I don't understand this whole 125cc East and West thing. I thought that 125 and 250 where 2 championships only. Where was James Stewart? Where are the other guys that were at Anaheim.
it was kind of funny watching Vulli trying to stay out Pastana's crash radius. You could see on ABCs coverage Vulli was carving a tighter line on the corner before the bridge and could have passed several laps earlier.
125 are considered a steppingstone class. The younger riders do not have the resources ($) to travel all over the country. The series is divided into east and west to make it a bit easier for the mom&pop teams. Stewart is in the west series so he does not compete in the east series. Also, I heard Antunez moved east to avoid having to compete with Stewart.
I think that Stewart is racing the West so he can have a smooth start to his career. If he had to run with Lanston, Brown, Reed, etc. he may have had some trouble. Don't get me wrong the kid is fast, with incredible corner speed. The thing is Stewart can run where ever he wants on the track right now. The compitition isn't strong enough to get into his way. Even Carmichael said that the tricks that the 125 guys fall for don't work on the 250s. I think that Langton and the others wouldn't fall for a lot of the tricks either. I assume he will also spend next year in the 125s, my guess in the East. When he moves to the 250s I expect similar results to what Pastrana is producing.
Pastrana was cutting lines when Carmichael was coming through. I don't care much for Carmichael since he fell to the dark side, but this one wasn't his fault. As far a Vuillemin, he saved his pass for the last lap so Carmichael wouldn't have time for a come back.
I think Bubba has what it takes, if he can stop crashing. But then again, a lot of these hot-dog 125 pilots flame out when they get to the 250's. Bubba has the speed that a lot of them have. What he has in addition is determination, which some appear to be lacking. Case in point: what the heck happened to Buckelew!? Highly touted mini-racer, hit the 125's, and has struggled after a flashy start in his first few races. I don't mean to pick on Justin, he's had some hard luck too... no doubt. He is still a kid and will probably pull it together soon. He's just struggling a lot lately, as many do.
Of course, it's very easy for me to sit here and type this, I'm no racer, and I certainly do NOT have what it takes to do it even on a local level. I crash about 4 times on any given lap of a motocross track, unless I am just po-dunking it. I totally respect their talent, just saying that "at the pro-level", speed ain't all it seems to take.
Bubba has gotten up after all of his crashes and has chased down the field. He doesn't appear to let a setback defeat him like some might. Carmichael has that same gritty determination. I remember watching him in a 125 outdoor race a few years back where he crashed and came from dead last to either win or take a close second.. can't recall. Hell, he's probably done both cases several times! If he stays healthy, he'll win and
win and win for a long time.
I can't wait 'till he (Bubba) gets to the 250's. By then, perhaps Pastrana will have stopped crashing too!
Yeah, Ricky's taken a lot of heat about the move to Honda. I don't know, I've been a Kawi guy for a while, and I was sad to see him leave Team Green. I can't say for sure I wouldn't have taken the $$ either though b/c it was substantial. He did win them like, what, 6 or 7 championships at least... can't say they didn't get something out of him. I don't dislike Honda, per se, just that they tend to 'buy' their championships. Kawi nurtures along the mini-kids and brings them into the pro-ranks, which is very cool of them. Their farm-system is great. Wish I was good enough to have gotten in there!, but alas, I suck and have no natural talent.
I guess Carmichael is going to have a Bradshaw-esque type of fan-base... love him or hate him. I hated 'Bad-shaw' back in the day b/c he was a bastard, and I was a Kawi guy pulling for Ward (Jeff), Kidrowski (sp?) and LaRocco and those guys. However, I started watching Bradshaw in the Arenacross stuff and I'm now a fan of his. Probably b/c he's getting up there, has mellowed, and I like seeing and older guy like me kick a** on the kids! ha!
I agree with you about the determination of Stewart and Carmichael, and wish that Pastrana could learn a little from them. He needs to focus on racing. But as far a bringing Buckelew into this, he just doesn't fit. Stewart and Carmichael are extreme examples of greatness. They don't need the media to help create them, there records speak for themselves. By the way Stewart has the best amature record of all times. He also has had the best freshman year I have seen of any Supercross rider.
Well, that's why I mention Buckelew. He also won a lot in the mini-ranks, but seems to have struggled in the big leagues. I agree with you about perhaps this being yet another 'media wonder-boy'. Yeah, I saw Stewart win that last race to beat Carmichael's record.. kinda funny how that happened the same year Carmichael went down to the 125's to beat Barnett's record. Didn't Bradshaw win his first year out in the 125E?.. I recall him winning a bunch of races in dominating style too. He was a kid, like 16 or 17 or maybe 18, but I think it was more like 16 or 17. Stewart could wind up doing the same thing, IMHO.
Of course, there's those Alessi brothers coming up in a few years too. Man!, this is going to be great stuff in 250's in about 4-5 years. We'll have the aging vet Carmichael (at all of 25 or 26 yrs old!), Pastrana, Stewart, these Alessi kids (if they pan out of course), and all the rest, and certainly an unknown or two.
Bradshaw, at least for another couple of months, is the youngest to win an AMA championship. I think he was loaded with talent, but lacked the needed dertimination. I was also hoping that he would excel in Arenacross. As far as the Alessi brother are concerned, we are damn lucky. They help gaurantee a bright future for the sport, if they pan out.
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