Vital Buzz

Okay, by now you've checked out last weekend's Pit Bits and race coverage, and are looking for a bit more from A3. Well, here goes…

Chad Reed swept the Anaheim tripleheader. (Click any image for a larger version.)

With his fourth race win of the season, L&M Racing / San Manuel Band of Mission Indians / Yamaha’s Chad Reed swept the three Anaheim rounds, as well as moving out front to a 26-point lead over Kevin Windham. K-Dub reportedly had problems with a flat front tire during the main.

While we thought we were at Anaheim 3, it seemed a bit like Anaheim 2.1 during the rider introductions. MDK KTM’s Steve Lamson, and Damon Huffman (who is currently doing some off-road racing for Kawasaki) took to the track during the pre-race ceremonies. Steve was on a KTM 144 two-stroke, which offered up a fine eu du two-stroke scent.

Troy Lee’s son, Max, was in the KTM Jr. Supercross Challenge on Saturday night, and we’re not sure who was more excited; Max, or Troy.

Two-time Lites National Champ, and defending West Coast Lites Supercross Champ, Ryan Villopoto, had his wrist wrapped in an ace bandaged, and hosted a small press conference following the rider’s meeting at A2 to let everyone know that he’d had some additional work done on his right wrist, following a surgery that he’d had in October. “I was getting it back to going, and I had a scope done on it, just to see if there was any cartilage or anything I could take out of there to give me a little less pain. I know there’s always going to be pain, probably for the rest of my life in it, and I was seeing if I could maybe minimize it a little bit.”

Ryan had broken his navicular a few years back, and explained, “I had a screw put in it and all the normal procedure you do with the navicular. That’s really all you can do, is just kind of wait for it to get better. The pain’s never really going to go away. But I’m trying to minimize it a little bit. Obviously I’ve had pain since I started racing professionally, and the scope is hopefully going to take some of that out.”

While his plans are to be in the mix when the Lites East series starts in Atlanta, he was about a week away from being able to ride (as of last Saturday), and waiting for the most recent procedure that the doctors had performed to heal up…and he did leave open the possibility that he might not be ready. “As of right now I’m going to race Atlanta. If something else happens, or I’m just not quite ready, I might miss it and catch the next one. It’s kind of up in the air, but for sure I will be racing.”

He’s also focusing forward on ’09, and moving to the 450 class, though he hasn’t ridden one since last year. “I’ve won two outdoor titles, and I’ve won the West Coast Championship, and it’d be nice to win an East Coast one. But if I could fix it to where I know I would be totally perfect and forfeit an East Coast Championship and just go out and race outdoors, I would do that. The East Coast Championship is not the biggest thing. The biggest picture is 450.”

Wonder Warthog Racing’s Heath Voss separated from his Honda over the finish line double, and was KO’d on the landing for quite a while during the Supercross main. Heath had been leading the Privateer standings, and while he’ll be okay, he did suffer a concussion and a separated shoulder that will keep him out of the action for several rounds.

In the West Coast Lites, the point chase has tightened considerably after Jason Lawrence took his second consecutive win, cutting deeply into Ryan Dungey’s once-considerable lead. With his usual humor, Jason explained about the last two weeks, “They’ve been good. I think I’ve lead every single lap in the mains and I’m stoked. I won the first three heat races and lost the first three mains, and lost the next two heat races and won the next two mains, so I’m gonna stick with that. You’re gonna see me throw up my hands if you see me winning the heat races from now on.”

So what has the difference been? “Ah, I don’t know. I think I got the bad luck out of the way. I made two huge mistakes at both the Anaheims, which were all my fault, and I lost both those races. In Phoenix I though the track was horrible. I think I’m just coming into my zone halfway through the season, and it’s good. I’m going to finish it out strong.”

How big a difference has it been working with his trainer, Ryan Hughes? “A lot. Can’t you tell? Last year at this point I was in fourth.”

“I’ve got the same attitude, I’m the same person, doing the same things, but now I’m in shape. That’s all it is. I hate that. Now that I’m doing a little better…we’ll start at ’06, it was, ‘I had a horrible attitude.’ Then the next year it was, ‘You’ve got a pretty good attitude.’ And this year it’s, ‘Oh yeah, Lawrence’s attitude is great.’ I hate hearing people say that, ‘cause they’re just sucking up a little bit because I’m doing good now. That’s how this sport works. It’s a little weird that it’s like that, but I’m the same person and I’ll probably always have the same attitude, I’m just a little more serious right now.”

At Anaheim 2, Jason was a whopping 34 points behind Dungey, and in fifth spot. Now, following his two wins, he’s in second place in the standings, and only eight markers back with San Diego, Houston, and Seattle left on the schedule.

Is this the finish line equivalent of looking back at your roost in a corner? That’s Tommy Hahn winning the Lites LCQ.

After a dismal first three rounds, Davi Millsaps has reeled off two consecutive podium finishes in the Supercross class, and put in another solid ride on Saturday night, finishing second behind Chad Reed. But even though he showed considerable speed, it wasn’t easy for Davi. “On Tuesday I was practicing at my house and the whoops were a little soft. The front end tucked right when I came into them and I went over the bars. I went to block my bike from hitting me, and it landed on my arm and my arm cramped up really bad. I couldn’t move my fingers all day. I had to go do acupuncture and massage and stem…I mean I did everything possible we could think of.”

“Practice today didn’t go that well. I was hurting really bad and didn’t know if I was going to be able to race. We just kept working it and working it, and then it came out to where it was pretty good for the main event.:

“Honestly, it wasn’t hurting super-bad until like before the finish line you had a straightaway into that turn, and it was really hard for me to use my front brake and I had to squeeze it really hard. After that it started cramping up really bad.”

“It’s really fun (being near the front of the pack), but Chad doesn’t really have anyone pushing him, and he could just be riding at a comfortable pace. But either way, I’m up front and it feels good.

Regarding the track, Davi mentioned, “This is probably the best Anaheim so far. Anaheim 1, I think the track layout wouldn’t have been that good anyway, but it was good for the mud. Anaheim 2? That was unreal. Just how the track was. This track, it was a good layout, and good jumps, it just needed to be taken care of a little better. There were so many ruts in-between the jumps and stuff. It was pretty dangerous there because you landed and the ruts were cross-rutted, literally by themselves, going back and forth.”

Tim Ferry scored another podium finish on Saturday night, taking home third spot, but had a post-race discussion with Paul Carpenter. When asked about it afterward, Red Dog said, “I felt like he should have obeyed the move over flags more. There was no one behind him, he had nothing to gain and Davi and me were still racing for second spot. That’s all it was. I was just frustrated, I thought I had a chance at Davi, and you never want to give up a spot. That’s also a couple extra points and I just wanted to let him know I was unhappy and hopefully he obeys the flag. I got lapped a few times this year and I completely pulled over.”

While he was a bit frustrated, he was also pleased with his performance. “I stayed as close as I ever have to first place. I know Chad had a little breathing room, so he was probably being smart and me and Davi were going for it. We got in the triple-triple-triple together a few times. I was one of the few guys to do that this weekend, and I was really happy about that. I’m definitely a little bit conservative sometimes, and I’ve been trying to hang it out a little more.”

The week prior in San Francisco, that was one spot where Timmy had lost some time, was in the triples during the rain. Did that bug him? “Yeah, it did. I think that was the difference between having momentum and not, and I didn’t have the momentum. Had I jumped that, the whole lap could have been different. But it just wasn’t really worth it to me to take that chance. Those guys were seat-bouncing it, and I was amazed that they were going for it…but I’m still here, I’m still healthy, and going on to San Diego.

After a rough start to the season with a 19th and two DNQs, Hart & Huntington’s Troy Adams seems to have caught fire, scoring consecutive top ten finishes in the last two rounds. He’s still doing it the hard way, though, qualifying through the LCQ in both San Francisco and at A3.

Okay, that’s it for today…be sure to check back throughout the week for more news and updates on VitalMX.com.