After watching the first three supercross races of the 2011 season, I'll share with you what I see at this point.
Two riders that have really impressed me so far are Ryan Villopoto and Trey Canard. Looking at their fitness, their riding technique, their ability to get thru traffic on the race track, both are far beyond what I thought they would be.
I knew Ryan would be fast. But when a rider has been away from racing for a while, as he has, sometimes it takes a while to knock off the rust. Ryan has looked great after his heat races - obviously the training with Aldon Baker has helped him a lot. I can see his fitness, how much he is sweating, and his ability to retain his breath and breathing after both his heats and main events. It's visible that Ryan has leaned down together with Aldon, and he's in awesome condition.
I thought it would take Trey Canard at least half a season in the premiere Supercross class to where he was really comfortable. As I watch Trey in these first three races, there are certain section of the different tracks where he is faster than either Villopoto or James Stewart. Once Trey puts together the whole track, and an entire 20 laps like that - look for him to win some races this year.
Source: http://www.supercross.com/rj-says/rj-says-defending-a-supercross-championship-and-season-review
Jeremy van Horebeek Kent Howerton Neil Hudson Ryan Hughes
