2008 Supercross teams announced

2008 Monster Energy® Supercross Teams Announced

AURORA, Ill. (January 3, 2008) -- The top riders and teams competing in the 2008 Monster Energy® AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, converged inside the Diamond Club at Angel Stadium for the annual opening round press conference. Before a host of industry and mainstream media, the top riders discussed the 2008 Monster Energy® Supercross championship, and the impending rain storm that is forecasted to hit Southern California.

The press conference's featured riders included reigning Monster Energy® AMA Supercross champion James Stewart, former Monster Energy® AMA Supercross champion Chad Reed, former A Monster Energy® AMA Supercross Lites champion Tim Ferry, reigning AMA Motocross champion Grant Langston, reigning Regional Monster Energy® AMA Supercross Lites champions Ryan Villopoto and Ben Townley.

Grant Langston

"My goal for the season is to complete all 17 rounds. I've never completed a whole season. I need to crawl before I can walk. I have some momentum behind me after winning at the U.S. Open. I think we've made huge improvements, even since the U.S. Open. I only started riding the Yamaha about mid-November last year. So my fitness was down and I got a late start (to the 2007 season). There were so many factors that it seemed like I was starting from behind. Everything was new, the bike and all. I didn't have a lot of track time. We started off behind the eight ball. This year I took about a week off the bike after the outdoors and went straight into the U.S. Open. Everything we've done has been a step in the right direction. James (Stewart) is going to be lightning fast. He's been the fastest guy the last few years and we know what to expect. All we can do is try to make the most of everything. Get good starts, be in front, make him have to chase you and be in a position of strength were you can charge at lap 17. At the end of the day, he's only human and James will be the first to admit that it has been his mistakes that have cost him in the past as well."

Timmy Ferry

"Supercross is kind of changing a lot over the years. With James coming in and doing new things, and doing triples and stuff, it's made it tricky. I've had to adapt my style two or three times since I've turned pro. When Jeremy came in, he changed riding styles so we adapted to him. We've evolved through Ricky. There seemed to always have been one guy that kind of changes things. And now James is the guy doing that. (In mud races) It's mainly the start. They're tricky. I honestly don't like to think about it that much. Get the start and try and stay up. The hardest thing for us is that we still try and jump all the same jumps. We still try and hit the triples. That's what could end up biting you in the end. I would love to win a supercross. I got a second last year and a lot of podiums. I want to better myself each year and obviously a win would be icing on the cake.

Ben Townley

"Last week of November I was doing some testing for the first time with Honda. I took off a little awkward on a jump and landed really hard. My heel hit the ground really hard when the bike bottomed out. It separated my heel bone and had to have things reconstructed. It was a bit of a mess and its well on its way to healing now. We haven't set a date yet. It's definitely quite a decent injury and we're looking at about three months before I can be back on a bike. We're not setting a date but it's looking like probably early March before I can be back on a bike again. Last year was a great season, getting out there and picking up that championship in my first season. The back and forth with Ryan (Villopoto) really helped me pick my speed up and I was really looking forward to getting back out there."

Ryan Villopoto

"I had planned on maybe riding west, but there was still that possibility to ride east. The injury pretty much made the decision to ride east. Obviously MXoN was an awesome weekend. Winning two of the races was unbelievable. I had a lot of fun but you just can t let it get to you. I'm racing east and how knows someone may show up and be just as fast as I am. I have to get prepared and not think about all that stuff."

Chad Reed

"It's been a long time since I really raced a race that meant something. Every year we start with a new motivation. We got a new bike, and like I said, I've had a lot of time off to think about the good and the bad and get motivated. It's nice to have a great off season, be healthy, motivated and excited. The consistency is not always the easy thing but it's the easy thing for me. In the past, every weekend I feel like I've given it everything I've had. Most weekends it's not been good enough for the win, but it's been good enough for the podium. It's what I've been thinking about this off season. I just want those wins back. I want to go out there and give it everything I got to win. I'd rather take a fall than settle for those seconds or thirds. I think our bikes are a lot more competitive this year and that's important for us.

James Stewart

"We've been back in Florida, riding a lot and testing a lot. It's been a long off season. It seems like I haven't raced in forever. I guess I've been under the radar. I was out here in California the first couple weeks of December but mostly I've been back at the Ponderosa in Florida. (On his history of not being consistent) We haven't done it yet. Obviously you have to define yourself to be a champion and be consistent. I'll be the first to admit it; we haven't gotten the job done. We've been doing some work to try and avoid those. (On working with new trainer, Aldon Baker) We should be good. The only way I feel we can show that is out on the track. We'll let that show it. Looks don't get the championship done. I got these rings last year because it was an 18-race series and I got the job done. I feel like my speed is there. It's obviously going to take more than speed to get the job done. I feel like I'm the underdog. I'm the one that hasn't raced in a while. I know I won the championships last year but I didn't finish the season. It's kind of like the Patriots who win all the games in the season but don't win the Super Bowl. It's obviously going to race this weekend but I feel like I'm a pretty decent mud rider. I've always loved Anaheim. All the fans showed up here but I couldn't win Anaheim when I was on 125s. I told myself I was never going to win it. Then last year it was really special when I won all three of them."

Team Honda
Davi Millsaps
Andrew Short
Ivan Tedesco
Ben Townley

Team Kawasaki
James Stewart
Tim Ferry

Team Yamaha
Josh Hill
Grant Langston
Brock Hepler

Team Suzuki
David Vuillemin
Ryan Dungey
Mike Alessi
Michael Byrne
Nico Izzi

MDK KTM Lites
Justin Brayton
Matt Goerke
Billy Laninovich
Ryan Sipes
Nick Wey

MDK KTM Factory
Martin Davalos
Nick Wey

Torco Racing Fuels Honda
Trey Canard
Josh Grant
Dan Reardon
Jake Weimer
Kevin Windham

San Manuel Band of Mission Indians/Yamaha
Nathan Ramsey
Chad Reed

Joe Gibbs Racing
Josh Hansen
Josh Summey

Yamaha Troy
Tyler Bowers
Jason Lawrence
Ryan Morais
Zach Osborne

Fun Center Suzuki
Chris Blose
Michael Blose
Brady Sheren

Team Suzuki City
Jimmy Albertson
Willy Browning
Freddy Karrle
Tyler Medaglia
Justin Sipes

Bad Boy Energy/ Rick Ware Racing
Jeff Alessi
Jake Marsack

Team Atomic
Jack Carpenter
Paul Carpenter

MDK Honda
Tyler Evans

Hart & Huntington
Troy Adams
Josh Demuth

Team ECC Suzuki/ Richardson's Racing
Adam Chatfield
Michael LaPaglia

Team BTOSport/ Rick Case Honda
Matt Boni
Brandon Butler
Kyle Cunningham
Bryan Johnson
Kyle Keylon
Shaun Skinner
Jason Thomas

TLD Honda
Chris Gosselaar
Gavin Gracyk
Justin Keeney

Team Solitaire
Ryan Clark
Bob Kiniry
Kyle Partridge

Xtreme Pro Lites Kawasaki
Kyle Chisholm
Tommy Hahn
Andrew McFarlane
Phil Nicoletti

Star Racing Yamaha
Will Hahn
Jake Moss
Matt Lemoine
Broc Tickle

Cernic's Kawasaki
Jeff Gibson
Dusty Klatt

MDK/Wonder Warthog Racing
Antonio Balbi
Daniel Blair
Ramon Guzman
Ty Hames
Tyson Hadsell
Mike Horban
Jase Lewis
Bill Payne
Manual Rivas
Cole Siebler
Kevin Urquhart
Heath Voss

All American Firepolicemx.com
Carlos Gonzales
Bradley Graham
Tyler Kalisiak
Billy Swapp

RileyMXRacing.com
Jimmy Hazel
Tony Sherman

-credit: supercross.com