Houston Supercross 2013

Houston Supercross 2013

Matt Wellumson

Sometimes the best things in life, can be planned last minute. For me, I would have to include my recent trip to Houston for Supercross, as being one of those events that I look back at with great memories. Just a week and a half prior to Houston, I received a text from a fellow Photographer friend, asking if I was interested in making the long trip down for Supercross. The chance to spend some time with good friends on the road, and attend an other race was something I just couldn’t pass up.

As many of you have likely watched  race either live, or someplace on the web, I will shy away from giving too much commentary on the standings.  My hopes are to show  some of the other moments of this race, and hopefully share some of what may not have seen from Houston.

With temperatures starting off in the 70s, Houston Supercross outdoor pits were packed the entire time they were open, making for a somewhat vacant stadium during the early qualify sessions. Hours before they even opened, people lined up for their chance to get near the Supercross rigs, and see their favorite riders.

During the morning track walk, I had the opportunity to catch up with quite a few privateer riders, and get their impressions on the track. Most everyone said they liked both the dirt and layout, but expected it to get quit rough by the night show. Overall, Reliant Stadium provided an awesome venue for Supercross, and a great platform for Dirt Wurx to put together another amazing track.

John Martin has had quite the life in this industry. He is a retired Champion Can-Am Factory Enduro racer who now has 2 sons competing in Supercross level racing. If that isn’t enough to keep him busy, he also owns Spring Creek MX Park, a National track with it’s own stop on the Lucas Oil Motocross series. I caught him “hard” at work snapping photos of his son Jeremy on his new Smartphone, during the track walk. Honestly I think he is after my job…..

The Press box is one of my favorite places to be directly after the track walk, as this is usually the time that Kevin Windham is busy sighting, and practicing his Transfers for opening ceremonies. As you can see here, Kevin basically nailed one of his transfers on his first attempt.

Nicky Beatty Came out in first practice on a mission, and with good motivation as he would later be qualifying with a quicker group. Thanks to his qualifying for the night show in Toronto, Nicky would now be doing timed qualifying laps with Group B. I got a chance to talk to him and his dad during staging for his first timed qualifying run. Both Nicky and his dad were upbeat about the recent Toronto results, and had great feelings about Houston. Nicky stated that he liked the track layout, and felt good out there.

One of Nicky Beatty’s other talents, is throwing Massive sand plumes at nearby photographers. Nicky didn’t make the night show at Houston, he needed a little over a second off of his best time to make it happen. It is insane how such a minute difference in time can make at one of these events. Expect to see Nicky charging hard in Minneapolis, with cold weather and snow in the forecast, I am sure it will energize him much more than many of his sun loving southern competition.

 

Despite having started off the day well, Jeremy Martin’s Texas stop ended abruptly after a qualifying session crash sent him to a local hospital to look after a wrist injury. Despite only getting a few timed laps in, He did end up qualifying for the night show, but unfortunately wasn’t able to participate.  His parents report that he should be back in time for the next round in Minneapolis.

During Opening Ceremonies quite a bit of smoke is created by the pyrotechnics, combined with the natural light pouring in from outside, it created some cool lighting effects itself.

Matt Goerke has had quite the past couple of years in racing, and Tonight in Houston was no exception. Having been a fan since his early days in the Lites class, I am always happy to see him on the track, especially with his own time in the spotlight. Matt has yet again chipped away at some of Broc Tickle’s championship points lead, making it possible for Goerke to move into the top 10 for series points this year!

 

Just Justin Brayton stopping by for a photo. Justin left Houston with a solid 6th place, giving him a stronger hold on 9th in the championship points race.

This track offered up a partial berm in the 1st turn, which was something that was highly used in every moto. Will Hahn started off the night snow with an impressive start, followed by some fancy footwork by #87 of Lance Vincent.

 

Cole Thompson has been on fire this season, and doing a good job of reminding Supercross fans that fast riders can indeed come from the north. With a strong charge out of the gate followed by solid laps, Cole was able to hold his own for a 2nd palace finish, fending off Vince Friese and Lance Vincent who were in hot pursuit.

 

It seems like every Supercross race I have attended for MXP since Indianapolis last winter, has featured at least one staggered restart. With a crash involving Justin Sipes, in a location impossible for the Asterisk Medical crew to reach, the race was red flagged. Definitely wishing Sipes a speedy recovery!

 

This man was in full control of hundreds of horsepower, noise levels of the stadium, and the pulse of Reliant Stadium. Once his green flag flew, 450 Heat #2 started off with Villopoto in the lead.

 

With the championship all but sealed, Villopoto appears to be unstoppable yet again this season.

WIth Blake Wharton having some bad luck earlier in the season, He decided to make his home state the place to charge hard for a win. Blake had a great start, followed up by some impressive battles with Musquin and Hahn.

Marvin Musquin had a rougher night than he would have liked, but despite almost being ejected from his bike at the end of the whoops, and tangling with a Tough block, he was able to salvage his night for a podium finish.

Tyler Bowers made the trip down to Texas to compete in his 1st Supercross of the season, made it happen in great form. Having qualified 3rd fastest before the heats it was clear he made the transition to the larger Supercross tracks just fine. Bowers would finish the main just outside of a podium position in 4th.

Minnesota Privateer, Zack Williams, made his 1st ever Supercross main event happen at Houston, after recently moving back into Privateer ranks, and riding his own Honda bikes.  It was good to see Zack both Comfortable, and still on top of his game. He ended up finishing 12th overall.

Trey canard gave his fans a great show in Houston. It was great to see him follow up his impressive opening Ceremonies intro with some great speed by winning his Heat race, and finishing 3rd overall for the main.

 

It was awesome to see these three riders on the podium this round, for various reasons. The key to my night had to have been the awesome show put forward by Trey Canard, a guy who’s smile is truly genuine and a common site.

 

This isn’t what it looks like, While Ryan may have been a bit bitter deep down inside about taking second, the target of this shower were actually the mechanics of his competitors, not actually their bikes.

Supercross is headed back to the unseasonably cold state of Minnesota for the next round, which is something I fully look forward to. The last Supercross race in this state was over 5 years ago, back in 2008. For this state, Supercross’s main venue is the Hubert H Humphrey Metrodome, which is a stadium that is scheduled for demolition later this year. It’s demolition will likely trigger an other long gap for Supercross visits to this state, as currently the only other stadium large enough to house this event, Target Field, is both an outdoor facility, and in heavy use this time of the year. It’s true that plans are currently underway to build a new football stadium, however the fate of Supercross in that complex is currently unknown.

After a quick peek at the Metrodome schedule, it appears that Supercross is the last big event planned for that facility before demolition. Because of that, I fully expect it to be a sold out event!

 

 

Twitter.com/MXMatt