DAVIDBAILEYMX.COM

FEATURE STORY

HANGTOWN 2005
On the roughest Hangtown track I’ve ever seen, RC and Langston proved they are the men to beat. RC proved it all weekend, while Langston proved it at around the halfway point of each moto. I had just finished a column for Racer X on Thursday stating that as long as Ricky wants to be the man, he will be! He has weathered every storm I can think of including the perfect storm. He is fast, fit, confident, wise and somehow still really hungry to win every time he rides and it showed. He was so dominant that people are already thinking perfect season.

In the so-called 125 class, Josh Grant repeated his ’04 holeshot, but couldn’t hang on to it. Hepler ruled the moto and if it hadn’t been for a simple crash in moto two, he probably would’ve won the overall. He is now in the driver’s seat of the series in my opinion. He’s healthy, fast at Mt. Morris and good in the mud. The forecast for this weekend is calling for rain. Brown surprised me since he hasn’t looked good lately and pulled off in both Prequel motos. Ryno was fast and smooth and moving forward the whole moto with Langston in tow, but a simple crash cost him big. In the second moto he came around way back and then his bike locked up. His final bid for a title isn’t looking too good, but this is motocross and you never know.

The move of the day (like it or not) came after Mike Alessi led the entire second moto looking much better than he did in the first moto. This kid might not say the right things, but he is faster and tougher than people think and a hell of a starter. Anyway, with about three laps to go I thought he had it. A lap later I thought it would be really close. When Mike took the white flag, he flew threw the mechanics area looking like he had upped his pace enough to win, but Langston was still gaining fast. The record-breaking crowd started screaming for a potential last-ditch effort by Langston or the kids first moto win by a hair. Since I was in the exact same position back in 1984 on my works 500 Honda chasing down Broc Glover, I knew exactly what was going to happen. Grant came in hot to the 2nd to last turn and put himself in a position (if he could make the turn) to have the inside in the last left to the finish. Of course Mike tried to cover the inside, but Grant was already there. Ritchie Owens made the exact same move on Josh Lichtle in the qualifier for the final spot that morning. If I were in Grant’s position I would’ve done the same thing and in fact did back in ’84, which resulted in us both going down and I got up first to win. It’s the last turn of the last moto for the win. Anyone who thinks he had the overall anyway and should’ve just finished second must have forgotten how he won the title a few years ago – barely! Or how about the one he lost in the final moto? 3 points could be the difference at the final round especially now that Langston is hurt. Two of the titles I won were by less!

If I were Alessi, I would be frustrated with what happened for sure. The kid busted his ass for over a half hour to get plowed and end up 15th instead of 1st and a possible podium. Now he knows how that French kid felt in Bercy last year. The world has a way of balancing out and Mike will learn all of this stuff fast!

I can’t say much more about RC that hasn’t been said already, so I’ll just skip to his challengers. Reed crashed on the big downhill double in practice and banged his head hard and wasn’t really the same the rest of the day, but does have the ability to beat Ricky. Windham (who has beaten Ricky outside) raced 500 yards into the ’05 season and had his shift lever ruined! He rebounded well, but how in the world is he going to get 28 points back? I realize I said anything can happen, but probably not to a guy who has won nearly 30 motos in a row now, which doesn’t even include his first perfect season. As for James…he looked fast, but he got sick Saturday night and threw up all the stuff he needed for Sunday. I heard he threw up between motos too. After his wild ride to 6th in moto one I might have thrown up too. He had a good start, but went down in the same pile-up that robbed Windham. So he began his charge from last and judging by his pace probably would’ve been 4th or maybe even better, but crashed again. After that one he had to start over again and still got sixth! I have a feeling he would cartwheel himself again before he let RC go 24-0 again. Although Ricky smoked everybody, he does have some competition so stay tuned.

There were plenty of other stories and things worth mentioning, Like DV12 putting in two solid motos and Juss Laanso from Estonia charging to 5th overall in the 250 class, but that’s all I can think of for now. Next weekend you can get an eye full of the action on OLN. As most of you know by now, it looks like I will be back in there calling it like I see it and I appreciate the positive feedback so far! I’ll do my best. I have no idea how OLN will do out of the gate, but give them a couple rounds before you seize up mototalk with complaints. Carmichael didn’t win his first national. On second thought, I think he did.

Photos by Trent Howies

db