Supercross
Posted: 05/02/09
This was the 5th (or is it 6th?) year for the MiniMoto SX at The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. As usual, it was a standing room only crowd in the Las Vegas Rangers hockey arena, which means there were roughly 5,500 people in the house. On the starting line for the 12" wheel Expert class behind the 30 second girl in the photo above, are riders such as David Pingree, Willy Browning, Derek Costella, Mike Metzger, Adam Chatfield, Josh Demuth, Jason Lawrence, Michael Blose, Ryan Abrigo, and many other significant names in pro mx/sx/ax racing.
1468
Views
0 Comments
|
Posted: 05/02/09
MiniMoto is a big draw for foreign riders as well. There was an entire team from France that pitted with an Italian SX team, which included the rider above - Mike Valade - who placed 2nd in last year's 12" Expert class.
1060
Views
0 Comments
|
Posted: 05/02/09
Another solid pro rider who's also made a name for himself in the pitbike racing scene is SoCal's Ryan Beat. Did we mention his sister - Kristen - is the intern here at motocross.com? Ryan got on the podium in the premier 10" Expert class, which was good for about $1500.
1032
Views
0 Comments
|
Posted: 05/02/09
Troy Lee Designs/Honda Supercross Lites team manager and moto-industry renaissance man David Pingree dusted off the pitbike boots and came out to play with the boys too. He's an old hat at MiniMoto, having won it in the past. This time, Ping was good enough for a podium (3rd) in the 12" class. Ping got caught up in the whole mess of a Jlaw incident(s) and was quite vocal about how unhappy about it he was.
929
Views
0 Comments
|
Posted: 05/02/09
Supercross racer Adam Chatfield came out for the racing, but qualified in only one of the two expert class main events, and ultimately ended up as pack-fill.
854
Views
0 Comments
|
Posted: 05/02/09
Pre-race favorite for a win in either Expert class, Willy Browning pretty much fumbled through the night. After winning his heat and placing 2nd in another, he ended up crashing in the first turn of the 12" final, and suffering with a blubbering bike in the 10".
867
Views
0 Comments
|
Posted: 05/02/09
It's always a packed house at The Orleans for this race, and this time was no different. A wide variety of moto industry movers and shakers were in the house, not to mention a whole lot of comlpete moto-heads that just came to see some bar-banging fun while enjoying a whole bunch of adult beverages. They weren't disappointed, as the racing action was awesome, the rider turnout was star-studded, and there was no shortage of controversy - Jlaw style.
796
Views
0 Comments
|
Posted: 05/02/09
We'll also sneak in a couple of pics of quite possibly the fastest rider on the track all night: Youth class rider and top amateur A class prospect Blake Baggett. Blake absolutely annihilated both of his Youth class main events, and was blazing fast in the process.
1320
Views
0 Comments
|
Posted: 05/02/09
Blake, with one of his new #1 plates from a night's work. It seemed almost obvious that he was the fastest rider on the track all night, but we couldn't verify that by lap times.
1207
Views
0 Comments
|
Posted: 05/02/09
One of the fun and cool races of the evening was when they turned out the lights and ran a "night race", where a bunch of random riders hooked up some Baja Designs lights to their pitbikes and put in a few laps. It was pretty entertaining, but we have no idea who won.
842
Views
0 Comments
|
Posted: 05/02/09
Pretty cool, and kind of bizarre watching these guys ride around with their headlights on.
786
Views
0 Comments
|
Posted: 05/02/09
We felt like Blake deserved another action shot, so here goes. He was on Red Baron branded bikes in both classes.
928
Views
0 Comments
|
Posted: 05/02/09
It's plain to see here how things were beginning to sort themselves out as the fastest 20 or so guys riding 12" rear wheeled bikes head for the first turn. Visible here are Tim Weigand (61), Derek Costella (1), Anders Persson (121), YouKnowWho (338), Michael Blose (68), Nate Tierney (495), Willy Browning (156), Ryan Abrigo (2), Brad Nauditt (620), Tyson Taylor (255).
1163
Views
0 Comments
|
Posted: 05/02/09
As things develop heading into the first turn, it's plain to see that Blose is solidly pulling the group, Browning tucks in behind him and Abrigo, and Jlaw, Abrigo and Costella are in good position, then...
1297
Views
0 Comments
|
Posted: 05/02/09
...out of nowhere, and sweeping in from the outside, are Frenchmen Henri Remma and Mike Valade (7). Valade went forward to lead for a while, not sure what happened with Remma.
1493
Views
1 Comments
|
Posted: 05/02/09
Despite moving way up into 4th a few laps into the race, Lawrence turned into a human/BBR battering ram and basically started trying to knock everyone on the track down. It was wild, crazy, a bit dangerous but most of all disrespectful to riders such as Mike Valade, who came all of the way from France for the race.
1552
Views
3 Comments
|
More Headlines
Related Gallery
Posted: 11/12/09
2401
Views
0 Comments
Shots from the super-secret pit bike track at Fox headquarters.
Posted: 10/29/09
2924
Views
0 Comments
Some of the things that caught our eye at The Ironman GNCC.
Posted: 10/25/09
3892
Views
0 Comments
Somewhat of a photo report of the final race of the 2009 GNCC series.
Related Video
Related Blogs
Posted: 10/21/09
749
Views
0 Comments
"After eight months and 13 rounds of racing it will all come down to..."
Posted: 09/29/09
1846
Views
0 Comments
BMX Hall of fame announces inductees for class of 2009
Posted: 08/28/09
807
Views
0 Comments
"Yamaha Factory Racer Josh Hill will unfortunately not be able to return to racing before..."
