The 2009 Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Championships were packed with surprises and great racing, but after we watched the two-disc compilation from Duke Video we got excited about it all over again. We’ve sampled Duke videos before with the David Knight biography, but this is the first season recap DVD and we couldn’t have picked a better one to start with. I don’t know where I was the entire summer, but somehow I don’t remember being on the edge of my seat with the racing action. Admittedly, I didn’t catch as much of the action on SPEED TV as I would have liked, but this makes up for any shortcomings.

Disc 1 covers the first six rounds at Glen Helen, Hangtown, Freestone, High Point, Thunder Valley and Red Bud. Disc 2 covers the last half of the season at Millville, Washougal, Unadilla, Budds Creek, Southwick and Steel City. Each round starts with highlights from both 250 motos and then moves to the pair of 450 races. Not having it bounce back and forth is nice, and while the 450 class was good, I just wanted to fast-forward to the next 250 battle! Those guys are madmen. Racing action in the quarter-liter division had me bouncing around and making moto noises on the couch. It was great to watch Tommy Searle come out swinging in the early rounds before he dropped off around the season’s halfway point. Conversely, Jake Weimer really found his groove after getting a few under his belt. Eventual champion, Ryan Dungey, was doggedly determined and Frenchman Christophe Pourcel proved unnervingly cunning. However, Brett Metcalfe emerged as my favorite rider to root for. That guy fought for every position on every lap – like all the other riders had a grudge against him. He and teammate Justin Barcia, a rookie, were the most exciting riders to watch.

Each moto gets about 10 minutes of coverage, so about 40 minutes per race venue. It’s like watching the SPEED broadcast without the commercials. In that regard, you can almost get the same experience if you have a DVR, but Duke makes it easy by compiling everything onto the two discs and avoiding the hassle of skipping commercials is worth the 30 bucks. The SPEED cameras caught lots of great footage and didn’t seem to miss many important battles. Duke’s editing is solid and I only noticed a few wavering shots. There's nothing to complain about so the only thing that would have made this season review better would be some behind-the-scenes footage, especially of the 250 riders. It would be cool to see Dungey trying to focus while getting tips from Roger DeCoster and Ricky Carmichael. Or anything from the Monster Pro Circuit Kawasaki pits with its international roster or Geico Powersports Honda and their crop of wide-open youngsters would add some extra flair. However, with its current 465 minute run time, the Duke Video AMA Motocross Championship Review 2009 is great simply to watch, or to settle any bench racing arguments among your moto peers.

Other recent Motorcycle Racing Season Reviews from Duke include:
FIM Red Bull Motocross of Nations 2009
World Motocross Review 2009
World Enduro Championships 2009
World Outdoor Trials Review 2009
Supermoto World Championship Review 2009
Red Bull Romaniacs 2009
Erzberg 2009
Road Racing Review 2009
World Superbike Review 2009
TT 2009 Review