What Really Happened: Spring Creek

Well it's over: both AMA/Toyota Motocross Series Titles were decided this past weekend at Spring Creek MX Park in southeastern Minnesota. To nobody's surprise, both James Stewart and Ryan Villopoto rode their Kawasaki KXF's to clinch the title perhaps even earlier than they had expected. Stewart managed the feat with five motos remaining in the season, while Villopoto could only muster a 4-to-go feat(!).

Come on, it's time these two guys raced each other, isn't it? Next year (it seems like we're always saying that), our wish will come true when Stewart is reportedly leaving the factory Kawi team for (again, presumably) the L&M Racing spot that was vacated by Chad Reed. Taking Stewart's place is none other than Villopoto himself, who mentioned in the press conference that he'll start training on his new bike as early as this week now that he's reached this season's goal a bit early. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. The Millville/Spring Creek Motocross National isn't and wasn't about two ringers winning their titles early. Millville has historically been about two things: An awesome track and a plethora of rookies making their jump to the National series for the first time in their careers.

Let's start with the track. Sandy with a hard base that can often turn slick on the many hills, Spring Creek is a favorite of many riders and fans on the circuit. Typically held in the same regard as (arguably) the premier facility in the series - Red Bud - Spring Creek has a little bit of everything. Long whoop section? Check. Lots of elevation change? Check. {WRH_32.jpg}Rough, high-speed, rutted straights and corners? Check. This year was no different, at least as far as the overall feel of a beautiful, challenging track was concerned

The promoters did, however, make a couple of changes that received mixed reviews by the riders, fans and press who made it out on this beautiful day of racing. The longest whoop section in the series, which had stretched down a long straight with a dog-leg turn before doing a 180 and heading back the other way for double the trouble, this year was cut in half. A large bowl-type sand berm was placed just about where the dog-legs had been before, which meant no more ultra high-speed sand whoop action. It was still a great track feature, no doubt about that, but it wasn't as good as it had been. Why'd they do this? Our guess: to decrease the lap times while increasing safety. The poor Whoop Monster must have felt like he was on a leash this year, and come to think of it, maybe that isn't such a bad idea. They also removed the nice little step-up just at the exit of turn one, which was made famous when Ricky Carmichael found a way to jump over the heads of mechanics at the top and skip the entire turn all together. They fixed that right away, but this year they simply filled it in, removing quite possibly the coolest and most consistently good photo spot on the entire circuit. Bummer. But that's about as negative as we can get about Spring Creek, because it's otherwise easily the best or second best race track in the series, and that's really saying something.

Then there's the other attraction, and that's The Rookies. Historically the next race following the epic Loretta Lynn's Amateur MX Nationals, most of the nation's top amateur and pro/am riders make the jump to racing the Nationals here at Spring Creek, finishing out the series from there to give them a taste of what's in store for them the following summer. And, hopefully, to impress the scouts and turn some heads in the process. It's a huge leap for sure; coming from a situation where they're the king of the track on a regular basis to being just another rider on a track full of kings who know it's their job to show the freshmen the ropes must be a daunting challenge. Every year, a few succeed with flying colors while others are just happy to make it through both motos alive (or, simply to qualify for the motos at all). Last year it was Trey Canard who impressed the most. This year, it was Blake Wharton. Both riding for the Geico Honda squad, Canard was out with a broken femur but had he been here, chances are good he'd have had his work cut out for him by Wharton, who was fast all weekend. In fact, he not only proved he could move through a pack of fast, seasoned veterans on a difficult and rough track on a hot day, but he proved he can do it twice in one day - even matching the pace of series front-runner Ryan Dungey Wharton absolutely shadowed Dungey, at times even gaining on him, for the first half of that second moto, eventually falling prey to Brett Metcalfe and the insane charge by Villopoto.

Let's talk about that for a minute, shall we? After following Martin Davalos through the first few turns, RV1 headed to the front to put the hammer down only to end up on his head at the bottom of the first gnarly downhill. There he waited, as nearly the entire pack went by, to get back on his bike and start the chase - from deep in the 30's (some say 34^th, others 38^th, but does it really matter?). In an RC-esque charge to the front, Villopoto made it all the way up to 2^nd behind Dungey at the checkers, but wasn't able to close the gap. It was an inspired ride, no doubt, and was a whole lot of fun to witness - visor-less helmet and all.

Now, back to the rookies and a few other tidbits, this time with more photos to illustrate the points.

Kyle Lewis was back! Truly a wily veteran, Lewis pitted out of the Honda Red Bull Racing hospitality truck, which was a first class operation for sure. He even had factory Honda techs wrenching on his bike from time to time, and the old dog proved his worth by coming up with an 18^th in moto one.

Jimmy Albertson's factory Honda CRF450R was there, all dressed up with nowhere to go. Albertson, who'd dueled with Jeff Alessi to earn the Dream Ride for the remainder of the season, suffered a severely dislocated shoulder during the week. The shoulder popped out of socket and instead of being displaced up and out, it was jammed into his armpit area, creating quite a painful ordeal in putting it back in place, requiring Albee to be put out cold while the docs attended to him. No word on if he'll get to ride the bike before the season's out.

Here's a plethora of rookies:

Ben Lamay: The Alaskan had bike trouble in moto one of the 450 class but came back for a solid 15^th in moto two and looked to be charging hard the entire race.

PJ Larsen: Xtreme Team Green's top amateur, Larsen looked fast and charged all weekend, but his lap times were never where they needed to be. Many pundits expected PJ to be easily within the top 10, but it wasn't to be as Larsen squeaked out a 15-16 in his pro debut.

Larsen's teammate Hunter Hewitt (son of team owner Bobby Hewitt) has always been just a notch off of Larsen's pace, and Sunday's results were no different. Regardless, Hewitt looked very fast at times, but wasn't yet able to really put it together in a Lites class that is now even more ridiculously stacked with talent than it already had been.

Here's Vince Friese, riding a CRF450 that ended up burning to the ground after a collision knocked his fuel line off, pouring gas onto the red hot exhaust. He looked great while he was up, though.

Alex Martin: Not as well known as most of the other big name rookies, Martin looked great all weekend on his family's track, pushing hard and aggressively when he wasn't on the ground. It will be interesting to see how he does on tracks he's not as familiar with, although the Millville National track isn't exactly what he's used to either.

Ben Evans looked great at times in the 450 class, but bike troubles and a possible injury in moto two leaves him questionable for the rest of the series. Evans found a home with Ryan Clark's Team Brawndo/Honda/Solitaire for his debut.

MDK/KTM's Michael Hall is a product of KTM USA's new amateur grooming program (similar to Xtreme Team Green), and appeared to be the cream of the crop after practice on Saturday. He set the fastest lap both times out in his non-seeded practices against all the rest of the rookies and showed the speed and finesse of a skilled, seasoned pro. The racing didn't go as well though, and Hall ended up outside the top 20 in both Lites motos.

Enough with the rookies - how about that performance by Matt Goerke in the 450 class? Goerke ran up front both motos before either A) getting a flat tire and B) slowing down for some other unknown reason. Matt looked great though, and was ahead of his veteran 450 teammate Nick Wey for much of both motos, ultimately ending up 7^th overall via 9-7 finishes.

B-Hep is back in da house, and he looked solid and steady for his debut in the 450 class (and first National of the season after breaking his arm in pre-season testing at Glen Helen). He questioned his own fitness earlier in the day, but he maintained a pace that was good enough for 5^th in moto one and 11^th in moto two - not spectacular, but he walked away uninjured so that has to be a small victory for Broc.

Josh Hill looked awesome all weekend long. He absolutely attacked the track every time we saw him with a style and pizzazz that only he knows how to display. Even though he admitted to not being a big fan of the track, he put the 2^nd fastest lap time on the board in practice and charged hard through the pack in moto one, ending up 4^th.  Unfortunately, Hill was involved in a first turn pileup (which included Andrew Short and others) in moto two that left him with what he felt was a broken wrist. Luckily, the x-rays came back negative, so we'll see if he's able to hold on next weekend in Southwick's sand.

Poor Matt Lemoine! The creole kid was riding a super-solid 4^th in moto one before his bike said ‘no mas' entering the whoop section at about the halfway point, and he DNF. Something similar appeared to happen in moto two, so Lemoine left Millville with double DNFs and dropped down a few spots in the points battle.

Poor Josh Grant! After an impressive 3^rd (albeit about 30 seconds behind Dungey in 2^nd) in moto one, Grant was again running up front in moto two when he pulled off, citing stomach pain and general malaise as the reason. Word is that he was genuinely sick and may have suffered from food poisoning from the night before that had him up vomiting most of the night and earlier in the day.

Getting nutty on the "Micro Track" before the pitbike race on Saturday night:

Gavin Gracyk was back, and found himself battling with his JGR teammate Josh Summey for most of both motos. Summey won the first one, Gavin took the second with a solid 8^th while Josh was 10^th.

Ivan Tedesco was back too and, while it seems he's been practicing his starts in his time off, he faded both motos to end up 7-16 on the day. He did look good at times though…

Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki's is filling in nicely where Mike Alessi left off. He seems to have no problem filling the gap between Stewart and the field, and with Andrew Short and Ferry always hovering somewhere nearby (not to mention Cody Cooper), the Battle For Second appears to be a good one for the remaining two rounds. Good on ya, mate.

Stewart pulled his goggles off in moto two "because they were too hot", or something to that effect. He did say that since he wears his goggles so tight, that sometimes he sweats so much that it gets squeezed out of the foam and ends up in his eyes. He didn't need them anyway, he was a minute ahead of 2^nd place Byrne.

Stewart was quite appreciative of the massive fan support after his championship win, and it showed. He got a bit choked up a couple of times on the podium, which helps prove the guy has a lot of heart and feels he really earned this championship - it's been a long time coming!

That's about it for Millville - next up: Southwick. Sand, sand and more sand, Southwick has at least one surprise in store - Motocross GP sand specialist and factory Honda rider Marc DeReuver is coming over to school the Americans on our home turf (or so he says). Check back here at motocross.com to see how it goes!