MX Family
Well here we go again, after a month break form the Nationals it is time to get on another couple of planes and make the trek from Far North QLD to Newcastle for the penultimate round of this years MX Nationals. This round is going to be an exciting round for a few reasons. We get to see Australia's top women go at it at Lakes and with Todd being out of action in the Opens, I have Keira Smith from NQ to cheer for in the girls! The last time I saw a national level girls race was at the Barrabool Oceania in 2007 so I can't wait to see how quick the girls are going now.
Matt Moss pretty much has it wrapped up in the Lites class for me, he is way out front in points by now and with how fast he has been going, and consistently fast, I just don't see anyone beating him to the flag this year. What will add an extra dimension to the weekend though is the fact that Mossy, Luke George and a couple of the top Lites guys jumped on a big bird and headed over to the States in the break.
Lukey raced a Pro Circuit spare bike at Lakewood Colorado and showed that he does have the speed to be over there but luck off the start didn't truly indicate how fast he was going over there. Mossy was over there riding but not testing or racing, just spending some time riding with his brother. I rang Mossy yesterday for a bit of a chin-way (unlike me huh) and he said if was a joke how fast Jake was since the last time that he had seen him! I am sure that spending time riding with Jake has rubbed off on Matt and he will be faster than ever too, how scary is that!
In the Opens we have a pretty rare story line playing of that sees two team mates racing together for the championship. Not only do we have Boydy trying to run down the defending champ, trailing by 20 points heading into this weekend, but we also have the 4 moto formats and Coolum that could just be the straw that breaks the Camels back that is Jay Marmonts title defense. Lets say that Boyd takes another 10 points out of Jay's lead then it will be more than wide open come coolum, a track that Boyd is always amazingly fast at. Either way it will be decide at Coolum in just over a weeks time. One heart will be broken in the CDR truck at around 4:30pm while another will be filled with joy at the massive accomplishment of being crowned the 2009 Open Class Champion.
How does Craig Dack assign himself to both riders when one will be devastated at the loss and the other overjoyed? Yep it's a toughie folks.... At least you all have the MX Show to bring you the outcome right!
Anyway, back to the real reason I am writing this blog....
As of right now I am sitting on a Jet Star flight to Brisbane where I am going to spend the night until my 6 am flight to Newy tomorrow morning. I am going via Brissie as it is ten times cheeper than flying to Newcastle direct, but that's not the point. As it works out I pretty much have a day is Brissie to do whatever I want. I have no car booked so I am on my own totally with no plans.
This is the best thing about being involved in the Motocross community though, none of that matters. See I, and almost every other person involved in MX racing, am a part of a family that spreads all over the country. At any point of time in city's all over Australia I know that I can make a quick phone call to any number of people and we are off on another moto adventure.
Take this morning for instance, I got up with nothing organized but I knew that I wanted to do something for MXDaily so that I was not wasting my day. So as I sat in the Cairns Departure Lounge I gave Bruce Duncanson (Sam's Old Boy) a quick call.
Jase: "Hey Bruce, it's Jase!"
B-Ruce: "Hey mate, what's news? Are you in Brissie??"
Jase: "Yeah just for tonight, what are you boys doing?
B-ruce: "Umm, Slammers at work until three but we should all hang out when he finishes? Where are you I'll come pick you up,"
And with that phone call a rough ass plan was formed that would see my day, and most of the night filled in! First and foremost I love hanging out with the Duncansons, you always know that you are in for a fun day with plenty of laughs and sometimes it is hard to distinguish who is the biggest kid, Sam, Big Bad Bruce on Steve-O!
This also means that we will get a cool opportunity to hang out with probably the most high profile Australian juniors, who is about to make his highly anticipated Pro debut at the final round of the U19's series, and then head off to the World Champs only a few weeks later. It's pure journalistic dynamite I tells ya!
The same type of scenario holds true for the following week where I will spend until Thursday in the Newcastle area, a known hot-bed for Motocross talent. I have nothing booked in really with my only solid plan coming on the Wednesday. I know that I can call on Cody Mackie, Mitch Hoad, Ando, or even go hang out with the Axis, or Lusty boys to show me round their shops. Any one of these guys provide a fun filled day.
No matter what level of involvement you have in the sport, wether it be local race, bush basher or pro athlete you can't help but become part of a Moto-Family. I think it is inevitable that when you spend early every weekend of you life engulfed in you passion that you are going to meet, race against and form friendships with other like-minded individuals.
I know as a local rider you form a bond with your fellow local riders and spend the weeks planning your weekend, what track your going to ride at or meet up in the shed to fix or prep your bikes.
For the more serious racers who race away 9/10 times you will have another family or group that you will camp with, share a hotel of form a sprinter-road-train with.
On every level of the sport you become involved in this big, crazy, BP Ultimate fueled family that I just love being a part of!
That is Motocross.
