Vital MX Pit Bits: St. Louis Supercross

These races just keep getting crazier and crazier! Check out all the behind the scenes action from St. Louis in the latest edition of Pit Bits.

Chad Reed made everyone's night in St. Louis by breaking out his 2004 championship winning Yamaha YZ250 two stroke for opening ceremonies.

This was a sound to behold.

Those old school feels.

Past and present Yamaha Supercross machines in action.

Fresh custom kicks for Chase Sexton.

At the Arlington triple crown race, the HRC truck was quite packed with three riders utilizing two bikes each plus their amateur racer Chance Hymas. Things were a bit lighter looking in St. Louis.

Kyle Peters was landed on during a 250 main and broke two vertebrae in his neck. Luckily, Peters recognized something was wrong and didn't take his helmet off as he didn't want to risk losing feeling in his legs. The update so far has been positive for KP, who has had surgery and is now stable / on the road to recovery.

The "BBMX" semi was this empty all day, as only one or two staff members were ever present.

While Shane McElrath's bike was the only machine built and sitting outside, word is that McElrath has also split with the team alongside Anstie and Savatgy. However, Shane also stated he didn't race this weekend due to not passing the concussion protocol after his last major crash. If we were the guessing type, both the concussion protocol and him splitting with his former team are true.

St. Louis marked the first ever Supercross win for RJ Hampshire and it showed in his emotion.

When the years and years of hard work pay off.

Congrats to RJ Hampshire and his family.

Similar to last weekend, indoor pits make for a little less room for the teams then when they have their normal outside space and awnings setup.

Other than providing some needed lighting when loading in darker conditions, the lights on the liftgates of some of these trailers also are useful when a team "tents" the lifgate and adds tent walls all the way around it and create a little awning out of their liftgate to work under. We've seen Kawi do this quite often at cold rounds.

The YZ450Fs powerplant has changed a bit since Star got involved. They've given a lot of feedback and direction with the engine but it is still built at Yamaha's HQ in Cypress, Ca then shipped to the semi, Tomac's in Colorado, or Florida for Ferrandis.

While everyone at Star Yamaha, including Dylan Ferrandis, runs a "kit" shock from KYB...Tomac is the only rider on the team that utilizes a works shock.

Triple Crowns mean two bikes are prepped for most of the top teams as you're able to tech two machines at these races. In this case, the Star team would likely takes Ferrandis sitting bike and swap over the needed parts to make a second identical machine for Eli.

Eli Tomac is the only rider we know of running KYB's hybrid air/spring fork. We believe the term for it is LSF.

While many of the top 450 guys use a solid lever, Tomac opts for folding levers on each side.

Red plate even on the airbox cover...

While most teams go ahead with two bikes per rider at a Triple Crown, the second bike is purely used for back up situations. The preference is still to stay with one bike all day if possible.

The factory Kawi guys literally have a tv built into their rig.

As always, the Monster Energy Kawasaki pit presence is top notch.

Clicky, clicky.

Kyle Chisholm just keeps Chizzin! Do 250 teams start looking at more experienced riders over youth?

Star Yamaha's 250 trailer has always been with a Yamaha team as it was originally JGR's first semi.

No more Specialized bikes in the Star pit as the 450 and 250 effort are partnered with Yamaha's internal E-bike brand.

The Firepower team's semi used to belong to the Phoenix Honda squad. Before that it was Chad Reed's during the TwoTwo era and the original owner from new was MDK KTM.

The Firepower bikes have a clean look this year.

The Firepower team is running Renegade fuel unlike most of the teams that run VP.

Jordon Smith is one of a few riders to run Pirelli's new "Stadium" race spec version of the Scorpion MX32 Mid-Soft front tire.

With a standard MX32 mid-soft out back.

While most of the projects Twisted Development work on utilize a Wiseco or JE piston, the Firepower squad are running Wosner product.

Sadly, the Pro Circuit pits were a little bare come race day with Cameron McAdoo's press day crash. We haven't heard the extent of the injury yet but if it's a minor shoulder injury / separation...there's a chance we could see Cameron back at Atlanta. The PC squad will also have Jo Shimoda and Austin Forkner back in action next weekend.

Opening ceremonies in an indoor stadium have a little extra flare with the contained glow and lighting.

Bumper cars!

The BarX team is still holding it down for the Suzuki RM-Z250 crowd. It's hard to deny how good these bikes look.

The suspension duties for the team are handled by Rob Henricksen of RG3, who has years and years of Suzuki experience alongside the old Factory Suzuki squad.

Cap view of the Showa kit forks.

The Pro Taper handlebars aboard the BarX bikes are quite clean. Not a lot of extras or use up space here.

For a long time, the BarX team utilized a stock head pipe with a FMF slip-on exhaust but as of this year the FMF crew stepped up with a new head pipe design.

While the production RM-Z250 comes with a KYB rear shock, the BarX team utilizes a Showa A-kit shock on their bikes. These were leftovers they purchased from the JGR squad.

Who here thinks the highlights of opening ceremonies should make it into the TV broadcast each week?

What's FROTH? We have NO CLUE! But the helmets sure are noticeable.

Custom kicks for Chase Sexton.

Custom helmet? Nope. If you look really closely the white area with the added logos on the chinbar is a small section of graphics material that's been added on.