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When James Stewart announced he was going to skip the 2011 AMA Nationals, I wasn’t surprised. In announcing the decision, James said his bike wasn’t ready for the brutal outdoor series. But I think anyone who’s paid attention to James’ career—particularly the racers of the world—knew that something else was up.

While James’ Yamaha did look marginal underneath him for the most of the year in supercross, it probably wouldn’t take a miracle for his team to pull together a decent outdoor set-up that they could refine as the year went on. The L&M Yamaha team does, after all, have vast resources behind it, and even if it’s true that James is a poor test rider (as is often whispered), a quality test rider could probably sort out a good baseline to work from in short order.

The problem as I see it has less to do with the bike and more to do with James. I think the guy has fallen out of love with racing. And the funny thing is, I don’t entirely blame him.

Continue reading "James' Quiet Summer" »

Posted by beaupre716 at 09:19 PM | Permalink

Nothing said cool in the 1980's more than JT Racing. With riders David Bailey, Broc Glover, Ron Lechien, Rick Johnson, Jean-Michel Bayle and countless others on the brand, plus super-clean and cutting-edge designs, it was hard to beat JT during its Golden Age. As a 60cc rider, I desperately wanted to sport the Bonehead-pattern gear that Ron Lechien wore in 1988, but alas, my seven-year-old frame wasn't even close to big enough for a size 28 pant, and there was no kids line with the Bonehead motif.

It took me a long time to get over that.

Anyhow, after falling off the radar in the late '90s, JT is back, and to celebrate they brought out some of their most prominent stars of the past (and some of their bikes too) for a photoshoot.

Posted by beaupre716 at 03:19 PM | Permalink

One mark of a great rider is his ability to bounce back from adversity, and Ryan Villopoto did a lot of bouncing back at Anaheim 1. On one level, he was fighting back from his season-ending broken leg at last year's St. Louis Supercross (he hasn't raced since,) and in the main event he was also fighting back from a forgettable qualifying round (he turned the fifth fastest time in practice, and then was caught and passed by James Stewart in his heat race.) But none of it mattered in the main, as Villopoto was the only one of the main contenders to get a good start, which he capitalized on by riding a mistake-free race.

Continue reading "Supercross Thoughts: Anaheim 1" »

Posted by beaupre716 at 09:34 AM | Permalink

Photo by Mike Torres

Whenever someone points out how very few Pros attend local races nowadays--and on our message board, this has been pointed out a lot lately--I feel a little guilty. This is because I used to complain about this too...back before I stopped racing myself.

My decision to cut back on racing--the main part of it, at least--came in 2007 when I concussed myself at a race at the Fallon Fairgrounds. It was my seventh lifetime concussion, and I had told myself after my sixth, which happened in Carson in 2005, that I would quit racing if I had another.

So when I crashed at Fallon, the thought that this would be last race was already in my mind as I idled my bike toward the pits. That night, I drove home with a broken collarbone and a headache. Yet my mind was occupied not by the pain, but by the thought that this could be my last drive home from a race that I had competed in. This thought, combined with the eerie emptiness of Highway 95 at 1 a.m., made it one of the most uneasy drives of my life.

Continue reading "Confessions of an Absentee Racer" »

Posted by beaupre716 at 12:28 PM | Permalink

I don't keep lots of things. I find I'm happiest when I'm surrounded by the necessary and useful items in my life, rather than the frivolous and superfluous. I even get upset with my wife when she keeps things that I don't see an immediate use for. "When are we possibly going to use this?" I say a few times every week.

But I do make one exception to my minimalist ways. In my garage there are hundreds of motocross magazines. There are copies of Motocross Action, Racer X, Transworld, Dirt Bike and the defunct titles MX Racer, Motocross, Cycle News, Wide Open, Final Lap, Motocross Illustrated, Motocross West, Motofly and a few others I can't even remember.

The oldest issues date back to the early '80s (when my older brother Bryan was the collector,) and the newest are still piling up today. Virtually every era in between has good coverage--bike tests of now-vintage machines, stories of races from tracks that no longer exist, columns by long-gone editors, advertisements for gear that fashion has forgotten (in some cases for the best.) It's all there on the fading, dog-eared pages.

Continue reading "Pack Rat" »

Posted by beaupre716 at 09:03 PM | Permalink

2011 Honda CRF450R

I'll admit it: new bike introductions have lost a little bit of their magic these past couple of years. Because of economic concerns at the factories--paired with the fact that very few riders spring for a new bike every single year--the excitement that used to surround the unveiling of the new models has diminished just a little. This trend was underlined during Honda's 2010 model launch, in which their flagship race bike, the CRF450, turned out to have no significant changes. Worse yet, Honda also revealed that the bikes would only arrive at dealers in very limited numbers...in the spring.

It wasn't Honda's fault, though--they still had lots of '09s sitting around, and that bike was a complete redesign from the '08. Still, I can't help but yearn for the days when nearly every year brought dramatic changes--the '80s and early '90s was the heyday for this--and nearly every year most serious riders would pop for a new ride (or two.) With the MSRP on the big bikes eclipsing $7,000, nowadays only riders who routinely sport top-hats and monocles can afford to buy bikes in the volume that regular guys did a few years ago.

All that said, the new rides from Honda and Suzuki still look plenty awesome. I don't think 2011 is a new-bike year for me (my '08 is still going strong,) but these new machines still do fire up the imagination...if not quite as much as they used to.

2011 Honda CRF250R

2011 Suzuki RMZ450

2011 Suzuki RMZ250

Posted by beaupre716 at 09:35 PM | Permalink

...mission accomplished. I checked shredding loamy dirt off my to-do list on Sunday and it felt good. It was so good, in fact, that riding went right back onto the top of the list. So it goes.

Posted by beaupre716 at 07:58 PM | Permalink

It's been too long.

For the past few weeks, it's been one thing or another--a family vacation, a mountain bike trip, a niece's birthday party--that has kept me off my motocross bike. Every time I pass my bike in the garage, I think to myself, Gotta get out to ride soon. Yet it hasn't happened.

But a few minutes ago I resolved to change that. I cleared my schedule and made the plans. I called my dad to invite him along and mentally prepared myself to have my front brake on the right side (again, I've been riding my mountain bike a lot.) And it feels good to have done these things.

Sometimes it's tough to put all the pieces together to just go out and moto. It's far too easy to get distracted when you've got kids and bills and a semi-bustling web site to pay attention to. Yet the truth is that until you make the time, riding is just another thing on your to-do list. And I'm trying not to add many more things to that list these days--there are enough car repairs, dentist appointments and e-mail chores to fill that list just fine as it is.

So this weekend I'll be lightening my burden a little by throwing some roost off it. See you Sunday.

P.S. Please excuse the lack of posts this week--it really was family vacation time, and the laptop didn't come along. We went to the ocean and the combination of electronics, salt water and young children seemed like a dangerous mix.

Posted by beaupre716 at 08:46 PM | Permalink

I'm worried I've hit my head too many times.

I don't worry because I have lots of trouble remembering where I left my car keys (I don't) or when my wife's birthday is (in all likelihood, she wouldn't let me forget that one anyway.) I worry because it seems like I can't open a magazine these days without finding a new article on the dangers of concussions.

Ever since scientists began a few years ago to notice a pattern of ex-NFL players developing mental-health problems in middle-age--many of whom have exhibited signs of early-onset dementia as early as their 40s--there have been increased worries that repeated blows to the head can affect one's brain long after the initial damage is done.

Continue reading "Concussed" »

Posted by beaupre716 at 11:23 AM | Permalink