Pit Bits: LA Preview – The Calm Before The Storm

Really, a storm is brewing and the rain is coming

Pit Bits: LA Preview – The Calm Before The Storm
Really, a storm is brewing and the rain is coming
Type-Os and Photos: Scott Hoffman

The King Jeremy with his famous wrench Skip Norfolk in Phoenix.

You math people can crunch the numbers from rounds 1 and 2 and come up with probable winners for the Los Angeles round of the Monster Energy Supercross Series but it ain’t going to mean squat. The rain is coming and it will come hard. No matter

Rock Hard!

how much plastic there is, unless the track was indoors there is no way to avoid a sloppy, slippery race. Remember Daytona a few years back with the epic Kevin Windham and Chad Reed battle? Expect something like that. The only possible saving grace to LA is the weather speculators predict the downpour will subside by 6pm, yet most of the damage will have already happened. Also, Dodger Stadium is going into only its second year as a venue and we have no idea how much havoc 12 hours of serious rain will do to the track. We can imagine the whoops and most of the technical jumps will have to be torn down or smoothed out. I remember years ago when a downpour hit the LA Coliseum. The mud clogged the drains and the track was under 14 inches of water—that race was sloppy.

Great to see Muscle Milk Honda rider Trey Canard back in the mix after his (who can remember) injury. Canard was strong and rode well in Phoenix.

We can sit here and talk about who is the best mudder (possibly Kevin Windham) or who has the most strength (James Stewart) or who currently has the most drive (Ryan Villopoto). However, when the rain comes and the mud rears its vicious head, titanium hardware, works suspension, special cams, and cool-looking graphics only look good in the pits because on the track they don’t work any better than a stock bike with a little bit of suspension work, solid rotors, and a load of foam stuffed in all sorts of places.

-Last week was an epic battle and a historical night for KTM with Ryan Dungey—he earned the win.

-Villopoto rode like a hero and showed everyone why he is the current champ—going from last to third, now that is next level stuff.

Josh Grant did not have a great time in Phoenix and missed making the main with a crash in the LCQ that put him on the bench for the night.

-Reed is there but still struggling a tad with bike setup.

-Jake Weimer has shown us two weeks in a row that he is now a legitimate player in the Supercross/450 class.

-Great to see Trey Canard back on the bike in one piece–he rode very well and in a few weeks expect him to try to squeeze off a win if he can keep her upright.

-The “old man” Windham never ceases to amaze everyone with his cycle skills starting with his opening ceremony transfer jump to his racing prowess.

-James Stewart, not sure what to say. He is still a mad dog on the track and often the fastest qualifier, yet the COW can’t put his skills to work during the race – YET. “COW” meaning Crash Or Win, ©2012 Donnie Bales, just ask Pingree.

Andrew Short and Chad Reed flat in the background

-What sucks about all of the guys we just mentioned is that all of the other major talent is getting lost in the pack. Justin Brayton, Brett Metcalfe, Josh Hansen, Ivan Tedesco, Mike Alessi, Kyle Chisholm, and any rider that can make a main event heads up. People forget and ask “Why did so and so finish so far back in the main?” They forget these are the 20 best supercross racers in the world and that is an amazing accomplishment. Any main event 450 rider is a hero in my book. I don’t care if they win or they finish 20th. And this weekend any one of those rides has a chance to win, especially with the mud.

Jason Anderson has logged in two solid 7th place finishes thus far in 2012

After being sidelines for most of 2011, Jake Weimer is starting get back into the limelight with his solid rides and podium finishes.

Lites/250
Again no real surprises thus far, Pro Circuit guys are in, on, or around the box each and every week. It is not easy to beat the most dominate 125/250 four-stroke supercross team in history. The irony of the fact that PC not only wins but also builds or provides parts for many of their competitors.
-Tyla Rattray, TLD’s Cole Seely, Dean Wilson, KTM’s Marvin Musquin or Geico Honda’s Eli Tomac will be the Western Regional Lites/250 champ this year. No it did not take a brain surgeon degree to figure that out.
-Again the mud will be a factor this week and it may or may not affect the championship race in the lites.

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