15 THINGS WE KNOW ABOUT THE FREESTONE RACE AFTER THE FACT

1. Chad Reed won the 450 class for the second week in a row. He was aided by the fact that Ryan Dungey’s Suzuki broke, ran out of gas, boiled the fuel or suffered what Suzuki officially called “a fuel problem” (take your pick) while Ryan was 25 seconds ahead of Chad. In an era where bikes don’t break under the watchful eye of factory technicians, Dungey has had some issues this year (thrown chain, blown engine at Daytona and mystery engine at Freestone). No other rider on the track could run with Reed and Dungey?least of all Ryan Villopoto who went 3-5.

2. After two rounds out of 12…only Ryan Villopoto and Davi Millsaps are within 25 points of Reed?which means that Reed could DNF a moto and still maintain the points lead.

Brett Metcalfe made the podium at Freestone.

3. All hail Ricky Dietrich. Dietrich gave up a guaranteed salary in offroad racing to pursue his motocross dream. At Freestone Dietrich battled with factory riders Brett Metcalfe, Jake Weimer and Andrew Short. Dietrich ended up fifth overall. He has to do it week after week, but just to do it once is an accomplishment. Christian Craig is another rider who deserves applause. He is new to the 450…not just the class, but the bike?and is coming off of a serious injury.

4. The Swedes were back again. Swedish riders Calle Aspegren and Fredrik Noren were back for the second week in a row. Much like Dietrich, these two riders are passing up a sure deal (in Sweden) to pursue a dream. The vacationing Swedes finished 18th and 20th (with Kyle Chisholm between them).

5. Davi remains a surprise. Never considered to be the most determined or fit rider on the circuit, Davi Millsaps got to the second step of the podium at Freestone (in 97-degree weather). Davi is currently third in the 450 points standings. Who would have thunk it?

6. Kevin Windham may get the most cheers, but he left Freestone with only 12 points for his 17th place finish (although he did beat the two privateer Swedes).

Ken Roczen is coming to America in 2012 and he will eat up budget that many riders were hoping would go to them. Photo: Hoppenworld

7. Tyla Rattray won the 250 class at Freestone the old fashioned way. He put his head down and never slowed down. Rattray’s corner speed was amazing and the rougher the track got the more he gobbled up the competition. He took the overall win on sheer determination…no scrubbing, no styling, no body twitching….just straight up racing.

8. All hail Lance Vincent and Austin Howell. Vincent scored a fill-in Geico ride and went 16-10, while privateer Austin Howell went 18-9. These are good guys who ride hard. Howell is currently 15th in 250 Championship points and Vincent is 19th.

Marvin…we hardly got to know you.

9. Marvin Musquin’s thumb injury was a freak accident…and he’s lucky it wasn’t worse because of the severity of the hit he took from Barcia’s flipping rear wheel in the first moto. Musquin will have to write 2011 off. He missed the Supercross series and, now, he will miss the Nationals. “I am very disappointed in this race,” said Marvin. “I felt very confident today and was really excited about this season and racing in the U.S. I just recovered from an ACL injury and can’t believe that I am hurt again. I am sad that it is not my fault and just a racing accident that I couldn’t avoid. I will do my best to recover to 100% as soon as possible so I can return to racing and put on a good race for the fans.”

Blake Bagget had a very bad weekend in Texas.

10. Blake Baggett suffered the “Eli Tomac Effect” at Freestone. Last year Tomac won Hangtown, as Baggett did this year, and then suffered in the heat of Texas, as Baggett did this year. Tomac backed it down at Freestone this time and finished 5-6 for fifth overall. Baggett went 7-16…and showed none of the prowess he had at Hangtown. A second moto crash detuned Blake. He’ll bounce back

Andrew Short.                Photo: Hoppenworld

11. “Let’s start all over again” is what Jason Anderson, Malcolm Stewart, Matt Lemoine, Darryn Durham, Alex Martin, Travis Baker, Nick Paluzzi, Ben Lamay, Andrew Short, Nick Wey, Michael Byrne and Tommy Hahn must be saying to themselves. All of these talented riders desperately need a good start and a chance to show what they can do.

Christophe isn’t ready for prime time.

12. When David Vuillemin was a factory rider he wasn’t the easiest rider for a team manager to deal with…guess what, David is now a team manager and he has to deal with Christophe Pourcel. Some says its karma. Some say its a French thing, but no one wants to be in Vuillemin’s shoes. Pourcel scored no points in Texas…although he showed moments of brilliance…but only moments before disappearing into the pits.

Ryan Dungey is an unhappy camper.

13. The Dungey Chronicle: The economic realities of motocross are such that you don’t need to wear sunglasses to avoid the brightness. There may be factory riders who want to switch teams, but since new bikes aren’t selling?there is no money. If Dungey wanted to leave Suzuki, where could he go? Kawasaki has Villopoto, Yamaha has Stewart (for what that’s worth), Honda is committed to Trey Canard (and they get a freebie in Chad Reed) and KTM is already set to go in 2011 with Ken Roczen, Marvin Musquin and Andrew Short. That means that Dungey’s best hope to get an offer anywhere near what he makes now is to stay at Suzuki.

Stewart has a year to go on his Yamaha deal.

14. As for Bubba, he has a year to go on his Yamaha contract. That doesn’t mean that he can’t break it, but at the moment Stewart isn’t a valuable commodity. He’s at home sitting on the couch (although he was an Glen Helen last week testing with Yamaha?which would hint that he is thinking about racing some Nationals at some point…but what would the point be?). If he gets beat at his limited National adventure?his economic value erodes even more, and if he wins…so what? It wouldn’t result in a Championship that Yamaha could tout. Stewart, like many factory riders, lives in an insulated rock star world that doesn’t fit with the working class mentality of the fans. He needs new advisors…or at the very least some common-sense advice.

Chad is all that Bel-Ray has to fight against their “Black Death” reputation and Bel-Ray is almost all that Chad has to help pay the bills.

15. A few years ago riders were pulling down multimillion dollar deals. Those days are gone. Riders are taking pay cuts (and some have signed cut-rate deals just to get a factory bike and full support at the races). Next year will not see any pay raises…and the going price for a winner could be around $500,000 instead of $2,000,000. And it could be less than $300,000 for a title contender (of which there are very few). In an industry that isn’t selling any motorcycles, the salesmen (in this case the factory riders) are the first to feel the pinch of budget cutting. Chad Reed has change his morose demeanor now that he is paying the bills himself?but he still only has one or two real sponsors that pay. And he is working the streets trying to sell product and himself. Chad is the best salesman in the sport right now..because he tries to help his sponsors.