Motocross Supercross TFS e-mag Empire New Home Page

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MC has won at Washougal before, but so have Henry, LaRocco, and Fro.

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Tough guy Tallon Vohland is back on his bike already.

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Mickael Pichon is back in the GP circuit.

7/31/99: Thanks to excellent sponsors Racer X, Fox, FMF, and Works Connection, the e-mag will be covering the entire 1999 AMA Amateur Finals at Loretta Lynn's.

More great racing is almost a sure thing this weekend! After eight of twelve rounds in the 1999 Mazda Trucks 125/250 National Championship Outdoor Motocross Series, Windham is still the only rider to win more than one round. After a Supercross season once again dominated by you-know-who, the outdoor season has been unpredictable and close.

Albee's consistency has paid off with a series lead of 30 points. He knows he is in control right now and looks confident every weekend.

Marc Vickers, unofficial president of the Tallon Vohland fan club, reported that RC's closest rival for this year would be in Washougal this weekend, but we don't know for sure yet if it is to race or spectate and wave hello and talk on TV.

As plans came together for MC's return to the nationals this weekend at Washougal, the people who knew kept a pretty good lid on it until this week. DC just ran a photo of a young MC in last week's Racerhead. This page ran the hint you saw a few days earlier, with two photos of MC and one of Team Chaparral's Larry Brooks.

From a Press Release from Action Group: After Toyota, sponsor of the US Supercross World Championship round in Los Angeles, AGI has signed a contract with FIAT for the Motocross des Nations in Brazil. The car companies have more and more interest for Motocross and Supercross !

There are 20 riders from Europe making the trip for the USGP at Budd's in September. The rest will need to come from here. The unleaded fuel rule has been lifted also, so I guess they can use what they want.

Internet rumor time again: AOL chat rooms were buzzing with false reports that Fro was out injured. One should never listen to internet rumors, but to make sure - a high level crisis control caucus was held on-line between the e-mag empire, Sondra, and Motoradio's Russ Statton on location in the northeast. Sondra called her buddy Roncada, who said that was dumb - he just saw Emig and he was fine. Russ pointed out the pros haven't even ridden yet since saturday is practice day. Duh! Hey, he coulda fallen out of the truck!

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Everts!

7/30/99: From Ray Archer - Stefan Everts made his return to racing at the British Championship motocross at Torrington, Devon, England last weekend.

More Photos of Everts in England >>

Pascal Haudiquert spoke with Mickael Pichon this week and confirmed the former 1/4 of American Honda's 1999 powerhouse will be happy to return to racing at this weekend's 250 GP in Poland. If you want to keep up with the GPs, check out Action Group's web site.

Our good buddy Denny Hartwig at PACE (who is a soon-to-be Motoworld.net wag) posted a story and pictures at PACE's site. It is good to see their site staying busy year-round. They have been keeping up with the races the SX series regulars do, even if they didn't promote it, and they haven't bought it (yet-ha!). Denny is getting pretty good at using a Sony Mavica for digital stuff, I might have to back off on saying Sony digicams suck. So far he has done the only photos with one worth using.

Tyler's race of the year so far must have been the Vegas 125 East/West Showdown, where he finished second!

7/29/99: This just in: More silliness from our man Steve Giberson - Thanks for the cool McGraphic!

MC racing at Washougal? Reports all week have been coming in from people who heard the local radio ads up north, and Sondra has MC in her picks for the weekend.

Someone is bending over backwards to try and stir up more MXA crap on Mototalk, and reportedly everyone is pretty pyssed about the latest slam from the grumpy magazine. This one is against #1 all-time SX/MX winner MC. As far as a Mototalk war, fortunately it looks like the talk regulars made some comments and let it slide for now. (Didn't we already see this pattern last month? It's getting old.) The grumpy magazine is known to take pride in stirring things up, but it seems like they just keep losing respect. Same for the person fishing for an InterNet slugfest, you got a few nibbles, but no one is biting.

If you want to go to Brasil for the MXdN, get your Visa! Mototalker AJ helps with this link to the consulates you need to contact.

Name That Hoppen: Fotohund Hoppen's baby boy is due out this week. Mary is holding up progress until they come up with a name. You can help them by e-mailing suggestions to Hoppen.

7/27/99: More evidence SX/MX is going mainstream - First Playboy magazine does a shoot at Unadilla, now GQ magazine brings out the crew for a feature on the race gang the day before the Troy National at Kenworthy's..

Honda's PR whiz Greg Wright reported this weekend GQ was on site to photograph Windham, Lusk, Albee, Button, Reynard, and Ward in cool fashion goodies by designers such as Gucci and Helmut Lang. The Motocross feature in GQ will be in an expanded November issue. Watch for a photo of Lusk ripping a berm in a $5,000 jacket! Ha!

The word was out DC even got in front of the camera last weekend at Dilla. I am going to have to get the races earlier, the big magazines are missing out a certain spectator with no life.

It's official, the 1999 Team USA for MXdN will be LaRocco, Windham, and RC.

This AMA's web site Press release has information on the tragic death of Dave Camlin at this weekend's flat track event at Du Quion, Ill.

The AMA's web site also has released details of the permanent numbering system. They were overheard at Troy soliciting comments. This would be a good time to check out the details and sound off on Mototalk...

Our man in Paris Dominique Sourie has released a killer project that has been in development for many months. It's way awesome, so don't miss Block Pass, by the French TFS.

7/25/99: The weather site I checked has Troy with a high of 96 and clear skies. Yikes! Sounds like a rough day.

It will be interesting to see if the winners will be past winners here, or if they will be the ones who have been strongest lately. Huffman has won twice (125), Lami twice (also 125), and Fro twice. MC also has two wins but he won't be here, and LaRocco has a win in '94.

The race plan should be about the same. Phone lines at Troy work and the pits clear slowly, so there should be time to get MXNationals.com photos done and a first edit on the TFS e-mag. You will already know the winners since CN/VG will be there too. (After race note: Oops! It didn't work out that way!)

Albee should be the one to watch in the 250 class. He says this title is his, and his riding has been notable. He has chased and passed KW more than once lately, which is heavy duty.

With Vohland out, RC can look forward to another 1-1. RC's ride from the back to the front in the second moto at Dilla was remarkable. The 125 guys have just 8 more motos to wait for the Green legend to move to a 250.

7/24/99: The weather is pretty hot up here in the Northeast. So far it looks like the Troy National will be another killer. It might not be like the one in 1997, but still pretty damn hot...

The last scorcher at Troy (1997) was the only time anyone ever flat-outran RC twice in one day. That honor went to Damon Huffman. That day, and the Atlanta Supercross in the same year, have been Huffman's best so far.

The 250 class will again be a great race up front. Albee is on fire, and KW , Lusk and LaRocco will be ready for him. Fro has won his last four motos at Troy, but if he wants to go 1-1 again he will have to click it up just a notch. He's not riding slow, it's just that a few others are really haulin right now.

When Fro pulled off after winning in 1997, all he could say was "water!" Right next to him Albee stopped by for his podium finish interview, and DC found himself talking to the ground. Albee plopped down immediately, pulled off his boots and shirt, and grabbed wet towels. It was brutal.

The luckiest person (or coolest anyway) was Cycle News VG jockey Rick Matheny, who moved his car close enough to the track he could see, and did the VG with the motor running and the AC blasting!

It's official. TFS e-mag will team up with Racer X and crew to cover the 1999 AMA Amateur Finals at Loretta Lynn's. Expect daily e-mag updates, photos, results, and as much extra stuff as we can cram in. Relatives and friends of the future stars will get fast results, and with the additional feature of Mototalk they will be able to make this the largest ever interactive race mega-report ever - on or off the web!

[OK don't even start in with the pay-to-talk conspiracy sh*t, this deal just got done today, and I doubt the new password thing will be ready by then anyway - so there!]

7/23/99: Don Schnieder, the AMA Four-Stroke National guy and the Damon Bradshaw arm-twister, also reports that Ryan Huffman was looking good this week and will be back for Washougal.

When Mad Mike Jones did a Freestyle demo at the Indy and Vegas PACE Supercross, you could tell it was a bit of a test because announcing Erv was sure to emphasize the word 'Freestyle' and test the crowd reaction. The crowds liked the demo. My guess is PACE's crowd monitors went back and crunched the numbers, and now Pat Schutte is hinting more is on the way... In case you missed it, here's Pat's latest from Mototalk:

Pat Schutte: These questions and more will be answered in the weeks to come (likely in less than a month):

-What about the Seattle Kingdome? Is PACE heading back to the Pacific Northwest?

-What's up with PACE's Freestyle Motocross Tour (FMX)? Rumor has it that California's got four dates!

-Is PACE involved with a big-time New Year's Eve extreme sports throwdown in Vegas?

7/22/99: The Photo-snatching hounds over at FMF Racing did a cool page with this weeks race photos, plus they mentioned Tallon Vohland has cracked ribs, instead of broken. Still he will be out a race or two and loose valuable points to RC.

Damon Bradshaw on a four-stroke again? It's likely according to sources close to sources, He is reportedly intrested in returning to an AMA Four-Stroke National in Denver on Sept 26.

PACE Motor Sports Supercross Director Todd Jendro had his bachelor party last night, which was attended by the top brass. Since all the company heavies were in attendance, sources close to other sources reported the fun was limited to quiet chatting, and polite clapping.

andy k, our esteemed Mototalk Action feature editor, slaved away to explore the 'Nets reaction to our solution to the Mototalk brats. It seems the best way to run off kids is to tell them to bust out a credit card or hit the road! As proof, we present another fun report. Don't miss this week's latest Mototalk Action! People who know what's up are patiently waiting for a decent web place to hang out, so the pressure in on, Hutch!

PACE's Pat Schutte confirmed that Pro Circuit's Shae Bentley is riding again after recovering from his second arm injury in a row suffered at Glen Helen (one in 1998, one in 1999).

Silly Season '99 is off to a late start. Except for Lusk confirming 2 more years with Honda after he won Southwick, things have been pretty quiet so far.

With Tortelli out for now in the 250 class, things are looking up for the current series points leader Greg Albertyn. Albee has been saying this title is his. Last year Albee was going strong at the end of the outdoor season. If he again shows the same strength and consistency, the Red Team will have it's hands full for five more weekends.

7/18/99: The first 250 moto at Unadilla was one of the best races of the year! LaRocco, Albee and Tortelli all gave it 100%. KW led the first moto, but seemed to fade a little, then in the second moto it happened again, first to fourth.

Injuries took their toll. Tortelli's front fender had a big tire track on it when he and Henry hit as they left the Screw-U section. Tortelli was left on the ground with a broken left arm, just above the wrist.

Vohland's day was even worse, right after the start of the first moto he crashed hard and broke three ribs. Initial reports feared a punctured lung but fortunately this wasn't the case. FMF's Hilton Beattie said no to the lung damage, it's just broken ribs.

Scott Sheak update: Mitch Payton confirmed Scott has been riding since last week, but the delay in his return to racing is due to the severity of the concussion he suffered in that scary crash at Southwick.

The Password/Mototalk/Pay Site talk is busy. There are some much-appreciated suggestions for alternatives to actually charging for the site. I think some might have hinted we are using the Mototalk trouble as just a fund-raising drive. Sorry, wrong theory. Mototalk, the fun place to chat about racing and trade scoops and gossip is already history. It's become a free-for-all for web punks that the moto insiders I talk to don't want to use anymore.

InterNet punks love to find places to trash, but they won't pay to make trouble. They will go somewhere else. The pay site thing is long overdue. If people think Hutch and/or I are greedy bastards, why did we do a free site for almost three years?

Motonews/TFS e-mag needs to shift to a pay site because it has value, and people won't pay to trash it (unless they are really nuts). My preference is to put most of the race photos and cool stuff on the member's side too. I'm going to go to about 35 races a year whether people pay for the site or not. To be quite honest, the size of the audience doesn't matter to me. People who don't think it has value shouldn't be here.

7/17/99: Unadilla should have some of the best 250 racing ever! The front runners are all pretty close together and should come out swinging. All of team Honda (KW, Lusk, Tortelli) are likely winners, and so are Albee and LaRocco. Last year's winner Fro hasn't shaken the funk yet, but it could still be his weekend. Then there is Dowd, Ward......

Unadilla's 125 class might be an RC/Vohland showdown, or another RC runaway. It depends on Vohland. Last year at Dilla RC had all he wanted of Reynard in moto 1, who passed him after a long, rough sweeper. Then in moto two Dowd was leading RC when they both went for the same line in the right turn just after the mechanics area, Dowd hit the hay, RC kept going. In both 1998 motos RC looked untouchable in the corners. The only place either RR or Dowd could catch him was in the longer rough sections where they could pick up some speed if they found the right lines. Since Vohland is a Euro-style guy he should be able to do this too-maybe.

DC's Racerhead is up and is always a must read. This week he had his fill of BS from Mototalk, so don't expect to see him back much until it gets some passwords. People who work in SX/MX everyday don't mind checking in, but when it's to see how much you are getting slammed by the hour it's just too distracting. Same for your's truly, same for Sondra, same for anyone. It's too bad, it used to be fun. Now we even have people sending threats because they don't like the half-serious "TFS e-mag Empire name." Get a grip!

They only come out at night dept---Have you ever checked Mototalk in the morning and wondered if the loonies took over the asylum?

Last night was another looneyfest. After a week of off-target DC slammin, personal attacks, and inner-circle warfare, we got a "Webmaster" who's ego was bruised by the new "TFS e-mag Empire" banner. I guess we will get another round of Webmaster after school lets out tomorrow. The web will probably get to see some nice work from this kid when he grows up.

A puzzle for most non-Southern California websters is why should we care about this local debate over mini dad/media guy Alessi? People who want to complain about this guy have overstepped normal web common sense. Post all you want, we don't mind, but forget about this conspiracy theory stuff.

At least for a few days Mototalk won't be a good place to get good inside gossip. The people who know have had enough flack, and are taking a break. It gets old.

7/15/99: Hoppen, the mad fotohund and scanner sent in a ton of Summercross photos! Thanks again Frank. His wife Mary is about to have Hoppenkid #2, this one a boy. Hoppenkid #1 (Xylena) is one year old.

If you are on AOL, here is a link to their Extreme Sports Library. I uploaded the picture of KW doing LaRocco's leap. The AOL folks doing that section are gung ho for Supercross and motocross and would appreciate a visit, advice, and more uploads. If you get bored and want to spread the sport around, feel welcome to snag some photos from the e-mag and upload them to AOL's Extreme Sport's Library-can't hurt! Just don't upload any wallpaper because they have "motonews.com" on them and that's not cool. Can't spamm on AOL I guess.

It seems like Pichon really got under the AMA's skin for the skirmish at High Point. If you saw a printout of the series standings from the AMA his points are still there, but his name disappeared! "No Name" is still in the top 20.

7/14/99: Doh! andy k is at it again! Don't miss the latest update of Mototalk Action, the InterNet home of the most informed and angry spectators.

Special thanks to graphics wizard Steve G for the killer new banner! You will find a link to his site on Surf's Up, by Cody.

Debating is up and info can be harder to find on Mototalk, but overall its holding up pretty good.

This weekend's race coverage of Unadilla will feature a new cub reporter Don Graber (92CR) who did a nice writeup of the pit cruisin at Southwick. Todd and Denise are hitting a road race in Mid Ohio (hey you two, haven't you heard of staying home and watching TV and fighting all weekend like normal people?).

And yes, the famous "Industry Race" at Unadilla is out. Chris Williams at MX.com is bummed but he's flying up from Atlanta to race amatuer day anyway. Unadilla will also feature another round of the WML Championship Series and another two motos from the undefeated-so-far Stefy Bau, the Italian superwoman who is going for the sunday pro class with the guys when the AMA series returns to Binghamton. She is really that good! Really.

Summercross attendance was reportedly disappointing, but the numbers flying around are all over the place. I wonder if the higher estimates that event folks like to use are the same numbers you find in the Tax Returns, hmmm - better not check.

7/13/99: Don Schneider reports he will have photos and more details of Bradshaw's weekend at the 4-stroke nationals wednesday at 4Strokenationals.com

Bauer's interview of Roger DeCoster is up at Racer X's site. It's damn good so you won't want to miss it.

Chances are good for a TFS e-mag daily update from Loretta Lynn's but it's not a sure thing yet.

The e-mag also sent a large delegation south to Morgantown to check in on DC and the Racer X gang. DC and the crew were busy doing everything from race planning to magazine building, so it was important to stay a long time and distract everyone in the office at least once.

Tim Ferry's wife Evie was cheering her hubby from Florida while logged on to the Motocross.com chat room during the Summercross saturday night. (Thanks Cody!)

Who's the "King of Extreme?" In case you missed it, here's a link to a page on that subject from last April...It was on Supercross Illustrated right here on Motonews. CMXU Preview: Sondra reports MC and his buddy Greyson Goodman will be hosting an event in Brasil this weekend but not racing, and then he will be in Phoenix on the 24th to sign autographs at the Arizona State Fairgrounds MX race.

7/12/99: David Vuillemin would have been 1-2 at the Czecho GP sunday but he was docked one minute due to a noise violation. His second moto was scored as a fourth instead. There's a trick you can't do without a tough sanctioning body (FIM) and cool scoring computers.

MXLarge has a lot more detail, and some news about Tortelli flying back to race in the Luxembourg 250 GP in August during a break in the US series. He will be on a Pamo Honda.

Bauer reports Leeann's hunny Ben Bostrom won the World Superbike race at Laguna Seca.

Did I just read that? Don Schneider, in an e-mail called Fresh Poop...reports on the 1999 AMA Yamaha/Maxxis Tires Western 4-Stroke National Motocross Series in Boise, Idaho. He wrote:
"Ex-Factory Yamaha pilot, Damon Bradshaw came out of retirement and won the 2nd Round of The AMA Yamaha/Maxxis Tires 4-Stroke Nationals aboard a Yamaha YZ400F with a 2-2 tally. The event was held at the OWHYEE MX Track in Boise, Idaho.

Mototalk took a dump at 2:20am. A lively debate was going on over the Freestyle thing, the "circus" issue, and this was spreading to the Summercross=circus too. I guess as long as races are in stadiums, people are going to hit them as a show and not a race. Whatever!

7/11/99: The Czecho GP is today (sunday). Ray Archer photos are up from saturday, which was muddy. Results from Catherine Haudiquert at Action Group should be in mid day today our time.

Catherine has sent results via e-mail from every 250 GP so the TFS e-mag got to do an unexpected complete coverage of the whole series. Ray Archer kicks everyones butt in the digital camera world with his Canon model C-"costs more than my new car"-something model. His photos have been a very welcome addition!

According to the early reports on Mototalk MC showboated enough at the Summercross in LA it cost him the lead to Tim Ferry. Ferry won, MC second, Pedro Gonzalez third. No Robosaurus on the podium, dang. Motocross.com covered the event live using their chat room. I wonder if the kids typing in "Metallica rules" stopped long enough to pay attention to the race (haha Spryal!).

Fifteen new Windows wallpaper images from Red Bud are up here. You will find a larger version of KW almost dragging the bars in a rutted corner, most of the factory guys, and Matt Walker. Walker's rookie year got off to a slow start in SX, but he is making up for it now.

Sondra sent in the picture at the bottom. That's her on the left and MXMickyV in the middle, president of the "Tallon's gonna do it" fan club.

Spryal at Motocross.com is way out front on using the web for product reviews. You can check out what is new there and read more than you get in mags because the mags have limited space. Now the space limit is probably Spyral's garage since he is piling up the swag.

7/9/99: The last two weeks have been very important for Supercross and Motocross in the media, much of it thanks to Freestyle, X-Games, ESPN, and ESPN's blunder over Pastrana's jump into the Bay.

Now the old debate about "Is Freestyle good for the sport?" seems moot. The question that remains is how much more will Freestyle (and the whole "X" thing) elevate the sport into the mainstream and how much better can it get?

Despite the wimpy deletion of Pastrana's daring jump into the SF bay, ESPN has done a lot by adding Freestyle to the X-Games. The riding was a hit. Deegan and his metal spiked chest protector didn't scare everyone off or make the world stop turning. (Clever photo cropping hid his mohawk haircut too!) X-fans saw Mad Mike Jones loan the BMX hero his CTi knee brace and hang out with the gang. It was good TV.

A prime time audience again got to see MC hanging with Mr Extreme - Shaun Palmer on the broadcast. Both got their plugs in for Supercross. Bernardo looked good too.

Then when news got out ESPN blew it by cutting Pastrana in the bay, the extra controversy made papers all over.

This week AOL added a Supercross/Motocross section to its Extreme Sports board. Two years ago I sent them a note offering SX results and pictures and I got a nastygram back saying no one was interested. Thanks to just one show, everything changes.

If you are Pat Schutte over at PACE, this tie in was much anticipated. Pat has been working the "SX is an Extreme Sport" angle for two years. Now, thanks to a Freestyle show it looks like Supercross and motocross are now moving up a notch.