Well fortune has
smiled upon me and I have arrived back in Southern California for the end of
the Supercross season and the start of the Outdoors. Since the supercross
championships had already been decided I decided to skip the last round, which
coincidentally so did many of the riders. The potential for a lack of any
meaningful racing combined with the super inflated Vegas prices since the big
boxing fight was in town that weekend was my reason for not attending. Many of
the riders decided against going for similar reasons, that points races were
already decided and the potential for injury is high at the usually hard and
slick Vegas track and the imminent start of the outdoors have most riders and
teams scrambling to find outdoor setting for their bikes.
My good fortune continued to smile as a guy with a part
for one of my project bikes wanted to meet at Glen Helen on a Thursday.
Absolutely I said killing two birds with one stone, not only getting a very
rare part and then catching up on who was getting their outdoor set up working
the best. Although it is hard to line up exactly the time when all the teams
and riders will be out there, as some prefer to do their riding and testing in
the morning while others prefer the afternoon when the track is rougher and
more beat up.
I managed to catch
Christophe Pourcel putting some long moto’s on his new Rockstar Husky, he
looked smooth and consistent as ever without the impression of blazing speed.
Eli Tomac was the
Christophe
Pourcel talking it over with his team.
opposite doing short
runs with frightening speed. Frightening because his CRF450 looked very nervous
and unstable, which is sadly part of the design of the bike.
On the Kawasaki front I spied Wil Hahn however he didn’t
put in many laps that I observed and they weren’t particularly fast either.
Although to be fair he is returning from some substantial injuries. It seems
that the Factory Kawasaki team is only going to run Wil Hahn since the
controversial Milsaps firing. Brett Metcalfe was also out there grinding out
laps in preparation for another title run in Canada. Actually Brett 
Eli Tomac looked
horrifyingly fast. Horrifying because it looked like at any moment his Honda
would pitch him on his head!
looked very fast too
and I am surprised that he didn’t get called back up to the US Factory Kawasaki
Team in the wake of the Milsaps debacle, as he was a consistent top 5 performer
for them last year as a fill in for Villopoto.
Of the lights guys I saw reigning champion Jeremy Martin
looked amazingly fast again. Outdoors Jeremy is an animal. I am sure that it
will be a heck of a summer watching the very Carmichaelesque style of Martin
going heade to head with the more classical and graceful style of Marvin
Musquin. Also I expect Cooper Webb to be right there too with a style that is
somewhere between the other two. 
Justin Bogle was
there too and looked good, however the other riders just look like they are
another level faster.
Justin Bogle was
there too and looked good, however the other riders just look like they are
another level faster.
The Hangar 24 Brewery sponsor the Glen Helen Water
trucks, great place to enjoy a cold craft beer!
Brett
Mettcalfe out doing his work at Glen Helen and looking very speedy while doing
it. Look out Canada!
While more recently I made a quick journey to
Milestone on a Wednesday, since it is “pro” practice day where they link up
both the main track and the vet track to make one “pro” or “national” track. It
used to be a go to place on Wednesday’s, however that may have changed as the
only heavy hitter I saw was Cole Seeley giving his Factory HRC Honda a workout.
Cole had his crew out there helping him, which included his advisor Jeff Ward.
The knock against Milestone (which is mainly perpetuated by MXA’s Jody Wiesel)
is that it has a plethora of jumps, is flat and doesn’t get super rough.
Although plenty of fast up and coming riders and national privateers were still
in attendance. 
Cole Seeley
ripping up practice at Milestone MX on a Wednesday.
Overall it looks like it will be another cracking summer
of motocross racing with many interesting battles to be fought and
championships decided.
A couple of
hot local amateur prospects Ryan Surratt and his buddy.
The two
strokes are making a comeback at the local tracks
The younger
riders get out there and mix it up with the big boys too.
Cole Seeley
and crew which includes multi time AMA Champion Jeff Ward getting dialed in for
a long hot summer.
