the usual are fast and impressive. RC and Reed didn't get together and test each others speed like they often do, so 250 practice was uneventful. Wey and Tedesco looked good. Sellards is on a 250 this weekend too. Despite a hurt knee, Travis Preston is here since he is second (a distant second) to Bubba in points. Bubba was matching the 250s in terms of what he was jumping and clearing in practice. Bubba is lookin good to take the west 125 title tomorrow night, which will be his first SX championship.
Happy family! Kennedy Anne Baker, Born: March 16th @ 6:37AM, Weight: 7 lbs./1 oz. Length: 18.5" (Dad is Kyle Baker from the Arenacross series) Business: Bubba to make national TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel show. Honda is set to start testing hot and heavy for the nationals after this, and included in the testing will be Kevin Windham. According to an email received by Motonews, Randy Valade is making the switch from a Husky 125 to a YOT backed YZ125. Twin Air will no longer be represented in the United States by Boyesen. Twin Air USA is now the importer, marketer, and promoter for all Twin Air products.
All Twin Air
inquires can be directed to:
RC and Bubba will be on the Jimmy Kimmel show, April 16th! You can go! Click the link and sign up. The rumor of the day is Michael Byrne is going to Kawasaki for 2004. This is unconfirmed, but it definitely has people talking. K&N
Filters Pro Series
Top privateers Keith Johnson and Ryan Clark get interviewed by Art Eckman at the Pontiac post-race press conference. Check out what they had to say... Life:
Interview with Privateer
Keith Johnson
Wesley Lloyd Cotter, born today. Suzi and Tim Cotter (AX and nationals announcer) are pleased to announce the arrival one one healthy boy, Wesley Lloyd Cotter, 7lbs 2 oz and 21 inches long. Congrats! Racing:
125 Racing at
Pontiac (with photos)
Dallas Supercross
After Party: Come party in the lone star
state! Bacardi, US Smokeless
Tobacco, Shift and Lamont Racing are bringing the official
Supercross After-party to Dallas. Come experience the Supercross
aftermath! Join your favorite riders, race teams and race fans at
Club Clearview immediately after the race! There will be drink
specials and promotional giveaways all night long, so stop by the
Lamont race truck and get your V.I.P. pass while supplies last. For
more information call Serrina at 707-696-2506 or visit our website
at Lamontracing.com. Stay tuned for Salt Lake City’s After-party.
Racing:
125 Racing at
Pontiac
Lake County Fair Stadium Motocross, July 23/24, the Wednesday and Thursday between Unadilla and Washougal. This event is a blast! Go! Click here for a larger version of the flyer.
Business: 2004 Silly Season Preview: Who's Contracts are Up! Who's contract is up in 2003? Just about everyone's! Read the full story here on this silly season 2004 preview. This is the latest from the pits. The most interesting rumor so far is what Travis Pastrana will be doing in 2004. Read up. Povolny is now on the Racerhouse.com team with Brian Mason and Kelly Smith. Sean Hamblin is staying on 250s for the nationals this summer.
Sobe Suzuki's Branden Jesseman goes into this weekend's east finale 12 points ahead of Mike Brown, so he has the advantage. Jesseman has ridden fast and smart this in the east, and just needs another good night to hand Suzuki a badly-needed championship. An ice storm is wreaking havoc for the hotels around the Pontiac Silverdome, forcing some teams to move due to power outages. Friday practice went well for 250 front runners RC and Chad Reed, and another exciting showdown between the two would be nice. Bubba meets Tiger Woods: Bubba spent a couple of hours hanging out with golf superstar Tiger Woods today. Bubba's PR agency Sportslink, who also represents golfer Grant Waite, hooked them up for a brief meeting in Florida. Two two reportedly hit it off, and Woods told Bubba he was glad they met and never talked about golf. Bubba wants Tiger to come to the shootout in Vegas, but he may not make it due to the PGA schedule and visit Bubba at an outdoor national this summer. Mototalker Cobra314 shot photos of Reynard testing his new Kawasaki, here's the link. Who's racing at Cycle Ranch in Texas this weekend? No one is saying for sure, but the nominees are Reynard, Pastrana and Windham. The thing could turn out to be a preview of Glen Helen. Business: Privateers Keith Johnson and Ryan Clark to be featured at Pontiac press conference. The all-new Kawasaki/Suzuki 250F's will be out and available about August/Sept 2003! Reports are pouring in about backflips at this weekend's IFMA event in Minneapolis! Check Mototalk for more.
Life:
People photos from
Daytona!
Racing:
Photos added to
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When Art Eckman is not doing post race press conferences and floor interviews for CCE, he is putting together some cool weekly stats that go out each week in CCE's press releases. This week Art took a closer look at the different sources of privateer income, and what that means for top WSX privateer Keith Johnson of Star Racing. Take a look at the data. Right now Keith is looking at a payout of $70K, much of that due to the second privateer bonus CCE put in for 250 riders that started in Europe. So, when you see how crappy just the purse money is, take a look at Art's data before you decide that is all they are getting. Out of Keith's $70K, less than $20K is purse money.
Shea Bentley is flying to California to have his thumb surgery done by Dr Murphy of San Diego. Business: Asterisk Sponsors Dallas SX BBQ SX After Party for
Pontiac: The Great Lakes and Superscross come
together: Bacardi, US Smokeless Tobacco, Shift and Lamont
Racing invite you to the biggest party to ever come to The Great
Lakes. That's right another official Supercross after-party! Come
join your favorite rider, race teams and race fans at Clutch Cargo,
Michigan's hottest club. The night will be filled with contests,
drink specials and promotional giveaways to those who show. Don't
forget to stop by the Lamont Racing truck to pick up your V.I.P.
passes, hurry they go fast. For more information contact Serrina at
707-696-2506 or go to lamontracing.com. Stay tuned for the
after-party in Dallas. Looking for one more team mechanic? Check out this impressive resume from Louis Papas:
Former
Team Race Mechanic for WMR Competition Performance: With a resume like that Papas won't be available long, here's his email: Lpmotox@aol.com
SX return of Emig, MC, Albee, and KW? What day is this? Racing:
Lots of photos were
added to the St Louis 125 Racing Page Business: Race for THQ Privateer Money Heats Up Fort Worth, Texas (March 26, 2003) - Clear Channel Entertainment-Motor Sports is proud to announce another big addition to the K&N Filters Del Mar Mile weekend. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation will be conducting a Youth Demo ride on Sunday, October 5th in the Horse Show Arena, the same arena the K&N Filters Short Track National will be held the night before. The Youth Demo will is an opportunity for children ages 6 to 12 to ride a dirt bike in a safe and controlled environment. Using Honda, Suzuki and Kawasaki motorcycles and suiting up in Thor motocross gear the participants will receive riding instructions from certified Motorcycle Safety Foundation DirtBike School Coaches. Participants must know how to ride a bicycle and a parent or legal guardian must be present. All safety gear will be provided.
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