ince 1998, Las Vegas has been the host to the world's richest Supercross race. The U.S. Open race weekend at the MGM Grand is always a highlight on the calendar and in years past, the U.S Open has generally been viewed as the start of the next year's Supercross season. This year however, it seemed like more of a wind-down of the 2005 season. A few of our key players were missing from the Open this year...Chad Reed in the 250 class and Ivan Tedesco and Grant Langston in the 125/Supercross Lites.
     When the big Vegas weekend finally arrived, everyone was anticipating the big showdown between 2005 AMA 250 Supercross and 250 Motocross Champ Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart. At the press conference on Thursday, things were looking pretty good for Stewart. Carmichael opted not to ride for the press as he was recovering from a nasty bout with the flu earlier in the week and was looking visibly drained. Stewart seemed confident in his chances for the weekend. However, come Friday morning, the tide had changed. The 250 practice sessions came and went and there was no sign of Stewart. The internet message boards were lighting up with all sorts of rumors. Apparently, Stewart was taken to the hospital Friday morning after reportedly vomiting and then passing out in his motor home. The word was that he would be back for Saturday night's show, but Stewart ended up missing both nights. It has since been released that Stewart is suffering from some sort of IBS/intestinal bacteria situation, which has been hindering his performance for some time now.
     Friday night's 250 main event saw RC grab the holeshot and lead to the finish. Thor-sponsored Michael Byrne was hot on RC's heels for most of the race and finished second with Ernesto Fonseca in third.
     Saturday night was more of the same...RC holeshot followed closely by Kevin Windham, who put the pressure on Carmichael early on but then fell back a few seconds towards the end of the race. Windham finished in second with Byrne in third. Overall, Byrne finished second behind RC with Windham in third.
In the 125 class, Andrew Short led for most of Friday nightÕs main event before pulling out due to mechanical problems, handing the win to Brett Metcalfe. Short faired better on Saturday night, taking home the win over Metcalfe in second. This gave Metcalfe the overall win, with Josh Hansen and Robert Kiniry in second and third, respectively.
     While the racing action at this year's U.S. Open was relatively tame, there's still nothing better than the sound and smell of Supercross, and it definitely got me revved up for the upcoming season! Plus, the weekend in general was a blast, as always! It's always great to see old friends, and to make new ones and what better place to do that than in Vegas? I even saw Tom"What's New Pussycat" Jones at the "elevator bar" at the MGM on Saturday night. No, I didn't get a picture of that, but check out some of the other highlights from the weekend...