Since I spent most of the day Monday travelling to Los Angeles I didn’t get the chance to compose my Monday Gate Drop. So even though this is Tuesday night, let’s call this my weekly blog. The reason I had to fly to sunny California was for the 2015 RM-Z 450 press launch at the well liked Zaca Station Track, located about two and a half hours North of Los Angeles. This track is a favourite among the California moto fraternity as it has a little bit of everything….hills….cool jumps and awesome dirt. It’s a great place to test a new bike.
After landing at LAX with Suzuki Canada’s Kyle Freer, we grabbed a car and starting driving North.First on the 405 freeway and then onto the 101. Our drive took us right up the coast, through Santa Barbara and into to our hotel. Since Kyle had never been to California before, I probably should have drove as there was a lot of swerving around on the 101 as he was fixated on the beautiful scenery. Once we arrived at the hotel we were greeted by a 2015 RM-Z 450 sitting on a Matrix stand in the middle of the lobby. After a presentation on all the cool new features on the bike, we had dinner and then since we were exhausted from a day of flying, it was bedtime.
The track at Zaca Station winds threw some cool looking trees and then heads up and down some big hills. It’s a very fun track to ride.
This morning we woke up to another beauty California day and after breakfast it was time to head out to make the 20 minute to the Zaca Station track. For anyone who’s been to this track, you all know what I’m talking about when I say that the drive into the track from the main road is crazy long and seems to take forever. After what felt like an eternity we finally navigated the final right turn and there, sitting before us was a perfectly groomed track and a lineup of brand new Suzuki‘s. After we parked a helicopter flew in like it was the intro to the old show MASH and well little did we know at the time but the helicopter was carrying none other than James Stewart.
Actually for this press launch Suzuki brought out all of their big guns as was not only Stewart there, but so were Carey Hart, Weston Peick and the newly retired Ivan Tedesco. Not only were these stars there to ride the new Suzuki, but they also mingled with all of us media guys and bench raced like it was their job. All of them except James who more or less kept to himself and hung out with his Yoshimura Suzuki Team personnel that were there with him. I guess you really can’t blame Stewart for being a recluse as he is still one of the biggest stars of our sport and he seems to being going through a difficult time right now. I spoke to one of his team’s mechanics and he said that they still haven’t heard what James’s punishment will be for his failed drug test. It could be anything from a fine, a multi race suspension or a year ban. Can you imagine if James Stewart was banned for a year from racing in either the USA or Europe? What would he do? Maybe we’ll see James racing the Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals next year? That would be a dream come true for everyone in Canada. From talking to a few more people today it sounds as though James is going to get either a fine or a one or two race ban to start 2015.
While I’m not going to go into a lot of details on the new Suzuki….yet, I can tell you that these bikes are still very good. For 2015 they have Showa’s new SFF Triple Chamber Air Fork, these are the exact same fork that Stewart has been riding with all year and boy do they work amazing. This third chamber that sits at the bottom of the right side fork acts almost like a preload adjuster as you can use it to adjust ride height of the bike. It’s a great system and these new SFF Air Forks seem to have taken away the harshness that many riders have felt since air forks were introduced. For the rest of the new features on the 2015 RM-Z 450, you’ll have to wait for the story on this bike in the next issue of MXP.
All is all it was a wicked day of riding at Zaca Station and although it was 90F the track was kept watered all day and the conditions were great. It was so very cool being on the same track as Stewart, Hart, Peick and Tedesco as the highlight for me was doing side by side whips off a big step up with female superstar Vicki Golden. Not only is she a super nice girl, but she can whip and clearly I lost our contest. Today was outstanding and after hopefully getting another good sleep tonight, we’re off to the famous Castillo Ranch for day two. Tomorrow should be another great day of riding on the new Suzuki, although it will be without Stewart as his helicopter lifted off around 2pm and I don’t think he’s coming back. Well, Kyle and I are off to dinner and then rest for another long day of moto’in tomorrow. Good night from California.
The former fastest man on the planet showed up and put on a riding display on the new Suzuki’s. Although there is uncertainty hanging over James Stewart like a dark cloud, he still can ride like nobody else.