So it was St Louis SX for me and not the cool trip to Monterey for the 2010 Sea Otter Classic. Oh well, one can't always do what he would like to. Too bad, the Sea Otter trip wasn't only for the fun part of the MTB industry but also because it is an industry I enjoy working in.
My plans were therefore set for the weekend, with visits to dealers, including to the very cool Moto Italia in quaint Edwardsville, Illinois, and a couple St Louis shops.
The long drive went pretty good and fast thanks to a couple of Matthes and Racerxonline podcasts - I have to say that Steve's interviews are really good and Kenny Watson is a funny guy.
My Friday evening was booked with the Parts Unlimited showcase before a few drinks at the hotel's bar with friends. I was pretty pumped by my hotel choice since Suzuki and Honda teams were there too (this hotel has a big parking enough to park the rigs and rebuild the bikes on Sunday before hitting the road to Seattle). There was this very interesting documentary on President Lincoln assassination by Booth and the latter's escape towards the South where he thought he would find help and shelter. It was very interesting, but kept me up pretty late.
Saturday in St Louis started as a good day, with what looked like a good track, despite one or two sketchy jumps. The dirt was good, would develop ruts. But it turned into a crazy night with too many injuries for my taste. Davi has been riding hurt for a while and is bothered by a bad elbow that needs to be drained almost on a daily basis but he rode hard at the start of Heat 1 before crashing twice and going to the LCQ. Chad was back, looked fast, but not trying to kill himself for nothing. In the Main, again, despite his 2 crashes and a bummed body, Davi looked good at the start, running in third but he locked up pretty quickly and got arm-pump by lap 4. He salvaged a Top 10 finish which isn't bad looking at the ambulance and surgeries that both Ryan Villopoto and Ivan Tedesco had to endure that night. bad mojo in St Louis, with pretty poor track management despite strong voices in the riders and team managers' camps.
I have to admit that I really didn't like the view of Ivan on a stretcher, waiting for an ambulance, with oxygen mask on. It was a bad feeling. One of those wake up call that our sport has some pretty dark sides.
The 250F race got boring very quickly when Chris Pourcel took himself out in the 2nd turn, handing over an easy race win to Justin "Phenom" Barcia. Behind JB17 who had a 5-miles lead on 2nd, we had some good battle between Davalos, Sipes and Dean Wilson.
I left the Dome pretty fast, wanting to get to the hotel to enjoy a fresh beer instead of going out downtown. Bad calculation! Traffic turned into a nightmare and by the time I reach the hotel, the bar was closed and I ended up just hitting my bed with a bottle of Vitamin Water. Not cool!
Sunday mornig I was back on the road to Chicago at 5:30 a.m., enjoying a beautiful sunrise of the morne Midwest plains.
Congrats to Ryan Dungey, the Rookie, for his 2010 SX title. Wonderkid strikes again!
