Question 1: What was your favorite TV show as a kid?

Ben Townley: “What Now.” It was like a kid’s comedian sketch comedy show in New Zealand. Always on Sunday mornings.

Davi Millsaps: “Scooby-Doo”

Andrew Short: As a kid I watched mostly videos. I liked motocross, skateboarding, BMX, but there wasn’t a lot of it.

Ryan Dungey: “The Simpsons”

Justin Brayton: “Doug.” Patti Mayonnaise… she was hot.

Question 2: Who is your mentor?

Ben Townley: My dad.

Davi Millsaps: Pastrana, the way he was with his fans and how he elevated the sport. Then Carmichael for his speed and dedication and obviously I grew up with Bubba.

Andrew Short: Donnie Hansen helped me growing up, I lived not too far from him. In my life, my parents and my dad obviously.

Ryan Dungey: It was McGrath, then Carmichael stepped up. So those two guys.

Justin Brayton: My stepdad. He’s the reason I’m standing here talking to you guys today.

Question 3: Would you rather have the power to be invisible or the power to read minds?

Ben Townley: Sometimes you wanna be invisible, but you also wanna know what other people are thinking. I’ll pick read minds. That’d be sick

Davi Millsaps: The power to read minds for sure.

Andrew Short: I don’t care. It doesn’t seem possible. I’d rather be invisible but it’s not gonna happen.

Ryan Dungey: The power to be invisible.

Justin Brayton: I would say read minds.

Question 4: Who is your celebrity crush?

Ben Townley: Jennifer Aniston.

Davi Millsaps: Audrina Partridge.

Andrew Short: Carrie Underwood.

Ryan Dungey: Carrie Underwood.

Justin Brayton: Carrie Underwood.

Question 5: Which is more satisfying, to come from behind or lead all the way?

Ben Townley: For me, coming from behind.

Davi Millsaps: Both. If you come from behind or start in front you worked your butt off to get there and people are going to realize it.

Andrew Short: Leading all the way. It’s tough for me, not my best strength. If it’s tougher it means more to me.

Ryan Dungey: They’re both pretty satisfying.

Justin Brayton: Come from behind is cool, but there is nothing like grabbing a holeshot and checking out, so I’d say lead all the way.

Missed the My Five with FMX riders Rich Kearns, Nick Dunn, Taka Higashino, Julian D'usseau and Brody Wilson? Check it out.

The checkered flag may have fallen on the 2010 Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Championships back in September, but the sport itself has been working overtime. Lots of off-season trades and acquisitions have made for the most interesting “silly season” we've ever seen! And with the opening round of the 2011 AMA Supercross tour less than two months away, there are still more changes to come.

1. The New KTM: Most silly season stories hinge on the riders, but KTM made the biggest splash for 2011 by hiring Team Manager Roger DeCoster away from Rockstar/Makita Suzuki. DeCoster helped build Suzuki’s motocross brand in the 1970s with five world championships as a rider, transitioned into a management role with Honda and created the powerhouse team of the 1980s, then returned to Suzuki in 1995 and landed championships with riders like Travis Pastrana, Greg Albertyn, Ricky Carmichael and Chad Reed. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment as manager was his latest: grooming little-known amateur Ryan Dungey into the 2010 AMA Motocross and Supercross Champion. In other words, wherever “The Man” goes, championships follow. KTM has spent decades trying to get to the next level in U.S. racing. Is this the edge they need?

2. The New Team Honda: Full house cleaning at Team Honda, Andrew Short and Davi Millsaps are out and Trey Canard and Josh Grant are in. The Canard signing was easy, as he landed on the podium consistently in 450 guest rides with the team last year, and won the AMA 250 Motocross Championship. Canard has also been on Honda’s 250 bikes since 2007. Grant’s signing was a bit of a surprise, but keep in mind he was raised on Hondas since his minicycle days, and he, like Canard, raced for the GEICO Powersports 250 Lites team. After two years on Yamahas, Grant is back on red. Honda rightfully sees a lot of potential for wins and titles in these two, but then again, they thought the same of Short and Millsaps five years ago.

Marvin Musquin will be racing in the United States for Supercross in 2011. He raced here last year, but only 1 race. Look for Marvin come January. (Photo by Racer X Illustrated::Simon Cudby)

3. Short and Millsaps Move: Short is now at Red Bull KTM with DeCoster, which means he’ll probably race the new KTM 350SX against 450s in supercross — but expect him to switch to a 450 outdoors, since the 350 experiment did not go well for Mike Alessi this summer. Millsaps is making a major lifestyle change by joining the Muscle Milk/Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing team. He switched to Yamahas, and he moved to North Carolina to follow the JGR team concept. This could be just the change the talented-but-inconsistent Millsaps needs.

4. Age Change: The old rule is new again, and the young riders are eligible, again. The pro license age minimum is back at 16, reversing the plan to raise the age to 17 in 2010 and 18 in 2011. This may have an immediate impact, as the rejuvenated KTM squad has signed Germany’s 16-year-old das wunderkind Ken Roczen, and may dispatch him to a few U.S. races in a tryout for full-time work here in 2012. And the next generation of U.S. amateur kids can now focus on turning pro sooner.

Ben Townley will be taking his talents back to Europe for 2011 competing in the GP series. (Photo by Racer X Illustrated::Simon Cudby)

5. BT (and others) to Europe: Ben Townley made a superb return to racing this summer, shrugging off two wasted years of injuries by grabbing podium finishes on a 450, and giving Ryan Dungey fits at times. Townley’s renaissance also included a moto win at the U.S.G.P. in California, where he beat FIM MX2 GP Champion Tony Cairolli straight-up in moto two. He also won a moto at the Motocross of Nations in September. That left European teams clamoring over him, while his U.S. marketability still lags since Ben doesn’t want to race supercross. In the end, the European offers were too much to pass up, so he returns to the continent where he claimed the 2004 MX2 Championship. Meanwhile, Englishmen Tommy Searle and Max Anstie are headed back to Europe, too, mainly because their spotty results over the last two years here left them without options. Who knows? You could see all three back in the U.S. in 2012.

6. Reverse Imports: Townley, Searle and Anstie may be leaving, but the U.S. scene gets a major star in Frenchman Marvin Musquin, the 2009 and 2010 MX2 GP Champ. As part of that DeCoster-managed Red Bull KTM squad, Musquin could deliver the 2011 AMA 250 Motocross title. And with Roczen in the wings for 2012, the orange team is looking for an orange crush on the comp.

Last season Chad Reed was on a Kawasaki, for 2011 he's shifting gears and starting a new venture into the race team realm. You can count on seeing Chad in Supercross racing Honda's. (Photo by Racer X Illustrated::Simon Cudby)

7. Reed Goes it Alone: You know you’ve had a bad year when, 12 months after winning the AMA Pro Motocross Championship, you can’t find work.  Such was the case or Chad Reed, who left his 2010 sponsors Kawasaki, Monster Energy and Thor, and spent the fall trying out different bikes and gear and talking to new teams. But deals could not be struck, leaving Reed to build his own squad under the TwoTwo Motorsports moniker. So we know Reed will be racing. But how well will this new venture work?

8. Metty to Suzuki: Meanwhile another Australian veteran has a ride. Brett Metcalfe’s strong 2010 AMA 450 MX performance (he finished second in the series to Ryan Dungey) garnered him a two-year contract with Rockstar/Makita Suzuki as Dungey’s teammate. Metty seemed like a natural fit on the 450, but Suzuki will have to fill the void left by DeCoster (they’ve tabbed long-time off-road team manager Mike Webb for the job). Nearly anyone who has ridden a RM-Z450 over the last few years has liked it, so Metty is pumped on his prospects.

9. Pourcel Goes Alone: Christophe Pourcel was a coveted free agent after winning back-to-back Supercross Lites titles and only narrowly missing the AMA 250MX Title the last two years. He expected top dollar from teams, and no one had the budget to match his wishes. Pourcel and his agent haven’t budged, and now there are rumors that he may sit the season out and try to command more in 2012. He may also be looking to build his own team with a French influence. Who better to try that strategy than the crafty Frenchman? 

10. Dungey Gets Better: So many changes, but one thing stays the same: AMA Supercross and Motocross Champion Ryan Dungey will keep cranking out the practice laps, the training sessions and the motivation to win more, more and more. While many teams and riders have stepped up for the new year, they’ll all have to go through a champion who dedicates himself to getting better every single day. There's no doubt primary rivals like Jame Stewart, Ryan Villopoto and Kevin Windham are all doing likewise, but Dungey is the one with the most on the line: defending his championships in both supercross and motocross!

2.)  Don’t Count Chad Out: After the worst AMA Supercross tour of his life, Chad Reed rebounded with a win in the 450 Class, carrying the #1 plate with the strength and confidence we’ve all grown used to seeing from the Australian. He’s a new dad now, and he’s in a contract year with the Monster Energy Kawasaki team. Reed needed a win badly to start his summer off right, and at Hangtown, that’s exactly what he got.

3.)  The Rougher, the Better: The men and women involved in the Dirt Diggers North Motorcycle Club went all-out on improving the racetrack for Hangtown, and all of the new topsoil hauled in roughened up and took its toll on the riders, but not in a cruel way. There were few big crashes at Hangtown, and one race even needed a red-flagged restart after two riders lay there in a tangled mass. But everyone got up, everyone got on with it, and the racing was incredible.

4.) Less Can Be More: When word started leaking out a few years back that KTM was planning on rolling out a 350cc motorcycle to compete against the muscular 450s of the other brands, it was controversial to say the least. The bigger the engine, the tougher it can be to maintain and control for most riders, but how do you make up for the loss of sheer power? Mike Alessi proved that it’s possible by going 3-1 in the AMA Motocross debut of KTM’s sleek new 350, and he looked incredible comfortable in the second moto as he raced away with the win.

5.) The Frenchman is Still Connected: Christophe Pourcel may have lost the 250 Class overall at Hangtown, but he looked smoother and more comfortable than anyone else, including the race winner Eli Tomac. The Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider was everyone’s favorite for the title before the series started, and there’s no reason to write him off now—he’s still technically tied in points with Tomac for the win, which means both will wear red plates at the next round, the Flagstar Bank National at Freestone in Texas.

6.) The Duke is Back: Or at least the Honda Red Bull Racing team hopes. Davi “Duke” Millsaps’ solid 3-2 scores in the 450 Class marked a great outing for the often-underachieving superstar. He was on the pace in both motos, and he didn’t fade at all. With a little bit of confidence and some consistency, Millsaps can still be a title contender.

7.) The Talent is Global: Reed, who hails from Australia, won the 450 Class, and five different nations were represented in the top ten in the 250 Class. And Dean Wilson’s third-place finish in the second 250 Class moto marked a change of fortunes for our neighbors to the north: Wilson could someday join the likes of Ross Pederson and Jean-Sebastien Roy as Canada’s all-time best.

8.) Ashley is Not Invincible: While much of the attention was going to the men at the Rockstar Energy Hangtown National, WMX fans had to be very impressed with the dominant performances of Jessica Patterson of the DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing Yamaha team, who swept both motos while defending two-time Ashley Fiolek struggled to 3-2 moto (at least a struggle for her usual results) after a crash

9.) Dungey is Not Done. One of the bigger stories was actually mid-pack for much of the day. Rockstar Suzuki rider Ryan Dungey, the recently crowned AMA Supercross Champion, could not get it going in the first 450 Class moto and struggled to a tenth-place finish. He only made it up to sixth the second time out, but at least he was moving forward in the pack when the race ended. He’s got ten more days to sort things out before the Flagstar Bank National in Texas. That’s where we will probably see the real Ryan Dungey—the one who won the 2009 Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Championship in the 250 Class last year.

10.) Four Motos, Four Winners: At the end of the day, the best part about the 42^nd Annual Hangtown Classic was the fact that four different riders emerged victorious in the 450/250 Class motos, and it could very easily have been four other guys: Tommy Searle or Trey Canard in the 250 Class, Millsaps or Josh Grant in the 450s. That’s the kind of racing action the fans want to see when they come out for the Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Championship!