Vital MX Pit Bits: Glen Helen

MXA's Jody Weisel pointing out some of the finer points of Glen Helen to Davey Coombs. There was a bit of fuss about the track design before the tour got to Glen Helen, but it was cool to hear that their collaborative efforts had the riders pleased with the track.

Glen Helen made some improvements coming into the event, which was cool to see. We're not sure what was happening with the P.A. system (they had a new supplier for the race), but it was eerily silent before the start of the first moto.

We spotted these vintage Jeremy McGrath helmets in the Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM rig, before they made it out to a Red Bull Straight Rhythm display.

Ah yeah, remember these taillights on the back of MC's helmets? He used to run some pretty unique stuff back in he day.

The A-Stars crew are working on some new jerseys, featuring some sort of design with separate sewn arms and chest area.

...while his teammates at Rockstar Husqvarna uses the standard aluminum mounts.

With the wet conditions, roll-offs were out in force for practice.

While the TLD 250 team uses carbon fiber engine mounts, Osborne's bike uses the steel mounts from a few years ago...

Chris Alldredge is hitting a few nationals this year aboard a KTM 250 SX. At Glen Helen, he ran inside the top ten during the second moto...with the only modification being the suspension. The engine, pipe, etc., are stock.

Kyle Cunningham had some new hardware (Yoshimura) as he goes outdoors on his own with some support from his Supercross sponsor, H.E.P. Suzuki.

The Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM team is rocking extra hardware in outdoors, with both Garmin's Virb 360 camera and LITPros.

Have fun setting that holeshot device. Weston Peick apparently likes the front end really cranked down on the starts.

Nope, air isn't dead, especially if you stop by the Geico or Star racing pits.

Yep, Kenny's going through a lot of trainer tape. He seemed to make quite a jump between round one and Glen Helen and led half of the first moto on an extremely tough track.

Ken Roczen still rocks a Mobius wrist brace for his original injury on the left arm wrist, albeit with a small modification, after he requested a change from a single-finger retaining system at the front end, to two fingers instead.

Fox's athletes don't always wear Flex Air gear, this week Ken Roczen and many others were in their 360 line to show off their Red, White, and True limited edition gear.

Yeah, Aaron Plessinger does things his own way.

To lessen the risk of water interfering with electronics, teams tend to scrape their bikes off between practices instead of full spray-downs.

With EFI and other associated electronics, teams are a bit more careful in outdoors after a good pressure washing. Doing a quick peek and check of most systems after practice to make sure things are good to go come moto time.

The Autotrader/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory Racing guys aren't skeered.

Brazil's Enzo Lopes is taking it all in for his rookie debut and fill-in at JGR. Here he chats with Rob Hendrickson of RG3 who is contracted as a chassis/suspension guy for the team.

After the first practice, the Monster Energy Kawasaki team was all hands on deck to chase a minor electrical hiccup with Tomac's machine. They figured it out quite quickly.

The Gieco team was doing a little data collecting, thus the anchored wire at the bottom of the fork...measuring travel and speeds.

This reel seems to be the same system we see Red Bull KTM and the Honda teams use.

The Nationals don't exactly follow the strict sound testing of outdoors, the lack of buildings and colder weather for the sound to reverberate through also means the bikes test quieter anyhow. With this, we noticed a lot of teams with less restriction in their tail caps.

#FactroyCattywampus... Alex Ray made his factory debut this weekend, and will be on the bike for at least two more rounds.

After Alex wadded the bike up in the first practice, the team was giving him a pretty good ribbing about his parts bill.

Yamaha's Keith McCarty passing along some of his year's of knowledge to Justin Barcia.

Japanese riders still take extreme pride in custom helmets, as we've noticed when we visit the Land of the Rising Sun. Toshiki Tomita's helmet is a good example of the flair they still rock.

Training partners/friends Alex Ray and Bradley Taft were all smiles before things kicked off.

After racing last weekend on a stock FC 450 Rockstar Edition with a pipe, ECU, and handlebars...Taft had upgrades this weekend as he swapped his bone stock suspension for a set of WP CV forks and Trax shock tuned by Powerband.

There's always an abundance of matching Fox boots over at the Pro Circuit rig.

Fox dropped a new ad campaign this weekend featuring a "Made for Motocross" slogan. In addition to the hats, we spotted some flags with the same phrase roaming through the crowd.

Leatt had Garrett Marchbanks dialed in for the red, white, and blue theme Fox has this weekend.

Back-to-back toolboxes make a perfect place for your seats.

Jeremy Martin went aggressive with his tire choice in moto one, opting for an MX12 sand tire for the loose and wet conditions at.

While the 2018 CRF250R doesn't come stock with a Showa steering damper like in previous years, the Geico team adds one.

It's the little things that make each rider's setup different, check out RJ Hampshire's (and Chase Sexton's) seat ribbing...

...while Jeremy Martin's bike has extra ribs at the front to help keep his smaller stature a little farther forward on the bike.

The Geico mechanics keep their gas cap tool handy for the oversized tanks they use in the outdoors. To make sure they always have them on hand, a member of the team fashioned these retractable cables to their belts.

Like the Team Honda HRC 450 bikes, the Geico crew has a secondary starter button mounted on the frame under the shrouds in case the handlebar-mounted unit fails or is damaged in a crash.

With the CRF250R's stock water pump spigot being pressed in, there's a chance of it coming out when over-pressurized or bumped...so the Geico team retains it with a small bolt placed on the inside area of the case.

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There were ton's of sidelined riders hanging out at GH. It was good to see Mitchell Oldenburg, who's on the mend from his ACL surgery. We also spotted Mitchell Harrison (separated shoulder), and Broc Tickle. Broc said that it had just sort of hit him the day before that he wouldn't be able to race Glen Helen. We're hoping for a speedy return for all of them.

Adam Cianciarulo is already able to walk around on his recently-repaired ACL, but he said in the interest of protecting it (and being able to roam around all day), he opted for the crutches.

Surveying the scene while waiting for the two-stroke race 30-second board duties.

Kai Aiello had the early jump on the pack.

Rounding the first turn, the two-stroke buzz is alive, and Aiello and Durham battled for the lead.

Darryn Durham was flying. If we remember correctly, he finished in second spot.

Robbie Wageman crossing the line for the win.

As the 51Fifty Yamaha squad keeps it on the West Coast, Kyle Chisholm will be found under the 3D Yamaha rig for the bulk of the summer.

We were bummed to hear that Christian Craig's season is over after an ACL injury.

Okay, here's just a bit of random style before we go. Press Days are fun, when riders have a chance to play and show off, rather than being solely focused on hitting the lines that their LitPro coaches them to hit. Check out the front wheel roost from Marv's front tire as he scrubs over this jump.

Ken Roczen from Friday's Press Day? That's just nasty.

Justin Barcia doing his version of moto limbo.

That's it! It's about time to hit the road for the summer. Keep an eye out for the fresh new graphics from 270x.com on the Vital MX truck and trailer as we tour around the country following the traveling circus

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Vital MX Pit Bits: Glen Helen 4

This was a "home" race for tons of the teams, with no shortage of goodies to check out, and people to visit with.

View replies to: Vital MX Pit Bits: Glen Helen

Vital MX Pit Bits: Glen Helen 4

This was a "home" race for tons of the teams, with no shortage of goodies to check out, and people to visit with.

View replies to: Vital MX Pit Bits: Glen Helen

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