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Justin Smith
Updates:
Photos: Action photos from Anaheim 3 Racing: CCE's event notes from Anaheim 3. Photohound Ryan Mahoney of www.photocross.net had this to report from Friday at Anaheim: Speed Demons: Travis Pastrana, Jamie Little and Stephane Roncada took a break from the Supercross action today to play. Travis was seen going flat out in his new Shifter Kart the open parking lot of Edison International Field. The three were taking turns driving; it looked like Jamie was laying down some faster times then Ron Ron – just kidding. I wonder if Travis is working on his license for Formula 1? It would be nice to have an American in that international field.
Business:
AMA Pro Racing Announces
Marketing deal with Wateree
Here is a cool article by Shav Glic on Supercross!
If you heard the rumor Larry Ward would be riding the east 125 supercross for Moto XXX, you heard right! He is riding the series starting at Indy. The team will be at Anaheim this weekend with a cool new rig too.
All the way from Australia, our own Mototalker Motodude sends this pic of Motodude Jr (Mark Brenchley) learning to ride his new XR80.
So you want to be an importer? Check out these Chinese bikes and place your order at http://www.wlie.net/wlmotor/index.html
It's official: Yamaha sent a press release confirming Tim Ferry will be out a few weeks. He suffered a severely bruised lung in a semi at Phoenix.
Our own Xtreme Ray Gundy has been busy covering IFMA freestyle! Check out these excellent photo reports: Freestyle:
Auburn Hills FMX
RC makes CN cover.
If you want to go ATV riding in Mexico, check this out:
The wildly popular InterNet radio show DMXS on www.practicetrack.net returns tomorrow night. They won't be able to top last Wednesday's show, which was saved from a snooze-disaster when they called Bauer and TFS in Redlands CA. The result was the funniest show yet, and it will never be as funny again (unless they have us back!).
Business: Details on Kawasaki/Suzuki Alliance Expected Will Kawasaki and Suzuki merge and just form one race team? Some people don't think so, but think about 2004. Could happen. Tim Ferry is returning to Florida Tuesday to recover from that hard crash in a semi at Phoenix. He has a bruised chest and lungs, but not a punctured lung. Snagged from Racerhead: AMA Pro Racing, the leading sanctioning body for motorcycle sport in the U.S., has hired Andrew Leisner as Vice President to head a newly created AMA Pro Racing Los Angeles office. Leisner, a veteran of the motorcycle industry as both a racer and executive, will head up AMA Pro Racing's West coast sponsorship sales efforts and be responsible for managing communications with, and responding to the needs of the motorcycle industry in California as it relates to the AMA brand of professional motorcycle racing. Leisner's experience in the motorcycle industry is vast. Prior to joining AMA Pro Racing, he worked for four years as western advertising manager for Cycle World Magazine -- the world's largest motorcycle magazine. He also worked for Team Marlboro Roberts before becoming national advertising manager, and then publisher of American Roadracing magazine. Before working on the business side of motorcycling, Leisner enjoyed a successful amateur and professional racing career. After racing amateur motocross since age 10, he became an AMA pro at age 18 and competed in the AMA 250 Grand Prix Series from 1986-88. After consistent top-5 finishes, he spent 1989 racing in the 250cc Grand Prix World Championship. Leisner suffered a career-ending injury in 1990 and decided to pursue a college education and later earned a bachelor's degree in economics from UCLA.
Arenacross series contender Damon Bradshaw is out for the season. Major bummer! Bradshaw's latest return to professional racing was one of the coolest stories this year and he and Josh Demuth were having a great rivalry for the points lead. Damon suffered a compound fracture of both a fibula and tibula at last weekend's race at Hampton, Va.
Phoenix: RC won his heat and the main after a short battle with MC, and a high speed chase to stay ahead of Travis and DV. The 250 main smoked! Fonseca was in second for three laps then he and MC has a battle for 4th, then 5th, then 6th. LaRocco went from 10th to 4th. DV still leads points, but now RC's people can get out a calculator and figure out what it will take to catch up in points if he can win every weekend last last year. Remember in AMA scoring a win is 25 points and second is 22, so the winner gets a bonus, not just one point per place. Lusk was on the ground on the first lap and make it to 9th. He and Roncada battled most of the main.
SX series leader DV came out on for the Phoenix show with a Suns jersey! Cool huh? MC finished 6th, and said he was 150% better. After the main he said last week he learned more about what happened to him. After the US Open he had a really bad practice crash. This didn't get reported as far as I know. This pinched something in his back and it caused his right arm to have a circulation problem. A chiropractor popped him straight and he said it was a relief to find out what was up. He should be improving from here. KW was midpack the whole main. Bubba totally smoked the 125 class. He stole the lead from Lytle right away and just left everyone. He was doing the triple-quad-triple consistently and I think just Travis Preston (second) also doing it. Maybe Thain too. The top three (Bubba, Preston, Thain) were gone. Bubba fell once after the second triple but Preston didn't catch him. Pingree's front end was completely severed in a heat race. That ended his night. Ferry crashed in a semi and called it a night with a sore chest. Tyler Evans broke a collarbone in practice. Casey Johnson broke his leg. Mike Craig broke a foot Friday. The crowd was capacity, 49,000+
Maxxis tires has its new web site up and running. Check it out. Maxxis teams include Tuf Kawasaki (Arenacross), Moto XXX, ECC Suzuki, Fasst Racing and lots of fast guys.
ESPN's Jeff Emig interviews David Vuillemin for ESPN. Supercross is competing with the Phoenix Open golf tournament this weekend, but maybe those wimpy golfers will take the short drive to the BOB so see the coolest sport Saturday night. Racing: DV and Tim Ferry from Phoenix press day interviews/photos are up. Practice day at Phoenix didn't have any big surprises. The riders who have been going fast in past weeks are still fast, with RC looking ready for a podium too. MC looked like himself, but we don't really know what that means right now. Ivan Tedesco cut his chin in practice and was off to a Dr, probably for some stitches tonight. Rodrig Thain is racing this weekend but has shoulder surgery scheduled for next Tuesday, which will take him out for a while. His shoulder injury from last summer at Southwick is giving him trouble so he should be getting a more permanent fix..
Travis Pastrana not only was one of about 10 250s to try the triple-quad combo at Phoenix on Friday, he even did a heel clicker over the quad and landed in the next turn!
Team Yamaha was featured at Phoenix's Press Day today. Series leader David Vuillemin and YZ426 expert Tim Ferry were on hand for interviews and a riding demo. The Phoenix track features a long triple (from third plate to home plate-its a ball park ya know) and a set of four jumps to jump 3-1 or 2-2 into a corner. After a few passes Vuillemin hit the triple just hard enough to land on the face of the third jump and pegged the throttle all the way to the next jump, doing a quad into the next corner. Heavy duty! The distance is probably about 80 feet. Ferry watched and did it a few times, then he told the media he did it because DV did and we were standing there watching, so hey ya gotta. The track is a lot softer than the California hard pack tracks so far. Both DV and Ferry said the corners would develop ruts and become 2-line corners, making chances for passing better. If you read the post on Mototalk last week about DV and some grumblings on the part of his mechanic, forget it. DV's mechanic Craig Monty said he hadn't talked to anyone about what was said and the post was false. Yamaha isn't laughing either. Mototalk is read by everyone, and things like this don't go unnoticed. Overall the 250 series after three rounds is a stunner. DV and LaRocco are the only winners so far and the most consistent, but it could be a weekend for RC or MC to break the funk. RC's wrist should be better and he may be back to the RC that was almost unstoppable in 2001. MC is hard to judge. He has been getting his forearms worked over and maybe that's all he needs.
Joel Grover, assnt. Director of Supercross. Chad Reed is having shoulder checked today to see if anything is cracked.
So far SX has sold out Anaheim twice and almost did at San Diego.
Life: Anaheim 2 People Photos! (Major babes, don't miss this one) Broc Sellards has a strained neck and sternum and may miss Phoenix also. It's no secret things were tough for Amateur SX at Anaheim 2. The day was a bit overwhelming with 1,400 riders showing up and long delays-and dust. Motonews ha learned that Atlanta's amateur day, which would have been Feb 24th, is cancelled. Cycle News posted a strong editorial about the supercross wars. Here's the link. This is the first big moto media to take a stand on the AMA/CCE split to come out since it was announced early in November. Editor Paul Carruthers wrote it and argues for the status quo-AMA sanctioning and CCE promoting. Up until now media has been printing press releases and waiting it out. The only source of hard news so far has been Motoworld, Racerhead on Racer X, and right here at Motonews. Moto XXX has invited a lot of top bands to hang with them in the pits for Anaheim 3, Feb 2, between 3:30 or 4:00. So, make sure you get a pit pass and stop by! Should be a rockin turnout. Doh! A Mototalker has reported that Robbie Horton forgot about a pistol in his bag and got busted getting on a plane on his way to Arizona.
Chad Reed had a hard crash today at Elsinore and his bike landed on him. He went to a Dr and the found nothing broken, but he took a hard fall. He has a bruised sternum and a sore shoulder, and still needs a CT scan. He may miss the Phoenix SX. Racing:
250 Racing got a lot of new
photos from Anaheim.
Vuillemin's success in EA Sports Supercross in the US has attracted the attention of a large French weekly sports magazine called "L'equipe Magazine." L'equipe is like a Sports Illustrated in France and is sold with the Saturday newspaper.
Bonds will be out for a couple of months.
WInter X-Games: Deegan won! (L) Clowers upside down. (Gundy photos)
The Amsoil/Factory Connection winning crew at Anaheim. How could anyone not feel good about LaRocco winning one again? It's been a long time. Racing: Anaheim 2 125 and 250 reports are up in the racing section. CCE's Ked Hudgens was a guest in LA's 97.1 "Speed Freaks" radio show to make CCE's case in the AMA/CCE split. Ken used the "If you write a check for a car, do you own it?" argument to make his point about CCE's investment in the sport. Kawasaki's Bobby Bonds took a serious pounding during a semi at Anaheim 2 and will be out a couple of months. Reports are not official but we understand he has broken bones in his back and a few other problems but is expected to recover. Wish him good luck.
Pastrana lost the lead at Anaheim with this crash after he missed a shift.
Racing: Anaheim 2 Press Day: Photos and Interviews with Windham, Pastrana, Danny Smith, and Shane Bess.
Husky adds Tyler Evans after Lamson broke his leg last weekend. (Giberson photo). Henry and Dowd traded wins at the Bridgeport Arenacross Friday night. The racing was close! Tomorrow we should have an announcement on TV for the AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Motocross Championships. Motonews started the rumor TV might go to Speedvision. Just a guess!
Also: Look here daily for Justin Smith updates and hope for the best. More: Road 2 Recovery's site For information about the industry fund raiser. This update from www.nacnac.com: Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz are coming to the Anaheim race this weekend, along with the director of Charlies Angels and the regular celebs...Vince Vaughn, Matt LeBlanc, Jeremy London and Mark (Paul) Gosselaar.
Save this link: Kawasaki's weekly race reports Kawasaki is now putting their race reports on line each week.
Shav Glick of the LA Time talks to Roger DeCoster at Anaheim 2 for Press Day. Glick is probably the best-known mainstream sports journalist that likes to cover supercross and motocross. Here's an article he did on Bubba.
Press Release: John Dowd and Doug Henry to race Jan 18/10 Bridgeport Arenacross
The
seven-time AMA Supercross Champ Jeremy McGrath
has a three-page editorial feature in the February 2002 issue of Playboy
Magazine, available on newsstands now. The feature provides candid
informational riding tips from McGrath as well as a handy guide on all of
McGrath’s riding essentials...from bike to helmet. Just a rumor dept: Grant Langston and KTM are testing (or already tested) 2003 KTM 250s in California this week. The buzz is that these bikes really haul. Big horsepower! With Steve Lamson out with a broken leg, Husqvarna needs a 250 rider. Why not Tyler Evans? You could call it the Italian Mullisha! Rodrig Thain popped out his shoulder Tuesday but rumors that he wouldn't ride this weekend are probably wrong. According to www.sxdirt.com, the Internet's #1 source for what Doug Henry is up to, Henry is racing an Arenacross again this weekend, (a regional at Bridgeport), both classes. Earlier in the season he rode just one night at Worcester and made the podium!
Brad Zimmerman put up video of the San Diego post-race press conference: Here's the link
Life: Honda Youth Demo rides for kids! The Press-Enterprise newspaper of San Bernadino is running an excellent series of articles about the "Mecca of motocross," Riverside County in southern California. The series talks about the motocross industry, factory riders and factory practice tracks, and the life of the privateer. It's all great stuff. It's awesome to read a sports page that looks like a Cycle News!
New site on the "A" List: www.hoppenworld.com. It has photos from the madman himself!
Plano Honda's Justin Smith in practice at San Diego. Moments after this was taken he came up short on a jump and someone else landed on him. He is in a hospital in San Diego. Click here for a wallpaper sized photo. Friends and fans of Plano Honda's Justin Smith are hanging on for news that he will recover after a really nasty crash in practice at San Diego that put him in the hospital. Drs are concerned about swelling in his brain and he is in an induced coma. The best place to follow his progress is on Southern Dirtbike's message board. Here is the link.
San Diego's winners at a post race pres conference Saturday night. Press conference's are new this year and are a big plus.
San Diego was a remarkable weekend. The 68.415 crowd was the third largest in all of supercross history, and the largest since 1987. Bubba became the youngest winner, the first African American winner, and DV won his second in two races and has a perfect season. RC toughed it out with a taped up hand to get 4th place points, and MC is still in a very uncharacteristic funk. Aussies Reed and Byrne are top 5 in points! RACING:
San Diego 250 Main Report
RACING: San Diego Event Notes, by CCE's Denny Hartwig Tim Ferry is back, RC missed Friday practice (as expected) and will race today, and who the heck knows what will happen at San Diego tonight! After a wild and crazy upside down night at the season opener at Anaheim, this one will be hard to call. MC, RC and TP are not in the top ten, which get introduced in the show opening. Maybe they will have an intro for the top ten, and a hop lap from a couple of those other guys. Motonews went to the No Fear headquarters in Southern Ca yesterday. Marty Moates used Bauer for target practice with a BB gun, and all sat around for about an hour talking about the future of supercross with champ Ricky Johnson. RJ has an office at No Fear and is working more on www.supercross.com, so check in there often.
USA Today covered the Anaheim season opener with this article, check it out!
"I probably never thought about one single race in my life more than I did about last week's race. Read more about what MC said at Press: RACING: San Diego Press conference, including MC, Billy Laninovich, and Justin Buckelew.
RJ Thompson will take Pedro Gonzales' place at the rest of the Arenacross events. Speedy broke his femur at Ft Worth and is recovering at home, and checking Mototalk!
SR3 "New Blood"
LIFE: More people and pit photos are up!
The defending supercross champ won't be at press tomorrow or practice Friday, but he will fly in to California Friday afternoon and race Saturday. He may not be 100%, but you know how tough RC is, it may not matter. Check in tomorrow and get an update from Dr John Bodnar, the supercross Dr.
What was up with MC's 13th place finish at Anaheim 1? Nothing weird really, just a case of arm pump.
Tyler Evans got a lecture after showboating on his 250 main hot lap at Anaheim 1. Based on the reaction on Mototalk, the fans are on his side. To be fair, its not true top pros do the same thing and nothing is said. Pastrana did a trick at his first ever supercross (Indy 2000), and he got a lecture too.
After press day before Anaheim 1, Pat Schutte organized a trip to Vans Skatepark with Team Honda's Nathan Ramsey and skateboard legend Steve Caballero. Here's the trip photo report!
PR whiz Dorina Groves got married to Shane Clarke in Vegas just before New Year's. Congrats!
Who saw this real DT1 with no miles on it? Check out this road trip.
Gary Semics is the trainer this year for Brock Sellards and Branden Jesseman. Three surgeries and he didn't even crash! Web motoheads were concerned about Ryan Morias and his internal bleeding after he came up short on a triple and hit so hard it did internal damage and broke a wrist. He went through surgery twice until they found the problem, then he went back a third time to have his wrist worked on.
YOT's Rodrig Thain was fined $1,000 for running his bike into Chris Gosselaar after the 125 main at Anaheim 1. He was leading on the last lap and Gosselaar was trying to catch him in the whoops. They got too close together and Gosselaar hit the back of Thain's bike and they both fell.
Life: Damon Bradshaw interview by Jim Kimball. RC Mini-Update: RC took a red-eye flight back home to Florida to relax early Monday morning. So far all is good for his return at San Diego this weekend. Bauer made a reference to a news item on Mototalk about AMA Pro Racing's CEO Scott Hollingsworth having previous unhappy business with SFX (which ran supercross until CCE bought it). Motonews sources say its true. For a week or too this has been kicking around and news people are watching the story carefully. Motonews will try and get some detail this week. If it is true that part of the motivation for the CCE/AMA split was someone at the AMA settling an old score and dragging supercross into it, this could become a liability for the AMA. This split has already angered a lot of industry people and they won't welcome the idea that their job is changing for the wrong reasons. There is one point in the supercross wars that all the factories can agree on, and that is there will be just one supercross series in 2003. There is zero support for the prospect of splitting between two competing series, and all the factories are for now waiting this thing out. They are hoping one side will give up and make the decision an easy one. If not, they will wait and compare notes until it is time for them all to commit. There will not be twice as many supercross races to see in 2003. The factories will not let that happen.
RC Update: RC spent the night in a hospital as a precaution after ringing his bell hard last night at Anaheim. He had a CT scan done and he is OK. They said he lost consciousness but did not have a concussion, which would also have swelling and pressure(?). Still he had a gnarly headache and the hospital gave him some really good medicine, which helped the headache at least. He was a lot better about 3am and is expected to be out of the hospital and probably off the bike a few days. He should be at San Diego ready to go..
RC crashed out, MC wasn't himself, LaRocco was fast, but Vuillemin took the lead on the second lap from Michael Byrne at Anaheim and won the series opener! Fonseca charged from 10th to third, knocking Pastrana down on the way.
Bubba Stewart got knocked around and had a night of crashes, but he managed a second place after Thain and Chris Gosselaar self-destructed on the last lap in the whoops, and they handed the win to Travis Preston. "Now I know how Langston felt," said Gosselaar.
First turn mayhem at Anaheim 1. Ride Snowboards is pleased to announce it is sponsoring Stefy Bau. Here's a link. Robbie Reynard wasn't at Anaheim because he hurt a wrist while training on a mountain bike and he wasn't ready yet.
Racing: Here's photos from the Crossover, and the results press release.
Who was turning heads at Anaheim Friday? Bubba! Bubba may have the most impressive rookie debut we have seen in a while.
Team Honda's 4-stroke man Nathan Ramsey joined skateboard legend Steve Caballero at the Vans Skate Park near Edison Field Thursday after press. Caballero is racing the crossover tonight. He has been learning MX skills from Fox's very fast Todd Hicks. Photos from the skate park will be up after Anaheim. "Tomorrow's the big Anaheim opener, so that means today is you're last chance to get signed up at www.MotoXDream.com for your opportunity to win our 2002 TUF / Pro Circuit / Thor / Team Green Kawasaki 125 Grand Prize. Get signed up, throw down some contracts and if you're riders blow it up, that KX125 could be in your garage this summer." MOTOLeague.com is proud to announce our third season of FREE Motocross and Supercross leagues. We will be accepting entries for round one of the 2002 EA Sports Supercross Series until 3:00 EST Saturday prior to the event. Cruise the web on Saturday for late breaking news and log on to www.motoleague.com to select your team. Many thanks to N-Style, Maxima, Engine Ice, Factory Connection and BTO Sports for their generous prize donations and continued support. And don't forget the real fantasy league, our own Motonews Fantasy SX organized by the Mototalk tyrant Hutch, click on banner at the top of the page. Team Suzuki ha been added to Sobe's "Team Lizard" athletes page, http://www.sobebev.com/site/team_lizard/index.shtml Ricky Johnson did an interview with JAMSports about the 2003 AMA Supercoss season. Check it out on Supercross.com Motocross Champions Mercedes
Gonzales-Natvig and Ricky Johnson
have teamed up to hold motocross schools targeted
at woman riders.
Anaheim!
Ernesto Fonseca in practice at Anaheim. Press day for the 2002 EA SPORTS Supercross Series went over big. The noteable thing about this afternoon was how much supercross is attracting more outside support, and how people put the supercross wars aside to get down to business. Things were very upbeat. CCE's Roy Janson introduced AST, the marketing organization that is about to distribute clothing featuring supercross stars in mass markets this month. EA SPORTS talked about its new big games and that they were glad to be title sponsor of SX for the third straight year. Media turnout was very good. RC got his championship ring. YOT introduced its new title sponsor Boost Mobile, an Aussie phone company. Ferry and Tortelli are out. Ferry just had a scope on his knee and is expected to miss 2 or three races. Tortelli wasn't expected to start due to shoulder surgery he had in the off season. Good luck to www.motorcycle.com. They just went for subscriptions too, like Motonews did in Oct 1999.
AMA Pro Racing is working on a safety plan on head injuries in motocross. A press release is expected soon. The AMA's new Safety Director Hugh Fleming is heading that up. Tim Ferry had orthoscopic surgery on his knee today and it went well. He is expected to be off the bike 2-3 weeks. If you want to keep track of your favorite rider, you might find his official web site at www.vrmweb.com. They have 18 official rider sites including Mike Brown's, and one of the first moto fantasy leagues ever. Dr Steve Augustine, who is at all the nationals for the Road 2 Recovery Foundation, is working on motorsports safety and has a site you should check out. Look at http://www.motorsportsafety.org/ AGP Racing's Sarah Whitmore links up with pickuptrucks.com http://www.pickuptruck.com/html/stories/whitmore/whitmore.html Business: Plano Honda title sponsor is Shark Energy Drink A fire destroyed a motorcycle shop in Denver, here's a link to the story. Catching up on press releases section: Business:
Amateur Supercross at
Anaheim 2 and Atlanta
Here's Chris Williams of Maxxis Tires testing some product. (Mike Farmer/Maxxis photo)
More photos from the County Line MX track north of Panama City, Florida are up... (Check out all three pages) Photos: Here's a special release of Team Kawasaki 2002, Lusk, Roncada and Stewart.
Happy New Year!
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