INSIDE OUT: A Supercross Story.
It’s Friday afternoon and I’m supposed to be working. Well, I am writing, but this isn’t really work. I don’t think. Anyway, tomorrow morning I will awake at 4am, load my Honda and gear into my friend’s pickup and head east on the 91 freeway to race the 250cc 30+ beginner class. My first motocross race. So that makes me, now, today — a workday — a coiled mess of nerves. An anxiety pile. Jelly boned and trying to imagine what RC or Reed are thinking tonight the Friday afternoon before round #13 of the Supercross Series in Pontiac, Michigan. Not what I’m thinking, that’s for sure.
By 4:15am I’m up and starting my drive to pick up the truck that will haul me out to Lake Elsinore, California. You see, I don’t own the truck, my friend Megan does and she lends it to me on riding days (thanks, Megan). About 3 minutes from her house I realize, in horror, that I’ve forgotten my keys to the truck — and there is no way I’m gong to wake her up on a Saturday morning to borrow her set, so I start my drive back home. It’s 4:45 now and traffic is nonexistent in the early morning fog, so I step it up to 60mph in the 35 zone. Turns out there is some existing traffic besides me… the cop that is pulling me over. Argh. My day has been blown apart already...
"You ride?" he asks. He’d noticed the Racer X sticker in my back window.
"If you can call it that…" I answer. And that’s how the conversation begins. I tell him how I’d ridden as a kid and that I’d recently taken it up again, that today was my first race back at it, and even that I hated cleaning air filters. Then I explained the story I was planning to write for Dirt… creating a juxtaposition between my local race and the super elite Supercross.
"You gonna mention me in the story?" he grins.
"Ahhh, of course, of course…" I answer, and he doesn’t give me the ticket! He even wishes me luck. "Just wait until you get on the track to speed it up, son."
For some odd reason there are two Supercross series running simultaneously this year. The FIM World Supercross GP, which took place in Europe and the AMA Supercross that runs across the US. The World SXGPs and were attended by only a smattering of the world class field (most likely because most of the field is from, or based in, the US and it’s a big deal to get the teams to Europe for only two races). The US rounds came in after the two SXGPs and go on for another 16 rounds. As I write this, round 13 has come to a close and there is a chance, a slight chance, that the leader of the 250 SXGP series, Australian Chad Reed, may even take the AMA SX series as well. As of today he sits a solid second behind defending champ, Ricky Carmichael — and this is after beating Ricky for the wins in the last three rounds. This is a remarkable feat because Chad is the first rider to put a legitimate spanking to RC in well over a year.
I get the keys, drive back to Megan’s house and make the return trip (again) back to my garage, load the bike and gear, then make the hour and a half trek east of Los Angeles to the arid Lake Elsinore MX park. I manage to get there by 7:30, one hour before practice even begins. As I look around at the two other vehicles sitting in the dirt pits, I’m supposing this is a sure sign of a beginner.
In early February I managed to get to Edson Field in Anaheim for the 5th round. No passes, no in-field, no VIP treatment, none of the benefits bestowed on the elite MX editorial staffers. I was just another fan, there with my son and some friends. We watched from just behind homeplate as Bubba Stewart decimated the West Coast 125s (his forth victory in five races), and RC pretty much did the same to the 250s — except for Reed who pulled in a very close second. By far the most exciting racing of the day for me came from Honda’s 125 defending champ Travis Preston as he surged from mid-pack to 2nd, cleanly passing Pro Circuit Kawasaki team members, Matt Walker and Frenchman, Eric Sorby, two riders he’d had dubious encounters with in previous rounds.
After walking the Elsinore track, I decide that I may survive my first race — if the killer rhythm section does slap me to the ground and beat me to a pulp. Back at the truck I size up the older dudes pulling in… the over 30 bunch there to relive their teen years without breaking any bones. My competition. Right now, somewhere in Michigan you can bet Carmichael is gearing up to take the 1st place spot on the podium. Reed? The same. These boys are confident. Me, here with the other beginners? I’m just hoping to finish the motos.
The big talk so far in the SX series is Reed’s 3rd win, Ricky’s 3rd 2nd, Bubba’s domination and the attrition rate due to injuries. Out thus far are many of the top 10 250 riders; Tim Ferry, Nathan Ramsey, Stephan Roncada, Sebastian Tortelli and wonder boy Travis Pastrana, who also spent most of the last year fixing his body. Those last three chaps are practically all of team Suzuki (remaining healthy on Roger DeCoster’s Suzuki squad are Branden Jesseman who just wrapped up the 125 East with a 6th place in Pontiac, and Sean Hamblin, a 125 West rider who’s been riding well in the 250s — just off the podium in 4th at Pontiac — while the series tours the eastern part of the states. So what’s left in the series? Well, it’ll be over by the time you read this, but James "Bubba" Stewart has already wrapped up the 125 West Division and Jesseman the East. Two big questions remain; who will take the show-down between East and West at the closer in Las Vegas? And will Ricky come back to tear apart 250 rookie Chad Reed’s winning streak?
Me? Well, I completed the two 6-lap motos with two 6th place finishes… Of course, there were only 6 riders in my class. But it sure was fun — I’ll be back to eat more dirt next week, a little less wound up, as Ricky, Bubba, Chad and all the rest of the world’s best motocrosses work out their fates in the Big Show.
—Andy Jenkins (©2003)
Australian, Chad Reed, the only MXer who's consistently been able to run with and beat RC in years. Reed took the last 6 SX rounds, but lost the championship to Carmichael. Photo Paul Bliss.