It looks like it’s going to be a rough night tonight, so I decided to start a list of all the injured riders from today:
- Cole Seely
- Nico Izzi (still racing)
- Nick Paluzzi
- Travis Baker
Latest
Practice Results + Videos
250′s:
450′s:
From Privateer to Fill-In
Geico Honda's Jimmy Decotis is now a full-time member of their six-rider team.
It seems like there are very few times where the moto community doesn’t applaud a privateer who makes it as a fill-in rider. Such a step up is noticed for a few days before that rider either makes an impact or gets shuffled back in the pack. Those who make it often get lasting contracts.
Jimmy Decotis began riding the professional circuit in 2010, competing in the 250 East Supercross. As a privateer, he finished eighteenth in the East/West Shootout in Las Vegas. He then continued on to the outdoor nationals, where he finished twenty-eighth overall with 33 points.
While Decotis’ results weren’t stellar, they were enough to earn him some attention from top factory teams. In 2011, after Geico Honda rider Wil Hahn crashed in the first practice of the supercross season, the team called in Decotis to fill-in while Hahn was recovering.
He performed well enough to guarantee a spot on the team for the outdoor nationals that year. Unfortunately, he ended up dislocating his elbow in practice and missed a majority of the motocross season.
Three-time Canadian champion Colton Facciotti came to Southwick out of his own pocket in 2011, hoping to catch the eye of potential sponsors. On his 450, Facciotti made an impact, demanding attention of sponsors and teams alike.
So when Troy Lee Designs/ Lucas Oil/Honda’s Christian Craig managed to injure himself yet again, Facciotti was fresh in their mind.
“I love to see a kid that is hungry to make it happen and I see that fire in him,” said team owner Troy Lee in a press release. “I think he is going to surprise a lot of people who haven’t followed his career.”
These riders receive massive amounts of attention considering, more often than not, that their results are nothing special. But once the newness dies out, then they are forgotten. Sometimes, fill-in riders have enough time to work up to impressive results, earning back their attention. Other times, they get lost.
Gavin Faith has filled in on two different teams (Geico Honda and JGR Yamaha) during his first year in the professional ranks.
But what happens to a rider who doesn’t have enough time? What happens to a rider who has a very short amount of time before they’re forced to move back into the back of their van and pay their way to all the races?
With James Stewart out of the picture due to a broken hand, JGR/Toyota/Yamaha wasn’t looking for a new rider, especially as there were only a handful of rounds left in the 2012 supercross series. But when Davi Millsaps asked if his friend and fellow rider Gavin Faith could put his bike in the truck for transportation between races, the team took it one step further.
For the last three rounds, Faith would become a full-on fill-in rider for James Stewart. The team created a bike with Millsaps’ settings, put Faith’s number on it and sent out a press release saying that they had taken Faith on.
The agreement, however, only guaranteed a spot for the remaining supercross rounds. When it comes to outdoors, Faith has to go through the process of looking for a contract or sponsors, just like most other fill-ins have to do.
In a sense, privateers have the tougher lives. Even though satellite teams are nothing like factory teams, their riders are still ensured some sort of compensation and are contracted to the team. Privateers have no contract and no guaranteed sponsorships. They have to work hard to get what they need, then even harder to get noticed.
Each year, dozens of riders come up into the professional ranks hoping to attract the attention of factory team managers. Sometimes they do, other times they don’t. And with the economy still in a bad place, teams are struggling to support the limited riders they have.
Major respect is given to privateers behind the screen or in the stands by fans and professionals alike. In the pits, though, the privateer rows are the least populated by far. Often shoved in the back or on the far end of the lot, hardly any fans go to see what privateers really are living with. Some riders are literally operating out of the back of a truck.
Next time you’re at a race, go take a look at the privateer pits. I guarantee if you’ve never been there before, you will be shocked.
Main Events 2012: Seattle
250s:
450s:
GoPro Cut and Edit: Eventful is Just the Beginning
I do this segment on Pro Moto Talk about the GoPro edits each week where I rate them on three criteria, kind of like a movie. I’ll only be posting the full review there, but each week I’ll post the edit here, along with a link to my review. So HERE‘s the link. And here’s the video:
RV Done for 2012
Irvine, Calif., – Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto will not defend his AMA Motocross title in 2012 after injuring his knee at the Seattle supercross on Saturday night. The two-time AMA Supercross and defending AMA Motocross champion will undergo surgery on his knee this week.
“I’m pretty disappointed right now,” said Villopoto. “I have trained hard for this season and even though I won the supercross title, I really wanted to defend my outdoor championship. I’ve been through injury before and I know how hard I have to work to get back.”
Villopoto is coming off of a dominant 16 months where the Poulsbo, Wash. native earned two AMA Supercross titles on the strength of 15 wins, the AMA Motocross Championship with three wins and also the richest payday in supercross with a million dollar win at the Monster Energy Cup.
Quick Capture: What ET Really Thinks of Weege
Between practices and the night show Saturday, I was in the press box trying to watch to Racer X pre-race videos as the got uploaded. Now, the internet in the press box was crazy slow, so the videos were getting uploaded as slow as it took for them to load to watch. So halfway through the Eli Tomac video, it paused to buffer right on this shot. I sat there for a minute, listening to other people chat as I waited, and Weege looked over and saw this shot. His response? “I think that’s what Tomac really thinks of me most of the time.”
Figured I would share with all of you!
Seattle Supercross: 250 Recap
Just when it seemed like the drama and excitement of the 2012 Monster Energy Supercross season had come to an end, chaos happens. Yes, that is a perfect one-word description for what went down Saturday evening at Century Link Stadium in Seattle, Washington.
The night started off with the 250 heats, which were lined up perfectly to accommodate for some early action. Heat one had Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson, Geico Honda’s Eli Tomac and Rockstar/Suzuki’s Martin Davalos. Wilson started the night strong with a solid holeshot, followed by Davalos. Tomac didn’t have quite as stellar of luck, starting around fifth. He got up to fourth quickly, though, before leveling off. Wilson took home the heat win, followed by Davalos, Moss, Tomac, Friese, Baker, Hudson, Meusling and Tilford.
Heat two was Red Bull/KTM’s Marvin Musquin for the taking. He looked good all morning and seemed to ride the track well. Along with him was Troy Lee Designs/Honda’s Cole Seely and Rockstar/Suzuki’s Jason Anderson, both who had also shown impressive times in qualifying. Musquin snagged the holeshot from the inside, followed by Laninovich, Hahn, Seely and Anderson. Anderson made his way up to fourth quickly and then battled with Seely for third, but couldn’t get a pass to stick. Meanwhile, Hahn caught up to Musquin in the last few laps, but lost some traction and time in the last lap. Musquin finished strong yet again, taking the heat win. Hahn, Seely, Anderson, Sipes, Laninovich, Beaton, Ingalls and Tedder all qualified for the main as well.
Scott Champion and Killy Rusk transfered easily from the LCQ.
By the time the main events came around, it was anyone’s guess who would take the win. According to a text-your-vote poll, more than half of the audience thought that Wilson would be seeing the top of the podium yet again. Earlier in the day, Wilson had told Racer X that he had been using his break to relax and enjoy his new red plate. He felt refreshed and ready to race for the West coast title.
Tomac came in second in the vote, boasting a minimal 15 percent. Fans at the stadium weren’t too confident in his ability to come back from a fractured elbow. Tomac, on the other hand, said that the few weeks he had to relax due to the fracture were needed.
Other favorites were Musquin and Troy Lee Designs riders Cole Seely and Travis Baker. They had all qualified fairly well coming in to the main event.
When the gate dropped, the crowd was on its feet. In a mad dash for the holeshot and an open track, riders bunched up into the first turn. Coming out of nowhere, Star Valli Yamaha rider Ryan Sipes grabbed the holeshot and early lead.
Behind Sipes were Tomac and Wilson. Right off the start, they were in perfect position for a fantastic battle. Both riders were quick and aggressive on the track, passing each other left and right. Wilson put an aggressive block pass on Tomac, almost taking out his front wheel. Tomac didn’t let this mess with his momentum, though, and went on to pass Wilson again for second.
A two-way battle for fourth went down between Geico Honda’s Wil Hahn, who was returning to the 250 West from injury, and Seely. About halfway through the race, they were joined by Musquin, who had worked his way up from a mid-pack start. The three continued to battle until the last laps.
Meanwhile, Tomac and Wilson were still at it. Wilson seemed to be getting more and more desperate to make a pass stick. His blocks were aggressive and often resulted in contact with Tomac. Then, just after crossing the starting straight again, Wilson checked up on Tomac, forcing him off the track. Tomac took didn’t take any time to jump back on the track, though, hopping some tuff blocks in a mini-transfer style to get back right behind Wilson.
Many fans knew at this point that Tomac was going to go in for the big pass. Sure enough, a couple laps later, Tomac caught him in the turn after the finish line and collided with him. The contact wasn’t overly aggressive, just enough to put Wilson on the ground. In an attempt to catch himself, Wilson landed on his left shoulder. He grabbed it in pain as he scrambled back to his bike. He remounted and got back in the race in seventh, but he was injured.
Tomac also came out of the collision with the short end of the stick. His shifter had bent, making it almost impossible to change gears. He rode in third gear for a bit, slipping his clutch to prevent the engine from stalling, before he finally had to jam the shifter down into second. Though his lap times had gained two seconds because of this, he held on to second place until the last lap. Musquin put on a last-minute charge, moving himself out of the battle for third and past Tomac into second. Tomac tried to retaliate, but couldn’t get the speed.
Sipes, who had managed to lead every lap, finished the race almost unnoticed. Everyone’s attention had shifted to the many battles going on behind him. But when Sipes lit the candles for the first time that night, everyone remembered the leader.
The top ten finished as follows:
- Ryan Sipes – YAM
- Marvin Musquin – KTM
- Eli Tomac – HON
- Cole Seely – HON
- Wil Hahn – HON
- Jason Anderson – SUZ
- Dean Wilson – KAW
- Billy Laninovich – HON
- Travis Baker – HON
- Vince Friese – KAW
For complete results, check out the scoring sheet here. ()
That moved Eli Tomac back into the leading position for the overall. He now sits four points up from Wilson and 15 points up from Seely.
