The art of SX

When you see the art in SX riding. This is an amazing video by Red Bull, even if JS is actually scarier to watch in slow-mo

Amazing Super Slow-Mo video with JS7 and CR22

This is dating back to 2009 and I apologize to chad for having him advertize for Thor still, after their relationship ended in not so good terms, but these images are outstanding.


Motocross Super Slow Motion Clip from Maroš Likavec on Vimeo.

SX: Crash Reel 2010 video

Enjoy this little teaser of things coming for us Motocross fans. It is Saturday January 8th 2011 and it is the long awaited opening of the 2011 Supercross season at the legendary Angel Stadium in Anaheim. A1! It's on and it's mega packed. I think we need to go back to 1985 or 1986 to have 4 to 6 riders who can potentially win races and the title, all healthy and lining up behind the gate. It's been a while that when walking the pits you ask someone who's their pick for a win tonight, people take time to think about it and are not sure, even if we all have a favorite, who will win.

From here on, things are going to change, riders are going to crash, some are going to get hurt, the stronger ones are going to establish a new - or a renewed - hierarchy, the weaker ones are going to settle towards the bottom 10 places. Things will become more predictable for the fan.

I am enjoying the moment, enjoying the next hours, from arrival at Angel stadium this morning, the track walk, the vibrant pits, the full house stadium trepiding in anticipation at opening ceremonies this evening when 7 pm comes. The roar of the first gate drop.

Here's a little video crash compilation from last season. Interesting to note how much Ryan Dungey, on his way to his first SX title as a rookie, and Ryan Villopoto crashed.

Anaheim 1 Supercross 2011 - Press conf video

and the new season is here. Yeah! Flew in last night. Can't wait for the first gate to drop tomorrow. Very hard to say who will win the first Main. JS, Reed, Dungey, RV? In my own opinion, James Stewart still has it and has the come-back motivation too.

Cool video by Racer X

On my way to the first Supercross of 2010

I’m half-way through my American Airline flight 1425 from O’Hare to Orange County-Santa Ana Airport and listening to Steve Matthes’ podcast of Honda Red Bull Racing’s Andre Short.

I think that I was pretty lucky to get out of Chicago this morning, ahead of the heavier part of that huge Winter Storm that’s hitting the city. My drive to the airport was pretty slow but not too bad despite the 2 inches of snow that blanketed the roads in some parts. Of course our plane was late at the gate and we departed late, after 2 series of de-icing but it’s been pretty smooth up here at 38,000 feet.

So Steve and Shorty are previewing the SX season, talking a lot about the #15 of course (just kidding) and it made me think about Kevin Windham a bit. What is K-Dub going to do this season? He has been one of the greatest motocross and supercross riders in the US, has come so close so many times to win a major title, won many Outdoor Nationals and Supercross races but never got consecration. He is back riding the 450 Factory Connection Honda and will line-up again for the AMA SX series but what can K-Dub really do? It’s hard to say, and hard to accept that someone of his level and class cannot fight for podiums or titles anymore, but I think that his chances are gone. Of course Windham is fast and of course he has what it takes to make Top 5, but it is going to be very hard for him to beat RV, Josh Grant, Josh Hill, Shorty, Millsaps and even support-Yamaha guys like Reardon and Tedesco on a weekly basis.

Like I wrote before – and like everyone has been saying – the2010 450 class is stacked up! There’s no shortage of fast guys and talented rookies like Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey (who will be wearing the #5 that he stole from Johnny O’Mara, Ricky Johnson and Mile Larocco!). It’s going to be tough for the #14 and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is his last SX season.

(Just done listening to Shorty, now on Rich Taylor’s podcast)

It will be good watching him ride though; K-Dub - who’s one of my wife’s favorite riders after RC, Stewart and our friend DV934 - is one of the smoother riders out in the recent history of SX and MX. For the 4 or 5 of you who are reading this, make sure you go to some SX races this year to watch him race.

 (Rich Taylor is actually a very interesting guy, and I can never respect enough someone who has the courage to start his own company in 21^st Century USA, and a motocross goggle brand at that, probably one of the most saturated segment in the off-road market.)

2 days before the first race of the year.  Josh Grant took a big digger this week, breaking his nose but nothing else and should be on for A1 although he might not be 100%. Apart from Stewart and Reed, I still think that Davi Millsaps, Josh Hill, Ryan Dungey, Josh Grant and RV will be the guys fighting for Top 5. I do not see Tedesco racing in that Top 5 and I don’t think that Reardon122 will consistently get in there. I know that a good amount of people believe  Justin Brayton is going to be a threat, as strong as those I previously named, but I am not convinced he can be there this season. No doubt JB114 is very fast, matured a lot, has become a stronger racer and will benefit a ton from the move to the JGR Yamaha 450. But I don’t think that he has that killer instinct, constant starvation for victory you see in JS7, Reed, RV, Grant, Barcia, and De Coster, Lackey, Hannah, Bailey, Rick Johnson, Jeff Ward, JMB, Stanton, McGrath or RC before. Andrew Short is bit like Brayton actually.

I still believe in Hill and Millsaps and see them doing very well this season.

                As soon as I land, grab my Ogio back and my Alamo rental car, I have to rush to Angel Stadium and the AMA Supercross press-conference to work on Davi’s helmet and arrange his cheek-pads. Unfortunately his race helmets only got painted yesterday and couldn’t be used for the Red Bull rider intro, which I am a bit upset about. We’ve rushed to get things going but after the first 2 races, all should be smooth and tuned.

Gautier Paulin has already been practicing with his AGV AX-8, which is pretty cool. I just need to add an AGV sticker on the front, somewhere.

Darn! 2 more hours to go before touchdown. 46 minutes to go in Rich Taylor’s podcast after that I’ll be back reading Racer X and the last Powersport Business newspaper.

2010 Teams Thoughts or Opinions

jhn145 at mxinsiders.com posted a good thread on the upcoming season. This is what I replied.

Great subject John. I think that the upcoming season is a very important one because it can be the beginning of serious changes in the landscape of US supercross. We are seeing bigger, stronger, factory-support teams with potential Top 7 riders (IT at Valli, Reardon at MotoConcept, Hahn and Moss at Motosport, Hill along JS7 at L&M and the duelists at JGR, GL8 at JLR). Is this the last year that Honda and Kawasaki will be factory-run teams? maybe not, if the title sponsors have enough $$, like the Fiat Yamaha and Repsol Honda teams of MotoGP, some factories will still be able to run their own structures.

It's hard to bet against the trio of Stewart, Reed and still somehow, RV, but behind the horde is hungry, will be very aggressive and in contract year motivation for some (the Honda boyz). I believe that, as much as JS7, CR22 and RV2 are strong and solid, anything can happen (as we've seen in the frantic 2009 SX series) and the Outsiders, the mega pack of outsiders, can do anything and surely score podium spots.

I can see DM18, Shorty, Ryan Dungey, Hill, Reardon, Moss, Hahn, IT, Josh Grant and JB114 play hard and race good.

DM is motivated, he is feeling good right now and seem to be happy with the 2010 450. Short for sure will be on it. IT has "revenge" tattooed on his knuckles. Dungey The Rookie will be on the gas on the 450, as he showed it in '08. all are strong racers, all can jump on any opportunity given by RV, JS and CR. This season, it's all going to be about the starts because lots of those guys are hard to pass and won't let any door open too long.

Is RV overrated right now, or is the hype justified? Is he back to his top form, is he 100% able to tackle James Stewart and Chad? is he good with the 450?

The season is looking good (although we've said that a lot, every December)
:)

SX Teaser: a little pot-pourrit of 2009 SX crashes

Thanks to motoverte.com Here's another Youtube.com gem for the memory album. Not that crashes a fun to watch, not that it's cool seeing guys getting hurt but it is part of the show of Supercross, part of the "gladiators of the XXI century" look.

Here we go, enjoy... or not

Off to Dallas during SX silly-season

I'm in a plane to Dallas, blogging at 35,000 feet on Mi iPhone. Actually not that easy to write so much with a finger, yes, I admit that the double-thumb typing is not a skill I have mastered.

So off to Dallas, for less than 24 hours, to represent AGV helmets and Dainese apparel at Moto Liberty's annual Midnight Madness sales bash. One of my best clients and voted Best Texas Motorcycle Accessories & Apparel Shop 8 years in a row, this is one of their events one can't miss. Caught my flight out of O'Hare at 11am, landing around 1:30pm, rental car then off to the store. Work all afternoon and night, the event usually ends around 2am, then off for a quick sleep before carving my 10am flying bus back to Chicago where I hope the Bears will take one over the Eagles.
The weather was great - yes chilly too - when I left and I hope that we'll have the sme tomorrow because I really want to take Taao and Tanner for some shredding at the Elgin BMX track.

The 2010 SX season is closing in pretty fast, and even if some riders are still racing at the four corners of the world, from The Madrid SX to the Australian SX series via the Lyon SX, Genoa and Geneva. Teams and riders are getting ready, programs are bring finalized although things are really late this year, especially in the gear segment. I am still in talks with 3 riders in the US and know that 3 or 4 more interesting guys are available for helmet deals.
In Europe, It looks like we will concentrate in the MX2 Motocross World Championship with 2 riders, including one that I really would want to make sure we sign because I believe that he has a great future and has a very cool personality. He would spank me on the bmx track too by the way. So crossing fingers, and lobbying strongly, so that we sign him.

Of course I'm not allowed to give banes right now but after a few good weeks of talks and lobbying, we finally gave our word to a rider that I believe in. Someone that could have a break away year and bring us a good amount of exposure. I believe ge has the ability and the speed to be a regular top 7 in SX in 2010, even if the competition will be pretty strong.

Of course we are not going to see an AGV helmet on Bubba (still under contract with Bell and for sure way too expensive for us, we already have Valentino and Marco at that level), not on the Factory Kawi Monster Energy Thor Parts Unlimited boy, Reedy and RV2 (those lads belong to Thor forever I would think), not on Mike Alessi neither and although there was a very short discussion/interest on our part, the #800 was to expensive for our budget and for the exposure we thought we would get from him; over $60,000 for a helmet deal for a racer doing the AMA Nationals only and no SX or no X Games isn't really someone we would want right away. Not until we build on our sales and have a stronger sponsoring budget, in order to afford to grow the team. I do think that Mike has a good amount of exposure, can win races in 2010, but I'm not sure we are rich enough to afford the controversies that usually follow him and we know that riders' endorsements are not a strong impact on products sales, the Alessi Broz and DV didn't really boost the Shark MX helmets sales in the US. Riders are a very strong part of marketing and exposure for sure, but as part of a whole strategy, not as purchase influencers.

That's why I believe that our choice of riders for 2010, will help us re-enter the already saturated off-road market. They will bring us enough exposure to back-up the rest of the marketing effort.

Of course there is one more rider I'm trying to sign but I'm not sure we have the budget. I have to say that I really would love to find the budget because that is one of my favorite rider; great exposure, great personality, no controversy, great family and easy to work with. Not an AMA SX winner but a definite MX race winner. I'm crossing fingers on that one and lobbying my mangenent ro find the extra ressources, because that would be a good match.

1 hour left on our flight. I'm going to go back to reading the latest Racer X issue. I really love the new look they gave to the magazine. Great editorial by DC and especially by David Bailey this month. Also liked Cox and Ping's columns, and Steve is right, it is time we get involved in concussion management and prevention.

I'm going back to finish the 'zine, but I think that 2010 is going to be a great racing year in AMA SX/MX as well as World MXGPs.
From Anaheim 1 to Sam Boyd Stadium, we should have a very good battle and although I believe that the 3 podium spots will be squatted by James Stewart, Chad Reed and Ryan Villopoto, we should have all out dash for cash races with Josh Hill, Josh Grant, Andrew Short, Davi Millsaps, Ivan Tedesco (on which bike or team?), JB114, Ryan Dungey, Dan Reardon and Kevin Windham.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Another Bercy 09 video

This is a really good one byBastien Roger with the perfect music by BIRDY NAM NAM (Trans Boulogne Express)

Bercy 09 Sunday's Main Event

full video by the crew at Motoverte.com:

http://www.motoverte.com/site/video-la-finale-de-dimanche-dans-son-integralite-44911.html

Bercy SX 09 - Sunday

Josh Hill wins the Main Event on Sunday afternoon in Paris after James Stewart pulled out before the start of the race.
Congrats to the new L&M Yamaha rider!

1 75 HILL Josh Yamaha USA
2 20 ARANDA Gregory Kawasaki FRA
3 25 MUSQUIN Marvin KTM FRA
4 871 IZOIRD Fabien Suzuki FRA
5 114 BRAYTON Justin Yamaha USA
6 11 DEMARTIS Stéphane Honda FRA
7 33 SOUBEYRAS Cédric Honda FRA
8 27 WEY Nick Kawasaki USA
9 45 THOMAS Jason Suzuki USA
10 111 DEGLI ESPOTI Davide Suzuki ITA
11 54 BONI Matt Honda USA
12 15 RENET Pierre Alexandre Suzuki FRA

Here's a video from James Stewart's press-conference earlier in Paris:


Interview met James Stewart from Motocrossplanet on Vimeo.

Bercy 2009 - Saturday races

Justin Brayton surprisingly beat James Stewart in the Superpole contest at Bercy this evening, JB114 clocking a 46'957 while JS7 came in at 47'088 due to a mistake in the tunnel.

 James Stewart still wins the night with a perfect race in the Main Event:

1 1 STEWART James Yamaha USA
2 114 BRAYTON Justin Yamaha USA
3 20 ARANDA Gregory Kawasaki FRA
4 25 MUSQUIN Marvin KTM FRA
5 871 IZOIRD Fabien Suzuki FRA
6 27 WEY Nick Kawasaki USA
7 111 DEGLI ESPOTI Davide Suzuki ITA
8 75 HILL Josh Yamaha USA
9 4 MARTIN Christophe Husqvarna FRA
10 45 THOMAS Jason Suzuki USA
11 33 SOUBEYRAS Cédric Honda FRA
12 54 BONI Matt Honda USA
13 15 RENET Pierre Alexandre Suzuki FRA

Main Event

It's on!
Hansen, Millsaps JS RV all lined up next to each others.
Bubba holeshot, Hansen, Blose down in first lap

Reardon in 2, Goerke 3rd after 2 laps

Byrne and #54 collide lap 3


Lap 5: JS, DR, Goerke, DM, Craig, RV

Millsaps on a roll, passed Goerke, Christian Craig loses front end, RV now in 5

Crap, lap 9 RV's bike is down, mechanical (bent shifter). He was flying though the whoops though, too bad

Davi passes Reardon for 2nd in the exit of the whoops. Craig is in 5th. Hansen looks good and fast, just got bars tangle at the start.

Bubba wins, DM a strong second, DR122, Goerke and great for Craig in 5th

Friday Night Open Class Results
1. James Stewart, Yamaha
2. Davi Millsaps, Honda
3. Dan Reardon, Honda
4. Matt Georke, Yamaha
5. Christian Craig, Yamaha
6. Cole Siebler, Honda
7. Tyler Bowers, Yamaha
8. Nick Wey, Yamaha
9. Chris Blose, Honda
10. Michael Byrne, Suzuki

Photo is too far but this is RV, DM and Hansen talking about the track. It's mechanic wheel-change challenge right now.
DM's dude wins, Berlutti second, Reardon's wrench 3rd on a photo finish with Oscar on the #1.
this was one of the most fun race tonight

It's all about Rockstar

Isn't it

US Open Friday - 1st semi on the grid

Blose took the lead over Wey quickly, Voss finished 3rd

85cc race

The 'next Carmichael', young Adam Cianciarulo wins, jumped the big double all race long. Fun to watch. Jessie Masterpool and Chris Alldredge make the podium, Aldridge look very smooth and more consistent in his laps.

Friday Night Alpinestars 85cc Mini Invitational
1. Adam Cianciarulo, Kawasaki
2. Chris Alldredge, Yamaha
3. Jesse Masterpool, Suzuki
4. Keith Tucker, Yamaha
5. Thomas Covington, Kawasaki

Heat 3 Friday

After a half-lap battle with Hansen Bubba is gone, half a mile lead.
Hansen then Byrne then Boni then Partridge.
Big race between those 3.

Final results on that order

Heat 2 Friday

After battling a couple laps, DM wins ahead of Reardon, then Siebler then 57.

First part of the night

The one on one was fun, Bubba beat Hahn, RV beat DM.
1st heat is on, RV cleaning it, far ahead of Bowers