Today’s practice for tomorrow’s ninth round of the AMA Chevrolet Motocross Championship Series at Millville, Minnesota’s Spring Creek MX Park just concluded and, of course, the big news of the day was Mike Alessi’s debut in the Pro class. The 16-year-old Honda CRF450R-mounted rider had no problems winning his qualifier to secure his spot in tomorrow’s program.
As far as lap times, the fastest riders around the scenic Spring Creek track in the afternoon practice sessions were again Honda’s Ricky Carmichael, Yamaha’s Chad Reed and Kawasaki’s James Stewart, respectively. Carmichael’s best single-lap time came in the second session, where he clicked off a 2:19.475. Reed’s best time was a 2:20.322 (second session) and Stewart’s was a 2:21.743 (second session). Alessi, who had to ride in the much more crowded practice for the non-seeded riders, had a single-best time of 2:27.943, about eight seconds off Carmichael’s time.
“I’m okay with my times, but I wish they were a little better,” Alessi said. “There were so many riders out there, that it was hard to put in full good laps. I think I can cut a few seconds off.”
The practice session for the already seeded riders had 36 riders and the non-seeded practice had nearly 60 riders.
Alessi is riding Varner/FMF/Race Tech-modified machine. His contract with Honda technically came to an end as soon as he turned Pro (following Loretta Lynn’s). According to his father, Tony, the contract they had with Honda was an “amateur only deal.”
“We’re pretty much on our own here – kind of in limbo,” he said. “But we’re talking.”
This will also probably be Alessi’s only National appearance of the year.
The second-fastest rider behind Stewart in the 125cc class was Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ivan Tedesco with a 2:26.678 in the second practice session. Ryan Hughes was up there too with a 2:26.692, which he posted in the first session, but the KTM rider later crashed in Spring Creek’s notorious whoop section and broke his arm. According to his Red Bull KTM team manager, Larry Brooks, Hughes will be sidelined for eight weeks, putting a premature end to his season.
The whoops claimed a few other riders today, including two Boost Mobile/Yamaha/Troy Racing riders, Josh Hansen and Danny Smith. Both riders crashed hard. Hansen went to the hospital, complaining of pain in the chest/stomach area, while Smith later said that he was okay and just had the “wind knocked out of me.”
Joseph Oehlhof also had a scary crash after slamming into a downed motorcycle on the backside side of a blind jump. Oehlhof re-mounted and appeared to be okay.
The weather today was again ideal for racing – mid-70s and few clouds. The forecast for tomorrow is the same as today’s but maybe a little warmer.
