The Big Easy, NOLA, N'ahlins - call it whatever you'd like, but New Orleans was a great break from the usual Supercross schedule. Anticipation was nearly maxed out heading into Round 11 of the 2009 Monster Energy Supercross Series, but the result proved to be anti-climactic, at best.

Thankfully, the city and its Superdome just about made up for the relatively uneventful racing action on the stadium floor. What with Brad Pitt blowing us off and not showing, plus no JLaw to boot, well, everything else just seemed so ho-hum business as usual. Yes, there was some racing, even a few exciting moments, but the end result was that the guy expected to win the 450 class did, and one of the guys expected to win Lites did. And that's that.

So, what's this about Brad Pitt? Do we really care if some superhero actor guy comes to our little races? You bet we do, as it can only bring more exposure to this sport at a time when it's entire support industry is being flushed down the tubes. The interest in Pitt was the fact that he and pal Carey Hart (owner of the Hart & Huntington team, of course) decided to team-up a bit, with Hart working to bring some additional awareness to Pitt's "Make It Right, NOLA" organization. The group is working to rebuild a still crippled portion of the area known as the Lower 9th Ward, which is just around the corner from the Superdome. Known as a cultural core in a city known for it's art and music means that this area must be one of the hotspots in the world for artists, musicians and their families to live. Pitt's group is out to rebuild as many of the still-ravaged structures as possible, and they chose the color pink to represent the hope their effort is returning to that area. That's where Hart came in, offering to run pink bikes and gear on his team, and to get in front of the stadium crowd to explain what's going on with the organization and heighten awareness. Brad, who was scheduled to make an appearance at the race himself, ultimately wasn't able to get there in time, citing problems with the weather kept him from attending. That was a bummer for many on hand, but nonetheless, Hart did the job and here we are talking about it even more! Check it out here if you're interested: http://www.makeitrightnola.org.

Speaking of that weather... man, it was wet in The Big Easy this past weekend. It rained almost constantly beginning around 11AM and rarely letting up until after showtime. It was cool, in a way, since we've been conditioned to think of New Orleans as a very 'wet' place after their horrific Hurricane Katrina dealings a few years ago, and this sort of reminded everyone a little of what this city must have been like. Any pre-conceptions that Supercross travelers may have had of the city were probably proven wrong, however, since there were very few signs of the devastation the city was subjected to almost 4 years ago. The streets were clean (except for Bourbon Street, which could use a thorough steam clean and drunk-expulsion), the buildings showed little or no sign of water damage, and the stadium itself - which was the focus of so much media coverage during the mess - had a fresh coat of paint and seemed almost brand new when our little circus rolled into town. The Superdome is literally built like a bomb shelter, with no windows of any sort to the outside, and huge concrete walls closing it all in. It is impressive, and holds smoke in REALLY well. The opening ceremonies fireworks show always produces an awful lot of smoke, but it's usually vented out pretty quickly. In the Superdome, it lingered heavily in the air for a very long time, even into the 450 heats, which made photography and probably even spectating a bit more challenging for sure. It did, however, add to the mood of the evening, and it was kind of cool.

But back to the anti-climacticness of the evening. As if Brad Pitt standing us up wasn't enough, our own bad boy did the same: Jason Lawrence was a no-show! It was with eyes like a child on Christmas morning that everyone scanned the track for the non-seeded 450 practice session, expecting to see their knight in shining ONE armor get on the track and tame it like he had Daytona the week before. We waited, and waited, and waited. No JLaw, and no word on what was up. Was it a given that he'd be there? It's not as if he was in the points chase, or had any real reason to race at all, but everyone expected him to be there to follow-up on last week's podium appearance at the toughest race of the year. Alas, it was not to be, and not long after everyone realized that he wasn't just 'running late' for his practice session, the journalists began to hustle outside to get a statement from team babysitter Chris Macavoy. He wasn't there either. OK, how about super-agent Scott Sepkovic? Nope, not around. So everyone was too busy to show up or issue any sort of statement about Lawrence's whereabouts for this race in a city that seemed quite suited for him? That's right, not a word. Intrepid reporting by Cycle News' Shan Moore turned up the truth, which had been mis-reported elsewhere: that Jason didn't come because he didn't feel adequately prepared to back up that awesome performance the weekend before. Oh, and he may have tweaked his ankle a little bit too.

So, with the anti-climaxes dropping in like the sheets of rain outside, the racing was bound to offer some relief, right? Mmmm... not so much. The track itself seemed decent, and the dirt wasn't as bad as many had expected, although a few chunks of rusty pipe or jagged concrete could've made things more interesting, it'd been found and pulled. The most remarkable feature on the track (which was originally included in Mike LaRocco's Indianapolis design) was a 180 sand turn just before the longer whoop section on the track. Power-robbing and difficult to master, nearly every rider on the track fell in it at least once throughout the day, and if not in the corner itself, then in the steep whoops following it due to lack of momentum. It was hated by the riders and loved by everyone else. Reed was pretty vocal of his distaste for it but was also the fastest guy through there all night, so go figure. Something also interesting was a fairly thin layer of sand that was placed onto the start straight. At first it seemed it may be deep enough to make a difference, but the riders blew right through it and that was that. Nothing else on the track was significantly different, so the boredom was starting to pile up.

There was no pit party, and the teams were split up with the factory rigs coming up close to the track entrance, many of the privateers inside the stadium, and everyone else in a parking lot across the road. This made for a lot of wet people coming in from the pits, and meant no real pit party for the 36,000'ish fans that braved the weather to come on out for a night of supercross. That's a shame really, and it kept several vendors and sponsors who normally run big pit setups away - namely Parts Unlimited and Monster, who typically have huge setups in the pits. That's OK, Buydos probably needed a night off anyhow.

A couple of local boys came out to race in New Orleans, and their names were Kevin Windham and Matt Lemoine. Both originally from Louisiana, they're about at the same level in each of their classes: Lemoine fast but not likely to win, and Windham the same. Podium? Yes. Kdub, smitten in his one-off New Orleans Saints NFL-esque gear and matching helmet, rode his butt off in his heat and the main event. He looked good, clearly felt good, and was proud to represent his home state in the opening ceremonies. Kevin was smiles all day, with a huge contingent of family and friends on hand, and when Kevin's happy he normally does well. A crummy start led way to a spirited push toward the front that left him one spot shy of the podium, with only an enlivened Broc Hepler keeping him from it. Lemoine was typical, in that he was obviously one of the fastest riders on the track at any given moment, but crashes always seemed to interrupt his momentum. This has been true of Matt since he turned pro, only now he's even faster than before, which seems to have increased the frequency of his meetings with the ground. Come on Matt, say it with us: Slow down to go faster. There, that wasn't so hard now was it?

So why didn't (or couldn't) Chris Pourcel catch back up to at least 2nd in the Lites main after a mediocre start? That's a mystery, because he was far and away the fastest Lites rider in practice, and despite a time consuming crash in the first turn of his heat race, he was able to come through most of the pack and qualify easily (6th). In the main, there was nothin' doing, as he only made it to 4th despite having twice as much time to move up. What's really surprising was that he wasn't able to move in on Blake Wharton, which leads us to: How about that Branden Jesseman? He's been fast every weekend, but he's sort of 'Lemoine'd' it a lot, if you catch our drift. But not in New Orleans, no sir. BJ74 was on it all day and night, and he even showed Austin Stroupe the fastest way to the checkers in their heat race, beating him about as "straight up" as is possible, which no doubt gave him a boost in the department he's always been lacking in: Confidence. OK, nice ride but time to move up to the big boys class now, Branden.

Daniel Blair had a great night. As the top Cinderella-story/pinch-hitter story of the entire season, Blair is holding his own on that Geico Powersports Honda, putting it at the front of the pack, if even for a little while. He said in a pre-race interview that it's all like a dream come true for him, and that this is the team he'd always wanted to be a part of, so it just pumps the feel good factor up to levels previously unknown, for sure. DBlair is a good man, and he's doing a stand-up job in his fill-in role for Bret Metcalfe.

Despite the fact that this city is the most interesting place that the Supercross series has hit this year (or last, or the one before that), there's just not much left to say. It was smoky, wet, warm and promising, but ultimately a let-down. The next round in St. Louis again promises to be a doozy, a few headlines could end up like this: "Pastrana Dominates in St. Louis On His Own Track!" Or, "Lawrence and Pastrana, 1-2 in St. Louis Barn-Burner." Let's hope something like that happens, and to find out what really happened, check back here for race reports, photos and our mid-week report right here at Motocross.com

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