It's all tied up. Given the recent history of AMA Supercross, the last thing anyone would expect coming into the 2006 season is a tie game going into the last round. And to think that third place in points would be only 5 further points back would be preposterous. Who would've even thought that all three of the top guys would've made it to the final round healthy?
But here we are. The series heads into Vegas and there are three men who all have a legitimate shot at becoming the 2006 Amp'd Mobile/AMA Supercross Series Champion.
James Stewart leads Chad Reed...
James Stewart leads Chad Reed in their heat.
After 15 rounds of race wins, race losses, crashes, points deductions, points reinstatements and mechanical failures, 2004 champ Chad Reed and four-time champ Ricky Carmichael both hold 316 points, while James Stewartwho has won 7 races to Carmichael's 6 and Reed's 2sits only five points behind and ready to pounce.
If Stewart continues on his recent winning romp, whoever finishes secondCarmichael or Reedwill win the AMA title in Las Vegas. Here's a kicker, though: Assuming that the top three will include Carmichael, Reed and Stewart, if Stewart wins, whoever finishes third in the race will actually finish third in the championship, behind Stewart, as they would tie in points and Stewart would win the tiebreaker by virtue of having the most race wins on the season. Stewart's only hope for the title is to win the race and have someone besides Carmichael or Reed finish second. If that happens, he will be the 2006 AMA champ.
Grant Langston got his fourth...
Grant Langston got his fourth different title in Seattle.
The race that led us to this point, though, was the Seattle mudder, where we crowned our 2006 Lites Western Regional champ. Mud tends to be the great equalizer in supercross or motocross racing, which meant that going in, it was hard to predict what would happen in either class. The rain let up right before the races began.
"The first thing that really disappoints me is that it didn't rain earlier," said AMA SX/MX Manager Steve Whitelock. "It tricked us. Otherwise, we would've probably ran a practice similar to what we ran in San Francisco, where everything just started later, but the weather fooled around, and we got the track uncovered, we were in the middle of running the first practice, and then we started killing the racetrack, so we said, 'Let's cancel second practice, just run the little qualifiers that we have to run, shorten them up from four laps to three laps,' and then the racetrack really went to shit. It rained, and rained, and rained, and now I've had to play with the night schedule because I need to have a half-ass good racetrack by the time we get to the two main events. We are racing for championships here, and I don't want to end it mechanically, I want to end it physically with the riders.
Miss Supercross Brittney was...
Miss Supercross Brittney was the 30-second-board girl in the Seattle mud.
"Those are all things that come in. You've just got to think about how much to take off of a race, because on one side, you need the guys to have time to work through the pack if they have trouble at the beginning, but on the other side, you don't want to make it so hard that in these muddy conditions, their bikes drop dead. I've had to play with that, and those are the things I'm looking at. I've tried to keep the main events as long as I can because I want the guys to have enough time to work, but on the other side, I don't want the bikes to break. That's the stuff you have to figure out. That's why I didn't make up my mind until 15 minutes before the start of the show. The biggest thing I was worried about was the standing water in the first corner, because how crummy is it that a guy gets a mediocre start and then gets covered up in the first cornerloses his goggles, he's all wet, he's uncomfortable, his bike's covered with crap, his hands are wet... So they've been out there scraping the first corner out trying to put a big drain in, and doing everything they can, and hopefully we won't have that mess."
 Nick Wey got the holeshot...  Nick Wey got the holeshot. |  Carmichael charged through...  Carmichael charged through the pack from way behind for third. |  James Stewart was flat out...  James Stewart was flat out gone in less than a lap. |
It was so cold in Seattle...
It was so cold in Seattle...
The conditions were also made somewhat easier by the gravelly texture of the Seattle track. Since rocks don't soak up water, it was more soupy than sticky. As the rain began to fall, Grant Langston began to lick his chops, as he needed to make up four points on rival Andrew Short to win the West title and round out his Lites Grand Slam, which already included a Lites World Championship, Lites National Championship, and Lites Eastern Regional SX Championship.
...that the girls were seeking...
...that the girls were seeking any warm body to snuggle up to!
"I guess being on Clear Channel's payroll helps make it exciting," Langston joked of his propensity toward exciting championship conclusions. "I don't know. Every year, I somehow manage to blow out a race or two so that I give away a bunch of points and make it stressful and make everyone on my team age really quickly. But, to be honest, this is one of the first times where I've been in the championship battle where I was a little nervous coming into the final round because I knew that even if I won, I still needed some help in the sense of someone beating Andrew. I was hoping someone like Ryan [Villopoto] could do it, or someone that's been riding pretty good lately.
"So, it was a bit of a rough week for me. I was really bummed out with how I rode in Dallas. I don't know, maybe it was from the 10-week break or whatever, but I rode real tense, got arm-pump, and I just felt like it was the first race again, and that was disappointing. But when I saw it raining, I was thinking to myself, 'Man, I'm no mud specialist, but Andrew's pretty bad,' so I was like, 'This might not be a bad thing.' If there was one time that I wanted to do well in the mud, it was tonight, so it was a dream come true, and to win in the mud was even more of an accomplishment for me because it's something that you lay in bed and dream about, and when it happens, it makes you feel all that much better. It was weird. I had a feeling it was going to fall into place this weekend.
Translation: Grant, the championship...
Translation: Grant, the championship is yours.
"You often see championships where everyone thinks it's going to come down to one point, and more often than not, someone falters and the points don't end up that close. It was a really good race. Obviously, Ryan made it real easy for me to get by because sometimes it can be tough to pass when it gets rutted and one-lined, but I got ahead of him, and it was really comforting having him behind me. I knew with him behind me, and I didn't know where Andrew was, but I knew as long as Ryan was behind me, it was good enough, so it was a really enjoyable race. I don't think I've had that much fun in the mud ever."
Langston says he was really relaxed in Seattle, as opposed to the previous round in Dallas. "I think in Dallas, it was one of those days where, it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't how I've been riding this year," Langston said. "Every time I've been anywhere near the front in the opening few laps, I ended up winning the race, and that weekend, Ryan rode just phenomenal, which was good in the sense that with him winning, it helped with the points situation, but coming into this week, it was like, 'Well, I've got nothing to lose now.' Maybe Andrew had a little more pressure on him going for his first championship. He hasn't really been in this position, and I have a million times, it seems like. Fortunately, when I've been in a championship battle, more often than not, it's gone my way, and it's good that I was able to perform under pressure, and in the mud, it was all that much more sweeter because it's not like I grew up racing supercross in the mud in South Africa. We didn't have mud, and we didn't have supercross."
Langston leads his teammate...
Langston leads his teammate Ryan Villopoto.
Langston was never worried in the main event. "I was looking, and I could see Ryan there, and I was really hoping to keep seeing him there because I knew that meant he was in second there," Langston said. "I don't think the team wanted to let me know too early where Andrew was, but I saw him go down right next to me going into that turn, so I kind of figured he may have lost a bit of ground, and then on the white flag, when I passed the mechanics' area, they put on the board that he was in 9th, so that was kind of a nice relief. Fortunately, I had a nice enough lead that I just really rolled around the track. I didn't really even have one close moment to going down. I felt like I was in control the whole time, which was nice. I really rode pretty comfortable."
 Mike Alessi had a huge holeshot...  Mike Alessi had a huge holeshot in the Lites main, but fell a lap later. |  Ryan Mills only has one more...  Ryan Mills only has one more Lites race, then he's on to the Motocross class outdoors. |  Billy Laninovich is nearly...  Billy Laninovich is nearly unrecognizable. Actually, is that him? |
Langston is now sort of the ultimate Lites champ. "I guess what was really cool about this one is, when you win your first championship, it's always real exciting, and the next one is obviously good, but this one is like the whole reason I wanted to ride west coast this year was to try and win every major championship in the Lites class," Langston said. "I guess it just kind of feels like I completed my racing in the 125sI like to call it the 125s because up until this year, it's been 125s. But I feel like I just kind of completed everything I would've loved to have accomplished in the Lites, and now I'm looking forward to moving up and racing the 450."
Grant Langston gives his best...
Grant Langston gives his best Zulu Warrior face.
Langston is kind of a supercross guy now. "I think now it's been six years, and the couple years when I tried to ride the 250, I hardly even raced because I was injured most of the time," Langston said. "This was basically my fourth season in the Lites, and it's been awesome. I've had some ups and downs, but for the most part I've had some pretty good races and some good memories, and a couple of championships, and I definitely think that anyone that wins a supercross title is obviously a pretty good supercross racer, and then winning West and East, it kind of just means I've conquered the whole supercross thing in the Lites. I guess as a kid, I always kind of imagined that I would win championships. You always kind of dream about that stuff. You don't really know if it's going to happen, but I guess I've always had a lot of faith in myself, I should say. I convinced my dad to sell everything and take me to Europe and promised him I'd be a World Champion, but I had no idea how I was going to do. We've taken a lot of risks, but the one thing I thought I wouldn't get is a supercross championship on the 450. I don't know. That's my ultimate goal in my racing career, to win that. Being an outdoor guy, I figured I might get an outdoor title, but I'm looking forward to it. I think I'll have a good six years in the supercross class, and maybe one year it all works in my favor. Who knows? That's just that long-term goal. We'll see what happens."
Grant has four championships, but has never defended a title. If he can manage a Supercross or Motocross title, maybe he'll just quit the following year. "I guess it depends on how old I am, and how hard it is to get up on Mondays, but that's actually not a bad idea," he said. "The problem is, unfortunately, for some of us guys, they dangle a whole lot of money in front of you to race one more year, and you're like, 'Man, that's a whole lot of money to throw away. I've got kids to feed.' I don't know. If I did that, and my goal was maybe to retire the following year, I might do that. But, if I won, maybe in 2008, I'd be looking forward to trying to defend it. I guess you can ask me that same question when I get there. I've got to win one first. I've always liked new challenges, to be honestkind of going into the unknown. I have defended a couple of South African amateur national titles, and I did pretty good at that. But when I won the World Championship, I made my mind up before I won it that I was coming to the US. I knew I wanted to be here. And when I won the Nationals, that was the year that I rode the 125 outdoors, and then I was supposed to ride the 250 supercross the following year. And when I came to Mitch's team, I rode the East because Ivan was happy to stick on the West, and because I was just coming back from all of my injuries and I needed to time to get ready. This year, in the off-season, I had some orthoscopic surgery on my knee that I injured at Hangtown, and I was a little nervous that I may not be 100% ready, but I figured that if I wasn't going to be ready, we could always switch at the last minute. But I always wanted to ride the West because everyone's like, 'Man, if you win that, you would've done it all,' and I'm like, 'That'd be pretty cool.' So I really wanted to win this championship to kind of complete it."
 Which one's Schwarzenegger...  Which one's Schwarzenegger and which one's DeVito? | 
Find the Gatorade. |  People who never make the...  People who never make the cover department: The guy who cleaned the banners between races. |
Two years ago, when it seemed no one believed in Grant Langston anymore, one man did: Mitch Payton. "Well, Grant was the guy that I had decided that I wanted when he rode in Europe," the Pro Circuit owner/operator said. "I tried to hire him, and we sent him an offer, and then because he won the World Championship, KTM didn't want to lose him, and they offered more than we did. And I did everything I could to have Grant here back then. I told him that it's different in the US than it is in Europelike we have production bikes, and they have works bikes, and at that time, there were no Kawasakis doing well in Europe. So they believed that they were on the best bike and stuff like that, and I told him it wasn't going to be that way, and that our bikes were really, really good, and they're good every year, and I thought our track-record showed that, and we were close, and I think Grant had just had success with KTM and was being loyal, and he did his deal, and when Grant went down in his career and was kind of a little bit down and out, there was an opportunity for me to get him again, and I know what I saw when I first wanted to hire him.
"I just always thought the kid had the talent, but I thought he crashed a lot, and when we talked about it, we decided we would go about it differenttry to do things a certain way that has been successful for me. And I wanted him to ride for me, and I knew that if we could get him, he could win. I was positive of it. He was considering a couple other 125 teams and even a 250 team, and I said, 'Man, just come to our team, and let's just settle down and work on what you need.'
"He's a fantastic outdoor rider, but I thought his supercross skills needed to be better, and I thought with two years of cleaning up his supercross skills, he could be one of the best guys. And I think now that he has done that, I really believe that if he rides the 250 class, you'll see Grant in the top three of all of the 250 supercrosses. I think he'll be the guy to beat for outdoorsI think we have a couple, with Ryan and those guys. We're going to have a really strong team for outdoors. But for Grant's sake, I just wanted him to come here and work on his supercross stuff, and I thought I could help him, and I think we've proved that. I want to hand him off, or my goal right now is to even try to keep him and put him on a 450 for us. I think he's a champion, and he's proven it, and he's won a lot of races, and I love the guy."
Villopoto finished third in...
Villopoto finished third in his first SX championship.
Mitch's other West coast hitman is rookie Ryan Villopoto, who won the event in Dallas and covered his teammate's tail in Seattle. "I had a pretty good start, and I seen Alessi from the outside come in, and he was really close," Villopoto said of the Seattle main. "I think someone was on the inside, too, but I just held it on and came out second. I was really close. I think Mike crashed right in that same rhythm section, and I got off to the lead and was riding my race. I seen GL was behind me, and he was catching me, and obviously after he passed me, he yarded me pretty good, so I just kind of rode my own race."
Team orders didn't come into play, though. "I didn't want to hold him up at all," Villopoto said. "Obviously, he was faster, because he gapped me pretty good. There was no sense in holding him back and maybe having him crash or whatever. But there was nothing too major. I just wanted to stay up. The whoops actually got a little better as the race went on. It went from being good to being bad to being better again. You're fighting to stay up, and if you do that, you do all right."
 Denny Stephenson was in CBS...  Denny Stephenson was in CBS colors in Seattle. |  Eric Sorby got the AMA's permission...  Eric Sorby got the AMA's permission to honor Ernesto Fonseca in Seattle. |  Phone-tographers are goof...  Phone-tographers are goofy. |
Villopoto did cut over on Andrew Short off the start. "Andrew was kind of moved over on his gate, and Abrigo was right in the middle, and I was over a couple gates," Ryan said. "We kind of came off the line, and we weren't too close until we came down into the turn because Alessi was coming over super-fast, and I didn't have anywhere to go, so I just moved over. I was ahead of him, so I had the wheel."
Jason Lawrence grabbed th...
Jason Lawrence grabbed third.
Jason Lawrence nearly beat Villopoto to the finish after coming from way behind. "I got one of my starts, which was about 12th or 13th," Lawrence said. "A few guys were behind me. I couldn't really get through the first rhythm section doing any jumps, but after that, I crashed with Short, I was stuck in a corner, and I didn't think I would be here, but I was going to ride all the way to the end. My mechanic, by like the fifth lap, he had '4th' on the board right after Ramsey fell, and Metcalfe was right in front of me, so I just charged just hoping to get on the podium, and toward the end of the race, I was just still going, and I saw Ryan right in front of me, and I just charged trying to get him, and it came down to the wire, and I just ran out of time. One more turn, one more foot, one more section, whatever."
After all of the doubters said he couldn't do it, he grabbed a podium in supercross. "I did, and I'm really happy for that," Lawrence said. "I'm stoked to be on the podium. I'm glad to be here. It took a while, but I'm stoked, with all of the doubters and stuff, I'm just stoked that I'm here. It was bad."
He knows his season wasn't much. "I got two race that I didn't qualify, and then two races where I crashed on a triple, and then I got like an eighth, and then the two mud races, and 11th last weekend, so that's a little lackluster, I guess you can call it, but it's all right," he said.
After the podium, will he cut his hair? "Yeah, well that was the thing. I couldn't afford it before, so now that I got a little bonus, I'm going to be there tomorrow," he said. "Well, not tomorrow, actually, but I'll wait 'til I feel like cutting itprobably in a month or something."
 "This foam oughtta save 'em...  "This foam oughtta save 'em if they fly over this berm!" |  Brett Metcalfe nearly had...  Brett Metcalfe nearly had a podium in Seattle, but Lawrence took it from him. |  Mike Alessi might have won...  Mike Alessi might have won the main if he didn't throw himself in the mud. Oh well. |
James Stewart absolutely dominated in the Seattle mud. "I got a pretty good start," he said. "Actually, I thought I had the holeshot, and then Nick came flying from the outside, and he got it, and I got past him over the first set of jumps, and I just wanted to make sure I hit everything the first lap just to get a little gap, so I did the triple and the finish line, and I saw on the pitboard that I had like 14 seconds on the second lap, so I figured that was good enough and I just tried to manage that and stay away from all of the lappers."
Even with the win, though, he needs help to win the championship. "It's good. All I can hope is these dudes take themselves out, and I'll be sitting right there," Stewart said. "I think it's going to be a good battle. I think that if I end up winning, and these guys went two-three, the guy who doesn't win the championship could finish third if I win the race next weekend. I'm just looking forward to getting out there and battling with these guys. It should be good. For me, I feel like this is my first whole supercross series, so for me to be up here with these guys is an honor. Knowing I'm only 20 and battling with the best guys, it's going to rank up thereeven for this World Championship, if I can wrap that up next weekend, it's going to mean a lot to me, so I'm happy."
However, knowing someone will have to finish between him and his two championship rivals, he's got a job for his teammate Michael Byrne. "I hope Byrner steps up huge next week!" Stewart said. "Like I said, all I can do is my best, and if I win the race and win the World title, I can't really ask for anything else. After St. Louis, I was a little bummed, and I was going through a few races where I was just having bad luck. I'm just happy to be in this position."
Chad Reed chased valiantly, but couldn't catch Stewart. "Apart from the first lap, everything was pretty much just going through the motions," Reed said. "I got a good jump, then just kind of spun over the gate a little bit and just had to be smart in the first turn. I almost landed on Michael Byrne, actually, and I was a little freaked, but other than that, once I got into second, I could see James, and he had a great first lap, and I just kind of watched him and tried to hit all my lines good and tried to even up this points chase going into Vegas."
Nick Wey leads Chad Reed early...
Nick Wey leads Chad Reed early in the main.
Reed sat with Kevin Windham and wondered before their heat how many jumps they would jump. On lap one, behind Windham, he found out. "It was funny. I was watching the 125s with Kevin Windham, and I kind of just was like, 'Man, I wonder if we'll be able to do the triples and the finish line and stuff,'" Reed said. "They weren't doing it at the time. As it turned out, Kevin holeshots, and I'm right behind him and I'm thinking, 'We're going to find out what's going to happen here.' So I just followed him the first lap, and we did everything but that one triple. It was actually a pretty big triple anyway, even without the mud, so it was fun. It was kind of fun splashing around in the mud."
Now, Reed is just as likely of a champion in Vegas as Carmichael. "I think, for me, I'm pumped to be in this position," Reed said. "I think, in the end, there have been two really important races this season, and I happen to be the winner of those. Basically, 15 races mean nothing. Vegas is the one that counts. We all sat in the press conference at Anaheim I, and we all said that we wanted to take it to Vegas, and I don't know if any of us really thought it would be this close, but it's going to be. I think it's going to be fun, and I'm super-stoked to have a shot at winning the title. I know I can do it if I ride the way I can ride. I think it's going to be a good battle. That's all it is for me right now. I just want to ride the way I can ride, and if I ride the way I want to ride, then I'm going to be happy with that. At this point, I just want to ride the way I know I can ride."
Kevin Windham. |  |  Carmichael was surprised to...  Carmichael was surprised to get on the podium after coming from behind. |
Carmichael was somewhat disappointed, but surprised that he came from so far back to get on the podium. "It was obviously not the way I wanted it to go, but to be honest with you, I can't believe I came back up to third," Carmichael said. "Dude, I was so far behind in the first two laps. I seen James, and I mean, he was half a track ahead. I just worked and tried to pick every guy off one by one. I knew I just needed to get on the box. After last week, I'm glad to be up here. I didn't get the start that I wanted. I took a bit of a gamble, starting on the outsideI just knew the inside there was pretty mucky. I just didn't get the start that I needed, and I'm just really happy with how far I came from behind. I thought I did a pretty good job of staying calm. It's hard if you get anxious in the mud. I just knew that if I didn't get a good start, I had to put myself in a position to have a chance next week, and that's what I did. I think I turned a bad race into a good race for me, and I'm in a great position."
Travis Preston... probabl...
Travis Preston... probably?
He nearly lost it after passing Travis Preston for fourth. "I was just holding on, man, just holding on," Carmichael said. "I'd worked hard to get up to where I was, and I just held onto that thing and got lucky, split through the Tuff Blox, and was able to get back on the track. I got behind Preston again, got by him, and then was able to get by Nick."
It's all tied up going into the finale. "Anything can happen. You guys have seen it," Carmichael said. "It's been an amazing year, and I'm really happy with what I've accomplished this year, and to be honest, I feel like I've won a lot more races than I thought that I would, and I'm really happy. We made some improvements today. I know it's in the mud, and it's hard to tell, but I feel that I felt comfortable in the main event. I'm excited. It's going to be great for the fans, and great for the sport. Whoever wins is going to be super-excited, but whoever doesn't win, I think it's something that everyone should be very proud of. It's no big deal. I'm looking forward to it, and it's going to be fun. I'm just going to try to stay healthy through this week."
"Obviously, I think the championship's going to cross all of our minds," Carmichael said. "That's what we set out to do, and it's what everybody wants. This is what you guys have been begging for, and you got it, so for you guys, it's going to be exciting, and for us as racers, it's going to be exciting. I'm glad to be a part of it, and I'm just going to do my best, and hopefully it happens for me."
After his crash in Dallas, RC took a little time off before Seattle. "I had some recovering to do, and I had a little bit of outdoors, and that's going to be tough, so I slipped some of that in there," RC said. "But it was a real short week for me. I only rode Monday and Tuesday and I had to come out here for press day, so I didn't get to ride as much as I would've like to have. But the time off was good, and I was able to heal up a little from last week. I didn't stick to what I normally do, but that's all right."
On the Thursday before Seattle, Carmichael, Reed and others went to visit a local children's hospital. "It was pretty amazing," RC said. "That was the first time I had ever been to a children's hospital, so it puts things into perspective. This definitely is nothing compared to what that is. There's a lot more to life than racing when you look at something like that, so it's pretty amazingthe place there, and the kids. I'm just happy to be in a position to maybe brighten some spirits up. But it was definitely a pretty eye-opening experience."