Sunday, 22 November 2009 16:37
Issue #31 is at crisis point and I have few problems (nothing new in that). I have my fingers crossed it'll sort itself out and I won't get sacked.Meanwhile, I'm resting this leg as hard as I can, and that means mostly sitting around and trying to keep it elevated. A mate dropped in a stack of Bar To Bar DVDs, and I'm ODed on supercross.
I get a little misty-eyed at the earlier ones (2002/2003/2004) when the names I remember were going hard. McGrath, Carmichael, Windham, Lusk, Ward and all the rest, all on (sob) two-strokes! Fabulous. And then being able to fast forward through time and watch, one after the other, James Stewart's debut and ascension, Chad Reed's arrival and rise, and the disappearance of the two-stroke. On top of that, of course, I've been following the SuperX on Channel 10.
So I'm pretty much maxed out on supercross at the moment.
It's funny, because I'm not a huge supercross fan. I love the spectacle, and I love it that it brings dirt bike racing to the general public, but it doesn't make me want to go and ride. That's curious, because I'm a crummy spectator. I get frustrated sitting and watching. I just want to be participating. I hardly ever go to a motocross or enduro to spectate because it's just too frustrating. I just want to be out there doing it, even if I'm running last (and I often am). But not supercross. I'm happy to watch and admire the skill of the riders, but I've never had much of a desire to do it.
Dunno why. It just is.
But now I'm busting to watch some real motocross. European or US, I don't care. I still have about four weeks to go on crutches and nursing the leg, so I'll hunt around and see what I can find. My son and I used to sit glued to the TV until the early hours of the morning watching video tapes of outdoor motocross, and we loved it. From the US, Doug Henry battled long and hard with a young, rookie McGrath, Mike LaRocco, and and a stack of other great names. From Europe we'd be amazed by Albertyne, Pichon, Smets and a whole batch of others on Euro bikes at insane speeds on huge, wide, high-speed natural terrain tracks. I have to say, that's the racing I love most. Geoff Ballard imported the videos, and he was a regular visitor, bringing in the latest Motocross des Nations or Euro tapes and falling asleep on the loungeroom floor where we'd find him the next morning, the TV still on.
But I'll have to get issue#31 sorted before I have time for any of that.
I see Chad Reed had a win at the SuperX in New Zealand on the weekend. I was really hoping Marmont would keep up his run from the previous event, but it wasn't to be. Still, Chad hasn't locked it up yet, so it's all good watching. I was planning to go to the Brisbane round, but of course I won't be able to travel by then, and of course, Stewart won't be there, so I'll have to wait until next year.
Back to work for me now.
TF
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