Vital Buzz 5/14/07

We like this time of year. Watching the suspension on the pro’s bikes morph from impossibly stiff to insanely controlled and plush, it’s easy to tell that the outdoor nationals are just around the corner. Last weekend’s L.A. Sleeve-sponsored Prequel at Glen Helen was a way for some of the riders headed for Hangtown next weekend to do a final shakedown under race conditions, as well as work out butterflies, or merely do a fitness check.

While it was a dry run for the guys, the women were racing for real, since the Prequel also the first round of the 2007 AMA/WMA National Motocross Championship - Presented by Kawasaki.

We have a trio of photo galleries covering the 250F, 450F and WMA action, and you can click any of the links below to jump there. We’ve also got a video for each one, so you can check those out as well.

Photo Gallery: 12 photos from the 250F action at the Prequel.
Video: 250F action from the Prequel.

Photo Gallery: 9 photos from the 450F action at the Prequel.
Video: 450F action from the Prequel.

Photo Gallery: 14 photos from the WMA action at the Prequel.
Video: WMA action from the Prequel.

If you’re a little more interested in racing across the pond, you can check out Jeffrey Beerdsen’s photos from the German round of the MX World Championship series.

Click the following link for German GP Saturday photos.
Click the following link for German GP Sunday photos.

One of the coolest items on the day was a new jump used on the REM portion of the track. Picture the top of a mountain used as a large tabletop, and you have a pretty good idea of what it was like. Or check out the sequence of Metcalfe below. It was spectacular from nearly any point on the track.

Some guys were landing fairly far on the downhill side.

While he’s still wrapping up his amateur career, Trey Canard had everyone scratching their heads in the first Lites moto, as he busted out with his new AMA Pro number, 140, and promptly holeshot the first moto. After leading a lap, he had a minor crash that handed the lead over to Brett Metcalfe, who was being hotly pursued by Chris Gosselaar. Unfortunately, the head pipe on Gosselaar’s bike cracked and exited the bike, leaving him down on power. (You can hear a sample of it in the video.)

Canard also led a portion of the second moto, before being passed by Metcalfe. Trey also was suffering some ill affects from something he’d eaten the night before, which took out a bit of the fight out of him late in the moto. Josh Grant’s 2-3 moto finishes were good for second place, and Kyle Cunningham was third overall with a 3-4 tally.

Following the race, Ryan Hughes was pretty pumped about the results turned in by Metcalfe and Grant, since the trio train together in Ryno’s gym.

After spending far too long on the injured list, and then riding through the Supercross season with the Motosport/MDK/Kawasaki team, Joaquim Rodrigues was KTM-mounted at Glen Helen, and riding like future employment depends on every moto finish. His 7-11 moto finishes were good for ninth overall on the day.

Joaquim Rodrigues stretching his hand during the moto.

L.A. Sleeve Prequel Motocross Lites

The 450s were basically a duel between Mike Alessi and Grant Langston. Grant was still feeling the effects of his crash in the whoops in Las Vegas, which caused him to ride tight and get arm pump in the firstmoto. He and Mike dueled a bit in the second moto, but Mike later crashed and was still shaking his head after the race. Grant's 2-1 beat Mike's 1-2.

One thing that was interesting to note is that Grant said the Yamaha crew was doing some data acquisition during the race on Saturday, checking various temperatures and functions around the bike.

The bloddy knuckles? That's a univeral trait among mechanics. The electric connector to the rear brake? That's not quite as standard.

L.A. Sleeve Prequel Motocross

The points-paying races of the day belonged to the WMA, and though Jessica Patterson has had a rough time in the past when it came to putting together two back-to-back motos at Glen Helen, this time she had it all figured out, coming away with a pair of moto wins on the rough track. Tarah Gieger put up the best challenge for JP$, finishing second in the first moto after working her way through the pack. She holeshot the second moto before giving way to Patterson, and ended up with a 2-2 for the day. As per usual, they’ll be back next weekend in Hangtown, for their second round.  

Results
AMA/WMA National Motocross Championship - Presented by Kawasaki

Before we go for this week, we’ve got one final note. Just to add a little extra excitement to his life, last week GuyB’s hard drive decided to nuke itself. That DNF meant a swap to a different computer, trying to retrieve a bunch of old files, and reloading a pile of software. While it was time-consuming and definitely no fun, GuyB did get a laugh out of the following Photoshop dialog box.

Uh...yeah.

That’s it for this week. Be sure to check back next week for full coverage from the first round of the AMA Toyota Motocross Championship Presented By FMF at Hangtown here on Vital MX.