Here and there

Once again, the month of July has been brutal for us, weather-wise? temperatures in the mid- to upper-90?s, with the heat index pushing us up into the 100?s and even 110?s for about the past three weeks. It?s deceiving to sit inside in the air conditioning (thank God for air conditioning, and for the funds [...]

Brad Lackey Arthur Lampkin Steve Lamson Grant Langston Danny LaPorte Mike LaRocco Jason Lawrence Ron Lechien

2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series, an FIM World Championship officially underway - Anaheim Recap, Phoenix Preview

As the series heads into round two at Phoenix, Arizona?s Chase Field, potential title contenders have already begun to establish themselves. At Anaheim I, Monster Energy Kawasaki?s Ryan Villopoto walked away with the season kickoff win in the Supercross Class, while Cole Seely captured the Supercross Lites victory for Lucas Oil / Troy Lee Designs / Honda.

Stats and data below courtesy Feld Motor Sports

Villopoto was clearly the fastest rider on the track, and was the only rider during the main to lay down lap times under 1:01. When the checkered flag waved, Ryan was more than 12 seconds ahead of second place finisher Chad Reed of TwoTwo Motorsports/Honda. But the fight for second was the best skirmish of the night. JGR/Toyota/Yamaha?s James Stewart got a mid pack start and was forced to work his way up, while Villopoto, Reed, and Red Bull/KTM?s Ryan Dungey began up front.

Stewart was eventually able to make his way up to Dungey in third, and that?s when things got interesting. The two riders battled back and forth, forcing each other into various mistakes, but Reed made an error on his own, allowing Dungey and Stewart to close the gap. Just as Stewart was gaining on Reed, the JGR rider made yet another mistake, and landed on top of a tuff block in an on/off section, resulting in a crash.

Lauris Freibergs Paul Friedrichs Steven Frossard Eric Geboers Sylvain Geboers Broc Glover Rui Goncalves Josh Grant

GEICO Honda's Hahn fractures hip, will miss 3-6 weeks of 2012 Supercross Season

Bad luck reared its head and bit GEICO Honda's Wil Hahn for the second consecutive year.

Following a 2011 beset by injury, Hahn will now miss three to six weeks of the 2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Lites West season after fracturing his right hip during training on Wednesday at the Honda practice facility in Corona, Calif.

"I'm just shocked, numbed," Hahn said. "I was training this week at the Honda track and things were going great. I went over a step up, landed awkwardly, fell over and landed hard on my right side. I felt sore when I got up. I went to the doctor and X-rays showed something was wrong. I went to a specialist on Thursday and he said my hip was cracked. Now I have to sit again. I can't believe it. I'm not even bummed. I'm beyond that."

Rick Johnson Gary Jones Mark Jones Ake Jonsson Julien Bill Pierre Karsmakers Vladimir Kavinov Mike Kiedrowski