RC floating over Orlando. |
The last few days have been a little nuts, so we're playing catch-up here. Where to start? How about at Thursday Press Day in Orlando?
Thursday featured the Makita Suzuki and Monster Energy Kawasaki teams (including Pro Circuit), so there were plenty of riders to talk to, as well as shoot photos of. You can jump to the Video section on Vital MX to check the whole array there, or click the individual links below for:
- Video interview with Makita Suzuki's Ryan Dungey
- Video interview with Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Darcy Lange
- Video interview with Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Ben Townley
- Video interview with Makita Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael
- There's also a very brief video with a couple clips of
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">Ivan Tedesco and Ricky Carmichael, who were obviously having fun, and busting out occasional nuggets of goon activity on the track.
Don't forget, if you're a member of Vital MX, you can also upload videos of your own for everyone to check out.
We can't even imagine the whirlwind weekend that Ricky Carmichael had. Obviously there was plenty going on with the activities surrounding his final Supercross, and there was also a Fox F3 boot intro following press day (more on that in a minute). But while interviewing him (and noting how close he was keeping his cell phone) it wasn't too surprising to find that he and his wife, Ursula, welcomed their two new children into the world early the following morning. Fortunately, RC was able to make it home in time to be there. Congrats to the new parents.
RC and James Stewart with their respective footwear. The funny thing is, once the racing started, this is about how far apart they were all night, as well. |
We'll do a more detailed piece on the Fox F3 boots later in the week, but for those interested in cultivating an RC replica look, it is interesting to note that there will be a limited edition version of the orange Fox Blitz Vertigo pants and jersey, as well as the orange F3 boots that RC has worn at the last two races available later this year.
While RC's probably shopping for a minivan for his newly-expanded family (though we'd guess it'll be a really nice one), James can still get by with the sport models. This Ferrari was sweet. |
Following the boot intro, we were also pretty interested in checking out the Ferrari F430 Modena that James Stewart drove to the Citrus Bowl. Its not only pretty sexy on the exterior, but the throaty growl from the 4.3 liter V8 when James fired it up? Wow.
Friday night featured an annual stop of the OWC pit bike race. Short for Orlando Watersports Complex, OWC features a boat-free cable tow park for water skiers and wakeboarders, and is home for both tourists and resident pros who train there. Up on land, OWC also features a mini-moto Supercross track built by Mark Barnett. I has scaled-down versions of the usual assortment of obstacles you'd find on a Supercross track, and even has an over/under section for the finish line jump.
Ronnie Renner enjoying the victory celebration in the Celeb race. |
A couple of the more interesting races included a media/celebrity team race, which was taken by Ronnie Renner and Ron Tichenor, though not without some bumps full-contact racing between Thor's Victor Sheldon and Tichenor, who was teamed with Rob Van Winkle...though you might recognize him better as Vanilla Ice.
There was also a pro race, which was taken by Willy Browning, after he got by Eric Stewart, Brad Ripple was also at full speed, after a season of racing his mini in the BooKoo Arenacross series, and he finished in second spot.
You can click the following link for a gallery of 27 photos from the OWC Sunshine Classic.
Future plans call for a cover over the entire facility...something that could have come in handy after quite a bit of rain the day before. But the crew had it in tip-top shape, outside of a few wets spots off the racing line. The race featured plenty of support from Fox and Red Bull, and offered free admission for spectators, free food, and lots of prizes, If you're visiting Orlando and want to check it out for yourself, visit www.minimoto-x.com.
Following the race, GuyB was working on photos from the event at a local Starbucks, and maybe it was too much caffeine, but as he was packing up, he launched his Mac laptop from the unzipped sleeve of the Ogio Metro backpack that it was housed in. Unfortunatey, it made an appropriately expensive sound when it hit the concrete. While it worked okay for posting the Pit Bit photos from Saturday afternoon at the Orlando Supercross, it got a little "confused" on Saturday night after downloading the race photos, Photoshop would no longer open, and he was unable to post them up as usual following the event.
There were a couple foreign visitors of note in Orlando. The now-retired-from-competition multi-time MX1 World Champ, Stefan Everts, was on hand to check out Ricky Carmichael's last race. He said, "We have a good friendship since many years and Ricky was at the des Nations in England when I did my last big race. It's his last Supercross, and he's been the greatest so far in Supercross and it's very nice to be here and see him racing for the last time."
He also noted, "For me it's just like a really relaxing weekend. I get to see a lot of the guys and hang around and it's been since '92 that I've seen a Supercross. I wanted to see the changes."
While Stefan's now retired from racing, he'll still be at all the GPs, and working with KTM's team riders. "Officially I'm the Race Director and I'm working with the riders closely and going to all the GPs. I'm also making the program, schedules to go out and ride during the week, and I'm also a bit between the riders and the team. If the riders have any requests I translate and try to be in the middle a bit. Try to help them out on the GPs and give them as many tips as possible, I have so much experience, and I want to use this experience, but in a different role now."
While we know Stefan enjoyed it ("It's nice to walk around in this way"), we have to admit it was a bit odd to note that he could walk through the pits virtually unnoticed by the fans...though we'd guess that if you put many of the U.S. riders outside of the top five in street clothes, they could probably do the same.
The other foreign visitor of note was Dr. Chris Leatt, who was viewing his first U.S. Supercross, as well as visiting with the teams and riders. He was amazed by the rapid acceptance of the brace following David Bailey's video on Vital MX, and also at the speed and intensity of the on-track action. We also sat down with him for an interview, while we'll post later in the week.
Chad wore the Leatt brace in both practices...using it over the jersey in the first one, and under for the second...but he opted to skip it for the nighttime racing. |
It was also interesting to note that Chad Reed wore the Leatt brace during Saturday afternoon's practice, but opted not to wear it on Saturday night.
Red Bull KTM's Zach Osborne was wearing a Leatt brace when he went down during Saturday's practice. He was transported to the hospital for x-rays, but the reports that we got later was that he was just suffering from a neck sprain.
A rider who will be making his '07 debut next week is Sean Hackley, who missed the start of the Lites East series after a bad concussion. He had to be heartened by the results that his MotoworldRacing.com / PPG / Yamaha teammates put in on Saturday night.
We do have to give a shout out to a non-U.S. rider who made his first U.S. Supercross main event...Moto XXX's Yoshihide Fukudome, who finished 20th in the Lites class main.
Since it was his last Supercross, much of the night's opening ceremonies revolved around Ricky Carmichael. Among the highlights, were team personnel from all the race teams lining the start straight to welcome him to the track, and the AMA presenting him with a framed compilation of all the number one Supercross plates that he'd won in his career. The AMA also announced that it has temporarily retired his number until at least 2011.
Of course, that was just a prelude to the racing action, which featured one of the best races ever between Ricky and James Stewart, nearly 20 laps of close contact racing. How intense was it? Afterward, James said, "That was as fast as we could go. Neither one of us was holding back."
The good news is, they're up now, and you can check out action from one of the best night's of Supercross racing we've seen in...well, quite a while. You cal click the following link for 30 photos from the Orlando Supercross.
A gnarly crash on the first lap of the Lites main event brought out yet another restart, and left some riders sidelined, either from injuries, or damaged equipment. Ryan Dungey's Makita Suzuki ended up with a hole in his clutch cover, which the team took back to the truck to fix. Apparently the AMA thought the work should have happened behind the starting gate, and Ryan wasn't allowed to line up when everyone returned to the gate.
Ryan Sipes was also a victim of the first lap crash, and he was left with a broken fibula. We spotted him after the race, easing his pain with some ice cream, with his leg propped up next to Kyle Chisholm, who's sporting a boot cast of his own after heel surgery following a crash at the Phoenix Supercross.
Who could have predicted Branden Jesseman taking the Lites main event? There's no doubt that he had plenty of speed, chasing down and passing Billy Laninovich. But his previous best on the season was a 5th place at Atlanta, along with a DNQ in St. Louis. How happy was he afterward? The normally stoic rider almost cracked a smile on the podium. He was also involved in the crash on the first lap of the Lites main event (before the restart) that left him with a cut elbow and bloody knuckles.
Following the race, Ricky and Fox Racing's Scott Taylor hosted a party in the pits for a group of his friends, sponsors, and well-wisher that lasted well into the morning. As we headed out late after the race, the party was still going strong. With a successful (and safe) completion of his Supercross career, his new kids, and the first race of his stock car career next weekend, things couldn't get much better for RC...and that he deserves all of it. Thanks, RC, it's been a treat to watch you on and off the track.