I haven't hit the track much in 2010, but knowing that the 4th Annual Motocross Ride for the Cure Event was coming, I dusted off the KTM, dropped it off at Malcolm Motorsports for some fine tuning, hit Milestone Motocross Track for a handful of warm ups and I was ready to enjoy the funnest event of the year hosted by motocross enthusiast herself, Laurie Carey, who is constantly raising the bar for fundraising, support, education and interaction for Breast Cancer Awareness!

The morning started off amazing, perfect day to moto! The sky's were bright blue and littered with dark fluffy rain clouds! Dropping rain in perfect track watering patterns, the day was in full swing and the pits were packed! Tons of Factory support lined up for the event, they even had a never ending Freestyle show in the works! Mike Metzger, the God Father of FMX was doing his thing and dozens of other talented riders busting out tricks for the fans.

I pretty much settled into a pack rat of MXGirls, WMA Pro Rider Elizabeth Bash, Race Techs Michelle Marshall, and Mission Motorsports Brooklyn McClendon. We had a blast mixing it up on the main and vet tracks, sporting our decorated "Ride for the Cure" Bra's and having a blast spinning laps, saving boobies!
In the end I was amazed at the growth this event has accumulated over the years, by far the most impressive outcome I've seen. I'm looking forward to next year's event, but more importantly, it's touching to see all the work Laurie Carey puts into the Support and Awareness of Breast Cancer.
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Source: http://www.supercross.com/mxgirls-blog/r4tc-2010-ride-for-the-cure-at-cahuilla-motocross-park
Michele Rinaldi Joël Robert Ken Roczen Stephane Roncada Gerard Rond
This was originally published in late 2000. Great read and insight then ... same today, with some nostalgia now.
Larry Brooks - Team Manager - McGrath Racing
ERIK: In January and February of this racing year (2000) we start thinking about 2001. Everything is always a work in progress. A good example is the new Yamaha YZ 250F four-stroke. There are always many different aspects that we are thinking about. Another example is we are already looking at potential riders for the 2001 season. A lot of riders' contracts are only for one year, so we are always on the lookout for and evaluating new talent for the upcoming season. It's a process that goes on year around. SELVARAJ: We actually have been preparing for this upcoming season starting three or four years ago. Then it really stepped up this past season when we got our big-rig truck. This past season we wanted to see how things worked, about how we can make our team work, and it's always on ongoing process in putting an upcoming supercross effort together. This season is the very first year that we've spent a large amount of money in trying to get the top level riders. We are concentrating on putting together a winning 125 team. It's a lot of effort, a lot of work, assistance from our sponsors, and the factory in Austria putting in support has been tremendous. The US market is not only important for the US, but also worldwide. LARRY: We started thinking seriously about the 2001 season in late February. We had an idea of what we wanted to do, and what could happen in the future. Jeremy and I talked about what he wanted to have happen, and where he wanted to be. Jeremy wanted to be involved in racing after his professional career was over, and not just disappear from the scene. Jeremy's an excellent teacher, and this is a perfect transition for him going to a team owner too. He'll be able to work with new riders coming up, and the team will continue. For us, starting a new team, it's a lot of work, and it was a big decision to make. It's worked out very well so far. BRUCE: We start preparing in 2000, around March. Some people might think that's staring early, but that's just what needs to be done. We start putting together our entire program, and hopefully by that time we have a good idea of who our team members will be. This includes planning, testing, parts that will need to be built, implementing new ideas that we have. In a way, we actually never stop .... it's on ongoing process. The biggest change for us comes when there is a major change in the bike itself. Some years it can be good, some years it can be not so good. Our bikes have not changed significantly from 1999 to 2000, and from 2000 to 2001. There is not start or stop time. No matter what, it's always a work in progress. JEFF: For us, it was midway thru the 2000 outdoor season. First, we received a three year commitment from TheEdgeSports.com. Next, we looked at bike sponsors, and tried to figure out where we fit in the puzzle. We came to the conclusion we fit best as a 250 support team. We looked at who our riders can be for 2001, and we wanted young guys with potential rather than older veterans who had experience. We picked Michael Byrne from Australia, and Casey Johnson, who was ready to move up from the 125 class. We hope the experience factor will develop with them, and from my input. What are the first steps you take to get going on things for the 2001?
KEITH: We start thinking about things in April. We are looking at personnel, playing the game of "who's going to ride for whom". We try to make the riders happy while at the same time filling our needs for the following season. We are always following trends within the industry, and looking at the overall picture rather than what's right in front of us. JEFF: Do you have enough tape in your recorder for me to answer this? ;) There is so much to be done for building a complete racing team. Racing is not a 9 to 5 job. It's 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Everything you do is towards that race team and getting prepared. You can never be prepared enough. Photo shoots, testing, sponsors, putting together posters, design, graphics, team apparel, riding gear, the trucks, the bikes, what size each sponsor's logo is going to be, where it's going to fit, contracts with the riders, contracts with the mechanics, contracts with sponsors .... it's been quite an experience. LARRY: It's mainly personnel. That's one of my biggest concerns all the time. You need to have the right people in the right surroundings to get things done. I believe you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with. So part of my job is to make sure all the people associated with the team are top-notch. BRUCE: Well, like I said, it's always work in progress. Getting the riders and mechanics is the first part of it. Typically we start working on that early in the prior season. We hope that by the middle of the outdoor season we have everything set as far as personnel. SELVARAJ: The first things for us are the budget, factory support, and who are our potential riders. Then we get into the technical issues like the bikes and testing. Since KTM has really begun rebuilding the entire company from the ground up, we have to look at all the elements that are needed to compete at the very top level. We spend a lot of time looking at riders, making sure they can fit into our program of how we approach supercross, and then sponsors are important to see if we can work out the budget to make all these things happen correctly.
BRUCE: I think the thing that's the most interesting to me, having been around the sport, and also talking to the fans is when they ask me 'What do you do when the season is over? Do you take a vacation?' My answer is that I believe for the team, the most difficult part is when the season ends until when it starts again. And that's because of all the preparation the goes into a new season, and dealing with sponsors. An example is that we are getting a new semi for this season. We started working on that in February. It was just delivered to us, it needs to be painted, fixtures need to be built and put in, the tents are being shipped to us .... it's a tremendous amount of work that is not typical for every season. It's an additional burden, but it's part of the game, and we have planned and prepared very well for it. Everything is on schedule, and it's working outvery well so far. For the riders, this is not a very glamourous time of the year. Lots of laps, lots of testing. This is the time of the year that the work pays off for the entire season. If all of us do our work now, including the riders being physically and mentally prepared, and the team has the bikes working well, then when the racing season starts that's when it can be more fun. The work never stops though ... that's why this sport is so competitive. KEITH: In addition to so many things, our perspective might be a little bit different because we also contract out other teams. In addition to our team, we handle Yamaha of Troy's contracts. Same thing for Jeremy McGrath's team. We have to make sure all those things for all three teams are aligned and ready to go. ERIK: There are a myriad of things. We've got some new riders. Some new sponsors. Painting the truck. Changing the pit awning that comes off of the truck. Putting together press kits. We have to take out old parts out of the truck, and restock it with new parts. One unique thing that happened to us was that our big rig driver Rudy was driving the mini-van that rides along inside the big-rig. He was side-swiped by another vehicle, so that's something that came up .... repairing and repainting our mini-van. SELVARAJ: We have a very structured way of making everyone's schedule so that we can make things happen with the team. One is the big-rig, another is sponsors and graphics, team uniforms and clothing. We have to co-ordinate a lot of this with our sponsors, such as THOR and Red Bull, which are some of our sponsors in 2001. The design of all these things must fit in with both the KTM image and the sponsors images, primarily on design and color combinations. We put together press kits, and those will start to come together after we have a photo session. Much of our testing is done in Europe, over most of the year. The testing for the US starts around the first week in December. LARRY: For me, it's a bit different, since we are building a team from the ground up. We started with nothing but an idea. Yamaha and our title sponsor Mazda have approval on certain design things. It might be a mixed blessing being that we are a small team, not a factory. I have a lot of free reign to do as I see fit, but I ask a lot of people about their ideas and advice. Then we source out certain things to people that have more experience in a particular field than we do.
JEFF: In the past, it was the team poster. When you are trying to put together all the apparel and riding gear, color coordinating things, working with all the different logos and sponsors, so that it doesn't look 'ordinary'. It always seems as if you never have the final specs, and it doesn't get done on time. Add in the now working with the riders, and it seems as if there is never enough time to get things done. It's always a work in progress. KEITH: Well, I don't think it's getting things done last minute. It's just that we are governed by a lot of other schedules. One thing that comes to mind is our team uniforms. We plan for that very early. We get the designs all done. But maybe for one reason or another a vendor might not be able to do what they said they can do. So there you are standing at the first race or the first press day with no uniforms. ERIK: Graphics always seem to come last. We have to get approval from a lot of different people and places, including Yamaha USA. Even on the bike design, Yamaha plays a major role in that, and we need to communicate on how that looks. Also our crew shirts, jersey artwork, and photo shoots come down to the last minute. And we've got some sponsors still finalizing their budgets for 2001, so maybe they can't give a full commitment until that time. It's a lot of juggling of deadlines that goes on, and add in Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's, and it can get pretty hectic. SELVARAJ: You are absolutely right. Many things, no matter how much we prepare, come down to the last minute. Nothing ever goes at 100%, even though we are trying at 100%. Since we have some international riders, they have to attend to some things in Europe which might put them behind schedule. And there is always more testing to be done on engine and suspension components. We do have schedules that have us finishing everything by the first event of the year. But there are always unexpected things that come up that don't get finished until that last week or beyond. LARRY: In the past, it's always been the bikes. Testing has already been done, but the actual race bikes were the very last thing to get complete. This season, that is more of a problem that Skip Norfolk (head technician for McGrath Racing) will handle. And we know it will get done ;) But no matter who you are, or what team you are on, you are going to have some problems. It always happens. BRUCE: There are so many things that need to get done, and some seem to get done last minute. Last season, it was our big rig truck. It was not 100% painted by the first race at Anaheim. It was one of those things, and it was embarrassing. There was a problem with the painter that was out of our control. It is something that has been changed and addressed for this coming season. It normally seems to be 'appearance' things, whether it's team shirts, painting, or graphics. As far as the bike itself goes, it's always on ongoing process .... it's never 'done'. Even if a rider is happy with the bike, I need to remind all of our staff that we never stop working on the bike and trying to improve it. No matter how good the bike might be, we are always working to make it better.
SELVARAJ: We have a few new riders. They started preliminary testing in November. We have a brand new test track in Corona, California, and that's where most of the preseason testing in the US gets done. And then our 'official' testing starts at the beginning of December. ERIK: Mentally, it starts the day after the last national in September. However, a lot of the riders' existing contracts don't end until September, October, or November, so each one is different as far as when you can get them physically involved and riding the new bikes. This year we worked out a nice deal that allowed Nick Wey and Nathan Ramsey to start with us earlier than normal. LARRY: Jeremy's the rider, but he's also the team owner. He's my boss. At the same time, he has to be 'Jeremy McGrath - the racer'. I try not to get him so overly involved that it takes away his thoughts. I either tell him what he needs to know, or he gives me feedback on what I might need to know or things that I'm unsure of. Again, I try to keep things off of his plate so to speak, because his plate's full. With who he is, appearances, television, the actualities of being a racer, the pressures of winning multiple supercross championships, expectations of winning more races ... those are tremendously big shoes to fill. He's hired me to take care of things from start to finish. I only involve him when needed. Why do it this way? I think ultimately it allows Jeremy to be a better racer. JEFF: Once we had our contracts in place with our two riders, then I sit down with them and discuss their training programs and see if they are in order. Next up came figuring out what bikes they would ride, and our deal with Kawasaki came together later than normal, which was just after the US Open in mid-October. So then we had to get the guys together and familiar with the KX 250's. KEITH: We start getting the riders involved in September. After the national season is over, we get started with our initial testing and planning for the new season. In Jeremy's case, because he does so many overseas events, we get started with him very early. In David's case, he went back to France for a little vacation. He had problems coming back to the US because of visa issues. So we ended up going to Europe and doing testing with him over there. There is no ideal scenario .... it depends on what's going on with your team and what's going on with each individual rider. Tim Ferry got a late start, and then he got injured. So he was set back for a while. Right now, everyone is on track, and we are right where we want to be as a team.
LARRY: Testing started for us after the outdoor series ended. Yamaha takes care of the motorcycle completely. Skip and Jeremy will go out with Steve Butler (who is the head of testing), Bob Oliver (who oversees motors) and Jon R. (who takes care of suspension). Those three guys are really quite a team. They take care of the motorcycle ... they take care of everything. They'll start with their settings from the 2000 bike on the 2001 model bike. Then they'll try to massage it to be equal or better than the 2000 race bikes. It's a lot of feedback, and a lot of engineering back and forth between the rider and the testing crew that will build the new race bike. Of course, with a new model, they might come up with a few things that are better than the 2000 bikes. The goal is to make it as 'rider-friendly' as possible. SELVARAJ: Again, KTM has procedures in place to organize that. The factory supplies engineers for engine and WP suspension. They will be here for our testing sessions. Some tests are only engine and suspension. Some tests combine engine with frames. Sometimes we cannot do all of them at the same time, so we might do individual testing for the individual components like suspension. We also have different testing for tires only. We spend a lot of time on that to make sure we have the correct tire compounds. We also have our own dyno facilities now in California and Ohio, so we did that type of testing ourselves. But again, keep in mind, most of the testing is done year round at the factory in Austria. ERIK: A big part of it is getting the riders comfortable on their bikes for the upcoming season. A lot of adjustments for each individual rider, each riders preferences, and how they ride the bike. We know what range most parts work well in, like suspension and gearing, so we just make a lot of fine tuning for each rider. BRUCE: We start testing for the 2001 season in June of 2000. Maybe we have a little bit different philosophy about testing. This past season, we had three riders, Ricky Carmichael, John Dowd and Larry Ward. They all lived over 3000 miles away from our headquarters. It made it difficult at times to do proper testing. We had to get a little more creative, and had some test sessions on the east coast. We had riders come out one at a time to test here in southern California. This season, we have two riders on the team, Ricky and Stephane Roncada (and Ricky still lives 3200 miles away!). Ricky has been out whenever we've needed him for testing, and Stephane lives nearby, so his schedule has been a little more flexible. But, as with all aspects of the bike, it's a never ending process. JEFF: We've done a lot of testing, considering we started later than normal. What we do is figure out what parts of the bike we need to improve or fine tune for each rider. For suspension, we work with Ross Maeda at Enzo Racing. We use Kayaba products, and we feel that Ross is the best in the business. For suspension testing, Ross will go out with the riders, and he's already got great knowledge about what works and what doesn't. He'll modify valving, change spring rates, and oil levels to give each rider what works best. For our engines, we are working with Pro-Circuit. I'm really pleased with the effort Pro-Circuit has put forth in helping us. With engine testing, every part gets looked at. And we'll modify how the power is produced: more power, less power, longer power, shorter power, more hit, less hit. It's not uncommon this time of the year for a rider to try 25 different exhaust pipes and silencers. There is so much room for adjustment. It's very similar with cylinders. Each rider will go thru 10 different cylinder and head combinations. Testing is a lot of fine tuning. KEITH: It depends what we want to test. We start with a baseline of what we want to test whether it be brakes or gasoline or engine development parts. We'll start with that baseline and then move into the new parts and see what our lap times are or see how the rider's comfort is to go easier or faster around the track.http://www.facebook.com/supercrosscom
http://twitter.com/supercrosscom
Erik Eggens Richard Eierstedt Jimmy Ellis Jeff Emig Harry Everts
{jvideo id=259 height=378 width=660 autoPlay=0}
Who dat?
This week I caught up with Kevin Windham. In the video below, Kevin Windham talks about the Superbowl Champions, the NFL's New Orleans Saints, his family, his future plans for racing and beyond.
The Superbowl XLIV champions, the New Orleans Saints, have many fans - among them is none other than the number 14 in Supercross, Kevin Windham. While the NFL season started when Supercross was in its off season, Kevin was able to take part in season tickets to his favorite NFL team - da' Saints. Eventually the 2010 Supercross season got underway in January, which meant Kevin was flying off after those Saturday night Main Events back East to watch the New Orleans Saints Playoff games.
On February 7, 2010 the New Orleans Saints headed to the Superbowl in Miami, Florida and Kevin Windham and his wife Dottie made arrangements to attend this momentous occasion. First, however Kevin had to finish up a Supercross race in San Diego the night before.
Jonathan Barragan Andrea Bartolini Willy Bauer Jean Michel Bayle Pit Beirer
Some footage from my Go Pro Moto helmet cam. Riding a CRF450 on motocross track 2 at Queensland Moto Park. The track has a lot of off camber turns, a handful of table tops and a small section of whoops. Some tight corners and short straights.
Might be worth checking out if you live close enough or are planning a bike holiday in queensland.
Source: http://www.superfreestylemotocross.com/blog/go-pro-moto-qld-moto-park-mx2-motocross/
Connor McGechan Jeremy McGrath Andrew McFarlane Brett Metcalfe Heikki Mikkola
Here is a ten minute video recap of Round 12 of the 2012 FIM World Motocross Championships, courtesy of Monster Energy.
The big winners yesterday? Tony Cairoli from Italy in the MX 1 class, and Jeffrey Herlings from the Netherlands in MX 2.
You can view the results and point standings of the race and series here on Supercross.com.
Don't forget, Supercross.com is giving away three pairs of tickets to the next MX GP in Britain!
Source: http://www.supercross.com/features/video-recap-of-2012-world-mx-gp-czech-republic
Doug Henry Broc Hepler Rob Herring George Holland Jeremy van Horebeek
Some footage from my Go Pro Moto helmet cam. Riding a CRF450 on motocross track 2 at Queensland Moto Park. The track has a lot of off camber turns, a handful of table tops and a small section of whoops. Some tight corners and short straights.
Might be worth checking out if you live close enough or are planning a bike holiday in queensland.
Source: http://www.superfreestylemotocross.com/blog/go-pro-moto-qld-moto-park-mx2-motocross/
David Strijbos Kevin Strijbos Bengt Åberg Greg Albertyn Jeff Alessi
When Steffi Laier, Red Bull Teka KTM factory rider and two-time Women's MX World Champion takes to the track in the pre-season MX races in Valence, France, this weekend it will be her first competitive ride for 2011. Steffi has been training hard on the bike since mid December and in Valence tests herself against a field of male riders.

At the French pre-season special, she faces off with a strong lineup of riders including those from the Nestaan JM Racing KTM squad led by Joel Roelants, Yentel Martens and young talents like 125 European champion Jordi Tixier of France and Austrian Pascal Rauchenecker. Also in the field are other KTM riders like British rider Nathan Parker (PROPPA-COM KTM and French riders Loïc Leonce (B G R KTM) and Loïc Larrieu (WOLFF KTM). But these and other top riders hold no fear for Steffi who his very well known for her toughness, skill and courage when attacking any MX track.
The 2012 supercross series has been won by Ryan Villipoto with 3 rounds remaining in the series. The 2012 AMA Supercross Schedule is listed below.
| January 7 | Angel Stadium – Anaheim |
| January 14 | Chase Field – Phoenix |
| January 21 | Dodger Stadium – Los Angeles |
| January 28 | Overstock.com Stadium – Oakland |
| February 4 | Angel Stadium – Anaheim |
| February 11 | Qualcomm Stadium – San Diego |
| February 18 | Cowboys Stadium – Dallas |
| February 25 | Georgia Dome – Atlanta |
| March 3 | Edward Jones Dome – St. Louis |
| March 10 | Daytona Int’l Speedway – Daytona |
| March 17 | Lucas Oil Stadium – Indianapolis |
| March 24 | Rogers Centre – Toronto |
| March 31 | Reliant Stadium – Houston |
| April 14 | Mercedes Benz Super Dome – New Orleans |
| April 21 | CenturyLink Field – Seattle |
| April 28 | Rice-Eccles Stadium – Salt Lake City |
| May 5 | Sam Boyd Stadium – Las Vegas |
Source: http://www.superfreestylemotocross.com/blog/2012-ama-supercross-schedule/
When Steffi Laier, Red Bull Teka KTM factory rider and two-time Women's MX World Champion takes to the track in the pre-season MX races in Valence, France, this weekend it will be her first competitive ride for 2011. Steffi has been training hard on the bike since mid December and in Valence tests herself against a field of male riders.

At the French pre-season special, she faces off with a strong lineup of riders including those from the Nestaan JM Racing KTM squad led by Joel Roelants, Yentel Martens and young talents like 125 European champion Jordi Tixier of France and Austrian Pascal Rauchenecker. Also in the field are other KTM riders like British rider Nathan Parker (PROPPA-COM KTM and French riders Loïc Leonce (B G R KTM) and Loïc Larrieu (WOLFF KTM). But these and other top riders hold no fear for Steffi who his very well known for her toughness, skill and courage when attacking any MX track.
Bob Hannah Donnie Hansen Torlief Hansen Marcus Hansson Doug Henry