THE WEEKLY FEED: JUNE 15, 2016

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Laporte 1 — During the Bob Hannah/Yamaha MX dynasty years, Danny LaPorte was on rival team Suzuki. He was hired as a 125 specialist but after missing a 125cc national title by a hair in the infamous Bob Hannah and Broc Glover “Let Broc bye” incident, LaPorte moved to the 500cc class. Always a stronger outdoor rider, LaPorte earned the first 500cc title for Suzuki. For 1981 LaPorte went to Honda, but an injury kept him off the bike so long that few people remember his stint on Honda. The AMA used to have a fall series after the regular national series first called the Trans-AMA series and later the Trans-USA series. In 1981 the premier class was the 250cc division while the 500cc class was a support class. As a result, 500cc riders like LaPorte and some star 125cc riders all raced 250 outdoors. For that reason, photos of LaPorte racing a Honda 250cc works bike are fairly rare. Dirt Wheels editor Karel Kramer shot this for fun while in college in Texas, so the shot was never published. At the end of the disappointing year with Honda, LaPorte was part of the all-Honda Motocross des Nations team that won for America for the first time. On the strength of his performance on that team, LaPorte earned a Yamaha ride in the 250cc class of the European 250cc world championship series. LaPorte won in his first year. The cemented his rep as a 250cc guy that he never had while racing in the U.S.

THE RUMOR MILL CONTINUES TO CHURN

There is loads of inherent noise, all based on half truths and rumors about the upcoming silly season in motocross. Yesterday we heard that Trey Canard, not rehired by Honda (who will be represented by Ken Roczen and Cole Seeley) is going to ride for DeCoster and Factory KTM for 2017. Word has also leaked into our offices that Jeremy Martin, who had a deal with RCH (not certain what brand they would mounted on) is sticking with Yamaha, although a full factory effort where J-Mart will ride in the 250 class and his teammate is Cooper Webb in the 450 class.

1D4_7475 — Jeremy Martin goes full Factory Yamaha for 2017?

Kawasaki has Tomac, who is still struggling with his form and a machine that lacks the planted feel of the Honda. Suzuki is a question mark since both Stewart and Baggett are at the end of their contracts, RCH has lost Roczen to Honda and neither team has any talent lined up for the next year.

American Supercross Champion Chad Reed will return to Europe in June for two weekends of MXGPMotocross action, crossing over from America to line up on a Yamaha YZ450F at Matterley Basin in the UK on June 18-19 and at Mantova in Lombardia, Italy on June 25-26.

With two GP coming to America (September 3rd [Charlotte Motor Speedway] and September 11th at Glen Helen) we will get to see two of the top talents in the world of motocross, in Tim Gajser and Romain Febvre continue to duke it out. The racing in MXGP has been intense and there is talk that these two lose nothing to either Ken Roczen, or Ryan Dungey. We know Glen Helen’s track will be gnarly, Charlotte’s is slated to run inside the facility and looks tight and jumpy.

Gajser_MXGP_10_F_2016 — Tim Gajser signed a long term deal with Honda and is one of the fastest men on the planet.

FebvreSat_MXGP_10_F_2016 — Current World Champ Romain Febvre has been coming back from injuries and is finally healthy. His win in France was huge!

TEAM SRT AND THE BAJA 500

Follow Team SRT south of the border for the 48th annual SCORE Internation Baja 500! Filmed and edited by Beau Cottington, featuring Craig Thompson, Morgan Crawford, Kevin Murphy, Cory Graffunder, Jordan Brandt, Jeff Evans, Jeff Vogt, Guy Comer, Rob Nadon, and Kyle Smith. ©2016 SRT Offroad and Beau Cottington

P.P.P.P.PRODUCTS

MSR TIE DOWNS

“Dads are tired of getting ties for Father’s Day, but we can always use a good set of tiedowns,” says Jason Gearld, Brand Manager for Malcolm Smith Racing Hard Parts. “The standard 1” style is up to snuff for most dirtbikes as the nylon webbing is rated at 4,500 lbs. but for those vintage racers campaigning old Triumph desert sleds, there is the One Point Five top of the line tiedown.” Constructed with 1.5” nylon webbing (hence the name), they are rated to a whopping 5,500 lbs. and the hooks handle 1,500 lbs.

https://msracing.com/hard-parts/accessories/soft-hook-tiedowns.html