There are always surprises, twists, and turns in St. Louis. I had a set of my own making my way to St. Louis Friday afternoon. My flight was delayed, had a crazy plane ride, and lost my luggage, but I didn’t let that get in my way of enjoying the city of St. Louis. Last year I got a glimpse of the St. Louis Arch and this year I decided to go with Davi to explore it. We are both really afraid of heights; we were quite entertaining to watch. St. Louis is known for, the Gateway to the West, the Arch. It doesn’t look too bad from the ground, but once you get up there it is a different story. That is one gnarly elevator ride; you are crammed into a small round elevator that tinkers all the way to the top. Once we got to the top, we looked out the few small windows and saw the amazing view. But I was freaked out to lean over and look out, and the arch would sway back and forth just enough to feel it. Crazy! It was a great way to kick off the SX weekend in the city of St. Louis.
The temperature outside was chilly and snow flurries made the chill factor worse, but it was not as bad as the below 7 degree weather we had last year. The warm stadium brought in many crazed fans. The East coast does not disappoint when it comes to the action filled racing and especially the wild fans. The stadium gets so loud with the roar of the crowd and when I stepped into the seating area I was mobbed by people jumping for free Amp’d Mobile T-shirts, swag, and tickets to upcoming races.
The morning started off well with the track walk. The dirt was nice and made for excellent track conditions that held up all night. With the stretch of soft sand and triples, the track looked pretty fun and the riders seemed really excited about it. Despite the excellent track conditions, practice was crazy. Many riders flew off the track and the corners proved to be a challenge creating a few wrecks. This was a track that had a lot of guys banging bars and shoving in the corners. Luckily no one got too banged up in practice.
The race action on the Lites class is totally heating up. The main event was a total battle and full of action. Townley took the holeshot, looking good, but went down in that 180 degree turn but managed to get going and took the lead back. His teammate, Darcy Lange on the Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki has proved that he is fierce on the track but in a tight corner, the track got the best of him and he crashed. Scrambling to get his bikes started to get back in the action, was not that easy. He ended up in 18 th place. Dungey had a strong race, but with his few bobbles he was unable to make it to the podium this weekend. Yamaha teammates, Goerke and Morais took a smooth 2 nd and 3 rd place also leaving them tied for 1 st in points. Seeing the new talent on the track is awesome. The East Lites points are really close Lange is only 3 points behind. I think this is going to be a Championship race to the end.
Carmichael is winding down his SX tour with only a couple races to go. He expressed how he loves the St. Louis dirt and that the track was very good to him. You know he was feeling super pumped taking home the win for the last time in St Louis. Reed and Stewart put on quite the show. Things are heating up! From what I could see, when Reed collided with Stewart in the corner, the game was on and those two battled, they were relentless. Stewart put on a hard ride to gain 2 nd place, then Reed taking 3 rd. Two riders who we were hoping to have a good ride and looked awesome in practice were Tedesco and Millsaps. They had a few mishaps that put them back, but I know they are hard dedicated riders that will be there soon to mix it up in the top of the pack. St. Louis was a perfect example of how heated the race action is getting.
With bike week upon us and the Daytona SX next Friday, I’m ready for some fun as I get to sit in the stands and watch the races. I’ve never been to Daytona before and I’m sure it will be a blast. I’ve heard that traveling in the area is crazy because of all the bikes on the roads. But how cool is that! Orlando being the next stop on the Amp’d Mobile SX Series, I plan to stay the entire week down in Georgia and Florida. Until then, be safe, have fun, and I will see you in Orlando!
See you at the races!
Brittney George
Miss Supercross
missupercross@yahoo.com
