Vital Buzz 7/23/07

BT101 going weightless (check out his feet and the pegs) during Saturday's practice.

Has the balance of power shifted in the battle for the Lites class title here in the U.S? A couple weeks ago we’d have suggested that Villopoto has everyone covered, and there was no way that anyone else in the class…even his teammates with the same horsepower advantage…had the same speed that he did. Now we’re not so sure. Ben Townley sure seems to have an eye on the overalls, and has four in hand. If the two keep trading moto wins for the rest of the season, Ben already has a large advantage in the tiebreaker (number of wins).

One thing’s for sure. It always looks like the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki crew had their jetting (among other things) figured out in Lakewood. They always look like they have a power advantage, but it looked even more substantial than usual, with their riders up front each moto on the deep fluff of the power-robbing start straight.

Talking with Kawasaki’s Team Manager, Mike Fisher, on Saturday, he said that jetting at Lakewood is always a continual evolution. Not just for the altitude, but for the air quality, which they monitor throughout the weekend. For his part, Timmy Ferry said the track was tough because you had to recalibrate your normal idea of what’s jumpable. “You think you’ll clear something easily, and then case the crap out of it.” Yep, it even slows the 450s.

With just a little extra luck, Andrew Short might have grabbed the overall win in front of his hometown fans. Either way, the three-way tie between James Stewart, Mike Alessi and Shorty for the podium in Lakewood was amazing. Each of the riders had 40 points, but the way they got there was very different. Mike Alessi’s 3-3 left him drained, but he looks much better than he did early in the season, and Andrew Short’s 2-4 was oh-so-close. James Stewart’s 4-2 definitely showed that he’s riding at far less than 100 percent. The muscles in his neck and back tightened up substantially in moto one, to the point where it was affecting the feeling in his arms. He also noted that he was having trouble looking up. While he was riding better in moto two, there’s no doubt that he and the other guys up front left everything they had out on the track. Of course, the near 100-degree heat affected him and everyone else on the track.

For the second straight week, Timmy Ferry took the second moto win. He looks like he’s riding better than ever, and it sure makes the racing compelling to watch, when halfway through the second moto you have no ideal who will win, and it could be any of a handful of riders.

Maybe the most surprising thing was Team Honda’s Davi Millsaps’ performance in moto two on Sunday. After reeling in and passing the ailing Stewart in moto one for the win in moto one, and running up front in moto two, Davi seemed to drop anchor midway through the moto. We didn’t get a chance to catch up with him afterward, but whether it was mechanical, biomechanical, or something else, it was definitely a blown opportunity. The combo of heat and altitude did make the race pretty brutal, whether you were running up front, or in 42nd spot.

It was cool to see Billy Laninovich and Brett Metcalfe back in action. Brett in particular was on fire, running up front in moto one before a crash moved him back in the pack. He was charging all the way to the finish, though, and seemed to be closing on Ryan Dungey, who was right in front of him.

Guys who were on the other end of the luck scale included Drew Gosselaar and Jeff Alessi, who both sat out one or both motos following head-to-ground contact. Jeff was still feeling the affects of his crash last weekend in Unadilla and feels like he has to race to work his way onto a ride for next year. It’s definitely a tough position to be in.

The weekend was fully of gritty performances, and we’re not just talking about James Stewart’s return to action. During the WMA race on Saturday, Jessica Patterson and Sarah Whitmore tangled in the first turn and went down. As she was falling, Jessica’s hand got nipped by Sarah’s rear sprocket, and she lost a chunk off the middle digit of her right hand. Luckily it wasn’t worse than that. But it did result in a first moto DNF, and erased the point lead she’d built while dominating the early portion of the series.

Between motos, she went to see the crew in the Asterisk Mobile Medical unit, and her options were to reattach the missing piece (which meant stitches which would probably blow out during the moto), or snip it off, close the wound as best possible, wrap it up and go racing. You can probably guess which option she went for, and it included a shot to numb the pain. Even with it well-wrapped, it was already oozing before the start of the moto. We didn’t see it afterward, but can only guess what it looked like.

Tarah Gieger took the overall win with a 2-1 score, and the two riders are now tied atop the point standings. They’ll resume their battle over the next couple weekend. First at Washougal, and also at Loretta Lynn’s.

You can click the following link for a gallery of shots from Saturday’s WMA action in Lakewood, or to you can click the following link to catch a few extra bonus photo in the Lakewood Vital Buzz gallery, and don't forget to check back throughout the week to see what else we've got cooking at VitalMX.com

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