Another weekend, another race. We are now 6 weeks into the 13-week stretch that starts the AMA Supercross Season. We’re not even halfway to the first weekend off. And after six races, the Lites West has three winners that have all won two races, and the 250 series has two winners that have both won three races.Parity is good. Is it the “easy” tracks? That probably has more than a little to do with it. And the best part is, Chad Reed has yet to catch fire, and you just know he’s going to. Add to that the fact that next weekend is the beginning of the Lites East, and things are only going to get better.To start the weekend, we sat down with AMA Pro Racing MX/SX Manager Steve Whitelock for one of his round-table discussions. Since CEO Scott Hollingsworth is no longer employed at AMA Pro, Whitelock is helping fill in. “I’m part of a management team for the interim until they finally settle on how they’re going to structure it and everything else,” Whitelock said. “I intend that, no matter what they do, if any job title changes, my job title is always going to end with this one [AMA SX/MX Manager]. I like my title. I like my job here. I’m glad to help the company in its moments, but I really like my job here.”Steve Bruhn asked if there was a change in direction expected from AMA Pro. “I really don’t think there can be a change in direction,” Whitelock said. “The direction of ‘Pro’ and what our sanctioning body does is exactly like what every sanctioning body around the world does if you really look at it. Everybody has this thing about, ‘Why do we need “Pro”?’ Well, we just made it a separate division of our company, but every motorcycle sanctioning body in the world makes money off of running motorcycle races, so they all could be called ‘Pro’. The FIM, in all of their wonderful amateur-ness, has three of the biggest contracts in the world and gets paid a huge whack of spendy for owning the rights to MotoGP, World Superbike and World GP Motocross. Everybody always says that they’re not ‘Pro’. I’m sorry, but they are ‘Pro’. It’s not fair to say that ‘Pro’ shouldn’t exist because all of the sanctioning bodies in the world have to have a ‘Pro’.”During the riders’ meeting, Whitelock informed the paddock of a new rule starting at the San Diego SX. Last week, there was some controversy regarding perceived cheating by Mike Alessi because his mechanic reportedly tapped on his rear fender after the 30-second board went sideways, and Alessi grabbed the holeshot (as if that’s never happened before). “Because of the nonsense that went on behind the start gate, we are going to put a white stripe five feet behind the backstop, and any mechanic that’s in the area, it’s a $1000 fine,” Whitelock said. “The mechanic, or the team, or whatever is going to be fined $1000. And that’s the first time. My opinion is that it’s to eliminate the appearance of monkey business.”It should be noted that the Progressive Insurance Holeshot Award in the Lites class is $1000. It should also be noted that even with his mechanic five feet behind him, Alessi grabbed another holeshot.It was hard to navigate the pits at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium without running into gold. SoBe Gold, actually. The three SoBe/Samsung Mobile Hondas of Mike LaRocco, Billy Laninovich and Jake Weimer were all gold to celebrate the debut of the new energy drink, and it seems every one of the near 70,000 in attendance got a can of it. “The sponsors are really good to us, so a lot of the stuff we do is sponsor-driven,” said team manager JC Waterhouse. “This weekend in particular, SoBe has a new product release of their SoBe Gold energy drink, and I believe that they’re debuting it in this market, so it was perfect timing to do it. They asked if we could change up the bikes to make them look a little different, so we did.” Remember at Vegas in 2004 when the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino sponsored the team for one race? The Hondas were purple that weekend. In San Diego, they were gold. But don’t expect to be able to buy the stylish black No Fear gear, as sources say there is no plan to release it to the public at this time.We ran into Red Bull KTM’s Josh Hansen in the pits, and he was reluctant to talk too much about St. Louis. “Everything’s going good. The bikes are awesome. It’s going to be tough this year with Davi and Hepler. I guess I’ll just take it one step at a time and see where it goes from there,” Hanny said. “I’ve got a couple small things. I don’t know. I learned from last year. You can only learn so much, though. I’m going to stick to my same plan. I’ve been training hard. I’m not going to say too much, just that hopefully it’s going to happen.”While near the KTM pits, we spotted Jeff Alessi. Alessi wanted to prove that he’s feeling better by standing up and walking without his crutches. It made our reporter nervous. Jeff is a really likeable kid with a lot of SX speed, but he’s going to miss round one—AT LEAST. Hopefully he won’t return until he’s healthy.KTM’s Jay Marmont wasn’t limping much as he strolled through the pits. He broke his femur last October. “It’s been four months now, and I’ve been working pretty hard with a trainer and with physical therapy,” Marmont said. “It’s not too bad. I just went out to Elsinore and out to Perris, and it felt a little weak, but it’s not too bad. It’s getting stronger and stronger each day, and I’m sure I’ll be hopping on the supercross track this week. I may not be ready for St. Louis, but I hope to be back for the second or third round. I hope to come back racing as soon as I’m not thinking about my leg at all.”His description of the crash was pretty scary. “My footpeg snapped the first time, so I put the standard footpegs back on and then we put some split pins in it, but maybe they weren’t the right split pins or whatever, and it wore off after about a week’s riding and the pin dropped out,” he said. “The footpeg came off on the up ramp of a triple and I went flying through the air and come down without the bike. Coming down from a triple was about 10 meters in the air and I came down on my leg. It was a big hit. It’s feeling better. I can’t go for a run or anything, but I feel like I can get on a bike and do that.”BooKoo Honda’s David Vuillemin was sporting a new bunch of facial hair. “Remember that Bradshaw in Inside Motocross?” DV asked. “It’s kind of like that.” Well, kind of. DV is going to be a TV star soon. “Hopefully yes, I can switch jobs and be a TV star,” he joked. “They pay twice as much. Maybe I’ll do unrated. (laughs)”Apparently Dirt Rider’s own Jesse Ziegler can’t even beat a girl on a motorcycle. Oh, sure, it wasn’t just “a girl” but still, Sarah Whitmore knows how to emasculate a man.Yamaha’s Heath Voss went down in the daytime qualifier and was forced to sit out the race. “In the first daytime qualifier, he got a good start and was going into the first obstacle, and he was landed on by another rider,” said Yamaha team manager Jimmy Perry. “He was pretty banged up, went to the medical unit and nothing’s broken, but he’s unable to ride tonight. He’s tough, so he should be able to make an appearance next weekend.”Suzuki’s James Coy was sporting a new mullet in San Diego. “Ivan and I had a deal that if he got on a podium in a Supercross main event, I would run a mullet for a week, and if he didn’t, then he couldn’t shave for the outdoors until he got on a podium out there,” he said. “I lost.”We ran into Daniel Blair, who was visibly upset with his performance the last couple of weeks. “I quit,” Blair said. “There’s no money and I’m injured all the time. Next time you see me on a supercross track, it’ll be during that celebrity challenge that they have.”James Stewart scored his third win of the AMA season and kept his streak of winning every single race in which he didn’t crash. The streak goes all the way back to his 250cc debut at Anaheim I in 2005. He chased Carmichael for 18 of the 20 laps before passing the defending champ for the win. “I was keeping an eye on Chad to see if he was closing up, but we had a good pace going and there was a few times I kind of screwed up,” Stewart said. “One lap I didn’t jump over that whoop thing, and one lap Kyle Lewis almost took me out and I had to roll down it, so it was good. I saw where Ricky was fast. He was faster right after that section where I passed him at, but I was better coming down the start around that corner and was able to make the pass with two laps to go and ended up getting it.”Stewart has been consistently fast. “I never lost my confidence,” he said. “I know all the work we put in during the week and during the off-season, so I know I just had to kind of relax out there. I just kind of rode the track, and I had a few bobbles, but I never lost my confidence.”Racing with strategy is new to Stewart, as he has always won by pure speed in the past. “No, I mean, in the 125 class, if I was doing that, I was pretty much just riding around,” Stewart said. “I felt like I was a lot better back then. These races, you know, you’ve got three good guys out there that can run the same pace. It’s been fun for me. It’s definitely been a new challenge in my life. I just turned 20, so I’m still learning a lot.” And he’s happy to be heading east. “I’m looking forward to the east coast, period. It’s good to get out of the west coast safe.”After Jeremy McGrath forced Stewart off the track in the first turn of their heat race, Stewart came from way behind to win the event, and when he passed Chad Reed for the lead, he pushed Chad wide in a turn and stared him down. “Honestly, Chad was on the inside of me, and I didn’t even know Jeremy was in my heat race, and I kind of got bumped right there, and I was just kind of upset a little bit,” Stewart said. “I actually went after the race and apologized to [Reed] because I thought it was him. But I thought it was pretty fair if it was him—I just wanted to let him know I didn’t appreciate it, but it was cool. We talked after the race, and that was the end of it.” He didn’t talk to Jeremy, though. “No. He came up to me and said congratulations, and I said thanks, and that was it. I guess he was still bummed after last weekend.”Stewart made some setup changes before San Diego, and given the speculation about the stiffness of his forks, he doesn’t put much weight on it. “There’s been speculation about how I ride the motorcycle, too. (laughs)” Stewart said. “So, things change and stuff, and it worked out for the best. We changed a few things, and it seemed to work tonight.”Ricky Carmichael led the most laps, but finished second. “Man, I had no regrets. Shoot, I rode my butt off. I rode as hard as I could, and the track was a little slick tonight, and I rode in control,” RC said. “Could I have ridden a little bit harder? Maybe so, but hindsight’s always 20/20. I felt that I rode consistent laps and I put in a good fight. Like I said, I have no regrets. It was a great race. James was behind me the whole time, and I’m sure he was back there checking it out and seeing what was going on or hoping for a mistake, and I just rode my race. He put a good, clean pass on me, and the rest was history, if you will. I’m happy with the way I rode, but he got the best of me tonight. I did all I could do, and if I could do the race over, I would do the exact same thing. I think a lot of the places that he was catching me was the 45-degree turns there. That was something new that we’ve had in the series, and it’s not that it was new that he was getting me, he was just a little better. I thought that what I was doing was good enough for me, and that’s what I felt comfortable doing, so… It was a really fun race for us, and I know the crowd was liking it, and that’s what it’s all about.”RC tried to make a break for it a couple times, unsuccessfully. “A couple times, I don’t know if he made a mistake or what have you, or if he got held up,” Carmichael said. “I think he got held up behind Kyle Lewis, and I tried to make a squirt there, but it obviously wasn’t enough and he reeled me back in. Then, when I got back behind him, I was able to stay behind him also for the most part. He was just a tenth or two faster if he had a clear track, and that tenth or two is a lot in this game. But as good of a race as it was, we were just glued together at the hip the whole time. It was really fun and nice to race without having to watch my back. I think that I’ve got to give it up to him for putting a clean pass on me, and it’s nice to know that I don’t have to always look over my shoulder.”But he says he couldn’t have tried harder. “I give it 100% every time, and you don’t want to be sitting at the end of the series saying, ‘Damn, I wish I would’ve done this,’” RC said. “Wishing you could’ve done something, it’s too late then, so I’m happy. I have no regrets. And if he did it the same way, I’d do the exact same thing.”He also wasn’t worried about Stewart taking him out. “For the most part, I rode my own lines,” RC said. “A couple times, I was kind of waiting for something to come up the inside of me, but that’s just the game. But I’ve got to give it to him. He rode a clean race, and that’s what it was about. I really rode my own lines the whole time, really. It was nice.”Chad Reed finished third for the first time this year. It was also his first-ever loss inside San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium. “This is my first 3rd of the year,” Reedy said. “I’m disappointed, but I’ve been second place a bunch of times. I just want to get up there. That’s the main thing right now. It’s frustrating to know that I have what it takes to win and I’m just not getting it done right now. I’ve got to step it up. I think they’re riding real well. They’ve definitely stepped it up a notch, and now it’s my turn to step it up there. I’m really looking forward to the remaining races this season, and I just want to get up there and race for the win and make it fun.”It could be that Reed’s just trying too hard. “I want to win so bad and I’m just trying too hard,” he said. “There’s only so much that we can do, and I’ve just got to work on that. I think going back east is going to help a little bit. It’s a little different—a change of scenery. And there are two different tracks out there to ride on and just change it up a little bit. I want to try and have some fun, and like I said, get up there and battle with these guys.”Andrew Short grabbed his second win of the season in San Diego, putting book-ends on the first part of the season with a win at round one and then round six before the break. He now enjoys a two-point lead over Langston with two rounds left to race. “I think it just helps with my confidence,” Shorty said. “It’s a long break, and it’s a long time to think about a poor performance. I came out with a win, and that was the goal coming into this race. I’m right where I want to be in this championship. It gives me some time to regroup and take a break and try to find some speed. Grant’s been going faster than me the last few weekends, and I’d like to step it up to his pace.”Short seems to be faster after riding press day on Thursday before the event. “Yeah, I think both times I’ve won, I’ve ridden press day,” he said. “Anaheim I, I came out and rode that. It kind of gives you a feel, and you can go to bed the night before the race knowing what the track looks like instead of just showing up Saturday morning wondering what the track has to offer. I want to see a decent whoop section because I think it would help separate us. It’s better for the faster riders. I don’t know if we’re going to see that by the season end. But I think the track tonight, with the 45-degree turns, is a good change with some good passing.”The 10 weeks off will allow him to let his leg heal. “It’s going to be huge. I came in really strong in Anaheim, and two days after Anaheim, I had an injury that I thought was going to end my season, but fortunately for me I fought through it,” Short said. “That break’s going to be nice. It’ll be nice to be healthy again coming into the last few races and hopefully find some speed as well.”Grant Langston got a horrible start, but just like at most races this season, by the end of the race, not only had he laid down the fastest time, but he was on the podium. “Obviously, when I got the bad start, I’m just thinking every point is critical,” Langston said. “I think it was probably around, I don’t know what lap it was, but I believe I was in fourth and at that point, I knew that Alessi and Nathan were second and third, and I figured out that Andrew had a gap on everyone. It was probably about halfway during the race. I figured I could get second, and I put my head down and saw I was catching Andrew, and I just gave it everything I had. At the end, I was really close. One mistake or one slip-up, and it could’ve been different. He rode really solid, and I had a little trouble with lapped riders at the end, and I was frustrated. I could see Andrew right in front of me and we had a lapper in between us, and then I almost got taken out the last lap, so that was frustrating at the time.” Langston went through the pack quickly. “I didn’t really know if I would be able to have a shot, but in the early parts of the race, I had no idea where Short was,” Langston said. “I never saw my pitboard once, and the way this track was, it was pretty tough to get around people. I’m happy I didn’t have to slam anybody. I was able to be aggressive and cut underneath people, but like Nathan said, it’s easier to get up behind someone who maybe you’re a touch faster than, but you kind of get stuck in their groove. So, even if there wasn’t an opportunity, I made one. I just made sure I tried to get around people as quickly as possible.”Nathan Ramsey had a slow start to the race, but picked it up toward the end to grab the final podium spot. “Everybody’s on a program these days where they’re just really smart and they’ve got everybody plugged in where they need to be, and I’ll go back and look at where Grant’s making up time just like I have been doing—and Andrew as well,” Ramsey said. “I’ll just try to learn. I’m always willing to be open and learn new tricks, if you will. Just try to improve. My KTM’s running really good, and it deserves to be on the top. I know I’m making a few bobbles here and there in the beginning of the race, and it’s little things. I know, tonight, stepping up on the whoops, I was a little slow there. I was kind of hanging my wheel to slow myself down, and these guys were getting through cleaner. It’s just really small things. It’s not an easy thing to pick it apart. If it was, I think a lot of riders would go faster, so you’ve got to do your homework.”He says if Alessi wasn’t his teammate, he wouldn’t have been more aggressive with him. “No, I race everybody as clean as I can, and if the time comes where you have to make a little more aggressive move, I’m willing to do it,” Ramsey said. “The timing wasn’t right, and maybe I was off-balance. He got the holeshot, and then Shorty passed him really quick, and he had a few things there at the beginning and it just took me a while to catch him. He was riding really good, and the whoop section turned into kind of a one-hopper, so those kinds of things are what separate on tracks. Obviously, these guys were going a little bit faster, so they found some more spots to separate, but I’m going to race everybody the same, and Mike was riding good.”It’s just such chaos in the beginning of the race out there. The last couple races, or at least last weekend, I made a pretty big mistake right there in the beginning when I was in a position to do something. This weekend, I just wanted to be smart and not tip over or do something dumb. I wanted to make it through those first three to five laps and stay close enough to have a chance at it. Andrew gapped us pretty quick and it took me too long to get around Mike—and Grant was coming the whole time. I sorted out a few things as the race went on, but still lacked a little bit at the end.”
