Mike Alessi is living, but out-of-action, proof that injuries are a big part of motocross and supercross racing success.

After turning 21 years old on May 19, Mike Alessi placed second in the season-opening motocross meet on May 23 at San Bernardino, California. He followed with his first-ever victories on May 30 in Sacramento and June 6 in Worthen, Texas.

Then, two days later, Alessi broke his kneecap in practice, of all things. He says it was a freak accident in which he suddenly found himself on grassy terrain and took a nasty spill.

Mike Alessi still has a bright future, but his route to the AMA 2009 motocross season championship has been short-circuited. He simply hopes to return before the 12-meet season closes on Sept. 5 at Steel City Raceway in Delmont, Pa. Steady veteran Chad Reed slipped into the season points lead after Alessi's mishap.

Mike Alessi, half Italian and half German in heritage, is a tightly-packed 5-foot-7 and 150 pounds. He is especially known for his daring fast starts, leading to "Holeshot" as one of his nicknames.

Alessi started riding motorcyles when he was 3 years old and was a popular Loretta Lynn's youth amateur champion. In fact, Mike Alessi won 11 junior races to tie a record established by none other than James "Bubba" Stewart. Alessi then turned professional at 16.

This isn't the first time that a practice injury has sidelined Mike Alessi. He broke a collarbone early in 2008 while he was warming up for a supercross event.

After the collarbone healed, Alessi suffered his only major in-race injury. In a July 2008 crash, he broke both shoulder blades and a rib, bruised a lung and suffered a severe concussion.

The summer motocross circuit now has lost three of its biggest names. Ryan Villapoto, Alessi's up-and-coming peer and former youth amateur rival, has a torn knee ligament and Bubba Stewart is sitting out the season.

Mike Alessi still has star potential, but he has to learn to stay upright on his bike.

SOURCES

http://www.alessiracing.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61&Itemid=64

http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/events/raceschedule/2/mc/2005_ama_chevy_truck_us_motocross_schedule_and_results.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_alessi

http://www.myspace.com/mxmike800

A motocross journalist recent wrote that Chad Reed "by the numbers ... is one of the greatest supercross riders ever." Why the qualifier of "by the numbers?" Nobody ever speaks of Jeremy McGrath or Ricky Carmichael or James "Bubba" Stewart as "by the numbers." They simply are regarded as motocross greats.

Possibly the difference is that Chad Reed is so quiet and reserved. He doesn't say much about himself, not even on his own website. We can learn that he's 27 years old and from Australia, and that he came to the United States in order to match his skills with the world's best riders. He's just not big with the media.

Chad Reed won the the AMA (American Motorcyclists Association) supercrossseason championship in 2004 and 2008. As of late March, after 12 of the season's 17 events, Reed was leading Stewart, 271 points to 260. Unless Chad Reed takes a bad spill and/or suffers a major injury, he is in command for a third title. The supercross season concludes May 2 in Las Vegas.

Reed's reserved manner was reflected after his March 22 victory in St. Louis, in front of 56,000 fans. He stated mundanely: "Like I say every week, you've got to be in it to win it, and that's what we're doing. ... I just kept my head down and rode my Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 as hard as I could and it was good for the win this week." At least Chad Reed speaks up enough to give his sponsor a good plug.

A few years ago, an interviewer managed to pull something original out of Chad Reed. Chad noted that back in Australia, he actually used to chase kangaroos on his motorcycle. "Well, not on a daily basis," he explained. "Those animals are really fast, and it's amazing keeping up with them on a motorcycle."

Another journalist visited Chad Reed's training and practice site on one day, and Bubba Stewart's digs on the next. He described Chad Reed as taking more of a loose and fun approach, while the Bubba Stewart team was all business. But this certainly doesn't mean that Chad Reed isn't dead serious. During one season, he continued racing in pain after separating his shoulder. The next time you watch a supercross or motocross race, try to imagine that!

SOURCES
http://www.racerxonline.com/rider/chad-reed.aspx
http://www.coolgrrrls.com/2/chadreed.html
http://www.racerxonline.com/article/monday-wake-up-call-3-23.aspx
http://www.racerxonline.com/blog/blogandt/2009/03/6/blogandt-noun-of-the-week-9/
http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/ama-supercross-motocross/races/?lo_id=136
www.mxnationals.com
http://www.chadreedracing.com/-/bio
http://www.supercross.com/rider-profiles/795-chad-reed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chad_Reed

James "Bubba" Stewart may be known as Tiger Woods of motocross, but it might better be said that Tiger Woods is the Bubba Stewart of golf. After all, Bubba Stewart entered 24 outdoor motocross races during the past summer and won all of them. Tiger Woods won consecutive pro golf tournaments back in 2006, but 24 in a row? It boggles the imagination.

Bubba Stewart, as of early February, also was on a winning streak during the winter/spring supercross competition under the auspices of the American Motorcyclist Association, drawing crowds in the 40,000 range at baseball stadiums in places such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Bubba Stewart's only defeat was at the start of the year at Anaheim Stadium, when competitors knocked down his bike not once, but twice.

Speaking of bikes, Bubba Stewart has switched to Yamaha after many years with Kawasaki.

James "Bubba" Stewart and Tiger Woods have many similarities that go beyond their status not only as the first African-American superstars in their respective sports, but also as arguably the best ever in motocross and in golf, respectively. Bubba Stewart pursues Ricky Carmichael, while Tiger Woods pursues Jack Nicklaus.

To start, Bubba Stewart (12/21/85) and Tiger Woods (12/30/75) both were Christmas-time babies.

Both grew up with hyper-involved fathers, James Stewart Sr. and the now-deceased Earl Woods. Golf fans and sports fans in general are acquainted with a film clip of a 2-year-old Tiger Woods appearing on the old Mike Douglas Show and knocking a golf ball into a net with perfect form. Well, James Stewart Sr. reportedly took Bubba on his first dirt bike ride when Bubba was 2 DAYS old! Bubba Stewart entered his first motocross race as a 4-year-old rider and had a sponsor as a 7-year-old competitor.

Eldrick Woods was "Tiger" from birth, but James Stewart Jr. wasn't "Bubba" under the age of 8. His favorite motocross racer was Jeff "Chicken" Matiasevich, and so the younger became "Baby Chicken," which somehow evolved into "Bubba." He admits his nickname may seem odd, explaining, "A typical Bubba looks like an older white gentleman, kind of fat, who lives on a farm, has a toothpick and wears overalls and a straw hat."

Bubba Stewart's parents traveled the country so that Bubba and younger brother Malcolm could follow the junior motocross circuit, and so the two children were homeschooled.

James "Bubba" Stewart, at age 22, hasn't forgotten from whence he came. His home back in Haines City has an outdoor motocross track.

Sources:
http://www.motopress.net/Main/Riders/jamesstewart.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stewart_Jr.
http://www.kidzworld.com/article/3776-james-bubba-stewart-biography
http://www.pgatour.com/2007/tournaments/r473/03/19/tigernotes031907/
http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/events/raceresults/1/sc/374/supercross_january_31_2009_san_francisco_ca_results.aspx