2012 AMA Supercross/Motocross Thread - **SPOILERS**

[DogBoy]

AMA Supercross / Motocross discussion. Great racing, so much talent, personalities to spare and plenty of drama, the SX/MX seasons have everything a racing fan could ask for.

Anaheim 1 is three weeks from tonight. Who will surprise? Who will melt down?  

[phoenix]

and who's riding for which teams?

[DogBoy]

and who's riding for which teams?

Who cares? I only watch because of the Monster Energy girls.

[mxvet57]

and who's riding for which teams?

I'm still trying to sort that out.

Who cares? I only watch because of the Monster Energy girls.

 

[SLK50]

  I'll make essentially the same prediction I made last year.
Villopoto and Dungey will battle all year for the title.
Reed will once again be the perennial also-ran.
And Stewart will be out early with injuries.
  The real excitement wil be watching those unexpected
riders having podium finishes, especially Windham.

[motodog650]

Thinking Barcia might be mixing it up with the front runners from time to time. Hate that Canard will miss the first few rounds...

[DogBoy]

I'm rooting for Dungey on the KTM but will enjoy cheering for every rider on every lap.

[mxvet57]

I'm rooting for Dungey on the KTM but will enjoy cheering for every rider on every lap.

Me to.

What KTM needed was a rider that can put them on the podium. They have always had a good bike and Dungey is the one to do it.

[phoenix]

 And Stewart will be out early with crash-related injuries.
 

[X1Glider]

Gotta stay with our American boys Dungy and Villopoto hashing it out.  But I would not say that Reed will be the "also ran" this season.  He and his team accomplished a lot last year as a privateer.  Lessons learned will make him a sure contender.  As for Dungy and the KTM... I always liked Alessi but am anxious to see if Dungy can do a better job making the 350 stay at the front.

[DogBoy]

Dungey is riding the 450.

[motodog650]

Supercross Season Preview Show on CBS at 2PM EST Christmas Day...

[DogBoy]

Thanks for the heads up.

[DogBoy]

A1 tomorrow night!

[R Doug]

Dungey is riding the 450.

Yep... no more screwing around with the smaller lighter bike strategy.  KTM will now be running a full 450 with a rider which should put them in contention.

As always, I look forward to the entertainment which is JBS.  He's a hoot to watch as he strategy seems to be "all or nothing."    It'll be interesting to see if JGR tries another approach with him.  But, can you really teach and old dog new tricks?    

I am looking forward to Sat. night.

[R Doug]

So Mo with JBS.

[DNA]

Did Stewart take Vilopoto out last night?

Looked like he crashed him - but the sound was off and I was doing other things while watching.

From what I saw on replay - I'd be pissed, but could "just be racin" as well...  Thoughts form the EOR's?

[phoenix]

In the main, stewart crashed all by himself. Not a huge crash, but enough to knock him down a phew spots. He wasn't 100% mentally in m opinion. Reed had a small crash too, that just about left him off the podium. Villapoto ran away with the main.

Some decent racing. I didn't care for the track much, not enough places for passing and no big jumps.

[R Doug]

Some decent racing. I didn't care for the track much, not enough places for passing and no big jumps.

 

You have to admit, Stewart can charge up through the field like no other.

(can he can crash like no other as well)  

[phoenix]

You have to admit, Stewart can charge up through the field like no other.

well, its still a case where the top 5 -8 riders are in a class to their own. Probably will be forever.
Riding right on the edge with no error is pretty much key to a championship. That second part is his downfall.

[DogBoy]

Some great racing all night in Phoenix. Happy to see KTM and Dungey grab the win.

[Rockin SV]

I was also happy for Dungey and KTM, he had a great race. Villopoto is insanely fast though to make up all the spots he did! Pretty gutsy performance by Canard also in his comeback from injury.

[R Doug]

fingers in ears.... **** I can't hear you... I need to watch the races still on my DVR ****  

[DogBoy]

Did anyone else notice Ricky Carmichael* getting taller and shorter and all night?   He was taller than Sheheen and Emig at the beginning of the broadcast and then almost back to normal size, then about the same height as the others, then shorter again. These are MX guys, they should be able to find a milk crate.



*AKA the fat guy that ate Ricky Carmichael.

[R Doug]

   on GOAT.  

Great race indeed.  I'm finally caught up.  

[DogBoy]

Supercross Main from Dodger Stadium* on TV tomorrow Noon Eastern/9am Pacific.

2012 SX TV schedule which I sure is subject to change. http://www.supercross.com/tv-listings

Air Date - Venue - City - Network - Time
12/25/2011 - Supercross Preview Show - CBS - 2:00pm ET
1/7/2012 - Angel Stadium - Anaheim, Calif. - SPEED (Live) - 10:00pm ET
1/14/2012 - Chase Field - Phoenix - SPEED (Live) - 9:30pm ET
1/22/2012 - Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles - CBS - Noon ET
1/29/2012 - Overstock.com Stadium - Oakland - CBS - Noon ET
2/5/2012 - Angel Stadium - Anaheim, Calif. - CBS - Noon ET
2/11/2012 - Qualcomm Stadium - San Diego - SPEED (Live) - 10:30pm ET
2/18/2012 - Cowboys Stadium - Arlington, Texas - SPEED (Live) - 9:30pm ET
2/25/2012 - Georgia Dome - Atlanta - SPEED (Live) - 7:30pm ET
2/26/2012 - Supercross Special - CBS - Noon ET
3/3/2012 - Edward Jones Dome - St. Louis - SPEED (Live) - 9:30pm ET
*3/10/12 - Daytona Int’l Speedway - Daytona, Fla. - SPEED (Live) TBD
3/17/2012 - Lucas Oil Stadium - Indianapolis - SPEED (Live) - 7:30pm ET
3/24/2012 - Rogers Centre - Toronto, ON - SPEED (Live) - 7:30pm ET
4/1/2012 - Reliant Stadium - Houston - CBS - Noon ET
4/15/2012 - Louisiana Superdome - New Orleans - CBS - Noon ET
4/21/2012 - Qwest Field - Seattle - SPEED (Live) - 10:30pm ET
4/29/2012 - Rice-Eccles Stadium - Salt Lake City - CBS - Noon ET
5/5/2012 - Sam Boyd Stadium - Las Vegas - SPEED (Live) - 10:00pm ET
5/6/2012 - Supercross Season Review - CBS - Noon ET
*Not a Feld Motor Sports-produced race
ET stands for Eastern Time in the USA

[DogBoy]

Forecast had rain for tonight. Pics of the entire track covered in plastic were posted on FB. Sun was out during the autograph signing and the plastic started coming off a few hours ago. Dry or mudpit, this should be good.

[Orson]

wtf is overstock.com stadium?  

 

[DogBoy]

Its the Oakland Coliseum. Still a better name than Sacramento's Power Balance Pavilion (named after some shame bracelet company that was sued out of existence).

[DogBoy]

Lots of surprises in the main class all night. Still getting the shakes from watching Canard get hit. Best wishes for a speedy recovery to all involved. Villapoto is one cool customer. Nothing seems to shake him up.

[phoenix]

a little web search indicated that Canard has a broken back. Still has feeling in his legs, but no word yet on treatment. I forget who the rider was that landed on him, but the other rider also suffered a broken back. Yikes.

[R Doug]

It didn't look that nasty, I really hate to hear that's the outcome.  

I still can't believe Chad walked away from his failed Superman impersonation last year in MX.  

[DogBoy]

It was pretty ugly. The other bike landed right on TC's head.

[Orson]

I, for one, find the jumpey-jumpey nature of modern supercross tracks a bit too removed from classic outdoor motocross...

and you kids get off my lawn!  

[phoenix]

I still can't believe Chad walked away from his failed Superman impersonation last year in MX.  

as they say, "the ground broke his fall".

[R Doug]

Yea, I believe Chad simply landed right.

Don't get me wrong about TC.  It looked bad but not back-breaking bad.  

[DogBoy]

**SPOILERZ**

My DVR (and subsequently, me) missed most of the Oakland Supercross due to the spine-tingling end of a golf tournament in San Diego. I can't take the pulse pounding excitement of watching four guys in polyester walk a few hundred yards at a time so I just erased the recording.

GoPro puts together "sizzle reels" as promos after each event. GoPro also has James Stewart wearing a helmet cam for every race. Below are two vids: the promo and James Stewart POV for the main. Best full screen at 1080p. N-JOY!

[DogBoy]

Anaheim 2 was pretty good. First repeat winner.

[X1Glider]

Thought it was a great race.  I first watch more to admire the skills and learn from them and enjoy the battle second.  Seeing Reed work his way to the front was great and even moreso when Villopoto gave Reed a taste of his own tactical medicine with the agressive block passes.  Typical Stewart in the tuff blocks.  Gotta say I feel bad for him being trapped like he was due to exposed wire/cable.

[R Doug]

How did his pants rip?  The end of main event was excellent racing!  

[SLK50]

  How many times has Stewart crashed so far this year?
If he doesn't get his act together he's never going to make it to the end of the season.
His chances of catching the ( points ) leaders is slipping away.

[DogBoy]

Bummer about Reed's injuries in Dallas. More so because he is team owner and that must create a financial hit for the whole team. Hope the best for everyone.

That Supercross LCQ was pretty entertaining. Not sure how a "visual" outweighs the electronic timing for the final transfer spot. Will have to read up on how that works.

[phoenix]

Bummer about Reed's injuries in Dallas. More so because he is team owner and that must create a financial hit for the whole team. Hope the best for everyone.

I sure was not thinking his crash would result is so much injury. Wow, out for a year.

Kind of going back to Orson's comment about the "jumpy jumpy" nature, tied with the power of the 450's, supercross has had a pretty high casualty rate the past few years. Dungey won the title just a few years ago when the rest of the top 5 were out on injury. Canard has had 2 broken femurs in the past 4 years and now broken vertebrae. Reed out for an extended period now. Stewart was out for a while. Villapoto, Alessi, etc etc.

[R Doug]

That is a major bummer.  I hope Stewart can stay on track and on his bike to compete.  It would be more fun if it's a 3 horse race and not just a battle of the Ryans.  Is Villopoto going to run away with it this year?  He's been THE man for the last 18 months.  

[phoenix]

Until he blows his knee out

[DogBoy]

71,000 attendance for Atlanta SX! Good place to be for RD5.  

[R Doug]

Villopoto almost made a race out of it in the end but once Dungey had the lead, he never looked back.  

[DogBoy]

Dungey out for Daytona SX. Had a broken collarbone BEFORE St. Louis.    OK, it probably wasn't snapped in half like most broken collarbones but landing all those jumps, hitting all those berms and handling the immediate acceleration of a factory 450 with a cracked bone in your shoulder makes you a badass in a my book.

http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/sx-dungey-out/



Moving forward: really looking forward to the always unpredictable Daytona SX. And its OK for you purists to watch this one and not feel dirty.  

[phoenix]

really just Villapoto and Stewart left. Punishing year.

[DogBoy]

really just Villapoto and Stewart left. Punishing year.

Agreed.

Cole Seely has been a present surprise but he only got his chance because of Canard's injury. Hopefully, we're done with injuries for a while.

[R Doug]

First Chad, not Ryan D.  WTF!?  Stop the insanity!

[phoenix]

The dang race at daytona ran wayyy past 3 hours. The heat races were almost twice as long with the slow lap times. Not sure why they did not cut out some of the filler fluff In between heat races, but, such is life. While I thin those guys have balls the size of watermelons to ride that fast in the pouring rain, the races were non-competitive.

[DNA]

Mud fest part 2.
Another sloppy Daytona- and I enjoyed it.

The lights had a semi dramatic ending.

[phoenix]

another weekend, another casualty in SX. Makes for some hollow victories, but many of the top guys have been in that boat over the past few years.

[DogBoy]

Hate to see anyone get injured. I attribute Stewart's latest noggin pop to his on-the-edge riding rather than the extreme nature of the modern SX tracks. I'd think its a cake walk for RV now but no way would I try to predict the outcome of an SX race.

Anyone know why Cole Seely had to turn Canard's bike back to the team? TC is out for the SX season and Seely is riding his ass off.

[Orson]

I, for one, find the jumpey-jumpey nature of modern supercross tracks a bit too removed from classic outdoor motocross...

and you kids get off my lawn!  

I don't wanna be a wet blanket, but the injuries may be an indicator that the sport may have morphed into an unsustainable product, when the best riders in the world are getting injured.

The track formula may have gotten out of control from the creators.

Grand Prix road racing seemed to be at a similar place in the 1990s when highsides became the cause of numerous injuries.

[phoenix]

I can't really comment on track designs as I have barely ridden dirt tracks.

I do agree that Stewart himself as the major contributor to his crashes. He goes beyond 100% to get in the lead. As with is most recent accident, the race is not won on the first lap.

[DogBoy]

I don't think the tracks, or at least the jumps, are much different than they have been for the last twenty years or so. Those factory 250 2-strokes had explosive power and could hit triples and big doubles after a slow turn just like the 450s of today. I think the whoops are different and more difficult but thats just a guess. Don't have any data to determine whether there are more injuries now than in the past.

Compare to MotoGP which where there have been two deaths (counting Moto2) in the last two years and injuries to Rossi, DePuniet, Edwards, Pedrosa and Lorenzo among others and suddenly SX looks relatively  safe.

[phoenix]

  How many times has Stewart crashed so far this year?
If he doesn't get his act together he's never going to make it to the end of the season.
His chances of catching the ( points ) leaders is slipping away.

another race, another clip of #7 added to the highlight reel.

I sure wish they would stop referring to him as the fastest man on the planet. Doesn't matter how fast you are if you can't finish races. And I don't get what his beef was with KW in the heat race. But whatever. I don't like James.  Most dangerous man on the track.

[DogBoy]

No question James Stewart bumps the love/hate excitement level of SX/MX.    SX heat 2 was a great race until Windham ate it. Looked like Windham passed Stewart under several waving yellows. Congratulations to Villopoto on championship.

[R Doug]

It was a pretty anticlimactic season... yes / no?  All of the other potential front runners are out.  Congrats to RV.

[Tyrroneous]

Congrats to RV...sad that what had started out as a multi rider challenge for the championship quickly fizzled down.

[SLK50]

Congrats to RV...sad that what had started out as a multi rider challenge for the championship quickly fizzled down.

  Yes, but that too is racing. It's also how second tier riders often get their chance at a podium finish which
could in turn kick start their rise to the top of their profession.
  While this year quickly fizzled, next year promises some fresh talent at the very highest level of competition.
  Millsaps, Brayton, Weimer, Metcalfe, sure. But I expect to see a lot more of Tickle, Chisholm, Hansen, Kiniry,
Goerke and Seely in the coming months/years. Some of the best racing I've seen this year has been
in fourth thru tenth places.
   We'll see a paradigm shift as the Reeds/Stewarts/ Windhams, etc.,
slowly fade into the record books and new talent rises to take their places. ( IMO )

[phoenix]

  While this year quickly fizzled, next year promises some fresh talent at the very highest level of competition.
  Millsaps, Brayton, Weimer, Metcalfe, sure.

How can you mention Millsaps and "fresh talent" back to back?  

I do agree that RV's championship was all part of racing. Many other riders have benefitted in a similar way. I thought Dungey's SX champoinship was just about on the same level, although he has shown he is always in the top 5 or better.

I didn't hear the aftermath of KW's injuries. He's not a young punk and has taken a few nasty crashes this year. I would be looking for a change.

To me, some of the best racing action was in the Lites East class. Man, they were racing hard this last weekend. When Barcia went over to bitch at Vincent for that last lap crash, I wanted to bitch slap him.

[DogBoy]

WooHoo! Kaboom highlight reel.

[JonS]

For me, the MX season just started. The Hangtown races were this weekend and I really enjoyed the race I saw. I have no idea why the second didn't records. It's probably just me thinking that stadium racing is more about a bunch of guys looking like Kangaroos, spending more flight time, than dirt time.  Anyway, I love the standard Motocross. Since I haven't been following these races til this year, I don't have a favorite and I'm just enjoying the sport.

[DogBoy]

I'm so bummed I had to work and missed Hangtown. Had such a great time last year. Still much of the top talent out with injuries but that won't stop me from enjoying the MX season.

[JonS]

I'm so bummed I had to work and missed Hangtown. Had such a great time last year. Still much of the top talent out with injuries but that won't stop me from enjoying the MX season.

Boy, now I'm reminded about how it was to live in CA, with all the great racing close by.

[stk0308]

WooHoo! Kaboom highlight reel.

Amazing how many of those clips involved Lawn Dart Stuart...both of them