Freestone MX Pictures

I recently got to attend the Freestone MX National in Wortham, TX last weekend and it was a hot hot race day!  I got to borrow a nice Nikon D40X camera with a sweet 300mm lens on it, so I decided to grab some photos to share on the blog.  This was my first time shooting mx with this camera so I did have some learning to do (I got a LOT of blurry shots), but I ended up with some good shots at the end of the day.

I won't do a race recap, as there are plenty of sources online that can do that much better than me (racerxill.com, transworldmx.com, allisports.com, etc.), but there were a few things that impressed me:

-Eli Tomac is FAST!  He did not have the endurance through the heat for the entire race, but watch out for that kid, he is going to be a force to be reckoned with for anybody who wants the title.

-Metcalf was fast at the beginning but faded pretty hard about half-way through each moto.

-Kyle Regal was the surprise of the day with a 3rd overall, let's hope he can keep up his speed and hang with the big boys for the rest of the season.  

-Ben Townley looked good but had some bad luck in Moto 2 with a 1st turn crash that set him far behind.  I hope he shows up to High Point next week at 100% and ready to spank everybody.

-Dean Wilson was hauling the mail in the second moto but got delirious on the last lap and let 2 people pass him on the last straightaway...everybody at the track was SO confused...poor kid, I hope he can redeem himself next week.

-Alessi was definitely off his normal pace.  I think he crashed a few times in each moto and didn't come anywhere close to landing on the podium.

-Dungey seriously looked like RC the way he pulled ahead and gapped the field.  I wonder if the Hangtown Dungey or the Freestone Dungey will show up to High Point next week.

-Last, Reed was pretty solid, he did what he had to do in order to keep the points lead and stay safe.  He was the only one I saw who would seat-bounce over the big sand wall in front of the whoops, it was insane, nobody else even came close to his speed over that obstacle.  I love it when riders get creative on things that seem to only have one way over it!

So, here are some of my favorite shots from the day:

The Psychology of an Injury

I invited my younger brother Trent to share his experience and thoughts on a recent major injury that set him back for a few months.  He has gone through a few major injuries in the past and never fails to get back on the bike and break himself again.  Trent is much like me and loves motocross and all action sports and you can get a taste of his passion and sense of humor (mildly crude...be warned) in the following paragraphs:

Supercross--The Most Fan Friendly Sport in the World!

I always tell my friends that dirt bike racing (motocross/supercross) is the greatest sport in the world.  Of course, I am incredibly biased and do not deny how awesome other sports can be, however, I have many points to rest my case!  The sport of motocross is the most pure blend of talent, courage, athleticism, and technology all rolled up into one sport, and on top of that, it is one of the most fan friendly sports in the world!  Over the past few weeks, I've had the chance to go to the Houston and Salt Lake supercross races with my wife, and we got to meet nearly all of the top guys in the sport without having to wait more than 10 minutes for an autograph and a picture!

In this post, I want to show some photographic evidence of how fan friendly the sport really is!  There is no other sport in the world that gives its fans so much access to the top riders in the world.  The following pictures are of me and my wife with many of the top supercross racers !

Catching up with Ashley Fiolek!

Ashley Fiolek has taken the world of women's motocross by storm over the last few years and is certainly a force to be reckoned with!  This past year has been monumental for Ashley as she has taken an X Games Gold and scored another grueling WMA championship title after an incredible last-moto push after breaking her collar bone!  She has been featured in USA Today as well as a host of other premier publications and was even nominated for an ESPY this year.  Ashley has incredible talent and is able to win races despite being deaf!  She certainly doesn't let her disability hinder her ability to ride like lightning!  I had the chance to catch up with Ashley and ask her some questions about the past year, the off-season, and what her goals are for the coming year.  Please read on to learn more about the fastest woman on two wheels!

Interview with Mike Mason

Mike Mason is one of the top guys in the sport of freestyle motocross right now.  He has always been solid at contests over the last few years, but he has really stepped up his game recently and is eager to get some more solid wins under his belt!  He's got some of the best style in the business and always impresses the crowds with his incredible Holy Grab tricks.  The picture above is one that I snapped a couple years ago at the US Open of Surfing where "Mase" was doing a demo.  It is one of my favorite pictures I have taken!  I was able to get in touch with Mike and he was more than willing to do a little interview for me over email, since he is in Australia right now.  Following is what Mr. Mason had to say: 

Shaun White's Secret Weapon

Progression certainly is the name of the game in any action sport, it takes after the old saying "innovate or die".  Snowboarding is a sport that has progressed tremendously over the last 10-15 years which is proven by the fact that it is now an Olympic sport!  However, in the realm of half-pipe snowboarding, "progression" seems to simply mean "more spins".  Sometimes, watching snowboard half-pipe contests is eerily similar to figure skating because of all the focus on how many spins they can do!  Snowboarding, as a sport, thrives on creativity and innovation...shouldn't innovation be more than just adding another half-spin onto a trick?   Some may think that half-pipe riding has hit a bit of a brick wall because of a slight decline of major progression.  It would be foolish to claim there has been a recent drought of progression in snowboarding, that just isn't true, but it would be safe to say that half-pipe riding has been in need of a "stimulus package" to bring back some more excitement and interest to the sport.  Shaun White, the god of the halfpipe, has upped-the-ante and found a way to get the ball rolling again!

X Games Five (1999)

One of my favorite memories in action sports was from the summer of 1999 when I got to attend the X Games for the very first time.  I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and the X Games popped into town for 1999 (and also 2000).  My summer job took a backseat to the action that was going down in the city.