This was my second year racing the MTA World Vet Nationals and let me tell you, the whole weekend is just an awesome experience. I may be biased since this race acts as a reunion for some of my oldest racing friends from Montana, but just a spectator there is plenty of race action, a pile of MX celebrity sightings and more friendly faces in the pits than you'll know what to do with.

ANAHEIM, Calif. (Nov. 6, 2009) - Nineteen year old Kawasaki pilot Colton Haaker is poised to take top honors in the newly-formed E3 Spark Plugs' EnduroCross Pro Junior Championship - featuring the nation's top up-and-coming 16 to 21-year-old GEICO AMA EnduroCross racers - when the GEICO AMA EnduroCross, presented by E3 Spark Plugs, series culminates with the final round at Vegas' Orleans Arena on Nov. 21st.

Dirt Rider Magazine reviews the 2010 Honda CRF450R. Honda's 450 motocross bike gets important updates and DR tells you if they work. Check out this video review!

Dirt Rider Magazine tests the all-new 2010 Yamaha YZ450F EFI Tuning Tool. With Fuel Injection Tuning, say goodbye to jets and hard work. It's plug-and-play moto!

Rob Johnson
Bakersfield, CA
Filling your handlebar with spray Styrofoam keeps rocks, dirt and water out of the bar. It can even help reduce vibration through the bar. Try the canned foam sealant used in construction and available from home improvement stores. Use the extension tube that comes with the can, and withdraw the tube as you spray. Trim off the excess after the foam has expanded and dried. This adds hardly any weight.

Monster Energy Kawasaki's Destry Abbott recently finished second overall in the AMA National Hare and Hound series after riding through a season of ups and downs. Abbott talks about the race, his passion for desert racing, and his next big challenge-the Baja 1000.

Hammerhead Designs
HDI Shift Lever Kit
www.hdmoto.com
650.365.3172
Just $69.95 to un-scrunch your toes and make those tricky shifts with this shift lever that's available in various lengths.

More Jimmy-Rigged!
Whip Lewis into shape and get him writing that column. "Saving pages"...now there is real value for the customer? (Please implement sarcastic tone.) As a dedicated rider (54 enlightened years old), I enjoy reading what a hotshot, thoughtful and articulate (ex-)racer has on his mind. And I relish that he does not pull punches in a milquetoast, politically correct kind of way. I still chuckle regarding all the heat he got on the ThumperTalk dirt bike submission a few years ago. So Jimmy, give us the benefits of your points of view, and maybe a laugh or two.

Tip And Photo By Karel Kramer
So many of the extended-cab trucks we like so much have a relatively short bed. Too short to accommodate a full-size bike straight in with the tailgate closed. The answer, when you only have one bike, is to pull the rear wheel to one side to allow the gate to close. The problem is that the bike will then tip to the side with the longest tiedown when you turn or hit bumps. A third tiedown to the side of the bar with the short tiedown span will end the problem. Run the third tiedown from the bar or even from the tiedown hook to the rear of the truck. Then the bike will be rock solid for those dirt road derbies when you are in a hurry to ride.

K&N Engineering, Inc.
Updated XStream Series Motocross Filters
Looks the same, except to dirt. Now with finer cloth element and more of it. $99.95 to $109.95 for cleaner air.
www.knfilters.com
800.858.3333

Fastway Performance
Evolution III Footpegs
Updated FKMS bolt. That means "Fast Kamber Mounting System." OMG! LOL! Just $129.95.
www.promotobillet.com
866.466.4762

Makita
BTD144 18V 3-Speed Impact Driver
A poor artist blames his tools. A poor mechanic gets more powerful ones! $349.99 for this 18-volt kit.
www.makitatools.com
800.462.5482

Tool Seat
MX Tool Tray
www.toolseat.com
760.727.5072
Do you ride like a tool? Let your tools ride like you! This $39.95 seat-top tray keeps things handy when you're wrenching.

Moose Racing
High Performance Piston Kit
www.mooseracing.com
See your local Parts Unlimited dealer
This high-compression kit requires race gas, which is fitting since you'll be racing past your buddies. Just $279.95-$319.95 for a stealthy mod.

Sedona Tire And Wheel
Dunatik Sand Paddle Tire
How does this low-cost sand tire grab you? Just $69.95 to feed your friends sand-wiches for lunch.
www.sedonatires.com
208.376.8400

Hammerhead Designs
HDI Shift Lever Kit
Give your toes some elbow room. Just $69.95 to pick the length of your shift lever.
www.hdmoto.com
650.365.3172

TR Racing
My Year-Tyla Rattray 2008 MX2 World Champion
Get the 411 on #411. Racing in the U.S. now, Tyla documented his 2008 MX2 World title. $24, call for shipping costs.
www.stylamx.com
951.200.0230 or tracey@stylamx.com

Fox Racing
Pitpaw
Fox's new $24.95 glove for mechanics has the silicone inside the fingers for better feel on those little bolts (that haven't already fallen off, that is).
www.foxracing.com

Keep Your Mouth Shut!
If you can't keep a secret, don't even think about trying to become a test rider. Never mind the fact that you have to sign your life away to ride many of the bikes that we test; if you give up a secret before it's ready to hatch, you risk blacklisting Dirt Rider from future embargoes with the manufacturers. Some people think it's no big deal and we are being too intense, but we take our testing extremely seriously, and that includes not talking about things until they are in print, because oftentimes the test riders don't really know the outcome of a test. Our best test riders are not only awesome at what they do, but they would have to be water-boarded before giving up the results of a shootout before the issue hits.

I generally don't expect to compare a fixed-up older bike to the newest batch of MX stallions. I have always believed the factories wouldn't change a model unless it was for the better, so I never really gave it a second thought. By doing that, I had overlooked the many aftermarket companies that make a business out of upgrading MX machinery. You can pretty much make a bike feel however you want. So when Race Tech put together its 2006 YZ450F, I was interested to try it out back-to-back with a new 2009. I wanted to know: Can you make an older bike just as good as a new one?

Passion is hard to suppress. And it has a price. It can consume you and drive you crazy. Or you can be crazy and do something with that energy. I won't comment further on the passion that fuels the guys at FMF, but when they started boasting they could build a reasonable and usable 200-pound off-road bike, I didn't doubt them; I just wanted to ride it. Starting with a 2008 KTM 250 SX and its 212-pound weight, they took off on a journey to see how low the weight could go. And they did it without doing anything crazy that would make the bike unridable or even significantly less durable; they even used an XC's 2.9-gallon tank. Because first and foremost, these guys like to ride.

Iconic super-athlete who's dropped into various action sports and beaten the best, named USA Today's World's Greatest Athlete and Details Magazine's Athlete of the Year in 1998, received ESPN's ESPY Award for Action Athlete of the Year in 2001, five-time World Champion snowboarder, X Games gold medalist in Boardercross, downhill biking, Skiercross and Ultracross, won the Toyota Celebrity Grand Prix, missed a downhill mountain bike world championship title by .15 second, has his own video game Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder 2, owns his own snowboard company (Palmer Snowboards) and has raced AMA supercross and motocross mains. Next? Going after gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Age: 40.
www.shaunpalmer.com

How much money did you make last year racing? None? Then you must be in it for the fun, which makes the YZ125 the bike for you.

Kurt Caselli, five-time ISDE Top American, 2007 E3 class winner and 2007 WORCS champion, ripped around a sweeping hardpack berm and right through one of our recent photo sessions at Piru MX Park. When it comes to photo trespassers, we at Dirt Rider shoot first and ask questions later. Here's what Kurt had to say.

Many situations arise that call for shipping a dirt bike. Whether you've bought or sold a bike online, are sending it to a friend or relative or traveling across the country to ride, it's always a good idea to prepare your cycle before handing it over to a shipping company. The following steps will minimize the possibility of the bike getting damaged during shipment, as well as help you collect compensation in the off chance that an accident does occur.