The annual District 5 year-end banquet comes up on January 15th, 2005 at the Four Points Sheraton in Cranberry, Pennsylvania. The hotel is located at the junction of I-79, Route 19 and the PA Turnpike. The Racing Paper will be there to cover the banquet for the first time, and we expect there is a lot of fun to be had. We’ll make sure of it. For more information keep tuned to the official D5 website, district5ama.org.
Also, the Grand National Cross Country banquets will return to Lakeview Resort in Morgantown, West Virginia. Yes, Lakeview has invited the GNCC crew back even after quad pro William Yokley took out one of their oak tables a few years back. Tabletops are for jumping not dancing, people. The ATV banquet takes place Saturday, November 27th, and the Bike Banquet takes place Saturday, December 4th.
McDade Moves!
D5 fave Michael McDade has left Pennsylvania to ride and train in North
Carolina. Apparently Mikee boy scored a serious deal with Serious Racewear
to compete on their amateur squad. His teammate is Broc Tickle, who finished
second and third overall in the Schoolboy Classes at the Air Nautique/AMA
Nationals at Loretta Lynn’s (yes, Tickle rides for team Serious).
For McDade, the move means fresh new bikes (Hondas) and all the parts
he needs, plus he has a place to stay. It’s nothing but riding and
training for Mike now, who is preparing to make a mark at the Mini O’s
on Thanksgiving weekend in Gainesville, Florida. After winning the 125
B title in last year’s PA State Championships, and the D5 Spring
Series 125 A title this year, we knew McDade had talent and speed. Now
he should have equipment and conditioning to match.
Californ-ii-eh
McDade isn’t the only friend leaving us. Well-tanned Yamaha District
Manager Doug Riipinen is leaving scenic Western Pennsylvania for sunny
Southern California, as the Riiper has been handed a promotion from Yamaha.
“Eh,” said YamaDoug about the move.
We’ll miss Doug at the races here, but we’ve already called
tabs on his guest room for Anaheim 1.
D7 Implodes
Things are running smoothly here in D5 territory, but it sounds like times
are tough for our neighbors in Maryland. We spotted this on the motoxstation.com
website recently:
The following tracks are proud to announce that they have joined together
to start a new series in Maryland and Southern Pennsylvania. The tracks
are as follows: Doublin Gap, Happy Ramblers, Mountaineer, Tomahawk, Blue
Diamond, and The Landing. We, the tracks, regret to inform our fellow
racers that we will no longer be part of the District 7 series or the
sanctioning body of District 7.
At the October meeting the above tracks where forced to leave the district
to protect the rider's right to have places to ride in the future. We
were being forced by the district to only hold one points race in the
year 2005. District 7 was more interested in the clubs that do not have
tracks holding points races than they were in working with the above tracks.
However, in the process, they where ignoring the fact that one points
race per track would put some of the tracks in financial ruins and cause
them to close their doors!
Sounds kind of grim. We’ll stay tuned.
ArenaChris
All season long, D5 track official Chris Raymond has been telling us about
this incredible arenacross facility he was building in Pennsylvania. We
weren’t sure what to think, until he handed us a business card recently
with this URL:
monvalleyxpark.com. The goal is to rebuild an abandoned steel building
and turn it into an arenacross and BMX park, and help everyone get some
riding in during the winter. We like that idea. Stay close to that website
and we’ll see what unfolds.
D5 Dominates the Minibike Nationals
Maybe Loretta Lynn’s didn’t go the way D5 racers had hoped,
but a few locals ran up front at the Xtreme Minibike Nationals presented
by Red Baron. The races ran on Saturday nights in conjunction with the
AMA/Chevrolet Motocross Nationals.
When he showed up, Jimmy Evans was one of the few to run with Guy Cooper
in the 50 class. JE capped the season with an amazing ride in the final
moto of the year at Steel City, passing Cooper in the final corner of
the final moto to take the overall.
Much more was on the line for Scenery Hill, Pennsylvania’s Craig
“Transponder” Andreadas, who runs timing and scoring equipment
(transponders) for the AMA. By virtue of excellent attendance, Craig was
out front in National Clutch Class points all season long. But Cooper
and another D5 fast guy, Chad Sanner, were breathing down his neck. The
breath knocked some of the winds out of ‘Ponder’s sails, because
he struggled at the Steel City finale. Cooper and Sanner went 1-2, which
resulted in a championship tie, which went to Cooper based on having the
most wins.
Andreadas is left holding the number-two plate and a bunch of old transponders
for the second year in a row.
The Return of Sammy Holland
In our last issue, we lamented over the absence of our issue #2 cover
boy Sammy Holland. Rumor had it that a series of injuries led D5’s
A class front runner to hang it up.
But he’s finally back after a long physical and mental recovery.
“I broke my collarbone, and I guess I was frustrated with how it
looked, I guess,” said Sammy, half-serious. “It had a lump,
and I didn’t like the way it looked at all. I didn’t know
if I was going to come back. But all of my friends, and my dad and my
uncle, they started punishing me for not riding. So I had to start riding
again.”
Again, the mental tolls an injury places on a rider are very harsh. “Everyone
just kept giving me dirty looks all the time,” said Holland. “Really,
everyone was upset when I didn’t get right back on my bike.”
Sammy took about a month and a half off after his collarbone healed, and
then he returned with some great rides at the RM Cup and even a 125 A
win over stiff competition at the Steel City State Championship.
Last year, Sammy broke his femur and his shoulder, and he still has a
rod in his leg. He’ll have part of the rod removed this winter so
he can start running again, and he’s looking forward to 2005. And
he’s stoked on that TRP cover!
Schnell and Reed sweep 2004 Maxxis U.S. Open of SX
The 2004 U.S. Open of SX was held at the MGM Grand Garden arena on October
8th and 9th, 2004. Team Yamaha’s Chad Reed, whose picture was on
the MGM room keys, went 1-1 in the 250cc class, collecting a $100,000
check for his efforts. In the 125cc class, Greg Schnell went 1-1, thus
collecting $10.00 for his efforts along with getting dropped from Team
Amsoil/Chaparral/Factory Connection Honda. There was also a one million
dollar Baccarat tournament, but there is no official word of the winner,
or if anyone cares. Donald Trump is rumored to be building the tallest
hotel casino in the strip, and The Bellagio is adding another tower and
all-you-can-eat buffet. Tickets for New York New York’s roller coaster,
the Manhattan Express, are $12.50 for one ride, or $25.00 for an all-day
pass. After the race, Britney Spears reportedly proposed to Chad Reed,
who declined in favor of marrying his longtime fiancée, Ellie.
The Racing Paper is not invited to the wedding.
Team USA Loses the Motocross des Nations Again
From 1981 to 1993, Team USA was the unstoppable force at the Motocross
des Nations. Since the ’94 race and the improbable win by the Brits,
we have only won twice, in 1996 and 2000.
But this year our fortunes must have sunk to a new low. TRP didn’t
have the budget to get to Holland and watch the race, but a quick check
of the results indicates our boys didn’t even qualify for the main
motos!
Not sure what happened there, but we know Stefan Everts won what we believe
are his 730, 928th and 730, 929th motos in international competition to
lead Belgium to yet another MXdN victory. It was so good that Everts reportedly
fired up an L&M cigarette (one of his main sponsors) after it was
over.
RC’s Suzuki debut!
Ricky Carmichael finally made his Suzuki debut at the U.S. Open in Las
Vegas. After much anticipation, Carmichael arrived at McCarran International
Airport where he reportedly rented a Suzuki Forenza from Enterprise rent-a-car.
Features included a four-speed automatic transmission, along with four-wheel
disc brakes and a remote trunk release. Power windows and door locks are
standard equipment, along with non-slip seats. It was the four-door model.
In other news, Ricky finished sixth overall at the U.S. Open, via 2-11
moto scores. Ricky is considering switching to the larger, more powerful
Suzuki XL-7 for the outdoor nationals.
Racer X Office Championships
Tim “Tom Borich” Boryk works next door to us tabulating results
for MX Sports and the GNCC Series. But now he’s dabbling in promoting,
as Tim produced the first-annual Racer X Office Championship Series.
The series is for staff only. Tim’s the active type, so he selected
a triathlon as his championship format. Three races would decide the title:
a minibike race in his front yard, a GNCC in West Virginia, and a motocross
at High Point. You can read more about the minibikes in Timmy Coombs’
Bar to Bar column in this issue, although Timmy only mentioned himself,
really, and neglected the fact that his wife, Jessica, holds the series
points lead. Pre-season favorites Ryan Holliday and Billy Ursic have been
beset by mechanical woes, as Billy’s XR50 died at the minibike race,
and Holliday blew up his old RM125 at the GNCC.
Everything is on the line on Saturday, October 16th, the same day we print
this issue. Look for coverage right here in our next paper.
Word: Running It
Motocross vocabulary has recently gone through a down-sizing - or right-sizing
- process where excess words have been eliminated. Many verbs have been
replaced with the simple term “run”, or in the progressive
tense, “running.” The term fits all situations and scenarios.
Examples? You are now running clothes instead of wearing them, running
exits instead of taking them, and running the word running instead of
saying (as in, I’m running running).
Some other examples include: I’m running the tear-offs. I still
run the 125. Tedesco is running the outside line. The Racing Paper is
running a blurb about running. I’m not running the bicycle anymore,
I’m just running.
The Carsten Era is Over
One of the longest streaks in the history of AMA Motocross has come to
an end, as New Jersey privateer legend Barry Carsten failed to notch a
two-digit national number for 2005. Barry held a national number every
season since 1987, which gave him 17 years of ranked status.
This year Barr Dog collected 4 national points riding in the 250 Nationals
on his Bromley/MSR Suzuki. That tied him for 55th in the series and was
just not enough to get in the top 100. Barry also had a host of close
calls, like his heart-breaking 23-21 ride at Steel City that just kept
him out of the points.
Still, The Racing Paper salutes Barry for a job well done. Next year a
new streak begins!
Rumor Roundup
Now that the AMA/Chevrolet Nationals are finished, the trail has grown
pretty cold on rumors, which means we might be even less accurate than
usual here. But here goes.
- This off-season is a big one for Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart,
with RC switching brands for 2005 and Bubba moving to the 250 class. But
both have adapted to their new mounts quickly. Bubba has already been
seen doubling and even tripling jumps on his KX, while RC had the shifting
action down on his RM, according to trackside reports. “Ricky shifted
from second to third to fourth as soon as he hopped on,” said an
unnamed source. “He’s got that thing dialed in.”
- Mike Alessi continues to beat his old Honda lap times with his new KTM.
At first he was two or three seconds a lap faster on the orange bike,
then it was five and even ten seconds. Now, with some development work,
Mike is 1:37 seconds faster, and this on a track with 1:30 lap times.
He has actually broken through the time/space continuum and continues
to lap himself, taking a month off of his age with each lap. KTM had to
make him stop before he turned 15 again!
- After all three of their factory riders - Chad Reed, David Vuillemin
and Tim Ferry - switched from two-strokes to four-strokes between supercross
and motocross this year, some of the Team Yamaha’s detractors have
labeled them as flip-floppers. “When one picks a bike, he should
be firm in his decision,” said a rival team. “You can’t
be a race leader if you’re for two-strokes one day, and then against
them as soon as you’re finished.”
- Former Team ECC.com Suzuki manager Mike Craig was planning on making
another comeback for 2005, but he tripped over his boot while getting
out of bed one day and had to call it quits again. Craig is rumored to
be working on a “practice only” contract, which is one step
further than the “supercross only” deal Jeremy McGrath had
and Josh Hansen is rumored to have requested.
- After his successful debut as an author with his autobiography Wide
Open last winter, Jeremy McGrath is considering penning a new book about
life after retirement. The working title is Half Throttle.