By Steve Matthes

The AMA Toyota Motocross Championships presented by FMF was eight rounds deep when it visited the beautiful Washougal track this past weekend. Man, I can’t believe that we’re almost done with this thing, people! Anyway, I love coming up to this part of the country. One of my first jobs as a mechanic was working for Ty Birdwell, who lived in Astoria, Oregon, and I’ve spent a lot of time in the Pacific Northwest. Nothing can beat the little coffee huts everywhere that distribute the tastiest little coffee mochas in the world.

This track could be a half-mile oval and I would still like it; I’m biased toward the scenery and coffee huts. I don’t have to ride the track, so what do I care? Well, I should tell you that I don’t think Washougal is any rider’s favorite track, due to the dirt being eroded away from the facility, making the track really slippery. Add in the shadows that riders have to face and there’s more than the usual rider complaining that goes on. This year, though, I think there must have been some dirt brought in. We had some rain on Sunday morning and the track was as good as I’ve seen it in a long time. There was a round of traction for everyone!

We had a different winner, folks! Ryan “Crocodile” Dungey managed to stop the RV Express (next stop, 450 Town!). It was a great battle in the second moto and RD held onto the win with Villopoto ALL over him in the second moto. It was a straight-up victory for Dungey, and I’m sure he’s happy to get the monkey off his back. Wonder if he beat the crap out of the monkey while he was getting him off?

It was nice to see Dungey get the win, for sure. Hell, it’s nice to see ANYONE not named “Ryan Villopoto” win. I think this will give him some good confidence going into his home track in two weeks at the legendary Millville circuit.

You know, in an interview with RXC’s Brett Dailey, the legendary Ross “Rollerball” Pederson mentioned that when his arch enemies Doug Hoover or Al Dyck would beat him once in a while, he had to make sure, no matter what, that he NEVER let them win again right away. Ross went on to say that you cannot, under any circumstances, give a rider a sliver of confidence because it’s a dangerous thing. You have to keep your competition mentally beat down. So if you believe The Ross (which of course I do), the first moto at Millville will be VERY interesting.

James Stewart went 1-1 again and gave absolutely NO ONE in his class any hope that they can even lead a lap. A lot of the kids nowadays are using the term “crushing it” when talking about any sort of dominating performance. James is crushing it.

I really want James to do a podcast with me, but he kind of makes himself elusive and hard to pin down. Kind of like he rides, I guess. He did do an interview with me on the Racer X Motocross Show and showed he at least knew that I was a Tim Ferry fan. That’s a good sign.

Canada’s best hope for an MX2 title, Kyle “KD Beets” Beaton, showed up at Washougal to see what he had against the world’s best. He qualified easily and was running top twenty when he had a bobble late in the race and finished 21^st. I think I’d rather cartwheel down the hill than suffer through 37 minutes of war to finish one spot out of the points. In the second moto his bike blew up on the first lap, so I didn’t get to see him go 21-1 on the day.

KD Beets told me that he used to beat Villopoto on 60s back in the day at MX and Arenacross races. I never really knew that, and I like to think I know everything about Beets that a grown man should know. I spoke with Ryan when he was signing posters and he confirmed it. He went on to say that Beets was a badass on the 60. I want to suggest a re-match, because neither of them are much bigger than they were on 60s. I’m sure "Rocket” Rob Buydos can round up a couple of KX60s.

Isn’t it weird that RV has never won at Washougal, his (kinda) home race? Isn’t it weird that last year the people called it “Area 51” and RV had bad luck? Isn’t it weird that Steve Cox told us at dinner on Saturday that aliens and Bigfoot are “crap” but he believes the Loch Ness Monster is real?

Tim Ferry didn’t practice on Saturday because he was under the weather a bit. At least that’s what Kawasaki was telling everyone. Rumor in the pits was that he was a little more seriously hurt and people were coming to me for confirmation. Of course I told them he was sick. That’s what I was told, anyway! If he wasn’t sick, I think the team/rider should tell people what’s up, because chances are it comes out later when the team/rider wants the media to know that he/they are a warrior and rode with a (insert injury here and double the severity so media goes crazy building a story where they compare said rider to Hercules for riding with such a bad injury). So when the media hears differently and finds out they are being lied to, they second guess and speculate on the rider’s injury, which causes riders/teams to get all mad at media ... but they started the whole thing! Sometimes this sport drives me nuts.

So anyway, Ferry crashed on the second lap and had to come from 39^th to 11^th in the first moto. The second time out he finished sixth and his point total forced James to wait until Millville to clinch the title. I’ll try to find out something definitive this week.

Are you as tired and pissed off about this Brett Favre thing as I am? Look, the guy’s a legend, a great quarterback, a winner, yadda yadda yadda, but I’m so tired of the last five years of “Look at me, everybody! Will I retire? Will I stay? Oh, I’m going to finally retire this year and give you people more blubbering at a press conference than you’ll find in a walrus hunt. And despite my coach and general manager calling me a few months after I retired to make sure I didn’t want to come back, I now want my old job back because I’m the best QB to ever throw into triple coverage and have announcers say that I was just trying to make something happen.” Wonder where I stand on this thing?

I had some AMA people, media people, Sean Hamblin, Michael Byrne, and Andrew Short all ask me where my “Observations” were from Unadilla. I didn’t go and listening to the webcast and doing it that way is a ton of work, so I didn’t do anything at all. It’s funny that these guys actually care about this column that much. Byrner was all up in my grill because he got second and no love from me, despite me running pics all season even when he kinda sucked at Glen Helen because I thought he’s riding well despite his injury. Some people you just can’t please…

Speaking of Byrner, he got on the podium again with two great rides!  He had to earn this one by passing Cody Cooper in both motos. You’ll see all these interviews with him and stories of his resurgence because of his three podiums this year, but if you’ve been reading my stuff all year, you’ll know that I’m driving the Michael Byrne Bandwagon. Next stop: Suzuki or JGR in ’09!

Shorty got second with a 2-2 and was clearly the second best guy in the 450 class. He likes Washougal. I think he won a Lites O/A a few years ago, and I remember him always doing well there. He still hasn’t signed with Honda for ’09, and Weege was saying that the other Honda guys have ridden the ’09 450 but he hasn’t. I heard he was talking to KTM for next year, and when I asked him, he laughed but didn’t say he wasn’t. He mumbled something about having to cover all his bases if Honda let him go. If the Red Riders do not sign him next year, I might have to sell my Honda lawnmower and generator. I might still buy a Ridgeline, though, ‘cause they’re cool, but I’ll draw the line after that.

Hometown guy Josh Hill went 5-5 on the day for fifth overall. That’s three top-fives in the last four races for Josh; Yamaha definitely doesn’t have The Hill Street Blues anymore. I think he can get in a little bit better shape for sure, but hey, can’t we all? I gained some respect for Josh when he called me over (that was the beginning of the respect gained because I seriously thought he didn’t know who I was) and told me that he thought a comment I made about him after Texas was disrespectful and made his parents and grandparents upset. I explained why I said what I said and that it was nothing personal, just trying to be funny, and maybe it was in poor taste. He explained that he “didn’t want to not like me,” which strikes me as funny also. I have no problem explaining what I write to somebody if they want to be cool and talk about it in a calm and rational manner. You reading this, Hanny?

And on that note, I’ve been hard on Billy Laninovich because he’s been struggling badly in his return to the nationals. It’s only fair that I point out when he does well, which he did this weekend getting tenth overall. It was his best race of the season, and hopefully it gives him some confidence for the last three.

Poor Trey Canard. He tangled with a lapper (again) on the last lap of the second moto while in third and broke his leg. I want to see the crash on Speed to see what exactly he did, as it was kind of in a harmless part of the track. Talk about a reversal of fortune for the red-haired wonder rookie. He was leading his first-ever national earlier in the race and ended up getting carted off. Get well soon, Three Duck!

Cody “The Kiwi Warrior” Cooper grabbed both holeshots in the 450 class! A dude on a bike you can buy, from a country far, far away, is showing people that he can ride. We shouldn’t be that surprised. When everybody was healthy at Hangtown, he had third in the bag before dumping it late in the race and breaking his clutch. I’ve heard from people that he’s not very good at Supercross, but hey, a guy can learn, right? I hope he gets a factory ride next year. He deserves it.

Moose Racing’s Steve Van Zylun told me that at Budds Creek a few weeks ago, a bunch of fans were yelling at Coops through the fence about him being a privateer hero and how he’s representing all the privateers out there, and Coops was saying, “Yeah, yeah, thanks.” When they walked away, he asked Steve what a privateer was and if he was one!

You won’t hear much about MDK/KTM’s Ryan Sipes this weekend, but he went 4-5 for fifth overall. Usually a 4-5 in the Lites class gets you second overall, but Sipes got screwed this week. Now, that’s an impressive score regardless, but when you saw where he was off the starts, it makes his ride even better. Sipes was 14^th the first moto and 13^th in the second moto at the end of lap 1, and he passed 18 guys on the day. Who knew the “Bluegrass Bullet” was able to ride so well so far from home?

With the fantastic NPG Media Tent (which I said in the DC Podcast I didn’t care about and was dumb but was wrong like usual), I don’t need to go and bug the Kawi guys that much for food and stuff, but this weekend I was all over them. This is a list of stuff I took from the Kawasaki guys, and I hope they don’t read this because I’ll never be welcomed back:

--2 pieces of pizza (which were delicious)

--cup of coffee (with some yummy cinnamon creamer)

--Reese Peanut Butter Cups

--2 bananas (for Bottom Line Show … just wait!)

--4 hot dogs (for Bottom Line Show … ditto.)

--2 Monster Energy Drinks

--3 waters (1 for my buddy Fireman Ron)

--paper plates, spoons, gum

Thanks, guys!

I “spoke” with defending SX champion Chad Reed the other day, and when I say “spoke,” I mean I text messaged him to ask him what the hell is up with his deal. He may have lost his ride, but he hasn’t lost his sense of humor, as he replied back, “Husqvarna with Go the Rat gear.” He went on to tell me pretty much nothing but that he wants to race the X Games and some nationals but can’t because of his falling out with L&M and Yamaha. Smart money says he’s on a Suzuki come Anaheim ’09, with such a chip on his shoulder to prove people wrong that he looks like he’s got a V-2000 under his jersey.

For some reason I saw Nick Wey walking around the pits with a mo-hawk and a 1992 Yoko “Lamson” jersey on. I seriously thought it was a fan until someone said it was Wey. I guess he lost a bet with team manager Lamson about whether he would get top five this season, but he did at Red Bud, so I’m not sure what he was talking about. As far as the jersey is concerned, there was no bet; Wey just thought the day-glo jersey was “sick.”

I know I go on and on about changing the national tracks up for the guys, but there is no way that the infamous “Chuck Sun” table top should’ve gone away along with the “catchers mitt” corner. It’s not right and somebody should do something about it.

Speaking of Washougal landmarks, they have always had a set of whoops before the finish, and they’re sometimes spaced so the guys can jump through them, but this year it was SX-style blitzing all the way. Who was fastest in them? Would it shock you if I said Stewie was? I remember Damon Bradshaw absolutely killing those things in 1996 on his YZ wearing number 28. That was amazing to me and something I won’t forget.

Moto XXX’s Antonio Balbi is riding really, really well these days, but bummer for him that he got fined $500 bucks for peeing behind the starting gate last weekend. This is a couple-year old rule, and Balbi said the one port-o-john at Unadilla was occupied and he really, really had to go. I guess Millsaps also got fined a while ago but probably looked in his couch cushions and came up with the coin. Balbi’s great ride last week barely made him anything now. Maybe a one-time written warning for the guys?

Silly Season Update! I think JGR will choose between Josh Grant, Nick Wey, and Josh Summey for the two spots, with maybe Byrner in there if Suzuki says no to re-hiring him. I heard Metcalfe is almost sure to be back with Pro Circuit and that GP star Christophe Pourcel is looking good in his comeback from a very serious pelvis injury and will be able to be on PC for ’09. With Jake Weimer coming over, that’s a full team there. I also heard Star and YoT Yamaha will become one team next year and Davalos has re-signed with KTM.  Keep in mind any of this could change at any minute.

The teams have already been working on producing a fast 94db 250F and are in the process of making sure they have plenty of rags and washers handy for the testing. But seriously, the consensus that I get is that it’s cool to see the progressiveness of the rule-making dudes and there’s no downside to this.

There’s been a lot of talk about Kyle Cunningham and his departure from the Butler Bros. MX team and subsequent hiring by WWR Racing. I’ve spent some time digging around, because any time a team fires a rider when he just gave the team and himself a career-best finish, something is fishy. Unfortunately for the gossiping moto media, the lawyers have been involved and neither side can say much. This much I do know from talking to people before he got fired: KC agreed to and signed a contract stating that he would do the nationals that BBMX is doing. KC got himself and the team in deep trouble when, for whatever reason, he wore a different brand of goggles at Mt Morris and was photographed. WWR has been helping KC at the races that BBMX wasn’t at, and their “help” involved much more than just some small stuff. It was some major help for a guy collecting a paycheck from BBR, who is a competitor to WWR in my opinion.

You can’t blame a rider for wanting to keep his awesome season going, but make no mistake about it, WWR is a legit team competing for sponsor dollars that has Heath Voss in SX and Jeff Alessi in MX giving them great finishes. It sucks for BBMX to have to fire a guy, and it sucks for KC to be fired, but hopefully everybody just learns from it and moves on.

Jake Weimer had a good race, finishing 6-6 for sixth overall. He’s been fast but hasn’t been able to put it together since his second place at Mt Morris. I hope I didn’t jinx him with our podcast a while back.

Grant Langston, Davi Millsaps, Ivan Tedesco, Broc Hepler, Mike Alessi, Ben Townley, and David Vuillemin. Thanks to Kit Palmer from Cycle News for reminding me that those are the guys missing from the 450 class this season due to injury, and people should remember that before we throw any parades for the privateers or talk about how the “450 class sucks.” All of these riders would beat the privateers in the class and definitely add some depth to the field. But I suppose you could argue that it’s a skill to stay healthy and these factory dudes don’t have that skill but I just thought I’d point this out.

There’s lots of talk in the pits about Red Bull Honda adding “Top” Jimmy Albertson and/or Jeff Alessi. Not sure what the real story is, as someone at Honda told me that “maybe we’ll have both of them at Millville.” According to Weege, they both claimed they were the fastest at the “secret” test at Milestone MX Park open riding session. I do know from someone who was there that Jeff wanted to change stuff on the bike and Jimmy just wanted more gas in the bike. I think it’s cool that the new lower-back tattoo among factory teams is adding privateers, but as another factory guy told me, don’t think that Honda wants to do this, they have to do it for Red Bull, and there’s a big difference.

Some other tidbits…

--Broc Tickle should have had a better day, he was in fourth in the first moto for a long time and then, while running up front with about five laps left, he crashed and was unable to start his bike. Bummer.

--Davalos totally ruined my Moto XXX Fantasy League (of dorks) by crashing his way out of the top. I figured that he was good for a podium after the last few weeks.

--Man, everybody’s got new gear now! The Answer and Fly stuff really looks good to me, but what do I know?

--Somebody, like Billy Ursic, needs to get on the Kawasaki dominance of this season and compare it to the Honda days of RJ for Bench Race Ammo.

--Austin Stroupe is supposed to be back at Millville, but it’s not definite. He’s got mono from making out with MySpace chicks. (At least that’s what somebody at PC jokingly said.)

--Brett Metcalfe sure rides the bike very hard. He seems like he’s angry at the bike and track for something most of the time.

--Check out my blog and the Bottom Line Show on motocross.com if you have time, and if you don’t, I understand.

--My buddy Fireman Ron came down and he had an all-access pass from Tony Gardea. He got to sit in on very serious “journalistic type” conversations between me and Cox, eat at the press tent buffet, watch from the announcer tower, and all those types of things. Now Ron wants to go to the MXdN!

Ok, that’s it for this week. Thanks for reading, and the next time you read any of my “Observations,” it will be from Millville, Minnesota. Please feel free to email me at matthes@racerxcanada.com and let me know if my observations are as crazy as a poop-house rat.