SPRING BREAK MADNESS

It’s been a while since we have been able to take the time to write a BLOG for the website. Since getting back from the INDY show, we have been slammed getting everything ready for the Texas nationals and the Las Vegas World Mini GP. Wow, talk about some intense racing action. In Texas, the competition was unreal. We witnessed a handful of unknown names rise to the top to offer some great battles. Obviously the top factory amateurs we knew would be up there for the battle, but we were really shocked with some of the kids of 2007.

We were greeted with great weather conditions for the Lake Whitney Spring Classic throughout the week. The Brett Downey Safety Foundation sent a representative out before the event to help with some changes for track safety. Well, it looks like it was good choice. The injury count was down and that made everyone very happy, and the Lake Whitney group did a great job with prepping the track. Though some people thought the track was a little one lined, it was a great positive change for the safety end of it. Great job guys!

For the GNC at Oak Hill, we were greeted with a few showers early that gave the track a nice coat of the soft stuff, but it cleared out just in time. Practice was interesting, and the racing started right on-time. Due to an injury back in January, Kawasaki’s Austin Stroupe missed the Whitney National. So, at Oak Hill we had the opportunity to see him go against Trey Canard and Nico Izzi. Even though he wasn’t a 100%, Stroupe still put on a great show taking home a couple of titles from the Lone Star State. Canard didn’t have the best of luck, as he was struck twice with mechanical failures causing him to DNF, and possibly some more titles. Overall the Oak Hill track was very challenging and offered some long grueling motos.

The 36^th Annual World Mini Grand Prix in Las Vegas just concluded over the weekend, and it was a big one. Just about 3000 entries battled it out on the desert floor at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway grounds. The World Mini seems to always bring at some big moto celebrity names to the event. This year we saw Jeff Emig, Jimmy Button, Erik Kehoe, Alan Olson, and many more big industry names. It was definitely a place for the industry to get together, as it seemed like every major company was there, and not to mention practically every energy drink company was there as well.

The typical Vegas wind brewed up for a couple days, with one day being pretty bad. But other then that, the track was rough and rutted giving the racers a great even playing field for racing.

Final Lap also stepped it up and broke out the video camera. We went to town for the amateur nationals with video and photo updates starting at the Texas nationals. We also put together a great deal of coverage for World Mini. Make sure to check the website frequently for more video updates and interviews of upcoming amateurs.

Now its time for all the Ponca City and Loretta Lynn’s Qualifiers. Maybe we will see you at some of them.

Good Luck!

THE MAD DASH FOR THE TEXAS TWO-STEP

Parents, kids, racers, and the whole industry is running wide open getting everything dialed in and headed out to Texas for the Lake Whitney Spring Classic. The week long event will kick off practice on Monday morning the 5th, and will wrap up on Sunday. Then the amateur racing community will pack up and head north to Oak Hill for another long week of racing for the GNC. It’s so wild. The scrambling that takes place for everyone that goes through it, but the kids dig it. It’s a road trip! With the help of our North Texas contributor Chris Schambacher, we were able to get a nice update of what has been going on lately in the lone star state.

Many amateurs have already been in Texas for some time now. Lake Whitney hosted the final round of the FMF/Honda of Houston Winter Series finale with a huge turnout. Over 1100 entries raced around Whitney heaven looking for some extra seat time on the track, before the big Spring Classic. The track features many changes for this year’s event. The biggest change is the start. They tightened up and made it much shorter and safer then before.

Honda of Houston’s Wil Hahn held off the attempts of fellow Honda rider Trent Pugmire in the A class. The B class saw Kawasaki pilot Tyler Sjoberg take the 125 class, with Lamay taking the 250 class. Ktm’s Blake Wharton nailed the Supermini and Schoolboy classes. Other notable riders that did well were Eli Tomac, Jason Anderson, Austin Politelli, James Justice, Brandon Mays, Terren O’dell, Austin Eitel, Justin Summers, Andrew Pierce, Nick Paluzzi, and Jason “Buck” Ford who put on a good show in the B classes and the BTH 16-24 classes.

After the warm up race, many of the racers headed out to Oak Hill or Cooperland. Oak Hill was having there warm up race for the GNC that entertained a crowd with some harsh winds. Many of the same riders that were at Whitney also went to Oak Hill. One of Suzuki’s newest rider Nick Paluzzi, had a good weekend at the Oak Hill track, where he dominated the 125 and Schoolboy classes. Austin Eitel was showing some fast speed winning a few motos, and winning an overall in the 250 B Mod class, but hit the ground hard calling it a day. Honda rider Tony Blood pulled the Iron Man award by competing in a handful of classes that seemed back to back and did well wining 5 classes for the weekend.

Mark Graddy was the dominate rider in the pro class, with Eli Tomac being the dominating mini rider in the Supermini and older age group. Other notable riders that did well at the Oak Hill warm-up included Alexah Pearson, Christian Craig, Michael Maze, Taylor Witt, Justin Summers, Drew Mitchell, James Justice, Buck Ford, Elizabeth Bash, Conner Mitchell, and Jesse Masterpool, and Frank Lettieri just to name a few.

While the Oak Hill warm-up was going, Cooperland was running a Loretta’s Area qualifier the same time that drew a large crowd. The standout rider in Oklahoma was none other then the Factory Connection Honda rider Trey Canard. Canard easily topped the A classes with no problems. Terren O’Dell was the winning B class rider, with Blake Wharton topping the 85cc12-15 class, Supermini, and the 12-16 class. In the 12-13 class it was local Oklahoma Kawasaki rider Justin Bogle taking the win, followed by Suzuki’s Austin Politelli, and Oklahoma’s Colt Nichols.

Well, it sounds like the riders are putting in the extra effort that should promise a great showdown coming. We will have to see how it all turns out when all the laps will be completed at the Texas Two-Step nationals.

We also had the chance to check out the new Champ Factory Bikes and hauler as they were getting ready to leave for Texas. Man the bikes came out nice. You can tell they put a lot of work into them. The newly Suzuki supported Champ Factory team is backed by Moto Metal Wheels, Rockstar, MSR, SPY, and many others. They also have a couple of ringers in their corner as team managers. Former Motocross and Supercross Champion Rick Johnson, along with Former World Champion Sebastion Tortelli will be keeping a good eye on the riders. The team riders are Jason Anderson, Austin Eitel, Brady Kiesel, and Austin Politelli.

We just got off the phone with Florida’s Michael Picone as he has just made the last minute switch to Yamaha’s from Kawasaki. After having a rough year in 2006, Picone is looking to redeem his self and maybe the blue bike is what he needed. Look for him at Texas, good luck Michael.

In other notes, our very own Blake Dalen was heading up to Bear for some series snowboarding when he lost control of his truck in some gnarly ice. Check it out, the Final Lap decal saved him. Soon after, Blake admitted that there were no animals harmed during the swap out maneuver.

Last Thursday (February 8th) Scott and John loaded up their bikes, gear, and of course camera’s to take a trip out to California City. Why, you ask? Well, it wasn’t to go camping, although it is a great camping location, but rather they headed out to the new Cal City MX Park. The new Southern California track is owned by John and Inge Elmes. While talking to John he stated, “we have made a lot of changes to the track recently. There are a lot of options out there for riders of all ability levels. If you want to go big you can, but at the same time there is nothing out there that is do or die, so the track design is also very beginner safe.” John continued by stating, “we have also really stepped up our effort to give everyone the best track condition possible. We are ripping the track every day in addition to keeping water on it all day long. Combine that with the prime dirt we have and you are left with a very nice track!” We couldn’t have said it any better. In fact Scott stated, “We were quickly greeted by the track owners, John and Inge Elmes, and were very pleased to see a freshly groomed, ripped, and watered track. There were approximately 8 to 10 riders out there (4 of which were part of the Elmes gang); it was very encouraging to see such dedication for a limited number of customers. Without a doubt, the Elmes's dedication to give their riders a quality track made the trip well worth it!” If you would like more info on coming races or simply directions to Cal City MX Park please visit: www.calcitymxpark.com

Moreover, while searching on the web this week we ran across two clips videos we though you would all like to check out. The first is a video Matt Miller put together of his buddy Ricky James. It is so awesome to see the journey that Ricky has been on since his injury. Check it out: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2135312368013730159

The second video is a video interview of David Bailey. It really touched our heart and perhaps more importantly opened our eyes. David has some important things to say and we hope everyone can take the time to sit down for a few minutes and listen. Check it out: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2540171359427789623

There has been a buzz about when Final Lap Magazine is going to be stepping up to the plate to offer some amateur videos on their website. Well, the cats out of the bag, as we are currently playing with some footage and hope to throw down some sick videos from Texas! So stay tuned!

Talking about a buzz, it seems like Myspace is everywhere you look! We are currently working on putting a profile together. Hopefully it will be a good way for us to connect withyou all. We are looking forward to launching it here in about a week.

Probably the biggest buzz in the amateur scene right now is everyone scrambling around trying to get prepared for the big Texas Two-Step, (The Lake Whitney Spring Classic and The Oak Hill GNC). Whether it’s the industry or the families getting ready, it’s right around the corner. Actually, many amateur racers will head to Lake Whitney this weekend for the final round of the Honda of Houston/FMF Winter Series. We will bring you some info on who showed up and did well in the next BLOG.

We just got the low-down from our great contributor from the dirty south, Doc Melloy of www.Moto-X-Report.com. This is what he had to say:

“The Dirty South: Shaun Martin added Beau Baldwin to his Big Red Machine, Honda of Houston Racing. Another HHR rider, Brandon Mays is camped out at 3 Palms, getting precious seat time ahead of the Texas Two Step (Whitney and Oak Hill). He and Beau have been hammering it.

Team Green resigned Johnny Moore. Johnny's going to stay in the B class this year, so he should be a force to reckon with again this year.

As you know, the Wharton racing machine is orange these days, and the Texas duo are loving their new bikes.

The Louisiana gang is absolutely tearing things up here in the Houston racing scene. Lance Vincent and Jeremy Domingue have taken things to the next level.

Team Green's newest stud is Justin Summers, and he too has come to Texas to stay and ride at 3 Palms prior to the nationals. Summers, Domingue, and Vincent are all testing here this week with Josh Rogers of EBR Performance.

JP Money (Jessica Patterson) was here this weekend at 3 Palms, keeping her game sharp. She is still with Honda of Houston Racing.

New Mexico's Jason Anderson, as you know, is absolutely on fire these days. Jason should be one of the top riders in the 12-13 age class again this year. We are expecting some championships out of him in '07.

Trey Canard has made a smooth transition to the Honda, and is on the fast trek to being a pro rider in their camp. Trey will bag some big ones again this year.
DOC Melloy (The Dirty South)”

Our contributors down in Florida Tim Eggers and Jen Sheppard have been keeping us up to date with the Winter AM’s. The first round kicked off at the Gainesville Gatorback track under some wet conditions. Top Pro riders Nico Izzi, Michael Picone, Ricky Renner, PJ Larson and Darryn Durham our some of the big names that have been battling it out during the series in the Sunshine state. The B class is seeing some great talent sprouting up, riders like Les Smith, Brad Kiester, Derek Rogers, Vince Friese, and Lowell Spangler have all been the top runners throughout the series.

In the Mini classes, Honda’s mini sensation Justin Barcia (featured in the image to the right) broke away from his New York home to get in some racing action down in Florida. Barcia pretty much dominated the mini classes in the 14-15 and Supermini classes. The 12-13 ranks saw the likes of Grant Ransdell, Kyle Peters, Nick Desiderio, Brandon Mays, Justin Summers, and Zach Bell getting into the mix during the Winter Am’s series.

Kawasaki’s young prodigy, Adam Cianciarulo pretty much had a cake walk in the thru 11 classes. His biggest competition came from his Florida rival Dalton Myers, and Wisconsin’s Thomas Covington.

In California, we have three big large events that take place before the Texas Nationals, Gold Cup, CMC Golden State, and the GFI Winter Series. Gold Cup, like always draws the largest crowd. Blake Baggett, Tye Hames, Bryce Vallee, Aaron Harvey, Tommy Weeck (featured in the image to the left), Christian Craig, Travis Baker, Ben Lamay, and Tyler Villopoto are just a few of the names that have surfaced at the big California races. During the off season, we saw riders Austin Stroupe, Hunter Hewitt, Wil Hahn, Tevin Tapia, Jason Anderson, and the Wharton boys were all out here getting in some practice at some of our local so-cal tracks.

With the three big moto states getting geared up for Texas, you know its going to be another great year in amateur motocross!

Big things ahead for 2007!

It seems like a new year almost always brings new vision—and the Final Lap staff has caught the vision to bring you a number of exciting things in 07.

As of January 1st we sent out the 60th issue of Final Lap Magazine, celebrating our 5 year anniversary of the only Nationwide FREE amateur Motocross Magazine.

Moreover, we recently brought Scott Parkinson on board as a part time staff member with the hope of really stepping things up with our website. In addition to the inside features and up to date race coverage, we are currently working on some video segments, more polls, more race coverage, wallpapers, and a new online column called In Focus. Also, if you have not noticed what you are reading, this is the new Final Lap Blog which should be updated regularly throughout the year. We are very excited about everything going on here at Final Lap Magazine, as we look forward to bringing you the very best amateur motocross website, just as we have the last 5 years with the publication. Make sure you check back often to find out what’s going on!

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to head out to Competitive Edge Motocross Park where Scott revealed their new Genius boot. We have heard, and seen a number of “storm trooper” comments, but let us assure you that this boot is nothing but cutting edge! After just a couple laps in the boot, we all agree that it is the most comfortable and supportive boot we had ever tried on! Scott should be releasing the Genius to the public some time soon. Keep your eyes pealed for them coming to a store or shop near you.

Scott had their boots lineup for the media

Ben Lamay wearing the New Scott Genius boots

With two rounds of the Supercross Series underway, it has been so exciting to see all the rookies make their move from the amateur to the pro ranks. Judging from our December poll, which asked what rookie would have the most successful supercross season in 07, everyone seems to be expecting a lot out of Josh Hill and Ryan Dungey. Ryan will be racing in the East Coast, so we have yet to see what he can do on a supercross track; however, Josh is racing the West and has been struggling a little. Last weekend in Phoenix Josh was able to improve on his opening round 19th with a 7th place finish. Hopefully tomorrow night at Anaheim 2, Josh will continue to settle down and improve his results!

Speaking of supercross results, we wanted to give a big congrats to Matt Lemoine! Matt has really stepped up his game thus far in 07, and is currently sitting in 6th place in the Lites points standings. Matt has no doubt been one of the rookie standouts this year. Keep it up Matt!

Ok that is enough about supercross, back to amateur racing. Tomorrow we are going to be heading out to Competitive Edge MX Park in Hesperia, Ca. to meet up with amateur sensation Jessy Nelson and his family. Jessy has been riding for a few weeks and is just coming off a very gnarly thumb injury. We are all hoping Jessy is able to make a full come back—he is a fun rider to watch. He truly is a great kid!

Another amateur making the move up is California’s Jarred Browne. Browne got the call from American Suzuki’s Cole Gress to jump aboard The Fun Center/Suzuki/MSR/FMF Race Team to fill in for the recently injured Michael Blose in the BooKoo Arenacross Series. With only 5 rounds left, Browne got his first taste of Arenacross action in Chicago against top dogs Darcy Lange, teammate Josh Woods, Tyler Bowers, Colt Humphrey, and Tiger Lacey. Browne started off nice by winning his heat race in the 450 Pro class, and went on to finish 8th in the Main after running as high as 4th for a few laps. On Saturday night, Browne grabbed a 6th place finish in the 250 Pro main. Now that he has gotten the jitters out of the way, keep an eye open for him during the remaining rounds of the series. For more info check out www.Racearenacross.com.

If you haven’t already, make sure you check out this month’s On the Final Lap with… This month we were able to sit down with Justin Starling: http://www.finallapmx.com/on_the_fl/starling/justin.htm

That’s it for now. Make sure to check back for more post on the Final Lap Blog.

Peace,
The Final Lap Staff