US Outdoor Round 10 Preview: Steel City National -ozzy go- motorcycle-usa.com

Life without Ricky Carmichael has officially commenced. The
GOAT has taken his final leave from AMA Motocross racing after
closing out his sixth victory of the season two weeks ago at
Millville. Now, in his absence, the rest of the motocross world is
in chaos. The Motocross title race is tied and the MX Lites
championship is separated by a paltry two points as we hit the
series' three-quarter mark.

Monster Kawasaki could barely have written a better script when
considering the outdoor season. With the exception, perhaps, of
their ace 450F rider, James Stewart, currently being injured and
missing the last round, but he's on the mend and looking to
rebound. It isn't certain whether or not he will race, but Kawasaki
doesn't necessarily need to force the issue with his teammate,
Tim Ferry, emerging as the biggest, and fastest, surprise of the
season. Red Dog is currently tied for the lead with Honda's
Andrew Short. Ferry looks to have been the faster of the two
riders in terms of pure speed, and his fitness is class-leading.
Nobody is stronger late in Moto 2 as the returned-to-grace KX-F
pilot. His worst performance (minus a DNF at Southwick) was
actually the last race at Millville where he had the perfect
opportunity to take over the title chase but posted an 8-6-6 result
instead.

"I wasn't quite expecting to be in the position I am at now, for
sure," Ferry said. "In the first race (Hangtown) I got third behind
Carmichael and Stewart and was happy about that. Since then,
I've been getting a little better at each race even though the last
race in Millville was a little tough."

The man who stands most directly in Ferry's path of a comeback
dream is Factory Honda's Short. The CRF pilot finds himself in the
nerve-wracking position of fighting for the premier class
championship by way of consistency. Shorty has yet to finish
higher than third, but three podiums and never falling below ninth
overall has yielded 311 points.

"I'm working on the mental aspect and just being stronger in the
second moto," Short said. "I'm in good shape, but I'm not
applying myself better. That part kind of bugs me; I try so hard. I
kind of get discouraged, so I need to work on that and just work
on being consistent; because that's where I'm getting beat right
now."

Grant Langston's scorecard looks much the same, though he's
been on a tear in the last two rounds after a relatively slow start.
The Factory Yamaha rider finished runner-up at both Washougal
and Millville. He would have won the Northwest round had it not
been for a mental mistake by Kevin Windham that allowed Ferry
to take his sole overall, and first in the last six years. GL might
just be the spoiler, which is surprisingly fitting considering that the
last rider to win the Motocross title aside from Carmichael was
fellow South African and World MX champion, Greg Albertyn (1999).

Behind them the shit storm only gets thicker with Red Bull KTM's
Mike Alessi in fourth, the incalculable Stewart is sixth and
Windham is seventh on the potent Sobe NoFear/Samsung/Honda.
It's anybody's game at this point, but Ferry is holding the best
hand.

Motocross Lites: Last year's winner in the 250F class was
hometown boy, Broc Hepler. The Iceman could very well use this
familiar venue to give his 2007 season a much needed shot in the
arm. Riding for Factory Yamaha has been a tough position this
year for everyone under the tent, most especially the YZ250F
riders. Hepler sits in 16th after missing the first five rounds. Even
with the handicap, Hepler won this event in 2005 as well which
means he could pull the hat trick with an overall victory on
Sunday.

While it might be sentimental and heartwarming for the friendly
local boy to be a hero, the real contenders are riding green. Ryan
Villopoto is hot on the trail of his Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki
teammate Ben Townley. The duo has been tied for much of the
season and has regularly traded moto wins for the overall. Thus
far it has been Townley who's collected the majority of OA
victories (5), but RV is looking to score a few of his own as the
season winds down. He'll have to if he wants a chance to win a
hypothetical tie-breaker. RV Park has three wins, the last of which
came at Millville. Neither rider can seem to gain an advantage in
momentum, but they both have a crapload of it. Watch for the
fireworks to set off.

"It's so close," said Townley. "We started off at Hangtown, and
then Ryan got a little bit of a gap. Then I had the problem at High
Point, and he had his problem at Unadilla. We wake up each
morning to win this championship - we both want it really bad!"
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