Steel City - Good to the Last Lap!

The absence of Stewart and RC meant new hopes for the rest of the MX guys. The second MX moto was awesome, with the overall shifting more times than one could count. It was a three way battle between KW, Langston and Alessi for the overall.


New hat.

Langston won moto 2 and the overall, even though he went off the track once. Langston also has picked up Monster as a sponsor again.


In the press conference, KW said he didn't flip Langston off in the first moto.



KW was right, he was just pointing. :)

Ferry tangled with Jeff Alessi in the first turn and Jeff hurt his shoulder. He had to have the shoulder popped back in right at trackside. It looked painful. Ferry charged all the way to 7th.

Villopoto roosted the second moto, with a clean holeshot and he checked out. Townley fell and caught up to second. Metcalfe was third.


If you don't think that's a killer holeshot, you can just get on outa here right now...

Pro Circuit swept the podium again, and rookie Austin Stroupe was 4th overall. Wow. Pro Circuit was 1-4.


Hepler lost the overall when he fell in a turn, right in front of a group of spectators called "Camp Hepler." Oops.

Points in MX with 2 rounds to go: Langston 347, Short 345, Ferry 343, Alessi 337.


Alessi said in the press conference that Ferry needed to get his act together, but he didn't know at the time Ferry was on the ground in the first turn, tangled up with his brother Jeff.

Some notes and great rides:

-Gracyk, 8-6 for 7th overall. This guy keeps hauling!
-Yoshitaka Atsuta, 11-8 for 9th, riding under the Honda factory tent.
-Kyle Keylon, son of Kenny, in his second ever national! He rides for BBMX out of Florida.
-Nico Izzi,7-7 for 5th, his second national.
-Ryan Mills got off hard early in moto 1 while in about 16th.
-RC's mechanic Goose didn't want to attract attention by taking RC's bike to tech, so he waited until something started on the track and rushed over there hoping everyone would be watching the track instead of him. Just then his phone rang, it was RC.
-Austin Stroupe, in his first ever national, 2-12 for 4th! He had a great start in moto 1, while half the class seemed to be on the ground. In moto 2 he charged from nearly last to 12th. Amazing.
-Ryan Dungey injured his collarbone Saturday.
-Pro Circuit's other guy, Chris Gosselaar, crashed out of Saturday but will be OK.
-Trey Canard went 16-5 in his second national - 10th overall, and the first moto was charging up from a first turn pileup. His debut was Millville. That's a total of 3 rookies in the top ten in Lites.

Steel City First Motos

Quick report on moto 1s:

Lites:

A huge pileup first turn, looked like it started with Canard on the inside or Stroupe on the outside (depending who you ask). Villopoto and Townley were at the bottom and got going nearly last. Villopoto charged a little harder and took the points lead. Hepler won the moto. Rookie Stroupe led in the beginning and still finished second - wow.


MX:

Alessi started outside the doghouse and it worked. He got the holeshot, and the moto spread out with KW and Langston charging. Alessi controled just about all the laps but KW caught him and led a few. Alessi passed KW back, then Langston caught KW and they battled.

At one point something happened between them and when they got to the right hander 4 turns from the finish. KW missed the turn completely and looked over, angry at Langston and flipped him off! (edit- it just looked like it, he was pointing at him.) Then KW went through some banners and got back on the track, and they looked at each other and took off racing again. Right after the finish, after Alessi won the moto they stopped to talk it over, and both went to the podium.

Steel City Sunday - Wet Practice and No Elvis

Steel City's practice schedule was pushed back a little due to a muddy ground. The first practice was the last chance for an unexpected "Elvis" (RC)sighting, but he's not in the building.



The rumors were fun and the possibilities interesting, but it looks like the outdoors will continue on without RC or Stewart. As of this writing, Langston's practice times are fastest. The rest of the series is going to be interesting for sure.

Rumors about RC making an unexpected return started a little over a week ago, even before the news that Stewart is out were confirmed. In fact a lot went down at Suzuki, and his bike was here and ready just in case.