-- posted - 5/28/2005 - 11:57pm --

Saturday at highpoint was pretty typical, we woke to rain, it got sunny (although never really dried up) and rained again, ez-ups turned over, boots got muddy and motocross bikes went around the legendary pennsylvania course...i guess it just doesn't seem like high point if it doesn't rain, here is a pic of the track from Friday morning before the rains came

For me it was anything but typical...I got the best gift an old skate dog like me could ever get and i want to thank brian of dmxsradio.com specifically for this awesome gift, it is none other than my orlando langston photo ( for those that remember the D2X Breakdown post on Mototalk awhile back ), done up in one of the most kickass graphic designs ever seen with monster logo and number 1 on it, Brian put the graphic on a new skate deck and handed it to me today, i was floored...he told me he gave one just like it to Grant himself and Grant said it was the coolest thing he has ever been given.....How awesome is that? I will get a photo of it for you guys and post it up, its just the most bitchin thing ever!

Practice saw a lot of top pro guys decline the optional Saturday practice, on one hand i cant blame them because if the track is dried up by gate time, why go out and risk getting hurt, its a long season to go right? hmmm, well...Mister David Vuillemin has other thoughts about that and here is what he had to say on Mototalk about why he rode practice, how cool is this to see a rider of his caliber stepping up and riding practice for the reasons listed below...check it.He even wrote it in 3rd person.

DV did it because:
he is paid to race
he is there to prep an important race (it could rain tomorrow)
he hasnt rode in the mud since A1
he is not scared to get dirty (he spent 1h and 10 bucks at the laundry mat afterwards)
he thinks riding is FUN
he thinks that the fans that paid a saturday tickets should see pros ride.
Bottom line: a 20 min practice in the mud never killed anyone... Where did our roots go???

Since DV was all muddy and he is such a cool guy, im posting a nice clean pic of him at hangtown ( ok, the truth is that my shots of him today sucked and im too emberassed to post them...sorry, im human ) DV is still a cool guy and it would be a better world if more pros thought like he did. ( a lot did, many still rode practice, just not a few of the guys as fast as DV )

Guess who's coming to outdoor motocross? Cant guess? well, let me tell you...its the lovely, the energetic, the witty and humorous and not to mention downright gorgeous Supercross podium announcer herself, Former Miss FMX Erin Bates was at her 2nd ever pro outdoor national today as she is working with OLN doing something ( im not exactly sure what her official job is or if its even official...but she is doing it for OLN ) and i for one am damm glad she is gonna be at every round this summer, she was almost on her way to Austria with her Ogio bag big daddy husband Andy Bell but a phone call kept her in the states and threw her into muddy pennsylvania at the last second....some people have all the luck. hehe

Erin...I know you will do us proud, when we were talking about DV winning in the mud a few years ago i thought he had only done it once but she piped in with the year(s) that he won in the mud at high point ( and she has never been here before ) now that's a chick who does her homework, I think we will be in safe hands this summer...go Erin :)

Before practice started i was slipping and sliding my way to the center of the track ( no i didn't fall ) and i look up and guess who is laughing and taking pics of me as i try to cross the G-out before the uphill double? None other than Stephane Roncada...standing there with his canon ( poor guy, im sure i was out of focus ) he was trying to figure out why he couldn't get more than 1/250th of a second and his pictures still looked too bright....ummmm Stephane, next time....turn the flash off, its daytime for cryin out loud....haha we both got a good laugh out of that, i told him i was glad to see him back and i know the fans are too, welcome back Stephane you have been sorely missed :)

Chad Reed only surfaced once all day, and that was to briefly poke his head out of the yamaha big rig to talk to parts unlimited front man Rob Buydos...remember the batman and robin tv show, when they were slowly creeping up the side of a building with their bat cables and someone would poke their head out of a window to say something to them....this shot of chad reminded me of that, after hangtown last weekend, Chad might need more than a cape and a battarang to catch Ricky.

Here are a few muddy pics to wet your muddy whistle, enjoy

-- posted 5/24/2005 - 1:07pm --

The earth didn't implode on itself with an RC - Bubba duel to end all duels, in fact, it was business as usual for the champion Carmichael. Ricky got the lead very early both motos at hangtown and simply checked out in the 12 item or less lane...Why cant anyone keep up with this guy? Why? Ill tell you why...its because he is the worlds fastest outdoor rider and the worlds fastest current Supercross champion...that's why!



David Vuillemin hated Hangtown and by his own admission in the press conference, "the more you hate the track you better you do", guess he is right, wonder how much he would have had to hate it to beat RC...man, that's a lot of hatin :) Way to go DV...an outdoor podium from you has been long overdue, its always a good thing to see different riders mixing it up on the track and outdoor motocross lives by that rule!



Chad Reed took a hard slam off the downhill double at the top of the big hill, he got up slow and coasted back to the pits, speculation was abounding as to if he was injured or not, judging from his podium finish id guess he wasnt, but both Chad and David are still a long ways away from matching Carmichaels pace, let alone beating him...is bubba the last great hope to someone dethroning the king of the outdoors? he wasn't at hangtown...11 races more to find out.



Bubba never really showed up, maybe his thumb was bothering him, maybe the heat got to him, whatever it was he faded in the 2nd moto and that was it for him...in the first moto a pileup and crash a few laps later put him at a further disadvantage aside from him being on a 2 stroke on the norcal hills.



Mike Alessi...wow, I gotta hand it to the kid who just had a birthday a few days before ( happy birthday, Mikey ) he rode a brilliant second moto and as fate would have it...a hard charging Grant Langston took it down tot he last turn where he " inadvertantly " took out the both of them, grant kept his bike running while Alessi could not and Grant won the moto, I have a sequence of the entire incident and from the looks of it grant got his foot firmly wedged in a rut ( explains the dislocated ankle ) and it ripped him from his bike, causing some to think he intentionally ghost rode into Mike...I dont believe Langston ghost rode, even though Grant has a checkered past with run ins with other riders...I have to give this one to Grant for a fantastic effort that came down to the wire for the win.









Hangtown was the first TonyScavo.com event photography national of the year ( of course, since it was the first national ) and we want to thank everyone who came by to purchase photos or just say hi, we loved meeting all of you, hope you enjoy your photos. we will be at every national selling event photos ( witht he exception of budds creek - we will be there but not doing event photos ) and it looks like we will be at washougal after all and flying into lorettas for the amateur national championships just in time! See you at High Point...3 days and counting.