AMA Round #2 Preview: Doug Henry's New England Grand Prix at Stafford Motor Speedway.

X-Games 14 takes it's toll on the lineup as Mother Nature checks in with a splash...

August 9 2008

 In the rolling and scenic hills of Connecticut, just outside of Hartford, lies the storied and infamous Stafford Springs Raceway. Storied in it's over 80 years of racing on the current site and infamous as last years wild and crazy race that saw the two main  combatants of the 450/Premier title chase, Jeff Ward and Mark Burkhart, tangle in turn one and both hitting the ground and then Wardy picked himself up to battle through the field to finish second while Micky Dymond went on to win as the crowd went absolutely nuts!!! Reports from the track on Friday were of deluges and downpours as skies were dark and threatening all day. The forecast is for drying in the morning and possible late afternoon thunderstorms. Keep your body parts crossed for a dry track as the pavement course at Stafford runs right by the wall in a couple spots and running in the rain may not be an option. Hopefully it'll be dry and the decision to race or not wont have to be made.

It's only been a few days since the craziness that was X-Games 14 and there are at least two.....(or more) riders that are healing some bumps and bruises from The Home Depot Center action.  One rider that wont be ready to twist the throttle for a couple weeks is XXX Racing Fuels/Mountain Motorsports/Litz Racing's Dalton Dimick who had an unfortunate coming together with France's Sylvain Bidart on the last lap in the dirt rythym section. I got an e-mail Friday from Dalton saying that he'd broken his tibia and two bones in his foot.  Another rider who is probably wishin' there was another week before goin' 110% would be Graves Motorsports/Yamaha/Mark Burkhart, who had a hard hard get-off during the main event that probably most everyone in the world saw at the bottom of the ramp leading into the stadium. Mark went to the hospital after the races were over on Saturday as his neck had gotten worse and was checked out to be sure there wasn't any more serious damage. "SMO" has enlisted the good looking and talented services of CHM Exaust Racing's Jason Conlon's girlfriend, and on-air personality of the AMA Internet Broadcast project, Hillary Cooper, to be our eyes and ears this weekend. Hillary will be sending reports as the day goes on all day today/tonight with the inside lane scoops!!

250/Lites:

Brandon Currie will once again have a major target on his back as he continues his defense of his 2007 title. Fresh off his X-Games Bronze medal, the Graves Motorsports/Yamaha rider should be ready to take on all comers at Stafford Springs.

 With his two main rivals from last year, David Pingree and Adam Cini gone......(Ping is in the 450's and Adam is in Australia) it's up to a hard riding collage of riders like fellow X-Games competitor, Matt Burton, Jamie Siever, Nor-Cal boy Danny Casey, and the one man PR machine, Johnny Lewis, to chase the Graves Yamaha rider down.

 Unlimited:

In the big bore class, headed by "almost" podium finisher, Steve Drew, it's looking like it could be a total dog-fight down to the checkers with lots of new faces as well as many of last years standouts ready to battle "The Working Class" veteran of the Hart&Huntington squad! HMC/KTM's Kurt Nicoll will be looking to up his second place finish at Seattle by one notch.....the ultra talented and always fun to watch, Derek Costella, can win any time he has a good ride underneath him and the 2007 Championship team at Rip-It Aprilia will be fielding the on the mend Daryl Atkins who could be a winner if his badly broken wrist from last year is halfway healed. Throw in another rider on the mend, last years 450/Premier event winner, GP Husqvarna's Micky Dymond and one more Moto-X/X-Games 14 rider, Josh Chisum and the Unlimited class might just provide Unlimited excitement!!!

 450/Premier:

In the "Main" main event of the day, it'll be the 450 class boys headed by last years Championship winning, Graves Yamaha, Mark Burkhart who though he may be a bit tweaked and not 100% will still be the man to beat after pretty much dominating the rain shortened Round #1 in Seattle four weeks back. Don't count on it being any kind of cake walk though, as the TLD squad will have their two ultimately talented CRF450R riders, Cassidy Anderson and David Pingree ready to bang bars with Misseur Burkhart all race long. Showing his ever expanding talent to the worldwide audience of the X-Games last weekend, XXX Racing Fuels/Mountain Motorsports/Litz Racing's, Robbie Horton, will be taking a few days off from his families construction business to reeeeelax and continue his hot-streak. Robbie definitely has some of the best dirt skills of anyone racing the 450 class and with his pavement coming up to the same level he may be another rider to put it to the Blue team!! 

Ok..............there's a little rundown on what might be happenin' today!!  Should be a fantastic show with Doug Henry and Yamaha teaming up to make it happen so stay tuned to SuperMotoOnline as we'll keep the news and more coming your way!!!