Motovacation USA: Meanwhile back in California.....

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.

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.