MOTOCROSS ACTION’S MID-WEEK REPORT: (01/12/11)

French rider Cedric Soubeyras will be the man to watch in Phoenix?not because the French rider has much of a chance, but because he is being sponsored by David Vuillemin to race a 2010 Yamaha YZ250 two-stroke (it used to be Steve Lamson’s play bike). Soubeyras has built a name for himself on the European Supercross circuit on a KTM 250SX, and MXA was impressed with him when we saw him at Geneva this winter. But Euro Supercross tracks and Euro competition are not the same as the American ones. Soubeyras will be considered a major success if he makes the main event.

Unfortunately, Cedric crashed his YZ250 on his first day of practicing on a local American Supercross track and may not be able to race in Phoenix. David Vuillemin says that Cedric might have to delay his American debut until Dodger Stadium.

MXA MINI-VIEW: JOSH HANSEN

MXA: What was your program during the off-season?

Josh: The entire off-season I’ve been in Australia, racing. It was great, there’s nothing better for preparation than racing. I’ve been riding the 450 and I feel like it’s making me strong. I just got back a few weeks ago and I’ve been concentrating on the 250 and preparing for the west coast series.

MXA: How do the Australian Supercross track compare to the US tracks.

Josh: I thought tracks were pretty good. They’re definitely shorter. They were about forty second lap times and here they can be up to a minute long. Some of the races are a little bit shorter as well. There are four, eight-lap main events versus one, fifteen-lap main event, and that’s a little bit different?the intensity I way up there. It’s a good difference though. Like I said there’s nothing better than racing, so I think I got good practice.

MXA: With tighter tracks, was there more bumping and slamming in the turns?

Josh: There definitely was. I tried to get good starts and stay out of that mess. Some of those guys aren’t scared to just bash you.

MXA: You’re not afraid to bash though either, right?

Josh: No, I’m not, but still wanted to stay out of it so I would have no problems. All good press.

Josh winning A1.

MXA: How do you like the new 2011 250F?

Josh: Just being on it for a few weeks and it’s awesome. The new EFI kind of took us a little while to figure out; we lost a little power on the bottom. Pro Circuit always seems to catch on to stuff quickly, and honestly, now we have got the bikes really, really good. Plus, not to have to worry about a bog is good, the safety factor is a little better.

MXA: Have you noticed any difference with the forks?

Josh: Yeah I have. It seems like there are a lot more areas to improve on the new forks. The forks have always been good, but I feel that with these there are more adjustments that you can make. I have had nothing but good experiences with them.

The new launch control device has two-positions.

Is that an electric starter button on the left side of the handlebars? No way, Kawasaki was trying to lose weight, not pack it on. It’s a rev limiter system to help at the start of the race. When the button is pushed, the bike runs at a specific, predetermined and optimum rpm setting for the start. When the gate is about to drop, Villopoto doesn’t have to worry about his throttle hand, just the clutch.

Villopoto’s bike has a billet, clutch actuation arm. It provides the option to change length and leverage ratio, although Mike says they rarely deviate from stock spec.

Blue is in. The factory Kawasaki bike are spruced up cosmetically with blue highlights in the graphics, wheel hubs, engine plugs and miscellaneous parts.

FMF gets the nod from Factory Kawasaki for 2011. We noticed right away that the dimensions of this system were different than the production FMF system we have for our KX450F. For one thing it was shorter, which should help  low-end power needed in Supercross. We’re not too jealous though as the off-the-shelf pipe works pretty well.

The weight of every bracket, wire harness, spacer, etc. was examined and often reduced. It’s not all exotic materials either. Often, it’s just about reducing volume. This is a spare parts drawer in the semi truck.

PERRIS RACEWAY TO OPEN THIS WEEKEND: YOU NEED A PALA MEMBERSHIP TO RIDE THERE

Perris Raceway, Southern California’s oldest motocross racing facility, will reopen this Friday. Perris Raceway has been a motorcycle race track since 1958 and will once again be a premier practice and racing facility, and the home of the best lights and night riding in Southern California.

Perris Raceway has aligned with Pala Raceway and members of Perris Raceway and Pala Raceway will have access to both at both premiere motocross venues with a double membership giving added benefits to Southern California Motocross riders.

Perris Raceway will reopen for practice on Friday January 14th and Saturday January 15th (9am-Dusk) for practice. There is a race on Sunday. Within 45 days Perris Raceway will be fully reopened, and will be open for practice six days a week and will offer night riding on the Main Track. Future development plans include remodeling the Mini Bike track and building a Vet Track. Visit www.perrismx.com for more information.

MXA MINI VIEW: TYLA RATTRAY

Even though he’s a former World Champion and proved his speed to Americans in outdoors last year, Tyla Rattray was a question mark coming into the Supercross series. A solid podium finish in the main event puts those questions to rest. We talked to Tyla before the race to see how he made sure his rookie debut would go well.

MXA: Can you tell us a little bit about your off-season and what you’ve been doing to prepare?

Tyla: The off season went pretty well. I’ve obviously been riding a lot of supercross and I’m working with Aldon Baker now. We’ve got the new EFI on the 250Fs, and our bikes are fast. The guys at Pro Circuit have been working hard with our suspension and Mitch been doing a really good job on the engines, finding us more power, and I’m looking forward to going racing for sure.

MXA: What do you think about the new SFF forks on the KX250F?

Tyla: The forks are awesome. We’ve been doing a lot of testing and we’ll be racing with them this year. I think what we have now is better than what we had last year, so it’s a step forward. We’ve been doing a lot of testing and Bones has been doing a great job. It’s going to be awesome to get out there. Racing Supercross is new for me, this is my first year racing Supercross and I’m looking forward to getting out there.

MXA: Do you think you can be good at Supercross?

Tyla: Yeah, I’ve been riding pretty good. I’ve been doing a lot of laps around our test tracks as well as riding a bunch of other tracks just to try to adjust to different ones. I have good teammates, a lot of them are winning, they’re fast too, so I’ve got good guysto  judge against. My speed has been pretty good, and I’m just looking forward to a healthy Supercross season. It’s going to be a long season. We have six races, then a pretty big break, and the last two. My Long term plan is just to stay healthy. When we have the long break I’ll start testing some outdoor stuff, getting ready for the motocross season. Then it’s back to Supercross for three weeks and then back to motocross. My main goal is just to stay healthy the whole year and just be there at every race.

The term flex-fuel refers to a system capable of running on any mixture of ethanol and gasoline, regardless of the ratio. Honda has developed a flex-fuel EFI system that will run on  ethanol, gasoline, or a mixture of the two.