Steve Matthes Observations from Motor City
APRIL 14, 2008By Steve Matthes
Photos by Dan Stenning


Well, well, well, things sure got interesting real fast here didn’t they? All of the Supercross teams, riders and assorted ball-lickers like myself were basically counting down the days until the outdoor season started a few weeks ago. Trey Canard had a 17-point lead and was clearly at least the second fastest guy in his class, Chad Reed had rebounded from some bad luck and put together two dominating performances to regain his over one race points lead. But as one John Rambo once said in the classic First Blood movie “NOTHING IS OVER!!”

Let’s start at the beginning shall we? Okay, the Monster Energy Supercross Series, a FIM World Championship, brought to you by Parts Unlimited, came to beautiful Ford Field in beautiful downtown Detroit. I have to say that because there was a reader that sent the Racer X guys an email stating that I had better not bag on Detroit SX again or ELSE. I wrote him back and we’re buddies now, but to be honest, he kinda freaked me out and I’d rather just say nice things. To be honest, the crowd was better this year as the ticket prices were lowered but just about everybody I spoke to likes to reminisce about how good the old Silverdome Supercrosses were…

So let me do some reminiscing as well. I remember working for hometown hero Nick Wey at Moto XXX (BTW, we captured the top privateer award in the EA Sports Supercross series that year) and after Nick left for the parade lap, I noticed MC’s team manager Larry Brooks had some cookies in his hand and I was a little famished. So while we were packing the gate before the main, I asked for, and got some real good raisin oatmeal cookies from LB. As I was munching them down and packing the gate, Nick came back very fast and as he pulled up I had to put a cookie in my mouth and hand him new goggles (why the riders can’t do one slow lap with race goggles is something that will ALWAYS completely boggle my mind, but I digress). He never noticed anything until the 30 second board went up and he turned to me and said “Are you eating a #$@5-ing cookie?” I said not to worry and focus on this main event. Good times.

Another memory was the starting line being real close to the wall and as we were loading the gate one year, it was pretty quiet in the stadium and there was a fan just yelling at the top of his lungs “Ricky, you suck!” and ‘You'll never win, you're too fat!” This was back in the ‘99 season before RC slimmed down. The dude was just yelling it over and over really loud and RC turned around and gave him the finger! All the fans around him just started mocking the fan.

The man who designed the gnarliest track of the year, David Vuillemin! Le Cobra also rode the best he has in a while, even grabbing the holeshot in his heat. He ended up seventh in the main.

Live Nation had the last of their, “Hey riders, bitching about the track? You build it then!” races and this track was designed by David Vuillemin. DV12.com is one of the most thoughtful and smart racers out there and I knew that he would put a lot of effort into the design. And by effort I mean, really gnarly jumps! This track was the best of the rider designs in my opinion (well, Toronto and Tim Ferry is a hard combo to beat except for the fact that the dirt was soup). Just like Toronto, DV’s track had to deal with the fact that the dirt was really soft and got rutted up pretty good. Timmy Ferry told me that in his first practice he was “scared” and in my effort to give you readers the absolute best Observations column out there, I had an AIM interview with DV and asked him about the track.

DV: Hey, whats up?
Steve: Hey I’m just watching RC jump really high and straight up.
DV: Me too.
Steve: Anyways, what were your thoughts in designing the track? Any kind of plan and did you know it was going to be so tough?
DV: I made it with long straightaways, lot of 180 degree turns.
DV: I also put 2 rhythm and whoops section
Steve: Was there anything that u guys jumped that you didn’t think would be jumped?
DV: no... Actually less because the transitions and the g-outs were not smooth and also because the dirt was really wet
Steve: Did you plan to make the finish line that huge? What did you think when they made it smaller?
DV: I thought it was going to be small. I never put the distances between the jumps on the map. Also, the step up after going down the starting line backwards was supposed to be bigger with a 90-degree turn in the middle of the starting line so we could hit it straight
Steve: I thought that thing looked straight out of Houston and its massive step up that was there every year back in the day.
DV: Nope. If you look closely, the layout was exactly the same of Indy ‘07; I just designed different jumps everywhere!
Steve: RC!
DV: wow
Steve: He’s hurt, he’s out!
DV: The Showa guy is there too!!!
Steve: Did any riders make any comments to you about the track?
DV: A lot of guys told me it was gnarly... Hill, Millsaps and Reedy liked it because it was technical
Steve: Yeah it was, when they were tripling in after the corner step up, that was nuts!
DV: Also before the finish, 3-3-3 was gnarly.
Steve: Yeah halfway through the main almost everybody stopped doing it, ruts I guess.
DV: Really rutted. The whoops were the worst.

There you have it folks, right from the Cobra’s mouth! (Er, fingers.)

So during the first practice when everybody was just riding around like little Fonzie’s and being cool, Reedy clipped the top of a jump in this tricky tabletop-to-tabletop section and absolutely ate poop. I’m sure most of you have seen it by now and if you haven’t go Google it and come back (or just follow this convenient link to LN’s YouTube postings. ) It was one of those over-the-bars, pile-drive-into-the-ground crashes. It was a very uncharacteristic mistake by the most precise rider on the circuit. So because of that, CR got a free ride off the track on the Asterisk mule and immediately transported to the hospital when he started coughing up blood. So much blood that sources say his helmet looked like Slumber Party Massacre 6 was filmed in it. Not good for the series points leader.

He went to the hospital, got an MRI and whatever else, checked out, and came back to the track to try and gut it out. He used a provisional to get in and in an amazing ride, got 12th! We’ll see if this saves his title, but considering he was probably drugged up like a Siegfried & Roy white tiger, it was truly a remarkable effort. Say what you want about Reedy, and believe me people say a lot, he is one tough SOB.

When you’re Chad Reed and you’re in the hospital getting checked out, do you have to wear one of those ass-less hospital gowns? Do you have a special ass-less Thor hospital gown? These are things that I think about. ..

Even though Reedy reads my “little Racer X thingy” and I think we’re buddies, I’m still not happy about the provisional rule. It really helped out CR and all but it’s a dumb rule that I hope goes away.

Another guy that might have watched Josh Coppins’ instructional DVD “How to Blow a Big Points Lead” (and I say that with nothing but love for the soon to be 2008 MX1 champ) would be Trey Canard. The rookie was in second place in the Lites main behind his main competitor Ryan Villopoto and I’m sure was just planning on riding around in second to protect his big lead when he lost concentration and crashed right before the finish. It wasn’t that bad of a crash and he probably could’ve got up in the top seven or so, but his bike wouldn’t start for a while. He restarted the race in around 14th or so and worked his way to 10th by the end of the race. With RV winning, the lead for “not so ice” Trey is three with one round left. Whomever wins St Louis, will win the title.

RV2 is rounding into form, bad news for Trey Carnard. If you're reading this and live anywhere within 8 hours of St. Louis, get yer tickets now for the final east Lites round!

Ryan Villopoto rode a flawless race and captured the win. His wrist is better and with his teammate Branden Jessemen getting a third, team manager Mitch Payton was very happy after the race. The big Mo is squarely in Pro Circuit’s favor going into St Louis. Mitch just might have to get a bigger door for all of his number one plates.

Davi Millsaps won his second career Supercross race in the Supercross class (can DMG please do something about the class names soon?). He moved into second early in the race and rode a smart race on a gnarly, quickly-deteriorating track. He never really made any big mistakes and I’m sure to the pleasure of Brittney George, got around the lappers pretty quickly.

He’s probably the second biggest surprise story in Supercross behind Josh Hill. Some Honda guys told me early in the season that he wasn’t in shape and that he wasn’t serious, then he had that farting problem that made him pull out of A2. Well, with his contract up for 2009, he couldn’t have picked a better time to show that he’s a force.

Tim Ferry got second and I really thought at one point he was going to win. Remember that tabletop section I spoke of earlier? Well, the fast but sketchy way to do it was go from tabletop-to-tabletop and when Davi stopped doing it and Red Dog was doing it and making time, I started thinking that the old guy was going to win his first ever SX. But then Millsaps picked it up and kept the Kawasaki rider at bay. Red Dog had an absolutely terrible heat race; he gated badly and had a lot of trouble coming up. I seriously thought that he didn’t realize the heat was going and just thought he was on a retirement tour lap. But with a crappy gate pick in the main, he railed the outside of the start in the main event and came out in fourth.

I’m sure that the Torco Fuels/Factory Connection guys didn’t think it was funny but I sure thought that the sight of both of their riders on opposite ends of the track trying to start their bikes at the same time was comical. Both Canard and Josh Grant had to shut their gas off and lean their bikes over to drain the carb, which they again seemed to do at the exact same time.

Grant had a rough night after being pretty fast in practice. He started pretty good in the main and was in fourth before having an ugly crash in the whoops. He took longer to try and start his bike, eventually pulling into the mechanics’ area for help starting his Honda. He had been so good lately that it was a surprise to see him struggle this weekend.

Travis Preston has been riding better and better the last few weeks, it’s a shame that he’ll just start being a factor right around the time when his ride ends! TP has been in Texas the last three weeks and Bunny his donkey has been staying with in-laws while the Prestons have been gone. Travis told me this week that when he came back Bunny kind of charged at him and started ramming him with her head. She also bit TP on the ass! It seems that Bunny was a little upset that her master deserted her. When I asked him what he did he just said that Bunny “had been disciplined.” Where else on the internet do you get these kind of updates? Certainly not Racerhead or Frid’Eh Update.

The Campbell River Crusher had another rough night in what's becoming a season of rough nights. He's still my pick for the Canadian title however.

Motorsport Outlet’s Tommy Hahn has not been able to back up his surprising 5th in Minneapolis but it’s not really his fault. His bike had a bog in Dallas and he pulled out while this week in Detroit his bike stopped again. That’s all I know.

The Campbell River Crusher Dusty Klatt had another tough week, this after what I thought was a promising Dallas race. He didn’t make the main and wasn’t really a threat to, in my opinion. Again, going back to that tabletop section, if you couldn’t/wouldn’t jump onto each one then you had to jump all the way over. The Klattster would jump on and grab his brakes which would totally jack up the whole straightaway for him. It would’ve just been better to jump over every lap; yes it was slower but still faster than the grab-the-brakes-maneuver. Klatt’s got three more Supercrosses to do something, and then he’s racing the Canadian Nationals and will disappear in the minds of team managers down here.

After some miscommunication between OSTFF Suzuki and Tyler Medaglia, the Canadian Suzuki rider must’ve had something wrong with him in Detroit. He started up front in his heat but dropped back quickly and pulled out of the night. Not sure what was wrong, I heard some rumors but never confirmed them.

Remember when I said that Ryan Morais has been riding well lately? Well, he had his best ride of the season by getting second. It was a great ride, he took advantage of Nico Izzi getting tired and rode a strong race. At one point he was lapping Carnard and couldn’t get by him. Despite the AMA officials waving the blue flag at Trey, he kept racing hard trying to salvage a championship. I wondered if this jacked with Ryan at all but he kept it strong to the end. Too bad he didn’t get off to a good start in this series, he could’ve been a factor.

Morais had what might’ve been the scariest pass of the night when he moved into second. He had a lapper on his left and Izzi on his right when he split them and tripled. It was really bad as he nosedived and pulled out the rev’s but still passed both riders and motored away but I seriously bet his Fly pants were slightly soiled.

Since I didn’t book my ticket to Detroit until it was way too late because of a case of stupid-ness, I had to take the cheapest ticket I could find with an airline called Spirit. I’d never flown with them before and was startled to find out that: A.) There is a twenty buck charge for every bag checked, 40 if you don’t do it online; B.) There is no free anything, as everything is two bucks: water, coke and snacks. You get free water in almost every restaurant in the world! Not in Spirit’s world however. And C.) No blankets or pillows offered, nothing for you to have. It was bizarre for sure. Their ticket wasn’t that cheap either. If you’re going to go cheap on everything, then at least you could have a cheap ticket!
Remember Michael Byrne? Factory Suzuki, #26, Australian dude? Well after hurting his knee before the SX season started, the Burner has been riding for about a week or so and all y’all should look for him at the first national.

In what is a cool recognition of the older riders that helped grow Supercross, Live Nation brought out Jeff “Six-Time” Stanton to ride a parade lap for his hometown fans. They did the same thing with Mike LaRocco in Indianapolis. Six-Time did it a little different than the Rock: while Mike just rode around and waved at the crowd, Six-Time was dressed in his 1992 gear, riding an immaculate 1992 CR250 and doubled a whole bunch of things. Just Jeff being hard core!

But he didn’t triple! My buddy “Rocket” Rob Buydos told me that Jeff told him that he would triple on his parade lap. So this got me all excited and I told Kawasaki’s Mike Williamson what was going down and he bet a co-worker ten bucks that Stanton would do it. So obviously he didn’t and I cost Mike ten bucks. It was probably another one of those deals where Rob just gets me wound up for giggles.

The Arenacross guys still struggled in their second week of joining the series. Babbit’s Kawasaki’s Kelly Smith made the main and did pretty good with an eleventh. That was about it as Brock Sellards, Chad Johnson, and Robbie Reynard all didn’t make the main in the 450s. I’m again surprised at the lack of competitiveness that these guys are showing.

With Kelly Smith joining Nick Wey, Tim Ferry and Keith Johnson as all riders formerly tuned by Matthes (R.F.T.M) in the main event, I almost had a quarter of the guys! If you count Heath Voss, as I was supposed to wrench for him when Ferry left, that would make it an even 25 percent of the main event racers that I have brought to greatness.

Guess who grabbed the holeshot? Eric Sorby, that’s who! He joins other Moto XXX alumni like Larry Ward, Kyle Lewis and Damon Huffman in grabbing main event holeshots. Good to know that Moto XXX Performance still knows how to build a fast bike.

This man is a privateer and I don't wanna hear another word about it! Paul Carpenter had a rough night but the '07 Canadian champ is a fighter and has a 22 point lead on Heath Voss for top privateer award with 3 races left.

 

 

Supercross Live! Announcer Jim “Hollywood” Holley’s continued strange fascination with comeback-kid Billy Payne reached a new, kind of creepy level when he had Billy’s mom and girlfriend in the booth watching with him at one point. I didn’t see Uncle Ted or Aunt Beatrice but I’m sure they were listening at home. Billy continued his strong privateer season with a 14th and holds down 10th in the points standings.

The flying Sewell brothers both made the main event this week, with Travis getting a very strong 9th and Shane a 20th. That’s awesome for them and I hope they both keep making mains together because I like saying the flying Sewell brothers.

Honda’s Ben Townley replacement Ben Coisy (moto) has really dropped off the last little bit. He hurt his back practicing and didn’t show for Dallas. This week he didn’t make the main and that’s not good for him and his quest to get a ride next year over here.

You know, I can honestly say that Andrew Short might’ve got the quietest 5th place ever recorded in a Supercross race. I never noticed him all night, he’s just a solid rider that I don’t think was involved in one battle all night.

So I watched the ESPN thing on Sunday and have these thoughts:

Why the producers cut away from a great pass as soon as it’s going to happen is beyond me. They did the same thing last summer.

The track was better than last year’s summer X-Games for sure, however it still lacked the excitement of a normal Supercross to me.

I thought the way they ended the Step-Up final was incredibly made up on the spot due to them running late. The thing is, there is lots of money and exposure at stake for the athletes that win the contest. ESPN just deciding the sudden death thing was cheese-ball. Glad to see the only thing that RC really hurt in that crash was his ego for not beating everybody on his factory Suzuki.

I logged onto ESPN.com to read the transcript of a Jason Lawrence chat, but it seems that the moderator explained that at “J-law will be here in a bit” to “J-law will be on later” to “J-law’s agent has told us that he got hung up with other obligations.” At least it’s not just the moto mainstream he bones. A few weeks ago the YoT manager was telling me how the media makes Jason out to be this monster, that he’s a great kid from a bad home and the media loves to build him up just to tear him down….*yawn*, you make your own bed if you ask me.

I did think that ESPN did a way better job of telling us, the viewer, more about the working class dudes that race Supercross. Jiri Dostal, Joe Oehlhof and other guys would never get the exposure they got at X on the Live Nation produced Supercross show. Good for them!

And next time, why not have the event in a park or something, because 60,000 empty seats look like, well, 60,000 empty seats when you see them all afternoon long.  Will the Moto-X Championships go the way of Summercross, the Rodil Cup and the Jeremy McGrath Invitational Supercross? With all that PR and free commercials and ESPN magazine stories and stuff, this was not a good sign… 

That’s all I got this week. As usual send your praises to matthes@racerxcanada.com but you can leave out the bad comments and crazy conspiracy theories. Keep those to yourself please. Thanks for reading!