RJ SAYS: Latest TORC truck race, my first National Motocross, my first Grand Prix Motocross

Our last TORC race was the previous weekend in Crandon, Wisconsin. It was wonderful. That Sunday was Father's day,  .... the track was awesome, the sun was shining, everything was great, and I was really proud as a father because my oldest son Luke was racing his first off road truck race. My friend Dave Waldvogel is the guy helping my son Luke cut his teeth on off road short course racing.

Everything about the race was a successs - great turn out of racers in all classes, both pro and sportsmen. And we had a packed house with spectators.

As far as my racing goes, I was conservative on the first day (Saturday), and I paid for it: by getting beat up pretty good (remember, we rub and bump and push to pass each other in these 800hp trucks!), and by eating a lot of roost in passing other drivers. I ended up with third place.

The second day (Sunday), I was running strong, leading, but had a couple of mechanical problems and a flat tire, but ended up in fourth place.

The highlight of my weekend's racing was when I won the Chairman's Cup - it's named after the Chairman of the local Potawatomi Indian Tribe. We race Pro 2 trucks and Pro 4 x 4 trucks together. The Pro 2's start out front because their lap times are slower, and then the Pro 4's take off. I got off early, some other guys had some problems, and I never looked back. Felt good.

My son Luke, in his first race got a fifth, and then next day he got second, and set fastest lap of the race - I'm really proud of him. Luke is going to be situated in Wisconon starting the day after the race. Luke will be living in Wisconsin this summer, in the same basement that Jimmie Johnson (yes, the current NASCAR Champion) did when he was 17, with Charlie Schlieve - he's my current crew chief, he was my crew chief back in 1998 when I won the CORR Pro 2 championship. And Charlie was Jimmie's crew chief in 1996 and 1997.

After I got my son all set up there, I flew home, drove up to Hollywood for movie premiere of "Born in Baja - The Raptor Story". The Raptor is an awesome new truck that Ford is releasing next year - you'll need to get one or two at the very least. Seriously, it's a super-truck .. and I'll let you know more about it as soon as I can.

My very first AMA National Motocross:

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was Hangtown 1981. It was the only race I've ever had to race a qualifier at. (I was always in the top ten after that in my career.) Cliff Lett and Chuck Warren built me a bike that was incredible - I thought it had the best bike ever - the suspension, the motor, the handling - it was beautiful.

I thought the track was awesome too. Me being 16 years old at the time, and having raced only in southern California, there was a few guys I didn't know. Tommy Benolkin and Danny .... I forget his last name. But I certainly was intimidated, especially by all the guys I didn't know and had never raced against back home.

I think I finished fourth or fifth that day ... but I was so impressed with how the fast guys went hard for 45 minutes. I was so blown away at how fast guys like Mark Barnett could go without breaking a sweat. It made me doubt that I could ever be a good motocross or supercross racer.

Later that same year, I broke my wrist at a local race at Glen Helen. Erik Kehoe got hurt on the same day at the same race - he broke his leg - really bad. Erik's leg got sucked in between the wheel and the swingarm. We both rode Yamaha's at the time, although I was only on the support team.

When I came back to motocross racing later that season after my broken wrist had healed, they put me with Bob Oliver (Erik's mechanic) because Erik was still injured. And I got Erik's Factory bike for the Mid Ohio 125 US Grand Prix of Motocross - this would be my first time ever racing a Motocross Grand Prix.

And once again, Mark Barnett demolished everybody. In the mud, he would go as fast I could go when it was dry! He was incredible! I didn't finish very well, I was stlll recovering with my wrist, ... but it felt great to be back on the bike again (even though I got my ass kicked : )

RJ

Source: http://www.supercross.com/rj-says/rj-says-latest-torc-truck-race-my-first-national-motocross-my-first-grand-prix-motocross

Mark Jones Ake Jonsson Julien Bill

Singletracks: PNWMA Series Update

Singletracks checks in on the rough and tumble PNWMA Off-road series...
Sponsored by: 

Welcome to Singletracks, brought to you by International Motorsports in Delta, BC.  International carries a full line of bikes plus parts and gear at some of the best prices in the country.&nb

read more

Source: http://www.directmotocross.com/news/offroad/2010/10/singletracks-pnwma-series-update

Billy MacKenzie Corrado Maddii Andre Malherbe

RJ SAYS: AMA National Motocross update starting in June

Can you believe it's already June? This year has already been crazy! And it's not even half over!

January 6 I started my new adventure as a promoter of an off road truck series - TORC - The Off Road Championship. It's a new concept for me, as I've never been a promoter, only a racer (along with being a husband and father) with my TORC. It's at http://www.torcseries.com

Mitch Convington and I have been doing every thing from coming up with TV packages, making arrangements with race tracks, dealing with sponsors and potential sponsors, ... and on top of that be ready each weekend to race my truck!

So far this year I've put in my 'Red Bull Bosch Power Tools Kumho Tires Fox Shox Fortin Transmission Ford F-150' in the winner's circle three times, and one second place.

What's cool about my series is that it's 'down and dirty' racing. We bump and bang and jump and get pretty nasty. It's everything you've ever dreamed of doing or wanted to do in a race truck! And the top guys are packing 900 horsepower in their race trucks. I always say "It's like supercross, only with four wheels!"

How about the AMA National Motocross Serieis so far? I hate to see Ryan Villopoto sit this season out with the knee surgery since he had such a strong start. You could see he was really starting to get comfortable on a 450 - especially with his dominant win at the Las Vegas Supercross, and then winning at Glen Helen for the opening round of Motocross. Who knows - he could of been the 450 Motocross champion.

With that being said, Mike Alessi has risen to the occasion. Mike was a worthy opponent anyway - so I don't want to put him down in any way. After watching the Texas AMA Motocross round, it was great to see Mike ride with so much confidence out front, and continue to pull away.

Mike is one of the few riders that thrives on being in front. He's been that way since he rode minis. As a mini rider, he always got great starts, and won a lot by being out front. Now as a professional motocross rider, you can see he's still getting holeshots - so it must be normal for him!

I think most riders are like I was - when you get out front you start to think too much. You start to think too much about the outcome of the race, instead of thinking about process of riding and choosing your lines and doing what you have to do to win. Mike is one of those guys that can hang it out lap after lap in front, and get stronger as the race goes on, rather than letting his mind wonder and worry about the outcome.

To me, it's really interesting to watch this year's transformation of most of the riders going from supercross to motocross. There is a real dichotomy. Mike Alessi is doing to Chad Reed in motocross what Chad did to Mike in the supercross series. Have they changed their skill sets? Are they that different of riders now? I'd say it's more about confidence ...

It's great to see another rider (Alessi) step into the spotlight and gain his confidence, and from that what he needs to do to win. Everything Mike is showing right now, the way he communicates, the way he rides, and the way he interacts with his team, is showing a lot of confidence. Again, I think back to when Mike rode minis - he rode with tremendous confidence, and that's how I see him riding now in the premier class in American Motocross.

You know who deserves some props in the 450 Motocross class as well? He comes form the 'off road' motorcycling world. Ricky Dietrich. What a great story he is! And he's putting a lot of other full-time motocrossers to shame : ) And racing motocross is going to help him in his off road quests as well.

The 250 MX class - there is a very deep talent field in the 250 class. Right now, if I had to give each of the top two guys their strengths, I'd say Ryan Dungey is doing it by 'charging'. He seems to get stronger as the race goes on. Always pushing. Christophe Pourcel's strength seems to be his smoothness and line selection. He's even said he rides a bit conservative because of previous injury, but you wouldn't know it by watching him. He style and line selection allow him to expend less energy that maybe a lot of other riders do.

Dungey reminds me of me when I raced - never gives up, never gives in, always charning. Pourcel reminds me of David Bailey - very smooth, very calculated.

Like I said, it's a very deep class - I don't want to count anyone out in this class. For example, I'm super impressed with Justin Barcia. He has the speed to run with anyone. What he needs is strength, and the strength part will come over time.

You know who else deserves some props, and I seem to hear in his voice and see in his body language that level of confidence I was talking about - Trey Canard. I like his ability to always be near the front so far, his consistency (important in winning a championship), his speed is great, and even more importantly, he has the endurance and desire.

I'm heading to Crandon Wisconsin on Wednesday with PDG (Professional Drivers Group) to test for gearing, some changes to the Crandon Raceway track, and I'm looking forward to burning some laps at the 'Tallegdega of Off Road' there at Crandon Raceway. Our next race is June 20 and 21. You'll see drivers like Jeremy McGrath, Johnny Grieves, Steve Barlow, the Leduk family, and me in what I like to call 'The Supercross of Off Road Racing'. It's racing like you've never seen before!

RJ

p.s. As soon I as I published this article, I learned that Mike Alessi injured his knee, and is potentially out for the entire season. Bummer! Get well Mike!


Mike Alessi (Send Mike a get well message)


Christophe Pourcel


Chad Reed


Ryan Dungey


Trey Canard


Ryan Villopoto (Send Ryan a get well message)

Source: http://www.supercross.com/rj-says/rj-says-ama-national-motocross-update-starting-in-june

Vlastimil Valek Julien Vanni Pekka Vehkonen