Coming out of Washougal, the internet forums were dominated by talk of the event known as Lasergate and the controversy surrounding the MotoConcepts racing team and the Alessi family after Jeff Alessi, Mike’s brother, was caught shining a green laser at Ryan Villopoto and Malcolm Stewart before the start of the first 450 Class moto. Penalties were handed down on Monday, with the most notable repercussions including Mike Alessi losing the 29 points he earned at Washougal and MotoConcepts team manager Tony Alessi being supended for the rest of the season.
After a couple disappointing races, Alessi had seemingly gotten himself back on track last week with 7-6 finishes. (Photo: Matt Rice)
After the penalties were handed out, team owner Mike Genova, appearing on the Pulp MX Show later that night, said that MotoConcepts would not be racing the remaining rounds. This would have left Mike Alessi, who by all accounts was not privy to the laser incident, stranded without a ride for the rest of the season. As facts continued to come to light, including Jeff Alessi finally taking responsibility and apologizing, Mike Genova had a change of heart and announced that the MotoConcepts rig would indeed be travelling to the remaining four races. Here’s an excerpt from Genova’s statement:
“Regarding Tony Alessi’s conduct this weekend, MCR is responsible for his actions while representing the team. I do not support or condone Tony’s behavior or words and I take full responsibility and ownership of the situation. Internal penalties have been imposed by MCR resulting in Tony’s suspension for the remainder of the outdoor motocross series in conjunction with the suspension from MX Sports. While I am upset and unhappy with Tony’s conduct, I believe Tony and company to be good people who made poor choices.
“In effort to continue supporting MX Sports, MCR sponsors and fans, MCR will fulfill its commitment to attend all of the remaining 2013 motocross races. Unfortunately, due to a prior commitment I will not be attending this weekend’s Spring Creek National in Millville, MN.
“We hope Mike Alessi and MCR fans will continue to support the team in the future.”
So there you have it. Mike Alessi and the MotoConcepts team are in Millville this weekend for the Red Bull Spring Creek National. The primary difference is that instead of Tony Alessi manning the team manager role, Clark Jones will be stepping up and serving in that position, and maybe that will help give this team the fresh start they need right now.
And speaking of fresh starts, having his points from Washougal docked puts Mike Alessi in a completely different position in the championship race. He would have been 6th overall either way, but instead of being in a position to challenge Trey Canard and James Stewart for a spot in the top five, he could now conceivably fall out of the top ten with one bad moto. Alessi, Andrew Short, Jake Weimer, Broc Tickle and Josh Grant make up 6th-10th and will be in a dogfight, separated by a mere 12 points entering Spring Creek. The latter four riders have all gotten a lot stronger in the last few weeks and seem to have turned a corner, meaning Alessi will have his work cut out for him to keep his place on the leaderboard. Malcolm Stewart (11th place) is also lurking not too far behind, just 12 points back of Grant.
Alessi’s finished 4th or better in his last four motos at Spring Creek. (Photo: Matt Rice)
Fair or not, plenty of attention will be focused on Mike Alessi on Saturday. How he responds here could set the tone for the rest of the series and have a huge impact on his final place in the standings. A good performance should also mean the end of the talk surrounding this whole ordeal at last.