The Never-Ending Whoop Debate

There always seems to be a debate ever whoops after Anaheim 1. This time was no exception.

There are really 2 issues with whoops, 1) How they are made, and 2) How they hold up.

It's no secret the faster guys usually want the whoops as difficult as possible, since they have megabuck suspension and hours on a nice test track to get ready. RC isn't always on that list.

Villopoto wasn't complaining after Anaheim, he won. DeCoster said they were too much and you couldn't race in them. Some other top team folks said something about them too, after they saw them Thursday at press.

Last year it did appear that whoops started getting smaller, more uniform, and more consistent after the first round. What makes it tough in Anaheim is the dirt and how whoops hold up. Check the photo.

The dirt packs hard on its own, and if you roll it into shape, it can get worse. With the cool Southern California nights, moisture comes out as the night goes on and things get more slippery.

What happened at Anaheim is the faces would break down, like shown in the photo. That made the whoop faces sharp edged and tougher on tires. It's a combination of how the hard dirt behaves, the shape of the whoop, and how the moisture changes over time.

If there was a way to roll them harder, they would squeeze out all the moisture and create rock whoops. If they are left looser, they come apart even more than shown above. It helped a little in 2007 due to show changes that translate to less time on the tracks before each night show.

What to do? Its hard to re-invent how dirt behaves!

RC Gets Micky Thompson Award of Excellence

One of the many honors RC got at the Anaheim 1 show opening was this year's Mickey Thompson Award of Excellence.

With past winners people such as Edison Dye (imported Huskys-helped America discover motocross), and Bruce Brown (On Any Sunday), this award digs deep.

There, I got that far without mentioning the court case.

Anaheim Kicks Off 2007 with Excitement

Reed got himself pumped up for a holeshot at Anaheim 1, and even with an injured shoulder, he led the main a bit and had plenty of fight in him. The SX main started out with Reed putting on an amazing effort, which then settled into a full on RC/Stewart battle.

Not surprisingly, the main became a full on contest between RC's experience with James's speed. Both Stewart and RC rode on the edge enough to take a fall, and RC's fall cost him more..and that was it.



Stewart totally was celebrating after that win, and later said in the press conference that was because he felt he earned it. Yes, he did.

Villopoto just had to battle C Pourcel to win the Lites main. He was clearly the strongest and his going to be very tough to beat. Pourcel's debut in American supercross was better than expected and making people wonder will he really stick to the plan to only race the first three. He had the full-on French entourage here to support him, even Pichon and Tortelli and extra French media were there to see it.

Will Mitch Payton have a "Talledega Nights of Supercross" on his hands? Watch the movie - it's a fun spoof of rivalries.

Some updates gathered from pit cruising afterward:

-Langston crashed out of the SX main, hit his shoulder and had wind knocked out of him. Expected to return next weekend.
-Josh Hill landed hard on a triple in his Lites heat, and it appeared he hit hard on his wrists. He took his hands off the bars for a moment, slowed and pulled off the track, then coasted a few yards and kept going. In the main he had trouble hanging on and didn't finish. He should be back too.
-Josh Grant had a bad crash in the afternoon and was checked out at Asterisk and then left to a local hospital to check out his breathing. he came back and rode a heat and finished second, but he wasn't in the main.
-Martin Davalos crashed out of the Lites main and his ankle, which was hurt before, was hurt again.
-Dusty Klatt, who got chewed up in his rear tire a little in a heat race, looks rough!

Last Update Before Night Show

So far John Grant might race tonight, he might not. He crashed out of practice and left the facility to get checked out. His team did not want to officially comment on his injury or suspected injury. With about 90 minutes before the show starts - he still wasn't back yet.

The SX main is shaping up to be a full - on RC/Stewart throwdown. Stewart's lap times were a little better, but how many times has that happened and RC wins anyway? This one is too close to call, but RC will have his hands full. Stewart is on it.

The unknown with RC is this is the first time we get to see him at a race like this without title pressure hanging over his head. As he says, he can hang it out and enjoy it a little more.

With Stewart having the speed to win as always, the question for him is will he put down 20 laps that way and win.

It was cool to bump into half of France in the pits just now. Standing outside in a group were Pichon, Tortelli, Seb Pourcel (he's not racing but his brother Christophe is), Sorby, and our buddy MXMax the photojournalist. I didn't ask them if they saw "Talledega Nights" yet. :)

By the time this window gets updated, the race will be old news because you will be listening to the webcast, right?

Saturday Afternon Update

Chad Reed rode practice, enough to advance him to the night show tonight. So far it looks like he will be able to tough it out.

Tedesco rode too. He hasn't had much time on the bike but he will also get through the night.

Josh Grant crashed out of the first practice and we don't have any details yet.

Progressive Direct, sponsors of the supercross holeshot checks, has a new web site dedicated to holeshots! It's called "Holeshot Heaven" and it's running right now. Check it out.



Holeshot Heaven.

Friday Notes from Anaheim 1

2007 will be the second year that there is no Friday practice, so the day was more low key with teams just setting up and getting ready without track time. This will also be the first year of the new format which did away with semis and just has 2 heats and an LCQ for both classes.

To make the new format acceptable to teams, the AMA added a chance for top guys that have bad luck in a heat/LCQ to use up to two "mulligans" - a pass to race the main without qualifying, if you are top ten in points. There is a possibility Reed will need this option tomorrow since his shoulder is really hurting. So far the L&M Racing team still says it will be a game time decision. Reed will still need to ride practice enough to get a lap time, and at least try to ride his heat and LCQ.

Reed's injury is a compression fracture in his shoulder blade. What happened was he had a fall over a jump and landed OK, but unfortunately the bike came down on him hard.

Some good news: Tedesco is in! He hurt his wrist in Toronto in the crash that got Stewart fined, and he has been riding a little already.

Bad news, Honda confirmed today that Tommy Hahn is out after bruising a lung this week. That means the factory Honda pits have all three riders out, but at least the No Fear/Samsung team is parked right by them and they have three strong riders to support this weekend.

Some top riders were still out practicing today, RC and the crew were out at a track instead of setting up here. Langston rode today too.

There are always new teams and new ideas to check out at Anaheim. The biggest new team is MDK/Lucas Oils/Yamaha aka Wonder Warthog. WW is out of the business of paying signups, and instead has a semi (that is a work of art inside) with both MDK/Lucas Oils/Yamaha team riders, and a "Hog Haven," which looks like an assembly line of supercross guys.

Another interesting new team is Pro30.com/Ware Enterprises Racing. The have Tyson Hadsell and Jeff Dement (and Shae Bentley in the east), and the #30 NASCAR cup car on display. The car is one of the new Toyota bodies. Ware Enterprises sees some good benefits to having a presence in supercross, such as you can hold your hospitality right beside your team, and the whole event is over in one day, which is good if you don't like to wear your VIP visitors (sponsors) out. I asked the owner what he thought about RC driving and he said one thing to remember is driving takes seat time, and seat time in those cars is expensive. He doesn't doubt RC can do it, but learning is money in NASCAR.

Thor has a huge new stage to check out.

The Toyota Zone will be a driving/racing simulator set up for a moto at Glen Helen!

A couple of riders will be on the track with a Leatt brace this weekend.

KTM and Pro30.com are using trick carbon fiber hubs this weekend. KTM used them in Europe last year.

The Trucks of Supercross

While the trucks were waiting to get parked Friday morning, I did a "drive by shooting."

Here's the trucks of supercross, parking right now...