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A year ago, Mike Alessi was contesting his first-ever full season of AMA motocross in the Lites class. At that point he was a rookie and made the kinds of mistakes you expect inexperienced riders to make. Alessi posted inconsistent finishes throughout the first half of the series before turning things around in the second half and putting himself in contention for the title. It seemed that all of the brash predictions made by his inner circle were actually going to come true.

But then, the now infamous on-track incident with eventual champion Ivan Tedesco led to his disqualification in the final round. The incident also led to Alessi being disqualified from Rookie of the Year consideration, a move which reportedly cost the young KTM pilot a six-figure bonus. Furthermore, Alessi was branded something of a black sheep in the sport and earned the ire of many fans.

This season, Alessi is a year older and, apparently, wiser as well. He came into the year with a goal of winning the outdoor motocross championship and he is now one-third of the way to that goal. With the first four rounds of the 12-round series in the books, Alessi holds a slight seven-point lead over Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider Ryan Villopoto, 153 to 146.

Alessi opened the series with three straight moto wins. He took the first two in Round One at Hangtown, and also secured a victory in the first moto in Round Two at High Point Raceway. But then he faltered in moto two, with an eighth-place finish, leaving him at third overall for the day. Meanwhile, Villopoto had to do all he could just to keep up with Alessi in the points chase. This is Villopoto's first full motocross season for Pro Circuit, and he is already showing that he is a serious threat for the title with two overall victories in the first four rounds. In fact, if it hadn't been for a zero-point effort (37th place) in moto one at Southwick, Villopoto would likely be ahead of Alessi in the point standings by now. It will be interesting to see if Alessi can fend off Villopoto for the rest of the season, or if the Kawasaki rider can rise to the top by the time the checkered flag falls at the final round.

Behind Alessi and Villopoto, Andrew Short, Josh Grant, and Brett Metcalfe are all within striking distance of the leaders. Short, the likeable Factory Honda rider, has one moto win and one overall victory to his name thus far. He currently sits in third place with 135 points. Grant of the Sobe Honda team also has 135 points, but is relegated to fourth place because he has yet to score a moto win this season. It hasn't been all bad news for Grant, though. He has been on the podium four times with third-place moto finishes at Hangtown, High Point, and Budds Creek. Metcalfe has been somewhat of a surprise contender this year. Though he has always had the speed to run out front, he has suffered from numerous injuries and bike problems that have prevented him from riding to his fullest potential. Things seem to be falling into place for the Australian transplant this year, however, as he has two overall second-place finishes so far. He is in fifth place with 133 points.

Another surprise this season has been the fact that Grant Langston, the 2003 series champion is, for all intents and purposes, already out of the running for this year's championship. Langston has been battling injuries and bike problems, and has scored 0 points in 5 out of the 8 motos on the season. One bright spot for him has to be the second moto at Southwick where he notched his first victory of the season. If nothing else, it showed everyone that when he's on, he can still take it to the rest of the class.

There are still eight rounds left in the AMA Motocross Lites series, and at least five different guys are in contention for their very first professional MX title. Let's hope we have some good, clean racing from here on out as we see which of these riders is left standing at the end.