Villopoto wins AMA Supercorss race in Toronto, closes in on lead in standings

Ryan Villopoto won the Monster Energy AMA Supercross race in Toronto on Saturday night and inched closer to the lead in the Supercross standings.
Villopoto won his fifth race of the season and his fourth in the past five races. He won the race in Daytona, Fla., last week. He also won at Angel Stadium on Feb. 13 and in Indianapolis the following week.
With the win at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Villopoto trails Ryan Dungey, the leader in the Supercross standings, by 17 points after the 10th race of the 17-race AMA Supercross schedule.
“I really wouldn’t be in this position without all of my team and everyone involved,” said Villopoto. “The last couple weeks we’ve been on it and it’s what we need to do. (The racing is) close and it’s been tough. I need to make up ground and I got to make those passes quick. I (also) need to keep getting good starts.”
Dungey finished second in the Toronto race, followed by Trey Canard in third.
Josh Hill, a rider from Murietta, is third in the Supercross standings. He finished in sixth in the race in Toronto.
The AMA Supercross Series will be at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday night.

Rookie Ryan Dungey win AMA Supercross race in Atlanta

Rookie Ryan Dungey won the Monster Energy AMA Supercross race at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Saturday night and increased his lead in the Supercross standings after eight races.
Dungey won for the third time this season and has a 20-point lead over Josh Jill in the AMA Supercross standings.
“It was definitely a good win,” said Dungey. “The start was key because it was a tough track to pass on. My tires hooked up great and I wouldn’t be here without my team. I won my first supercross race here so it feels good to come back and get my first big bike win (in Atlanta). We’re just trying to keep moving forward as a team and sometimes you have to go backward to go forward but things are working out so far.”
Trey Canard was second in the Atlanta race, followed by Davi Millsaps in third.
It was Dungey’s first win since Jan. 23 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim and his fourth podium finish of the year.
Hill finished sixth in the race at Atlanta and recovered from a crash during practice to put up a respectable finish and stay in championship contention.
“After my crash earlier in the day, I had some regrouping to do,” Hill said after the race. “I rode the very best that I could tonight and I am thankful to still be holding on and staying close to the championship points lead in second.”
James Stewart, the reigning Monster Energy AMA Supercross champion, missed his fifth race of the season. He has been sidelined since the fourth race of the year after injuring his wrist in a race accident.
Stewart was asked about his return during the Speed TV coverage of Saturday night’s race at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. He said, “I hope real soon and that the next time I see you guys I'm on the podium.”

Grant Langston back in AMA Supercross after battling cancer, autism

Grant Langston, a Monster Energy AMA Supercross rider, says he never liked to read much. That changed when his son, Devin, was diagnosed with autism. Langston said he became interested in one book in particular: “Louder Than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing Autism” by Jenny McCarthy.

After practice one day, Langston had the book with him. He had it lying out on top of his gear bag when a family approached him. Sarah Caskey, her husband and their two daughters wanted a picture with Langston. After they were done taking their picture, Caskey noticed the book on Langston’s gear bag.

She asked if Langston knew someone with autism. He told her his son was diagnosed. It turns out she was a teacher who specialized in children, kindergartners and first-graders, with autism.

A couple months later, Caskey e-mailed Langston and wanted to know if his son was going to kindergarten. She remembered that the 5-year-old Devin was ready to start kindergarten. Langston said he was having trouble enrolling his son in a school. Apparently, the schools in his district were overcrowded and there weren’t enough classrooms or teachers for Langston’s son.

Caskey told Langston in the e-mail that she wanted to have Devin in her class.

“That was one of the greatest things that happened to us, because she is just amazing with him,” Langston said. “She goes beyond the call of duty. She definitely made an impact in his life.”

Langston, a 27-year-old rider from Murrieta, has overcome a number of obstacles in recent years. None of them have anything to do with dirt bikes or racing or AMA Supercross. He has battled eye cancer, pneumonia, stomach viruses, a knee surgery and his son’s autism diagnosis.

The Road To Recovery
After nearly two years away from AMA Supercross racing, Langston is making a comeback. Even though he says he has yet to push himself to the limit in Supercross since his return, he has been to the edge and back in so many other areas that racing motorcycles seems an afterthought. But he takes his racing seriously, all the while keeping the other aspects of his life in perspective.

Langston moved to the United States from South Africa 10 years ago to pursue a career in pro motorcycle racing. He found a home in Murrieta, mainly because it was close to test tracks in Corona, and it was where he was told he would fulfill his dream of becoming a pro motocross rider.

He steadily rose through the ranks of AMA Supercross, winning championships in the AMA Supercross Lites West Region and the 125cc East Region. He started his career in AMA Supercross in 2001, entering as the 125cc world champion and was the runner-up in the AMA 125cc motocross championship.

At the start of the AMA Supercross season in 2008, Langston began having blurred vision. He remembers the race in San Francisco that year when he realized something was wrong with his eyesight. He was evaluated by optometrists, opthamologists and other specialists before he was diagnosed with what Langston calls a benign growth in his left eye. He had surgery to remove the growth, but instead of having his vision improve, it got worse.

“Shortly after the procedure, my vision went to the dogs,” Langston said. “I had this gut feeling that there was more to the story or maybe this doctor had misdiagnosed it. I needed to go and get other opinions. Through this whole several months process I went all over the place, including Miami, Philadelphia, Cleveland really to try and get a better feeling. They’re telling me, give it some time, it will be fine. It didn’t sound right in my head because it just wasn’t.”

After further evaluations, doctors determined that Langston had a rare form of melanoma in his left eye. They told him if it went untreated, it could result in death. He had surgery to remove the tumor from his eye. He said doctors had to pull up his eyelid, cut into his eye, place a plate behind his eye and finally use radiation treatment to combat the tumor.

“It was a painful experience,” Langston said. “It felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to the side of my head. Because of the radiation treatment, my wife was only allowed to spend two hours of a 24-hour period with me. She’s in Cleveland in the middle of winter with nothing to do and we couldn’t even spend time together. That was definitely a little bit tough.”

Doctors told him his racing career was most likely over. Langston took a year off from riding and racing to help run his family’s business. But he said he wasn’t ready to give up his dream of racing dirt bikes professionally.

“After a year of not riding or racing, I just really wasn’t happy,” Langston said. “My vision was just slowly improving and improving and improving. I started riding and even though I felt the eye was affecting me a little bit, it kind of seemed like the right eye and my brain started compensating. Meanwhile, through vision tests, my left eye wasn’t improving, minute changes, barely even noticeable in a vision test. But overall my vision seemed like it improved. I wanted to race.”

While his vision improved, his body didn’t. The radiation treatment had taken a toll on his immune system. He came down with pneumonia and stomach viruses as he tried to get back in racing shape. Over time, his body responded better to motocross workouts and practices and he was ready to return to racing. But he injured his knee and that delayed his comeback attempt.

It took Langston a little longer than he expected to make his return to AMA Supercross. He is in 14th place in the AMA Supercross standings after six races. He finished a season-best eighth in the race at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego on Feb. 6. He was 10th at the AMA Supercross season opener at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Jan. 9.

“I’m happy. I’m enjoying it. I think being a little older and wiser has helped, not getting carried away and not pushing the limits yet,” Langston said. “I had a strategy and I feel very fortunate to have a second chance. My feeling on this is I have been given a second chance. I’ve come back and I’m really enjoying myself. I don’t recall having this much fun riding in a long time. I think the pressure’s off. People aren’t expecting much. That’s nice. I can just work my way back into it.”

Langston's Son Diagnosed With Autism
When Langston and his wife learned that their son was diagnosed with autism, it was the summer of 2007. Langston was contending for an AMA Supercross championship, battling Chad Reed and James Stewart on a weekly basis and making considerable gains on the top two riders in the series.

“Before he was diagnosed, it was during the summer of 2007 and I was starting to get into this heated championship battle,” Langston said. “That was – I don’t wan to say it took focus off of him – but we were all so focused on racing. I remember coming home after a long day of riding and I’d walk in the house and be like, ‘Hey Dev.’ He didn’t greet me. He just looked the other way and kept watching TV. I thought, ‘This bums me out. This is our first kid.’ I didn’t know any different. You love it when your kid comes up, gives you a hug and says they miss you. He couldn’t do that.”

Langston said he had suspicions that something was wrong with his son. His wife and mother-in-law told him not to worry. They told him boys develop slower than girls and tried to assure him Devin would be fine. Eventually, Langston and his wife decided to have their son evaluated by their pediatrician around the time he turned 3 years old. Their doctor told them Devin had autism.

“My wife and I, we didn’t really know what that meant,” Langston said. “My wife broke down in tears, bawling her eyes out. I felt a little bit the same way, but I felt I had to be the strong one and tell her it will be all right. We’ll work through it and it’s just going to be a challenge.

“The first thing I did was I Googled autism when I got home. There could be a lot worse things. The good news is, we don’t ever have to ever worry about us not having our son in a few years. Being a professional racer, I’m around Make-a-Wish and Dream Maker and these kind of things and you see and hear all these issues these kids have knowing that a kid may not even live to be a teenager. That has to be just devastating as a parent.”

Langston took an aggressive approach to helping his son. He studied about autism, attended seminars, questioned doctors. He became an expert on the topic, educating himself on the most effective strategies to treat the diagnosis. He and his wife have tried changing Devin’s diet, working with therapists and his son’s school district to provide support in needed areas. In addition to going to school, Devin works with a one-on-one tutor two hours a day at home.

It’s taken some time, but Devin is getting re-acquainted to Supercross as well. The stadium environment can be overwhelming at times for Devin. The crowds, noise, fireworks and music can be intimidating. But Devin has learned how to adjust to the noise and the crowds and watch his dad race against some of the top Supercross riders in the world.

“The whole family loves the sports,” Langston said. “They love riding. They love watching. They love coming to races. They love staying the motor home. That’s what I’m really enjoying these days is we’re a family and everyone enjoys what our lifestyle is. It would be tough if not everyone was into it like I was.”

Photos: Grant Langston is 14th in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series standings after six races. He finsihed 13th in Saturday night's AMA Supercross race at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.(Courtesy of RacerX)

Villopoto wins AMA Supercross race in Anaheim; Hill and Dungey tied for lead in standings

Ryan Villopoto won his second Monster Energy AMA Supercross race of the season. Josh Hill finished second for the fourth week in a row.
Round 6 of the AMA Supercross season at Angel Stadium on Saturday night ended with Hill and Ryan Dungey tied for first in the standings and Villopoto sitting in third, three points behind the leaders.
Villopoto led from start to finish and built a nearly six-second at one point in the race. His win pulled him well within striking distance of the lead in the AMA Supercross standings.
“It’s a good spot to be in going back East,” Villopoto said. “I can’t ask for anything more.”
Hill has five podium finishes in six races. His runner-up finish coupled with Dungey’s fourth-place finish, put the two riders tied for first in the AMA Supercross standings.
“I’m happy,” Hill said. “I’ve been on the box every week but one.”
After starting the season with three straight podium finishes, Dungey has not finished on the podium in his last three races.
Hill’s second-place finish at Angel Stadium might have been the most challenging.
“I didn’t ride good all day,” Hill said. “I’m happy with second. I’m just pumped to be up here.”
Kevin Windham finished third, followed by Dungey and Davi Millsaps in fifth.

James Stewart will skip AMA Supercross races in San Diego

James Stewart, the reigning Monster Energy AMA Supercross champion, will miss his second race in a row.
Stewart broke his hand in a crash during the races at Chase Field in Arizona. He raced the following week at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, but missed the race at AT&T Park in San Francisco. He had surgery on his right hand to repair a broken scaphoid bone on Jan. 29, the day before the San Francisco races.
He will skip Saturday’s races at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.
“It’s been five days since my surgery and my wrist is feeling a lot better,” Stewart said in a release. “Right now I’m following doctor’s orders so I can get back on the track racing as soon as possible. I want to be out there as soon as I can ride without pain. It was no fun racing Phoenix and Anaheim 2 this way.” 
There is no exact date when Stewart will return to the race track, but if progress continues as is, he and his team are hopeful that date will be very soon, according to the release.
Stewart’s teammate, Josh Hill, is in second place in the AMA Supercross standings. Hill has three straight podium finishes and has been the runner-up in the past two races.
Ryan Dungey leads the AMA Supercross standings after winning two races. He won at Chase Field and Angel Stadium and is coming off a fourth-place finish in San Francisco.
Ryan Villopoto won the race in San Francisco, his first of the season and the third of his career.
Three riders have won the first four AMA Supercross races of the season. There have never been four winners in the first five AMA Supercross races.
Chad Reed, a two-time AMA Supercross champion, is recovering from a broken hand and has missed the past three races. The earliest he can return to racing is in three weeks.

Villopoto wins AMA Supercross race in San Francisco; Stewart has surgery

Ryan Villopoto won the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series race at AT&T Park in San Francisco on Saturday night. It was his first win of the season and the third of his career.
Ryan Dungey, the leader in the AMA Supercross Series standings, crashed on lap 10 and fell from first to fourth.
“I lost my foot and went sailing,” said Dungey. “It could have been a lot worse. I am glad I am not hurt.”
Villopoto won for the third time in his AMA Supercross career. He is in third place in the AMA Supercross standings, two points behind second-place Josh Hill and 13 points out of first.
“The track was tough and slippery,” said Villopoto. “It was hard to put in 20 perfect laps out there tonight. It wasn’t the start that I wanted, so I played catch-up. It is a long season with a lot of racing left.”
Hill had another strong race, finishing on the podium for the third race in a row. Hill was second at San Franisco, followed by Davi Millsaps in third. Both riders are from Murrieta.
James Stewart, the reigning AMA Supercross champion, did not race in San Francisco. He had surgery to repair a broken wrist last week. He broke his wrist in a crash during the races at Chase Field in Arizona two weeks ago. He raced at Angel Stadium the following week and finished third despite the broken wrist.
Dr. Arthur Ting, an orthopedic surgeon, performed the surgery on Stewart’s wrist on Friday.
“James is a true champion,” San Manuel Team Manager Larry Brooks said in a release. “The fact that he rode as competitively as he did making the podium at Anaheim 2 with a broken wrist (unknowingly) is testimony to that. He’s anxious to heal and get back on the race track as soon as possible.”
Stewart’s return to racing is unknown. He will be evaluated on a weekly basis, according to the team.
The next AMA Supercross race is Saturday at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

Ryan Dungey prevails for the second week in a row - latimes.com

Ryan Dungey prevails for the second week in a row - latimes.com

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Rookie Ryan Dungey won for the second week in a row in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series on Saturday night at Angel Stadium.
Dungey, the top qualifier, has two victories and a runner-up finish in the first three races of the AMA Supercross Series.
He won the AMA Supercross race at Chase Field in Phoenix the previous Saturday night and was second in the opening-night race at Angel Stadium.
Dungey had to come from behind to win at Angel Stadium, passing for the lead on Lap 13 and pulling away over the last six laps of the race. He finished more than three seconds ahead of Josh Hill, the second-place rider. James Stewart, the reigning AMA Supercross champion, was third.
"It was a fun race," Dungey said. "It was a close race and clean. Twenty laps is a long time. The track got really rough. I'm really looking forward from here on out."

Ryan Dungey has chance to expand Supercross lead - latimes.com

Ryan Dungey has chance to expand Supercross lead - latimes.com

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Rookie Ryan Dungey enters tonight’s Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series race at Angel Stadium as the surprise leader in the standings. With one of the top riders in the series out with a broken hand and the reigning AMA Supercross champion nursing a collection of injuries, Dungey has an opportunity to take a commanding lead in the standings.
Chad Reed, a two-time AMA Supercross champion, is expected to miss the next six weeks after breaking his hand in a crash during the race at Chase Field in Phoenix last Saturday night.
James Stewart, the reigning AMA Supercross champion, crashed with Reed in Phoenix, resulting in his broken hand. Stewart sustained injuries to the right side of his body – shoulder, wrist and ankle – and spent the week in Florida being examined and evaluated by doctors, but said he will race at Angel Stadium in Round 3 of the AMA Supercross Series.
 “I don't want to let my fans or my team down,” Stewart said in a release. “They've been really supportive this week while I did what I needed to do.  I'm close enough to the points lead and I need to be out there if I'm going to have a shot at another championship.”
Larry Brooks, manager for Stewart’s San Manuel Yamaha team, said Stewart spent 15 hours at a hospital on Wednesday for examinations and tests. He had his right wrist x-rayed twice, but they did not reveal any broken bones, Brooks said.
Stewart is in seventh place in the AMA Supercross standings, 16 points behind Dungey. With Reed out and Stewart racing injured at Angel Stadium, Dungey is looking to capitalize on a strong start to the season. Dungey won the race at Phoenix, finished second at the season-opening race at Angel Stadium and has a nine-point lead over Ryan Villopoto in the AMA Supercross standings.
“Going forward from Anaheim, I knew I could lead laps. I knew I was right up there with the speed and everything,” Dungey said. “I could take a lot from that too and carry that over and learn from that. It was definitely a good experience and one I learned a lot from and one I can keep applying moving forward.”
Stewart won the season-opening race at Angel Stadium two weeks ago. He had to chase down Dungey, who led the first 17 laps of the race. With the rain and bad weather, the next race at Angel Stadium will be much different than the first. The muddy track could be beneficial to Stewart, Brooks said, because the speeds and pace of the races will be much slower than a typical race.
The track has been covered with tarp since Monday, but Dungey said he expects the rain will create some challenging racing conditions.
“Mud is weird,” Dungey said. “One second you feel like I’m winning and I’m doing good and then the next second your face first in the mud. It’s tricky to ride in it and it takes a lot of finesse. It’s something you can’t really control everything and you should enjoy it at the end of the day.”

James Stewart nursing injuries, questionable for AMA Supercross race at Anaheim

James Stewart might be the latest AMA Supercross star to have to sit out Saturday night's race at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.
Stewart was in Florida consulting with doctors and working through therapy to recover from injuries he suffered at the AMA Supercross race at Chase Field in Phoenix. He crashed twice, once in a heat race and again in the main event, and sustained injuries to the right side of his body.
Larry Brooks, the team manager for Stewart's San Manuel Yamaha team, said Stewart has been seeing doctors since Monday and having his right shoulder, wrist and ankle examined. He spent 15 hours at a hospital on Wednesday meeting with doctors. Brooks said he expects Stewart, the reigning AMA Supercross champion, to race this weekend in Anaheim, but it will be a race-time decision if he actually gets on the track.
Stewart crashed with Chad Reed during the Phoenix race. Reed, a two-time AMA Supercross champion, broke his left hand in the crash and is expected to miss the next six weeks.
The race at Angel Stadium on Saturday night is expected to be a wet one. Heavy rainstorms are expected and that might work in Stewart's favor.
Brooks said the muddy track will make for slower, less physically demanding races. It might make it easier for Stewart to race with his injuries in those conditions.
Stewart had two X-rays done on his wrist this week. They showed no broken bones, but Brooks said Stewart is experiencing discomfort in his right wrist.

Josh Hill prepares for AMA Supercross race at Angel Stadium

Josh Hill, a San Manuel Yamaha rider from Murrieta, enters Saturday night's AMA Supercross race at Angel Stadium in Anaheim third in the standings. With James Stewart, the reigning AMA Supercross champion, nursing some injuries from the race in Phoenix, and Chad Reed, a two-time AMA Supercross champion, out at least six weeks with a broke hand, this might be an optimum time for Hill to show off his skills.
Rookie Ryan Dungey is the leader in the AMA Supercross standings. He won the race in Phoenix and came in second in the season opener at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.
Seeing a young rider like Dungey have success gives Hill some confidence.

Q&A with AMA Supercross rider Billy Payne Jr.

Billy Payne Jr. is 28 and perhaps making his final attempt at AMA Supercross stardom. He has the pedigree of a star, the son of Billy Payne Sr., one of the pioneers of supercross  back in the days of the Super Bowls of Motocross.
But injuries and surgeries have kept Payne Jr. off the race tracks. Broken wrists, surgically repaired knees, and most recently a crash at Chase Field in Phoenix that left him unconscious while preparing to qualify have taken their toll on Payne.
He talked about what it took to get him back on track for 2010 and what he expects to accomplish in the AMA Supercross series.

Q: How did you think the first Anaheim race went?

A: The first race didn’t go that great, but I guess it was to be expected. It’s been a while since I got back on the bike and raced again. I took five years off back in ’02, ‘03 due to some bad injuries that I had. I broke both my wrists and had several surgeries to repair them. I had a lot of time off. I came back in 08 and raced and then had a small knee injury that was kind of old. I had surgery that put me out for the whole year, last year. I didn’t race at all in 09. I was off the bike and I was working again.
It was actually a last-minute deal that we put together for the first race here in Anaheim.
I guess it went as expected. I was just trying to get some nerves out, getting the bugs out. I just kind of rode real conservative, didn’t get aggressive. We made the night program, which is all they expected out of me. We were in the show, but I didn’t make the main event. My goals are to be in the main event in the upcoming races.

Q: Two broken wrists in 2002 knocked you out of the sport for almost six years. What happened in the crash?

A: Before the season started, I was doing a local supercross race. I was leading the race and back then they had a defect in the Yamahas. The carburetor used to pop off the boot. When that happens, it’s pretty much like running out of gas. It happened right before a jump. Basically I went off the jump with no power which threw me over the bars and I landed into the face of the landing of the next jump. Just came down and broke both my wrists, snapped them both clean, both bones in both wrists. One of them was pretty bad. It was shattered. It was a really bad injury, one of the worst injuries I’ve ever had. I was in a lot of pain for about at least a month. A lot of surgeries. I almost lost the use of my hand. They had to open me up and open up all the arteries. There was another surgery on top of all the surgeries to put the bones together. It was hard.
The doctors were telling me I was never going to race again. I ended coming back and racing locally after that.  But then I went back to work and was just about to retire. I guess five or six years off the bike, one day I wanted to get back on it again.
It took me out for a good three months. Local races. Stopped. My wrists still felt like they were in a lot of pain. I didn’t feel like I had it anymore.  It took the wind out of my sails. I went back to work and I was off the bike completely for a couple of years. I went to work construction for my dad. It took me out for about six years.

Q: When you made your first return, it was in the AMA Supercross Lites-East. How did that season go for you?

A: I came back to race in ‘08. We ended up 10th in points. We made every main event. For me to come back and not race in six years and show up and make the main event, I was more than happy. By the end of the season, I think my best finish was eighth. I had a couple races where I was up there in the top five. My speed started coming around again. My conditioning was good. It always kept me consistent.
I was getting ready for a supercross race in Sweden. It was one of those deals where it was overseas and they pay some Americans to go over there and race.

Q: While preparing for that race, you had an accident at one of  the Red Bull practice tracks. What happened?

A: I hit the ramp, it was a ramp to dirt, just like a freestyle jump, and I was on a 450. With our gearing and the way our bikes are set up, we have to time it, because you can overshoot it or come up short real easily. I ended up overshooting it and when I landed, my knee just buckled. I ended having to go get surgery done on that to fix it. My doctor told me the healing process was going to be about seven or eight months if I wanted it to heal right. That bummed me out. I just came back, my first year back had a good season, then that happened. I thought I was just done again.
I took the whole last year off and didn’t race at all. I wasn’t going to race again until about two months before Anaheim this year. We put together all our own sponsors and we did it all our own. I’m not riding for any team. This is all my own deal, just me and my friend Luke Greenwood and Jim Stonehouse.
We all got together and put together and deal and we’re doing it.

Q: What do you want to accomplish in your third comeback to supercross racing?

A: I just want to get back in the sport. What I mean by that is I want to stay healthy for one and I want to be in all the main events. It’s one thing to make it into the night program. You really want to be in the main show, the main event. To tell the truth, with my history and my racing career, I’ve never really missed a main event. That’s where I want to be obviously. I have some long-term goals, but for now, I would like to definitely be in the main event, be part of the show.

Q: At 28, some riders are considering retiring. You’re restarting your career. How does it feel to be one of the older riders out there?

A: It’s a whole different deal. Your heart rate, it’s a lot higher on a supercross track than an outdoor track. There’s no resting places. When you watch from the stands, it doesn’t look that gnarly. It looks like everyone’s kind of hitting their jumps, just floating through the air, twisting the throttle. In reality, it’s a real physical, demanding sport. There’s no place to rest out there and it’s really high intensity. I train on mountain bikes and I train on road bikes and I do some MMA, and nothing gets my heart rate up as high as it does on a motorcycle on a supercross track.
It’s definitely in my blood. My dad, before I was born, was a factory Maico rider. He rode for other teams as well. Back then, they didn’t have supercross. He was in one of the first Super Bowls of Motocross. My dad raced and he was really good. He quit when he was about 23, 24. When I was born, we were doing desert trips and he still rode for fun. I got my first motorcycle when I was 5 years old. My older cousin started racing. My dad was really involved in his racing. I used to go to the races with him and watch. One day, I became buddies with a lot of kids that were racing.
I was 8 years old when I started racing. It only took a couple years and we started winning races. We were full bore with it and it just became part of our life. That’s why I can’t stay away. That’s all we did.

Dungey emerges as leader in AMA Supercross standings

Rookie Ryan Dungey has emerged out of nowhere to lead the AMA Supercross standings after two races. He won the race at Chase Field in Phoenix on Saturday night and was the runner-up at Angel Stadium in Anaheim to open the season.
James Stewart, the reigning AMA Supercross champion, and Chad Reed, a two-time AMA Supercross champion, were expected to be the top two riders in the series in 2010. Stewart chased down Dungey to win the season opener in Anaheim two weeks ago, but struggled in Phoenix. Stewart crashed twice, once in his heat race and again in the main event, and coupled his win in Anaheim with a 15th-place finish in Phoenix to drop to seventh place in the Supercross standings.
Reed’s start to the AMA Supercross was even worse. He did not finish the Anaheim race, bowing out after two laps after he collided with another rider and broke the spokes on one of his wheels. He crashed with Stewart at Phoenix and broke his left hand. He is expected to miss the next six weeks recovering from the injuries he suffered in the Phoenix race.
Even Dungey expected Stewart and Reed to battle it out for the Supercross championship this year and continue their rivalry from 2009.
“They both had a rivalry all year long,” Dungey said on a conference call. “You kind of knew what to expect coming into this year. I don’t know. Last year I was in the Lites class, making this jump to the 450; it’s a big step. I don’t think it’s really known for somebody to come out and really start giving them a run.”
Dungey impressed in the first Anaheim race. He led for 17 laps before Stewart finally overtook him. Dungey battled back on the last lap, pulling even with Stewart, but could not pass him and finished in second place.
“Going into the season, I knew where I wanted to be and I wanted to be up there winning and battling with them guys,” Dungey said. “Thankfully Anaheim went good, led some laps in front of James. James got me of course at the end. It’s good to be up there battling with them. It’s good to be up there in the mix and that’s where I would want to be.”
Even though he didn’t win the first Anaheim race, Dungey said he learned a lot by leading the race and battling with Stewart at the end.
“At first, I’m proving to myself to know that I can lead some laps,” Dungey said. “There’s a lot of pressure. James, he is the top guy in the class at the moment. To be up there and running those laps, I really kind of run my own race, because at the end of the day, I gotta run my laps. There’s no sense in doing something over my head or doing something different because James is there.  I just try to run my own race. It does help. To win races is the plan, but going forward, it definitely proved a lot to myself.”

Geared for racing» Ventura County Star

Billy Payne Jr. and Cole Seeley are trying to make their marks in AMA Supercross.
For Payne, this might be his last chance. For Seeley, his potential is limitless. Both riders will be in action at Angel Stadium on Saturday night for the third race of the AMA Supercross season.
Payne has had a rough start to his season. The 28-year-old from Simi Valley is racing in the top division of AMA Supercross against James Stewart, Chad Reed and the stars of the sport. He has yet to make the main event of the first two races, but he is determined to return to the form that made him a rising star more than a decade ago.
Seeley, a 19-year-old from Newbury Park, has put together a pair of nice races to start the AMA Supercross Lites-West season. He is coming off a sixth-place finish at Chase Field in Phoenix and a 14th-place effort at Angel Stadium in Anaheim to start the season.
Both riders have their work cut out for them as they prepare for the next race in Anaheim.

Photo: Billy Payne Jr. of Simi Valley has had to overcome wrist and knee injuries. (Racer X Illustrated)

Geared for racing» Ventura County Star

Dungey wins in Phoenix, takes over lead in AMA Supercross standings

Rookie Ryan Dungey won his first career AMA Supercross race, taking the checkered flag at Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz., and moving into first place in the Supercross standings.
Dungey took the lead in the race on the first lap in a race that was reigning Supercross champion James Stewart finish 15th. Chad Reed, the 2008 Supercross champion, did not finish for the second week in a row. Reed broke a spoke on the second lap of the season opener at Angel Stadium two weeks ago. He crashed with Stewart on lap five and did not return to finish the race. Stewart, who crashed in his heat race and had to win the last-chance qualifier to make the field for the final race, continued after crashing with Reed.
Dungey's win in Phoenix combined with a runner-up finish in Anaheim puts him nine points ahead of Ryan Villopoto in the Supercross standings.
“I’m just pumped on the nice performance (tonight),” Dungey said. “This is a big step in my career. I owe a lot of thanks to all the people supporting me. I’m glad to get this out of the way and I’ll never forget it. It’s early in the season and last week was tough. James was on it and I hope he’s ok. It’s just great to come out with a win here in round two.”
Stewart, the winner in the season-opening race in Anaheim, is seventh in the Supercross standings after two races.
Villopoto finished second in the Phoenix race, followed by Murrieta's Josh Hill in third. Ivan Tedesco of Murrieta was fourth and Andrew Short of Smithville, Texas, was fifth.
Reports are circulating on Twitter that Reed broke his hand in the crash with Stewart. 

Josh Grant crash before AMA Supercross opener

Josh Grant crashed the Tuesday before the AMA Supercross season opener at Angel Stadium.
Grant, the winner of last year's season opener at Anaheim, did not get a chance to repeat. He qualified for the AMA Supercross main event, but pulled out at the last minute.
He hit his head, injured his shoulder and broke his nose while practicing at a private track near his home in Riverside.
The AMA Supercross season continues this weekend at Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz., the second race of the season.

Some final thoughts on the AMA Supercross opener at Angel Stadium

Five things to take away from the AMA Supercross season opener at Angel Stadium in Anaheim:

1. James Stewart is hardly the people’s champion. He might be the face of Supercross, but the masses are definitely split on rooting for him. The boos equaled the cheers for him at Anaheim. It looks like it will take more than winning races to win over some new fans.

2. Ryan Dungey is for real. In his first Supercross race, he outrode James Stewart and almost won in his debut in the 450cc class. When Stewart passed him with three laps to go in the race, Dungey refused to give up. Dungey pulled even with Stewart on the last lap, but couldn’t pass him. At least Dungey fought to the end. “I stayed consistent throughout the race,” said Stewart. “I started to push myself during the last 10 laps and that is what racing is all about. I wanted to be there at the end and I was.”

3. Chad Reed is poised to pull a Stewart-like comeback. Chad Reed broke a spoke and had to withdraw from the opening-night race at Anaheim. He finished a disappointing 19th. James Stewart had a similar start to his 2009 championship season. He did not finish the opening night race at Anaheim and was in 19th place in the Supercross standings after one race. Reed made contact with Austin Stroupe on the second lap of the race and broke his wheel. Last year, Reed and Stewart collided, which led to a heated season-long battle between the two riders. Somehow a Reed-Stroupe rivalry doesn’t appear to be on the horizon. “I was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Reed. “The pace is really high right now, and there was nothing that I could do. I was trying to pass another rider and our lines came together.”

4. Josh Grant might be out for a while. It was one of the most impressive and gutsy efforts in Supercross. Josh Grant, who won last year’s season opener at Anaheim, did everything he could to race in this year’s Supercross opener. He crashed, hit his head, injured his shoulder and broke his nose practicing at a private track near his home in Riverside. Despite his injuries, Grant raced on Saturday night, finished ninth in his heat race and qualified for the main event race. But he pulled out of the final race just before it started. Grant said he couldn’t hold on to the handle bars during his practice sessions and heat race. Plus his vision was blurred and he was experiencing dizziness. When he’ll be able to return to race again is anybody’s guess.

5. There are some new sheriffs in town. At least that’s what James Stewart said after he won the season opener at Anaheim. Until someone beats him, Stewart is the Sheriff of Supercross. But there are a slew of deputies who want to take his place. Rookie Ryan Dungey gave notice he will be a challenger to Stewart’s reign. Davi Millsaps, Ryan Villopoto and Kevin Windham showed flashes of brilliance on Saturday night. Plus it will take more than broken spokes to keep Chad Reed, a one-time sheriff himself, out of the championship picture.

Stewart scores come-from-behind win in AMA Supercross opener

James Stewart won the AMA Supercross season opener at Angel Stadium by chasing down rookie Ryan Dungey and winning by nearly 3.5 seconds in front of 43,841 on Saturday night.

Dungey led the first 17 laps of the 20-lap race. Stewart made his pass for the lead on Lap 18, erasing a nearly 4.5-second deficit. Dungey refused to give up, though, pulling even with Stewart on the last lap, but Stewart pulled away at the end and won the first race of the AMA Supercross season.

"The beginning part of the race he was out really good," Stewart said. "We stayed pretty much consistent. He was riding good. I was able to catch him. We battled to the end. That's what racing's about. When you get that close, you battle to the end. He's a great competitor."

Read more in the LA Times.

Josh Grant questionable for AMA Supercross opener at Angel Stadium

The AMA Supercross season opens tonight at Angel Stadium in Anaheim and there is a chance last year’s winner might not be able to race.
Josh Grant, the surprise winner of last year’s season opener, crashed and hit his head on a jump while running practice laps at a track near his home in Riverside on Tuesday. He injured his head and left shoulder, but said he could not reveal the severity of his injuries.
He showed up at Angel Stadium on Thursday wearing sunglasses and had scars on his face, the results of a reported broken nose, but said it would take handcuffs and rope to keep him out of the race. It will be a race-time decision if he starts, but his injuries didn’t keep him from turning some practice laps at Angel Stadium with a handful of other riders, including reigning AMA Supercross champion James Stewart and runner-up Chad Reed.
In last year’s AMA Supercross season opener in Anaheim, Stewart and Reed collided. Stewart did not finish the race. Reed was able to return, without front brakes on his bike, and finish third.
Grant ended up being the beneficiary of the collision between Stewart and Reed, winning the first AMA Supercross race of his career.
Stewart went on to win the AMA Supercross championship, the second of his career. Reed finished four points behind Stewart in the AMA Supercross standings.
“The 2009 Supercross season was tough,” Stewart said. “Obviously it didn’t start off the way I wanted it to. I ended up DNFing. Me and Chad ended up getting together, but I was able to, I think, come back and win seven races in a row and still come out at the end of the day and win it.”
The rivalry between Stewart and Reed spilled beyond the race tracks. Even though Stewart said he is ready to start anew in 2010, Reed isn’t willing to forget how “disrespectful” Stewart raced against him last year.
Gates open at 12:30 for practice and qualifying. Main event races are scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. at Angel Stadium.

Photo: Josh Grant, winner of last year's AMA Supercross season opener at Angel Stadium, crashed at a private track near his home in Riverside and might not be able to start tonight's race in Anaheim.

James Stewart reflects on 2009 AMA Supercross season

When James Stewart was presented with his championship ring for winning the 2009 AMA Supercross title, he quickly slipped it on his finger. It was the second championship of his Supercross career, but he said this one was the most gratifying.
It was gratifying in part because of the way he won it. The start to his 2009 season didn’t have an ending. He did not finish the season-opening race at Angel Stadium last year and put himself in a deep hole in the Supercross standings. But he rallied back and won 11 races, seven in a row at one point.
“It was a lot of work involved,” Stewart said. “It was more than just showing up on the weekends and winning races. My team, San Manuel, went back and we had to work on the bike during the week. It was really a team effort.”
After the Anaheim season opener, Stewart was in 19th place in the Supercross standings. He won the next race at Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz., the start of his seven-race winning streak. When he won the race at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, he took over the top spot in the Supercross standings. He won four of the last nine races of the season. His third-place finish in the season finale in Las Vegas was enough to give Stewart a four-point advantage in the Supercross standings over Chad Reed.
“Even though we were coming to the races, we were still testing at the races. We got it done and it makes it gratifying to do that,” Stewart said. “After looking back over the year, as I was winning those races, I kind of forgot what I did coming back. For me, that was a lot of confidence and taking it over to this year.”

Photo: James Stewart won 11 races including seven in a row en route to his second AMA Supercross championship in 2009.

Josh Hill teams with James Stewart in AMA Supercross

From the Californian:
Josh Hill, an AMA Supercross rider from Murrieta, finds a new home with reigning champ James Stewart.

ANAHEIM -- AMA Supercross rider Josh Hill has been looking for a new home on two fronts.

He found one in Murrieta and another with Team San Manuel.

To say he is happy with both homes would be an understatement. His new house is near his new team's headquarters in Temecula. His new team sports the reigning AMA Supercross champion, James Stewart.

The 20-year-old Hill has been counting his blessing as he prepares for the season-opening AMA Supercross race at Angels Stadium in Anaheim on Saturday night.