2009 Monster Energy FIM/AMA Supercross Championship Preview
By Michael Hannas
After a long cold winter, the 2009 FIM/AMA Supercross season will finally kick off at Anaheim 1 on January 3. The big news for this year is the new team situation for the two top dogs James Stewart and Chad Reed. Stewart has moved from Kawasaki to take the L&M San Manuel Yamaha ride from Reed, while Reed has jumped to the Rockstar Makita Suzuki team and RC’s ex-wrench Mike Gosselaar. While both riders have looked to have made a comfortable transition to their new machines, Stewart seems to be the more comfortable of the two so far and has to be the favorite to win the title. Stewart was fast immediately on his YZ450F and dominated both the Bercy SX in France and the US Open SX in Las Vegas over the off-season, besting Reed and his new Suzuki in Vegas. Reed concentrated on the Australasian SX series for getting acquainted with his new RM-Z over the winter, which he won convincingly although there was little competition close to his level. Will Reed have the speed to run with Bubba this year? We will see at A1.
Should Reed or Stewart slip up, the rest of the pack is closer than ever this year and hungry for some wins. We expect big things right away from former SX Lites and AMA MX Lites Champ Ryan Villopoto, who is moving up to the big bike class this year with Factory Monster Kawasaki. Although we do expect him to hit the ground a few times in his transition to the big bike, he should waste no time in getting up to speed on the KX450F and may be able to give Stewart and Reed a hard time and battle for some wins. His teammate Tim Ferry should be consistently running top-five again and seems to be getting faster with age- who says you can’t teach an old red dog some new tricks!
We also expect Reed’s Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammate Mike Alessi to be in the mix, although he is coming off injury and hasn’t been riding much, so we might not see his true speed until later in the series. Still, he was becoming a solid top five guy in SX last season before his injury and was the only one to lead a lap outdoors besides Stewart before his second season-ending injury, so he may be able to pick it up a notch indoors and battle with James and Chad. His other Aussie teammate Michael Byrne is scheduled to try and ride at Anaheim but is just coming off a recent shoulder injury as well and won’t know if he can ride or not until he hits the track for practice and gives it a shot. There have been rumors that we’ll see Ryan Dungey in the Supercross class as well on his 250F with the new rules allowing such things, but Roger DeCoster has put an end to that, saying we’ll see Dungey in West Coast Lites only for 2009.
Team Red Bull Honda should also be strong with only former SX Lites Champs under the red tent: the always solid Andrew Short, who showed good speed on the new CRF at the US Open; 2008 Atlanta SX winner Davi Millsaps coming back from his injury in the outdoors; and a hungry Ivan Tedesco with something to prove. The nightmare continues for Honda’s other former SX Lites Champ, Ben Townley, who is still recovering from injury and won’t race until later in the season. The former MX2 World Champion seems to have been injured ever since he came to the US and won the 2007 East Region SX Lites title and finished second to Villopoto in the 2007 AMA Motocross Lites Championship. Hopefully they can all stay healthy, as any one of the four Red Riders has potential race-winning speed and could step up and fight with Stewart and Reed. Kevin Windham, who nearly topped Reed last season for the title, will also be back to attack on his Geico Powersports Honda and may also be able to battle with James and Chad for the championship again.
Don’t forget about Factory Yamaha with 2008 Minneapolis SX winner Josh Hill and Broc Hepler moving up from the Lites class, both have also shown the speed to run up front and could also battle for wins. It seems doubtful we’ll see Grant Langston race again with his lingering eye injury but he will at least be at the races as rider coach for the other two young riders. San Manuel Yamaha has young Kyle Chisholm to partner with Stewart, while our favorite gangsta Nick Wey is pumped on his sweet new ride with Yamaha of Troy. JGRMX/Toyota Yamaha is stepping up for 2009 and has a solid squad as well with Josh Grant moving up to the 450, and quick Kiwi Cody Cooper coming off a very impressive outdoor season, but with limited supercross experience.
Jagermeister MDK/KTM will be represented well with Travis Preston and Josh “I Decided I’m Not Charles Now” Summey, and probably some Jager Girls in the pits as well. Other strong privateer efforts include Hart and Huntington with Troy Adams and Josh Hansen, and MotoXXX with Daniel Blair on the West Coast. Don’t forget about the fan-favorite MDK Wonder Warthog riders Heath Voss, Tyler Bowers, Manuel Rivas, and Tiger Lacey, who will be representing the true privateer proudly. It all kicks off at Anaheim this Saturday, and 2WT can’t wait!!
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