Posts
503
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
BR
Edited Date/Time
5/20/2013 2:39pm
What a great day at Hangtown!
Nice weather, tons of fans, and excellent racing, with the all the major players healthy for the next rounds.
All the pictures were taken from behind the fences, and hopefully they bring a slightly different perspective from the ones taken by the pros. The intent is to share with those that couldn't make it to Hangtown what it felt like being there as a fan.
Let's start with 450 QUALIFYING:
#1: Barcia was flying in the 1st session. He was the most aggressive rider on the track, and there was no stopping him in the smooth conditions of the 1st practice.
#2: Is it possible to be too stylish? Watching Trey Canard on the track is incredible. He manages to combine a perfect style with front runner speed. Recently some of these guys have started to angle their inside foot towards the bike, and you can clearly see TC doing it in this pic.
#3: JS7 was the fastest rider in the 2nd session. The amazing part is that it didn't even look like he was trying that hard. In fact, it was surprising to see him at the top of the list, as it sure didn't seem to like he was going faster than RV, Barcia or Canard.
#4: Dungey's fastest lap came from the 1st session. He looked almost as smooth as JS7, and it almost felt like he wanted to conserve energy, saving his best efforts for the races.
#5: RV was only 5th fastest in the 1st session, but was the 2nd fastest (behind JS7) in the 2nd session. Fifth place - say what? If there were no stopwatches around, I would have given him the trophy right at the end of practice. He was charging!
This picture from the 2nd session show how deep the ruts were. Look how high RV is holding his inside leg.
More to come later today.
Nice weather, tons of fans, and excellent racing, with the all the major players healthy for the next rounds.
All the pictures were taken from behind the fences, and hopefully they bring a slightly different perspective from the ones taken by the pros. The intent is to share with those that couldn't make it to Hangtown what it felt like being there as a fan.
Let's start with 450 QUALIFYING:
#1: Barcia was flying in the 1st session. He was the most aggressive rider on the track, and there was no stopping him in the smooth conditions of the 1st practice.
#2: Is it possible to be too stylish? Watching Trey Canard on the track is incredible. He manages to combine a perfect style with front runner speed. Recently some of these guys have started to angle their inside foot towards the bike, and you can clearly see TC doing it in this pic.
#3: JS7 was the fastest rider in the 2nd session. The amazing part is that it didn't even look like he was trying that hard. In fact, it was surprising to see him at the top of the list, as it sure didn't seem to like he was going faster than RV, Barcia or Canard.
#4: Dungey's fastest lap came from the 1st session. He looked almost as smooth as JS7, and it almost felt like he wanted to conserve energy, saving his best efforts for the races.
#5: RV was only 5th fastest in the 1st session, but was the 2nd fastest (behind JS7) in the 2nd session. Fifth place - say what? If there were no stopwatches around, I would have given him the trophy right at the end of practice. He was charging!
This picture from the 2nd session show how deep the ruts were. Look how high RV is holding his inside leg.
More to come later today.
Nice pics tho!
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He was 7th in the 1st qualifying session and it went downhill from there. He got 10th in the 1st moto and DNF the 2nd one.
Hopefully he'll came back swinging at Lakewood!
Fastest: Tomac was dominant in practice, being 1st in both sessions. In the first practice he was almost 2 seconds faster than everyone else. The field closed the gap a bit in the second practice, but he was still the fastest by half a second. After losing the SX title to Roczen, it looked like he had a point to prove.
2nd: Jason Anderson got it done in the 1st practice, being the 2nd fastest rider. He backed it up with the 3rd fastest lap in the final session. I see Jason at the local SoCal tracks all the time, and he is incredibly fast. I'm looking forward to the day when he gets two good starts and just rides like he's capable of.
3rd: After his hand/wrist injury in the first SX round, Baggett is finally back! It was good to see that apparently the injury didn't affect the champ's ability to go fast.
4th: Watching Musquin ride is like poetry in motion. In a sea of aggressive 250 riders, his smooth riding really stands out.
5th: Roczen's strategy for the practice sessions appeared to similar to Dungey's - save energy for the motos. He was fast, but it didn't look like he was really pushing hard.
Ruts developed everywhwere, and before the motos the crew worked mostly on the faces of jumps.
Pictures from the motos coming later.
Great work bud!
From this angle it looks like Phil Nicoletti (#49) may get the holeshot, but in reality he is starting from too far outside.
JS7 controls the inside, with RV hot on his heels.
But Dungey closes it up in the 2nd turn, and jumps the following tabletop next to RV. He pressures RV in the turn at the bottom of the hill, but RV comes out on top.
JS7 holds the lead, with RV in hot pursuit, when they reach the S turn. DC (in the blue shirt) captures the moment with his cell phone.
Dungey doesn't want to follow the same rut as JS7 and RV, so he takes the outside line. This allows Josh Grant to sneak by him.
RV gets by JS7 in the turn after the uphill double, and this is RV's lead at the end of the first lap.
This one was taken a lap (or two) before his DNF late in the 1st moto.
Earlier in the moto, he was chasing Wilson, Alessi and Barcia.
A few from practice:
Pit Row
Early in the first 450 moto, JG overshot the turn at the bottom of the uphill and headed straight for the fence, which was lined with spectators.
I was taking a picture of another rider and by the time I looked that way, Josh was nowhere in sight and his bike was leaning across the fence. It was very strange indeed.
After shooting the breeze with his fans and signing a few autographs (not really), Grant hopped over the fence.
Grant tried to take off, but the bike was stuck to the fence.
Several spectators helped him untangle the bike.
Josh heads for the track again.
Dungey got around JS7 around lap 3
But RV was gone, and using great lines.
At the bottom of the uphill he would cut to the left and hug the inside, where there weren't any bumps.
He would drift wide towards the top, and clear the jump from the outside.
These lines allowed him to miss most of the bumps in the uphill, while setting him up for a great trajectory for the downhill on the other side. And there's DC again on his blue shirt and taking pictures with his phone.
Dungey and Canard took the more obvious line, right down the middle.
JS7 also hugged the inside, but didn't drift wide at the top.
Barcia cut to the inside a lot later than RV and JS7, and like JS7 he stayed to the left all the way to the top.
It was also interesting to see that RV, Dungey and JS7 appeared to be pulling a gear higher than Canard and Barcia on the uphill. The red bikes were over revving on the second half of the hill, to the point that the engines were cutting out.
That's it for today. Tune in for more uploads tomorrow.
And thanks to everyone for all the positive feedback!
Welcome back Byrne! It was good to see him back, and his results should improve quickly with more seat time.
Alessi was 8th overall, with 12 - 6 scores. He was running 6th early in the first moto before slipping back. I was surprised to see him that far back after skipping the last few SX rounds to prepare for MX.
Weimer got 7th in the first moto, finishing only a second behind Short. However, he crashed in the first lap of the secondo moto, and only got 24th, for the 13th overall. Weimer seems to have one of the stiffest forks out there, as his bike always appears to ride with the front end high, even in the corners.
Brayton had a flat tire in the first moto. In the second moto he started mid-pack and could only climb to 13th.
11th overall was Phil Nicoletti, as he got 11th in both motos. He was the highest placing Yamaha rider in the 450s and it was not a good day for the blue bikes.
My man Malcolm is looking good on that Dual Piped, Honda CRF 450r. :-)
I saw Sipes last Tuesday at Comp. Edge and he looked OK. On Wednesday at Milestone he was riding much better. He seems to be getting more comfortable on the 450, looking great at Hangtown. 8 - 7 results for 6th overall.
I'm officially joining the "Somebody please sign Weston Peick" movement. After a 13th in the first moto, he was on fire on the second one, where he got 8th. He was battling riders with a lot of support, and had a great battle with Sipes towards the end of the moto. Congratulations on the top 10 overall Weston!
Last year at Budds Creek I was amazed by Broc Tickle's podium ride. I was expecting the same intensity at Hangtown, but it didn't happen. He went 14 - 12, for 12th overall. Hopefully he'll figure things out soon.
JS7 and Dungey battle for the lead early in the secondo moto, while RV gives chase.
RV sneaking by JS7 on the inside for the lead on the second moto.
Once in the lead, RV pulled away and once again he had great lines. Here he lands on the edge of the track, avoiding all the braking bumps on the middle and inside that precede a tight 180 left turn.
Here's the same section from another angle. We can see JS7 taking the more traditional line, landing in the middle and drifting towards the inside. He is hitting every bump, while RV was missing most of them by landing on the outside and cutting to the inside towards the bottom.
Wilson was having a great ride in the first moto until he stalled. He was in 6th and finished the moto at 17th. The second moto wasn't much better and he got 14th. From the outside it looks like he is still adapting to the 450, and doesn't appear to be nowhere near as comfortable as he was aboard the 250. He'll only get better from here.
Go Shorty! 6-10 for 7th overall. He was in the thick of things in that first moto, and had a great ride!
Rattray had a consistent 9-9 for 9th overall.
Later on today, a look at the best race of the weekend - the first 250 moto.
After grabbing the holeshot, Baggett did a sweet look back over the first jump.
Surprisingly, Musquin got by Bagget on the second lap. Cooper Web had a great start on his first pro race, but was already being chased by Tomac.
Baggett kept the pressure on Musquin...
...while Tomac was all over Cooper Web. But more importantly, look at Roczen already gaining on the front runners after a poor start.
Tomac got by Web and Baggett, immediately taking off after Musquin.
However, the fastest guy on the track was Roczen, who had passed Web and was hot on Baggett's heels.
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