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!!!