That's A Wrap!
The inaugural Moto X World Championships are over. Here's what the pros thought about the event.
April 13, 2008, 10:25 PM
As the teams break down their pit areas and load up their rigs, we're left to reflect on an action-packed weekend. From our perspective, things went swimmingly, especially for a first-time event. There will be memorable moments all around, both for those who were here and for those watching on television. But what about the riders? We asked a few of the guys for their take.
Drake McElroy had the unique task of being both a participant and one of the workers, conducting live commentary and hosting a live EXPN.com chat (did YOU tune in?). "Yeah, I got to work both sides of the line for sure," he grinned. "It was cool. It actually made the weekend as a whole go by [quicker]. The only thing that made it rough was coming off The Great Ride Open [a freeride tour that began three weeks ago] straight into this."
Drake was a big fan of the venue. "Course-wise, it was incredible what they did with the dirt and making everything work together like the [SuperMoto] track and the freestyle course was one of the better ones I've seen. I was jealous I didn't get to ride that part."
Mark Kariya
Thousands of fans stream out of Qualcomm Stadium, their eardrums ringing from a moto-filled weekend. WHAT LOT DID WE PARK IN?"
Third-place Moto-X Racing finisher Justin Brayton was still peeling off his riding gear an hour after the race. "I thought the event was awesome," he said. "They really took care of the riders and all the athletes. Any complaints or any suggestions we had, they really took to it well. I hope they have it every year, and I'd like to be a part of it."
On the race format, Brayton observed, "I think it's good. It's not a lot of laps, but I think that's what the fans and all the TV [viewers] want to see, is just short, quick racing and a lot of bar banging."
That's something the longer AMA races don't have. "I kind of like it," eighth-place finisher Jiri Dostal declared. "It's kind of like wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am. It makes it a little more exciting, I think, and not as drawn-out. The shorter heat races like that make for better racing—people get a little more aggressive. As you saw in the first three heats, for the transfer position there was a pass on the last lap. It was pretty exciting to watch."
One guy who may not have been disappointed about not making it into the final was Heath Voss. His wife, Sarah, was giving birth to a boy as the final ran, and not making it allowed him to catch what might have been the last flight home to Mico, Texas, in order to join her—all this after finishing ninth just last night in Detroit and flying here early this morning!
The Strokes
How many engine cycles are in your wallet?
April 13, 2008, 5:54 PM
Mark Kariya
This place is the pits.
Size matters in America. This explains things like 1-ton dually pickup trucks, Las Vegas casinos and the flood of spam touting surgically modified body parts.
But does size have a place in Moto X Racing?
The track here at Qualcomm is unique and quite a bit different than the Supercross track racers found here a couple months ago. It's larger than what you might find in the typical Arenacross, but it's not quite as big as your average Supercross.
So is it going to favor the stronger-but-heavier 450Fs or the leaner, more agile 250Fs?
With Jason Lawrence unofficially laying down the fastest lap in practice, it's easy to say that the smaller bike's going to be better. A 250F is easier to manhandle if necessary and it'll flick from one side to the other more intuitively. In addition, the reduced power output should make it easier to get traction on the hard-packed clay of the stadium floor—clay that's getting slicker as the day goes on due to sun bake and the maintenance crew spraying water.
But with the relatively short span of actual race time, you'd better get a great start; passing opportunities will be fairly few. That's where the 450Fs will shine. As long as the rider modulates the throttle carefully and keeps the rear tire driving instead of spinning, he'll be able to take advantage of the extra power and leap away from those 250Fs. And most of these pros are able to do so, which is probably why most of them are on the bigger bikes.
Still, it poses an interesting topic for debate. So far, J-Law has made a statement with the impressive employment of his 250F. Even yesterday, Bob Weber of Troy Lee Designs conceded, "I haven't seen them do laps on the track yet, but I'd say a 250F might be pretty effective out there—lthere are a lot of obstacles. It might be the hot ticket. Of course, we're on 450s here this weekend, so we might've brought the wrong bikes."
Well, maybe not the wrong bikes but just the wrong place to use them.
Hepler Helps Himself
Lawrence leaves the door wide open in the Moto X racing final.
April 13, 2008, 8:34 PM
Josh Duplechian
Rubber side, not down.
There are no sure bets after the gate drops.
Jason Lawrence destroyed his heat race and was expected to run away with the final, but after gating behind Gavin Gracyk he got a little antsy and tried to stuff Gracyk coming out of the first rhythm section. He succeeded only in punting Gracyk and himself right off the track, and earned a premature ride back to the pits instead of a Golden Helmet.
In Lawrence's absence, Broc Hepler was only too happy to take the lead and held it the entire race. Nick Wey would finish in second while Justin Brayton came through the pack for the bronze-medal position.
The heat races provided an early glimpse into what the crowd could expect, with last-lap desperation passes for transfer spots common and applauded loudly. For instance, Josh Hansen and Travis Pastrana got together in the first heat, leaving TP on the ground and on a mission. As Hansen flew untouched out front to win that heat, Pastrana came from last and stole second place with a classic block pass on Troy Adams in the final turn. That gave Pastrana a spot in the final, where he might've been expected to extract revenge on Hansen.
With only four riders in each heat, it was easy to keep track of things, and reportedly on hand to do so in the flesh was none other than Chad Reed who—despite crashing hard enough to go to the hospital before returning to ride to twelfth in the Detroit Supercross last night—was sighted in the pits.
Hang Time
The racers get a rare chance to ogle their FMX counterparts up close.
April 13, 2008, 5:44 PM
Brett Wilhelm
Jason Lawrence is too busy preparing for domination to work on his backflip.
Jason Lawrence is setting the pace in practice for Moto X Racing, and Broc Hepler and Justin Brayton are close behind—within a 10th of a second—according to talk around the pits, a place that has quite a different atmosphere than at a points-paying round of an AMA race.
Instead of riders being cloistered inside their semis (only a couple of those here) or buses (very popular with the freestyle guys) having their mechanics fine-tune their bikes after practice, here at the MXWC, most racers are out watching their freestyle counterparts.
A visit to Heath Voss' pit saw his bike sitting outside the transporter, with no sign of Voss—only his brother-in-law. (Voss raced the AMA Supercross in Detroit last night, finishing ninth, and caught an early morning flight to San Diego in order to arrive just before practice started). Bro-in-law casually checked the Honda CRF450R that Voss will use today and addressed Voss's whereabouts, "He's in the stands watching Freestyle. He said it feels like a county fair instead of a race." In other words, he's kicking back, relaxing and generally enjoying himself.
Motor City Exhaust-tion
Sorby won't let a few thousand miles get in his way.
April 13, 2008, 3:27 PM
Brett Wilhelm
Sleep? We don't need no stinking sleep.
Jet lag is the bane of anyone who has to travel for business. You find yourself wondering what city it is you're waking up in. You walk around in a mental fog all day, not quite sure if it was a hotel bed or an airline seat you caught a few winks in.
But it's worse when your business is racing, and it's the inaugural Moto X World Championships in San Diego and you raced the night before at the AMA Supercross in Detroit.
Amazingly, a half-dozen racers who are scheduled to compete in Sunday's racing event did just that. We caught up with Eric Sorby, who caught the first flight from Motor City to America's Finest City, to ask him about doing double race duty.
A native of France, Sorby's accustomed to flying across the Atlantic several times a year. "I caught an early flight this morning. I woke up at 4 in the morning, and I got here a few minutes ago. I got a little bit of sleep. It's all right."
Naturally, since he was in Detroit all day yesterday (where he finished 15th), Sorby didn't ride practice in San Diego, but he did have enough time to take a visual tour after arriving and finding the pits.
"I just looked for a minute, and it looks pretty good," he observed. "It's a little dry, but if they put some water on it, we'll see.
"I'm excited. It's like the X Games—like a party race for everyone. I raced the X Games last year, and it was an awesome show."
Asked if he felt less pressure than at an AMA race since there are no points at stake here, he replied, "When I go to a race, I always want to do well. I want to get a holeshot, and I want to finish in front. Even if I don't have the pressure, I do feel pressure. I'm going to try to do my best and have fun."
As for watching the freestyle MXers competing at the same venue, Sorby noted, "It's crazy. I enjoy watching. Sometimes I'm a little bit scared for those guys."
