Mother Nature dumped a hefty helping of rain on Southern California this week, with water pouring down on most of the region from Sunday through Wednesday. When sunny weather returned yesterday, you can bet that every motocrosser and off-road rider in Southern California was dreaming of loamy berms and tacky trails come Saturday morning.
If only you were a professional motocrosser, you could have started every rider’s perfect weekend early by hitting the barely-dry dirt today. That’s just what we caught David Vuillemin doing.
The factory Yamaha rider spent his Friday morning turning some laps at Racetown 395 in the desert town of Adelanto, about 1.5 hours east of Los Angeles.
I was at Racetown shooting photos with MD tester Russ Somers for an upcoming comparison article, but I couldn’t resist snapping some shots of “The Cobra” as he made everyone else on the track look like they were in slow motion.
Watching the pros at a National or Supercross, it’s clear they’re going fast. Until you see them on a track you’re familiar with, riding with riders you’ve ridden with, just how much faster they are than regular human beings might not be so clear.
Watching Vuillemin tear around the flat corners with his peg dragging, and holding his YZ250 wide open for about 80% of the track, reminded me why I love watching motocross, and riding it, so much. I hope these pictures can give you at least a little bit of that same feeling.
