| 2011 AMA Supercross pre-season form guide
With series leading lights James Stewart and Chad Reed both having their own share of dramas throughout 2010 the question on everyone’s lips was who would step in to fill the void. Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s simply stepped up to the plate and dominated in a fashion that surprised everyone. The 21 year old became the first rookies to win both the AMA Supercross Championship and AMA 450cc Motocross Championship in the same season. Dungey had not came out of nowhere, he took out the Supercross Lites and 250 Motocross Titles the preceding year but few expected him to so quickly master the big-bore machine and lift the major titles across the two premier categories of racing across the two distinctly different disciplines. Dungey is staying on with Suzuki to try and carry his dominant form through to 2011 but behind the scenes there have been major changes with five-time World Champion Roger De Coster defecting from his management role at Suzuki to take up the reigns as head of Team Red Bull KTM. Stepping into the role De Coster made his own at Suzuki is Mike Webb with the assistance of Ricky Carmichael. “Last season was a truly magical year for me and the entire Rockstar Makita Suzuki team,” Dungey said. “We enjoyed a lot of success, but once the Motocross des Nations was over, we knew we had to go right back to work. The field is deep for the 2011 season. Some say it might be the deepest in recent memory, but for sure there is a long list of guys who could step up and win on any given night. We’ve prepared for a long season, both indoors and out, so that we can hopefully put ourselves in a position to be there in the end.” Joining Dungey at Rockstar Makita Suzuki is Brett Metcalfe. Metcalfe seems to have been around so long he could be called a veteran but at 26 years young there is still plenty of fight left in the Australian and is coming into season 2011 after taking a strong second place in the 2010 AMA 450cc MX Championship for Honda behind new teammate Dungey. “Last season was a truly magical year for me and the entire Rockstar Makita Suzuki team,” Dungey said. “We enjoyed a lot of success, but once the Motocross des Nations was over, we knew we had to go right back to work. The field is deep for the 2011 season. Some say it might be the deepest in recent memory, but for sure there is a long list of guys who could step up and win on any given night. We’ve prepared for a long season, both indoors and out, so that we can hopefully put ourselves in a position to be there in the end.” In the 250cc category Martin Davalos, Ian Trettel, Ryan Morais and Jason Anderson contesting the Lites SX and MX competitions. At Honda 2010 AMA 250cc Motocross Champion Trey Canard and Josh Grant pairing up to spearhead the American Honda off-road charge. Kevin Windham returns with the Geico Powersport Honda team. Other Honda-supported teams include Troy Lee Designs Honda, with riders Cole Seely, Travis Baker and Christian Craig in the Lites classes. Also riding on a Honda-supported team on Dunlop tires for 2011 is two-time AMA Supercross and AMA Motocross Champion Chad Reed, who has formed his own TwoTwo Motorsports team. Reed will race a Honda CRF450R in the 2011 Supercross series with technical support from Pro Circuit but will operate outside of the previous factory team umbrella he has enjoyed throughout his recent career to instead be the master of his own destiny.
2009 Supercross Champion James Stewart recently inked a two-year contract with stay with his LandM Racing team and bid for a second title on the YZ450F after his efforts in 2010 were curtailed by a broken wrist. The supremely talented 25 year old from Florida will be one of the main riders in contention as the paddock gathers at the site of the traditional season-opening venue, the Angel Stadium, on the Californian coast. Yamaha have won the first race of the year for the past three editions thanks to Chad Reed, Josh Grant and Stewart respectively. Stewart gains a new team-mate in the form of Kyle Regal, another American who significantly increased his stock with stand-out performances in the 2010 AMA Motocross championship. The YZ450F has a fleet of potential race winners armed for the contest that will travel the breadth of the USA, coast-to-coast for almost seventeen weeks in succession and even take a deviation to Toronto. Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) will use the skills of former Main Event victor Davi Millsaps and 2009 King of Bercy Justin Brayton (who was one of Yamaha’s top ranked riders within the Indoor arenas in 2010). Valli Motorsports count on the experience of Nick Wey and the youthful speed of rookie Austin Stroupe. Motoconcepts Yamaha, with former Yamaha supercross great David Vuillemin at the helm, field 2010 Bercy runner-up Kyle Chisholm and Tommy Hahn. Yamaha will also be prevalent in the AMA SX Lites (West and East Coast divisions) with the YZ250F in the hands of numerous starlets such as Ryan Sipes and Kyle Cunningham. “We are very excited to have all of our teams returning to fight for the 2011 Racing series and look forward to coming out of the gate at the opener with a strong start to the season” said Racing Division Manager of Yamaha Motor Corporation USA, Keith McCarty. “They did a great job representing the Yamaha brand last year and with contingency and parts available in the pits I’m looking forward to an even better finish in 2011 for all our Yamaha racers.” Yamaha will be gunning for their twelfth title in the premier SX class since the creation of the championship as an AMA sanctioned series in 1974 (when they were the inaugural champions thanks to Dutchman Pierre Karsmakers) and their third in the last four years In 2011, the Red Bull KTM team will be led by legendary Motocross world champion Roger DeCoster. Riding for DeCoster is Andrew Short, who will race both the SX and MX championships, with Mike Alessi joining Short in the Motocross series. Marvin Musquin will contest both the Lites SX and MX series. 16-year old German racer Ken Roczen will pilot a KTM in the 250cc Supercross series. Roczen, who burst onto the senior scene for several races in 2009 as soon as he passed the age limit, is expected to set the track on fire this year. In his first full season in the 2010 competition he sent out plenty of signals that he will be a force to be reckoned with. To further sharpen his already impressive skills, Ken has been in the USA training with the Orange lineup under the guidance of Roger DeCoster. “The Man”, as DeCoster is affectionately known, a legend in the sport after a distinguished racing and management career, heads the new Red Bull KTM factory team that will contest the major US competitions. KTM will also support the JDR Motorsports Motorex KTM team, with riders PJ Larsen and Tye Simmonds competing in both the Lites SX and MX classes. This Australian based and run team are making their first full-time step onto the international stage after leading KTM’s race efforts in Australia since 2009. In 2011 JDR Motorsports KTM will run a five rider team in the Australian competition while Larsen and Simmons spearhead their international assault.
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The first major race series for 2011 kicks off this weekend in California at Anaheim’s Angel Stadium with the opening round of the AMA Supercross Championship.
With Reed departing from Kawasaki Ryan Villopoto and Jake Weimer will head up the Monster Energy Kawasaki tilt at the big-bore titles. In addition, the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team fields a solid contingent of Lites riders, including Dean Wilson, Josh Hansen, Broc Tickle, Tyla Rattray and Blake Baggett. Kawasaki also supports the Dodge/Hart & Huntington/Bel-Ray team of Ivan Tedesco and Chris Blose racing KX450Fs in the SX competition.
