| Ryno, headed into the Mammoth downhill. You can click the following link for a post-race chat with Ryan Hughes. |
Sure, last weekend was a quiet date for the U.S. National motocross series, but that didn’t stop hordes of amateur racers and pros from making the trek up to Mammoth Lakes, CA, for the annual Ford Mammoth Motocross. What makes Mammoth so well-loved? Well, for starters, it’s because the track is only open for a couple handfuls of days a year. The first few days are devoted to Vet (and up) racers…and they could probably add more days just for the Vet Junior class. (Entries sell out in minutes once they’re available). Over the course of nine days they run through minis, have a day for open bikes (a nod to when there actually were still open bikes), 125s (now 250Fs), and 250s (or 450Fs).
Ryan Hughes won the Open class on Friday, and the 250s on Sunday, and you can check out a video where he’s talking about Sunday’s win, and Mammoth in general, here.
One of the biggest stories of the Mammoth weekend was Friday’s on-track scuffle between Aron Harvey and Austin Stroupe. We ran into Austin at Competitive Edge MX this week, where he was putting in laps with Jake Weimer. While he did mention that he felt the video of the incident didn’t show the whole story, he seemed ready to put the whole incident behind him. He also jokingly mentioned that he did learn a big lesson up there…that he shouldn’t take his helmet off until everyone has settled down. For now, he’s looking forward to finishing his amateur career, and it’s likely that he’ll make his pro debut at Steel City.
| Austin Stroupe. |
So why were Jake and Austin intent on practicing together and checking out each other’s speed? Apparently the two have a bet for the Steel City race, where whoever finishes worse for the day has to go to the airport on Monday in their riding gear. Yep, that’s some serious motivation.
You can click the following link to check out a video of Jake and Austin practicing together.
| Jake Weimer. |
Did you miss our coverage from the 2007 Ford Mammoth Motocross? You can check out the links below.
Mammoth Day 1 (Minis Day 1)
Mammoth Day 2 (Minis Day 2)
Mammoth Day 3 (Big Bike Practice)
Mammoth Day 4 (Open Pro, and Lite Heavyweight Fight Day)
Mammoth Day 5 (250F Pro)
Mammoth Day 6 (450F Pro)
