Orlando Practice - Stewart

The Orlando track was a little dry for the afternoon qualifying practice. RC had the fastest time for a few laps in the second session, but Stewart charged and set a faster time, which stuck for about the last 5 laps.












Stewart finishes practice on top.














Reed is using a Leatt Brace this weekend.





























Big Rick Carmichael watching RC's last SX practice.

It's Nice in Orlando.... Track Walk Report

You couldn't have asked for a nicer day in Orlando today. (Sorry to rub it in for the NE airport passengers who are still stuck.)

The proud papa RC is here and talking about, well everything. His last SX and his first weekend as a dad are happening at once.

As you read before, RC got in his Chevy truck after some press work on Thursday and pinned it in the middle of the night to make it to Tallahassee just in time to be a papa. He got a helicopter ride in for this morning.

As far as his last SX, is he distracted? Yes, for sure, and he knows it. He told TV during the track walk he's going to have to focus on keeping it safe tonight. After the show, he will hang out a bit and then go back home to see the new family. The twins are still in the hospital of course and he will be back for their arrival at home.

Travis Preston is out due to a hurt shoulder from practice on Monday. Andrew McFarlane is out too from a crash at Reed's.














The King comes to pay respects to the GOAT.

Stephan Everts flew in from Europe to watch RC's last supercross. Fortunately he flew in from Miami and missed the travel disasters in the NE.

When asked was he going to celebrate with RC afterwards he said sure, but not like Matterley!













Left - Here's the man behind the Leatt Brace, Dr Chris Leatt, who is visiting the Orlando SX today, and his excellent US crew.

Orlando Weather - Perfect

Plastic was put on the Orlando SX track late Thursday when it started to rain and there was a warning of a storm yesterday, but it didn't happen and it's all clear for today. The weather is just right, maybe a bit cool, but it's nice. You might need a jacket for the night show.

The bad weather in the northeast US that closed airports has wrecked at least a few trips to Orlando. Weekend Window heard from 2 media and one team manager that could not get through because of the air travel delays. Next week is "spring break" when thousands of young partiers rush to Florida to get away from mom and dad and look for trouble, and their trips south are filling up the planes even more (if they ever get started again.)

The Carmichaels have Twins!

Welcome to Earth, Kadin and Elise Carmichael.

Ursula had the twins about 3:30am Friday just before Orlando. RC was in Orlando for press, and had a plan to get back to Tallahassee if he needed to. That plan was a helicopter and it couldn't go due to weather. So RC, Scott Taylor, and JH Leale "Ricky Bobby'd" it to Tallahassee in the middle of the night.

Read more on Racer X breaking news.

What's RC Thinking About Before Orlando?

RC was at supercross press day for Orlando, his last as a rider. Here's a few comments on the weekend coming up -

On staying focused -
It obviously going to be tougher to stay focused for the race. I have a lot of stuff going on. It's all good stuff. We are fine with it. It's going to be an interesting weekend.

I felt good today, just the little bit I got to ride on press day. It was very motivating. There is no much leading up to the race. For me, the race doesn't start until we come down for the main event, and lap 10, that is when I feel at my best.

Stewart has been very good here. I have too, I have two seconds and I won here in 1997.

On what he will do next week -
Nothing, go check on my beach condo, and get stuff ready for the babies. We are testing cars Friday and racing Saturday. I know I am not riding my motorcycle, I know that. The twins could come any week.

On his partial season in the outdoor nationals -
I know I am doing 6 outdoors. I haven't confirmed yet which ones but I am about ready.

On what he will be thinking on that last lap Saturday night -
On that last lap, the stress level is going to go way down, mentally. That is what I am looking forward to, to get the stress level off my mind. It's been tough mentally as well as physically. It's definitely sunk in and it's a good feeling.

RC the Boot Salesman

RC is helping Fox Racing introduce it's new F3 boot, a third generation version of their Pro Forma boot.

RC made the switch to Fox boots for his racing this year, and he's been helping Fox Racing get the new boot going. Here's what was said -

The boot is so much more user friendly. The break-in type is really good. We worked on softening up the boot a lot, but his still has good support. It is leaps and bounds better. The sole life is good too and I know that is huge in the customer market. The biggest thing was the flexibility. The colors are nice too. I'm excited. It should be really good I think.

Re-invent the boot? I worked a lot with Greg Jones at Fox and Greg Fox too. They put a lot of effort and a lot of testing into making this the best boot. I think I have a good feel for the boot. It's amazing how hard they work in it and they take a lot of pride in the boot.

We went through a lot of boots to try to get the right mixture. The turnaround time was only about a week for test boots.

I like a tennis shoe feel. I will give up a little support for flexibility. I think for a normal consumer, a guy that rides on the weekend, a softer boot is better for them. They break in like 10 times faster so it doesn't take 12 weekends to break it in. It's easier for them to ride, they won't stall as much. They can feel where the brake lever is and won't hit neutral as much. That's what we are trying to generate, a boot that has a good feel but at the same time it's going to give them confidence that it has support. That is what we are looking for and what a lot of pro riders want, a softer boot.















I can get through 3 pairs in supercross and outdoors combined, just for racing. They will get ragged out after about 15 races and rightfully they should. I use 6 pairs of boots, racing and practice, and I ride all the time. I am very hard on boots.

I can get a new pair, walk around in the pits, use them in practice, and in two rides I am comfortable racing in them.

Stewart at Press Day Thursday

What Stewart said Thursday before Orlando:

On what he did since Daytona -
"I was busier on Saturday and Sunday I watched the road race, the first one. I watched some basketball.

Sunday I had a few people down riding, (Live Nation's) Todd Jendro and Dave Prater and a lot of people. Monday and Tuesday I had testing all day. Wednesday I had a photo shoot all day. Today is press day and tomorrow I have Pete Fox coming down.

Jendro was all over me. (smiles) We were talking he is going to qualify for a supercross! He jumped this on-off thing and he says he is ready. He has better odds making a main event than a 2-stroke winning a main event!"

On boo-birds and internet flamers -
There is just sense that, if anything happens, certain people just want to boo for any kind of reason. I think if I kicked a tuff block and fell over, I would probably get booed for that. I don't feel bad over it, I watch football games and basketball games and people get booed all the time. I didn't take it personally. You are argue, but they were just booing RC, the greatest of all time, and they nearly booed him out of the stadium.

If you got upset about all the negativity every time something happened, you would probably quit the racing or just lose it. I think that is one thing all the top guys have, a lot of mental strength. You wouldn't even understand how much stuff we go through. When you are at the races at autograph lines you heard someone say something, you have to hold back and still race.

A lot of people read (hey I'm not bashing TFS's site) Motonews and we still try and give everyone a good show. We still sign autographs. We still have fun and hang out, and you still have people hating on you and bashing you. I am happy about being there and racing so I don't see any sense in all that.



On RC's last supercross Saturday night -
Orlando is going to be Ricky's last race so there is going to be a lot of hype about that so it takes the pressure off myself and Chad.

I enjoy racing Ricky. He has always been a class act to me. The way he races, he races like he is going to beat you straight up. He doesn't do any cheap shots or anything like that. I would rather lose a race than ride dirty to win one.