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SX: Monster Energy Cup A Means To Seize 2013 Momentum
The world's leading Supercross stars will look to seize momentum -- and one million dollars -- in this weekend's Monster Energy Cup.
(Photo: Hoppenworld.com)
PROGRAMMING NOTE: The Monster Energy Cup from Las Vegas, NV will air LIVE on SPEED and SPEED2 on Saturday, October 20th at 10:00pm ET. Free practice will air on SPEED.com at 2:30pm ET.
Momentum is a hard thing to see or even quantify, but to win a championship, you’ll need to capture some of it to realize your dreams.
Now, imagine winning $1 million if said momentum helps you sweep three-straight Motos during Saturday night’s Monster Energy Cup (live on SPEED starting at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT), fending off the sport’s toughest competitors at Sam-Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, and ultimately, making a strong statement for 2013.
It’s happened before - just ask two-time and defending Monster Energy Supercross champion, Ryan Villopoto.
He dominated last year’s inaugural Monster Energy Cup, carried that into 2012, and rode his way to another championship, despite ending his campaign early when severely injuring his knee at Reliant Stadium in a late-season incident this past April.
This year’s fete marks the return of Villopoto to action, along with the other battered stars of Supercross racing like Ryan Dungey and Chad Reed, whom are also recovering from injury. Who grabs that momentum this time?
“I think this is a very important race for a lot of guys, as they get themselves ready for 2013, and the Monster Energy Supercross season,” said SPEED AMA Voice Ralph Sheheen, who’s calling the event with five-time champion Ricky Carmichael, three-time titlist Jeff Emig and veteran pit reporter, Erin Bates.
“Chad Reed, Ryan Villopoto… a lot of these guys are dealing with injuries,” Sheheen added. “Guys that are moving to new teams, to new bikes, we’re all going to see how they stack up. Vegas provides an opportunity to do that. The track is going to be very different; it’s a hybrid, which makes it a challenge in its own right. You are racing with the guys you’re going to be seeing in Anaheim (Calif.), this is the opportunity to see where you are in your program.”
But there’s something else filling the room too.
“It is a million dollars,” Sheheen said. “You can’t underscore that enough. A million is a million, I don’t care who you are. When you roll up into the gate or when you get there that weekend, even at the press conference on Friday, when they roll out that million bucks, you realize this just isn’t another race, there’s a million dollars on the line.
“We want to know what type of shape we’re in, where do we stand when we get ready for Anaheim in January - but you still have a million on the line,” Sheheen added. “January in some ways can wait because I could be a millionaire in three races.”
The actual course is another factor. As in 2011, legendary racer Ricky Carmichael has inspired a Supercross-Motocross hybrid track that incorporates sections many of the riders may not be familiar with. Its design includes a 200-foot banked sweeper built into part of the grandstands; along with a deep-sand ‘joker lane,’ which Carmichael said could cause some controversy as each rider has to navigate it at least once during each Moto.
“Ricky Carmichael. He is the unique challenge to the Monster Energy Cup track,” Sheheen said. “This guy has won so many championships; in every form of dirt bike competition that he has a great understanding of what is challenging, and how a track design challenges the riders. He always incorporates things into the track he feels not only make for great racing for fans in the grandstands and on television, but also great fun for the riders, challenging them in ways that don’t necessarily test them throughout the course of a Supercross or Motocross season.
“We always talk about how a track can be the 21st rider in the gate, that extra unknown,” Sheheen continued. “With this event, that gets taken to a whole different level because the ‘Greatest of All Time’ is the one who designed it. He gets to reach back into that bag of tricks, have fun painting this thing, becoming ‘The DaVinci of Dirt’ as far as moving it all around.”
Momentum is a hard thing to see or even quantify, but to win a championship, you’ll need to capture some of it to realize your dreams.
Now, imagine winning $1 million if said momentum helps you sweep three-straight Motos during Saturday night’s Monster Energy Cup (live on SPEED starting at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT), fending off the sport’s toughest competitors at Sam-Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, and ultimately, making a strong statement for 2013.
It’s happened before - just ask two-time and defending Monster Energy Supercross champion, Ryan Villopoto.
He dominated last year’s inaugural Monster Energy Cup, carried that into 2012, and rode his way to another championship, despite ending his campaign early when severely injuring his knee at Reliant Stadium in a late-season incident this past April.
This year’s fete marks the return of Villopoto to action, along with the other battered stars of Supercross racing like Ryan Dungey and Chad Reed, whom are also recovering from injury. Who grabs that momentum this time?
“I think this is a very important race for a lot of guys, as they get themselves ready for 2013, and the Monster Energy Supercross season,” said SPEED AMA Voice Ralph Sheheen, who’s calling the event with five-time champion Ricky Carmichael, three-time titlist Jeff Emig and veteran pit reporter, Erin Bates.
“Chad Reed, Ryan Villopoto… a lot of these guys are dealing with injuries,” Sheheen added. “Guys that are moving to new teams, to new bikes, we’re all going to see how they stack up. Vegas provides an opportunity to do that. The track is going to be very different; it’s a hybrid, which makes it a challenge in its own right. You are racing with the guys you’re going to be seeing in Anaheim (Calif.), this is the opportunity to see where you are in your program.”
But there’s something else filling the room too.
“It is a million dollars,” Sheheen said. “You can’t underscore that enough. A million is a million, I don’t care who you are. When you roll up into the gate or when you get there that weekend, even at the press conference on Friday, when they roll out that million bucks, you realize this just isn’t another race, there’s a million dollars on the line.
“We want to know what type of shape we’re in, where do we stand when we get ready for Anaheim in January - but you still have a million on the line,” Sheheen added. “January in some ways can wait because I could be a millionaire in three races.”
The actual course is another factor. As in 2011, legendary racer Ricky Carmichael has inspired a Supercross-Motocross hybrid track that incorporates sections many of the riders may not be familiar with. Its design includes a 200-foot banked sweeper built into part of the grandstands; along with a deep-sand ‘joker lane,’ which Carmichael said could cause some controversy as each rider has to navigate it at least once during each Moto.
“Ricky Carmichael. He is the unique challenge to the Monster Energy Cup track,” Sheheen said. “This guy has won so many championships; in every form of dirt bike competition that he has a great understanding of what is challenging, and how a track design challenges the riders. He always incorporates things into the track he feels not only make for great racing for fans in the grandstands and on television, but also great fun for the riders, challenging them in ways that don’t necessarily test them throughout the course of a Supercross or Motocross season.
“We always talk about how a track can be the 21st rider in the gate, that extra unknown,” Sheheen continued. “With this event, that gets taken to a whole different level because the ‘Greatest of All Time’ is the one who designed it. He gets to reach back into that bag of tricks, have fun painting this thing, becoming ‘The DaVinci of Dirt’ as far as moving it all around.”
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