In case you didn't already know, Anaheim II was a throwback to 1986 with a replica track, retro gear, and florescent ‘80s outfits. Back in '86, Anaheim marked the night when arguably one of the best battles in SX history took place between Team Honda teammates Rick Johnson and David Bailey. The two riders swapped the lead position numerous times, before Bailey ultimately took the win. This past weekend, the retro track provided some excellent racing, however, the ‘80s throwback theme wasn't all the news there was, as Team Monster Energy Kawasaki's James Stewart made a surprise announcement right before the night show started that he would likely be out for the season. There was also a few riders who got their first podium, and a rider that will likely be the one to beat this season in the SX class. To get filled in on all that went down on the track check out the links below.

Alright now that you're all caught up on the racing, it's time to get filled in on everything that went down behind the scenes with this week's What Really Happened. So sit back and relax, because this is a long one.

Like we said above, perhaps some of the biggest news coming out of the event was the fact that Stewart is pulling out of the season after two rounds due to a nagging knee injury that he sustained while preparing for the '08 season. According to Stewart, at his practice track he landed off a triple, had a tire blow out, and he went into the next turn where he re-injured the same knee he hurt at Washougal last year. Throughout the day, Stewart pulled out early from both practice sessions, attempted to tape his knee up enough t ride through the pain, but just couldn't make it happen. 45 minutes before the night show was set to get underway, James called an impromptu press conference inside the Monster Energy Kawasaki semi to announce the news. "Obviously, if I've called you over, you know something is up," Stewart said. "This is definitely tough. U.S. Open was a little different, because I wasn't in the championship hunt this is a little different with me being tied in the points lead. My knee was fine, but then I had a little accident on December 20th. I haven't really ridden much since then, I've just been coming to the race and racing on the weekends. Today it just got to the point where it was much worse. Today it just wanted to pop out. There was nothing that I could do about it. It was either I just sucked it up, got a few more races into it, and pulled out then and miss this whole season and the outdoor season, or do the smart thing and get it fixed now to be back for the outdoors. But like I said, it's been pretty tough."

As for if he will be missing the remainder of the season, Stewart says that the chances are pretty good you won't see him until the outdoor season starts in May. "I would say that there is a 98 percent chance that I will miss the rest of the season," Stewart said. "Every weekend I've been getting worse, so I don't see how taking a weekend off is going to do anything. This is obviously an injury that will require some work, and it has to be done. I'm not going to lie. Before I got hurt, I was feeling really good, but I'd say that at the last few races, I've been riding at 70 percent. It's been tough, because I'd be fine in practice, but in the heat race, it would get to the point that I couldn't put my foot down. I've just been kind of babying it and trying to get through, but today was the last straw, I can't do it anymore."

With James out, Chad Reed took full advantage of it by taking an easy win in the Supercross main event. For now, Chad appears to be the one to beat, but if you ask him, he still isn't going to take his competition for granted. "I felt awesome out there, I don't think it could have happened at a worse time for James to get hurt, it kind of sucks," Reed said. "I felt like I was strong, ready to mix it up today, and we weren't able to. I got the win, and it's racing. I've been there before [Stewart's injury] and you have to put your head down, or choose the option that he did. I don't know what his injury is, but right now I just have to concentrate on me, and win this title."

One rider who was ecstatic following the race was Team Yamaha's rookie SX class racer Josh Hill. After showing a lot of speed but having some bad luck at the first two rounds, Hill finally put it all together to land on the podium in the runner-up position. "I'm just so happy," Hill said of his first-ever podium finish. "All the hard work and everything has finally paid off. I think I got a fifth or sixth place start and just charged forward. I tried to look past the guys, and tried to be aggressive, that's what I wanted to do. I didn't want to be a girl out there like the past couple of weekends." What was Josh most stoked about though? "I'm really just pumped that I'm top-10 in points now, so I get a cool song and get to ride out in the opening ceremonies [laughs]."

With the night being ‘80's themed, it goes without saying that there were quite a few people decked out in their favorite ‘80's garb. Whether it be actual stuff that they wore in the ‘80s or stuff they got from the Good Will store, everyone had a good time with it. Below are some photos of some of the getups we saw throughout the day.

Going along with the throwback theme, Supercross legends Jeremy McGrath and Ricky Carmichael did a parade lap for the fans during opening ceremonies. The two riders also got a chance to spin a few laps during the day, and on his first lap out, RC hit the big triple with ease. During the night show, off that same triple, the two riders threw down some huge whips with MC finishing off the second lap with his signature Nac-Nac. We guess when you're as talented on a dirt bike as these two guys are you never really loose it.

Speaking of the huge triple. It was a full 10 feet longer than a normal SX triple. During press day on Thursday, we had heard that 250f riders were having some trouble hitting the big jump as it was right out of a turn. It appeared by race day that Dirt Wurx made a few changes to the turn leading up to the jump, as nearly all of the 250f riders were hitting the jump with relative ease. There was also a very technical wall jump in the middle of a whoop section. The wall was appeared to be very difficult and definitely made things interesting.

Also participating in a parade lap were former Honda teammates Ricky Johnson and David Bailey. Back in 1986, these two guys were fierce rivals, and one of the main reasons for the throwback night at Anaheim. It was definitely really cool to see Bailey roll out on the track aboard a retro Honda with a huge smile on his face the entire time.

Both Honda and Kawasaki had retro bikes on display in the pits, and while checking out all the old factory Honda's we ran into Team Honda's Eric Crippa. Since the ‘80s Crippa has been wrenching on Honda bikes, and throughout the years has worked with numerous top riders underneath the big red tent. One bike in particular had a very interesting front suspension on it. "Honda spent a ton of money on developing this suspension set up," Crippa said. "The funny thing is, though, that back then there were no secret private test tracks. We used to take this bike out to test were condos now are. It's pretty crazy how much money went into this system, and then we would go out and test it in a dirt lot."

We came across Honda privateer Michael Willard's bike in the pits. It was all decked out in retro graphics provided by Cycra. Cycra Racing's Brand Manager Ryan Longstreth explained the new graphics, which apparently have some meaning to them. "Michael Willard has a neat situation where he was born in 1986, he's national number 86, and this is the 86 throw back event," Longstreth said. "We're expecting some good things out of him this weekend. We decided to try to do a retro graphic kit more or less with a zebra scheme and some bright magentas, and kind of play off of the old Rick Johnson Oakley ad, it makes it fun."

Team Monster Energy Kawasaki's Timmy Ferry opened the season with a bang, finishing third behind Reed and Stewart. At the second round he didn't have as good of luck, but nonetheless finished well. With the 1986 track in the background he had this to say as he sized up the big triple. "I feel like I've been riding good and the bike is running really good," Ferry said. "I'm trying to figure out how I'm gonna hit this triple. It's about 85 or 90 feat! [Laughs]"

Speaking of Ferry, during practice he was all decked out in retro ‘80 gear from Oneal. The gear, however, wasn't just replica retro gear it was actual gear from the ‘80s. According to Oneal's Rider Support Director Chris Honnold, they found the gear from a guy in Ohio who owned a dirt bike shop back in the day. Apparently, the gear was still in the original packaging with the warranty still attached. "We found the gear in Ohio from a guy that had an old bike shop," Honnold said. "He bought tons of our stuff back in the ‘80s. We found him on the Internet, and he just had tons of stuff. It was awesome that it was still in the bags with the tags from Finland, which was where the gear was made from back then." Ferry wore the gear in practice, but despite there being enough for the evening's racing, he decided to wear the his new stuff.

Going into the '08 season, there was a lot of talk about the Joe Gibbs/Yamaha team and how they would perform. At the first round, both riders Josh Hansen and Charles Summey had nights that they would probably rather forget. At the second round in Phoenix, both made the main, finished in the top-10, and performed up to their team's expectations. "Both guys getting eight and ninth last week really made everyone excited. It's kind of like winning, you know?" Team Manager Jeremy Albretch said. "It's a good step in the right direction for these guys, the cool thing was both of them weren't happy with their results and felt like they could do better, which was really encouraging. They've been working hard practicing starts. I think good starts will help a lot especially here at this track."

As a veteran on the circuit, Team Torco Racing Fuels/Honda's Kevin Windham has done it all. Last week, he got on the podium in third, and this week on the retro A2 track he did it once again. We spoke to him before the race. "Last week's race was kind of a work in progress for me," Windham said. "The team did a lot of work to get me where I need to be in the main and it all worked out by the end. I was just happy to be on the podium. I felt like I had a really strong ride at Anaheim one, but laid it down in the first turn and gave everyone a really good head start, which obviously didn't help, after that, I was on the box in Phoenix. It's been a good start to the ‘08 season for me."

Last year, Two Brothers Racing presented James Stewart with a tricked out Kawasaki street bike, and this year appeared to be no different. Parked in front of the defending Supercross Champion's bus was probably one of the coolest crotch rockets we have seen in a long time. Adorned with Two Brothers Racing stickers it was obvious where it came from.

Favorite Memories from the ‘80s

With the ‘80s theme in mind, Cliff Talley roamed the pits armed with his recorder and one simple question, "What do you remember about the ‘80s?" Read on to find out what people had to say, and if you're from the ‘80s leave a comment below this article to tell us your favorite memory.

Erin Bates

"This is a true story. And in fact I didn't have to dig that deep for my outfit [laughs]. I actually owned the "Do it in the Dirt" shirt, so the whole costume was based around that. But the leggings had to be purchased, the stockings had to be purchased, the pink and black bracelets definitely had to be purchased, and every girl owns some blue eye shadow, so I didn't have to buy that. The sad part is, I wake up everyday looking like I'm from the ‘80s; everyday I have to tame this mop down. If I went back to Canada, I'd fit right in still. It's a sad day! [Laughs]"

Steve Hudson

"I had absolutely no idea about this sport, and I saw Damon Bradshaw who lived about three miles from me. I didn't know anything about it-I'm from Charlotte, Carolina. I saw him racing and my mom said, ‘Your sister used to babysit him.' And I'm like, ‘Are you kidding me?' Anyhow, I thought it was the coolest thing that Damon Bradshaw was a hero out here and nobody was ever famous from here for anything other than Nascar racing, and just to know that he was out here being successful, doing what he was doing, and on his way up. I thought that was so cool. That's what I remember from the ‘80s."

Kevin Windham

"The ‘80s were awesome. It was a very influential time for me. I started riding in the ‘80s-‘81 to be exact. I got my first ride in the ‘80s, and won so many amateur championships it wasn't even funny. It was a good time for me, a lot of good memories going to the races with my parents, and just the fact that that was the base, the building block for things to come. Watching the races on TV, the epic battles, the Ward fist pump, the win in Atlanta... I mean there were just so many races that you remember and it's good to have a replica of that here. It looks fun and should be interesting."

Danny LaPorte

"The Motocross des Nations, the beginning of the ‘80s. I was lucky to be part of the team when we first won the des Nations, and it kind of changed everything. I think to me what holds the best memories is the beginning of the ‘80s, because it kicked off the ‘80s for me, for my career, and after I left the U.S. to race in Europe. You know, Johnny O Mara, myself, Donnie Hansen, and Chuck Sun kind of just threw this team together and that was just one of my best memories of the ‘80s-the des Nations and being a part of the first winning team. It kind of put us on the map you know. My world championship didn't mean as much as that race, or those two races. It just was like everything I grew up doing my whole lifetime, watching the European riders beat us, and then I was one of the guys that got to participate in that deal, so It was really cool."

Matt Buyten

"My favorite moment from the ‘80s was when they were going hairball off the triples and seeing their knees past the shrouds and holding it wide open-it was awesome dude. Just buck wild, getting it on. Gotta love 80's butt rock. Keep it real!"

Gary Bailey

"The battle between Rick Johnson and David Bailey, and David coming from behind to catch Rick. I was walking the track this morning remembering the last pass that David made on Ricky to finally take the lead and go away with it, it's just funny walking around the race track getting that vibe as soon as I walked into the stadium standing there at the starting line looking down the start chute just going, ‘Heythis is just like it was back in the day.'"

Jeremy Albrecht

"I went to some Supercross races in the 80's and it was pretty cool. I liked Rick Johnson back then, he was my guy, which obviously he was everybody's guy. I wasn't wrenching or anything at the time, I was a [amateur] racer myself. I thought I'd be racing one day, but I became a mechanic and now a team manager, so my dream is coming true in a different way. I actually remember watching Rick Ash in the L.A. Coliseum working on Goat Brecker's bike. After that, it was pretty funny when I worked with him at Kawasaki, I'll always remember that. Definitely good memories."

Davey Coombs

"What was cool about the mid ‘80s is whenever the gear companies really started to take the clothing serious, the design, the material and things like that. Just opening up a copy of the magazine and seeing the JT ads with all the new stuff. The evolution of the gear, was really cool. For someone who was just an A rider locally, the gear was the best part. I can still remember RJ's ‘86 Anaheim gear with the blue front white sleeve's Fox gear. To this day it's still my favorite gear. Which is kind of neat, because Tedesco is wearing it tonight."

Jeff Matiasevich

"Being able to race Supercross, winning my first race, and realizing that I actually had enough speed to win some races, and living out my dream. That's probably it."

Andy Bell

"Bad Boy Rick Johnson for sure, I still remember him going over the triples, I think it was New York Supercross, ‘86 maybe, the double guns. He pulled the double guns out. That was awesome."

David Pingree

"The first Supercross I had ever been to, I think it was ‘87. It was at Sundevil Stadium in Phoenix. I had a broken arm at the time, which was in a cast. I still have the cast this day, because I got it signed by Wardy and Lechien and another Kawi rider at the time, Eddy Warren. I just remember it was awesome. Wardy and RJ battled and there was a flat truck bed as part of the track. They laid it out, and that was part of a jump, because they had buggies racing that night too. That's what hooked me. That was the first big pro race that I'd ever been to."

Well that's about it from Anaheim II. If you have some memories from the ‘80s leave a comment about it and let everyone else know. Don't forget to check back throughout the week for more coverage on Motocross.com. Have a good week.

 Courtesy of MotoCross.com