Vital Buzz

Stefan Everts at last year's MXoN. He took the overall honors, while Team USA scooped up the team trophy. Everyone had something to go home happy about. Also, check out that crowd...will we have something to rival that at Budd's Creek? We sure hope so. (Click for a larger version.)

Just about the time you wondered if summer would ever end, there’s a hint of coolness in the air, and you know fall’s on the way, which means one thing…it’s time for the best global bench-racing event of the year, the Red Bull Motocross of Nations.

Ryan Villopoto showing off his style during Saturday practice.

We’re counting down the days until next weekend’s event, and will be there to bring you the action as it happens. Among the things we’ll be watching? Let’s see, there’s Ricky Carmichael’s appearance, which is always sort of an event in itself. Then Antonio Cairoli vs. Villopoto and the rest of the MX2 riders. (Ah, it feels good to use that phrase, rather than the dorky class names that we have here.) We also have Tarah Geiger racing for Puerto Rico, Mexico’s first appearance in the MXoN, and much more. We’re also curious to see just how big the crowd will be, and if it’ll top last year’s spectator-covered hillsides at Matterley Basin.

James Stewart's bike on Friday last year. We're looking forward to checking out the equipment the GP riders will be aboard, as well as some of the U.S. teams housing guests from abroad...like Team Mexico with the Sobe NoFear Samsung Honda rig, Team Brazil with Moto XXX, and Yamaha riders from around the world at the Lucas Oil Star Racing Yamaha trailer.

Of course, message boards were ablaze yesterday after photos of James Stewart showed up following an easy ride day at Elsinore. But was sporting the number one on his bike, and he was wearing a set of red, white and blue Fox gear with Captain on the back of his pants. That immediately had people speculating whether he’d actually be riding this weekend. Our guess? He didn’t want to let a perfectly good set of gear go to waste, and he’s easing back into riding.

Want to see the pictures of James in the Captain gear? Try here…

Antonio Cairoli.

James was scheduled to run the number three at last year’s race, before it was determined that RC would be unable to race. That’s when he moved over to the number one spot. This year, he was scheduled as the number one guy before being sidelined with his knee surgery.

One suggestion for the event...bring your flags and noisemakers to cheer on your favorite riders, whatever country that may be. This race definitely provides a different all-around scene than the Nationals.

Ryan Villopoto and Ben Townley going at it. That race was a great preview of the '07 outdoor season...eight months before it happened.

If you need more info on the event, like ticket prices, directions, schedules, etc., check out www.buddscreek.com.

Oh, and whatever you do, don’t miss this one. The last time the race was held here, it was 1987 at a very muddy Unadilla, when Bob Hannah, Rick Johnson and Jeff Ward kept the Chamberlain trophy on U.S. soil.

Speaking of RJ, he finished second in a CORR Pro 2 off-road truck on Saturday, and fourth on Sunday. Jeremy McGrath had almost the inverse results, with a second on Sunday, and a fourth on Saturday.

Actually, there was no shortage of great racing action over the weekend, with Ben Spies wrapping up the AMA Superbike title, after Mat Mladin overshot the braking point on the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca, and Ben snuck by on the inside. There was also the first race of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Chase, which was won by Clint Bowyer. Yeah, we’re already trying to find an off-season racing fix, too, now that the MX season is just about over.

Something to keep your eye open for over the next few weeks is the roll-out of a Vital MX redesign. It’ll hit first on VitalBMX.com (and for those of you who don’t know, there’s also a VitalSkate.com). So if you’re curious about the future changes, you can keep a watchful eye over there.

GuyB has been doing a little web site wrenching for David Vuillemin, and you can see the updates at www.dv12.com, which David does a good job of updating when he’s got news to share. DV also moved his forum over to Motodrive, and you can click here to jump in over there.

And finally, he’s also looking for a practice bike mechanic for when he gets started riding again.

Before we wrap up for the day, let’s take a peek at a couple of the entries in the Vital MX T-Shirt Design Contest. We're not showing them off to influence your designs, more to inspire you and show you the quality of some of the entries we've received so far. Got anything to compete with these guys? There are still three days left to submit entries, and you can click the link a few sentences back to find all the rules.