I think I have finally arrived! I am sitting in first class as I type this, up in VIP for the first time since the Bellmer years (by the way, Jeff, I heard Bobby C. got hurt on a street bike?). The luck of the draw and two years of flying U.S. Airways meant it was finally my time to sit in “wide glide” again from Pittsburgh to Las Vegas.

I kissed my wife and kids goodbye, took my seat, #1A next to the window, and then I waited to see which celebrity would slide in next to me and drop their Lois Vuitton bags on the floor next to my Ogio book bag…. Would it be the volatile supermodel, making a stop in Vegas on her way back home to Malibu after a shoot in Manhattan? Or would it be the rogue gambler, on his Atlantic City-to-Vegas whiskey run, getting his drink on before heading to the Bellagio for High-Rollers night? Or maybe some pseudo-celebrity with a bit part in a reality show, like the super-cute blonde from The Hills (which I have never watched but couldn’t help but notice in her underway on the cover of Rolling Stone).

photo: Matt Ware

I nervously adjust my seatbelt, place my earphones on and get right into The Flight of The Conchords:

You’re so beautiful, you could be a part-time model

Or an air hostess in the sixties….

Or a high-class prostitute.

But don’t quit your day job

I can’t wait to see who I get to share this posh, plush, first-class row with for the next four and a half hours of my life. This is going to either be a great plane rider or Greatest Plane Ride Ever….

Holy smokes! It’s … it’s … it’s none other than the winner of the quadcycle class in the 1988 Montreal Supercross, Mr. Tom Carson! And he’s sitting down in #1B with ... with … an Ogio bag of his own. I feel like Steve Matthes the day he got on that standing-room-only airport shuttle bus and realized that The Tim Ferry was actually hanging onto an almost identical strap, exactly seven hooks away from him. Get a room already, Steve!

Okay, so I kinda sorta know Tom Carson. Known him since 1978. He’s a lifelong friend who raced pro forever and now works with Asterisk, doing the good deed of helping watch over the riders out there. Oh, and I should mention that one row back, in 2C and 2D, are the AMA’s Craig Andreadas and his dad, also headed to the last round of the 2008 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship. So I guess it was “upgrade day” for moto people at U.S. Airways, and my hopes of sitting next to someone hot enough to be a part-time model, or maybe one of Roger Clemens’ ex-girlfriends didn’t quite pan out after all….

Chad Reed is a sixth-place finish away from his second AMA Supercross title photo: Steve Cox

Which is probably not a bad development, since my wife and two kids and the babysitter are all the back in Row 6, seats D,E, and F, because they would be sooooo jealous right now….

Welcome to Racerhead. The 2008 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship is almost complete. Ten points separate Chad Reed and Kevin Windham from the championship, and we have an East-West Shootout that could go one of, what, six or seven different ways? Who’s going to win that race? (Which I want to thank Live Nation again for naming after my late dad, that’s just really, really cool.) The champions Canard or Lawrence? The near-champs Villopoto or Dungey? One of the shoulda-coulda-wouldas Hepler, Metcalfe, Grant, Davalos, or Stroupe? Tell us your pick right here.

You can listen to the always-cool webcast Supercross Live! tomorrow night from Las Vegas, beginning at 7 p.m. out West and 10 p.m. back in the East as Jason Weigandt and Jim Holley call all of the shots to close out SX ’08. The race will air Sunday on Speed too.

Also, you don’t want to miss Speed TV tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET for the Seattle Supercross, and the Monster Energy Supercross recap will air on Sunday, May 4 at 12:00 PM ET on CBS.

Okay, back to the plane ride. It’s not that much of a coincidence that I landed on the same flight as Tom and the Andreadas boys and even “Bad” Billy Ursic, but how’s this for strange coincidences: J.H. Leale from AGV was driving down a residential road outside Tallahassee, Florida, last week when he came around a bend in the road (admittedly a little over the speed limit) and upon two cyclists pedaling side by side. He went around them, but when he looked in his rearview mirror, he realized it was none other than James Stewart training alongside Aldon Baker! “I could only imagine how that would have looked in Racerhead had I not seen them!” joked J.H.. Thank goodness he did.

Is James turning yellow? photo: Steve Cox

Unless you’ve been hiding under a typewriter, then you probably saw the growing Stewart-to-Suzuki rumors showing up here and there on the www. I have looked around, asked around and guessed around, and I don’t have the answer. But I did go from “No way!” to “Hmmm….”

Chad Reed has his own interactive website up and running well—www.chadreedracing.com—with news, videos, and a fairly active chat room. In fact, it’s cool to see the actual rider in the discussion room, chatting with his fans and telling them his view of things. For instance, a thread was started about “K-Dub Whining” and various folks were going in and giving their two cents. Then Chad himself, under the handle “twotwo”, came in and explained his side of things, while also giving a glimpse of what team politics might look like in regards to Andrew Short:

“WOW!!:) where do you start…..first off thanks guys for the never ending support! this is quit the subject:) in every story theres 2 sides….if only you knew what i knew kdub14 we all have the right to an opinion right? i respect yours now put yourself in my shoes….KW calls me out for running him wide when im getting lapped…goes on to say hes lost respect for me…and im ment to be cool with that… remember i have a very good friend thats on a red bike:)....i tell shorty what i knew and thought….HE SAYS IM JUST DOING AS IM TOLD?:) confirms all!!

"I've never in my life thanked god on the podium but my mum and dad showed me what was right from wrong! i know i slept great that night knowing that i gave it my all and answered every question true to how it was in my world!.... can AS…? he had the best shot at winning hes first real SX win! they dont come around so easy:) add up how many people have won in the last 15 years… no amount of $$ or team staff telling you great job will ever make up for that it will eat him alive! just my 2 cents:) carry on…. as for KW hes riding hes best year to date when hes on hes on….. dudes got talent !! iv always had great respect for him hes a good guy and when this is all said and done i hope we return to what we had….. respect”

Good stuff, though some of you might be thinking to yourself right now, When did Alessi Weekly take over Chad Reed’s website?

Reed isn’t the only one to take his message straight to a message board. When Steve Matthes wrote in his Seattle Observations that “Its been a frustrating year for Le Cobra, one of my favorite guys in the pits and the winner of seven career 250 Supercrosses has only two more left…” DV12 went on Mototalk to confirm that, yes, it’s a possibility: