The AMA brought Supercross back to Salt Lake City, thank heaven.  My life is complete again.

We sat on about the third row right in front of the most critical rhythm section of the track – a series of seven jumps, increasing in size to the fourth (where the tunnel is), then symmetrically decreasing on the back half.  K-Dub (pictured) and Stewart both were able to do this section 2-3-2 in practice, but nobody else could do it.  Reed tried and failed a couple of times before giving up.  Most fast guys went 1-2-3-1.

When the main event began, Reed grabbed the holeshot, and within a few turns Stewart was right behind him.  It went like this for a good 12-14 laps or so, I can’t remember exactly.  Stewart passed Reed on the rhythm section shown above by going 2-3-2 through it while Reed went 1-2-3-1.  Reed passed him back a few seconds later, and on the next lap Reed suddenly started going 2-3-2 through this section as well – and doing it better than Stewart could.  It was awesome to see him just start doing that in the main event, and watching that happen about 50 feet away from me was really cool.

Some of the racing got pretty close and aggressive.  Stewart took issue with it, because he doesn’t think people should be able to race him the same way he races other people.  Reed passed him pretty hard on one occasion; it reminded me quite a bit of a number of passes Stewart has put on Reed.  Usually when this happens to Reed he just takes it in stride, and usually when this happens to James he takes the liberty of pointing out what a dirty rider he thinks Reed is.  Stewart is a flat-out hypocrite, but I can cut him a break I guess, because that’s not his biggest flaw.

Everything fell apart for Reed, though, when they caught up to Stewart’s teammate, Kyle Chisholm.  At this point Stewart was barely leading with Reed catching up again.  Chisholm was given the blue flag as the leaders came by.  Chisholm was not racing anyone else for position at the time.  Expected behavior in this case is for the lapper to pull off while the leaders pass, then continue.  Chisholm did this as Stewart passed, but then inexplicably started racing Reed as though they were competing for a position, running him high into one turn, taking the racing line through the next rhythm section, and finally attempting an obvious t-bone takeout move in the next 180 degree turn.  There was no way Chisholm would have made the turn with the line he was taking.  He was obviously trying to take Reed out of the race.

He failed, but by this point the damage was done.  He had taken almost two seconds off of Reed’s lap time, putting Reed that far behind Stewart.  With each rider running within one or two tenths of each other on lap times, there was no way to make that up in the few remaining laps.  So instead of having a chance to win the race and go into Vegas tied in points, Reed had to settle for second and go to Vegas six points down.  Stewart only needs a podium finish in Vegas to take the championship; he doesn’t need to win.  Chisholm’s riding tactics likely cost Reed a meaningful shot at defending his title.

Chisholm was black-flagged a couple of laps later and rode off the track in deserved shame.

If Chisholm always rode this way we might be able to attribute this behavior to his riding style, like Eric Sorby, who was an idiot who tried to take anyone out just for the fun of it.  (He’s retired now, and I say good riddance.)  But Chisholm isn’t usually like this, he’s always seemed to be a pretty decent guy and a talented rider.  Having watched it live and again on TV, I have to think that he was intentionally trying to take Reed out.  And since he doesn’t normally do that, I have to figure he did it in this case because L&M/San Manuel Yamaha told him to do it.

I can’t be convinced that this was anything other than team tactics.  Stewart claims he doesn’t need help to beat Reed, but there’s a lot of evidence to the contrary this season.  Stewart, along with his team manager and anyone else who gets asked, claims there were no team tactics and they don’t know what Chisholm was thinking.  What else will they say?  There’s no hard evidence of team tactics, it’s just the most logical explanation for what happened.

Part of me wishes the AMA would penalize the team, take points away from both riders or something.  Since I’m pretty convinced there were team tactics I think that is appropriate.  Some say Stewart wasn’t involved, but he’s on the team, and he should be standing up for a fair race.  But the other part of me doesn’t want the AMA giving out penalties without proof.

Regardless of what happens, I think this taints Stewarts championship, assuming he wins, which is likely at this point.  His 2009 championship will always have a little asterisk by it, where the footnote reads “He secured the championship by cheating.”

My people, there is an epidemic.  It is serious and problematic.  We must take action to address this epidemic.  The epidemic is US Congressional Dumbness.

Now, some people, like Orrin Hatch, are beyond saving.  He is simply too dumb to be helped.  He is a lost cause and will unfortunately continue to infect other US congresspersons with Dumbness.  Our only hope here is to try to contain, minimize the damage, and hopefully quarantine these poor experienced congresspersons with Advanced Dumbness, like Senator Hatch, from the rest who may not yet be infected, or may only be experiencing Early Stage Dumbness.

Evidence of this disease abounds.  One example of such evidence is the recently enacted CPISA which, among other things, made off-highway vehicles targeted toward youth aged under 13 ILLEGAL – not because they are unsafe, but because they contain too much lead.

I do admit, there have been countless times since I bought my KX 250 5 years ago when I’ve gone out to look at it and found my children sucking on it.  I softly and gently tell them, “ARE YOU INSANE?!?  DON’T YOU KNOW THAT THING HAS LEAD IN IT?!?  ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF?!?  HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU NOT TO SUCK ON MY MOTORCYCLE?!?!?”  This might be why my kids tend to walk into walls and accidentally stab themselves in the eye with a fork while eating.

Nevertheless, this is no excuse for outlawing children’s off-highway vehicles.  I want freedom for myself and my children, even if it means my children are free to break into the motorcycle shed and gnaw on the exhaust pipe.  Being patriotic, I decided I should fight this disease in this case and write my congresspersons.

Here is the context of the e-mail I sent:

Dear [congressperson]:

I wish to express my concern about some of the unintended effects of CPISA that recently went into effect; namely, the restriction on youth-oriented off-highway vehicles targeted by section 101(a) of that act.

Motorcycle and ATV riding is a very popular family activity in our state, a family activity now threatened by this act.  Because of the popularity, this act will also have a very real economic impact on our state.  And speaking personally, this act threatens the sports of Motocross and Supercross, some of the fastest growing spectator sports in the country and a favorite of my father, brother, sons, and myself, because it chokes the pipeline of new talent being introduced to the sport.

While these impacts are very real to Utah, Utah is not the only state affected by this obvious oversight.  Little children do not generally bite, chew, or suck on motorcycles and ATVs, so the health risk from lead contamination to children from these vehicles is small to non-existent, and not even worth discussing.

I hope you will agree with me and do your best to have this situation addressed so that my children, and children all across the country, are free again to participate in this sport.  I look forward to hearing back from you on your success in this endeavor.

You too can help fight US Congressional Dumbness in this case.  To do so, simply go to this website of a US Congressmen who seems free of the disease and send in the form.

Racer X (the magazine, not the shred metal band) ran a press release from KTM that sadly announces the demise of the KTM Junior Supercross Challenge. I think this is too bad; I personally have quite enjoyed watching these little kids race the tracks that would kill me if I tried to ride them. I even quickly forgave them for deluding me into thinking that I, too, could jump a double. The logic went, “Sheesh, if a 9 year old can do this on a KTM 50, I should be able to do this on my KX 250 no problem!” And seconds later, my collarbone was broken.

But those guys were nothing compared to Caden Hadley (pictured), the guy I was reminded of when I read the press release. Back in 2003, Caden Hadley from Bountiful, UT, raced in the KJSC at the Salt Lake Supercross. I was there when Caden doubled the first part of one of the triple jumps, every single lap. That’s about 35 feet in the air. That may not seem like much, unless you actually get out there and give it a shot yourself, especially on one of those little 50cc motorcycles. It sure impressed Steve Bruhn (photo source – motonews.com) and Jamie Little. I’ll never forget that – it was awesome.

Greg and I took our boys to the 2008 Rockstar US Open of Supercross at the MGM Grand a couple of weeks ago. Of course, I could not blog much about it then, because I would spoil the fun for the one person who reads this blog and also watches the races on TV, and of course it takes an entire week to edit the show, so we had to wait. Then I forgot.

Anyway, the US Open is a great time, there really isn’t a bad seat and you can see two nights of racing for about $30/night which is not bad at all. Since Rockstar sponsors it they also bring their Rockstar Girls, which I don’t personally care about, but some might, and if it gets you supporting the sport, then hey.

We stayed at the Travelodge on Koval street.
It has the advantage of being within easy walking distance of MGM Grand. But other than that, it was a complete dive. I would also say it had the advantage of being cheap, but they actually hit me with $40 of hidden “additional occupancy” charges that they didn’t tell me about beforehand, making it so it wasn’t even a better value than some other more upscale places. Avoid.
Also you’ll note the Badda Bing girl on the billboard in the background, pixelated. Yes, they really have a new gentleman’s club in Vegas called Badda Bing, of all the dumb names. The girl on the billboard has clothes on, but she is not wearing them, if that makes any sense.

At the start of the race the Rockstar girl (lower right) would hold up the 30-second board and do the requisite booty-shake. You might not be able to tell in this picture, but trust me, she’s shaking that thing.

Here’s a shot of the start of a race. Yes, there are actually guys racing in this photo. See that blur in the first corner? That’s them. I realize now that my camera phone is just not cut out for this kind of stuff.

On the way home, in compliance with custom, we stopped at Applebee’s to eat, in Cedar City, near the lighthouse. Because of the extensive rocky coastline and high sea traffic around Cedar City, it is a good thing they have this lighthouse.

It was a great time. I got to meet Supercross Lites and Motocross champion Grant Langston, and he is really cool. Chad Reed sported Grant’s number 8 for the weekend. We saw Reed on his new Suzuki and Stewart on his new Yamaha. Stewart mostly dominated the weekend, but Reed holeshot the main event on Saturday, spoiling Stewart’s run at the trifecta in awesome fashion. Then those two ran an awesome race for 16 laps before Reed made a mistake and crashed. It bodes well for the upcoming Supercross season, and I can hardly wait.

By the way, Greg said I should mention that, other than spending money on gasoline, tickets, hotel, and food, we gave a lot of money to Charity while we were down there. Faith and Hope were also options, but Charity is the greatest of them all and never faileth. So we gave loads of money to Charity. Besides, she was the hottest by far.

Just kidding. Her name wasn’t Charity.

This guy is a stud.  No, not the old, gray, wrinkly fellow on the right; the guy on the left, wearing the Team Yamaha shirt.  That is none other than 2007 AMA Motocross champion Grant Langston, who I ran into at the US Open of Supercross last night.

See More Motocross Photos at VitalMX.com

Well, let’s see here. That is definitely the current AMA and World Supercross champion, Chad Reed, throwing down a pretty sweet whip there. If the red #1 plate and the Thor gear didn’t give it away, the word “Reed” across the back of the jersey ought to do it. And that is definitely a bright yellow factory Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z 450 he’s riding.

Now I learned to add in first grade, and so it isn’t too tough to deduce that Chad Reed has signed a contract to ride for Rockstar Makita Suzuki for the 2009 season. Whether he was going to get a ride really wasn’t much of an issue; the question was more about who would he be riding for. At least now my brother has a reason to keep his Suzuki RM 250. He thought he might have to sell it when Ricky Carmichael signed with Suzuki, and having Mike Alessi hasn’t helped matters much. But now that Chad Reed’s a Suzuki guy life will be good for us, since we are generally Suzuki folk.

Which doesn’t explain much why I have a Kawasaki KX 250, although I can assure you most definitely that it isn’t because James Stewart rides Team Green.

I do have to say that ChaCha really blew it on this one. Some weeks ago I asked ChaCha who Chad was going to ride for. ChaCha said JGR MX, which seemed reasonable at the time, but ultimately ChaCha was wrong, and quite simply I expect ChaCha to give the the straight dope 100% of the time, or more.

By the way, thanks to VitalMX.com for the photos and hosting the press release.

The other day I was talking with my dad on the phone about the recently concluded AMA Supercross championship, and my pleasure that the Australian Chad Reed had managed to claim the championship (if you read this blog you already know that I’m a big Chad Reed fan).

Dad was trying to be supportive but he just wasn’t really showing the love. Finally I asked him about it, and he said, “Well, I know you really like Reed, but I was kinda hoping that Windham would win it. You know, since he’s an American. I just think since you are an American you should cheer for Windham over Reed.”

Well, Dad’s entitled to his opinion. So I thought about this for a while. Then I realized: This is the same man who had posters of Roger DeCoster on his workshop wall when I was little.

Roger DeCoster. The Man. The legend. The Belgian.

Embarrassingly, I have neglected to blog about the awesome fact that Chad Reed is the 2008 AMA Supercross Champion. Sincerest apologies, readers.

2008 will be one of those Supercross seasons to remember, unless your name is Kevin Windham. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not dogging on K-Dub. He rode a great season and shouldn’t be at all upset with his effort. But I’m betting that this one hurts enough that he would like to forget it.
Maybe he’ll remember it just enough to compete the 2008 Nationals and win that title. I’m all in favor of that.

But this post is not about K-Dub, it’s about Chad Reed. Chad had an uncharacteristically inconsistent season, with some rather distant finishes in a number of races due to minor things like a blown engine or a broken shoulder. This season, it was Windham who was consistently top-5 or better every race, not Chad. What Chad did do that was very Chad-Reed-ish was to fight like a dog for every point possible, against conditions and obstacles that would sideline practically any athlete of any sport you want to name.

I’m a big fan of both Windham and Reed. What made the difference this season was that Reed went out and got that championship. At the start of the season, when Stewart dropped out, everyone thought we might as well just hand the championship to Reed. Well, it wasn’t handed to him – he went out there and earned it, every point of it. Both Windham and Reed had opportunities to seize the championship; the difference was that Reed seized it when it really mattered, and Windham didn’t. When Reed faltered, when Windham had those opportunities to take points and really make it hurt, he didn’t always grab those opportunities.

That, my friends, is the difference between winning and just having a really great season.

I’d like to invite Ralph Sheheen of Speed TV to watch supercross. At least, I think he should watch it if he is going to announce it professionally.

I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming he doesn’t actually watch it. Otherwise, his statement from Seattle’s race of “Chad Reed is one of the luckiest riders there is” makes him look like an idiot.

However, in case he really did mean to say that, and in case he really does think that Chad is one of the luckiest riders, let’s recap:

• He gets sick on the day of the Minneapolis race and ends up only able to race to 7th place.
• He completely dominates the Daytona supercross only to have his bike quit on him three turns away from the finish line on the last lap, when he was over one minute ahead of second place.
• He breaks his shoulder blade and separates his shoulder in Detroit and manages to only place 12th.

Gosh, Ralph. Does that sound lucky to you?

I just finished listening to the awesome webcast of the Seattle Supercross on supercross.cc.com (you guys do an awesome job). If you haven’t heard or seen the race, Honda riders were supposedly trying to help Kevin Windham win his championship by holding off Chad Reed as he tried to come through the field. When Chad passed got inside Andrew Short (cleanly, I might add) and passed him, Short grabbed a handful of throttle and T-boned Chad, almost taking both of them out. After the race, they interviewed Shorty, who said something to the effect of, “Hey, Chad doesn’t pay my salary. Honda pays my salary, and I’m just doing my job. I’m supposed to do whatever it takes to help Honda win a championship.”

Let’s clear something up right now. Intentionally trying to wreck into someone to take them out of the race is only acceptable in a demolition derby. In any other form of racing, it is a dirty, disrespectful tactic, shows poor sportsmanship, and is dangerous. Bumping and rubbing are acceptable in some racing forms, and supercross is definitely one of them. Intentional takeout attempts, successful or not, are a different thing altogether.

So at this point I don’t know who to not be a fan of anymore – Andrew Short, or Honda. Maybe I’ll choose both. When Chad passed Davi Millsaps just a lap or so earlier, Millsaps raced Chad fair, but didn’t try any kamikaze takeout moves. Davi and Shorty are both factory Honda riders. If Short is telling the truth, then Davi failed to follow team orders by not trying to take Chad out of the race, which means that Honda is a dirty team. But if Davi was racing the way he had been instructed, then Shorty took it too far by attempting a desperate takeout move when Reed passed him, in which case Short is a dirty rider.

I’ve seen it from Short a number of times, so here’s to betting it is Short deciding to be dirty, since he can’t be as good as Reed is. Maybe he’s trying to compensate for never having hit puberty. Or maybe he secretly wishes that he was with Ellie instead of Chad. Whatever the reason, I’ve thought it through – Andrew Short has officially lost a fan. I doubt he cares, but nonetheless, I’m rooting against him from this point on. And Honda too. He’s a factory rider. Whether it was team orders or not, he represents Honda when he rides and when he speaks.

Hey, Andrew Short! Hey Honda! Check this – Chad Reed came from dead last – 21st place – and beat your factory rider, who led almost the whole race but couldn’t hold on to win it, who could not keep from being beaten by Chad Reed even when he tried to wreck him. With a broken shoulder. Choke on that, Honda. Choke on that, Andrew Short.