While most of the American racing community has been focusing on the AMA Supercross season, KTM factory pro Mike Alessi has been traveling the world and trying to decide what type of racing he feels like doing. For a while it seemed likely that he would contest a few rounds of the World MX2 Grand Prix, but circumstances have conspired to keep him at home.
Mike was originally scheduled to race the MX2 class at the opening round of the World Motocross GP at Zolder on April 3, but he pulled back from that race and announced that a bout with food poisoning had prevented him from getting in enough practice on his new KTM 250 four-stroke. Oddly enough, he raced the Open Pro class at a local Southern California event on the same weekend as Zolder, riding a KTM 450 four-stroke! The Alessi camp then announced that Mike would begin his GP assault in Spain this weekend, and also contest the following round in Portugal.
However, these plans have now been scrapped after Mike crashed last weekend while contesting an AMA Four-Stroke National, causing compression and pinched nerves in his T2 and T3 vertebrae. He will be sitting out for a few weeks to recover, and will likely make his return to competition at the AMA Outdoor National opener at Hangtown next month, according to a press release from KTM.
It is dissapointing to see one of the most promising (and controversial) young riders in the sport sitting on the sidelines or racing local races while the rest of the factory riders battle it out in SX. It also seems strange to see Alessi complain of not having enough practice time on his 250 four-stroke, then see him out racing the big KTM 450 the next weekend. We can only hope that Alessi will have everything sorted out in time for the Outdoor Nationals – if he does, we expect him to put in top-five finishes.
