Jeff 'Ox' Kargola dies in off-road event

By Colin Bane
ESPN Action Sports

Professional FMX rider Jeff "Ox" Kargola died Friday morning after sustaining a head injury and internal bleeding during the second day of the Desert Assassins' 2011 Rip to the Tip desert motocross event on Mexico's Baja Peninsula, American Freestyle Motocross Association executive director Leah Steiger confirmed Friday.
C.Van Hanja/Shazamm/ESPN ImagesJeff "Ox" Kargola competing in Speed And Style at the 2010 X Games.

"I received a call at 8 a.m. and at that point he was unconscious and we were trying to coordinate a Medevac lift for him," said Steiger, who's also event coordinator for the La Jolla Group. "All AFMXA members have Medevac coverage as part of their membership benefits, but Medevac has to be able to stabilize you before they can even get you in the air. Unfortunately his injuries were just too great, and he passed at Buen Pastor hospital in San Felipe, Mexico early this morning. Now we're just trying to get him home."

Kargola, 27, lived in San Clemente, Calif., and was a member of the Metal Mulisha FMX team. He started riding at the age of 12 and turned pro at 16. He competed in Moto X events at the X Games every year from 2001 to 2010 and won a silver medal in the Best Trick competition at Winter X in 2005. In recent years he'd made a name for himself racing SuperLite trucks in the Lucas Off-Road Racing Series. Last month he won Round 2 of the 2011 series at Firebird Raceway in Chandler, Ariz., and was in sixth place after four stops on the series.

Rip to the Tip is an eight-day, 1,376 mile adventure ride founded by Kargola's Metal Mulisha teammate Cameron Steele. The planned course for this year's event went from Mexicali to Cabo San Lucas, according to Steiger, who notes that Kargola was surrounded by Steele and teammates Ryan Hagy and Trigger Gumm in his final moments.

"I know Brian [Deegan] and the boys are devastated," Steiger said. "The Metal Mulisha is their family and Jeff was like their brother. He will be sincerely and severely missed by everyone in the action sports community."

Kargola was a professional-level member of the AFMXA, a trade association established by freestyle motocross riders and industry leaders to, according to their website, "organize, protect, and develop the sport of Freestyle Motocross in a collective and collaborative manner." His death marks the second for the Mulisha in just over two years -- Jeremy Lusk was killed after an FMX event in Costa Rica on Feb. 10, 2009.

"He was [an] ... all-or-nothing kind of guy, but he could also handle a bike better than just about anybody in the world," said Jay Schweitzer, director of the forthcoming Metal Mulisha video "Black Friday." "I can't even believe the news that he's gone. Just last week I was out shooting with him at Danimal's and he was at the top of his game, riding like I'd never seen him ride before."

Kargola is survived by his sister Christi.

This weeks fitness tip- "DRINK WATER"

Hello everyone, Jordan here with this weeks fitness tip. This week is "DRINK WATER".

WHY- Summer is creeping up on us, so that means the weather is warming up. This means dehydration can overcome you even quicker. Staying properly hydrated is one of the most important things a motocross rider can do.
Facts about hydration:
-Water carries nutrients and oxygen to all cells in the body
-Water helps convert food into energy
-There is a 10% decrease in your mental performance when you feel thirsty
-You need to drink 8-10 glasses of water per day

HOW-

Quick Questions With Mike Mason

Tomcat's Freeride Expedition

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6404260

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Sorry everyone i have not been posting content, I was having issues with the domain name.

Face time: Chad Reed

By Ryan Leyba



With only three rounds of the 2011 Monster Energy AMA Supercross series remaining, the top three Supercross class riders -- Ryan Villopoto, Ryan Dungey and Chad Reed -- remain a minimal eight-points apart going into the next round in Seattle. After gaining the points lead in Toronto, Reed let it slip out of his hands in Arlington -- putting him second behind Villopoto -- only to slip even further to third overall at last weekend's race in St. Louis.

ESPN FMX caught up with Reed this past weekend to get his take on how the title chase is shaping up and what he has to do to clinch it. Check it out, and remember, you probably won't be seeing a title chase this exciting anytime in the near future, so don't blink.

Josh Hansen talks return and title

By BJ Smith
ESPN Action Sports
Archive

 

Steve Cox 

Josh Hansen at the San Diego Supercross event.

Josh Hansen, two-time X Games gold medalist, needed every single day of the two-month layoff in the AMA Supercross Lites West series championship. The crushed bones in his left hand -- from a crash at Anaheim in February -- required pins and plates and the timing of the schedule couldn't have been more perfect.
With a three-point lead over teammate Broc Tickle, Hansen is now three races away from winning his first ever AMA championship, a goal he's been working on since he turned pro in 2001. The old Hansen may have given up after the crash at Anaheim II, but the new Hansen went out and won the race. Two weeks later in San Diego he broke his hand even worse but still salvaged points in the main event. Hansen returns to action this weekend in the Seattle Supercross.

ESPN.com: How is your hand?
Josh Hansen: It's coming along. It took a little longer than I expected. I ended up crushing some of the bones so that kind of made it way longer than we thought. I had to get plates, pins and bone grafts so that put me out a little longer. I feel comfortable on the bike, so that was surprising. I started riding this week and I think I'll have five or six days under my belt and then go racing.

What happened?
In practice my foot slipped off going into the first whoop. The whoops were actually really big that round. It just dove my front end, put me over the bars face first. It really knocked me silly and I got a little concussion. I must have punched the ground or something.
I really finished it off though in the next race at San Diego. In practice it was muddy and the first time I went for the triple in the mud, my hand was super weak already, I ended up over-jumping and basically finished off my hand right there. I could barely ride. I ended up qualifying 14th and I didn't think I was going to be able to race that night. Mitch [Payton] sat me down and I had the championship on my mind. I made it up to sixth and I was pretty pleased with that at the end of the night with how much pain I was in. It put me back on points, that was the downfall, but I was pretty lucky to get sixth.

Where did the inspiration to fight through this come from?
I'm in a championship hunt. Not many people get put in this position and I have too much talent, I feel, to be wasted. I want to be a really good motocross rider and part of being that is winning a championship.

How much of this season has been surprise and how much has been expectation?
I really expected it to be like this going into the year. I felt like last year was a good year to start off. I won a race and I was up there with my speed. I felt like I made a lot of mistakes last year but I was always really fast. I knew that if I put it all together I'd be dialed for the following year.

Are you getting a lot more attention this year?
People are following my story more now. I think a lot of people thought I was done before. I just try not to think about it. I would like to be respected in what I do, and to be respected I have to take the right steps, so that's what I'm trying to do.

Is this your first time in the points lead?
This might be my first time in the points lead ... No, back in 2005 I led the points. I ended up tying Grant Langston for the championship back in 2005 [Hansen lost the tie-breaker]. My points lead was short lived and I fell back out.

What do you do differently in your second chance?
I just need to be me. I'm confident in myself and have nothing to worry about. It sounds crazy to say that but how else do I go into it? I will put my head down and take all the right steps and do everything I can to try to win. Whatever happens, happens.

Jeremy "the twitch" Stenberg bike update

By Ryan Leyba

 

Chris Tedesco 

Jeremy 'Twitch' Stenberg's Kawasaki KX450F. Launch gallery »

 

After Jeremy 'Twitch' Stenberg announced that he was parting ways with the Metal Mulisha, he had a laundry list of tasks to conquer. His first priority was to cover up and/or remove his Mulisha tats, followed by the burning of his entire Mulisha attire collection, finishing off with the changing up of his bike scheme to symbolize his new beginnings as an independent rider.

Stenberg's bikes have always been unique and with the help of Logan Darien's (Project 7/DEFT Family) design savvy, he was able to make his latest Kawasaki KX450F one of his sickest bikes yet, aesthetically speaking. Add the support he receives from Factory Kawasaki for unobtainable performance parts, and it's easy to see why Stenberg's created one of the dopest bikes on the FMX circuit.

Seattle points battle

Round 15 this weekend way up in Seattle Washington. Its coming down to the end and with the points gap of only eight in the top three with 450's the competition is getting intense. Dont forget about the lites, fans have witnessed some of the best lites racing ever this past season.
          
            Supercross
pos.          name            points
1.      Ryan Villopoto      275
2.      Ryan Dungey        270
3.      Chad Reed           267

                 Lites
pos.          name            points
1.       Josh Hansen        128
2.       Broc Tickle          125
3.       Eli Tomac            116

Honda’s Trey Canard Out with Broken Femur

Canard's focus will have to shift to the outdoor motocross season now that he's sidelined with a broken leg.

Factory Honda Supercross racer Trey Canard has broken his femur while testing for outdoor motocross and will miss the remainder of the SX championship. Reports came out late last night and were confirmed today with an official release from Honda. Following the early season injury of Josh Grant, this leaves Honda without a factory presence in the 450cc Supercross division.

"Trey suffered a non-displaced fracture to his femur when he crashed at a team test,” said American Honda Racing Team Manager, Erik Kehoe in the press release. “The good news is that the fracture is not as severe as it might have been. We are hopeful Trey's return to racing will come soon. It's very disappointing to see him get hurt, especially after the fantastic Supercross season he's having. In his rookie season he's won three Supercross races and was in the championship points chase with three rounds to go. He will miss the remaining Supercross rounds, so the team will focus on our preparations for the upcoming Motocross series where both Trey and Josh Grant will make their returns to racing.”

As indicated by Kehoe, while no femur injury is comfortable, the small fracture that Canard suffered is not a worst-case scenario. Some estimates have him returning to action within 3-4 weeks rather than 3-4 months. The Fly Racing –sponsored rider was having a stellar rookie SX season that was backing up the preposterous part-time showing he demonstrated in 2010. Unfortunately, the title chase that was shaping up to be one of the best in history is now just a tad shallower. With TC out of the picture, Ryan Villopoto, Ryan Dungey, Chad Reed and James Stewart are left to battle it out with three rounds left. 

 

by JC Hilderbrand, http://www.motorcycle-usa.com

Ooh Ya! Ronnie Renner Freeride Tour coming to the oregon dunes

The Ronnie Renner Freeride Tour will be at Winchester Bay, Or. July 2-4, hope to see you all there!

This weeks fitness tip- "Overhead Squat"

Hello everyone, Jordan here with this weeks fitness tip. This week is "Overhead Squat".

WHY- Shoulder mobility and strength, as well as hip flexor mobility, quad, hamstring and glute strength. Rider benefit- shoulder mobility to get into position for obstacles like whoops as well as the strength to hold onto and control the bike over and around obstacles.

HOW- Holding a dowel or a loaded bar above head a bit wider than shoulder width go into full squat, meaning hip joint level or slightly below knee joint. Keep knees directly above ankles, toes facing forward, and feet shoulder width. Complete 3 sets of 8 reps.

Black Friday Road Trip Recap

ST. Louis Race results

Supercross
1. J. Stewart
2. R. Dungey
3. R. Villopoto
4. C. Reed
5. T. Canard
6. K. Windham
7. D. Millsaps
8. I. Tedesco
9. A. Stroupe
10. A. Short

Lites
1. J. Barcia
2. R. Sipes
3. B. Baggett
4. D .Wilson
5. B. Wharton
6. G. Audette
7. H. Hewitt
8. L. Vincent
9. L. Smith
10. T. Futrell