I love Motocross and Supercross. Most people have no concept of what an exciting form of motorsport it really is. Most have never even seen it on television as it is not a true mainstream sport, even though it is light years ahead of what it was just five years ago. A few of the Supercross races during the season(16 events in all)are now shown live on Speedchannel, another few are shown on the same day on ABC and the rest are shown next day. The outdoor Motocross Nationals are shown the following week. It is hard to get most people to understand how difficult and dangerous it is as most tend to equate racing with a casual put in the foothills on their old Honda 175. It's one of those things that you have to do to understand.

One of the things I do enjoy is being involved in friends(or strangers)first exposure to an event in person. I have never seen anyone not come away impressed or say thay didn't enjoy themselves, especially at a Supercross race. Supercross is raced in a stadium(it was orginally called "Stadium Motocross")on a man made track in front of sold out crowds. This past week Bev and I treated our long time Harley riding buddies, Jill and Elgie, along with Bev's Sister to their first such event at round three od the series held at Anaheim in Angels Stadium. There is nothing like walking onto the terrace and seeing the track out there under the lights waiting for the pro's to put it to use.

We arrived about an hour later than we had planned due to traffic hitches and got there just in time to get into the pits(pit passes come with the tickests)before they stopped letting people in. I had never been in teh pits this late and it looked as if most people thought the pits CLOSED at 5:30, but that's just when they stopped letting people in! There were almost no people in the paddock and we were able to get around unhindered by the massive crowds that usually accompany a trip to the pits. We were able to walk right up to deserted factory rigs and talk to and take pix with a few of the stars you would usually have to wait in long lines to see and they certainly wouldn't have time to BS or take pix. Pro-Circuit Kawasaki's owner, Mitch Payton was having some grub but took the time to pose for a pic. His young new star, Ryan Villopoto snapped a shot with my wife, one of his biggest fans. I ran into retired superstars like Jimmy Button and Sebastian Tortelli just standing around and had short conversations with both, but the high point of the evening for me was seeing my all time favorite rider, Honda's Kevin(K-Dub)Windham, as he was strolling from the 250F teams rig to his own. I just said "Hey, K-Dub"! like I had known him forever. He came out to where we were and I had him sign my wifes shirt(I rarely get autographs, but hey, It was K-Dub!), told him he was my fav and asked if he'd take a pic with us, which he did. I wished him luck and we headed for our seats.

A supercross race is not just a race. It is an Event. There are interviews, videos on the big screen, t-shirt guns thumping shirts into the upper decks and scantily clad women pushing all sorts of industry related goodies, not to mention the lovely Erin Bates(whos autograph I got at the Glen Helen National last fall)doing her pre race track facts and interviews. After the National Anthem and Color Guard ceremony the laser light show and anticipatory music starts as the top riders are introduced with a smal fireworks show following each introduction and that rider doing some trick, walking down through the crowd or just waving to the fans(all of this is up on the big screen) until it gets down to the top three in points. This year that was James Stewart and Chad Reed. Ricky Carmichael was actually second in points, but didn't race this round as he is only doing six of the rounds in this, his farewell tour. After the intros were done, Chad and James took a "hotlap" whipping their bikes off the big triples. Our frind, Jill, gasped in amazement never having seen such antics on a bike.

The racing commenced shortly thereafter with the 250F class, which is made up of the younger up and comers who haven't graduated to the premier 450F class, going off with it's two heat races(the first nine riders advance to the main), then the premier class and it's two heats followed by the Last Chance Qualifier in each class(four to the main in the 250 class, two to the main in the 450s). During intermission they stage the KTM junior SX race in which kids in the 5-8 yr old range who are picked at random from pre entries race identically prepared KTM50s around an abbereviated track in front of a delerious crowd. Can you imagine being that age and having 45,000+ fans screaming for you? Once that is done the main events get underway. This year Pro-Circuit's Ryan Villopoto devestated the 250 competition, much to my wifes delight. In the main premier class it was James Stewart who had to race past a determined privateer, Nick Wey, but eventually put on an amazing display of riding to win by a 20 second margin.

Our sister and our friends had a blast and James Stewart has a brand new superfan in Jill. She whooped and hollered every time he hit the triples and cleared the step up in our section. Bev and I had our usual blast(I have been to countless SX races since my first in 1975, Bev started going with me ten years ago)and we all left satisfied that a good time was had by all. I can't wait till my next race, but more than that, I hope Supercross' newest fans can't wait till THEIR next event!