Vital MX Pit Bits: Salt Lake City 1

Nope, Justin Starling isn't trying to slide in under the Tedder rig after Martin's injury and abrupt retirement. He was living privateer life and had just a couple of wrenches with him. When he discovered his motor mounts were loose, he was looking for a little wrenching help.

Just a little protection waiting for Dylan Ferrandis.

It was cool to see Jeremy Albrecht roaming the pits and infield keeping an eye on things as Daniel Blair's replacement, as he moved up to the booth for the weekend. Jeremy is still working at JGR, but on the business development side of the operation.

Official merch for official fans.

A few teams (like AJE Motul Gas Gas) had arrived after making the trek from Atlanta, but didn't have any riders under the tent for this weekend. They'll be back in business next weekend.

Henry Miller and Lane Shaw doing the privateer life thing out of the back of a rental car. They'd had other teams bring their bikes out west.

Just once, we want to hit the red button for the flame cannon.

Josh Varize had a small wrestling match with his front fender, which had mostly cracked off after a crash early in his heat race.

Thomas Do scored his best finish (fifth) in the 250 class. Pretty awesome considering he was up past 1:00 am the night before the race, installing a new piston.

How about this new Alpinestars kit that Jason Anderson and Jett Lawrence were running?

Doc G working out the kinks on the Honda boys.

Doing a little boot tuning between practice rounds.

In the pit area, there were races set up for a few different Monster athletes in Sierra Cars, which looked like a lot of fun. Included in the roster were Zac Hale (snowboarder), James Foster (BMX), Larry Edgar (BMX), Rodrigo Ampudia (Off-Road), Nick Leonetti (Unknown Industries), and Buddy Suttle (Unknown Industries). First-time hosting Sierra Cars

That's a cool helmet.

When you have a tattoo artist as a sponsor, as Scotty Wennerstrom does, you get some cool custom helmets. He also has an inverse of this, with a black shell and the gold.

Apparently, Justin Rodbell thinks GuyB is number one.

Ah yes, we saw fans collecting souvenirs both before and after the races.

Most of the Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing guys had a bit of extra tire grooving in the rear.

Fox still does some of the best butt patches out there.

Over the whole time off for the 250 East, the hype had been about the battle between Christian Craig and Colt Nichols. Unfortunately, with Christian's hard crash in practice, it wasn't to be.

Conditions were pretty prime for the first of the double-header in Salt Lake City.

It was good to see Michael Mosiman back before the end of the season...and he was ripping.

That corner style...

Mathilde Musquin getting Marvin's gear ready for the evening's action. We were stoked to see Marv fighting for the top of the podium. Move out of the way for Cooper? Team orders? Nope.

Ken Roczen going over last-minute details with Team Manager, Erik Kehoe.

After getting wrecked in the final practice, we sure were happy to see Chase Sexton bounce back up. He must be partially made of rubber.

It's cool to see more fan interaction with the riders...even if it's still at a distance. Coop was about to head out to opening ceremonies.

Mookie loving the crowd...and the crowd was loving him back later in the evening when he scored his first podium finish in the 450s.

Gotta hang onto the hat during opening ceremonies.

After holding seven races without fans there last summer, it sure was nice to have a good crowd on hand at Rice-Eccles Stadium. If the new section at the south end of the stadium had been completed, it likely would have been even more impressive.

Former Monster Energy Kawasaki mechanic, Dana Wiggins was on hand to support his son, Mason, in the KJSR race. Dana now spends time at TRD working on Toyota's NASCAR powerplants, and being a mini dad on the weekends.

Aaron Plessinger hasn't forgotten his Buckeye roots.

What's in the envelope? Oh, nothing...except three number one plates to hand out. Mike Pellitier was ready, but the distribution of all three plates will have to wait until next weekend.

Let's hear it for Jo Shimoda scoring his first win in 250 SX. It was a fairly global set of podiums, with Jo (Japan), Jett Lawrence (Australia), and Marvin Musquin grabbing half of the podium spots on the night.

Malcolm Stewart's whoop speed was impressive on Saturday night. Like jaw-droppingly quick. Seeing him score his first podium in the 450 class was a treat.