Words and photos by Steve "Camera God" Matthes

The AMA Toyota Motocross Championships were in Texas for the third round this weekend and after the first two California rounds, everybody knew that we hadn’t seen the athletes pushed physically yet. The weather in Glen Helen and Hangtown was relatively cool but this past weekend in Texas, mother nature showed us exactly who was in charge. The heat and humidity were off the charts as I’m sure you heard and we saw the toll it took on the guys.

The track in Freestone is really the best that Tony Miller, the owner, can do. He’s not exactly dealing with a hillside mecca. One thing I liked was the sand and the deep discing for lines and one thing I didn’t like was that the jumps are made for 80s. The finish line, the tabletops and the doubles are way too small for the guys.

James “The Darkhorse” Stewart really needs to get back to work--man, he’s terrible. Can you believe that he failed to lead every lap this weekend? Time to pack it in, I think. Stewie followed Mike Alessi around the track in the first moto for a few laps and then pounced and grabbed the lead and we headed for the hot dog carts (well, I did anyways).

Ahhh, but Stewie made an uncharacteristic mistake in what he called an over-watered section and went down (check it out on the Racer X Post Race Show here). He fell back a ways and this allowed Mike to lead more laps! Not to worry, James went balls-out and jumped a jump that nobody thought about jumping (this after jumping another jump in Saturday practice that nobody thought about jumping) to get by Davi Millsaps and soon worked his way into the lead and the win. (Again, you gotta see the tape.)

In the second moto, he let Alessi lead some more! Man, he’s really slipping, I tell you. Anyways, he won the second moto but might’ve given Alessi a sliver (and I mean very small sliver) of hope in the upcoming rounds.

I’m 1-for-2 in my quest to get gear guys to put a butt patch on a rider's pants. Ro-jay stepped up and put “doing it for Bunny” on Preston’s pants after I asked for it but when Big E was at Answer he refused to put “and Dragons” on Ryan Dungey’s pants. So I’m putting this out there for Chris “Beeker” Onstott at Fox: Can we get “Balls Out” on the back of James’ pants? Or how about a name that Tim Ferry once called him after he did some crazy-ass jump at a SX somewhere: “Crazy Balls” also sounds good. Work on it Beeks!

We can compromise on “Stewie” if you want.

In the press conference, James didn’t think the track was long enough. He said that he thinks the tracks should be more than a two minute lap time. And once again, I was there in the PC and suggested to James that maybe if he slowed down, the tracks would then seem longer. It’s a good thing I go to these things, who else is going to ask the hard questions?

Kawasaki is having a good year (again) outdoors because Ryan Villopoto went 1-1 in what might’ve been a better ride than Stewie ‘cause RV only let his competitors lead 7 laps instead of James’ 8 laps.  He showed that his work with trainer Randy Lawrence is paying off as he looked actually OK after each moto. Come to think of it, so did James, maybe getting a big lead and cruising might be a good strategy?

Bryan Stealey at Racer X has a good point about riders and the lack of good nicknames these days. Hey, let’s just take a guy’s initials and that’ll be his nickname! “RD”, “RV” etc, etc- what happened to the days of “Bomber,” “O’Show,” “Flying Freckle,” and “Too Hip?” Attn: gear guys, this is your new mission!

This just has to be said. Josh “Cheech” Hill and Jason “Chong” Lawrence got themselves into more off track problems this past weekend. I wasn’t there so I can’t say for sure but I have a pretty good idea what happened from numerous eyewitnesses. These two guys have constantly been the buzz of the pits for a while now and while everybody in the pits can be rumor mongers at times, and you can’t always believe what you hear, but wow, this is getting ridiculous. Oh yeah, the scores on the day for the two 5-28-34-19. I think you'll see the other shoe drop this week. 

With the great performances of Kawasaki brothers Stewie and Villopoto so far this year I started thinking of other great duos. I think of the excellence of combos like Laurel & Hardy, Lewis & Clark, Ren & Stimpy, the Smothers Brothers and Phil and Tony Esposito. I think that the green superheroes are right up there with these legends. Except I don’t think that Phil ever replaced Tony in the net for the Chicago Blackhawks, which is what Ryan is going to do to James next year.

Mike Alessi rode well this weekend and didn’t seem to be as dejected as he was at Glen Helen when he went 2-2 as well. Mike also got a good case of hamburger hands after the second moto and it’s amazing he could hang on. Once again, he sprinted in the beginning, led some laps and broke away from everyone and once again, he wore his Camelback for hydration. Wonder if he has a name for his Camelback, something like Wally the Camelback seems cool. In the press conference when I was going to ask him a question, Mike mentioned that I was going to ask about his Camelback. I wasn't, but it got me thinking about what kind of care and feeding his Camelback needs? Would it be similar to Bunny? Maybe Mike can run "doing it for Camel" on his pants? I'm full of ideas for these gear guys. Anyways, it was a great ride for the 800!

The winner of the RC Hard Charger award was my friend Tim Ferry. Red Dog fell on the first lap of the first moto and crossed the line in 36^th. In what was an amazing display of awesomeness, the dog worked his way up to seventh by the end. He told me that he actually knocked his head pretty good in the crash and was a little dingy for a while.  In the second moto he came from 10^th to 3^rd in the scorching heat in another inspiring ride. We need to see Alessi and Ferry start with each other to really gauge their speed against one another.

That’s great that Red won the RC Hard Charger award and all but somehow, with the amount of times he’s finished second to RC, I don’t think he’s going to keep the award up on his mantle so that he can look up while eating his Cool Ranch chips and see a gi-normous “RC” mocking him. It would be like the Green Goblin in Spiderman2, when after the Goblin died, his kid kept hearing voices everywhere when he looked at his father’s pictures. “Timmy….I beat you all those times, I cost you MX immortality and millions of dollars…. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

That’s cool that somebody decided to honor the greatest outdoor rider ever with a weekly award but did anyone think about the fact that RC rarely passed anyone? He usually started up front, made his move and then checked out. Maybe we should give the guy who leads the most laps on the day the RC award? Some other things they could do for past riders…

“The Mike LaRocco Award” for the rider who got horrible starts on the day.

“The Jeff Matiasevich Award” for the rider that holds off another the longest.

“The Jeff Stanton Award” for the baddest ass rider on the day.

“The Larry Ward Award” for the rider that switches gear sponsors the most….

The DNA Energy/Butler Brothers MX racing team came out to race this weekend. The team is doing selected nationals this year and with the performance of Kyle Cunningham lately, maybe they should stay on the road and help the kid out. The 450 team did pretty good with Shaun Skinner scoring 12-15 on the day, Matt Boni 36-12 and Jason Thomas 19-16. Here are some quotes from JT on AIM when I asked him how his race was:

jason (5:07:56 PM):I unlapped myself and still got the checkered but they said it wasn't out so I pulled off on the white flag in the second moto.

STEVE (5:11:12 PM): Oh yeah, saw that...it wasn't actually out. The dude might’ve made it look like that and Stewie said in the PC that he decided to let u guys battle it out

jason (5:12:44 PM): Yeah he had it out but wasn't waving it.

jason (5:21:03 PM): I was pissed.

jason(5:21:08 PM): I was impressed with everyone’s speed though, especially in practice.

jason (5:21:13 PM): I felt like my fitness was good. I started outside the top 30 in moto 1 and outside top 20 in moto 2.

The BBMX Lites guys needed to stay back and help with the tent tear-down as Cunningham had his first bad race going 29-35, Kyle Keylon 33-36 and Bryan Johnson 35-37.

Nicco “Thin” Izzi was missing from the Factory Suzuki pits this weekend, the result of a hard hit to the head in Hangtown’s first turn. I heard that when he came to, he asked which way the track went and when his mechanic Lee McCollum said forget it, go to the truck, he asked which way the truck was!

The Hahn “Solo” brothers were very good this weekend in their adopted home state. Tommy was up front all day and showed what he can do with a 6-5 finish and 5^th OA. Brother Wilbur went 16-6 and had a strong second moto, coming from farther back and showing that his trainer Sandy Egger has been cracking that whip. They both should be pumped on their rides and hopefully it helps out their confidence. Any rider that did well in the crazy heat should be proud of themselves. It wasn’t just a test of speed—you had to be in shape also.

Speaking of the “Solo” brothers, in the Moto XXX MX Fantasy league (of dorks) I picked both brothers because they were double points (out of the top 15 the previous week) and I must say that I’m looking pretty smart as I captured the overall victory thanks to the boys. Thanks guys!

Last week I asked the question of what was wrong with former GP winner Andrew McFarlane. He was a threat in the YOT days but hasn’t done much since then. Well, he’s back! Well, kinda. No doubt spurred on by my last week’s column, “Hoppy” (I’m trying to start the nickname thing and Skippy is already taken) ran strong all day and finished 7-12. I hope he can keep it up, good ol’ Hoppy. He really is one of the nicest guys in the whole sport.

Jake Weimer had a career (so far) day going 4-4, no doubt his Canadian National experience paid off in the heat and humidity of Texas. Jake has a deal in place with Pro Circuit for next year but Honda has a right of first refusal on the contract so we’ll see what happens but somebody from the green side of things didn’t think Honda would match. Either way, “The Snake” is coming out a winner in ’09.

Ryan Dungey “and Dragons” and Austin Stroupe “A Loop” both were in the same stratosphere of Villopoto this weekend. Dungey seemed especially flustered that he couldn’t beat the other Ryan in the PC (I’m just going to call it PC, that’s what I hear real journalists call it) saying something to the effect that he didn’t know how he was going to beat the Kawi rider. Dungey also confirmed officially that he’s no longer working with 1984 SX champ Johnny O’Mara, which you already knew because I reported that a few weeks back.

Davi Millsaps is weird. He comes out at the Helen and looks pretty good in the fitness and speed department, goes to Hangtown and shows speed but no fitness and this weekend he was kinda in the middle of each. He rode to 5-4 finishes but was third in each moto before mysteriously getting some kind of problem for a few laps, losing time and places due to it, and then picking it up like there was nothing wrong. Want proof? Look at these lap times:

                Moto 1                                               Moto 2

Lap 4     2:06.6                            Lap 5             2:08.3

       6     2:10.9                                   6              2:11.0

       7      2:12.4                                  7              2:14.9

       8      2:14.6 (?!?)                         8              2:17.9 (?!?)

       9      2:10.3                                 10             2:12.3

Weird, huh? He dropped as much as nine seconds a lap in the middle of the moto, then runs it back down to where he should be. Both motos, right around the same time. To make all of this make sense, let’s wait a week and we’ll see after High Point.

Brett Metcalfe was the hard charger, in my book. He pushed it so hard that right after the finish of moto 2, he collapsed and had to be stripped down and cooled off. His lap time went up 48 seconds in four laps! He was obviously struggling but no matter what, that’s impressive to push himself right to the end. He even jumped the finish line tabletop at the checkers. His score was 9-9 on the day and I saw him after the race and he looked OK. Scary sight for sure.

DC went to visit Metty in the Asterisk Mobile Medics rig to check on him and Kevin Rookstool. He was going to tell Brett that he finally made his way onto a cover here in the U.S. (check it out here) but he decided it would be better off to let Brett be surprised this week, so…. Surprise!

Lost in all of the Hamblin/Boniface/Laansoo hype is the fact that Jeff Alessi has been having a pretty good season. He finished 13-7 on the day and is now an impressive 8^th in the points.  He was running third in the second moto for a little while before being gobbled up by the big boys.

Andrew Short rode great to grab the last spot on the podium on his hometown track. He’s been struggling this year a bit and it was good to see Shorty and his tight jersey up on the box again. He’ll get stronger as the summer goes on.

Sean Hamblin has had some crappy luck in the last little bit. He’s got nothing to show in three out of the last four motos and he’s been riding fast. In Hangtown he had to pull in mid-race because his start hook was stuck down! This week he was in seventh for the whole first moto but his fuel was boiling and he ran out of gas on the last lap. The last lap man! The second moto finally saw Sean get a good finish and he crossed the line in 8^th. I don’t know who the better story is or even if there has to be a “better” story, Hambone or Cody “Chicken” Cooper.

Speaking of Coops, he was very impressive in the first moto again, finishing fourth. Second moto was not-so-good for the Kiwi warrior as he crashed when he was in 8^th, breaking his muffler bracket off. Then we all had to put up with broken eardrums as he raced back up with no muffler. Wonder what the Suzuki EFI mapping computer thought of the jetting then?

I forgot about these two absolute masters that were an excellent duo. Check this out for greatness that is unforgettable. Just try to not laugh at the clothes.

Bobby Kiniry has been riding great so far in the beginning of this season. He’s a great starter and looks to have cured his crashing problem of a few years back. He was in 3rd for a while but has been impressive this year. Look for better things from Bobby when he hits the east coast tracks. I forget which race it was but I was walking through the pits and saw Bob helping tear down the semi truck tent. I don’t care what you’ve done in the past, if I see a rider helping with tent tear down, he’s cool in my book. Even if I see J-Law and Hill tearing a tent down next weekend—but not with a rental car, with their hands—they will be automatically inducted into “Matthes’ Group of Riders He’s Biased Towards.” That’s how big of a deal it is. Current members include, but not limited to Jason Thomas, Nick Wey, David Vuillemin, Tim Ferry, Bobby Kiniry, Josh Coppins, Andrew Short, Ryan Dungey, Josh Summey, and I’ve got my eye on Austin Stroupe.

Speaking of which, I heard Stroupe say that he loved “being back on the east coast.” Huh? Did I miss something in my Canadian school system geography class?

Make sure you check out my “Bottom Line” show on live.motocross.com later on this week. I try to get some information from Mike Fisher, Ryan Villopoto, Mitch Payton and others on their 2009 plans and, of course, hi-jinks ensue.

Stroupe’s teammate Branden Jesseman crashed hard on Sunday morning and had a concussion and was held out of the motos. Hopefully he’s back soon but the docs usually hold riders with head problems out for two weeks. I should say concussion symptoms because if they held riders with head problems out, the gate would be empty on Sunday morning.

Some other random “Observations”..

-- To the KTM people that stopped me to complain about my remark last week about the KTM’s sounding like blenders. It wasn’t a comment about them on the track, just an observation of the sound. Geez…

-- The track owners’ son Clayton Miller didn’t qualify for the motos. That’s weird for sure because Clayton’s a decent rider that you think would’ve spun a few laps on the track. There’s no promoter's choice over here either.

-- The child prodigy returns! Robbie Reynard showed up and rode pretty good actually and I couldn’t help but think of the parallels between James Stewart and Robbie when RR was being lapped. Both child phenoms on Kawasakis. Remember there was no internet when RR turned pro but he had the same kind of hype as Stewie coming into the pro’s.

-- I saw DC down on the infield picking up garbage during the race. True story.

-- The track had a 12-pack of sand whoops that are as deep as anything that Southwick has. You could’ve been dropped off by a spaceship right beside them and known nothing about motocross, but after you watched Stewie and RV go through them, you’d know who was going to win.

-- Only 24 riders finished the second Lites moto, that’s how tough it was.

-- The entire MDK/KTM Lites team failed to finish the second moto. Danny Paladino was last seen measuring some rope at the end of the day for himself.

-- Let’s check up on Ryan Sipes. Yup, still the fastest guy with the worst luck in motocross.

-- My sleeper pick, Dan Reardon woke up this week.

-- My wife asked me where I was going this weekend and when I told her Freestone, she asked if Carl Stone was in jail or something.

We had the Alessi’s, the Hahn’s and the Blose brothers this week, everybody forgets about the “Glenn” Blose brothers, even me almost!

That’s it for this week, send me your ideas for cool nicknames (I will not read emails that tell me “Assface” sounds good to them) to matthes@racerxcanada.com and see you in High Point!