Reed Still Feels The Need for Speed!

Tomac Again!

1.Tomac 2.Webb 3.Barcia

Supercross Round 2 at San Diego by the numbers

Dan Beaver - Supercross Round 2 numbers

Eli Tomac and Jett Lawrence took the early lead in the NBC Power Rankings with their victories at Anaheim 1 and here are some of the other numbers you need to know heading into Supercross Round 2 at Petco Park in San Diego, California for this weekend’s race.

This will be the 40th time Supercross has run in San Diego in 39 seasons and the eighth time they’ve raced at Petco Park. Two races were held in 2016, (the second year the series ran at Petco Park), with Ryan Dungey sweeping the venue.

Tomac may have difficulty earning a second consecutive victory in 2023 as this is his third-worst venue in terms of career-average finish. In nine visits to San Diego, he has an average of 6.3, largely due to a failure to start in 2018 when he was credited with a 22nd-place finish. On the plus side, Tomac has one win and two podium finishes to offset that disappointment.

Making his bid for two more difficult, Petco Park is a venue that has not been kind to repeat winners. The last five races there have been won by a different rider. In fact, no active rider has multiple wins in San Diego with Ken Roczen winning in 2017, Jason Anderson in 2018, Tomac in 2019, Cooper Webb in 2020 and Chase Sexton last year.

Tomac and Webb each have two 250 wins on this track and Roczen has the most podium finishes (five) among active riders.

Second in the points’ standings, Webb also has one win and two top-five finishes in five San Diego starts,

Chase Sexton leads Eli Tomac in San Diego in what would be a precursor of what the outdoor season looked like. Feld Motor Sports/MX Sports Pro Racing/Align Media

Third-place Sexton has the most recent success at Petco Park; he won his first Supercross race on this track last year. He stood on the podium seven more times last year, including second-place finishes in St. Louis and Salt Lake City, but would not ascend to the top box again until the Pro Motocross season.

Last year featured first time winners in San Diego in both classes. Sexton won in 450s and Michael Mosiman in 250s. Sexton’s win made him the 65th rider to win in the premier class.

Another major storyline from last year was the overflow of tempers when Justin Barcia and Justin Bogle skirmished throughout the race. Ultimately, Barcia cleaned out Bogle and was disqualified post-race.

Along with Chase Sexton in the 450 class, Michael Mosiman was a first-time winner in 250s at San Diego. Feld Motor Sports/MX Sports Pro Racing/Align Media

The egalitarian nature of San Diego carries over into the 250 class, where there have been no repeat winners in the last seven races.

This will be the first time Jett Lawrence has raced in San Diego. He competed in the East division in the past two seasons, while 2020 was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic that forced the final three West division races of 2020 to be run in Salt Lake City.

RJ Hampshire finished 15th at San Diego in 2019, the only time he raced in 250 West division.

Cameron McAdoo finished ninth there in 2019 and 22nd in 2020.

After last week’s postponement of the Oakland race, San Diego moves up to the second round. Oakland will now run on February 18, which was an open date on the schedule.

SuperCross Back Tomorrow Night!

“Back In The USSR”

HISTORY: Danny LaPorte & Georges Jobe

Ben Rumbold

Danny LaPorte tells a tale of the funny side to the late Georges Jobe.

Words: Ben Rumbold / Danny LaPorte | Images: Jack Burnicle

Whilst researching my Top 50 Riders of the 80s (By The Numbers) articles, I had a reply from the fantastic 1982 250cc World Champion, and 1979 125cc AMA National Champion, Danny LaPorte.  He had already given me some great tales of his own career and been thoroughly brilliant about it, which you will see when we get to his Top 50 entry in a few months’ time.

The story from Danny was too good to just crowbar into any other article, so it’s here as a little bonus for MX Vice followers. This takes place in 1982, deep in the Cold War, with Ronald Reagan as US President, and Leonid Brezhnev the leader of what was then the Soviet Union.  Kishinev itself is now in the small nation of Moldova, between Romania and Ukraine and just north of the Black Sea. It’s a 30-hour drive from the UK, and riders used to carry bags full of the different currencies needed to see them through the various countries en route.  Some even took a few bits and pieces to sell over there…

For the Motocross context, this happens just before the 9^th round of the 1982 250cc World Championship, which LaPorte led by 6 points over Georges Jobe prior to the USSR Grand Prix at Kishinev, with just three rounds to go after that event.  Danny would go on to beat Jobe to the championship by just 13 points, before Jobe reversed the order in 1983.

 

Danny LaPorte at Hawkstone Park, on his way to the 1982 World 250cc Championship

So here is a tale of the hyper-competitive Belgian that shows a side many of us never saw or even heard of, in Danny’s own words…

“The best story [about Georges], in 1982 Russia was still pretty hardcore. We were in Kishinev, staying at a tourist hotel, designed to keep all visitors to Russia accounted for. You literally had a person on each floor making sure of monitoring the visitors, you probably know that better than I do [my uncle Neil Hudson has told me similar tales of Russian military observation].

“You couldn’t leave the premises, so I went outside to see what was happening with my mechanics and all the other teams that were there. Well, they were all there! It was like a giant paddock [in the hotel car park]. Anyway down in the corner of the parking area I saw one of many soldiers that was there keeping an eye on everyone. We kind of communicated, and finally I asked him if I could buy his belt because it had a Hammer and Sickle [buckle – this was the Soviet emblem as shown on the USSR flag]. I thought it would be a good souvenir lol.. [Yes, Danny LaPorte uses the acronym ‘lol’, just when I thought he was perfect. Never mind…].

“The soldier of course said no, then I showed him a hundred-dollar bill, and his eyes lit up! He told me to meet him later, on the edge of the parking area. He showed up with a bag and he gave me his entire uniform!!!  So first thing I do, I saw Georges and showed him. Immediately he said ‘You have to wear it tonight to the party’.

“In Russia for this big event they had a full sit-down dinner organized by the government, with all the local military higher-ups, dignitaries etc, at least 300 people. I said to Georges ‘I can’t do that, I’m American and if they saw me with that uniform I would be headed to the Gulag [the dreaded concentration camps where political prisoners were literally worked to death]!’  He didn’t hesitate and said, ‘Let me have it, I’ll wear it!’

 

Georges Jobe gives the 250cc Suzuki some gas at Beuern in West Germany, 1983.

“I said ‘OK, but don’t tell them where you got it from.’ I will never forget Georges walking down the stairs to the entrance of the party. Military people all around and there’s Georges, arms swinging in the Russian marching fashion lol!!  I was stood watching this laughing like crazy, Georges had the balls to do that knowing how insulting it was to be imitating them.

“He gets to the bottom and military personnel run to him, to get him to take the clothes off and the first thing they said was ‘Where did you get this uniform?!’ Georges looks around the room and points right at me!!!!!!!

“They confiscate the suit. I get taken aside and asked a dozen questions. I bullsh*t my way out of this, by saying it’s a tradition in America to proudly have a Russian uniform, its respect! lol…

“The General responsible [for the hotel] that tried to find out which soldier sold me the uniform ends up sitting at the same table for dinner. We talked all night and I had to have a shot of vodka to clear things up!  I ended up trading him some JT hats for the Russian Belt, and he got it for me!!

“Georges got me good! I was sh*tting myself thinking I wasn’t going to make it to the GP the next day.

“The Grand Prix itself was maybe the best race of my career!! We traded motos, I won the first moto, Georges won the second, and I won the overall by a few seconds [GP points ties were decided by overall time back then].  We were wheel to wheel for 2 x 45 minutes + 2, you could have thrown a blanket over us.  One thing I felt was that I could race with Georges that close, touching the entire time, but never felt like he was going to take me out deliberately or by accident. He was that good!

“Without Georges my championship wouldn’t have meant nearly as much! RIP my friend…”

And many thanks Danny for that amazing story. You absolute legend.

Let's Go Racing!

Vialle Gets Ready For America

Iconic Track Up for Sale

2 vs 4 A Look Back

Travis to Daytona 500...Of Course!

Legendary motocross champion Travis Pastrana to enter 2023 Daytona 500 for 23XI Racing

Action sports superstar Travis Pastrana is expected to enter the 2023 Daytona 500 as the driver of a third car for 23XI Racing, according to a report by The Athletic. That report states that an official announcement is expected next week.

Pastrana, 39, will attempt to qualify for his Cup Series debut after previously having raced in both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Pastrana has made 42 career Xfinity starts, including in 2013 when he ran the full season for RFK Racing. Pastrana won a pole at Talladega and earned four top 10 finishes with a career-best of ninth at Richmond on his way to a 14th-place finish in points. Pastrana also has five Truck Series starts, with his most recent coming in 2020 at Las Vegas.

On Friday evening, 23XI Racing's social media channels teased at an announcement.

Pastrana will serve as a teammate to Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick, but he will have to earn one of the four Open qualifying spots in the Daytona 500 field available to non-charter cars. Pastrana can qualify either by being one of the two fastest Open cars in time trial qualifying, or by being the highest-finishing Open car in his Duel qualifying race the next day. Other drivers seeking to qualify for the Daytona 500 in Open cars are expected to include Jimmie Johnson for Legacy Motor Club, Austin Hill for Beard Motorsports, and Zane Smith for Front Row Motorsports.

The majority of Pastrana's racing success has come in rallycross, as Pastrana has four Rally America titles, the 2017 American Rally Association championship, and the 2021 Nitro Rallycross title to his name. Pastrana also won championships in AMA motocross and supercross early in his career.