I always knew that if I had a boy, I would name him after my dad, which I did: Vance was my dad’s middle name. So that meant that the new baby my wife, Shannon, and I were expecting last week—we did not know the sex, as we wanted it to be a surprise—I could maybe convince Shannon to go with a full-on motocross name!

Did you know that Broc Hepler was named after his dad Dean’s favorite rider, Broc Glover? I imagine Broc Tickle was as well, because both spell their names without the “k” at the end like most Brocks I have seen.

Weimer gets a wheel up on the competition in Vegas. photo: Carl Stone

Mike LaRocco cut the middleman out and just named his son Ryder, while Jeff Stanton’s son Torsten bears the name of Mr. Motocross himself, Torsten Hallman. Managing editor Bryan Stealey just told me he has a friend named Brian Batchelor who named his son Grayson after Grayson Goodman, and a guy my dad used to race against named Dusty Yeager named his son Heikki after the aforementioned Heikki Mikkola.

I am sure there are lots of people who named their children Jeremy or Damon or Travis after those famous, fast and charismatic heroes, and there must be a Jean-Michel or two running around France. (Sebastien Tortelli’s son is named Enzo after the founding father of his favorite F1 cars, Enzo Ferrari).

All of those names would have made sense to me had the little tiger that showed up last Saturday morning at 11:07 been a boy, but instead it was a girl, and none of those names worked. Couldn’t call her Trampas or Fro, and writing “The Goat” on her birth certificate would have been downright cruel.

So we named her Sloane. Sloane Michael Coombs. Thanks to everyone who called, emailed, or even just thought about us in the last week.

Since I wasn’t in Vegas, here’s a good place to turn things over to Jason Weigandt, who did an excellent job on last weekend’s live webcast, along with Jim Holley, of the Rockstar U.S. Open:

Grant Langston just can't lose right now. photo: Carl Stone

The U.S. Open just couldn’t have worked out better. Last year Live Nation invented the Trifecta, which put $250,000 on the line for the rider who could win the Superpole, Main Event Holeshot and Main Event—on both Friday and Saturday nights. (If a rider couldn’t do all of that, the winner of the event would still get the traditional $100,000 U.S. Open bounty.)

Last year James Stewart swept all three elements on Friday, which led to a great show on Saturday night, but James made a mistake during his Superpole lap and Kevin Windham edged him out.

This time Chad Reed did it all on Friday and then won the Superpole lap, too, putting him in line for the quarter-million bucks in the main. But Chad had to grab the holeshot to get the money, which put some major pressure on that starting line (if Reed merely won the race but didn’t get the holeshot he would walk off with “just” $160,000).

It was quite a scene down there. Reed had chosen a bad gate in his heat and got a bad start, so he and team manager Larry Brooks really studied their gate pick hard, and then Reed went to work grooming his start area, wanting that holeshot probably worse than any since Vegas SX ‘06.

Chad Reed dominated night 1. photo: Carl Stone

But it wouldn’t be easy. Mike Alessi—known as the best starter on any gate he lines up on—was there with his magic rocks. Each time #800 went to the line, two Nevada rocks would suddenly appear in the perfect position for Mike to put his feet on so he could get better balance out of the gate.

Reed got a decent jump, and it appeared the gate pick would pay off as he just might have been able to get that holeshot over Alessi and everyone else, but he dove in a bit too hard and proceeded to use Tim Ferry’s Kawasaki as a trampoline, knocking the veteran over the outside berm and under the grandstands! No wonder he was pissed later on.

That’s what $250,000 will do when it all comes down to the start, and Reed, one of the most precise, controlled supercross riders ever, went into a baseball slide in turn one and took all of the top contenders down with him—Grant Langston, Tim Ferry, Andrew Short and Mike Alessi.

After that, as they say, all bets were off, and a 250F ended up winning the main. The man of a thousand careers, Josh Demuth, came within a few laps of winning the whole darned thing. You couldn’t have scripted it better. See for yourself on CBS on tomorrow afternoon, from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Check your local listings just to be sure!

Also, I have a feeling the marriage between Mike Alessi and Roger DeCoster might just last. Mike has been accused of a being a lot of things, but lazy isn’t one of them, and he could be found walking the track after the main on both nights. I talked to Mike on Saturday about what he was looking for on Friday night after the race, and he told me he was trying to figure out how he can charge the corners better. On Saturday, he was back out there again after the race, but this time DeCoster was with him.

Weimer's good luck chip. photo: Carl Stone

Also, on Wednesday night, the Alessi gang spoke on DMXS, and Mike had great things to say about working with RD, as did his dad (he might even back off of Mike’s program a bit since the Makita Suzuki team is so experienced).

We will have more from the Weege later, but here’s more from Carl Stone:

Hard to believe it has been ten years since the inaugural U.S. Open of. I was there and even bought my tickets through Ticketmaster. In other words, I sat in the stands and actually watched the race, and I believe I took some really horrible pictures too! Boy how times have changed for me! Damon Huffman was the winner and I remember after the race he walked next to the stands and proceeded to throw his gloves, chest protector, jersey and finally his boots into the stands, one at a time. One of his boots almost hit me in the head!

There was a rider named Jonathan Shimp that won the mini class that weekend and a certain rider by the name of Mike Alessi who finished 14th in that race. Not sure whatever happened to Jonathan, but we all know what’s happening with Mike!

This race has a history of riders making their debuts on new machines and also riders making their first pro appearances. Jeff Emig in ‘99, riding the #11 Yamaha YZ250 privateer-style, won the race that year. K-Dub’s first ride on a Suzuki was in Vegas. And RC’s first ride on both a Honda and a Suzuki were special (though that cape-and-crown entrance is something he would rather just forget).

In 1999, Travis Pastrana turned 16 that weekend and raced his first professional supercross. A few years ago, Broc Hepler showed up and won the Schoolboy class, practically sweeping every moto that weekend! And last but certainly not least, James Stewart raced the mini class and won in ‘99.

There was some bumping in the main event. photo: Carl Stone

Oddly enough, it was the one race that eluded Jeremy McGrath of a victory. He was, of course, always the favorite when he raced the open, but bad starts and crashes kept him from ever getting on top of the podium.

It was cool this past weekend to have three of the past champions—Huffman, Emig and Mike LaRocco— line up and race again. The fans really enjoyed that, even if MC wasn’t a part of it. But I have to say most everyone I talked was stoked to once again hear the “Brrrraaaaaap!” of the 250 two-stroke that LaRocco was riding. There’s just nothing quite like the sound of a two-smoke going through the whoops at speed, and Mike was haulin’ ass through them. Music to my ears!

LaRocco and Emig got into a battle on Saturday night and the crowd really got into it—it was like the ‘92 AMA 125 National Championship was being decided! But in the end Mike was the winner that night as well as Friday.

Mike LaRocco put in a dominant 1-1 in the Rematch race--on a two-stroke! photo: Carl Stone

Jake Weimer rode awesome this past weekend, and he became the first 250F rider to beat the 450s at the U.S. Open. Las Vegas must surely be his town and Lady Luck sure does smile on him there, it seems. Jake got second in the East-West Shootout back in May, and on Friday night he holeshot and led a few laps in his heat. He did it again in the main event on Saturday night after Chad Reed tackled everyone else in the first turn, and then Jake went on to win the thing!

Maybe also what helped him win was the $100 poker chip he had glued to the seat of his bike for luck. Or maybe it was those lucky pink boots—he wore them also at the Vegas SX! As soon as he turns 21, which will be in two years, I am going to be his gambling partner. Jake is a great kid, and I bet we will see him on the podium more often next year. (To hear more about Weimer’s weekend, check out Eric Johnson’s interview right here.)

I guess the point of what I wrote here is that over the last 10 years there have been many firsts and many great races and surprise winners. Also, putting the 250 and 450 classes together was a great addition to the racing. And after all the racing is done, there are some great parties to attend!

That’s all from Carl, though I should mention here that he’s been to every single U.S. Open since that very first one.

While in Vegas for the Open, Racer X publisher Scott Wallenberg also made his annual pilgrimage to the motocross mecca of the Primm Collection. This year he met special guests like former factory riders Marty Smith, Marty Tripes and Eddie Cole, along with famous frame builder Derek Rickman and Don Jones, the father of three-time AMA 250cc National MX Champion Gary Jones and his almost-as-fast brother DeWayne. Here are a few observations from Scott:

Derek Rickman and Marty Smith

The Primm Collection never fails to astound me. Almost every bike I have ever raced from 1970 on is represented, from the European brands like Monark, Maico and Montesa, to the more popular RMs, CRs, YZs, and KXs. Even more amazing are things like the ultra rare Harley-Davidson MX with rear forks and the glass showcases of gear, photos, posters, model toys and of course an endless supply of Moto Brew!

Eddie Cole with the Can-Am he helped develop

The real fun is taking someone new and watching their jaws drop when entering the hallowed halls. It’s like being a baseball fan at their Cooperstown Hall of Fame! Row after row of famous and rare bikes many restored and detailed to showroom condition by Vintage Iron’s Rick Doughty.

Scott poses with a Harley.

Marty Smith got to see a Monark and many huge posters and ads that he was in that he no longer owns; Eddie Cole saw both the Can-Am 250 he helped develop and the KX125 that he won the Canadian Motocross Championship on; and Derek Rickman saw a version of his famous brand that he never saw before: the Rickman Micro-Metisse fitted with the Hodaka engine. Don Jones enjoyed seeing a nicely restored Ammex motorcycle that he designed and built back in the early ‘70s.

Marty Tripes tending the bar.

In the near future the Primm experience will be available online in a virtual tour, but in the meantime you can check out www.primmmxcollection.com and get a nice glimpse of motocross history.

Don Jones and Rick Doughty

Remember the old-school start photo from the ’76 Midlands, MI, 125 National we ran last week? It came from Pro Vue’s Randy Nagel. Here’s some feedback:

Great memories from this shot… I was 9 years old, and this was my first motocross race. I still remember walking the pits with my dad. At one point we saw a kid riding around on a home-made mono-shock bicycle, and that was it…I knew my destiny from that minute on. When we got home, my dad and I made a similar monoshock bike from an old Stringray frame, and we’ve been working side-by-side in this sport since. Of course I also remember Marty Smith floating around that track effortlessly. All-in-all a day I will never forget…And now I have a picture to go along with the memory. Thanks for sharing…

Saw the photo in Racerhead, I actually got the photo last month at the AHRMA Vintage National in Portland, MI. The guy parked next to me had the 11×18 laminated photo taped onto the hood of his van with a piece of duct tape that said $10, fastest I’ve burned a ten in a while!! His name is Steve Savo and he also had the original program which he sent me a copy of so I could figure out who everybody was. Steve said that the photo was shot by a friend of his who had never seen a moto before that day. I see you listed all the riders we could figure out, except you missed one- see #613 on the outside with the small FMF logo jersey, yeah, it’s Wallenberg. He looked up his results from ‘76 and apparently he raked in $10 that day—which is $10 more than I ever made as a pro!
Randy Nagel

One last bit of old-school: Last week, in the wake of Bud Ekins’ death, I asked the question: Who was the second American to score a GP point in motocross?

The answer, according to Terry Pratt, the author of the new book about the 1972 “Motocross Grand Prix” season, as well as MX historian Len Weed, was Ohio’s Bryan Kinney, who scored a single point for tenth place in a moto at the ’72 West German 500cc Grand Prix of Motocross.

Thirsty for a Rockstar? photo: Steve Bruhn

This was a tough one! And we had only three correct answers: Reese Dengler, Kevin Thornhill, and Jim Myerson. All three have T-shirts coming!

Make sure you check out Simon Cudby’s new video of David Vuillemin as he puts his Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 through its first paces. It looked strange to us at first, seeing Le Cobra on yellow, but that didn’t last long!

Make sure you check out Sarah Whitmore's new "Sarah Smile" blog. She's been a reader favorite ever since she started doing her column in the magazine, and now she's going to take her writing talents online -- which will giver her a lot more space to say what she has to say. Look for plenty of photos, stories, anecdotes ... whatever Sarah feels like writing about will show up on her blog. And while you're there, feel free to leave (respectful) comments.

Okay, now some not-so-good news. Paul Buckley just emailed me a piece about state representative in Massachusetts who wants to ban kids under 14 from riding dirt bikes and ATVs. Here’s a link has a bunch of info on it.

The full text of the bill (PDF format).

Here’s a link to contact the Mass state reps.

Now for some Canadian news. Check out Racer X Canada's Frid'Eh update right here. Also, Steve Matthes was the subject for this week's Suzuki Between the Motos interview. Read it