The Scoop 6

One last push. With two weeks left in the 2011 Monster Energy Supercross season, that's what everyone's working on right now. But it's also a weird hybrid at the moment. Coming off the first break in the series since January, it seemed like everyone was looking to take a little break, but to also either get busy with outdoor testing, or finish up the last of it. But they've also been busy keeping sharp on the Supercross tracks as well, like Ryan Morais (below), who was working up at the Suzuki track with his riding coach, Grant Langston (who's in the background with his Rockstar Energy Suzuki mechanic, Rene Zapata).

Meanwhile, Seattle (and Los Angeles) Supercross winner Cole Seely was doing starts with his Troy Lee Designs / Lucas Oil / Honda teammate, Travis Baker, at the Honda track under the watchful eyes of Jeff Ward.

Down the hill a ways, it was Red Bull KTM's Andrew Short and Ken Roczen who were kicking up orange dust at the KTM track. After finishing second overall at Valkenswaard, Ken and his family were back here to finish up the last two rounds of the his rookie season in the Lites West series, as well as for the upcoming USGP at Glen Helen. Ken mentioned that he was sick during the most recent round, which was held on the Monday after Easter, rather than on the traditional Sunday, and he was still snuffling...though he was obviously enjoying the warm weather, and opting to ride without a jersey. That did present an interesting way to check out some of his under armor, which is a custom-made piece from Fox Racing that integrates the sleeves from their Titan Sport Jacket, a well-ventilated chest plate from a Proframe LC Roost Deflector, and a back protector from Ortema.

As for Short, we've enjoyed watching his riding style evolve this year as he gets more and more tuned in on the 350. His mission for the last two rounds? Keep ahead of Kevin Windham, and lock down sixth spot in the final standings.

It was pretty fun checking out how Andrew and Ken work together at the track. Ken brings in a bunch of youthful enthusiasm, while Andrew has a bunch of tips and tricks that only years of experience can bring. One thing's for sure. They have a lot of fun together.

We also peeked at the Kawasaki track, and Jake Weimer and Tyler Bowers were just finishing up their riding for the day, and Jake will be making his 2011 debut at Salt Lake City this weekend, and add one more very competitive Kawasaki into the field. Can he help out his Monster Energy Kawasaki teammate (and series points leader) Ryan Villopoto? When we talked to Jake last week, he said that he'd love to turn in some good results on his own, though he knows that at the same time, he doesn't want to screw up Ryan's effort.

So with only two rounds remaining, and only nine points between the top four riders in the 450 class, this has been a non-stop bench racing topic. Who has been consistent? Who has momentum? Who has luck shifting their way.

Momentum? That has to go to James Stewart at the moment, at least since switching back to an old setup. Following Seattle, he said, "That was one of the better rides I've had all year. I've been riding really good, just throwing myself out of the race. The last couple weekends I've been jumping out front and getting good starts. The bike has been working good. Things were clicking. It was coming easy for me. Well, not easy, but the track was getting easy for me. I just knew if I stayed up I'd have a good shot at winning."

Consistency? Our nod would probably go to Ryan Dungey. While there are times when it looks like he hasn't pulled the trigger on passes where he looked clearly faster than the rider in front of him, he also hasn't made any really bad decisions. There's just that derailed chain at Anaheim II, and that really wasn't in his control.

Ryan Villopoto has control of the points lead, but he'll need a whole lot better start than he got in Seattle to make his life easier.

And as for Chad Reed, he spent some time testing in California after Seattle, and it looks like he's got a few more factory Honda goodies on his bike now. The hydraulic clutch should be good, since we've heard from a few people that Chad is tough on clutches, and he frequently fiddles with the adjusting wheel. When we joked with him after Seattle that he was going to come to California to test and maybe pull a little magic out of Honda's bag of tricks, he said, "I think there's some magic. Like all forms of racing, I think there's things that are good and bad, and I've been around for a while, so hopefully I can sift through that and make smart decisions. See if we can better ourselves and get a little more comfortable for Salt Lake and Vegas."

Now for the interesting part...while we might disagree with them, both Stewart and Reed mentioned after Seattle that they weren't focusing on the championship. For his part, James had mentioned it after St. Louis, and when we asked him about it again after his second straight win, he said, "Honestly, I still don't care. Only just because I lost a bunch of points in a hurry, and I can gain a whole bunch. My goal is, all I can do is win the race. I'm not going to take anybody out to try and win a championship. I just want to try and go out there and do my thing, and if I win it, I win it. If I don't, I don't. I can always look back at races and say I should have had it, but it is what it is. For sure the points have tightened up, and we'll see what happens."

As for Chad, here's what he had to say. "Stew's the dangerous one right now, I think. You've got to be aware of what's going on there. He had a lot of bad races and we all capitolized, and it seems like it's turning around, and he's riding really well and really strong and we're all floundering around making mistakes behind him. I don't think this thing's over yet, and there are two races to go, and I'm ready to just fight."

"At this point, honestly, I don't care about the championship...I shouldn't say I don't care, obviously I really want to win it. It's not out of my mind, like I'm thinking, points, points, points, it's just, I need to bring it every weekend, and as long as I bring it these next two weekends, then I have a great shot at the championship. If I have weekends like I had in St. Louis, or I throw myself on the ground like I did in Seattle, then I'm not going to be champion and that's from my own mistake. I need to get back to trying to get some holeshots and just riding really strong and ride the best that I can ride."

One source of constant support is Chad's wife Ellie, and he explained about a phone call that helped dial him in for the Seattle main event. "Since Dallas, when I hit the concrete, I just feel I've been off my game a little bit. I don't know if that just sucked the mojo right out of me or not, but I felt like I was on a good roll. I was riding well and just didn't feel good last week, and struggled, and this week it snowballed into that direction. I just had a long, long conversation with Ellie on the phone before the main event and...I don't know. It's just something I needed to do, I guess. Just have that conversation and get that out of the way and try to move forward. I came out in the main event, ready to go, and try to capitolize on a bad night and turn it around, and get after this championship."

When we asked if she was one of his big motoivators, he agreed, saying, "She is. Gosh, we've been around each other since we were 16, so we know each other well, and on a racing level she knows what's up. Not a lot of wives or girlfriends know racing, but living a motorcycle lifestyle since she was 18, she certainly knows it inside and out. She knows my head, she knows kind of what you're thinking, and she knows what to say at the right times. There's times when she yells and screams, and times when she's kind of the motivational speaker. Tonight was calm and I could tell there was a little fire in her voice, but she was pretty calm, so I think she knew that it wasn't the time to let me have it. So we talked about a lot, reset the clock, and tried to get after it in the main."

All that, and we haven't even gotten to the Lites West title chase, and the battle between Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki teammates, Josh Hansen, and Broc Tickle...and then there's Eli Tomac, who's right on their tails.

Yep, it's time for one last push. These next two rounds are going to be intense.