Well big batch of local boys at seattle s/x this year.Some of them did very well but in the end i think the track got the best of them. I was impressed with Lance Phillips he had 5th best time in qualify in front of some big names.In the race thou i was most impressed with Abrigo and Ruminur. They both were running pretty well till the track ate them.....The track looked like a bad ,wet horn rapids track transplant....Do they change the dirt every year????It seems like 2 years ago it was all rocky.....
LITES:

Ryan Abrigo: 6th Heat 1 / 20th Main
Chris Howell: 9th Heat 1 / 18th Main
Donald Vawser: 10th Heat 1 / 6th LCQ
Lance Phillips: 12th Heat 1 / 13th LCQ
Brenton Schnitzer: 13th Heat 1 / 10th LCQ
Brett Osaka: 14th Heat 1 / 9th LCQ
Ryan Skinner: 16th Heat 1 / 8th LCQ
Jason Potter: 18th Heat 1 / 4th LCQ
Joey Ruminer: 7th Heat 2 / 19th Main
Tiger Lacey: 13th Heat 2 / 17th LCQ
Joshua Jackson: 15th Heat 2 / 14th LCQ
Jeremiah Solt: 17th Heat 2 / 18th LCQ

SUPERCROSS:

Mitchell Rask: 15th Heat 1 / 18th LCQ
Ross Johnson: 19th Heat 1 / 9th LCQ
Jake Anstett: 20th Heat 2 / 5th LCQ
Jerry Lymburner: 12th Heat 1 / 14th LCQ

This message has been edited. Last edited by: spin05,

All the local guys did great. This sport is already very tough. Then have the promoter make you race on an extremely poor surface: let me retype that: Then the promoter is such a greedy entity that they don't give a shit how poor the dirt is and how boring a race is because the poor surface strings riders out and makes the rider look untalented from the 200 level because from there you can't see the 18" deep ruts. As long as the promoter made a bunch and didn't have to pay the riders shit, it's all good!

Sorry for the vent but after 30 years of this shit, it's all I've got. Am I wrong Eric Waunch, Scott Steffy, Dan Moore Jason Potter, Jerry Lymburner and you other pros who walked the walk?

yeah that shit was heartbreaking last night. i saw a guy not triple and change lines in front of abrigo and that cost him a few spots. watched jake go from 10th to 5th in his heat in that rutted straight and fall in the corner. i feel for all you pros out there, that track was insane. i thought that was cool to see ruminer stop and point to the crowd on the parade lap before the main. he had to be stoked to be in the main in his first Sx race. And OSAKA , dude you must be a black cat with 9 lives!!!wish the track would have had more normal dirt, probably been alot more nw guys in the main. i was happy to see KW crush everyone though

Yea all the guys did a great job, it made it really nice to be there with such a large local turnout.
We had a block of 20 seats and told Joe approximately where we were located, we were cheering Joey on when he did his fist pump on the parade lap.
Good job to ALL the guys.

Alice(625's mom)

Oh yea and we heard direct from some PR guy in the pits.That the big time pros got all Butt Hurt during a autograph session on friday night.Apperently they held the session all at one time and hardly anybody lined up for big guys.They were all lined up for the local boys.....haha so his plan for saturday was to have 2 sessions one at 2 and one at 3 so they dont get there feelings hurt.......Too funny.

I thought last years dirt was bad but this topped it for sure. Dryest mud race I have ever been to. Not making any excuses for my riding but I have never heard so many people in agreement about one thing. It was unreal

Those ruts were gnarly!! What the heck!

cool photo from abrigos heat race http://www.vitalmx.com/photos/...-start,33890/GuyB,64

I worked down on the track from Wednesday to Saturday, then flagged the whoops on the east side. I was standing on the take off of the finish line jump all night. What I dont understand is, on Wednesday they started trucking in some good dirt, the Dirtwerx crew didnt like it because they said it wouldnt hold up in the rain. So they took it back out and went and bought that "TOP SOIL"! I dont understand how they thought that would hold up in the dry weather let alone if it had rained? After the second lites heat race I stepped out on the whoops and the ruts were up to my knees! The face of the tripple and finish line jump were so deep that they were burying there pegs up the whole face, and you could hear even the 450's bog down! So many panic revs of that finish line, I thought they were coming up short for sure! I did score Reeds goggles when he augered into the whoops during his heat race!

Being a flagger on the track hearing panic rev's all night must have drained your adrenaline reserves by the end of the night. I hate that.

Traiter Jerry. What were the riders saying that you talked to?

Uncle80. I was told by one of the other worker that they covered most of the dirt and later found out they had 2 big piles outside they forgot about.

As a spectator I really didn't enjoy watching the best riders in the world dog paddle in the whoops. If it would have rained really hard that would be entertaining. And being in April we will get it some day and it will be a night to remember. Nothing will ever top Daytona in 2008. Never!
Of course there's the time Rob Hanson and Ted DeVol raced the Canadian Supercross in Calgary and it snowed 12 inches from 5:00 to the end of the last moto and the stadium lights shut off for 6 seconds during the main and the ruts were 12 inched deep and full of water and every piece of riding gear we had was brown and the trip to Vancouver was an adventure in itself.
Ya that was better than Daytona.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ted,

WOW!!! That track made ALOT of good riders look bad. Sad they had to race on a track that looked that crappy. You know its bad when I saw alot of riders in the 450 main rolling the finish line. Great job local riders!!! I dont think there was a prouder dad in the world then joey ruminers dad after the heat! AWESOME to see!!!

Yes Ted they got most of the track done and ran out of dirt. They called in for more dirt then realized they had 2 big piles outside still. But it was all different dirt than they started with. The base they laid down was amazing in itself! 10 to 12 inches of 5/8 minus crushed rock over the entire stadium! Yes the panic revs started to drain me after a while. Even with the track radios on my ears! I will say this, Kevin Windham was the man on that track! He was the only one that went through the whoops I was flagging and never let off the throttle. He wasnt pinned, but very good throttle control even when he started to get a little out of shape. Only 2 times did I see a foot come off his pegs. Once on the opening lap, and one other time he just put a foot out beside his front wheel! His balance and control is well beyond any rider on that track! It was an awsome experience getting to see that kind of talent up close in person!

Track was for sure rough, Joey #642 did very good and I only had to hold my breath x-teen times as he made his way round in Q1. Didn't much care about the night show cause I was having problems picking my Jaw up off the floor watching dirt fly off of front number plates. 40 30 years (sorry about that - was counting decades on fingers, laughing 1978, 1988, 198, 2008 - 40 years. Not!) of watching and I don't ever recall having seen a SX rider pull tear off due his own feet kicking up track debris into his own face. Last Saturdays race (all of'em) was everything Hanna's 1978 Seattle SX was cept back then Hanna had firm dirt and could pull his Hanna tricks because no locals had skills.

Last Saturday locals had plenty of skills and I salute one-and-all.

Great job guys.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Workman #21,

I'd like to hear how Osaka felt about his first supercross experience.

Looked like the #642 was ridin really good on that knarly track we were wondering if maybe he had a big fat chew in? lol

I think that having the track be so crappy probably helped the locals more than any of you think. Ruts like that slow down all the california fags and fair weather riders. LEaving a huge opening for guys from the northwest. So better stop bashing because all these guys would have had alot more trouble if it were concrete hard like all the other west coast rounds. Ted you gotta jump off your soap box and just be happy that your 3 guys made it in and like I said be glad it was so crappy. I can promise you things would have been very different if the track was hard pack and much faster and easier.

im sure the low rider turn out was the biggest help crater.they still all have to ride the same track. im sure abrigo would have rather had it hardpan also especially racing with those modded out 250s the factory guys have in that power robbing stuff. they definatley would have a advantage there

This message has been edited. Last edited by: B Sharkey,

quote:

Originally posted by Crater:
I think that having the track be so crappy probably helped the locals more than any of you think. Ruts like that slow down all the california fags and fair weather riders. LEaving a huge opening for guys from the northwest. So better stop bashing because all these guys would have had alot more trouble if it were concrete hard like all the other west coast rounds. Ted you gotta jump off your soap box and just be happy that your 3 guys made it in and like I said be glad it was so crappy. I can promise you things would have been very different if the track was hard pack and much faster and easier.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing, isn't mud the greatest equalizer? I know it wasn't full on mud but the techniality of the track had to help hold back some of the SX regulars. Not taking anything away from the local guys I was pumped to see them in the main, the track jut suited the NW style better than an aneheim or vegas.

does anybody know how many NW guys are doing Salt Lake too???? I know Ross Johnson is......So we will see if they like a more normal S/X track better...

From a spectators standpoint the Seattle SX track always looks dangerous every year to me but this year looked frightening!!! I was realy nervous just watching it. I didnt think it was a mud race the dirt just looked like extremely soft loose topsoil. I wonder why they cant till in some type of lyme product like they do on construction site pads to make the soil more stable?
I kept a close eye on the NW riders and in the lites main the 642, 103 and the 222 looked fast I didnt see any of them fade and they were jumping everything every lap just like the guys out front plus they had alot of fast name riders behind them like the 801. Good job dooods! I was bummed the 474 didnt make it in the 450 main that would of been cool to see and 555 looked realy fast in practice I was surprised he was not in the main. My boy Trae was stoked since the 103 has always been one of his favorite riders Trae used to say Abrigo this and Abrigo that while running around the house making dirt bike noises! lol