Happy Good Friday, Happy Easter, and Happy Off-Weekend from Supercross to everyone, and thanks for checking in. Racerhead is going to be all over the map today as we are trying to knock out another huge issue here, while also keeping an eye on our NCAA Tournament brackets. (I’m doing fine, but I will be doing a whole lot better if WVU knocks off Duke tomorrow!)

I wanted to start with a mystery that came out of Bench Racing Ammo:

Dear Racer X,
Regarding the picture of David Bailey which appears to be taken a Daytona ’83—is it just me, or have I never noticed that the pipe is on the left side of the bike? It just really jumped out at me. I've seen the factory Honda in many pictures in the past and it never came across to me as it did in this picture, the pipe being on the left.
Steve Ptasznik

David Bailey’s pipe on backwards? photo: Racer X Archives

We have no idea, but know someone who does, so we forwarded it onto Bailey himself!

“Honda couldn't make up their minds for a few years,” the Icon wrote back. “My 500s were on the left too during ‘84 and ‘85. They had the kick-starter on the left in ‘82 and the chain was going back and forth too for a while. Those bikes were fast! I thought my bike was gonna blow up that day while I was leading because the rubber dealio between the aluminum tank and the frame came out and it was vibrating really bad. Until I figured out what it was, I was stressing!”

And speaking of Bailey, check out these cool Leatt “socks” that David designed. They are interchangeable lycra covers that allow you to change the look of your Leatt with every moto.

That’s a David Bailey-design on this Leatt Sock.

“Mud doesn’t stick to ‘em like the sticker kits and they are washable and changeable between motos,” explained Bailey. “Plus, they’ll be cheaper at $39. There is this red-white-and-black one, a blue-white-and-black, yellow-and-black and a blue-white-and-bright-orange one as well so you can have two or three to match all your gear. The lycra material is practically weightless and more comfortable against your neck and the rubber on your helmet slides a little better against it too!”

Stay tuned to Racer X Online for information on how to order yours. You can also look for the Racer X crossword puzzle in the upcoming June ‘08 issue for a chance to win custom Racer X sock kits from Leatt for your brace.

Racer X columnist David Vuillemin was on Mototalk asking why no one had posted any photos from Glen Helen yesterday. Turns out there were lots of top guys out there testing and riding: “RV, Stroupe, Metcalfe, Wey, Lawrence, Hill, Dostal, Mace, Balbi, Brayton, myself and I am sure I forgot some!” Next week, we will have our man Carlos Aguirre on the scene!

Now, since I wasn’t at Minneapolis to see the very cool win by Team Yamaha’s Josh Hill (and the fine runner-up ride by Ryan Dungey, not to mention Tommy Hahn’s solid fifth-place finish), let me turn this over to Steve Cox first….

Wey's 450 gets its decibels checked. photo: Steve Cox

The AMA was spotted doing random sound testing after practice in Minneapolis. I checked with the AMA’s Jeff Canfield, and he said the AMA has been doing it, weather permitting, at many of the races this year. He said it’s mainly for research purposes – to find out where the bikes are under certain circumstances – but that if a bike was found to be way out of whack, it could’ve resulted in the penalty. He also said that everyone has been in compliance so far.

What’s going on with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Josh Hansen? I have to admit that I was on the message boards late last year defending him against all of those who were saying he was washed up and whatnot. I really like Josh, and I think his talent is unquestionable, but in Minneapolis, he got the holeshot in his heat and still didn’t qualify, probably due to a crash.

But then in the LCQ, he was running second with four laps to go when he nearly T-boned race leader James Povolny trying to pass him, spun out, and was hit by Antonio Balbi, causing them both to fall. He was easily in a transfer spot and had four laps left with which to pass Povolny. It wasn’t a smart move, and he missed the main event.

What’s up with Li’l Hanny? photo: Simon Cudby

There has been talk about back problems and whatnot, but he was sixth- and eighth-fastest in the two practices in Minneapolis, so there’s really no excuse for someone like that to miss the main. He has six races left to show what he’s got indoors, and I, for one, hope that he does.

Torco Racing Fuels Honda’s Trey Canard had a bit of a mechanical issue in practice in Minneapolis, causing him to crash and limp off. It was a scary moment for the Lites East points leader.

“In the first practice, I got in about three laps, and the bike bogged,” Canard said. He said it happened before in Atlanta, but that this time, he “pulled in and told [his mechanic] Brent, ‘Man, it did what it did in Atlanta.’ I didn’t really feel comfortable going out there and getting myself hurt.

“For the second practice, I thought everything was good to go, and they thought they had the problem fixed, but I went out and it did it again. I just decided to go with it because I felt like I needed to do something because I wasn’t in a very good qualifying position for the race. I just went for it, and it was kind of a bonehead move because I was thinking it was going to do it again, and then sure enough, I was scrubbing over a triple and it did it right on the face.” The result was that he came up seriously short on the triple and went down.

Trey had his first rough race of the season. photo: Carl Stone

However, Canard is a trooper, and he proved it that night. The team obviously got his bike sorted out for the races, and despite what looked like a very sore left knee, Canard rode through from a mid-pack start to finish fourth and maintain his points lead. Now, he has two weekends (nearly three full weeks) off to rest his ailing knee and get ready for his next race in Dallas. As of now, Canard is nearly one full race in front of Ryan Villopoto in the championship, with a 24-point lead with only three rounds left. For some quick math, Villopoto would need to win all of the remaining races (which he’s perfectly capable of doing) and hope that Canard averages finishes of between fourth and fifth in those races in order to win the championship.

Speaking of the Torco Racing Fuels Honda team, a couple rumors have surfaced from there. The first is that Josh Grant is likely going to be racing 450s full-time next year, although it may not be with the Torco team. On top of that, it’s not impossible that we’ll see Kevin Windham at a few of his favorite nationals this summer.

Speaking of Windham, Ryan Dungey and Josh Hill are both 18, and they comprised the top two in Minneapolis ahead of K-Dub, who is 30. “Kevin rode a good race tonight,” Dungey said after the race. “Listen to this: I remember when I rode my first KTM Junior Supercross here – I got third – and he was dominating the Lites class on a #8 Yamaha. He was the guy, dude!” I’m not sure how K-Dub would take the “was” part of Dungey’s statement, but it is interesting.

K-Dub is old enough to be Dungey’s childhood hero! photo: Carl Stone

I asked Windham about Dungey’s comment after the race, and tried to tell him that he should take it as a compliment. “I’m trying to find the compliment in that statement,” Windham laughed. “So the point is that even though I’m old, I’m kind of good at being old? Or good at riding while I’m old? Something? Yeah, thanks. Big deal, so I’ve been racing since before they were born.”

I asked K-Dub if he “feels 30.” “I feel 38,” Windham replied (although I’m not sure how he can know that since he’s never been 38). “But they say 40’s the new 30, and 30’s the new 20, so any day, I’m waiting to get carded when I go into a bar, but it’s just not happening.”

Of course, by that logic, Dungey and Hill are 8. Windham wanted to be clear, though, that he doesn’t feel old. “Actually, to be honest, I just had my birthday, and I had a lot of fun and told everybody that attended my party that I really feel like I’m in a good place in life, and I really have a feeling of having my best years still in front of me,” Windham said. “We’ve taken a lot of steps to try to find happiness, and we’ve done that, and that’s been a big part of where I’m at in my riding career and where I hope to go. So many people say, ‘Man, I didn’t hit my prime until after 30,’ and this is a young man’s game, but as long as I don’t fall and I don’t get banged up too much, there’s no reason why I can’t continue. The way I’m feeling, I feel really good about how things are, and the balance of work and family and everything, so that was my goal, and we seemed to have accomplished it, and it’s paying off in the results.”

Ryan Sipes looks good on orange. photo: Carl Stone

MDK KTM’s Ryan Sipes is quietly having a really good year in the Lites East. He’s been consistent, and he sits third in points right now behind the two redheads. Maybe we should have a new non-redhead class. His year seems really similar to the year Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy’s Ryan Morais last year, when Morais’ consistency kept him in the championship up until the very last race.

Unfortunately for Sipes, the people in front of him have been more consistent than Ben Townley, Darcy Lange and Ryan Dungey were last year, so Sipes can really just hold solace in the fact that he’s been way more consistent than everyone else.

It sounds like Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Mike Alessi isn’t going to return from his collarbone break suffered in San Diego until the outdoors. We all know that Mikey’s strength is outdoors, but he was doing pretty well in supercross until he broke his collarbone, so it seems puzzling why he would need to be out for more than three months just to fix a broken collarbone, which is normally a four-week injury.