hew! The first quarter of 2005 is finally over. With the Indy show in February, Daytona in March, plus Supercross season in full swing, it’s been a busy time here in our office. We also had rain out here in Southern California in amounts that the state has not seen in 100 years. But now things are finally starting to dry out, and we can look ahead to the Spring season kick-off.
     We welcome Bridgestone Tires this month as one of our cover sponsors. The company has, for quite a few years now, been successful in Supercross and Motocross, but last year they got everyone’s attention in MotoGP racing with some successful outings by Bridgestone-shod riders. For 2005 their prospects are even better. I think it’s great that there is so much good competition in roadracing between Bridgestone, Dunlop, Michelin and Pirelli. Competition speeds up product development, which ultimately is good for racing and good for the marketplace.
     And roadracing is not the only place where the action has been good. There were expectations last winter that the 2005 Supercross season was going to be the best in years. After a couple of Ricky Carmichael runaways and a broken arm for Bubba Stewart, most fans were pretty disappointed that the “Perfect Storm” did not materialize. Then, Chad Reed began to step up his game. His pace forced RC to make a mistake and fall in San Diego, assuring Chad of his first victory of the season.
     Carmichael rebounded after San Diego with a few wins and it began to look like a repeat of his dominating ways of the past as he then extended his points lead week after week. But a funny thing happened on the way to the victory banquet. At the Daytona Supercross, Reed shot into the lead and again Carmichael cracked. Reed took win #2 at Bike Week and then followed that up the next week in Orlando with win #3.
     We’ll have to see how the balance of the season plays out, but the “mid-season Chad Reed,” plus the return of Bubba Stewart, has finally given Supercross fans the “storm” we were all hoping for. Check out our pictorial by Kinney Jones of the action to date this year. It starts on page 28.
     Another big name in racing that we started the season with is Travis Pastrana. But he was in plaster in Week One after a little “incident” in the hills and after just a few races he faced up to the fact that the wrist needed some time off. Our Photo Gallery in this issue features Pastrana’s Suzuki Supercross bike. Travis called Pennsylvania dealer Jeff Cernic last year and told him his ideas for a race program for 2005 and according to Jeff, it was put together over the telephone.
     By the time you read this, Pastrana should be getting back to racing and we wish him well. The fans love him and we hope he can stay healthy and on the track for the rest of the year. We’re also pulling for Chad Reed in the remaining Supercross races of the season. At press time RC had a big lead in the points and it might take a miracle for Chad to overcome that in the remaining races. But that’s what racing is about.
     Have a great Spring selling season.