Fresh Start!
By TMX Archives on 10th Jan 06
What a month! While I'm probably the last person you would describe as an optimist, I can honestly say that this is the most excited I've been for a new season in recent memory. What a month! While I'm probably the last person you would describe as an optimist, I can honestly say that this is the most excited I've been for a new season in recent memory.Much of my good cheer stems from a certain 'New Beginning' in Canada. Those were the words patched across James Stewart's posterior when he made his Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP debut in December - and they couldn't have been more appropriate. As he revealed his new persona - shying away from the Bubba nickname and his traditional #259 - in favour of a clean slate, James dropped the hammer for two big wins up north and gave us fans a whole lot more to talk about for the upcoming AMA SX season.Stewart's wins - at Toronto's Rogers Centre and Vancouver's BC Place - impressed mainly because they came from a truly different rider than the Bubba of old, prompting nearly everyone who witnessed them to throw out words like 'calm', 'patient' and even 'mature'. New beginning? More like a new person.Defending champion Ricky Carmichael was gracious and honest in defeat, saying on the podium that he "didn't have nothing for" Stewart in Toronto. But beneath his cool exterior RC couldn't have been too pleased. He's a born winner and dropping both World SX rounds will only make him more determined to find the next gear. While he admitted James was the faster man in Canada, Ricky was sure to qualify that with a friendly "let's not give the trophy away yet".One person who won't be getting that trophy is SoBe/Samsung Mobile Honda's Kevin Windham who broke his arm while testing at the Honda track in California in mid-December. It's yet another tough blow for K-Dub who underwent surgery immediately after the crash. There's no word on when he'll be ready to race again but I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to sit out the series altogether for a fresh start in the outdoor Nationals.Windham's absence is a big blow to the '06 season on a couple of levels. A perennial championship contender and vital ingredient of the 'Perfect Storm' scenario, Kevin has long been one of the sport's most popular riders. A true fan favourite with style to burn, he simply makes the races better. While not a dominant rider in the Carmichael or McGrath mold, he is a threat to win any race he enters.But K-Dub was also going to be a sort of benchmark this season. While just about every rider in the premier class - including Carmichael, Stewart, Chad Reed, Ivan Tedesco, Nick Wey, and Michael Byrne - has switched to 450cc four-strokes for supercross, Windham has been racing his CRF450R indoors since 2004. He won five races that year, then took the win at the muddy 2005 Anaheim season-opener. Windham didn't go to Canada in December, preferring to stay in California and prepare for the AMA series, so January's Anaheim 1 would have been the first chance for the field to test themselves against a proven, experienced and fast four-stroke supercross rider. But while that would have been an interesting compare-and-contrast, I doubt you'll hear too many of Windham's competitors complaining all that loudly.It wouldn't be the start of a new year without a little controversy but this time around it's a bit different. New SX series title sponsor Amp'd Mobile's television advertising campaign has come under fire from some fans. One features an overdosed rock star twitching on his hotel room floor, with a maid berating his stupidity - now he'll miss out on the new Amp'd phones - while the other shows an aged senator being revived by a prostitute so that he might survive to enjoy the new technology. The tag line for the ad campaign? 'Don't die'. Fearing that the ads could tarnish the sport's perceived family-friendly image - what kind of message are we sending to the children? - one fan actually started a drive to boycott Amp'd Mobile before their phones even hit the market.I'm not sure how it works in the UK but here in the States we like our outrage. When we have nothing to be outraged about we make something up - the 'War on Christmas', the 'War on Religion' or 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' for example. But this one is my current favourite. A rock star does drugs...and dies. A politician cheats on his wife...and dies. What message are we sending to the children? Bad things will kill you but a new mobile phone is worth living for. That's the American way - live as long as possible and buy as much stuff as you can. That's the stuff dreams are made of.The bottom line is we've got a new title sponsor that has made a commitment to bring some funky new gadgetry to supercross. Will they be in the sport for the long haul? Who knows? But they're here now and they seem to want to help. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt.Besides, if you really want controversy that badly the Alessi family are also in the sport and they're here to stay for sure. It really is going to be a great year.Words by Jeff Kocan, courtesy Racer X Photo by Steve Cox