By Steve Matthes

First off I have to apologize for this edition of Observations being so late. I took a day off on Monday and saw the sites of DC with my wife Angie. This thing takes some time to do and now that Danny Brault taught me how to post stuff, it takes even longer so I don't wanna see any more "Where's Observations" emails.

This week the travelling circus, featuring the dynamic green duo of Stewie and Villo, was at Budds Creek Raceway in Maryland. The track is always a good one to spectate at as you can see a lot of the track from the hillside. In the 13 years I’ve been coming here, I’ve seen it run the opposite way, five different starts and the soil be everything from red-groove hardpack to sawdust city.

I have fond memories of Budds because, besides the AMA Toyota Motocross National being there every year, it was also a stop on the legendary (now defunct) AMA East Coast Four Stroke Series (two-time champions, by the way.) Back in my KTM days, myself and Kelly Smith would load up a box van after the last national at Steel City and drive down to Budds Creek for the opening round. The next round was always close by and the track owner Jonathan Beasley would let us stay after the race and ride during the next week. I’ve spent a lot of time in nearby Waldorf and I’ll never forget that I was standing by the announcers tower unloading a bike when I first heard on the van radio that the twin towers had been hit by airplanes.

Anyways, I thought the track was pretty good this year but it needs to be longer for sure. Sub two-minute lap times are not good for a national. There is a lot of room around the place for new sections and I think there needs to be some technical sections added as well, because it’s pretty easy with the only challenging thing for the riders being the off-cambers. The start was more fair with the direction they ran it this year but the lap times from the MXoN were longer.

To the surprise of exactly no one, James Stewart and Ryan Villopoto ran away with all four motos. It looked like, in the opening stages of the first Lites moto, we might have a race but nope, Villopoto closed that door and ran away with it. As for Stewie, he holeshot both motos and led every lap this week—one week after I said that was the only thing left for him to try and do. Next goal: to jump over the moon.

I had a couple people come up to me and mention that I was right last week when I wrote that, in the old RC days (like two years ago) when he was dominating, you would see a near crash or an incredible save here and there (I’m willing to bet that if somehow somebody could keep track of stuff like that, RC would lead in the ANDC category: Almost Near Death Crashes). But you just don’t see that from James. He really looks in control and appears to be able to grab another gear if needed.

Where have you gone Ben Townley? Our nation turns a lonely eye to you… and maybe while we’re adding up the ANDC’s of RC we can give BT101 a stat he would lead in: the MTKVH category (Man That Kept Villopoto Honest.) What’s the other song, Don’t Know What You Got ‘Till It’s Gone by Cinderella? Yeah, we didn’t appreciate BT101 enough last year for giving RV a run for most of the season. If James doesn’t race motocross next year (which I hope isn’t the case) can you imagine the battles between RV and a healthy BT101 in the four-fittys?

Before anyone anoints either of those two as kings, I think Tim Ferry, Andrew Short and the injured Mike Alessi (and maybe Grant Langston and Ivan Tedesco and…) might have something to say about that. This weekend Red Dog grabbed the winner of the second group of guys in what seriously was a great, great ride by the One-Five. I know you’re all throwing up in your mouths right now but ask anyone that was there--he was on it. He was about 15^th off the start in the second moto, with his usual stellar start, but quickly worked his way up to Short and grabbed second to leave no doubt that he was the second fastest 450 guy at Budds.

Let’s not forget that the Dog loves Budds Creek. We know all about him spearheading Team USA to a victory in last year’s MXDN, he has podiumed many times here and even won a moto against RC in 2003 (on a Matthes tuned YZ450 and you should’ve seen the ANDC’s of RC when he was trying to catch Red after a fall.) I think you’ll see him named to Team USA again soon and now I gotta somehow figure out how go to England.

Maybe it’s the top secret “Area 51” track that Timmy’s been riding in Florida. He won’t tell me where it is but says it’s awesome and that’s where he goes with JT and Reed to pound motos.

Andrew Short had the ability to go 2-2, he was in position to go 2-2 and probably should’ve gone 2-2 but instead he went 3-3. In both motos, he was alone in second before getting caught by Red Dog. The weird thing is, once passed by the 15, Andrew would get gapped pretty quickly, which is not like him. He normally will go right back at you after being passed. I was wondering if it has something with seeing The Timmynator (remember the old Cycle News’ Yamaha win ad?) back there that gets in Andrew’s head and causes him to screw up (y’know like every time the Wiley Coyote saw that Roadrunner he would lose his mind and step off a cliff, or go “test” the booby trap, etc., etc…) I noticed that right around the twenty-minute mark of the moto, Andrew would slow down for a few laps before settling into a little slower pace after that. Need proof? (P.S.: My wife showed me how to make this cool chart after watching me hen peck at the keys. Bless her heart.)

See the drop off? In the second moto, it was five seconds in five laps! I’m telling you people he’s NOT out of shape, there’s just some kind of mental roadblock there for Shorty. Now he’s going to be all mad at me for this but I do it out of love. Like Joe Clark tough love.

I like how, after the podium and before the press conference, Andrew was in the press tent in his gear just sitting on the stage by himself, no entourage or anything, just waiting for the thing to start. This in stark contrast to when I saw James walking around with his manfriend Ratto holding the umbrella for him. But this did give me an idea that maybe we should put Ratto and his umbrella on the bike with James to try and slow him down!

Just like Jason in those Friday the Thirteenth movies, the Jason Lawrence story won’t go away. This weekend “some people” made some T-shirts with “Free J-Law” on one side and “Let J-Law ride” on the other side. His agent told me that the AMA is waffling on the penalty for Jason but the AMA told me they aren’t. So we’ll see what happens there. I got into a little heated debate with Jason’s agent about whether or not Lawrence would spice up the racing and how the AMA is hurting the racing by suspending Jason. My point was there is no way that Jason even sees RV during the motos, despite Jason and three other riders actually beating RV in the very first moto of the year. I still don’t know what happened in that moto and I think neither does Ryan. Anyways, his agent doesn’t see it like that and I guess that’s his job to pump up his guy. I like his agent and I like Jason for his…..errr….colorfulness, it gives us media guys something to talk about but let’s not get silly and call a spade a spade.

The funny thing also is that some of J-Law’s supporters were saying that they’ve spoken to a kid that was right there when all the crap went down last week and it proves that Jason is the victim. They got this info from a post on the internet and followed up with a phone call. So we’re going to believe this kid on the internet was telling the truth THIS time. What about all the times that J-Law’s people claimed the other internet stories were all made up?

Poor Yamaha of Troy. First Zach Osborne goes and breaks his arm in the opening moto of the year, Ryan Morais has been battling injuries, Tyler Bowers is struggling and then the J-Law stuff. I spoke to a YOT guy for a while and he told me Bowers was “at home” this week. I asked him if he was hurt and all he would say is “he’s at home” which doesn’t sound good to me. Good thing GP veteran Mike Brown is here to, um, well….never mind. He blew a bike up in the first moto and struggled in the second to an 18^th place.

Ahhh, the highs and lows of motocross. Larry Brooks once told me that this sport will give you the highest highs and lowest lows of anything around. YOT just won a title and are now struggling bad. In talking to the YOT guys, it seems that the J-Law firing thing still might happen but it’s out of their hands for now. The guy I spoke to also sounded like they’ve moved on and prepared for life without Lawrence.

Mixed bag of nuts for Trey “Triple Duck” Canard. He rode great in the first Lites moto to get second but while alone in second place in the second moto, he tangled with a lapper in the top roller section and went down in a heap. His bike and the lapper’s bike were entangled with the riders underneath them! It took a long time to get free and then he couldn’t start his bike. He went 2-DNF on the day. He’ll battle it out this year with Ryan “Crocodile” Dungey for the “Most Second Place Finishes” award, named in honor of Tim Ferry.

The lapper was not happy with the 48. He was yelling at Trey and, on the next lap he was free from the crash, he stopped by the crash site to give the AMA official a piece of his mind. I can understand him being upset but it was kind of a mutual crash in my opinion.

Good to see Barry “That Seventies Guy” Carsten out there again. He didn’t score any points but he HAS to get some before the end of the year so he can secure his 1,287^th national number. On Sunday morning it was pointed out to me that Ol’Beardog didn’t have good times in practice; in fact, he was dead last! But then fellow New Jerseyian Jason Weigandt told me that Barry’s too smart to go out in practice and show everyone his lines and what he’s got. That wily old veteran.

Nick Wey got on me about the lack of love in Observations but when I pointed out that I’ve run a picture of him in the last few he said, “Yeah, but what about all the Byrne photos?” I explained that I thought Burner had been riding good this year considering his injuries but NYK wasn’t having it and wanted to get two pictures in OBS. He rode consistent to an 8-7 for 7^th OA and is asking me a lot of questions about the Sand Del Lee Canadian National on his off weekend. Hmmm…

Austin Stroupe missed his second race due to mononucleosis and his return is up in the air. That’s too bad as he was riding really well and it’s really too bad because I picked him in my Moto XXX Fantasy League (of dorks) due to getting erroneous information from the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawi team. It’s a long season and I’ll settle the score one day.

Speaking of fantasy leagues, I’m in the Motoleague one for the Canadian National series and there’s like 136 people that have entered a team at every round and I’m 115^th in the standings. Why are you even reading this?

Jason Thomas told me he was “dropping the hammer” and “pushing the chips into the middle of the table and letting it ride” this weekend and, I mean, how could I doubt the Rolling Tank when he has gotten 5^th OA at this track before? On this weekend he would be just like the Little Engine That Could and on the first laps he was buried in the pack but kept chugging away all moto long to 12-14 finishes. I don’t know if he “dropped the hammer” or not but that’s a pretty good finish for a part-timer.

Guess who came back this weekend? None other than DV12.com! After getting knee surgery after round one, the French Fry came back probably a race early but I know he didn’t want to just stay home and collect a paycheck. His first lap of the first moto was typical for him in ‘08 as he came around in 36^th from a mishap on the first lap. (He told me in intermission what happened but I forgot.) Anyways, he just missed the RC Hard Charger Award when he got up to 18^th. In the second moto the Cobra got a rock in his finger and had to pull out which is really just a metaphor for his season. As of this typing, he’s okay and will be at Unadilla for his last five races in America.

We were filming something for The Bottom Line show on Motocross.com with Ferry when DV wandered over and started making fun of me for liking Ferry so much. When I reassured him that he was in my “Fab Five” he said that it didn’t matter because “Ferry has lapped the other four of us.”

How about Kyle Cunningham of the BBMX team? He just got a fifth this past weekend, that’s all. He actually almost got the podium spot to boot. He’s been at the races in a pick-up for the nationals that his team doesn’t do and he has been performing well. Great job Kyle and good thing that BBMX has right of first refusal on his contract!

Nicco Izzi should’ve done better. He moved to the front of the pack in the first moto really quickly but then looked like he pumped up or something and started going backwards quickly. On a factory bike, it doesn’t look good to fade back to 8^th after leading. I guess he can still draw confidence that he led a moto for the first time ever. How inconsistent is the Lites class? Nicco has not scored points in 4 out of 14 motos and sits in fifth in the standings!

What’s up with Billy Laninovich? He’s on the same bike as Nick Wey so that’s no excuse, but man he is struggling. I’ve always thought he would do so much better on a big bike but he’s not putting it together out there in his return. He was top three on the opening lap of the first moto before crashing. A 21-18 on the day isn’t what MDK/KTM is looking for, and no doubt Billy is bummed.

Brett Metcalfe got screwed out of some podiums here and there over the last few years so it’s only justice that Metty got a third OA with a 5-4 score. Brett is probably feeling better after suffering a hard crash a few weeks ago and is coming back to his early season form.

I guess Mike Alessi and James Stewart got into a semi-heated argument on the line before Red Bud's second moto. Mike was not being happy with the way Stewie took him high in the first moto pass for the lead and making sure that James knew it. I guess he said to James that he (Mike) felt James was trying to knock him down and James saying something to the effect that if he (James) was trying to knock Mike down, he would’ve. Good stuff!

Jake Weimer has been telling us that the “High Point Jake Weimer” was coming back to the races after the “Lakewood Jake Weimer” has been racing lately. Well this weekend, both Jakes came to Red Bud as Jake1 went fourth in the first moto and Jake2, 19^th in the second go-around.

I don’t get the whole fan-started “Give Jeff Alessi money” website. Doesn’t the fan know that Jeff turned down a full ride from Moto XXX because he was making too much money from his clothing and helmet deals to wear the team's gear? Either way, Jeff’s been riding very well and took another top ten.

Jimmy Albertson was again on the gas this weekend. The 702 Honda went 11-8 for 8^th OA and I guess Steve Cox was right for saying in the beginning of the year that he would be on the gas. Too bad Jimmy got hurt in the beginning of the season.

Davi Millsaps gutted out a good finish in the first moto with his shoulder still hurting from Red Bud. I heard he has an AC joint problem and cracked collarbone but he rode great considering the injuries. In the second moto he was again toughing it out when he high-sided and went down on his shoulder, I’m not sure which one he landed on but I’m guessing it was the bad one as he was moving very slooooooowly when he got up. Good effort for the 118 but I think we'll see him pulling out to get it fixed like his other teamates Tedesco and Townley. His injuries are not going to get better racing every week.

Finally! Yamaha got something out of Josh Hill this summer. Josh went 4-6 on the day for fourth OA and was up front all day. This has to give him some confidence going into the last half of the season. He was fast in every practice all weekend and I never noticed how good he is at scrubbing. Man, he can lay that thing flat.

There was a traffic jam before the start/finish line during timed practice with riders sitting there waiting to get a clean lap. It got so bad at times I could’ve sworn I saw a 405 Highway sign. I thought they were going to break out a cribbage game waiting for an open track.

Josh Grant’s bike wouldn’t start for the start of the first moto and he actually didn’t get it going until everybody was down the start straight. Great ride for Grant to come all the way back to 9^th, he passed something like 18 riders on the first lap! But there went his chance for the RC Hard Charger award (which went to former Canadian MX2 champ Michael Willard), because they don’t start counting until the first lap is complete. So the next moto, his bike barely fired again before the gate dropped. Sounds like a visit to Midas is needed for the #20 Honda.

Grant’s teammate, Dan Reardon, crashed and hurt his shoulder during the week and tried to ride but couldn’t do it. He DNF’d both motos. What’s with all the shoulder injuries this year? Reed, Alessi, Millsaps, Reardon, Metcalfe, Hamblin, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few.

I brought my wife to the race because it was her birthday (the big three-0) and it was cool to have her around. She got to meet Teenwolf, Mrs. Weege-to-be, Dub Dub and all my other weekend buddies. She liked the NPG Media Tent also for the internet access (to check her MySpace in the middle of the motos) and the AC. We spent the Monday in DC seeing the sights and shopping and even ran into championship winning mechanic Skip Norfolk at the Museum of Natural History! She got to see me filming the Moto Show and the Bottom Line show which might have ruined things for me if we weren’t already married. It was a cool weekend.

That’s all I got for this week! I won’t be at Unadilla this week so we’ll figure something out for Observations or I’ll just take a week off. Maybe I’ll critique Weege on the webcast, he always likes that! Send me what you got to matthes@racerxcanada.com. Thanks for reading!