Glen Helen Preview -ozzy go- motorcycle-usa.com

It has been eight years since the AMA Toyota Motocross
Championship presented by FMF has gone down to the last race of
the year to decide who will take home this year's Number 1 plate.
Just 15 points separate the top four riders, each representing four
different manufacturers. With the blistering hot weather stifling
Southern California, this weekend's 12th Annual Giant RV AMA
Motocross Nationals at Glen Helen has the makings to be the most
intense race weekend of the year.

Yamaha's Grant Langston never thought that he would be in the
champion hunt this late in the season. With late-season
championship front runner James Stewart taken out of the title
chase with a knee injury at Washougal, Langston has capitalized
on Stewart's unfortunate mishap and used his updated '08 YZ450F
to rack up seven straight podium finishes including two overall
wins at the last two rounds in Texas and Steel City.

"When James got hurt it just blew things wide open," commented
Langston. "Did I expect to be leading the points going into the
final round? No, not really. I was sixth in the championship four
rounds ago. It's been quite a jump and I'm excited to be in the
position I'm in."

Langston has all the momentum in the world coming into a venue
he's already tasted victory at in 2007. The season-opening
Prequel at Glen Helen was the first chance for pro riders to hit up
a real National-caliber facility and throw down for a pair of 30+2
motos. Langston came out on top that day with a 2-1-1 tally. He
was strong then, and he's even stronger now, so the rest of the
Motocross class had better get their act together if they want to
derail his late-season surge.

Honda's Andrew Short has been the model of consistency all
season. Shorty is currently second in the championship standings
with 386 points and is looking to redeem a mistake in Moto 2 at
Texas that cost him his first overall Motocross win. Short, who
won the first moto by 3.8 seconds and then holeshot in the
second race, crashed back to fifth position for third overall.

"I left it all on the table in Texas," said Short. "I was pretty
disappointed about tipping over. That kind of mistake gives me a
lot of motivation to go and do well at Glen Helen."

Monster Kawasaki's Tim Ferry, who won at the notoriously brutal
Glen Helen Raceway in 2001, is positive about this weekend's last
AMA Motocross episode.

"Everyone's going to see a good battle in the final race,"
remarked Ferry. "This is what everyone wants to see. I'd like to
close out the season with a win and to have a little luck go my
way."

With both Alessi brothers leaving to compete on different teams
next season, Glen Helen might be the last race for Red Bull KTM's
factory squad, who has been a popular as well as large staple in
the AMA paddock for the last few years.

SoCal native Mike Alessi, who sits in fourth place 15 points behind
the leader, has been on the podium five times this year and is
sure to put in a solid performance as his tenure with Red Bull KTM
comes to an end. Alessi damn near won the Prequel at Glen Helen
back in May. A regular on both the REM and National track, Mikey
will be formidable to say the least this weekend.

In the Lites class, the Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki duo of Ryan
Villopoto and Ben Townley have bashed bars all season, and fans
at this weekend's race will be treated to an intense two-way battle
for the coveted Number 1 plate. Reigning champ, Villopoto, has
won the last three motos and has had six overall victories this
season. In the past few rounds, the Washington native has put 19
points between himself and teammate Townley. The gap is so
large that it is impossible to play the number game. Basically, RV
has to keep his nose clean and not DNF. He really only has to
finish relatively close to BT101 in both motos, and the guy could
ride one-handed and still be fast enough to do that. The title is his
to lose.

From the New Zealander's perspective, he has to go 1-1 and pray
for a mechanical gremlin to wreak havoc on his buddy's KX250F.
His other option is to sucker RV into a balls-out battle. Perhaps if
he can sneak away early in the race and put in a mistake-free
performance, it might be enough to entice RV to push a little too
hard. Things are pretty grim, however, seeing how mature
Villopoto has become in the past two seasons. Also, the only guys
who can run their pace are teammates Brett Metcalfe and Austin
Stroupe. Watching those team tactics will be interesting. If
Townley can somehow pull it off, it will be his first AMA National
title. He won the East SX Lites championship earlier this year to
match Villopoto's Western title. Motorcycle-usa.com
additional photos from yamaha-motor.com & vitalmx.com