Welcome to Racerhead—thanks for stopping by. It’s been a busy week all over the place. There was the Dallas SX, and now Detroit. The Grand Prix series got kickstarted in the black sand of Holland with two surprise winners, and now we have the Navy Moto-X World Championships in San Diego this weekend, as well as the World Mini GP in Las Vegas running all next week.

I’d like to dedicate this column to a promising young rider from Kentucky named Nick Howard, who lost his life in an automobile accident this week. Nick was already well on his way to Loretta Lynn’s and a professional career before the accident, in which he was a passenger. Godspeed, Nick.

Chad Reed put on an excellent, if uneventful, ride in Texas Stadium to win last Saturday night. Now he’s got four races left in the series, though he will clinch this thing in three if he keeps up his pace. Reed is also featured on the cover of the brand new Racer X (June ’07), which dropped yesterday. The magazine is packed with different features, from an Eric Johnson opus on the 1990 Battle of Atlanta to a straight-down-the-middle story of the Red Bull-vs.-Monster rivalry. Look for it in your mailboxes this week, or sign yourself up for a Racer X Digital subscription right here.

Looking ahead to Saturday night, the race at Ford Field—one of the nicest stadiums in the world—will probably not have nearly the crowd they used to get one half-hour up the road in Pontiac at the Silverdome. It’s a shame that people don’t venture into downtown Detroit more, even for the Monster Energy AMA Supercross, because it has the potential to become an Atlanta-level crowd.

You can listen to the Supercross Live! webcast on Saturday night on www.supercrossonline.com starting at 7 p.m. ET as Jim Holley and Jason Weigandt call the shots, with added support from Alan, Fubar and Matthes. You can also watch the race on Sunday afternoon at 6 p.m. on Speed. And don’t forget to check out the Dallas Lites race at 6 p.m. Saturday, also on Speed.

Ryan Villopoto is back up to his outrageous speed. Carl Stone photo

Last weekend I was a guest on the Supercross Live! show with Holley and Weege, and I took a wild guess - I even called it "a wild guess" - and said that RV2 could end up at Gibbs Racing MX/Toyota Yamaha. Well, I have since changed my mind and - another wild guess - think he's staying green when he goes the 450 class. What does that mean? Stay tuned.

And I promised Steve Matthes I would plug both his Observations and his podcast interview, which this week happens to be with me.

The latest Toyota: All-Access piece is up on Racer X Films, and this time they go into the pits and see what all a mechanic has in his tool box. By all means check this out.

If Saturday night was any indication, there are a lot of guys in the Lites class who might be in for a long summer. Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto was absolutely flying, and he dominated his second straight race. Unfortunately, he’s still 17 points down on Trey Canard with two rounds to go. If he doesn’t catch the kid, he’s going to be even madder this summer when he goes for his third straight AMA Toyota Motocross Championship in the Lites class, which is something that only Ricky Carmichael, Mark Barnett and Broc Glover have ever managed. That’s some fast company!

Josh Hill also rode a great race in Dallas to hold off Davi Millsaps. Steve Cox photo

More on the nationals: The NPG’s Director of Operations John Ayers paid a visit to Unadilla Valley Sports Center to check on the overhaul the Robinson family has been working on since last spring and came back very impressed. Ayers reported that new dirt is being trucked in for the track, which has been running AMA and FIM events since 1970, and new sections added. And get this: The new Unadilla finish line has the riders jumping out of Gravity Cavity! Also, there is an industry hospitality area with large bleacher section, an improved mechanics’ signaling area, a controlled bike wash is going in behind start, and they’ve added a camping area with electric for the rider RVs.

All of the tracks on the 2008 AMA Toyota Motocross Championship schedule have been working to enhance their facilities and, with the AMA stepping back and DMG joining forces with them, bringing some new ideas to the tour. Thunder Valley at night is another example. The summer is shaping up as a great step forward for American motocross, and with so many top riders coming back after long injury absences—James Stewart, Ivan Tedesco, Grant Langston, Ben Townley, Mike Alessi, Michael Byrne—the series should be epic!

Now if we can just get Ricky to come out for Southwick…

Speaking of RC, he’s doing some riding this weekend, but not quite racing, as Steve Cox is about to tell you…

RC is in CA for MOTO-X on ESPN Steve Cox photo

Ricky Carmichael is making his non-racing motorcycle debut, doing Step-Up this weekend. He’s been a bit of a stranger at the races lately, so I asked him why he didn’t like us anymore. “I love you guys, I’ve just traveled enough the last few years,” Carmichael said apologetically. “I’ve been really busy with my car stuff, and when I do have some time, the last thing I want to do is go on the road. My life is great, but I’m really looking forward to Step-Up because I wanted to do it last year at X, but Suzuki wouldn’t let me. It’s always been intriguing with me, that event, so it should be fun. My expectations, I don’t know what they are. I want to use this weekend as a learning curve and prepare for the X Games [in August].”

Step-Up’s roots are in California freeriding, where guys would go out and find cliff jumps in the hills around Elsinore, Murrieta, etc. So where does Carmichael get his experience? “I didn’t freeride as much as some of the guys in California did because there just wasn’t a lot of freeriding area in Florida,” Carmichael said.
“Freeriding in Florida would be more flat and through the trails, anyway, but it’s a little more than just freeriding. It takes some skill and stuff, and I’m looking forward to it.”

With his move to Ken Schrader’s team to drive in an actual NASCAR-sanctioned series this year, Carmichael’s new career is looking up. “It’s hard, but the series that I’m racing now was meant to happen probably last year, but that whole deal, when DEI and Ginn merged, it kind of offset our plans, but now it’s finally taking place,” Carmichael said. “We bought Hendrick cars, and I’m sure we can get some technical support from them if we need it. We’ve got good guys over there, and with [Ken] Schrader being a racer, he knows the guys we need to get.”

David Vuillemin designed this weekend's track.

Schrader is known for his ability and willingness to drive anything, so is that going to rub off on Carmichael? “He loves dirt racing, and he’s always asking me to do it,” Carmichael said. “I was joking with him the other day, ‘I just want to go straight up to El Dora’ [laughs]. The biggest one of the year. But I’d like to go do that, though. He’s like, ‘Anytime you want to do ARCA or any of that, let me know.’ What I do this year will determine what I do next year.”

Here’s a little mini-interview of Brian Deegan, conducted on Press Day:

Racer X: It looks like you have new competition in Step-Up this year.
Brian Deegan: Who, Todd Potter? Twitch? [Laughs] No, I think it’s great. I think it’s awesome. For me, I’m just stoked to be able to ride with Carmichael. That’s cool. I used to race with him and we had some pretty cool races together.

Did you ever knock him down?
Yeah [laughs]. I didn’t want to bring it up, but it was his very first race at Steel City, and I was like in twelfth or something, and he like crashed or something and was coming up behind me, and I just swung over in front of him and he ended up
crashing in front of the mechanics’ area. I don’t know why I remember that, because I used to do that to a lot of people. But we have some funny memories.

Honestly, I grew up racing in the Mini Olympics, Loretta Lynn’s – all those races – and he was at them all, and our families got along good. We basically grew up together, and I’m glad there’s an event that brings everyone together, and it’s not just freestyle guys, so people can’t look at us anymore like the black sheep of dirt bikes.

You’re one of the last guys who was a relatively successful racer who is still doing freestyle.
It’s crazy, yeah, because in the beginning, I thought you had to be a racer to be good at freestyle, but now these guys are coming out of the woodwork that have bike skills but didn’t race, so it’s kind of weird. But there are some good guys, like Todd Potter and Twitch, and they have good style. It’s good to show people that you can go buy a dirt bike and there’s a sport for you – you don’t have to go grind out motos at a local track. You just break bones and reach X Games stardom [laughs]. As long as you’ve got medical insurance and a ramp.

When are you picking up more freestyle competitions again?
I’m riding Best Trick and Step-Up, and then I’m commentating the rest of the event, so it’s cool for me. I think it’s good to have someone who competes doing the TV because you’re getting the right call, so you don’t get these kooks calling the tricks wrong and dogging the riders. Finally, let me talk some crap. It’s good, because now the riders who I owe something to, I’m going to clown them on TV [laughs]. “Oh, it just isn’t his day today. He’s really riding like a squid.”

Cox forgot to send a pic of Deegan, so here’s one of Trey Canard Steve Cox photo

Is TV your future?
Honestly, I think I’m already pushing the limits of how long you can ride freestyle, and I’ve already pulled back a lot from competing, and I ride just to do Best Trick and Step-Up, which is easier for me. I do the TV because it’s fun. I helped start the sport, so I think that there needs to be a rider doing the TV to help the sport progress, so that’s why I’m doing it. TV’s fun for me, and as far as a future in TV, I just landed a deal to shoot a pilot for MTv, and if it’s good, it goes to series, and that’s what I want to do. I want to do a show that I produce and I created, not something that someone else created. It’s based on the Mulisha, something based on the crew like a Bam – not like a Jackass, because it’s been done, but we have skill. I think it’s a drama with the guys and the girls and everything that has to do with freestyle and riding.

I’m sure you guys have done a lot of stuff that would put Jackass to shame, except that you weren’t smart enough to film it...
A lot of the stuff we’ve done almost tops what the Jackass guys have done. They filmed it and made money off it. But a lot of badass stunts go down every day at my house, but it’s more than just that – we have the best characters and images, and if you look at our group, they stand out. It’s a made-for-TV group.

Deegan will be working with Jamie Little, shown here with Ricky James at one of his truck races—he’s already winning! Photo courtesy of Jamie Little

Deegan's first TV duty will be to co-host the ESPN Moto X World Championships Preview Show, with long-time ESPN and ABC on-air talent Jamie Little, airing tonight, on ESPN2 HD at 9:30 PST. The live moto action gets underway tomorrow. Stay tuned to Racer X Online all weekend for updates from the Moto X World Championships courtesy of the Metal Mulisha’s Ryan Cropley and myself.

We saw a familiar face in the pits in Dallas, with Justin Buckelew returning to action. He was actually something like sixteenth-fastest in practice on his Chaplin Kawasaki after taking about a year off from racing.

Justin Buckelew is back, but his back said Bucky. Steve Cox photo

“I raced Arenacross in ’07, and then my wife and I had a little baby boy, Preston, in May of last year, and I knew I wanted to stay home with him over the summer, so I started doing motocross lessons,” Bucky said. “I have a company, Buckelew
Motocross Training [www.buckymx.com] and I got really busy with that in the Phoenix area, and I’ve been having a blast teaching the young kids, and helping them do better. It’s been pretty fun to see people win their first race and stuff like that. I’ve been doing that, and then my manager called me up about two weeks ago and said that this Chaplin Kawasaki team was looking for a rider, and it sounded like fun, so we got it all worked out, and here I am.”

We caught a photo of Torco Racing Fuels Honda’s Kevin Windham playing around in one of Dirt Wurx’s Caterpillar dozers, and he looked like a kid in a candy store. “Cat helps everybody out with the rentals, so I wanted to help their investment by maybe buying a new machine,” Windham said. “I like their equipment. I run mine all the time. I was sitting up on it, and it was one of the new models with all the bells and whistles, and I was grinning. It’s kind of fun.

Boys and their toys, you know? I like to move dirt. I actually play at the house on my track hoe and my dozer and everything else all the time. Dottie gets kind of mad sometimes because we don’t even have any grass to mow in the summer because my yard’s dirt where I’ve been digging holes and playing in my dozer and stuff. I’m into that kind of stuff, and they had a new one out there, so they let me check it out.”

K-Dub gets a tutorial on track-scaping. Steve Cox photo

Just to be clear, current Top Privateer points leader Paul Carpenter of the Atomic Honda team is not going to Canada to defend his 2007 Canadian MX Championship. “I really had a good time in Canada, and that was unbelievable to go up there and bring that title home,” Carpenter said. “But it’s not where I wanted to be in my heart. I’ve never been able to do a full series down here outdoors on a 450, and I’d really like to see where I’m at outdoors.”

Torco Racing Fuels Honda’s Josh Grant ran up front in the main in Dallas, but then stalled his bike, handing the lead to Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto, who ran away with the victory. As it turned out, from the point that he stalled it, Grant’s bike had a bog in it and he backed it down for second. “I kept dealing with my bike bogging and stuff,” Grant said. “It’s some electrical issue that we need to figure out. To be honest, I was just lucky to salvage second with it. I knew that I couldn’t ride at my best with the bike being like that, so I just rode conservative. Even riding conservative, I was still an easy second. It was kind of fun, but at the same time, I want to be up there battling with Ryan like we did in Minnesota.”

Yesterday was Press Day for the upcoming Navy Moto X World Championships put on by ESPN at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. Included were the GOAT Ricky Carmichael, last year’s X Games Best Trick gold medalist Kyle Loza, last year’s X Games Supermoto X Champ Mark Burkhart, multi-gold-medal-winning Brian Deegan and Step-Up king Tommy Clowers.

RC, Kyle Loza, Mark Burkhart, Brian Deegan and Tommy Clowers. Steve Cox photo

I talked to Kyle Loza first, who won last year’s Best Trick at X with a body varial that was absolutely mind-blowing. Well, he’s stepping it up this year with the “Electric Death,” which you can find him practicing into a foam pit on YouTube. He has yet to do i