Vital Buzz: Red Bud 2008 4

Mike Alessi Vital Motocross 


As always, you can click any photo for a larger version.


Before we get started here, we have to send a big get well soon message to Mike Alessi. His crash at the start of moto two would have been bad enough on its own, but the speed in that area, plus the blind spot where he landed, led to several riders hitting him while he was down. If you’ve got the stomach for it, click to start the video below. (Trust us, it’s rather horrifying.)





Mike’s list of injuries included a pair of broken scapulas, some ribs, and a bruised lung. Considering the violence of the crash, we’re all lucky that it wasn’t worse. We’re sure he’s plenty uncomfortable, an we’d suggest skipping sending him funny get well messages…at least until the ribs heal. (If you’d like, you can add a get-well message of your own at the bottom of this article.)


Of course, Mike with his solid run of second-place finishes in the AMA Toyota Motocross Championships, he was a fairly obvious choice for Team USA at this year’s Motocross of Nations in England (along with James Stewart and Ryan Villopoto), and now the picture isn’t quite so clear. We’ve added a poll to the homepage at Vital MX where you can add your .02 on who you think should join James and Ryan on Team USA. The Team USA management (including longtime Team Manager, Roger DeCoster), have a tough choice to make.


Roger DeCoster and Ryan Dungey 


We’ll also keep our fingers crossed that Honda Red Bull Racing’s Davi Millsaps makes a quick return to action. A big crash early in moto one on Sunday had Davi sitting on the sidelines when moto two left the gate. Get well soon, Davi.


Davi Millsaps 


The other guy whose season took a huge hit, but in a different sort of way, was Jason Lawrence. After a disorderly conduct arrest at the track late on Friday night/early Saturday (around 1:45 AM), the AMA didn’t allow him to race at Red Bud. Of course, this is following the incident at Red Bud, where he rolled a rental car, which he was already on probation for.


 


We haven’t seen any word from Yamaha on their future plans for Jason, though one source at the track on Saturday told us that he’d been clipped from the Boost Mobile Yamaha of Troy team. Flying home from the race on Monday morning, we asked one factory team manager what they thought would happen to Jason, and he suggested that he might end up in Europe…or in the circus (meaning the X Games). We have heard that Jason has plans to race at X at the end of the month. It’ll be interesting to see what he’s riding, and for who.


 


If you haven’t seen the latest on Jason (the penalty handed down by the AMA), you can check here.


This seems like a good spot for a random hottie from the pits photo.



Sean Hackley’s Suzuki deal expired recently, so he showed up at Red Bud on a nearly stock Kawasaki…and still cleared LaRocco’s Leap. The guys at Motosport Xtreme Kawasaki also loaned him a few parts, and helped with stuff like cleaning and re-jetting his carb. On the bottom of this pit board, he also had marked down some notes on clicker settings for the suspension that he’d received over the phone from his dad.


Sean Hackley 


Yawn… Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto swept another two motos on Sunday, as did Monster Energy Kawasaki’s James Stewart. Those two are set to full kill.


Ryan Villopoto 


Ryan Dungey’s Rockstar Makita Suzuki was smokin’ on Sunday, as he charged through the pack in the first moto for eighth. Unfortunately, as he was closing on Trey Canard during the last lap, his engine expired, leaving him with a long push back to the pits.


 


We dig the pre-race Legends Laps that Rob Buydos has been putting together. At Red Bud he had a good crowd of riders, including Broc Glover…


Broc Glover 


Old schooler Mike Hartwig (who rode for Husky and Yamaha)…


Mike Hartwig 


Steve Lamson (nice style!)…


Steve Lamson 


Mike LaRocco and Jeff Stanton…


Mike LaRocco and Jeff Stanton 


Todd Dehoop…


Todd Dehoop 


…and Monster Energy Kawasaki Team Manager, Mike Fisher (who Ferry and Stewart were offering cash to if he’d jump LaRocco’s Leap. Mike looked at it, but decided that it had been plowed too deeply to get a good run at it).


 


Another part of the pre-race festivities was Johnny Greaves, who took his Toyota over several of the jumps on the track. He cleared a good chunk of the ski jump, doubled LaRocco’s Leap, and did a one-hander over the finish line.


 


The crowd was out in force for Red Bud, which was cool to see.


Johnny Greaves 


We appreciate all the flaggers out there. Many of them are experienced, and do a great job, but occasionally you find one who’s a little unclear on the concept. Motosport Xtreme Kawasaki’s Tyler Keefe spotted one who wasn’t quite up to speed, and lent a hand, showing him what was up. We’ve also had a couple interesting threads on flagging and safety in the Vital MX Forums, which you can check out here…


 


www.vitalmx.com/forums/Moto-Related,20/There-needs-to-be-a-way-to-signal-riders,135245
www.vitalmx.com/forums/Moto-Related,20/Blinking-Yellow-Lights,135695


Do you have anything to contribute to the topics? Dig in.


How about a Fan Of The…Weak?


 


Oops, we nearly neglected to talk about one of the toughest rides of the weekend, which was turned in by Sean Hamblin. He crashed hard in practice on Saturday, and was left with a dislocated shoulder, black eye, and stitches in his arm. Then in Sunday morning’s practice, it popped out again when he landed off the ski jump. Eddie Casillas and Doc Bodnar popped it in at trackside, and later iced him up, as well as taping him up as best they could.


Eddie Casillas, Sean Hamblin, and Doc Bodnar 


Sean said that it was hard to tuck back on the bike, but otherwise he was okay to ride. He turned in a 20-11 score, on a day when most riders would have packed it in. Oh, and the first moto? That was after sucking up a bunch of Kawasaki banners in his rear wheel, and working from last place to score a point in 20th. Way to go, Sean.


Ricky Renner also had a tough crash after putting in some great practice laps. He rode out both motos, but at a rather leisurely pace with some stitches and a very sore back in an effort to earn as much finish money as possible. At this point in the first moto, he stopped by to happily let us know, “Hey, I’m in 30th place!” Ah, the life of a privateer.


 


Timmy Ferry had some new O’Neal gear for the weekend, like you see here, and a set of pink and turquoise gear that looked like it had been inspired by the retro gear that he wore at A2.


Tim Ferry 


More Red Bud hotties? No problem…


 


LaRocco’s Leap? Yep, we were there.


 


Okay, that’s about it for this week. Be sure to stop back throughout the week for more here on Vital MX.

4 comments

View replies to: Vital Buzz: Red Bud 2008

Comments

The Latest