Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 38 SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 P143 from poor starts, moving forward and never giving up. He won 14 of 36 motos this season, not too shabby. In Italy, he even managed to take the overall win with pret- zeled bars and no front brake! Cooper Webb's aggressive riding style seems tempered just a bit on the bigger 450 machine, but he still managed to lead plenty of laps, while getting into some vicious scraps with the likes of Febvre, Tony Cairoli and Josh Grant. All four of these riders pulled off some of the gnarliest outside-in, inside-out, bump 'n' run high-speed passes I have ever seen. When I say high-speed, I mean f-a-s-t! Glen Helen has to be the fastest motocross track in the world, or close to it. Ahhh, Josh Grant. Being an "Inland Empire" local (Grant was inducted into the City of River- side Sport Hall of Fame earlier this year), Josh has probably burned more laps at Glen Helen than anyone but Doug Dubach, and he even won a moto earlier this year at the Lucas Oil AMA 450 National. Grant's riding style is truly a thing of beauty, but even more so when he's motivat- ed. As part of the collateral dam- age left behind in the wake of TwoTwo Racing's demise, Grant currently has no ride and no offers on the table for 2016. His- torically, survival is a great moti- vator and with a family to sup- port, Grant put on a display of riding that was a joy to witness. Watching him carve through the high-speed sections, a couple of his line changes made the hair on my arms stand up. Dean Wilson is getting his speed back, which could be enough to make Great Britain a dark horse threat next weekend at the Motocross of Nations. Davi Millsaps would seem to have quite a bit of work ahead of him before next year's Super- cross season, but he was also returning from injury last year at this time, then smoked everyone at the Monster Energy Cup and proceeded to have a horrible Supercross season. Perhaps his less-than-stellar performance was part of a strategy, so he doesn't peak too soon, again. Right. The entire event had a Euro vibe, especially after I was lucky enough to snag an All- Access wristband from an old pal (Thanks, Danny!) and hung out up in the two-story team platforms. Some of the former champs and bonafide heroes hanging around were Stefan Everts, Eric and Sylvain Ge- boers, Joel Smets, Jean-Michel Bayle and countless others. There were quite a few long faces and much disappointment when Grand Marshall, Brad Lack- ey, could not get the 1983 replica of his World Championship win- ning Suzuki RN500 to start, causing America's first and only 500 World Champion to miss taking a parade lap around the treacherous Glen Helen circuit. I was not there to witness it and I won't mention their names, but I may know a couple of people who may have looked bummed on the outside, but I guarantee were happy as hell when that thing wouldn't fire up. Sabotage? Conspiracy? Who knows! On an (almost) completely un- related note, I had dinner Friday night with Donnie Hansen, Tami Greenhill and the Lackeys. We had a great time, swapping lies and listening to Brad's extraor- dinary stories culled from the 10 years he and Lori spent over there, chasing Brad's dream of becoming World Champion. Brad is a master storyteller, with each tale embellished slightly more each time he tells it, like a snowball rolling down a hill, but in slow motion. His Eric Ge- boers, (aka Lil' Putin') stuff has us rolling in laughter. Have I ever told the story about the former World Cham- pion who was scheduled to ride a tribute lap around a brutal GP track in his home country, but had forgotten about it, and two days before the event he was nearly crapping himself with worry? He hadn't brought any gear, not even a helmet, and wasn't even sure he could make it over some of the steep hills without looping or stalling the vintage machine. I'd tell you the rest, but I think I may have told it already! CN

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