What Really Happened: Salt Lake City

By: kardy1

Posted: 04/28/09

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Stewart and the Title Posted: 04/28/09 It now looks pretty likely that James Stewart will win the Supercross championship this weekend in Vegas. His win in Salt Lake proved a couple of things: That he's willing to unnecessarily push the pace to enjoy the feeling of a race win, and that he wants to prove to everyone that he deserves the championship because he's the fastest rider on the track. In Vegas, Stewart needs to get 4th or better if Reed's able to get the win. That shouldn't be too much of a problem, but strange things usually happen in Vegas, and the track is always fast, slick and challenging. Plus, it'll be live on SPEED, so there will be a lot of pressure for Stewart to perform, and James sometimes wilts under pressure. 792 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	Dungey, West champ. Posted: 04/28/09 Ryan Dungey - not enough can be said about him, really, as he's been an intriguing story since before he even hit the Suzuki factory rig after skipping the "A" class entirely (well, except for Ponca City). He's gone through the tutelage of Johnny O'Mara and a couple of other big-name trainers/advisers, and has proven himself indoors and out for a few years, beating one of the great Lites/125 class champs in the sport's history (Ryan Villopoto) several times in the process. Even with all of his success, it took Dungey a few attempts to finally win a championship in this sport he seems destined to succeed in. This summer's Nationals will be (another) true test of his desire, work ethic and skill as he faces off against a very deep and talented Lites class. Looking only as far as this weekend, though, he'll face much of that same opposition at the Dave Coombs Sr. East/West Shootout, which he's won the past two years. Dungey is the odds-on favorite to win it again, so place your bets now. 537 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	Davi Millsaps Posted: 04/28/09 Millsaps again proved that he's the 'best of the rest' this weekend, after his 4th podium visit of the season he's now tied with Ryan Villopoto for 8th in points. EIGTH, and he's been on the podium four times! That's a testament to how stacked the class is, and how inconsistent Davi's been. But things are on the up and up for sure, as he's on record several times stating he's changed several things in his program, on the bike, and on his body (new gear sponsor). Davi always seems to excel on more technical and rougher tracks, so the only thing in question regarding his chances for a good outdoor season is his conditioning. 587 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	Ryan Morais Posted: 04/28/09 Morais, who's been a bit of the Cinderella story in the LItes class this season, ended with a strong 3rd place in SLC. While Morais should be in the hunt for a top-5 in Vegas, his future also looks bright for the Nationals too. The Monster/Pro Circuit team typically fields 4 riders, and when you're on a team with the likes of Christophe Pourcel, Austin Stroupe, Jake Weimer and - don't forget - current MX2 World Champion Tyla Rattray, well, it'd be easy to get left out. Thankfully it sounds like Mitch is going to cram the #116 into the truck and the PC team will be 5 strong this summer. 523 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes
Dan Reardon? Posted: 04/28/09 Dandy Dan suffered a bad start and crash in his heat to end up 13th, and that was the good part of his evening. In the LCQ, Dan was in a decent position but got absolutely stuffed off the track by lap 2 and ended up walking back to the rig. Not sure what exactly happened to Dan, but here's to hoping the Aussie has better luck in both Vegas and the outdoors, as he's got great speed and fitness when things go his way. 621 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	Mike Alessi Posted: 04/28/09 Alessi's night went from bad to worse, as bad starts (!) and crashes kept Mike Alessi - who led much of last week's race - out of the main event in SLC. This dropped Mikey from 6th to 9th in points in just one night! Moving up were Villopoto, Tedesco and Millsaps, to whom Mike is now down 5 points heading into the final. 550 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	The crowd. Posted: 04/28/09 Salt Lake's Rice-Eccles Stadium filled up fairly well for a cold, damp night of supercross racing. The official count was over 50,000 hardy mountain-types toughed it out to catch the action, and they weren't disappointed. As you can see from the photos, temps were low - in the 40's and upper 30's, with a threat of rain that alleviated as the night wore on. The track varied from muddy to nearly dusty at times, but overall it was a good night for racing. 570 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	450 Heat 1 Posted: 04/28/09 The night's 450 action got off to an exciting start right away, as Davi Millsaps was somehow able to match Chad Reed's pace for the duration of their heat race. While later it was discovered that Reed had been suffering from almost none or zero front brake, it was still a nice little way to get the night going for the 50,000 hardcore fans in attendance. 543 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes
Lites Main Action Posted: 04/28/09 It seemed crazy to watch Dungey going BACK through the pack in SLC. After following the ever-improving Jake Moss around while he was leading, Ryan inherited the lead when Moss fell. Then Canard passed Dungey, and not long after that, so did Weimer and Morais. To Dungey's credit, he kept his cool and knew exactly what he needed to do in order to win the title, and he did that and just a little bit more. It was impressive because you know that deep down inside, the racer inside of him wanted to battle with those guys, but he kept it together and rode smart, and walked away with the title. 524 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	Who the ?? Posted: 04/28/09 OK, who the heck is #605 on the Jagermeister KTM that Josh Summey had been riding (or was it Travis Preston's)? Formally listed on the Fire/Police MX team, Jagermeister MDK KTM picked #605 Jesse Casillas to race out of the factory rig for the last couple of rounds. While he didn't exactly make a huge impact, he did respectably. Of course everyone makes the night show these days since so few 450 riders show up, but Casillas ended up 12th in his heat race (just behind Mike Alessi) and 5th in the LCQ (just ahead of Mike Alessi). Not too bad, really, considering the guys he replaced may not have done a whole lot better than that. 819 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	Oh yes, Terry Boyd.... Posted: 04/28/09 Oh yes he did! Terry busted out the tear-off/roll-off routine for the SLC crowd, and everyone instantly felt right at home again. This bit had been missing from the show for quite a while, but Terry felt that since SX had left SLC for a few years that maybe everyone needed a refresher. Thanks, Terry. You're the best. 622 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	The convo. Posted: 04/28/09 While James Jr. and Chad were up on the podium (and James was being booed by the partisan crowd), James Sr. and The Man, Roger DeCoster, were having a fairly intense discussion in front of the podium. It's safe to say that it had a little something to do about the various problems their two riders were having with one another out on the race track. It's also safe to say it may have had a little something to do with the altercation between Stewart's teammate (and best buddy) Kyle Chisholm and Reed during the Main. 804 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes
RV? Posted: 04/28/09 So, all this way into WRH and not a single pic or word about last weekend's winner Ryan Villopoto? That's right, because in Salt Lake, Ryan just sort of blended in all day. He got a 4th in his heat, and the same in the main, although he did put on a good 20 laps to move up from 9th almost all the way to the podium. He also moved up into position to challenge Josh Grant for 4th in points. Currently 9th, RV's only 14 down from Grant but there's also Tedesco and Windham standing between them. 689 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	The Bike/Missile. Posted: 04/28/09 This is the one, this is the machine that was under the rider that made the biggest ripple of the weekend in Utah. The bike: a San Manuel YZ450F. The rider: Kyle Chisholm. Now, truth be told, we're a big fan of Kyle, both on and off the track, but what he did last weekend was questionable at best, and wreckless and dangerous at worst. We can't in our wildest imagination come up with a version of Kyle's personality that would allow him to knowingly do what he seemed to do (attempt to T-bone Chad Reed while being lapped), but what we saw was... well, it appeared he tried to T-Bone Chad Reed while being lapped. It was ugly, he's been fined, suspended, warned, crucified and is probably still shaking form the incident. Let's just hope that he puts it past him and somehow it makes sense some day, because right now it certainly does not. It's important to keep in mind that Reed was no angel during the night's racing either. He flat-out parked Stewart after the finish line one lap, putting him out into the Tuf Blox and almost on the ground. It was one of a couple moves by Reed that seemed at least a notch or two more aggressive than anything Stewart did. 908 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	As bad as it got. Posted: 04/28/09 As bad as things could've gotten, this is about the worst it got. As usual, the start straight was the muddiest section of the track. We think this is because they sort of aim all of the water that's collected on the protective plastic sheets into the central portion of the track, which happens to be the start straight. They also often don't cover it at all, and this is what happens, particularly when the race track comes back through to complete a lap. 853 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes	Stewart and the boo birds. Posted: 04/28/09 It never ceases to amaze that, after all the sacrifices and risks the racers take on the track to put on a great show/race, that there are spectators in the stands that feel the need to boo some of the riders. In SLC, that happened to James Stewart presumably because what occurred with Kyle Chisholm and Chad Reed. The assumption from the cheap seats was that the San Manuel Team was to blame for the incident, when that's yet to be proven (and probably will be endlessly debated online). The fact of the matter is - it probably doesn't make a difference. 965 Views 0 Comments Rating: 0 Likes

Showing 1-16 of 20

reiyon6192

Posted on April 29, 2009 08:53 AM

maybe your right Chris but i think he is definitely up there.

reiyon6192

Posted on April 29, 2009 08:52 AM

alright awesome man :) it was a bonehead move by chisholm if it was intentional. it just upset me to see ppl booing bubba when it wasnt even his fault cause i seriously doubt it was team orders. i would be booing reed if anybody for trying to take bubba out b/c he knew that was the only way he is going to win this championship. this one thing about chisholm shoudnt taint bubbas championship which he has pretty much dominated. 11 wins to chads 3.

ChrisWorden

Posted on April 29, 2009 08:51 AM

I'd hardly call Reed the dirtiest rider in Supercross, Reiyon6192. That's far from the truth. Sure, Reedy did get a bit carried away when he came together with James, but you're going a bit far.

kardy1

Posted on April 29, 2009 08:39 AM

Hey you're absolutely right, I should've included another pic of Reed in there and mentioned he ran Stewart into the Tuf Blox, so I'll add that. Chisholm's move, though, has been on the tip of everyone's fingers all week so I suppose I was sucked into the vortex of controversy just like everyone else.

reiyon6192

Posted on April 29, 2009 07:59 AM

what do you have to say about this KARDY since i see you didnt bring up reeds dirty riding?

reiyon6192

Posted on April 29, 2009 07:59 AM

I like how everyone is bringing up this chisholm thing. i mean if you actually watched the race Chad Reed was the dirtiest rider out there and usually is at every race. James passed him cleanly both times and chad put him into the toughblocks both times. i mean its ridiculous. Just more excuses for the diehard reed fans to use. When chisholm hit reed he lost maybe half a second.. If reed is so good he should be able to make up half a second...