2009 Supercross season (SPOILERS)

Josh Grant? Jake Weimer? Admittedly, it's been quite some time since I paid close attention to MX but who are these kids? I just got used to Alessi, Villopoto, Millsaps and Townley being the young guys.

I've got some catching up to do on MX/SX as well. Last time I was watching it was short, Milsaps, et al. in lites.

I can't say I like Jason Lawrence. Going by what I've seen and read, he strikes me as one of those MTV ....... skateboarder types. Hopefully a rider with more class takes the title.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jumkie @ Jan 5 2009, 04:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Haha, that reminded me of a quote from Full Metal Jacket.

Drill Instructor: "I don't like the name Lawrence, only ....... and sailors are called Lawrence."

Yeah, I'm not sure if this kid Lawrence is the same one, but one of these kids gave a very arrogant post race interview last year on the podium. I can't remember who specifically, but it might have been Lawrence. (It was after a scuffle during the race and he said something unsportsman like.)

This is definitely the same Lawrence, as he talked trash after winning a heat race. He went on to crash in the first lap and cut the course late in the race.

By the way, wasn't that Lance?

could have been an epic race if not for the crash

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jumkie @ Jan 5 2009, 05:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I'm not sure if this kid Lawrence is the same one, but one of these kids gave a very arrogant post race interview last year on the podium. I can't remember who specifically, but it might have been Lawrence.
it's the same lawrence... the kid is a punk plain & simple.

i was as surprised as you jumkie to see reed keep up & at times get close enough to pass bubba. i hope this is what the rest of the season looks like! i wish some of the others would pick it up a bit so we could have more than just a 2 horse race every weekend. i don't expect alot from villipoto in his rookie season but guys like milsaps, alessi, windham & tedesco need to pick it up considerably. grant is looking promising but he was pretty far behind bubba & reed at the finish. the sx lites west is gonna be a barn burner! the east?

<object width="425" height="350<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/=SKEMRvh0ORI</param><param name="wmode" value="transparent</param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/=SKEMRvh0ORI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350</embed></object>





I havn't watched the Lites yet and I didn't plan to but from what you guys are saying I probabaly should.
Sir Lawrence the crooked mouth ...... is a complete A-Hole with enough talent that you have to pay attention to him. Him and Villopoto dropped bikes in the middle of the track last year and had a lame little catfight. He's an instigator that likes to run his mouth too much.
It's going to be fun to watch Stewart try to catch Reed this year.
I think he tanked Anahiem so he would have some motivation for the rest of the year.
He's way back in the points and if Reed is going to finish consistently 2nd than he may have a problem trying to catch him. Last night he was slower than Reed but still pulled off the win so that's got to be a bit deflating to Reed.
It's ....... weird seeing James on a blue bike and Reed on a yellow.
Villopoto didn't look too comfortable on that bike and yet he's still faster than most of the guys out there so I see that as a positive sign in his progression.
Villo always used to run the outside line on the 250 and gets gobs of corner speed and just blow by everybody. I wonder if he's going to ride the same way or use the immense torque of the 450 to compensate instead. So far it's been hard to tell. He's been so fun to watch on the 250 I hope he retains the same style.
Alessi get your slow ... out of the way. He drops Villo and still gets passed by him 2 laps later.

For some reason my stupid ... can't seem to imbed you tube video's anymore so here's the link to the Lawrence vs Villo scrap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKEMRvh0ORI

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Those bikes need supermotoing style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/.....gif

Looks like a two horse race between Stewart and Reed with Grant playing the spoiler. Villopoto is no different than anyone else stepping into the big class, with maybe the exception he hasn't self destructed trying to ride over his head. It takes time to tame those 450's much less trying to tame them on a Supercross track.
Looks to be a good 2009 SX season nonethless.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (L8Braker @ Jan 12 2009, 03:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Looks like a two horse race between Stewart and Reed with Grant playing the spoiler. Villopoto is no different than anyone else stepping into the big class, with maybe the exception he hasn't self destructed trying to ride over his head. It takes time to tame those 450's much less trying to tame them on a Supercross track.
Looks to be a good 2009 SX season nonethless.

I think he already did
The announcers said he had as bad of a crash as they'd ever seen in practice.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jumkie @ Jan 12 2009, 11:35 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>~4 brands in top 4 finishers, looks like we have some parity (though brand is much less a factor in SX than in other motorcycle disciplines. All one needs to know about manufacture brands is to look at the switches from the top riders in the last decade: McGrath, Carmichael, Steward, Reed. After the change there was no effect on which the top guy was at the time).
McGrath lost the title when he switched from Honda to Suzuki to Jeff Emig. MC was dominant with Honda and Emig was never able to do much in SX after that title so I would say the Suzuki hindered him quite a bit. But I agree, the bike doesn't account for as much in MX.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jumkie @ Jan 12 2009, 06:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Dude, the switch was to the weakest team in SX at the time. And even then he won a grip of races that year (97). He lost the title by a very few points to Jeff, which could have been easily chalked up to a few crashes. But to say a switch cost him a title is at best hard to argue (I will give you a few mechanicals). McGrath had just won two consecutive titles in 125. He continued his dominance and string of wins in the big class. Sure Emig interrupted the string for one brief moment in 97, but the switch of brands had little to do with it (IMHO). Just think about when he switched to Yamaha, did his dominance change? NO way, he won as many as he did with Honda. McGrath came in stomping and won his rookie year (a feat never matched). He continued to stomp on the class after that brief interruption in a year that saw him crash out (rider error, NOT so much bike issue). Though I will agree that it was a less reliable bike to the Honda. But that was 10 years ago, in todays bikes, you can hardly find the difference. I mean, look at Carmichael's switch. You're not gonna say he lost the title to Reed because he dropped Honda for Suzuki are you? The brand switch had nothing to do with his injury that gifted Reed a title. Ricky ran three brands, Kawasaki, Honda, and Suzuki, and kept on stomping the same.
Not sure why you're bringing up the 125 titles as they were in '91 and '92? Then he went on to win four titles for Honda, taking 14 of 15 rounds in '96 before he switched. The Suzuki team was not as strong as Honda, if I remember correctly it was being run by the Troy squad. Additionally, McGrath missed considerable off season test time. Again, if I remember correctly it was because he was injured. Kind of funny that it coincided with his Suzuki signing which saw his contract allow him to freestyle, which he enjoyed. He made a few FMX films in his season with Suzuki, got hurt, missed time and as a result the Suzuki wasn't where it needed to be, IMO.

MC is my all time favorite MX rider and always will be, but they guy was a playboy. Sure, he busted his ... for SX but he did whatever he wanted in the summer months and it cost him the '97 SX title. Like I said, he narrowly lost out to Emig who never did much in SX before his title nor since.

speaking of Suzuki, it was said for years that Suzuki was the place to go to end your career as so many struggled after making the jump to the zooks. I remember the day Carmichael signed with them and one of my buddies said stick a fork in him he's done. I think Ricky proved riding Kawasaki, Honda, and finally Suzuki, it's not so much the bike as it is work ethic. Ricky out worked everyone else in the game when he was racing, and probably would still be on top of the game if he were still competing.

I'm wondering if a change in manufacturers may have already hurt Stewart.
He was unable to start the bike after he went down in Anahiem. He tried for a while
but finally had to give up.
The Yamaha and the KTM are the only bikes left not using fuel injection.
The carbeurated bike is much harder to start after it stalls. You could see how quickly
Villopoto started his bike after he lowsided.
I know Stewarts bike crashed a lot harder and maybe it was other factors that caused it not to start but it's clear that if he had been able to get it going he had enough time to get back into the race and score some points.