TORONTO!!!!!

I think the hot topic this week is not going to be the race but rather the weird frozen tundra called dirt that outline the race track this week. Round 14 headed to Canada this week for its only international race of the series. The race last year which was won by Reed was the first ever indoor mud race as the cold Canadian dirt was frozen and then un thawed to of coarse form mud. Although we had a dry track this year the ruts were so deep you could almost see sparks as the bikes tore down to the concrete.Even my wife who had know clue what supercross was until we met notice the dirt look like it was scooped up from the parking lot. Jeff Staton designed a great track this week, but the poor dirt henderd the tracks creatvity. Christophe Porucel is the 2009 Monster Energy 250(E) Supercross champ! The kid was in a wheelchair two years ago after a crash left him with a badly broken hip and now comes back to wrap up the championship with one round to spare. All Pourcel needed to do was beat his team mate Stroupe and he did just that taking home another win.It's been a long time coming as Pourcel is the first Frenchman to win a title since Roncada did it back in 2000.









The 250 main started off with Pourcel grabbing the holeshot and never looked backed. Stroupe was buried in the pack and worked his way up to second. Broc Tickle made his first podium ever and it must feel good after coming back from a broken jaw. Izzi had a rough night crashing and doing some donut's on the concrete to finish 11th.







The gate dropped on the 450 class and just like always Mike Alessi pulled his 1,406 holeshot of his career. Stewart quickly took the lead and checked out never to be seen again until he stood on top of the podium. Reed moved his way into second on about the 2nd lap and tried to keep Stewart insight but could not hold the pace on the rutted rock filled track. Grant had a great battle with Tedesco and Short moving his way up to 3rd.The man on the move was Josh Hill who has yet to have a stand out ride this season. Hill who won Minneapolis last year worked his way up passing riders left and right for his first podium of the year.Grant held on for 4th and Tedesco rounded out the top five. Something most of been wrong with Short as (Mr. Consistent) fell all the way back to to 9th. If Grant keeps it in the top five he could finish the season thrid in points as he only sits 19 behind Short. Stewart and his 10 sec lead took the checkered and tighten up the gap to only 8 points. Although the race was not near as exciting as St. Louis or Daytona, the track defiantly separated the men from the boys. Next week we head to Stewarts home state in Jacksonville for round 14. This championship will go all the way to Vegas and if Reed doesn't find that little edge and Stewart can keep it on two wheels, I think will be seeing Chads old bike on top again.

St. Louis!!!

Photo by Bayodome at Transworld Motocross.

How can a rider who has not raced a supercross since Daytona 06 bring so much hype to a race? Travis Pastrana has been entertaining us for a decade now and even with him not making the main people still want more. Pastrana has such a unique riding style that its hard not look when he's on the track. With the help of MTV and he's new show Nitro Circus, Pastrana has come a long way since his first 125 motocross championship in 2000. I can remember in 1998 at the Mini's O's in Florida watching Pastrana do heelclickers on the supercross track after some kids asked him if he would. Pastrana told them he would if he won the race, but he did'nt win I think Billy Payne did( where did he go, he got 10th last yr?).... but he's a showman at heart.Ok, enough about Pastrana who by the way designed the track at St. Louis and back fliped the finish line during opening ceremonies(I cant stop talking about 199, ughh!!!). The track was one of the coolest we've seen in years with alot of jumps and a triple with whoops as the face. Izzi tried to jump the whoop triple in practice and some how by the grace of god did not shatter his right arm into a thousand pieces as he came up about two bike lenght's short. Reed won his heat race in convincing fashion, but Stewart rode like a mad man running over tuff blocks an endoing over the whoop triple to finish 9th and ending his heat race win streak.(Windham won the heat) The 250 class saw Stroupe and Pourcel taking their heat race win, but Vince Frease held the french man off for much of the race until Pourcle made the pass right before the finish line. The man of the hour Pastrana had to go to the LCQ with his friend Davi "LCQ" Millsaps after crashing while he ran in the final transfer spot. Unfortunately for Pastrana his Suzuki could not run without a radiator after a nasty collision with Jake Marsak ended his night. Blake Wharton won his first race as a professional. The rookie from Texas rode a very constient race leading from start to finish and holding off a hard charging Nico Izzi early in the race. I thought Izzi would of won this race he had a great start but just could not hold the pace Wharton was running.(Maybe he's arm was sore?) Pourcel tipped over in the beginning of the race and worked his way up to 5th. Stroupe came back from a mid pack start to pass a fading Nico Izzi on the last lap for second.

1.Blake Wharton, Pilot Point, Texas, Honda
2.Austin Stroupe, Lincolnton, N.C., Kawasaki
3.Nico Izzi, Murrieta, Calif., Suzuki
4.Matthew Goerke, Lake Helen, Fla., Suzuki
5.Christophe Pourcel, Corona, Calif., Kawasaki
6.Matt Lemoine, Collinsville, Texas, Yamaha
7.Steven Clarke, Cairo, Ga., Suzuki
8.Daniel Blair, Modesto, Calif., Honda
9.Darryn Durham, Wildomar, Calif., Yamaha
10.Shane Sewell, Westville, Ind., Yamaha

Reed won and got back his 3 points he lost last week in the big easy. Josh Grant got the holeshot and lead the first couple of laps before getting passed by Reed. Stewart quickly made a move on Reed in the tricky switch back section and started to pull away with about a 2 sec led for most of the race. Then on lap 15 Stewart crashed on the jump on jump off section over the bridge and was almost taking out by his riding buddy Josh Hill. Reed slipped by and held on for the win with Stewart getting second and Grant making his third podium of the year.J-law decided to showed up and rode to a solid fifth, he tried to get around Short for fourth but could not make it happen.

1.Chad Reed, Tampa, Fla., Suzuki
2.James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Yamaha
3.Josh Grant, Riverside, Calif., Yamaha
4.Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, Honda
5.Jason Lawrence, Carlsbad, Calif., Yamaha
6.Ivan Tedesco, Tallahassee, Fla., Honda
7.Mike Alessi, Victorville, Calif., Suzuki
8.Davi Millsaps, Tallahassee, Fla., Honda
9.Kevin Windham, Centreville, Miss., Honda
10.Paul Carpenter, Ithaca, N.Y., Kawasaki

The next race is in Toronto in the Rodgers Center which has proved in years passed to provide some great racing. Will Stewart continue to crash and hand the lead to Reed? or will Travis Preston have his revenge on Stewart when the two collide back in 06?.... I sure wish Pastrana was racing!!!

The Big Easy

Round 11 comes from New Orleans this week for round 11 of Monster Engergy Supercross!!!! It's been 6 years since we've seen supercross in the super dome so the Saints have to be excited about tonite. Stewart did his best to climb back on top after a 7th in the crash filed Daytona by a convincing win tonite over points leader Reed. Broc Helpler made his first Podium ever in the 450 class with an impressive ride in his first visit to the super dome. Local guy Kevin Windham had 3/4 of the dome screaming and yelling for him all night pushing him almost to the podium for a 4th place finish. MSR made some custom gear for Kevin with a big gold 14 on the front and the saints symbols on the shoulders, in other Kevin news hes new hair cut shaved 2sec off of his lap times.The 250 class was won by Stroupe pulling the holeshot and checking out. Stroupe had the 4th fastest time in qualifying but made it happen the main. Pourcel had a lackluster start and made his way back to fourth, still holding a 31 point lead over Stroupe. Former East Coast champ Brandon Jessaman rode great wining his heat and getting second in the main. Blake Wharton made his first podium of his career taking home third. Izzi had a rough night crashing in his heat and failing to make the main after a last ditch effort to pass Lemoine in the last turn of the LCQ. The series heads to St. Louis next week were Travis Pastrana (cross your fingers) is set to race on the track he designed. Can Stewart start another winning streak or will Reed step up and take the win? Peace.........

MX LIFE

Would it hurt to have a decent motocross video game? Sure MX vs ATV Untamed is good, alot better than what weve had, but it's no Madden 09. How many times have you sat and ponderd the idea of the perfect MX game........ Heres my idea. The game would be called MX life (a lil chessy but hear me out) First and foremost you have ALL the top riders from the 450 and 250 class, including a legandary mode with, Ricky, Mcgrath, Stanton, Bailey, etc..... All 17 Monster Energy Supercross and all 12 rounds of Lucas Oil Outdoor Motocross, including the Us Open, Bercy and of coarse the MXON. You would start out as a amature riding local tracks depending on the state your from, then move up to more elite amature races like Lorettas, Mini O'S, etc..... The better you do the more offers you get from all 5 manufactures. Once you get a ride you start your first season in 250 supercross in either the east or west depending on what state you selected. I would the like the controls to be alot like mx vs atv untamed, but utilzing the clutch more and incorprate a way to shift gears. The more the race goes on the more the track changes with breaking bumps, ruts, holes and different lines. Weather would be a factor as well with rain and overcast days, your screen would get specs of dirt on it that would have to be cleared by pulling a tearoff while in the air. The more you progress the better team offers and clothing contracts you get. After 3 years in the 250 clas you could move up to the 450 class and try to become the next goat, beacuse this is the cloest that most of us will ever get. Just an idea, maybe one day.

Number one Jeresys

We all know that the 2008 Monster Energy supercross was won by Chad Reed. The victory lap in vegas followed by the champagne spray wearing his new thor jersey with the big fat #1 on the back looked like a dream come true. The sad thing is their was a new No Fear jersey made up as well with a big #1 on it that was never wore. Kevin Windham came as close as he ever has to wining a 450 supercross championship, but Reed just had that little edge. I wonder what they do with those #1 jerseys? I'm sure the riders don't frame their almost championship jersey. Or how about in 2006 when Ricky, Chad and James all had a chance to win the championship, but only Ricky got to wear the number 1 jersey that night. Some of the teams go as far as making everyone t shirts and a big banner celebrating a championship. It sure makes it nice if your the won wearing the new #1 jersey, but for the many that didn't that must add insult to injury.

Daytona Supercross

The day started early around 6 a.m driving to pick up my father to embark on our 5 hour drive to Daytona. My father Larry and I benched raced a bit until he fell asleep due to his sugar induced coma from consuming his large birthday cake(happy b-day dad). We got to the track just in time to see the first 450 practice. First out of the gate was Grant clearing the triples with ease on his first lap, so much for taking it easy. The tracked looked really fun with your basic two triples and the long back rhythm section that attacked Stewart back in 06 sending him and his long lost kawi over the berm. Daytona has not been kind to Stewart in the past( unless you count 04 when he painted 3 on the infield) and tonight would be no exception. J-law made the treck down to Florida and boy did he look good posting the fastest lap time in practice, although he didn't ride to many laps. The 250 class looked good with the main three being Nico, Pourcel, and Stroupe. Practice(or time qualifying) was over and it was time to make it the stands to find our seats. 45$ got us as far from the track as possible, well passed the starting gate and closer to team Hondas semi than the track. Luckily we moved closer about midway and weasled into some elses comfy seats. The thing I love about daytona is it's nothing like the other 16 rounds, the rider intros are different and obviously the track is leap and bounds like the other cookie cutter tracks. Carmicheal made it out to the race to lend his voice for the Speed broadcast thanks to Jimmy Johnson flying him out on a private jet. The gate fell for the heat races and it was Nico and Stroupe wining the first two races of the night. Josh Lichtle lead for a bit until his Michigan friend caught and passed him. Stewart one his heat with a very nice lead, but Chad could not get around Hill who was riding an amazing race. The 45o LCQ was stacked with Millsaps, Tedesco, Wey and Josh Grant all going for that golden top two spots. Luckily for team Honda both Davi and Tedesco got out and stayed up to take the top two spots, Grant was coming through the packed but got some nasty head shake shortly after the finish line and went down hard ending his top 5 streak. Will Hann and Blake Wharton hit during the parade lap before the 250 main, Hann was pissed and had a good right to be. The 250 class had a good clean start with Stroupe in about 4th and Davalos in third. They hit collided in the rhythm section in the back and sent stroupe flying to tackle one of the 183 Honda tuff blocks. Davalos took the lead and would of won if his fitness was up to par, Pourcel caught him with only a few laps to go taking home his 3rd win of the season and stretching out that points lead even more. Izzi worked up to third, and sits second in points. Finally it was time for the main event and little did we know what we were in store for. The gate dropped and so did about half the 450 field. Stewart fell first, got ran over by Hill which in turn took out alot more and one of the Hart and Hunington riders( not Josh Hansen). It was a hard fall, so hard the Stewart's visor broke off and he tried to grab Hills bike and make a go of it. As all this carnage is going on Alessi(big surprise) was out front followed by J-law eventually and lead the first 17 laps. (WOW) Reed was held up by the first turn crash and slowly worked his way up to the top spot wining his 3rd Daytona and redeeming himself from last years mudfest. Millsaps took out Allesi for third and Stewart made it up to 7th. Now that's a race!! Jlaw got on the podium and almost won his first race, Chad extends his points lead to 11 and we got 7 more rounds to go!! My dad and I decide to make the 5 hour drive back home that night, we were very awake thanks to about 4 free rockstar energy drinks. The race was great and once again Daytona did not dissapoint.