Rockstar/Makita Suzuki rider Mike Alessi is recovering from surgery on his left knee after his attempt to rejoin the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship at Thunder Valley in Lakewood, Colorado, last Saturday night ended after less than half a lap. Alessi, who had fractured his left patella cup (knee cap) prior to the High Point round in Mt. Morris, PA, while leading the series, returned to the same doctor that operated on the knee last time. The surgery was said to be a complete success, with no ligament or tendon damage, though Alessi is now likely done for the rest of summer.

Another first time winner in both classes at Thunder Valley MX in Lakewood Colorado for the AMA Championship races!!

Racer X has learned from two different sources that Rockstar/Makita Suzuki rider Mike Alessi will be in Colorado this Saturday to try to race the fifth round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship. Alessi, who won two of the first three rounds and was the points leader going into High Point, fractured his left kneecap in a practice crash and was operated on two weeks ago. He missed the High Point race and lost the points lead to his teammate Chad Reed, but after some intense rehab, it now appears that he will try to race this Saturday under the lights in Colorado. Alessi has been riding slowly in Southern California, trying to get himself back up to speed, and was a question mark for the rest of the summer. Now he appears willing to try to ride for points and stay in the championship hunt.

The first motos race will air live on www.allisports.com, and the final 450 moto will air live on SPEED TV beginning at 11 p.m. ET Saturday night.

On Saturday, June 27th, 2009, the Thunder Valley Motocross, in Lakewood Colorado will hold its annual night time Pro AMA National event for another year. Since the end of an era with the closing of Kenworthy due to flooding, Thunder Valley has been doing it’s best to keep things new and refreshing to the relatively new facility. Due to the fuel literally boiling in the tanks of the bikes that first year back in 2005, the owner of the track jumped in with both feet and transformed his event to the first night race in Pro AMA National history. You will be able to catch the 450 second moto of this even live on Speed TV this Saturday at 9pm. Not only will we have some cool changes to watch at this event, this year we will have a new winner at Thunder Valley as well. I only wished we could get one of these National things down here in the Southeast again!

Reed wins his first National at High Point this weekend but not without a fight. See what else happened, read more to find out!

BREA, CA - Rockstar Makita Suzuki reported that championship points leading rider, Mike Alessi, suffered a broken kneecap while practicing in Pennsylvania earlier today. Alessi's condition and prognosis will be updated as more information becomes available.

I added yet another bench racing store to my repertoire that included Monster Mountain and Big Cedar. Read what happened here!.....

JGRMX/Toyota/Yamaha Sacramento Results Excitement And Controversy At Hangtown Just when you thought the race was over, this flag changed everything! Check out the press release by JGR inside...

To: All AMA Pro Motocross Riders
From: AMA Pro Competition
Date: May 26, 2009
Effective Date: Immediately
Subject: Changes and Additions to the AMA Pro Motocross Rule Book

The following bulletin has been released. These changes go into effect immediately.

Technical Bulletin #2009-03 - Race Finishes, Scoring

AMA Pro Competition

3.18 Race Finishes
j.) The overall class finish for the event will be determined by the Olympic scoring system.

The new rule is as follows:

The overall class finish for the event will be determined by combining the total championship
points earned by a rider in both motos. In the event of a tie for any position, the rider with the
higher finish in the second moto will be placed above the rider with the lower finish. Riders
who do not earn championship points will be scored according to their finishing position
based on the Olympic scoring system.

Bad luck has fallen upon yet another one of the Kawasaki camp championship contenders. After taking the early points lead in the first race of the 2009 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championships at Glen Helen Raceway, Monster Energy Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto is forced to call it a season! He raced the first moto at Hangtown on Saturday only to come back to a 16th place finish after a first turn crash. But that is not what was wrong with the 450 rookie. A crash while testing on Thursday left him with an injured left knee. This, an injury that has plagued him since his early amateur days.

In an on air interview, Villopoto stated that he will take this time to repair his knee with surgery and come back for the 2010 Supercross season. If he proves to be anything like Stewart was after his surgery, I think Villopoto will pick back up where he left off....at the front!