Given to Fly (3)

Barry Hawk is not a cocky guy by any means. In fact, a lot of his popularity is due to his incredibly down-to-earth nature. He may have a big motorhome now and pit out of a semi, but he doesn’t act any differently than he did years ago when he was racing a Kawasaki Mojave 250 quad with a Supertrapp pipe that he bought used.

I talked to Barry yesterday and he told me this story. One of the fast quad pros in the early 90’s was Ricky Matteson, and when Barry finally got the money for a 250R, he was actually able to battle Matteson at a race. Afterwards, Matteson told Barry “Man, you were smokin’ out there!” Barry immediately responded “ No way! Maybe my jetting was off? It seemed like it was running okay.” Matteson said, “No man, I mean you were going fast.” And Barry trudged off to his pits thinking he was the biggest dork ever.

At first he was intimidated by the bike pros, too. Remember, these are two different worlds so just because Barry was winning one quad title after another, he got zero respect from the bike guys. In fact, he could barely get a ride. One year Bromley Suzuki called Barry and said they were scaling back on racer support because one of the owners was having a baby. Barry, who had won a few 250 A races on an RMX250, didn’t have the money to buy a bike to race in 1998. “I was talking to my wife Kristen and we basically said I’ll have to just race the quad and give up on the bike,” Barry says now.

Luckily, Fred Andrews had just had a falling out with Yamaha and moved to Kawasaki. And Yamaha was introducing the YZ400F and they wanted someone on it in GNCC. So they gave one to Barry, and he was back in the two-wheeled business.

He ended up winning a four-stroke A GNCC bike title, an AMA National Reliability Series title (the ISDE qualifier series) and the GNCC ATV title. The AMA named him amateur athlete of the year for his skills on two and four wheels. After a few years on the thumpers, Barry went pro and got on a YZ250.

Which brings us back to he 2003 GNCC opener in Florida, one of the all-time worst mud races. I can’t tell you how much it rained that weekend. It rained and rained and rained. So much that the water table rose above the ground level, and nearly the entire track was underwater. The FMF Suzuki team asked us to cancel the race, but with 1000 amateurs on hand, most of which had taken a week off of work to come and race the event, we had to go. It was bad. A mismarking of the course sent the leaders, Mike Lafferty and Rodney Smith, the wrong way, and then everyone started drowning out. It was ridiculous. I’m talking mile-long straights of three-feet deep water.

Barry Hawk before the start of the 2003 Hurricane GNCC in Palatka, Florida. Three hours later he would win the race, a win that would launch him to a title no one thought he could get. [ Blogandt archives photo]

Barry persevered and won. It was a fluke. It was a crazy race. But he was the winner and the series’ leader.

When I got back to the office Bryan Stealey, the Racer X Managing Editor, asked me “Did Barry win that race because it was muddy or is he really going to be good this year?” I said, “Both.”

He proved it at the next two rounds. After bad starts, he was riding around in his normal fifth or sixth place spot mid-way through each race. But on the last lap, he would just snap and go nuts. At round two in Georgia, he ran down Smith and Andrews on the last lap to take a shocking second – Smith, I think, was just completely confused as to where and how that happened.

Then Smith had a huge lead at the next race in North Carolina, and Barry went nuts on the last lap again, blowing past Kiedrowski and chopping huge chunks off of Smith’s lead. He just never stopped charging, and although Smith edged him, there was no doubt after that race that Barry was legit.

He rolled through the rest of the season and won the title, just like he said he would. What was his secret? Conditioning? Training? Speed? Smarts?

Well, he had a good combination of all of those, but he wasn’t the standout guy in any category. Raines is probably in better shape, Smith is probably smarter, and Lafferty is probably faster. But Barry is pure heart. He’s just one of those rare athletes that rises to the occasion, gets better under pressure, and just wants it so bad that he can do things he shouldn’t be able to do. So when it’s the last lap, and he needs to gain a minute on the leader and make a move, he just goes to that ever-talked about next level and does it.

It’s the one great quality Barry could transfer from ATV to bike. And that’s why he’s champion of both.

Riding hard has its drawbacks - Barry rode off this bridge in North Carolina in 2004, and the bad luck there continued until it cost him a championship. And how about his perfect "Oh S#&*" pose? [Photo by Mike Nichols]

There’s a downside to this: when you get so confident in your abilities to step up, sometimes you rely on it too much and try too hard. Some gaps can’t be overcome no matter how hard you try. That’s why Barry crashed and injured himself out of the ’04 title. It’s the same affliction Broc Hepler is dealing with right now. Sometimes third is all you can get. Or fourth. Or second. You can try too hard sometimes.

But it’s also why Barry can step up and stare down the monster known as Juha Salminen. Why he can go from being beaten by 5 minutes at one race, then challenge him all the way at the next, and then win the next. When someone wants it that bad and tries that hard, the fans love it, no matter if they like two or four-wheeled racing.

-blogandt

 

Given to Fly (2)

When Barry Hawk crossed the finish line with the win at the Wisp, he was greeted by a huge crowd of supporters. For real. A lot of the crowd at GNCCs are racers, not spectators, and sometimes they’re too tired to stick around for Sunday’s finale. But Wisp is the exception, because the resort area is no nice that no one wants to leave. So when Barry won, there were thousands there to see it.

There were a lot of happy people watching B. Hawk take the Wisp. [Photo by Gundy.]

What’s most noticeable is the rare mixing of two worlds, of oil and water, of ziggers and zaggers. At Wisp on Sunday there were actually GNCC ATV racers hanging out cheering for Barry. That almost never happens. GNCCs might hold ATV races on one day and bike ones on the other, and everything all the riders face may seem similar, but the two worlds are still just as separate as they are in motocross.

Which makes Barry’s spot as a hero to both crowds more impressive. There are hard-core GNCC ATV racers and fans who wouldn’t even recognize Juha Salminen, and my guess is Juha himself has probably never met Bill Ballance. And they all race at the same track, stay at the same place and win in the same series on the same weekend.

Only Barry bridges the gap. He was 100 percent ATV rider at first, working his way all the way from the amateur classes on a piece-of-junk Kawasaki Mojave 250 quad (with nothing more than a Supertrapp exhaust, Barry reminds) to the A classes and then to pro. Barry was determined to take the next step and become GNCC Champion, and he noticed the current champ, Indiana’s Bob “Ironman” Sloan, would race bikes on Sunday for additional training and practice. So Barry started doing the same thing, campaigning a piece-of-junk Suzuki DR350 in the amateur classes for Bromley Suzuki. At one point Bromley’s two top riders where Barry Hawk in GNCC and Barry Carsten in motocross. That’s my dream team!

Barry kept getting better on both two and four wheels because he was super-determined to succeed. He finally ousted Sloan as GNCC Champ in 1993, and then took on a dominant role in the series when Sloan, as tough a competitor as there ever will be, suffered a heart attack on the last lap of a race, trying to dig out another win against his young rival. Sloan passed away doing what he loved to do. Barry would take the torch as the sport’s top rider, and take it all the way to seven-straight championships.

He kept riding the bikes because the training was obviously helping. He kept getting better, too. Eventually Yamaha gave him a ride and he rolled through the A classes on a YZ400F, and then into the pro class. Despite all his success, Barry still wasn’t making a living as a racer – he worked for the Penn Dot, the Pennsylvania DOT. When he finally moved to pro bikes, he made a deal with Yamaha – if he could get paid enough for a factory ride, he would quit his job and the ATV racing and focus entirely on bikes.

No ATV racer could fault Barry or call him a sell-out. This was like their star student getting accepted in the Ivy Leagues, and they all thought they would see him graduated as valedictorian of that school in four years.

The early days were struggles. Barry wasn’t progressing as much on bikes as everyone thought he would. He would bounce in and out of the top five while superstar names from other worlds like Shane Watts, Mike Kiedrowski and Mike Lafferty entered the series and took the headlines and hype away from the quad god. Then the next generation of stars showed up and started winning races, riders like Jason Raines and Chuck Woodford. Yamaha stuck with Barry, but only the hardest-core supporters thought he would ever become a true bike contender. In fact, most people figured he would be back racing quads before long.

One time, Watts took a few stabs at the riders in Dirt Rider magazine, saying how much the American competition sucked. As for Barry, he made fun of his ugly riding style, which was forged on the ATV.

Raines emerged as the next GNCC star, and he took a huge points lead into the Wisp at the inaugural race in 2002. He was young, he was fast, and he was making fans quickly. On the last lap of the race, he was chasing after his old hero, Rodney Smith, and pushed so hard that he jumped a huge ledge and hit his helmet on a tree branch. He came down and broke his leg. It was a sad moment for the new sensation.

At that point I didn’t know Barry Hawk very well, but I did know he was Jason’s teammate, so I called him periodically for updates on Jason’s condition. There was a nine-week summer break between Wisp and the next round, and Jason was working overtime to heal his leg and get back to the track. Jason - the injured points leader - was the story. Barry was just the messenger.

Barry had actually hurt himself at the Wisp, too, but as the weeks went by he healed up and started riding again. He started getting confident. He would say what he had heard about Jason, but then one day he threw in a “As for me, I’m more fired up than ever. I’m looking to come back and win the last four races of the season.”

Whatever. This was just standard racer's rhetoric. Barry hadn’t even finished on the podium that year. Now he was going to win four in a row?

When the series came back, Barry had brake problems at the first race back in Ohio and finished eighth. Exactly. Meanwhile the series headed to High Point, and most assumed Kiedrowski would finally break through on familiar turf and get his long-overdue first win. The MX Kied was figuring this game out and getting close, and on a high-speed moto-style track, he would be the man to beat. Kiedrowski took the lead early and took off as expected. But two laps later he was in the pits with a clogged air filter – he had hit the silt berms a little too hard.

Suddenly Hawk came rolling through, and then he worked his way into the lead and took the win. He nearly won the next race, too, taking second behind Fred Andrews in a muddy race in Ohio. And he might have won the finale two weeks later if he didn’t break a chain while running with the leaders early on.

He didn’t win all four events, but he did show major improvement.

The Hawk family, Kristen, Ireland and Barry, celebrate a surprise win at High Point in 2002. Since this race three years ago, no one has won more GNCCs than Hawk. [Photo by yours truly]

That winter I did an interview on the GNCC website with Chuck Woodford. At the end of the article, I wrote, “Along with names like Lafferty, Raines and Kiedrowski, expect Woodford to be one of the new names to challenge for the 2003 GNCC title.”

That night I got an email from the name “bkhawk” No subject, it just said:

Lafferty, Raines and Kiedrowski? Aren’t your forgetting someone?
- A seriously fired up B. Hawk

More tomorrow….

-blogandt

 

Given to Fly

PR people are really the company story tellers. Whatever product you're hucking, you need to find the good and tell people all about it.

It helps if you're pushing a good product. With the Suzuki GNCC Series, the wheels were set in motion long before I was there, so a lot of my work is just carrying the momentum forward. But that requires having a good story to tell.

We got it this weekend. Everything lined up for Barry Hawk to win, and in the one of those "as it should be" moments, he did.

Barry really is Mr. GNCC. He has the wins and titles on both two and four wheells, which is enough to argue him as the best rider the series has ever had. And he has the right elements to represent the series, too: humilty, a good attitude, determination, toughness. Barry is so incredibly down-to-earth, and so incredibly determined. He embodies the spirit of the series.

He struggled so much this year, though. Juha had taken everyone's mojo, and even Barry's confidence, so unshakable, got rocked. But he never stopped trying or believing, and you want to see a guy who puts in that kind of work and wants it so bad to succeed.

Plus, the series needed someone, anyone, to beat Juha. He was just too darn dominant, as cool as he is

And Barry just had a new baby boy with the cool name - Talon. At just 11 days old, Talon came to the race to watch his dad win.

And all of those fans who live near the track who love Hawk. All of those "This is Hawk Country" banners.

He needed to win this race. He won this race.

Man racing is awesome sometimes.

-blogandt

 

In Entertainment News

Went to see the movie Crash the other night. It’s a very good, very cerebral, very hard-core film about racism in Los Angeles. It can definitely get the emotions flaring. Luckily college is out for the summer here so everyone was well-behaved. My dad told me that when he went to see Crash, two guys got into a fight because one guy was making too much noise reaching into his bag of popcorn. He was wrinkling the bag too loudly!

But here’s the big news for you motocross fans out there. As we were staggering out of the theater, beaten-down emotionally from this film, I glanced at the credits. The very last name in the cast, at the very bottom, was Kathleen York. Sounded familiar. Kathleen York, yes, where have I head that before ….

That’s Judy McCormick! Master mechanic/riding coach/girlfriend from Winner’s Take All! 19 years later and Judy McCormick, nee, Kathleen York, is still at it, now playing Officer Johnson in Crash. Too bad I never even noticed an Officer Johnson in the movie, or even remember a female officer at all, or even anyone who remotely reminded me of Judy McCormick. But that doesn’t matter. At least Judy McCormick is still getting work!

Winners Take All is a great resume builder (Kathleen York on left)

Here is a Kathleen York/Judy McCormick bio I found on ImdB (Internet Movie Database, or, best website ever).

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Maybe you’ve seen Jessica Simpson, er, Daisy Dukes new video from the Dukes of Hazzard movie? If not, check it out here. Be either warned or excited, because this might be the most gratuitous video ever, which is saying a lot.

It’s kind of disappointing that the song is “These Boots are Made for Walking.” First of all you shouldn’t be combining two big-ticket items together – the remake and the movie hit song. Second, if you are, at least make the song appropriate. What the hell does that song have to do with the Dukes? They practically have to force a little country sound in there to fit the classic banjo-playing DoH theme.

But these are all moot points. It really doesn’t matter. The bottom line is this video gets trashed right from the very start. The slate gets wiped clean. All thumbs go down. Zero on a scale of 01 - 10. Why? Just watch the beginning of the video again and tell me.

Right after whoever is driving the General pulls maybe the lamest slide the car has ever done (maybe Jessica is driving), Jessica, er, Daisy, OPENS THE DOOR OF THE GENERAL LEE AND GETS OUT!!!

OPENS THE DOOR!!!!

For all of you who didn’t spend you child hood sliding over benches and couches and tables and chairs pretending you were Bo and Luke climbing into the window of the General Lee, here’s the statistic: The General Lee was a race car. The DOORS ARE WELDED SHUT!!!!! Who the hell approved this? And honestly, if Jessica Simpson just spent six torturous months filming this movie (as movie actors always claim is the case), and if Daisy Duke really is her dream role (as she has claimed), then she should have known better. Thinking buffalo wings are actually made from buffalo? That’s nothing compared to this!

Major points off for this demerit. I’ll just assume the video was not made by the people who made the movie and let this lie.

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On Tuesday, I asked if Steve Urkel had invented a machine to make him cool. A loyal Blogandt reader and Family Matters watcher, Kevin Rammer, wrote to me to say he indeed did:

Yes, in fact there was a machine that urkel made in his basement that made him cool. So cool in fact that he was able to get to first base with what's-her-face. He was also suave enough to be able to hit the play button on the stereo from across the room with the cork when he popped open the bottle of champagne. But of course by the end of the twenty-two minutes the machine had malfunctioned leaving him as the same old dork we have come to know and love.

Good factoid there, Rammer. If I can call you Rammer. My buddy Patrick Bateman chimed in and said Urkel also made a rocket pack once, and it also malfunctioned and caused him to launch from Chicago all the way to San Francisco, where he landed in the Full House house so he could guest-star in an episode of their show. He also told me that for the tenth and final season, the Mom from Family Matters quit because the show had become about nothing but Urkel, and it was stifling her creativity. C’mon, he launched his way all the way to San Francisco so he could guest star on the show! How much more creative can you get?

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The Parts Unlimited Wisp GNCC looms this weekend. It’s one of the most fun events of the year because the place is just so freakin’ nice. You could spend a weekend in Deep Creek just looking at the trees and mountains and stuff because the scenery is so great, and all summer long people do just that. And that’s more than you can say of almost any AMA National Motocross track except maybe Washougal.

Anyway the sport focuses on GNCC just a little more this weekend, which is great, because these riders are ready for their close-ups. And usually the timing is right for a showdown. Last year Jason Raines came into the Wisp on a two-race win streak, and if he could pull off a third at the Wisp over Rodney Smith, the duo would leave the race tied in the GNCC standings. But Wisp has been notoriously cruel to Raines, who crashed and broke his leg there in 2002, ruining what appeared to be a sure championship season. Last year would have been the perfect opportunity for revenge, but Smith came out on top of an incredible three-hour duel to take the win.

This year the focus is on Barry Hawk and Juha Salminen. Juha was making a mockery of the series by running away with every race, but Hawk vowed to get with it, and he did by running with Juha all day at the last race in West Virginia. Someone needs to step up and beat Juha, and Hawk, the new father of a baby boy, is in the perfect position to do it.

But then Juha is very, very good. Now that everyone is focused on the Wisp, they’ll finally get to see that.

-blogandt

 

Closed: Blogandt will return this afternoon

I bought a new mountain bike yesterday (SPECIAL THANKS TO WAMSLEY'S CYCLES IN MORGANTOWN'S SENECA CENTER AND SPECIALIZED BICYCLES [there]) so I actually left at a decent hour so I could go ride it. It's not the best time to leave early since we're pushing the Wisp GNCC hard right now - easily the best GNCC of the year - but the guys from the bike shop want me to do a 13-mile trail ride today. I needed a little test run on the bike yesterday at least.

So once I finish the work I should have done last night I'll post an all-new Blogandt thsi afternoon. Then I start looking for tombstones, because those 13 miles will kill me.

Cheers!

-blogandt

 

What a Clown

I took a long overdue trip back to New Jersey over the weekend. Hadn’t visited the old stomping grounds since Christmas, and this time I had a three-year-old’s birthday party to attend. I planned on hitting NJ Friday and Saturday, and then driving to Budds Creek Sunday, but we got held up with some TRP stuff and I didn’t end up getting out of work on Friday until 8 p.m. Then I headed for The Garden State, slept in a few rest stops, and eventually got in at 5 a.m.

The late start meant I stayed in NJ for both weekend days and skipped Budds altogether. Too bad, because I guess I missed Mike Brown take an improbable step toward an improbably big 125 Class points lead. Langston had a bad second moto, Alessi was still suffering from his shoulder ailment, Broc Hepler officially impatiented himself out of a championship, Davi Millsaps was mediocore again, and Mike Brown was just going through his standard deal. Amazing. And then Bubba picked up his pace and at least finished both motos. Good day to be a fan.

But it’s not up to me to talk racing – leave that to the people who went to the race. I had more important things to watch, like Skates the Clown.

Skates was the star of the three-year-old’s party on Saturday. I was kind of surprised clowns still exist – three-year-olds are still into this? But Jenna the birthday girl said she wanted a clown for her party so that’s what she got.

We expected Skates to be a small-town loser clown with jokes straight out of the 1950’s, (clearly the Golden Age of the Clown). We wanted to laugh at his ridiculousness, and the laughs began the INSTANT Skates walked into the backyard. Slowly. Skates had a broken foot. He was wearing a big plastic boot instead of red clown shoes. My friend Colin spit his water out laughing when he saw this.

Lets hope he didn't sustain the injury from the last time he was holding a kid.

Since he was all gimped up, Skates wasn’t moving very quickly (definitely not skating). It took forever for him to set up his equipment. The kids all thought this was like part of the act or something, so they waited in silence and anticipation for him to trip or fall down. But in reality he was just limping on a broken foot. The silence was deafening.

So you’re a clown and you have a broken foot. You probably don’t want to draw attention to this. So, lets see, what would be the WORST game you could play if you’re a clown with a broken foot. What game would you make sure to AVOID? Maybe the hokey-pokey?

He's doing his best to stay balanced on that one foot.

So of course this was the very, very first thing Skates busted out once he finally got the show going. Colin and I BOTH spit up our water AGAIN when he go to the “left foot in, left foot out” part of the deal.

Skates moved slowly for the rest of the day. One parent made the tragic mistake of asking what happened to his foot, and he went off on some long, sad speech about driving from North Jersey with the big clown shoes on. He kept going and we started to think this was serious and not an actual joke. You never know behind the scenes with clowns. I was waiting for him to say he just got out of jail and this was the cruel idea of Community Service the judge drummed up.

Skates also made a few jokes no three-year-olds would get, like putting two cans in front of his eyes and saying, “Look! Steve Urkel!” or making purple lips out of a balloon and saying, “Look! Mick Jaggar!” He must have thought he was like Shrek, with the jokes that even the parents would find funny.

Speaking of Urkel, is it true they once made a machine that could TURN HIM COOL???? Please say no.

On Sunday I attended a dance recital with the kids. I think it’s almost required if you’re a girl to have taken some sort of dance class in your life. But we also noted that there was one boy in each and every act. 20 girls, one boy. Each time. It was like Affirmative Action. Maybe we’ll start seeing one guy at every Hooters once these kids grow up. Like Skates hobbling on his bad foot, we were waiting for something big to happen. Skates was going to fall on purpose, right? The one guy in the act was going to have like some crazy solo, right? Nope. They were just part of the show.

The show covered all ages. We watched the Mommy and Me segment starring two year olds, and then also the 15-year-olds running their Little John rendition, including such words as “freaky in the bed.” Very family oriented. Also, some of the 15-year-olds danced to a song called “The Feeling Begins.” 15? Sounds about right.

There is a big difference between the recital and a motocross race with similar-aged kids. They don’t have results here. So every grandparent and parent and aunt and uncle can believe in their mind “she’s going to be a star” (or “he’s going to be a star” for those exceptions) and live with it. In motocross, there’s a much crueler judge. Maybe that’s why after the recital, relatives were fighting over who could give the kids the most attention. At that Steel City Regional a few weeks ago, if you finished tenth, you probably wanted to make a wrong turn before you go to the motorhome.

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Anyway, that’s it for my family and friends and kids work for the year. Now it’s back to the racing. I wasn’t there, but did James Stewart really taunt and point at Carmichael in practice on Sunday? Please say no.

-blogandt

 

The Spoils

First, a clip from the GNCC TV opener we did in West Virginia over the weekend. I've never uploaded video clips before, but this is worth it because, um, a llama tries to eat my head. The Clip.

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A few years ago Jeff Emig retired from racing, and Eric Johnson wrote this huge two-part story in Racer X on ‘Fro’s career. The recurring theme of the Emig career was “work hard, play hard.” That never made sense to me. I figured if you’re playing, you’re negating whatever working you’re doing. The Emig deal just made me think, “Man, how good would he have been if he only did the working part?”

Far be it for me to criticize now. I think our staff runs the “work hard, play hard” mantra harder than any other. We’re the Jeff Emigs of the working world.

This week we had to push another issue of The Racing Paper through the presses. Two months ago here on Blogandt (April 21) I reported on the all-nighter we had to pull just to get an issue out – myself, Billy Ursic and Jason Hooper all slept at the office. I was determined not to do this again – we don’t mind working hard, but that was too much.

We made some improvements this time with the goal of working smarter, not harder. We cut back on the word count and ran more photos. We kept things light. And I worked with Hooper, the designer, to solve problems early in the issue, instead of just giving him a bunch of text and photos and saying, “go for it.”

It worked. I promised the guys we wouldn’t pull an all-nighter and we didn’t. We were done at midnight, and that included a segment when DMXS called to check on us. Yes, it was a 16-hour day, but hey, that’s actually cutting back for us.

So we work hard. Now, the playing part. First, when I dropped off the files at the printer yesterday morning, I entered flirtation mode with one of the girls down there. We chatted her up pretty good and invited her to our Karaoke bash at Gibbies downtown. She turned me down. It’s too bad because I can’t figure out any possible excuse to have to call her or see her again until our next issue prints in August. Man! I should have purposely screwed up some of the files so I would have had to call her.

But it was okay because I still had two other prospects lined up for Gibbies: a Swedish girl who I met last week, and some other girl who Hooper was hooking me up with. I really wanted all three there just so I would have a good story like Kirk Cameron used to do in Growing Pains, but two would have to do.

But the Swede didn’t show, which left me only with the Hooper girl, and she wasn’t what I was looking for. But the night had just begun….

Our man Dave “Langers” Langran was running Karaoke hard, and when Dave becomes Dave the Rave like that, trouble follows. He decided to tackle one of our other buddies who was singing, and then glass started breaking and people started arguing. Eventually, cooler heads prevailed. Meanwhile I headed over to another end of the bar, and for the first time ever, a girl hit on me! She chatted me up and then guessed that I was from NJ because of my Jersey accent. Jersey accent! I got rid of that years ago – listen to the supercross shows or GNCC TV and tell me otherwise. I’ve been working on my dialect for years. But she called me out.

Just then my name came up to sing, so I blasted “Wake me up Before You Go Go” by Wham! and called her out on the mic between verses. Bad move. Apparently this girl is a lead singer in a band, and she busted out the all-time killer of “Let me show you how well I can sing” songs, Mariah Carrey’s “Vision of Love.” She didn’t speak to me after that.

Then I noticed another fight breaking out, and this time the bouncers had to throw some hippie dude out of the place. I saw my ex girlfriend hanging out near the commotion. Hadn’t seen or heard from her in months. Anyway she’s moving to Charlotte to help get her life back in order, because I guess it’s out of it. And it is. Apparently the hippie dude they had to throw out of the bar was her latest ex (the guy after me). Gee. There are three things I can count on in life: death, taxes, and ex girlfriends moving on to date losers.

Also playing a starring role was the couple from two weeks ago – you know, the $5000 boobs from Dellslow. She was showing them again.

And special thanks to Racer X Senior Editor Jeff Kocan, who now lives and works in Manhattan, for coming in and playing hard with us for the weekend.

It was all pretty good, but it was topped this morning when the printer called. There’s something wrong with our files. There’s something wrong with our files! I get to visit my girl again.

This is my version of getting lucky.

-blogandt

 

Dead (line)

Another episode, er, issue, of the The Racing Paper is due tomorrow night. I could write some Blogandt right now, but it wouldn't be right.

Talk to you in a few.

-blogandt

 

Jackson Gets Off!

As Michael Jackson bounces back into the front page of the news again, I am reminded of the old poem the kids used to recite about him after his hair caught on fire in the 1980’s.

I pledge allegiance to the flag
Michael Jackson is a fag
Pepsi cola burned him up
Now he’s drinking Seven-Up

Seven-Up messed him up
Now he’s drinking Mountain Dew

Mountain Dew tastes like poo
Now he’s drinking something new

The sheer brilliance of that lymmeric kept it fresh in my mind for 20 years, until today, when I finally found out some of the facts are actually not true.

See, the second line claims Jackson is a fag, which, is often used to refer to a homosexual male. It’s also a cigarette if you’re English, and, according to the dictionary, a student at a British public school who is required to perform menial tasks for a student in a higher class, or apparently, fatiguing or tedious work. But these are only English terms. I believe this poem implies homosexuality, which back then was based on no other evidence than the fact that Michael’s voice was kinda’ weak.

But today all the evidence was lined up to accuse him of something much worse. It was a big moment in our office since we just had the satellite TV installed and we could watch the verdict live. DC decided to start an office pool, as we would each bet on how many of the nine counts Jacko would be found guilty on. Ten of us put in a dollar to create a pot. With my full faith in the American legal process as my guide, I put my money on guilt on zero counts. I’m not sure if Michael really did get off with minors before, but I knew he was going to get off today.

And he did. Not guilty on all accounts. I’m rich, beyotch!

The best news of all regarding this case is the array of jokes which started flying as soon as the verdict reached the public. Here are some of the gems

“I’m so upset that I’m going to have to get drunk on Jesus juice tonight.”

“This won’t be the last time he gets off on molestation.”

“Another white guy goes free.”

“He must be partying his nose off right now.”

And by the way, did anyone notice the statistic that claimed Michael would face 18+ years in prison if found guilty? 18+???? Hello, the irony police just called and the verdict is guilty.

And on it went until we discovered this joke site about Michael Jackson. Beware! Some of these jokes are of adult content so if you’re under 18, um, well, I suppose if you read them I’m not going to get in trouble anyway, right? Anyway, you’ve been warned. These are very bad and I don't want to deal with 14 weeks of trial to be found innocent.

Dirty Michael Jackson jokes

---

I still can’t get over this “Bubba would now like to be called J-Mac” thing. I’m only hoping the Bubba handlers, sorry, J-Mac handlers don’t put the clamps down on the announcers and make us stop saying Bubba.

How about Ricky Carmichael’s comments toward BUBBA on the Racer X site? It took awhile, but the smack talk has begun.

---

Jason Lawrence! Jason Lawrence! Jason Lawrence! I had no idea the kid from Estel Manor, New Jersey, would be racing a national this year before Loretta’s. And I definitely didn’t think he’d be going so fast. Don’t let his 7 – DNF scores confuse you. A few people I talked to at the track said he was moving up so far and so fast in moto two that he could have gotten second, because the pack in front of him was basically a big train and he was catching them quickly. That’s insane fast for your first national.

We’ll see if Lawrence is the real deal. As a Jersey boy he knows sand, and it just seems like a lot of riders go crazy in their first national – just reference Josh Grant and Ryan Sipes last year. Anyway, I hope he remembers me if he gets to the top. See, Jason and I go way back. Back when he was winning everything on an RM80 at Englishtown and I was a, uh, yellow flagger. Yes. I did that for four years. I’m sure he would remember me if he saw me now: “Oh yeah you used to flag the elevator jump.”

Anyway I wrote a column about Jason five years ago on the Racer X site – this is when I was just sending endless articles to the Racer X guys in the hopes of someday landing a job there. I was just a college student who was paying his rent with the $40 a weekend I made flagging at E-Town. Anyway read the story and let’s hope Jason keeps it up.

-blogandt

 

Missing and Found in Action

After seven months, I finally missed a round of action on the MX/SX tour. My schedule took me to back to the roots at the Suzuki GNCC Series. But it sounds like I missed an epic weekend at Southwick – RC crashes and loses a moto, Grant Langston digs all the way down to China to win an overall with a busted ankle, Alessi wins a moto and crashes out, Stewart pulls off again and ignites an explosion of trash talk on Mototalk, Stewart’s camp asks to change his nickname from Bubba to freaking J-Mack even though no one knew his middle name was Mack ...

Anyway I missed Southwick in the hopes of finding the action that had gone MIA at the GNCCs. For years the off-roaders have provided the stuff that motocross fans dream of: Multiple winners. Close points chases. Battles to the finish. A huge list of contenders.

But that has faded. Most of the young guys in this series haven’t developed like they should have. And then Juha came along and started dominating.

This weekend I might have missed motocross, but I found what I was missing more: old-fashioned GNCC battles. First the GNCC ATV Series is going through the roof. Bill Ballance and Chris Borich are pounding on each other, and after two hours of back-and-forth battling on Saturday, Ballance got a win. ATV racing is stepping up. Like it or hate it you’re going to hear about it soon.

But Sunday’s bike crowd just didn’t have the electricity that it used to. Like last year when Rodney Smith and Jason Raines engaged in their weekly battle of death. Or ’02 and ’03 when we would get a different winner every week.

I was losing confidence in the series just as quickly as the riders were losing confidence in themselves. But my faith has been restored thanks to Barry Hawk.

Barry just proved that when you’re a gamer you can rise to the occasion. Just ask Langston.

Barry spent the last four weeks working tirelessly on his suspension until he was going 20 seconds a lap faster on his four-mile practice loop. He told me this before the race: “Maybe this is just the difference between a rider who has won championships and a rider who hasn’t. When you get beat it hurts so bad because you know how good it feels to win. And that’s why you don’t give up.”

Barry nailed the holeshot with Juha right behind him. Juha immediately took the lead like he always does, but Barry stayed right there, and as the laps clicked off, it became obvious that Juha wasn’t going to pull away. This was a three-hour GNCC chess match, and then Hawk took the lead just as the two-lap board came out. It was the first time in two months that someone had taken the lead from Juha!

Barry ended up sticking it on a ridiculous hill climb, and Juha got back around. Barry pushed so hard to get his bike to the top that he nearly puked. Juha took advantage and won the race – but Barry’s challenge renewed faith in the series.

“I want to win so bad. This just makes me so mad!” said Hawk on the podium.

It was good to find Barry finding it again. The action had gone MIA for far too long.

Some notes from the weekend:

Props out to Jason Raines, who learned once again that you can work too hard. Jason is an obsessive trainer, and it’s just too much. Jason is always on the verge of overtraining. He finally went back home to Washington for a few weeks and gave himself a break. He raced to his potential this weekend and finished third. Sometimes less training is more.

Rodney Smith returned to the track wearing the GNCC TV helmet cam. Rodney’s bike was sitting there ready and he had a gear bag packed, so I edged him toward riding. He went for it – oh man did he ever. Rodney ended up stalking and nearly passing Juha and Barry on the motocross track. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! I know he’s the champ and all, but to come off of a huge break and nearly pass these guys? Unreal. We had to pull him off because he was going too fast. And he’s not even racing until September!

J-Mack???? Bubba’s people want to call him J-Mack and not Bubba anymore??? He’s been Bubba forever! You can’t just “make” nicknames. Hell, I became the Weege because some dude called the office one day and asked for “Jason Weegant.” That’s it. That’s the whole story. The nickname just stuck. And that’s how it works.

Kawi’s PR man has the toughest job in the business trying to wade through the artist formerly known as Bubba. The “he got lightheaded” stuff isn’t satisfying people – it’s causing them to make up their own answers and they are not good. Control the rumor mill and get some answers. I’m telling you this season has taken years off of this guy’s life.

Rita Coombs sat down on a generator today and some gas splashed all over her ass. You know gas starts to burn like crazy if you get it on your skin, so after a few minutes her ass was burning and she went running into an RV to try to wash it off. Non-stop comedy from her. Remember she DRANK MY CONTACTS a few months ago.

Grant Langston had to be carried off of the track in practice this morning. And then he won the damn race! How good is this guy? Grant can suck in practice, be hurt, be sick, be slow and all of that, but when the gate drops he just rises to the occasion. Athletes seem to fall into one of two categories: ones who step up when it matters and ones who don’t. No one is in the middle. We’ve heard how fast Kevin Windham is in practice but he can’t do it during the race. Alex “$250 Bazillion” Rodriguez puts up huge numbers every season but never performs in the clutch. Ricky Johnson was never the fastest in practice but he was during the race. Grant Langston is the same way. He’s a gamer.

Broc Hepler should be, too, but he’s trying too hard. But at least he knows that. Listen to these quotes from his interview with Dono on the Racer X site: I’m trying to go too fast, and that’s why I’m making those mistakes. I think I need to change my game plan a little bit. Before, I was just trying to win every time I went out there. So since there are so many guys that can win, I need to slow it down just a bit. From here on out, if I’m not in a position to win, I don’t think I will risk taking a fall or injury that would take me out of the points.
On being called Iceman: Lately, I’ve been making so many mistakes, I don’t deserve the name! Hopefully, after this weekend I’ll be cool, calm and start winning some races.

There you go, Broc!

The GNCC was held at an exotic animal farm in Summersville, WV. We did TV standups in front of the animals, and there was this GIANT llama (about 9 feet tall, or however many hands that is). He started gnawing on my TV earpiece, and then he put my entire skull into his mouth. Thank God his teeth were dull, because he bit down hard on the top of my head. But I didn’t mess up the take! P.S. I have never had pets and have zero experience dealing with animals.

I also have zero experience with prayers. I haven’t said one since I was like seven or something. But there I was getting the GNCC youth race started on Saturday, and our chaplain never showed up. So I just had to wing it. I threw in the word blessing a lot and thanked God for some stuff like motorcycles and racing. Sounded normal. But I’m sure when I put in the request for Him to put a blessing on these riders, He was like “um, who is this guy?”

Shane Watts rode a KTM 250SX-F that will be auctioned on Ebay after the Wisp in two weeks. That’s one way to get one!

At 1500 words this is the longest Blogant ever. I’ve got work to do. Good night.

-blogandt

 

Jeepocross

You missed it. Last night witnessed the evolution of Jeepocross, which is known simply as the best sport ever. Timmy Coombs knows a guy (of course) named Eric who specializes in rebuilding wrecked Jeep Cherokees. The rebuilds fall into two categories: low miles and resellable to someone as an inexpensive second car; and high mileage and basically of no value to anyone. That “no value to anyone tag” is key. It’s what allows you to destroy them again without guilt.

The Mototalk message board was overflowing today with a post about cutting back the costs of motocross racing. I’m not sure it’s really that expensive: I know a few local kids who basically rode stock bikes and qualified for High Point. Any chance the local wheelman can enter a race with Schumacher or Jeff Gordon? Anyhow, to me motocross proves you don’t have to spend tons of money to have fun racing.
Jeepocross just takes that theory through the stratosphere.

A good Jeepocross Cherokee will set you back $300- $500. Then you do battle on a specially prepared Jeepocross track, which takes about two minutes to get around, and features a few trails, grass track, and some mild jumps.
Yes. Jumps. In a Jeep Cherokee.

Anyway there’s simply nothing on earth more fun than a night of Jeepocross, mainly because driving a car with no fear of breaking it or crashing it or jumping it is something we civilians aren’t used to. Basically, you keep your foot to the floor the whole time, unless you’re turning, and that’s when you slam on the brakes and slide it through the grass. If there’s a jump, you jump. If there’s mud, you keep it floored and go through it. Take every instinct you have about car payments and commuting to work the next day out of the equation. These Jeeps are rebuilt just so they can be destroyed again.

But as successful as Timmy, Eric, myself and the rest of Timmy’s cast of characters have been at destroying Jeeps, we’re still hungry to bring it to the next level. Jeepocross snaps trannys and transfer cases and windows and axles and batteries and body panels. But that’s just not enough.

So last night we went graduated from Jeepocross to Jeep Safari – basically trading in moto for GNCC. We knew of some trails nearby that should – possibly – be passable in a 4wd truck. So we were going to try it. At night of course because daylight was just too darn rational.

Last night we had two vehicles to pick from: an ’89 Cherokee with 230,000 miles on it, and the newest recruit, a ’92 Chevy S-10 Blazer. The book is that Blazers can jump better then Cherokees due to a longer wheelbase and a full truck frame. But they can’t climb, handle or accelerate with a Jeep. So we stuck Timmy in that one so we could watch his frustration mount. Then we took off into the forest in the Cherokee.

First we had to get clearance to use the property from a guy named, yes, Jimbob. He - surprisingly - lived in a trailer and controlled these woods, although probably through the rule of a shotgun instead of through actual property boundaries.

Since it rained all night, the trails were super muddy. Luckily, the Cherokee was equipped with the “works equipment” of the Jeepocross world: Desert Dog tires. For $250, Eric got an old set of tires recapped with the old Bridgestone Desert Dog tread, which looks more like a tractor tire and is basically unstoppable in mud. Sadly two of the Dogs had gone flat, though, so we only had them on the rear. But Timmy had nothing but bald tires on his Blazer.

You’d be amazed at what an old Cherokee with two Desert Dogs can do. We washed through water as high as the hood and climbed a ridiculous hill so steep that you could only see the moon as you headed upwards. Then we climbed to the top of a rocky, muddy hill before finding a tree down in the road. But when we went to turn around, we hit the quicksand. The Jeep was sinking in the mud, and suddenly even those two Desert Dogs couldn’t get us out.

Eric sawed at the wheel and rocked from forward to reverse so many times that eventually the Cherokee’s transfercase puked its guts out. We were screwed.
So it was time to walk back through the muddy jungle at night, hoping to find our way back to Jimbob’s, which didn’t really seem like much of a goal.

While walking, or actually falling, down that rocky hill, we found Timmy and his codriver Bono stuck in the Blazer. They had run out of traction, and then eventually the engine couldn’t get fuel since it was stuck on such a steep angle for so long.
Now we had a stuck Jeep and a starved Blazer. And there were five of us stranded in the woods.

I may be a city boy from Jersey, but I figured with a good shove we could get that Blazer back to the bottom of the hill. So we pushed it hard, and Eric was able to K-turn and then coast down the rocky hill without the aid of power steering or brakes. We boarded that bus and headed back to Jimbob’s.

Today the rescue crew went back out and found the remains of the Cherokee. For $300-$500 bucks we’ll get ‘er back out there. Too bad you missed it.

 

-blogandt

 

Free Gift If You Act Now

Busy doing GNCC TV today - so here's a special video clip from Japan to keep you going:

http://www.collegehumor.com/?movie_id=158134

Note that the guy in the big suit even races motocross and does wheelies on quads!

-blogandt

 

Pressure Breaks Bones

There have been some rumors flying around about the injury count at the Youth Regional at Steel City yesterday. It’s wild how quickly they grow out of control: on one message board I read that 12 kids were airlifted from the track, and two kids died! Rest assured this isn’t even close to true, and not in an “it was only 11 airlifts and 1 death!” way. The injury rumors you may have heard have been grossly, grossly over exaggerated. No one died or even came close to death in any way.

So f you didn’t hear any of the rumors, keep it that way.

But that doesn’t mean no one got hurt over the weekend. There were definitely more injuries than I’ve seen at local races with similar numbers of races and riders. And the Steel City track is certainly one of the most proven tracks in the country – no hidden dangers there.

The facts are that the injury count was bolstered by the incredible growth in the scope, pressure and prestige of amateur motocross for kids. This isn’t just a fun day at the track anymore – it’s high-stakes game-seven win-or-go-home battle. The Pistons and the Heat are playing a game like that tonight for a trip to the NBA Finals. But these are grown men and they’re all millionaires no matter what the outcome.

At Steel City yesterday, every one of the 700-plus racers were under age 16. And they haven’t made any money yet and most never will. But the pressure was there.

Factor #1: Nowadays at the regionals, everyone, and I mean everyone, has a motorhome or RV or fun mover rig of some sort. You may only spend three or four grand on a bike, but you spend many times over that with the rig. I did not see one single pickup truck in the Steel City pits yesterday besides my own. You race at this level, then you have to race all over the place. So you have a rig.

What’s that mean? When the racer gets a bump or a bruise, you don’t just ice it up and maybe hop in the truck for a ride to the hospital. You’ve got a giant rig, so if the injury is going to get checked out, you’re going to need the ambulance to bring you to the hospital. There were some fairly common injuries that don’t normally require a trip in the ambulance that did require a trip in one on this weekend. The drivers should have took cab fare.

Factor #2: Remember that you’re dealing with kids here, and parents are much more protective of them then they are of themselves. How many 40-year olds probably wrenched a knee or an ankle at their Amateur Regional and basically shrugged it off and said “well I’ll just hope that it gets better?”

I’ve done it a million times. But when your kid is limping, you get it checked out.

But these are just small pieces of the big picture: there’s a lot of money being spent (look at those motorhomes) and a lot of pressure being put on these kids. Dads want them to perform.

So you know what happens when you get to the Regional and suddenly find out you only have 15th-place speed, but only the top seven are going to qualify? What happens when you’re ten years old, and you figure that out, and you know if you get 15th your dad is going to go nuts on you because he just spent the family fortune on a new motorhome and drives it all around the country so you can race against all the fast kids on all the different tracks, and now after all of that effort from dad you’re only going to get 15th?

No way. You better twist it harder.

Welcome to the new economy of motocross.

The injuries were in direct proportion to the screams and the pressure from the parents. In this case, pressure brings a ride in the ambulance, not a ride from the factory.

Few people even know what goes on at the Regionals. A small sliver of the world knows about Ricky Carmichael. Most hard-core motocross fans know what happens at Loretta’s. But the Regional Championship that seeds the riders for Loretta’s? That’s really only known to the people who live it. And that life is changing quickly.

I’ll tell you this: the ambulance ride to the hospital can be less painful than the cross-country drive in the motorhome after you didn’t qualify.

-blogandt

 

A Tale of Two Cities (and ti .... )

I celebrated a significant anniversary this weekend. I’ve been single for a year! Yes it’s something to be quite proud of, although the more I strike out the less surprising it seems. Oh, I can get girls interested, but to actually have someone publicly admit that they’re my girlfriend … not possible.

But you have to keep trying. So on Friday Racer X designer Dave Brozik and I hit the Morgantown scene, gawking at the college hotties in their skimpy summer attire. Of course none of them would consider talking to old guys like us. But I did run into a familiar face, a waitress from one of our favorite local watering holes (with the initials FB). Anyway she always seemed interested so I worked it with all of my might and found myself back at her place. She had a buddy there who was either trying to help or hurt things, but really not doing much of either, but eventually he left. But I seized up trying to seal the deal. That’s been going on consistently for a year now.

So it was time to add some comedy to my social tour. Last night we hit Good Time Lounge in Dellslow, which is the “Danny DeVito in Twins” side-effect to the downtown Morgantown scene. Having hot and progressive and young and hip Morgantown 10 miles from the redneck paradise of Dellslow is a true tale of two cities. It’s like the ghetto working just a block away from Park Avenue.

Mike “Fubar” Farber’s dad owns Good Times, and it’s a real palace. First, it appears to be a requirement that every guy’s attire have at least one of the following items: a NASCAR logo, a beer logo, a harley logo, or, if you don’t have a brand to run, just camoflauge. Everyone was running one of these four besides us.

Second, you must have either long hair or facial hair of some sort. One or both, but never neither.

But they seemed to like us anyway, especially the 50-year-old broads. There was one hotties in there, and she (of course) used to work at the local strip joint. She’s the talk of the town right now though because she just bought a brand-new set of boobs! This is HUGE news in the Dellslow area. Consider that the job cost her $5000, which is basically the price of two cars in that area. That’s a car per boob.

Dudes were rubbing their facial hair all over her, and she was showing them off to get her full $5000 worth of attention.

Meanwhile Faber was communicating with a deaf guy. If you’ve ever heard Farber stumble through his words … you know the deaf guy was easier to understand than him.

It ended with a trip to Bucks, another top-notch joint. The boobs told us to go there with them and of course we obliged. Anyway as soon as I walked in some biker babe was arguing with the bouncer, which was awesome because we snuck in without paying the cover charge. Later it turned out the girl with the new boobs was best friends with the biker babe causing all the trouble.

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

Tonight Brozik wanted to run the Ramada because it’s singles night. But it turned out it was singles with blue hair.

On the opposite end of the equation, I headed to Steel City this afternoon to catch the Air Nautiques/AMA Youth Regional. Izzi and Osbourne had their way with the field, with Georgia’s Leah Cantrell showing major speed in the Women’s class, taking the win over the likes of Tarah Geiger and Sarah Whitmore. Competition in the Women’s class has forced Sarah to ride a 250, and man, it’s going to be tough for her.

Osbourne was riding with a broken leg, but he told me it was okay since he had it taped. TAPED! He still won his classes. Kids will do anything to qualify for Loretta’s.

I’ll have more on this tomorrow. I’m busy enjoying my anniversary.

-blogandt

 

Thumpalicious (2)

Thanks to a post on Mototalk, we’re probably generating an unusually high number of readers here at Blogandt, which basically has a cult-like following from my approximately 253 stalkers. C’mon newbies. Drink the Cool-Aid.

The four-stroke topic yesterday gained some traction (rolling with the pun there) so let’s go a little further on this. Is there any doubt that the Honda CRF450R is the greatest motocross bike ever? I’m a relatively young guy, but I don’t think another bike has single handidly changed the face of motocross - to the point where you’re either on one of being beaten by one – like this bike.

Sure, there were revolutionary bikes all over the place in the 70’s and early 80’s, but it seems to me like 90% of that revolutionary stuff turned out to be gimmicky junk like all of the cars Detroit turned out during that period. Forget your Elsinores and DTs and Monoshocks and Full-Floaters and all of those European bikes. The Honda CRF450 lives by a simple credo: To win at motocross you must get good starts. A 450 gets better starts than a 250. And the Honda 450 is way better than everyone else’s 450, so you pretty much have to ride one if you want to win.

If you’re in the 250 class or an age class (open), you are crazy to not ride a Honda 450. You won’t get starts if you’re not on one, and that’s a huge part of the game right there. So that’s why almost every privateer who doesn’t have any affiliation with a manufacturer ran a Honda 450 in the Nationals for the last three years. It’s why the age classes at Loretta’s are filled with Honda 450s (except for the really fast ex-pros who get support from other companies and can win on a two-stroke. But if you’re a regular guy trying to qualify for Loretta’s or a National, you need starts. You need a Honda 450).

Doug Henry basically made the four-stroke revolution a revolution when he started winning on the YZ400F. Doug was a Yamaha guy through and through – even well past his retirement he would run Yamahas during his annual ride at Southwick. But then that Honda 450 came along … and Doug won supermoto races on it. And that GNCC in Florida.

Jeremy McGrath was the all-time leader of Honda heat, after that bitter breakup back in December 1996. But when he wanted to go supermoto racing … that Honda 450 was the best bike to do it on. Doug and Jeremy, who both left Honda under bad circumstances, came back for that 450.

Ryan Clark hates four-strokes. He’s been telling us that for years. But he gave up the fight a few months ago, parking his YZ250 for a CRF450.

My friend John McConnell here in district five had been a Yamaha guy his whole life. He raced YZs in the 1980s when he had his pro license, and he was still racing them two years ago battling in the age classes around here. Yamaha guy for three decades – even when the bikes sucked. But he stayed loyal … until that Honda CRF450 came along. Now he rides red.

The guy who scores all the qualifiers for MX Sports, Tim Boryk, has ridden 125s his whole life. But he wants to try to qualify for Loretta’s this year in the 45+ class. He had no choice. He now owns a Honda 450.

If it weren’t for the Honda 450, there is a good chance Ricky Carmichael would have went undefeated through the 2003 AMA Nationals, which would have given him three-straight perfect seasons (and he’s working on the fourth now). Kevin Windham is a great rider, but the best reason you can give for Ricky having lost any outdoor races since 2002 is the Honda CRF450.

There are more riders trying to qualify in the 250 class than the 125 class at the AMA Nationals. You would think the 125 class, where the riders aren’t as good, would be the easier pick. But with a Honda 450, you’ve got all the power you could ever need, so you’re not being outgunned by works 250Fs on every start and every hill. I’m sure Windham’s bike has crazy power, but I doubt any CRF450-mounted privateers are begging for more.

Word is the Honda CRF450 is the best selling dirt bike in the country. Big shocker.

What’s wild about the whole thing is that a lot of the CRF450’s superiority seems to have come by accident. Two things contributed to a bike dominating in an era where “all the bikes are so good nowadays that you can win on any of them.”

First, Yamaha must have dropped the ball big-time on the YZ450F. As the leader of the four-stroke revolution, they should have dropped a bomb on everyone when the 450, the second-generation machine spawned from the original 400 and 426, came out in 2003. But they didn’t get it right. Yamaha pioneered the idea that four-strokes could be fast and fiery and fierce, not docile. But they went too far on the 450 and made it too hard to ride. Since then they’re worked at taking power away from the bike to make it easier to ride, but it’s still no CRF450.

And then there’s the handling. Honda stumbled on amazing handling for the 450. In 1997 Honda unveiled the CR250 with the twin-spar aluminum frame. As the first mass-produced aluminum-framed MXer, this bike was crazy-hyped. For years, engineers had been working to make MX chassis more rigid – which is why bikes of yesteryear look so spindly compared to today’s. So the ’97 CR promised to be incredibly stout and surely dominant.

Turns out you could make a bike too rigid. The ’97 CR had so little give in the frame that riders complained it rode too harshly, vibrated too much, and handled too nervously. Read McGrath’s take on the bike in his book – he flatly refused to ride it. Since then Honda has worked on removing stiffness like Yamaha has worked on removing power from their 450. But Carmichael still says bad things about the CR250’s aluminum frame.

But there’s something different about four-strokes. Engines, strangely, make a big impact on the handling of a motocross bike. I’ve read in a few spots that a four-stroke can’t have a frame that’s too rigid. The stiffer the better – and that stiff Honda frame works in the 450, baby. Plus, the twin-spar design, which wraps around the top of the engine instead of cresting high over the top of it, like the backbone frame used in the Yamaha and KTM 450s, allows for a lower center of gravity. It’s not a huge factor with a short 250 two-stroke engine. But strap in a taller, heavier 450 thumper motor, and lowering the CG helps a ton.

Proof? Look at the Suzuki RM-Z 450 frame. It looks nothing like any Suzuki ever made. It looks just like a Honda CRF450. Have you seen the prototype Kawasaki KXF450s? Twin-spar Honda frame all the way, even though no Kawasaki motocrosser has ever had a frame like it.

It took eight years, but the Honda twin-spar frame has finally revolutionized the sport. It just took a collision with the four-stroke revolution to make it happen.

In a few years this will all wash over. The other manufacturers will copy the Honda design enough to close the gap to nothing. I’m seeing a decent number of RM-Z450s out there right now, in fact, including the one Carmichael is riding. But you know what’s sad? You know who was the first company to merge a modern four-stroke engine with a twin-spar aluminum frame? Cannondale.

Anyway, Honda got theirs right. It’s the ultimate motocross bike.

P.S. Remember yesterday when I said we had the inside scoop of all inside scoops when I listened to Bubba on a 450 through a cell phone? I said the only way that could be beaten is if someone posted a video of him riding it. Damn. I got beat.

-blogandt

 

Thumpalicious

Want the insidest scoop ever? Today we posted on the Racer X site that Bubba was testing a 450 Kawi today in Colorado. But even better, an hour ago Tim Cotter got a phone call from David Claybaugh, who runs the track out in Colorado. He put his phone up to the track so we could all hear Bubba riding that 450. That’s as real of a real deal as you can get besides maybe getting some video.

David said about 300 people lined up outside the place to watch Bubba ride once they read the post on Racer X.

So what’s the goal here? Is Bubba planning on racing a 450 already? I have my doubts. If he switches to a 450 now after what really amounts to one loss, it would be the ultimate slap in the face for the KX250.

I know what you’re thinking: “Who cares? He can’t win on a 250 so why not switch?” But the manufacturers don’t work like that. First, they try really hard not to insult their bikes, even to the point of stubbornly ruining their results.

Last year Ryan Hughes was getting smoked in the 125 Nationals on his KTM125SX, so he wanted to switch to a 450 and at least have some fun in the 250 class. KTM apparently wouldn’t let it happen because it would be an admittance that the 125 wasn’t competitive (as if the results on the track and Ryno’s quotes about it weren’t proof enough).

Similarly, Mike Lafferty had been the king of the AMA Enduro Series and a genuine contender in the GNCCs on his KTM 450. But KTM had a glut of 250 two-strokes to sell, so he switched to it. His results suffered – Mike is a big guy and the 450 works for him. But KTM felt that having him switch back would be proof that the 250 wasn’t competitive. It took all the way until the final round of the season for Mike to get back on his thumper … and he nearly won the race.

It’s obvious Brett Metcalfe is at a huge disadvantage on his YZ125. But Yamaha isn’t giving him a 250F.

They also forced Bob Hannah to ride a YZ125 way back in 1982 because they had a warehouse full of them and they hoped Bob could help sell them. He left for Honda the next season and rejoined the 250 class.

Anyway, Bubba going four-stroke this soon would basically advertise “you can’t win on a KX250.” And since they don’t even sell a 450 yet, that’s not a good message.

Plus, depending on the bike’s development, it might not be ready for prime time. And what if Bubba loses on it? That’s even worse when you’re trying to prove an unproven machine.

A few years ago, when Kevin Windham was negotiating a new deal with Honda for 2004, I heard the Carmichael folks weren’t too thrilled with having their main rival racing for the same team, and hearing all of RC’s lap times and such. But even though RC was the champ, Honda respected all of Kevin’s wishes. He was the first one to really deliver on that new 450, and they loved Kevin for it.

Of course Ricky had to go out on his own 450 and run another perfect season just to show Honda, Windham and everyone else in the world what’s up, but that’s just a side effect of being the world’s biggest bad ass.

Anyway, the manufacturers are very worried about race results on a all-new bike. So they tend to be cautious. I even heard Suzuki didn’t race their 450 prototype last summer because they didn’t think Seb (coming off of injury), Wey or Hamblin could put it up front. And that's a bad PR move in their minds. Better to lose on the two-stroke than show your hand with the prototype four-stroke.

By the way, Yamaha came out with the YZ400F in 199 freaking 8. What took everyone so long?

-blogandt

 

Hookie

I’ve never subscribed to the theory that one can work too hard and wear themselves out, but I guess I’ve learned my lesson. After fighting a cold for a week or two, the High Point crazyness officially wiped me out – I was basically dead to the world Sunday night after announcing the epic Carmichael/Stewart duel. I felt bad yesterday, still, and I came into the office even though we were supposed to have Memorial Day off. Hey, working is all I know. Anyway I looked and sounded so bad that Laurel Allen, our new Deputy Editor for Road Racer X, forced me to go see a doctor. Turns out my cold has developed into full-on bronchitis and pneumonia. That’s what happens when you don’t take care of yourself.

So today I called out of work sick for the first time since I started working here in 2001.

Of course I had cabin fever by the afternoon. Then a rumor spread that the Am-Pro Yamaha GNCC team was out doing a photo shoot at High Point. Hey, is sitting on a hay bale watching Randy Hawkins, Barry Hawk and Jason Raines ride any more strenuous then sitting on my couch watching the Complete DVD Series of Sportsnight (a highly-underated TV show that lasted from 1998 – 2000)?

So I drove to the track and parked on a haybale. Watched the boys do their thing. Had a good time, too, because Randy, Barry and Jason are three of the coolest and nicest people you will ever want to meet – I can imagine a photo shoot with a top motocrosser is probably a lot more hectic, strict, and way less fun. Plus, getting outside and relaxing made me feel better.

The only downside came when Raines was giving me a ride back to the truck – Rita was out there at High Point and saw me on the bike. Ooops! My teacher caught me playing hookie!

At least I’m feeling better now.

-blogandt

 

A High Point

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The author apologizes for being disgustingly sick all weekend, or in fact, for the last two weeks. After 17 supercross races and airports and no sleep and winter weather and all of that, I finally get sick when all that travel ended. But then I had to fly to Hangtown, which killed me. I wasn't 100 percent for High Point, but after a weekend of partying and no sleep and rain, and then having to step up as the lead announcer yesterday, I was absolutely spent by last night. I wanted to go out and meet some people at a few spots in town, but alas, I collapsed on my floor. Then at 1 a.m. Bad Billy and Langers stopped by and found me nearly dead. It was bad. Anyway here's the High Point story. Let it be known that I left it all on the track.

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American motocross is in a very, very good shape. All four motos of the 29th Kawasaki/Monster Energy High Point National were thrillers, with the best veteran and up-and-coming American talent rising to the top of the field each time. The huge crowd on hand at High Point was treated to an amazing day of racing, and indeed the future looks bright for this series.

The High Point race may well be remembered for a long, long time. It was the first round in the showdown of showdowns: Carmichael versus Stewart on a motocross track, man against man for the win.

For half the laps of both motos, the battle was as thrilling as we could have ever imagined it would be. Both riders pacing each other and pushing each other, pulling way out front of the rest of the field and settling it between themselves. In the first moto Bubba actually ran Ricky down and passed him, but then RC applied heavy pressure. They battled for a few laps, with every person watching not knowing how it would turn out. This was Carmichael versus Stewart, people! Every inch, every second, was uncharted waters.

Finally Stewart got a little off-line in a whoop section, and Carmichael got next to him. Then Stewart ended up crashing, and the battle was over. RC kept charging while Bubba cruised, and in the end RC won by over a minute.

But Bubba would bounce back in moto two. For some strange reason Carmichael got to the starting gate late and didn’t get a good look at where he wanted to start, instead, he just had someone from Suzuki pick his gate from the first moto by default. RC suffered a rare bad start, while Chad Reed grabbed a big holeshot – and then washed out in the first turn and went down. This put Canadian Jean-Sebastien Roy out front, on a CR250, no less, while Stewart went to work and took the lead by the end of the lap. It wasn’t long before Carmichael was up to second, but by then, he was over three seconds down.

For years we’ve been waiting to see who would be faster when Ricky and Bubba both had to charge full-speed ahead at the same time on the same track. And at least this time, the edge went to RC. Maybe it was because of that big 450, or maybe he’s even better than we even thought, but Carmichael was able to reel Bubba in slowly, and then the battle was on. Stewart would wrestle his bike through the toughest parts of the track, hopping down High Point’s stair-case downhill as if he was on a BMX bike. But Carmichael would continue to close. Finally he was right on Bubba’s rear wheel, and the fans were going nuts, running from one end of the track to another, not wanting to miss the pass for the ages.

And it finally happened where everyone could see it, over the big finish line jump. Carmichael got next to Stewart, and that big single loomed ahead.

“I knew Bubba was going to scrub it, and I knew there was no way I was gonna’ scrub that big old dog,” said Carmichael, either speaking of himself or his 450. “So I just held it open.”

While Stewart stayed low, Carmichael launched into the stratosphere and edged ahead, landing with a ground-shaking thud since there was absolutely nothing to backside on the landing. Carmichael had taken the lead … but Stewart would fight back, which is what everyone hoped someone would do for all of these years.
James immediately knifed back under Ricky and got to the inside in the left-hander after the finish. Carmichael leaned in, and they touched elbow-to-elbow, and then launched off High Point’s step-down double side-by-side. The jump is tricky enough solo, and maybe only these two could jump it side-by-side and get away with it.

But Carmichael had the inside in the next right hander, controlled it and pulled away. Stewart couldn’t clear the infield triple, which helped RC pull away further. And then Ricky just kept stretching it out. Just near the halfway point, RC had passed and pulled away from Stewart.

Is James not in good enough shape to take Ricky down? Does he have to work too hard to run with a 450 on his two-stroke? Was he still hurting from whatever it is he was dealing with at Hangtown?

No matter. RC has fired the first shot, and proven once again why they call him the G.O.A.T.

Kevin Windham turned two bad starts into two third-place finishes for third overall. He was closing on Stewart at the end of the second moto, but with the dynamic duo pushing each other so hard early, the gap was way to big to make up.

While the 250s kept everyone standing and cheering, the 125 class basically silenced everyone. Like him or not, Mike Alessi is an incredible rider, and there’s no trash talk or excuses you can possibly come up with to argue that. Last week at Hangtown he got a great start in the first moto but couldn’t hold on. He came within the final corner of hanging on to it in moto two. Then he got the holeshot again in High Point’s first 125 moto, but this time he held on all the way.

Meanwhile, in typical Alessi fashion, the competition who coulda’ shoulda’ and woulda’ beaten him couldn’t get it together. First, Grant Langston’s attempt to ride with a dislocated ankle ended just two laps into moto one. Ryan Hughes and Mike Brown didn’t find the pace they had at Hangtown. Broc Hepler crashed twice. The only rider putting on a real charge against Mikey was his life-long rival, Davi Millsaps. But have you noticed that Alessi is the best starter of his generation while Millsaps is the worst? It makes a big difference.

Millsaps closed in, aided partially by jumping the infield step-up. Then Alessi started jumping it, the gap stabilized, and #800 had his first moto win.

“C’mon people, cheer for me, I just won my first race!” said Mike on the podium. What he didn’t realize was that his win had silenced his critics.

Brown grabbed the start in moto two with Alessi right behind him. #800 would have to fight past a true test this time, but he was able to do it, passing Brown and going for the 1 – 1 sweep. Hepler crashed right off the start and then crashed again while mounting a comeback. Is Hepler the cool and calm Iceman, or is he too aggressive? The jury is still out.

In a related note, Hughes looked to be a solid third in the moto, but he crashed twice too. But we know that Ryno rides over the edge.

Anyway it looked to be Alessi’s day, especially when Millsaps got another bad start. But Brown settled in at the halfway mark and started charging and then closing on Alessi. Like Carmichael chasing Stewart, he got closer and closer. Then, just as the two-lap card came out, Brown overjumped the finish line huge, too, and passed the younger Mike.

At that point Alessi started thinking “overall” and let Brownie go.

In what was expected to be a series marred by inconsistency, Brown is the only rider to have two decent finishes. He’s out front in points, but judging how quickly Alessi figures things out, we’ll see for how long.

The Nationals take a week-long break now, which is good. Everyone needs some time to digest everything that happened at High Point, a true high point for American motocross.

 

-blogandt

 

Christmas

High Point weekend feels like the last day of school and Christmas all wrapped into one. There’s simply no way to do work in the office today – there are just too many people stopping by and too much fun to be had. All of the friends of Racer X are here: The DMXS crew, Ryan Clark and his Solitaire gang, Ryan Hughes’ team, David Bailey and team WBR Suzuki, Lou Lopez from Parts Unlimited, unknown photographer John Hanson, they’re all here. Working is not possible. It’s just a hang out.

Plus everyone is all beat up from last night’s Kareoke show, which was a preview of tonight’s mega Racer X party at Gibbies. We almost went too far, expending energy and not getting much sleep to prepare for tonight. Good thing no one did any actual work today.

So it’s a party like the last day of school. But it’s also like Christmas, because we’re all getting presents on Sunday. The High Point National is poised to be a good one: Broc Hepler is the local and overall favorite after his moto win last weekend at Hangtown. Grant Langston says he’s going to dig deep for points. Ryno, Brownie and #800 will be charging, too. And Bubba has his last chance to make a mark on the 250 class. If he has another lack-luster performance, something will be really, really wrong.

Is Bubba really that far off the pace? Of is he still hurt? My guess is that if he is either, he won’t be racing these boys for long. Bubba doesn’t finish fourth, instead it’s better to not finish at all.

We’re going to enjoy the show. I’ll try to post an extremely hung-over report tomorrow.

-blogandt

 

Behind the Curtain

We all know that meeting our heroes can be dangerous. It’s hard for people to actually live up to the huge standards we put them to when they’re famous. As race fans, we fall into that trap, too. Guys like Ricky Carmichael are so flawless in what we watch them do – race - that you forget about their human element – that element that says no one is perfect.

Nowadays I get to meet a lot of the heroes in this sport. The powers of meeting the stars draws you like a drug. Who wouldn’t want to call these guys friends? But there are side effects. Once you peek behind that curtain, you find out that racers are just humans too, and they can do things wrong. We’re not talking huge errors here, just the minor things that everyone does, but we don’t expect since we respect our heroes so highly as racers.

I was kind of worried heading to Rodney Smith’s house. Here is a guy who commands as much respect as any racer to swing a leg over a motorcycle. He’s smart, he’s good, he’s successful. What if you find out he’s a slob? Or a jerk? Or a geek? When a rider is a champion, the standard is set very high. Those things may have nothing to do with his racing, but you expect him to be good at everything since he’s good at everything you’ve seen him do before.

Luckily Rodney didn’t damage his rep at all. He truly lives the ultimate life. Racing has been good to Rodney. It’s clear he has plenty of money, a nice house, a beautiful wife, two dogs, a motorhome, a boat and plenty of friends. He can go riding whenever he wants, and while he trains hard, it’s all set up to match his lifestyle. Rodney doesn’t set the alarm to go running at 6 a.m. But by the time each day is over, he’s attended one of this wife’s aerobics classes, ridden his mountain bike for an hour, and put in two 1-hour motos at the local track. It seems like he’s just hanging out, but when you add it up, he’s in phenomenal shape. That’s how you keep from burning out at 40 years old.

Plus, you would never think he’s a 12-time AMA National Champion, until you see all of the trophies and all of the well-wishers who approach him in town. It’s impressive. I’ll have more on Rodney one of these days, once we get some photos dialed in

I’ll do a full two-days in the life of Rodney piece on the GNCC site, and I’ll link it up here.

But as I mentioned, it’s scary when you get close to the heroes. This weekend the industry comes to our town, for High Point, and it always opens up the chance for people to peel back the curtain on us. And us to them. So it’s a struggle. Do you try to become truly personal friends with these racers, or do you stay away and keep things professional?

It can be scary when you get that close. What if they’re jerks? It’s almost heart-breaking. It doesn’t matter if you just think of them as racers. But as people, it’s not the same.

Here’s what’s on tap so far: Team DMXS showed up this afternoon to set up their show here, and lo and behold their server can’t work through our internet network. So the entire show up and moved to Davey’s house. So now it’s a party in DC’s basement, tune into DMXSradio.com at 8 pm to listen. Meanwhile everything and anything is going on, from people stopping by the office, trucks parking here, half of the staff running motos at the track. It’s such a fun time of the year. But there’s a lot of pressure making sure people like what they see when they peek behind the curtain.

-blogandt

 

Rodney's House

Blogandt is hanging at GNCC Champion Rodney Smith's house in Northern California. Great times, great stories and great people.

Look for some updates when I get back to Morgantown Wednesday.

 

Left Hanging

Blogandt outscoops everyone with this race report. While everyone else is flying, I'm in some grubby hotel while "Rainman" Ray Gundy snores on the other side of the room. Wipe that though from your mind and read the first big race report on the first big race right here:

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Let’s sum up Hangtown simply: Ricky Carmichael is even better than we all thought. If that’s even possible. And the 125 class will be even wilder and more unpredictable than we all thought. If that’s even possible.

Hangtown only proved what we already knew, but witnessing the two classes play to their strengths was still an eye-opener. Who knew RC would handle his latest challenge with so little challenge? James Stewart crashed twice in the first moto but was able to work his way from way back in the pack to finish sixth. He never got near Carmichael’s pace. And in the second moto, he challenged Chad Reed and Kevin Windham briefly while Carmichael fled out front. Then he started losing time, and then, he was gone.

Kawasaki officially said James was feeling lightheaded and pulled off for safety reasons. This just dumped the clutch on the speculation mill. How did he get lightheaded? Was he sick? Did he crash? Was he still beat up from Vegas? Does he lack heart? Is he dead on a two-stroke? Is any of this even true?

Who knows? The good or bad news is that Carmichael will be there to answer the big question, “Who will be champion?” every time it’s asked. Great starts and flawless riding in both motos put Carmichael way out front both times. Reed and Windham were claimed early in moto one, and Windham’s crash bent his shifter, taking him out of the points. Reed had hit his head hard in a crash earlier in practice, so he cruised to third with his teammate David Vuillemin finishing second. In the second moto Windham battled past Reed for second, but RC gapped them both.

Could be another in a long line of long seasons for everyone here.

But oh that 125 class. Josh Grant grabbed the first-moto holeshot for the second year in a row, while Mike Alessi got a –shock – good start and got right behind him. Grant is one of approximately 3,751 riders to have a rivalry with Mikey, so the two pushed each other hard while Mike Brown, Grant Langston, Broc Hepler and Ryan Hughes hovered. The pace caught up to Grant and Alessi, and riders started going by them, which was probably great news to all of those Alessi haters out there.

Hepler lived up to his Iceman moniker, riding cooler and calmer than everyone and pulling off the win, his first, in a manner that made it look like old hat. Langston stalled, but he came back later to hook back into the classic Hughes/Brown/Langston love triangle. Hughes would crash and it took him forever to find neutral and restart his bike. Langston would recover from his mistake to get second with Brown third. Mikey ended up sixth.

But number 800 is a fast learner. He got out front early again in moto one, and like has happened so many times in his career before, the riders who could have beaten him started taking themselves out of the running. Like Hepler.

Before the moto, Carmichael came down to the gate with Broc and told him simply “Don’t get excited, just let it all play out.” But Broc couldn’t do it. Instead he returned to his supercross ways and got impatient, pushed too hard while battling Brown and Langston, and crashed. It took him forever to find neutral and restart his bike. Then Langston moved forward and challenged Alessi, who fought valiantly for his position even though Langston was clearly faster. Finally he let Grant by – and two corners later Langston fell. It took him forever to find neutral and restart his bike.

Then Hughes went out with some sort of mechanical problem. Suddenly Brown, who wasn’t even supposed to be racing this series a month ago, who only rode his race bike for the first time on Friday, who is backed by Jim’s Motorcycles in Tennessee, his old privateer sponsor, was in position to go 3 – 2 for the overall win. By then Brownie had no graphics on the left shroud of his bike. It was fitting.

Then something went off in Langston. Riding like it was 2001 again, he upped his pace considerably and came after Brown, who appeared to have the overall locked. He passed him. Grant was in control of the overall, but he kept charging after Alessi. He was four seconds back on the final lap. He kept charging. Meanwhile Alessi was completely spent. Finally, after all the times Mikey had handled the challenges and silenced the doubters with wins, he had run into an enemy he couldn’t overcome: a long pro moto.

With Alessi on fumes and Langston on adrenaline, they charged side-by-side into the final turn, each with only one rut to aim for. They collided hard. They both went down. And then it was a mad scramble to the bikes.

By miracle, Langston’s Kawasaki was still running. He picked it up and rolled over the finish to go 2 – 1 and win the overall. But Mike, well, it took him forever to find neutral and restart his bike. Really forever. The fans were going nuts as Brown and then Ivan Tedesco and even Hepler passed him. His dad and mechanic stood on helplessly as Mike just couldn&#