The 2008 AMA Toyota Motocross Championship entered the second half of the season as the seventh round of the series wrapped up this weekend at Budds Creek MX Park in Southern Maryland, host of the 2007 Motocross of Nations. Just like the MXoN, though, Ryan Villopoto once again put on a riding clinic for his competition. And while Stewart didn't get the chance to ride in the MXoN last year, he still managed to dominate this weekend despite missing out on the prestigious race. It was also a weekend of surprise returns from riders who had recently been injured, including David Vuillemin, but also Sean Hamblin and Davi Millsaps.

So without wasting anymore time, here's What Really Happened in Maryland. If you missed any of the other coverage over the weekend, simply click the links provided below.

After a series of incidents at Red Bud last weekend that resulted in his shoulder being dislocated twice, many were surprised to see Sean Hamblin gear-up for Sunday morning's practice. When he came back from the practice session we cornered him for a quick update. Here's what Sean had to say...

Glad to see you racing today despite your weekend in Red Bud. Can you bring us up to speed regarding what happened to you last weekend?

Believe it or not, I went to scrub Larrocco's leap-just wanted to double it-and I guess I went a little too hard. My toe caught the lip and it ripped my foot off... it was a bit scary, I went flying into the air and I landed on the face of the next jump with my arm just above my head-popped my shoulder out. I had to get some stitches, which was kind of a bad deal... Then I decided to go out on Sunday and try to put out a decent lap time for gate pick and it ended up popping out again. That kind of sucked, it ended up happening at the end of the second practice, so it's not like I had much time to get it ready for the race. Needless to say, it wasn't a very good weekend last weekend... hopefully it will be better this weekend, I already feel really good on the bike.

Now that a week went by how's the shoulder?

It's good; it needed a full week off. Today is the first time I'm throwing a leg over a bike since last Sunday, and I didn't ride yesterday's practice, just today's. I'll probably do that again next week just to let it do its thing and heal up and then hopefully I can get back on the bike during the week after Unadilla.

What made you decide to race this week?

Well I raced last week so there's really no point in me not racing this week [laughs]. If I toughed it out last week, there's no reason I should sit this one out. It feels fine, the only thing I need to worry about is that it definitely gets tired when I get done riding-as long as I can put in 30 hard minutes then I think I'm fine.

Do you foresee a shoulder surgery in a near future, once the season is over?

My MRI results came back pretty positive. I know it doesn't necessarily mean everything in there is good, but there's also that chance that nothing really bad happened. We can just move forward, rehab it, and hopefully nothing ever happens with it again. But if it does, then I think that later down the road it will have to be fixed. Right now, everything looks good, and I am looking forward to having a healthy off-season at least.

On another note... now that you have been through one round of practice sessions here in Budds Creek how do you like the track?

Really good! I've never been to this place and complained, to be honest. Here and Red Bud are probably two of the best tracks you can go to all year round. I'm always impressed by the way they do their business here and yet allow us to actually have a great track to race on. There are a few tracks on the circuit that-I don't think need to necessarily go away-but I think they need to be put on a short leash only because of the way things have been over the last 40 years. I mean, tracks that have been on the map for 40 years need a bit of a change I think. They need a facelift, I mean the dirt is old; everything is old [laughs]! You can definitely bring in new dirt, but unless you change the entire track it stays pretty much the same-which a lot of these track owners don't want to do. With people as open-minded as the Richie's and the Beasley's, it's a big help for us who are trying to race.

I really enjoy going to a new place anyway. It gives everyone an equal playing field, and a bit of a change, which is a good thing. It's like getting a new car, it's only new for so long and then you want to trade it in and get another one. I think that's the same way with some of these tracks. They're only good for so long, but then some of them-not that they slack off-but they take certain things for granted and not enough money goes back into them. That's my two cents [laughs].

Is there anything you want to add for your fans before we end this interview?

Thanks a lot for welcoming me back, that's been a huge confidence-booster in itself! Obviously, I wouldn't be here talking to you if it weren't for a great friend of mine Grant Langston, and Andy Stacey at the top. These two guys made it possible for me to ride a dirt bike this year, let alone racing and being under a Factory tent talking to you. It's great to have friends like that. There are obviously a lot of key people that have helped me out-friends, family, wife, mechanic, sponsors, etc.-so thanks to them. See you at the races!

Unfortunately things didn't work out as well as expected for Sean during the main event, he ended up pulling out of the race after lap five and didn't return for moto two. No word yet as to exactly what made him bail out of the race, but we hope that everything is okay.

Brett Metcalfe injured his ankle during moto two but still managed to finish the race-and finished in the top three overall. "At one point, I got into third," Metcalfe said. "I was running at a good pace and had a good rhythm, and then all of a sudden I just popped my ankle around the rollers... I was in a lot of pain for two laps and I couldn't do anything, I couldn't hold on anymore. It would have been nice to finish third in that moto, but honestly I did all I could."

Besides Hamblin, lots of riders commented on the great quality of the track at Budds Creek. Ryan Dungey: "Oh the track was good, it was actually fun, I liked it! The dirt was good all weekend and I really enjoyed it! The second moto was actually better, the lines were a little more defined. It's crazy, they built these little inside berms for us, these things are like monorails! I had fun, the track was a blast." Then Red Bull Honda's Andrew Short added, "I thought the track was awesome today! It got a little dry at the end but with this weather I'm sure it's really hard for that crew to keep the water on the track. I think the track crew did an awesome job-definitely better than last year!" Tim Ferry: "I've always liked this track, obviously it's a good track! It's manicured perfectly, it reminds me of Red Bud."

David Vuillemin was finally back to Motocross racing this weekend, after a long recovery from a knee injury sustained at the San Francisco Supercross. His last Motocross race was at Glen Helen late this spring, but his knee was still sore at that time and the weekend ended up being pretty bad for him. Now the pain is completely gone, and his level of confidence in the ruts is back to where it was prior to SF. During Sunday's practice The Cobra had the speed and he was very smooth, clearly his confidence is back. He scored 13th best lap time, eight seconds behind Bubba, which is pretty impressive considering he's only been back on a bike for three weeks now. He pulled out of the race, however, on lap six of the second moto, for what appears to be another finger injury. Let's hope it's nothing more serious than that.

(Above Photo) Davi Millsaps getting ready for the big race. Not what most of us expected after last week's horrific crash!

That's it for this week folks! There is so much more to talk about, but we have to end this somewhere. Next week, we'll be coming to you from Unadilla Valley Sports Center in upstate New York for the eighth round of the series. Until then, be sure to continue to check back here on Motocross.com and live.motocross.com for regular updates throughout the week.

See you at the races!

Courtesy of MotoCross.com