The penultimate round of the 2007 AMA Supercross Series took to the track at Qwest Field in the beautiful Northwestern city of Seattle. In contrast to last year's event, the sun was out on Saturday morning with no sign of rain in the forecast. Despite the absence of rain on race day, the soil that the track was constructed from was wet and did not pack like the dirt used at most of the venues. It was going to be a rutty race no doubt. Since Ricky Renner completed the East Region Supercross Series last weekend, and Jiri Dostal is busy preparing for the outdoor national series after mending from his injury, I was the only rider representing Team Solitaire/Kingdom/FLY Racing Honda at Seattle. Here is a quick look at how it all went down.
Practice: I felt really good in the second session, nailing down some fast laps and getting comfortable going fast in the deep, rutted soil. It takes a different kind of approach to jump large obstacles in ruts, one that has you carry less momentum and use more of the power of the bike right on the face. Of course, that causes the ruts to get even deeper. Dirt Wurx was doing their best to keep the track, but despite their best efforts there were still a lot of riders crashing.Heat Two: I had a pretty decent start, somewhere around tenth, but got a little slowed in the second turn traffic. I was around 13th at the end of the first lap, but made a few quick passes and moved back up to tenth. I was closing on ninth pretty quickly, but I had Langston right on my rear wheel so I was protecting my line as well. After the triple I was charging hard into a left-hand corner and got a little messed up in the chop. I ran too far up the berm and my front-end dropped over the top causing me to crash. Langston hit my downed bike and crashed as well. Our bikes got stuck together and we were down for the good part of a minute, leaving us both in the LCQ.
LCQ: I pulled a good start from the inside and came out of the turn in fifth. I passed into fourth on the first lap, then third one lap later. Davi Millsaps was gone out front, with Heath Voss in second. I was closing in on Heath a little, but had the same dilemma as in the heat race with Grant Langston breathing down my neck. He got by me jumping through a difficult rhythm section on the second-to-last lap. Everything was tightening up as we were also getting really close to Voss on the final lap. Langston pulled away a little tripling through the rhythm again, while I only doubled, and made a run on Voss in the turn before the triple. The LCQ results were Millsaps, Langston, Voss and I finished a close fourth.Summary: I was riding well all night, but the mistake in my heat really cost me. The LCQ was stacked, but I felt that I rode very well. Obviously the goal is to be in the main event, so I am disappointed in the end result, but felt fast on my bike and had a lot of fun battling with Grant in the last chance.
Other notes: The final race is coming up this weekend in Las Vegas. Ricky will be racing the shootout and Jiri will be there to cheer us both on. Stop by the truck and say hello if you are at the event.
Ricky has been in California getting some time on the local motocross tracks. Both he and Jiri raced a Saturday REM this weekend at Glen Helen, with Ricky finishing 3rd and Jiri finishing 5th. They are both getting really comfortable riding outdoors and looking forward to the nationals.
My good friend, Destry Abbott, got back on track this past weekend by winning the Hare and Hound National at Lucerne, CA. He will be at Las Vegas next weekend to help me out if there are any rocks or sand washes on the track. Congratulations on your win, Destry!
Thank you to everyone for your continued support. See you at the races.
Team Solitaire/Kingdom/FLY Racing Honda is an independently owned and operated professional Supercross and Motocross race team based in Phoenix, AZ. Our 2007 marketing partners include: FLY Racing, Kingdom Clothing, American Honda, Dragon Optical, WPS, Dubach Racing Exhaust, RideNow.com, Ohlins by Coppersmith, HoyFox.com, Michelin, Vortex, Team Hawg Racing, ASV, Coachseiji.com, Dirt Pro, Polisport Plastics, Enjoy Mfg., Ride Engineering, Boyesen, Pivot Works, Ready Filter, Sano Systems, Twenty20, Pro Honda Oils & Chemicals, RK Chain, Excel, Group D, DC Auto Wraps, Champion Tool Storage, Motion Pro, OGIO, Ron Davis Radiators, Crank Works, Hot Rods, CP Pistons, Barnett Clutches, Sidi Boots, RPM Science, NGK Spark Plugs, QTM/Brembo, Pro Grip, Hammerhead, IMS Products, USA Sport, Cytosport, Cometic, Lakai and Fletcher Chiropractic.