Ever since the Seattle Supercross was added to the schedule a few years back, it has been a mud race, or nearly a mud race. This year, early forecasts called for rain; however, once the weekend came around it was nothing but clear blue skies and perfect racing weather. As for the track though, it didn't hold up as well as everyone would have liked. In preparation for the rain that everyone thought would surely materialize, Dirt Wurx decided to combine a lot of road base-a mostly rocky soil-with dirt that had numerous rocks in it. If it had rained, the track probably would have held up pretty well. Without the rain, though, it developed technical ruts, and many of the riders weren't too pleased with the amount of rocks that were found on the racing surface. Thankfully, we heard that Dirt Wurx is planning on getting all new dirt for next year's race. The nice weather did bring out throngs of fans though. Walking though the pits was no easy task, especially when James Stewart was there.

Speaking of Stewart, we did spot him hanging out in the Monster Energy Kawasaki pits signing autographs for fans. Word is that he has begun riding, and should be ready to go for the Nationals, which start in three weeks. Here at Motocross.com, we will also be ready to go, bringing you the Racer X Motocross Show once again. This year is going to be bigger than last, so you won't want to miss it!

One rider returning to action this week was Team Yamaha's Broc Hepler. Well, technically he returned a couple weeks ago at the Navy Moto-X World Championships where he took home the gold helmet, but this week was his official return to action on the AMA Supercross scene. Hepler looked smooth and fast all day, and at the end of the night climbed up from a sixth place start to finish thirdin the main event. One other interesting piece of news about Hepler is that he is now working with Ryan Hughes. Hughes was working with Lawrence, but apparently couldn't come to an agreement with the rider, so the two split ways.

While we are on the subject of trainers, we ran into former Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy rider Matt Walker during the track walk. He told us that he's now holding MX schools and training riders back at his home. If you want to find out more on it, email him at mdub122@yahoo.com.

Now, onto the big news of the weekend: the West Coast Lites Championship battle between Lawrence and Dungey. Heading into Seattle, only six points separated the two riders, meaning if Dungey won-which he did-Lawrence would have to finish third or better to win the championship. Going into the race, it was no secret that Lawrence and Dungey didn't like each other. There had been a lot of trash talking throughout the season-mostly on Lawrence's end-and basically, both riders tried to keep their distance from each other. During practice, Dungey posted the fastest lap time in the second session with Dungey close behind in second. At the end of the night, though, the order was flipped, and the bar banging and close exciting racing between the two never materialized, as Dungey got out to the early lead in the main event, and promptly checked out. Unfortunately for Dungey, Lawrencemanaged to climb his way up to second, which in the end was good enough to clinch the championship. For Lawrence, it was his first ever title since breaking onto the professional scene three seasons ago. It had to be heartbreaking for Dungey, as he dominated the opening few rounds of the series only to falter before the West Coast series took a two-month break. He didn't show it on his face, though, and portrayed himself to be a true championship contented. Congrats to both riders on an excellent season.

Like we said, the close racing and bar-banging action never materialized in the Lites class, but in the Supercross class that couldn't be further from the truth. In case you didn't know already, there has been a little bit of drama between Reed and Windham for the past few weeks, which all began at Detroit when Windham felt that Reed ran him high while he went to lap the Australian. After crossing the finishline in the motor city, the two riders exchanged words, and since then, things haven't changed. At Seattle, after coming trough the pack from laying on the ground in the first turn, Reed went to pass Andrew Short for second on the final lap, only to have Shorty answer back with a questionably hard hit as he moved back into second. Before the race was over, Reedy managed to push past Short for second, and crossed the finish line with his finger in the air, and no it wasn't the number one. Following the finishline, Reed, Windham, and Short all had words. "Actually, tonight I was trying to bury the hatchet," Windham said of his chat with Reed. "I was calling him up [to me on the track] to say, ‘Hey, good ride man. You came from last.' I thought for sure I was coming out of here with a push. I had a lot of Hondas up front and thought it was a great opportunity for me to make up some points, but he zoomed by me all ticked off. He was like, ‘I can't believe that the team is working that hard to keep me down.' I was just thinking, ‘Dude, you got second. What are you mad at?' I just think there's just a lot of emotionright now, and it's kind of a shame. I think his riding is really good right now, and he really doesn't need to talk like that. Whatever, though, I'm expecting it right now. I told Erin [Bates] to interview both of us right now [on the podium], open mic. We'll talk this thing out right now in front of everyone."

While we weren't able to corner Reed to get his take on this weekend's run in with Windham and Short, we did get a chance to get Short's thoughts on the evening's racing. He led 15 of the 20 laps, and came the closest he ever has to getting his first career SX class victory. "It was awesome for me," Shorty said. "I got a good start with the holeshot and led a lot of laps. That was a great feeling, I've never done that before, but it was also nerve wracking at the same time. It felt good to get on the podium, wish I could have gotten second, but that's racing." As for Short's altercation with Reed on the final lap of the race, Shorty says that he won't back down from Reed. "He's put me on the ground many times and never apologized," Short said of Reed. "I've been on the ground at the U.S. Open, and I'm not going to lay down to him. I know he's going for a championship, but the position I'm in, I can't let him go. I know he's trying to intimidate me and tell me I'm a dirty rider, but I'm racing him the same way that he races me. He didn't go down, and as far as I'm concerned, I didn't do anything wrong. I'm not going to let him get in my head and get away with it. I'm going to keep fighting back and not let him get away with it."

One thing that has been a question in the back of everyone's minds is if Windham will be returning next year. When asked about that, K-Dub had a surprising answer, basically saying that he could be around for a long time to come. "People always ask me that, because it took me so long to get my contract done for this year. I'm working with Jeff Spencer [my trainer], and he's a great guy. He has really got me believing that 30 is the new 20, and I don't see why I can't ride another five years and then re-evaluate it and see where we go from there. I'm 30 and I really appreciate my sponsors, and my fans more importantly, supporting my decision to not do the whole outdoor series this year. I'm more than likely going to do some, but I don't know which ones, and we're working right now to figure that out." One thing is for sure, though, Windham is a big family man, and being a dad is one of his highest priorities right now. "I'm going into the 17th round of the Supercross series and I'm charged up," K-Dub said, "and I know that when it's done, I can take time to do what I feel like I've missed out on and be a dad a little more than what I've been. In going for this championship, I've kind of missed out on the whole dad thing a little bit."

One rider that probably had a night in Seattle that he would rather forget was Atomic/Fox Racing/Honda rider Paul Carpenter. Heading into the race, Pauly was set to clinch the Top Privateer award for the season, but after taking a trip to the LCQ, climbing his way up to third after a horrible start, and having a run in with Chris Gosselaar on the last lap that saw Carpenter take a trip off the track, he didn't qualify. Carpenter's main competition for the title is Honda-mounted Heath Voss did qualify for the main in Seattle and now sits 16 points back from Paul. In a season of close championship battles, this one, along with the overall SX title is going down to the final round. It should be interesting.

Just like we saw at the East Coast rounds of the series, numerous West Coast Lites riders elected to compete in the SX class for a few races. At Seattle, Torco Racing Fuels/Honda's Josh Grant elected to do just that. Going into the race, some speculated that Grant was racing to help out fellow teammate Windham, however, Grant is friends with Reed, and in the main, didn't appear to hold the hard-charging Australian up, or get in the way of K-Dub. Grant rode like he was out there for himself and to gain valuable experience in the premier class as he raced to a very respectable sixth place finish.

Now, onto a few of the random sights we saw while strolling through the pits. Remember, you can also see all these photos, large and in charge in the accompanying photo gallery found at the top of this article.

Well, that's about it from Seattle. Next week we're coming to you from sunny, and probably hot, Las Vegas, Nevada, where the dramatic end to the Supercross class championship will unfold. Be sure to check back here at Motocross.com for all the news and updates from the busy weekend.

 Courtesy of MotoCross.com