Welcome to Woz Up! It’s been a week of anticipation as I get everything packed, cleaned, and ready to roll out west for the next 1 1/2 months! I will be leaving Monday morning heading to the Sin City of Las Vegas, Nevada for an action packed supercross weekend that includes Endurocross on Friday night and the MiniMoto SX on Sunday along with the final round of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series at Sam Boyd Stadium. After Vegas, it’s off to southern California to hit the tracks, visit the shops, and get started with my 2nd summer working for Alli Sports providing feature videos from behind the scenes with the top pros running (that are at least healthy to race) outdoors and getting ready ready for Hangtown on May 19th. I’m itching to go, go, go and get filming!
One of many bags ready to roll for this summer!
To get you even more hyped up, I released an outdoor nationals preview video showcasing last year’s highlights of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championships that I have been working on the past couple of months. I shot the video over to MX Sports’ Davey Coombs and gave me the green light to post away. So, check it out if you haven’t already below. It’s time to get ready for the outdoors!
HUGE bummer news came out early in the week of Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto suffered a serious knee injury that’ll have him out for the rest of the 2012 season. A huge blow to the team and to Ryan but also the fans as well as it’s another hard hit blow for one of the top riders in the world now. The “big five” (Canard/Reed/Dungey/Villopoto/Stewart) have all been injured in one way or another this SX season with Dungey being the one coming back in time before Hangtown. Add in Windham, Morais, and way too many others and it’s been a rough first half of 2012. With RV out, the doors are wide open for the “next five” such as Justin Brayton, Davi Millsaps, Mike Alessi, Andrew Short, and Brett Metcalfe to make a mark outdoors and get their career best finishes. But with Ryan Dungey all healed up from the broken collarbone and looking very solid at Seattle in his first race back, it could be 2010 all over again as Dungey comes in as the favorite.
But with the way things have gone so far in 2012, you just never know. Many thought Seattle would be a sleeper with RV all #1 plated up already and many of the key players out. But not many had the #29 of Andrew Short in their podium picks and having RV DNF on lap 1! This is why supercross is always so unexpected. Even the rider who has this championship all clinched gets sucked into the DL. Short, his second race back from injury and a race team falling out around him, had the start and lead from gate to checkers with Lites class rider Ken Roczen grabbing 2nd on his KTM 350! It was that type of night at Seattle, as it has been for some time.
Eli Tomac and Dean Wilson doing battle at Seattle!
The Lites West series kicked back into gear and it did with a very big BAM that didn’t include the Bam Bam himself! But it just looks like the #17 GEICO Hondas don’t get along with Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson at all in supercross. Last year, Barcia played Wilson all throughout the series on the #17 Honda and now in 2012, Tomac is sticking that #17 back in Wilson’s way after some tough bar to bar racing that eventually left Wilson eating dirt and nursing a tweaked shoulder. It got the fans going but as both riders said after the main event, “if that’s the way he wants to ride, then, that’s how it’s going to be.” Salt Lake City and Las Vegas are going to be very interesting in the 250 class! (Yes, I said 250 class. Outdoors is right around the corner!)
Whether it’s Justin Barcia or Eli Tomac, this #17 GEICO Honda don’t get along well with Dean Wilson!
Salt Lake City SX will NOT be live this weekend so it will be next day coverage on Sunday with the 450s on CBS at 1pm ET and the 250s on SPEED at 6pm ET.
Other than the excitement bottling up before I’m off west, it’s been a busy, busy week for me once again. Last Saturday, I was at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey to do an interview with Only One Inspiration’s Harold Glissen as he makes his remarkable comeback after his severe pelvic injury over 2 months ago. Harold took out his brand new KTM 350 and threw down a few laps and took it very easy. Even with some paralysis in his right leg, Harold is doing this for himself. He’s overcame a lot in his life without having a hand. To many, it’s like he has done enough to his body. But to him, it’s just another bump in the road and believe me, he’s had way too many of those bumps. Check out the video below.
I spent Sunday in an odd position as being at home rather than attending a race or any race track for that matter. But I got a call to do a rider video at Raceway Park on Wednesday for their open practice day on the main track and the track was WAY better than Saturday’s shoot with Harold. Probably the best I’ve seen it in awhile. Almost better than the KROC! Deep ruts, multiple lines everywhere, rough braking bumps, and big jumps were a huge favorite for the many A riders that showed up such as Lowell Spangler, Dylan Brajkovich, Joey Peters, Chris Duymich, Charlie Miller, Jesse Pierce, and many others. Check out the photos I shot from Wednesday below:
Click the photo to view the photos from Raceway Park!
As for that rider video, it was with young local 50cc rider Chris Sweeney, who was jumping the “Plunge” at Raceway Park! Also, you don’t want to miss his gnarly crash that I got on video. That’ll get posted next week!
Check out this cool MXPTV Rider Profile video of young PA 50cc rider Cole Bader from the Pagoda Pro-Am a couple of weeks ago:
Ben Lynn of Big Guns Media Group sent over a wacky crash clip of Kawasaki rider Bubba Pauli at a LL qualifier race at Podium One in Indiana. Check it out below:
Daniel Goldberg of New Jersey Spine & Rehabilitation sent over this inspirational and interesting video of recreational rider Demetrius Economu, who suffered from a spinal injury that almost put him out for riding for good. He made a visit to this spinal rehab facility and was able to get a SI fusion surgery. In the video, Demetrius throws his leg over one of his motorcycles and he looks forward to riding real soon. Check it out below:
Today, I’m doing a shoot at the GPMX School track near Pottstown, Pennsylvania with instructor Greg “Frenchie” Pamart and his riders. It’s also an appreciation day for Pagoda members and a skate session goes down at night! Should be a fun day and night of filming! Then, it’s time to pack the MXPTV van and head west on Monday morning.
Got to end this one quick! Thanks for reading Woz Up! Catch ya at the nationals!
Part 1:
Part 2:
MXPTV got this pretty cool email from New Jersey Spine & Rehabilitation of motocross rider Demetrius Economu working his way on making a comeback to riding his dirt bike again. Check out the video below:
From Panic Rev:
Baja Champion Timmy Weigand takes us on board around the Pala Motocross Track.
Ryan Villopoto speaks candid in this uncut video about the crash in Seattle and his 2011 and 2012 AMA Supercross Championship highs and lows.
Ricky Carmichael is making a small comeback back to where it all started for him at Loretta Lynn’s. Just a few weeks ago, he competed in a local area qualifier at Aonia Pass in Georgia and Fox was there to document the entire weekend. Check it out below:
- The first to guess the correct podium or podiums wins the prize.
- To enter, simply comment below with your top 3 in each class.
- Please put your name and email address in the fields provided (or you won’t receive your prize if you win).
- Full names, last names, nicknames, and rider numbers are accepted as entries.
- The order you put the riders will be counted as first, second, and third. (Left to Right/Top to Bottom)
- Voting will end at the gate drop of the first Lites heat race (10:30pm ET).
- Oh, it’s free to enter silly!
Welcome to this week’s edition of Woz Up! The east coast section of the Lites regional SX championships is sealed up as GEICO Honda’s Justin Barcia rode ultra-conservative to clinch his second #1 plate in a row indoors. It’s been an up and down season for the Frog and with one more Lites SX main event (plus the shootout) in Vegas left to go, everyone is wondering what he can do on the 450s. No one expects to blow the doors off and win the title next year but drawing up podiums like a side order dish as a fill-in freshie in the last 4 outdoor rounds last year, Bam Bam will not be counted out against the fastest in the world.
Justin Barcia clinches his 2nd and final East Coast Lites SX championship in New Orleans.
The battle for 2nd in the SX points chase is boiling down to Justin Brayton and Davi Millsaps. But with the recent announcement of KTM’s Ryan Dungey coming back to compete in the final 3 rounds and being only 9 points behind Brayton and 14 behind Millsaps, a second overall in the points chase is something totally not out of reach for the Dunge. I’m not totally hip with the move to race the final 3 rounds but if the first loser spot is that important to tackle the next 3 rounds, then so be it. Last time I checked, I’m not running the show at KTM. But for KTM’s sake, their 450 finishing second overall in the Supercross class points race is a pretty remarkable accomplishment from where they were before Dungey arrived. A KTM 450 used to be laughed at in SX. Now, it’s part of the show like any other brand. Congrats to Ryan Dungey and KTM for an already successful season.
The Dunge is back for the rest of the Monster Energy SX series.
Scrolling more through the points, James Stewart might as well kiss the 5th place spot goodbye in the points as he’ll be a no show this weekend in Seattle and next weekend in Salt Lake City. Depending if he races Vegas, it could be another outside the top 10 in points for the #7. The riders who have been working their way up through the injury riddled field have been Brett Metcalfe, Jake Weimer, Mike Alessi, Broc Tickle, and Kyle Chisholm who look to keep their top 10 hopes alive in the SX points. And there is almost a 40 point gap from Chisholm (11th) and injured Chad Reed (12th) to injured Josh Hansen (13th) and Nick Wey (14th). So a huge buffer there for the rest of the field to get a shot at the top 10.
Can Justin Brayton keep a top 3 finish in the SX points or will Dungey take it away?
Gavin Faith is in the mix with the JGR/Toyota/Yamaha squad as Stewart is out the next 2 rounds.
Switching to the west Lites series this weekend in Seattle, Dean Wilson holds a slim 2 point lead over Eli Tomac, who lead the series all the way up to the latest round at San Diego back in February when I crash in the whoops had him DNF on the night. Down the points sheet, Cole Seely (3rd), Marvin Musquin (4th), and Nico Izzi (5th) have had their dives in the SX class during the break and look forward to be an actual part of the points chase. Other names to refresh in this series that have been doing well is Matt Moss, who landed a podium finish in San Diego, and Travis Baker. Tyla Rattray, who suffered a bad neck injury at Oakland, will take the rest of the series off after he just got the OK this week to ride. You will next see him outdoors. Jason Anderson showed great speed but he needs to get it together in these final 3 rounds to have a shot for the top 5.
The West Coast Lites SX series kicks into gear this weekend in Seattle with Dean Wilson just 2 points in front of Eli Tomac.
This weekend’s Seattle round will be LIVE on Speed but us east coasters will have to play night owl with the 10:30PM broadcast time.
Tale Of The 2 Stroke RAW video is back up on the YouTube charts again!
This week’s hot video is the raw version of my Tale Of The 2 Stroke video featuring Delaware pro Tyler Wozney. I told you, the viewers, that when the Tale Of The 2 Stroke video reaches 100,000 views, the raw version of the video will be thrown online. Well, it passed that mark on Wednesday night and I threw the video up Thursday morning. It has hit very well so far garnering over 17,000 views after only 1 full day of existence. Check it out below if you haven’t seen it yet:
Last weekend, I visited Pagoda in Birdsboro, PA for their pro-am/Mainline Series weekend event. I was mainly up there to film up a rider video for a young 50cc rider but when I saw the flock of A class riders flood the staging area for practice Saturday, I thought I was at KROC or an early morning timed qualifying session at a pro national! Names such as McDade, Schmelyun, Peters, Spangler, and so many more were all battling for the minimum $3,ooo purse. On Sunday, the Open A class had qualifiers as 44 riders entered while the 250 A brought in a very respectable 31 names to the gate.
That is an A class practice session from Saturday at Pagoda. Yes…Saturday!
The racing was great but with the names that were there, it seemed liked an Armor All race as the riders were getting back into the racing groove. Lowell Spangler was a month in on riding after he had a bad knee injury that took him out for around 6 months. He still looked good but the 10 laps didn’t help for his final push at the end of the motos. Also, the track made it much like restrictor plate racing as the track didn’t show any signs of high speed for the riders to show their true speed. Many of the A riders didn’t like the tight S-corner sections, which mostly went down to one line. It made for close, tight, safe racing but nothing close to what you see at the pro national level.
Former top local pro David Kratz came out to play in the A practice sessions on Saturday at Pagoda.
Defending AX Lites champion Mike McDade took advantage of his tight, AX racing skills and great starts aboard his super quick Eleven10/Honda machines to get 3 out of 4 moto wins to win both 250 and Open A overalls. Rock River Yamaha’s Joey Peters was able to break that streak on the final A moto of the day in 250 A with a great start and an oddly bad one from McDade. Casey Clark, who’s been on that Vet class switch recently, ran with the youngin’s for podium finishes in both classes. Great starts helped Clark’s finishes and it shows he’s still got it against some of the fastest in the region.
Mike McDade was your big winner at Pagoda’s Pro-Am event almost sweeping all 4 motos.
Dakota Kessler grabbed a podium spot in 250 A with a 2-3 finish and looked real good. He had it going in Open A before a tight battle with Ryan Zimmerman for the lead sent them both down and Kessler only coming back to 11th. Broc Schmelyun didn’t have the horsepower in Open A on his stock KX250F but a 4-4 for 4th overall in 250 A showed he still had the skills to mix it up. New to the A classes and back from injury, Jesse Pierce raced is Suzuki RM-Z250 to a solid 6th place overall in 250 A. Other top names included Aaron Lampi, Greg Pamart, and Will Bleich who were all mixing it up in the top 5.
Even Saturday’s practice sessions in the A class had its battles!
Check out my video coverage from Pagoda’s Pro-Am event below:
I shot photos of Saturday’s A practice session at Pagoda. Check it out below:
Pagoda MC – Saturday A Class Practice Photos
Also, young MXPTV intern Jake Buly shot photos of Sunday’s action. Click the image below!
Brian Carroll at Pagoda’s Pro-Am. (Jake Buly Photo)
Jake also put together a cool video of Pagoda’s Pro-Am event. Check it out:
MXPTV’s Guess The Podiums contest goes down tomorrow morning! Win prizes from Bel-Ray, MXPTV, Mental Racing, and more! Get those podium picks in for Seattle tomorrow!
The Ricky Carmichael University is back and now with 2 classes. One across the pond in England and the other the Monday after the final Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship round at Lake Elsinore. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.
MAMA has their next race of 2012 this weekend at its home track at Budds Creek. Check out MXPTV’s preview video for the race below:
Behind The Scenes
It’s been nothing but preparation for my trip out west, which will start either April 30th/May 1st. I’m very excited about the road trip in the new ride. I will be making my first stop in Las Vegas for the Endurocross Friday night, Supercross on Saturday night, and the MiniMoto SX on Sunday. After the Vegas weekend, I will head to southern California to hit up a bunch of tracks filming the top pros get ready for the opening round at Hangtown outside Sacramento, California. I am working for Alli Sports out there and will be posting the videos I do from out there on MXPTV as well. I will then be following all the outdoors rounds right into the final round at Lake Elsinore in mid-September. It’s going to be a crazy, fun filled summer and I can’t wait!
The MXPTV ride getting a much needed cleaning after a few races already.
Want to help my trip out west? Get yourself a MXPTV t-shirt! S-XXL are available for only $20 and that includes FREE shipping! CLICK HERE to order up a shirt or 2!
The shirts are ready to rock and roll! Get yours today!
This weekend looks like I will be dodging rain as I will be going to Raceway Park on Saturday to meet up with Only One Inspiration’s Harold Glissen to do up a riding video and interview with him. Harold has been back on the bike the past week or 2 and is eyeing up another Extremity Games run in late May. Stay tuned for that video next week! As far as Sunday goes, it looks to be rainy anywhere that day so we’ll see what happens there.
Packing the gear up for Vegas/California!
I’ll be light on original content next week as I prepare for my road trip out west. So, bear with me on website updates each day. If you want to follow me more closely on my trip, always follow me on Twitter @MXPTV.
That’ll do it for Woz Up. Thanks for reading and catch ya at the races!
Tyler Wozney getting the ole’ CR250 warmed up again today.
Check out Dean Wilson doing some outdoor prep at Pala before he gets back to supercross at Seattle this weekend! Video by Luke Cure/Blur Optic.
