mx775

So the first west coast swing of 2010 is over, and our Carson City riders, Nate Tiearney and Adam Conway, have done an admirable job against the world's best. At A3, Nate narrowly missed the 450 main with an 11th in heat one, just two spots shy of qualifying. A ninth in the LCQ rounded out his night, and although Nate never made a main event in the first six rounds, it's been clear that he's been riding very well since round one aboard his West Racing/Answer-backed Kawasaki.

Adam had a near-miss of his own in 250 qualifying, as he qualified 42nd fastest, again less than one second out of the 40-man cut. But Adam, who's been making his first foray into the hyper-competitive world of SX, has been on the bubble all year long, showing he's ready to break through with a little more experience. Watch for Adam on his Liv Fast/56 Solid-sponsored CRF when the series returns west in Seattle in April.

In other, non-local action, the 450 title is shaping up into a real fight again. A lackluster ride from Ryan Dungey, matched with Ryan Villopoto's win and Josh Hill's steady-as-ever second, has made the points incredibly tight.

Who do I predict will win? Honestly, I don't have a strong feeling yet, but I still think Dungey has the best shot so far. Villopoto's win was impressive, and Hill has pretty much shocked me all year, but I think Dungey's (mostly) good starts and (mostly) strong finishes will set him up well come Las Vegas.

In the 250s, Jake Weimer had a rough night, but I still think he's got the title in the bag. A3 winner Trey Canard could make it interesting, but that would take more mistakes from Weimer, and I'd surprised to see many more of those.

Finally, it was nice to see Kevin Windham get into the mix again. No, he's not a hang-it-out type of rider anymore (if he ever really was,) but when the race starts to come to him, he can still put on a show.

Check out http://www.amasupercross.com/ for the full results.

Posted by beaupre716 at 08:09 PM | Permalink

Awhile back, we all posted photos of our bikes on the original post your ride thread. But since some time has passed, I figured we'd try a new post your ride thread to show off your machines in their current state of being.

To change things up, I decided to go shoot my bikes as they sat in the garage one afternoon (as opposed to rolling them out for some glamour-style shots.) Also, since I've shot straight-ahead photos of my bikes so many times (you should see my photo albums,) this time I decided to shoot bits and pieces of them and some weird angles.

Enjoy the random bikes scattered in my garage and consider posting your own pride-and-joy when you have a chance.

Posted by beaupre716 at 12:08 PM | Permalink

Before Anaheim 1, the script for the 2010 season was supposed to read like this: James Stewart and Chad Reed renew their '09 rivalry for the 450 title, while young guns Ryan Dungey and Ryan Villopoto attempt to find the pace to challenge their elders for race wins and maybe--just maybe--a championship.

A few weeks later, all that has gone out the window.

Stewart and Reed are on the DL and out of the championship; Dungey has shown the speed to lead the class but peppered in just enough mistakes to keep things interesting; Villopoto has shown flashes of brilliance, but not much consistency.

And the surprises keep coming: Josh Hill is suddenly a very fast and very consistent championship contender, and Davi Millsaps has found his speed from '08 again. Taken together, these revelations have made for a suddenly very-wide-open title chase that will culminate in the crowning of a first-time champion in Las Vegas this spring.

San Diego looked like Dungey's race to win...for the first 120 feet. After his first-turn crash (and another early fall,) Dungey turned in an admirable charge to get back to sixth, but Hill's second-place performance narrowed Dungey's points lead to four.

Millsaps deserves credit for holding it together to win on the semi-muddy SD layout. With a couple more wins (and a couple more stumbles by the front runners,) Millsaps could find himself in this title chase yet.

And let's not forget Ivan Tedesco. His third-place was a great showing for a newly non-factory pilot. 

In the 250s, Jake Weimer showed yet again that he believes the title is his. But how about 16-year-old Max Anstie? The kid was on the gas, and nearly made the race for the lead interesting in the closing laps. Watch out for this kid if the skies really open up--I hear his home country of England gets an occasional shower.

Finally, locals Nate Tiearney and Adam Conway had mixed results. Adam missed the night show by less than a second in qualifying, while Nate made the night show but ran into trouble with a 17th in heat two and a DNF in the LCQ.

The California SX tour finally wraps up this weekend with Anaheim 3. Check out the live timing and results on http://www.amasupercross.com/.

Posted by beaupre716 at 10:59 AM | Permalink

Firstly, congrats to local favorites Nathan Tiearney and Adam Conway, both of whom put in their best performances of the year so far at the San Francisco SX.

Nate ran 27th fastest in 450 qualifying and followed that up with two near-misses for the main event: 12th in heat two and fourth in the LCQ.

Adam made his first night-show appearance of the year in the 250 West with the 39th fastest qualifying time, and posted very respectable performances in the night show with a 14th in heat two and an eighth-place in the LCQ. 

Nicely done, guys.

As for the mains, Ryan Dungey's crash stole the show in the 450 event. If you haven't seen it already, take a look at it here.

It was a pretty effective handling of a pretty brutal crash, and fourth-place points kept him in the points lead.

Ryan Villopoto recovered nicely from his seventh last week with a win this time around, and Josh Hill turned in yet another podium with a solid second. And Davi Millsaps, whom I personally wrote off for this year after his medicore '09 season, proved me at least a little wrong with a third.

In the 250s, it was nice to see Trey Canard take the win since Jake Weimer has had such a stranglehold on the series lately. But it's still Weimer's title to lose, as his second-place finish kept him comfortably atop the points.

Next week it's on to San Diego for yet another California SX. Check out the results for SF and the live timing for San Diego on http://www.amasupercross.com/.

Posted by beaupre716 at 09:54 PM | Permalink