Matthes Observations from Anaheim 3
FEBRUARY 5, 2008 By Steve Matthes
Photos by James Lissimore

The third and final race at Angel Stadium in Anaheim Ca took place on Saturday and it was a good one. The track was great, long lap times and a sand section! I love sand sections, long lap times and alligator-pit jumps. Two out of the three ain’t bad! The rhythm section along first baseline coming back towards home plate was tricky for sure. Tricky and freaking scary. I loved the big-ass berm they had after crossing the start straight; very cool and made me long for the days of the berms. Thank you, Matt Georke.

 

Chad Reed won A3 to make his Anaheim sweep complete...but he wasn't without company. Here Kevin Windham and Davi Millsaps chase the Yamaha rider.

 

San Manuel/Fusion’s Yamaha’s Chad Reed won again. He didn’t win by that much but they don’t ask by how much, they just ask “How many wins did you get?” He showed that he was the man by staying calm and cool during some early attacks from Kevin Windham. #22 just rode a smart race and his times were very consistent. It’s looking like he just might win them all!

 

J-Law earned his second win to tighten up the points race in the West Coast Lites series.

 

Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy’s Jason Lawrence backed up his Racer X interview of last week where he stated he was the fastest guy in the class by grabbing the lead on lap one and going on to win. I didn’t see him make a mistake in the final  and combined with Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey’s bad luck, made this West coast lites series a tight one. The lead is eight for Dungey with three rounds left.

What isn’t understood is why J-Law took off without spraying champagne on the fans. He just ran away before anyone could interview him or get any quotes. Did he have an appointment somewhere?

And the injuries begin. After everybody stayed pretty injury free for the first four rounds, we now have some big names out for a while. Yamaha’s Grant Langston and Broc Hepler and Honda’s Ivan Tedesco all suffered injuries and didn’t race. Tedesco has a broken hand/wrist and is probably out for the SX season. Too bad really for Hot Sauce, he’s had some bad luck now for two years. Same goes for Hepler!

Windham rode to a fourth-place finish despite a flat tire.

 

Windham looked pretty good at the beginning of the race; he even ran it up into Reed a few times and if he wanted to be dirty, could’ve hit him pretty good. Kevin started to fade a bit, eventually getting passed by Davi Millsaps and Tim Ferry. Turns out he had a front flat tire and just held onto fourth. I think he did a good job getting fourth and I’d like to know at what point he got a flat. He showed early on that he can match Reed’s sprint pace, so that’s encouraging for him in the future.

Andrew Short made mention in my podcast with him last week that I only talk about him in a bad way in the Observations column.  Well, Andrew rode great to take the first heat win and almost caught Windham late in the main before settling for fifth place. He battled with his teammate Millsaps in the heat but kept it clean, which was to be admired. Way to go Andrew! (Just sucking up to Shorty so he’ll talk to me again.)

Team Moto XXX/Hooters Honda put both of their riders in the main event this week for the first time. Eric Sorby and Antonio Balbi finished 13th and 19th respectively. Not much has been written about this coming together of Tamer/Moto XXX and I just wanted to give a shout out to them for a good job. If only Sorby actually was in shape, he could do some damage. Say what you want about him, he’s got talent.

 

Beets finished 19th despite a first turn crash. Will he have his break out ride in San Diego?

 

Canadian Arenacross legend K D Beets made the main again. That’s some great riding by the #134 and he’s impressed me with his skills. He’s noticed some more people talking to him in the pits as well; I guess that’s what happens when you make some mains. He went down in the sand pit in the first turn and really just rode by himself most of the race to a 19th place finish. The challenge that he has now is not just making the mains but finishing 10th to 15th. (Oh, for our American readers, “KD Beets” is our pet name for Kyle Beaton.)

Speaking of Canadians, I ran into Cernic’s Dusty Klatt and we both agree that Rambo is the movie of the year. Run out and see it if unless you’re offended by abuse of Burmese soldiers. You know what else is funny? While we are all pumped on Beaton and his making of two mains and ready to name him the mayor of Surrey, last year people were saying on the internet that Klatt should retire after finishing tenth to fifteenth in the Lites mains. Just something to think about.

Monster Kawasaki’s Tim Ferry made a glorious return to the podium with a third place finish. His charge on Millsaps was halted on the last lap by Paul Carpenter who was getting lapped and decided to ignore the flags and continue racing. He held up Red just enough so that Timmy couldn’t jump the triple section and he lost all his momentum. After he got by Carpenter, he turned around over the triple and told Paul that he was number one with his middle finger. Seriously, he pulled a tear-off and flicked a rider off while in the air. That’s impressive! I can’t even pull one tear off on flat ground—never mind do all that.

Ferry and Carpenter share a few words after the main.

I help with the webcast down on the floor and was standing right beside the two riders as they got into it after the race. Now obviously I’m a big fan of Tim Ferry but I heard Carpenter say that he was racing and he did ignore the flags. That’s not right. He said that last time he pulled over for the blue flag he lost two spots and that if Timmy was so fast “Why don’t you just pass me?” Uhhh, excuse me Paul but your two spots was two points and about a hundred bucks. Timmy’s (possible) lost spot was $25,000 and 2 points. Let’s also not forget that you’re being lapped…. I thought it was brutal on the track, and brutal with a cherry on top when he admits that he basically ignored the flags.

The Live Nation crew dipped back into the retro theme for the opening ceremonies when they had Damon “the baby-faced assassin” Huffman and Steve “national champion” Lamson ride two parade laps with the big boys. Lamson was on a KTM 144 and when I spoke with him earlier in the day, he was worried about jumping the triples. We both agreed that if he was on a 450, no problem, but on a 144 he would have to have a pretty good run. In the end he didn’t jump them and I think that was a good thing. I’m all about the sport of supercross honoring its past riders. I still think that Davey Coombs idea to award all past champions’ hard cards was something that should’ve happened. (DC has just corrected me: It did, and each year Live Nation takes care of their past champs.)


Poor Jason Thomas, he didn’t make the main but should’ve. He held the last transfer spot in the heat race when Timmy Ferry came from the back to snatch it on the last lap. It must’ve been hard for Ferry to pass his riding buddy knowing that he was knocking him out of qualifying. And also for Jason as he maybe could’ve stuck it in the corner after Ferry passed him but I’m sure he didn’t want to do that to a friend.

Preston finished 15th in his Kawasaki debut.

Travis Preston made his debut for Kawasaki and finished 15th. He is not in riding shape yet and the goal was just to make the main and take it from there. He literally only had two days on the bike and only did ten lap motos in preparation for the race. He’ll get better soon I’m sure. Preston was the subject of the Racer X Monday Conversation. Check it out

Another interesting fact was that he was on James Stewart’s bike and used the exact same engine setup as Stewie. Ferry once told me that James’ bike was very hard hitting and brutal, but I’m sure with the weight difference between James and Travis, the power was smoother. The only thing Kawi did was bar mounts, sub frame and seat height to accommodate the 6’3 Preston.

DV12 .com jetted to France and got his dislocated knee put back in during the week, returned to America and lined up to race. Trust me when I say that some riders would not have raced and it was a testament to Vuillemin’s toughness that he even got 14th.  I think his thumb is still bothering him as well, we haven’t seen him at his best yet.

Torco Racing Fuels Honda’s Jake Weimer has had the weirdest season in recent memory. He won his heat but crashed in the first turn and knocked himself out of the race. He’s failed to score points in three out of the five races so far this season. His other results? A fifteenth and a first! So here is again for those of you scoring at home: DNQ-1-15-21-22

I’ve watched Kyle Cunningham with interest the last two years. I didn’t understand why Yamaha of Troy dropped him last year; I really thought he had potential. He and Matt Lemoine both struck me as talented riders that could do something. While speaking with a YOT guy sometime in the off-season, they related to me that they liked him but he had some issues that they didn’t want to deal with anymore. Butler Bros MX picked him up for 2008 and he has the starts down this year for sure! He’s almost always up front but I think he needs to get in better shape, looks like he gets tired in the races. Hopefully his trainer Kyle Lewis will get him on a program that improves his fitness.

The hot rumor in the pits was that Racer X Canada’s own Danny Brault was hurt at an arenacross in Lethbridge Alberta while riding a KX450. The rumor swept through the pits like wildfire (at least it did through the Beaton, Matthes, Klatt and Lissimore pits) and I even told Tim Ferry (while he was reading the epic Rollerball interview) about the sleeveless wonder and he was really worried. Turns out Danbro is fine but I guess I was talking about him a lot, because Sunday morning my wife told me she dreamed that she made out with Danny and I was pissed. I can’t even make that up.

16-11-2-18-12. Those are Yamaha’s Josh Hill's finishes this year, with the second coming on the retro night A2 track. He needs to show me something to make me believe that the second somehow wasn’t a fluke. Maybe a kid born in 1989 needs to ride the more ’86-like tracks to help him out some.

Hart & Huntington’s Troy Adams had another good ride for 9th. He showed that the mud last weekend wasn’t a factor in getting his second consecutive top-ten performance. He’s coming around and we at Merge Racing couldn’t be happier for the guy. Jim Lewis of Merge has spent a lot of time coming up with the engine and suspension settings for the team. There is NO reason Adams should ever miss a main with his talent.

Ryan Dungey had a couple of pretty good crashes, one not his fault as Wil Hahn got sideways and Dungy landed on him causing Hahn to exit stage right. At one point in the main, Ryan was dead last and it wasn’t looking good for him. He got on his horse and passed a bunch of guys, including two on the last lap to get 11th. It’s these rides that titles are won on and I’m looking forward to the next three races!

Davi Millsaps rode well in getting second and I noticed in the post-race interview he had all these little tiny dot- things stuck to his arm. He was showing Terry Boyd on the podium as well. I’m not sure what they were, like some sort of stick-on tattoo or something. Whatever they are, he’s really showing that he’s getting this supercross thing down.

I was talking to L&M’s team manager Larry Brooks and asked about Reed’s contract situation. Larry told me that he thought it would be done before Supercross finished and that L&M wants to stay with Chad wherever he goes but it’s not 100% sure-thing. With Reed almost sure to win the title, this should be an interesting battle with Reed wanting to be paid like the champion he is, and sponsors maybe balking a bit because the economy and a sluggish industry….

You ever Google yourself? Try it sometime- all the cool people do it. Anyways, I had a ton of stuff all about me and I was very excited until I realized my name change to Brittney Spears wasn’t yet official. So I tried Steve Matthes and found this old Blogandt column from my buddy Weege: It’s pretty good stuff, scroll down and read his history of Supercross on TV. Good read. The Weege brought the Daddy Weege from Jersey to the race and it was nice to meet and talk to him about Mickey Kessler.

Nick Wey had another good ride finishing just behind Nathan Ramsey in 8th. Ramsey is also quietly having a good season. Nick was peeved at me for writing that the team went back to Windham’s KTM test settings last week and told me that he’s over me. When I asked him why, he said not to worry that his being over me was only going to last a couple days. I went by his truck on Saturday and he said we’re back to being buddies. Whew! I want to get him for a Podcast show soon. He’s an entertaining guy and one of the funniest riders in the pits.

 

 

Kawasaki’s Dana Wiggins got MMI Mechanic of the Night Award for doing ... something. Good for the man they call “Wiggles”, bet he never thought he would get the wrench of the night award when he was getting fourth at Houston 125 class in 1993.  I used to ask Red Dog if I could pop off his spark plug cap every night before the main and then we “magically” fix his non starting bike on the starting line. This would no doubt get me the 500 bones every week, which I offered to split with Timmy for letting me do that. He said that I didn’t need any help to screw up his bike; I did it all the time anyways.

So on that same theme, I was actually awarded the $500 bucks in Orlando 2005 when Red Dog had a horrific crash in the semi and had to ride the LCQ to get in the main. The thing is, all that was wrong with the bike was the pipe was crushed. No big deal really but on the podium I got interviewed and played it up with Terry about how I had to do so  much work and almost didn’t make the gate, despite me chilling in the pits drinking a Cherry Coke. I also only thanked Oakley, which didn’t make Yamaha too happy.

That’s all I got this week, thanks to the dudes that have been writing in telling me how weak my Observations columns have been. Without you guys egging me on every week, there’s no way I can continue to sustain my writing excellence...you big jerks. Email me at matthes@racerxcanada.com to tell me if you think my spark plug cap idea was brilliant.