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1) I've been to the TN national and I visited Glen Helen last year for the national. Comparing them to the highly touted REDDD BUDDD, I'd say they're about even. Nothing all that special about the track if I'm honest. That being said, the track crew did a phenomenal job with the cards they were dealt. 10/10.
2) We were parked in Lot A. While it was much more tame than Lot B, we still had our fair share of fun. Heck we walked through Lot B on Saturday night and unfortunately we didn't find anything raucous or raunchy going on. After trekking through the mud for a couple hours, we decided to head back. Which brings me to my next point...
3) WHAT. IN. THE. HELL were the track promoters doing while patrons got dumped with rain and the parking lots/pathways were being churned into giant mud pits?? Did no one think to bring a couple trucks of mulch or sand or hay or plywood boards or SOMETHING. It's a grassy hilly field whether in the pits or by the track. That poor guy on the tractor worked straight through the night towing people around, and while I'm prepared to get dirty at a MX race, this was pitiful execution by facility management (or lackthereof).
4) If they had a rubber boot vendor, they'd have made a killing. And for what I paid between tickets and parking and whatever else, give me a damn event program and have some kiosks with laminated schedules for reference. Some arrows/markers on a map for concessions, restrooms, points of interest would be nice too. Another shortcoming of the event promoters
5) They needed some kind of entertainment or event on Friday. There was literally nothing to do apart from seeking shelter underneath the camper awning.
Bonus: The MXGP riders are just on another level. Maybe the USA didn't have their best showing but we really had no chance in that race. Herlings, Coldenhoff, Prado, Searle, Paulin, Cairoli - so very impressive. A true pleasure to watch them. Congrats to France. The USA will need to make some changes but I'll save that opinion for the other dozen threads on that topic.
The FIM does a much better job not blocking the viewing with repeater banners and signs than MXsports does with the nationals.
The midway/vendor area should have been wood chips/hay/gravel/something. That was criminal to subject the 40,000 spectators to.
The Pit Pass for $35 was the best money we spent. Great deals from the vendors on gear, Dunlop MX33 rear's for $70 no tax, close up pics of all the trick bikes and lots of signatures. The foreign country teams were super polite and eager to talk.
The FIM starting area back drop, team/mechanic superstructure and wash bays make the us national series a embarrassment in comparison.
General Admission viewing – Outstanding! We set up 3 track side “camps” with 8 chairs each at 7am on Sunday and our groups moved between them. We felt bad for the those in the VIP areas. We had far better viewing.
Laroccos Leap - dumbest move of the event to put in the massive roller before it. McGrath said same thing in his interview. Out of the 100+ riders less than 5 even tried. Its a safe jump. They purposely made it dangerous. Total epic fail. They robbed the fans of memories.
We camped Thursday to Monday so no issues with the mud. We had a handicap vehicle pass so we did not have to walk to the track or pay for track side parking and tailgated in rotations to eliminate having to buy food/beer at track. All in we spent less than $1,000 for 4 people for tickets, camping, gas and food. We were right next to night track so could watch from our campsite.
Overall if you were smart before the event and planned things out it was awesome. If you just showed up you were fucked lol.
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I had rubber boots on and could go anywhere I wanted and my feet stayed dry. It’s too bad it rained so much but can’t blame the event for that.
Redbud is one of those tracks I always wanted to go to....bucket list material I guess. I drove 12hrs each way. VIP ticket.
I had a blast. The food at the redbud grill is surprisingly good. I missed the food on Sunday in the tent because I was walking around the track the first half of the day.
The track was in great shape. Met some cool people, heard some funny lot b stories, and yes it was muddy but that’s what happenens at a motocross race when it rains. I brought boots but still busted my ass once.
I stayed at a hotel so I had to park both days in the mudbog. It turned out ok. I stayed around after I got to my car both days and watched the entertainment of people getting stuck and people making it out. While doing that I came up with my line though the muck. I banzai’d through in a compact car and made it out both nights.
All of this just adds to the story, the experience for me......epic event, mud and all.
But what about the creepy scarecrows all over Buchanan? Not sure if everyone saw them, i tend to go opposite of traffic jams. So when things got backed up in town i went right where everyone was turning left. I swear it was straight out of a scary movie. To top it off i had no cell signal so i couldnt get gps to work and found myself parked between a graveyard just down the street from a corn field. I just laughed and was glad i had 1/2 a tank of gas lol.
Parking was interesting both days, I parked on the backside off of Main Street and I could not believe they left all the slop. They had dozers driving around.. why not push the slop off the lane ways?
Walking around the facility was also not ideal... Put in almost 10 miles a day, some sand / wood-chips would have been appreciated!
As far as the track goes it was nothing like a typical redbud national... they brought in a ton of sand, probably to help the track in case of rain, and the layout was much shorter than it typically is. Way too many VIP areas taking up prime spots... did we really need 5 different track side VIP spots?
Anybody have before / after pictures to show the damage done to the facility this weekend?
Other than that the track was awesome and the leap was crazy to see. Loved the experience and would definitely go back.
-Track was much softer than I anticipated but soaked all the rain really well and did not became mudfest
-The area where the track is laid much smaller area than it seems to be in TV. It made following the race much easier
-Larocco's leap is huge
- Sound system in the area was really poor, you couldn't hear announcements while the racing was on
-There wasn't enough food and beer stands in the area for the large crowds¨
- Local people where really helpful and friendly
- US team riders where much slower than I anticipated.
- Dutch riders are animals
- Pastrana, Windham and Sipes are still very fast riders
- Pastrana's backflip from the tabletop was probably the craziest thing I have seen live in a motocross race
-There parking area was total nightmare luckily we had our accommodations only two miles from the track so we could go there by walking
Awesome time overall though. Atmosphere was great. People in Michigan were friendly, watching people slide around and face plant in the mud was hilarious, food was reasonably priced. Dude in wrestling leotard and blonde mullet wig was hilarious. He was already lit at 9am on Saturday running around with his loudspeaker. Hilarious.
Pit Row
If you haven’t been yet, go to high point where you can pretty much watch the entire lap and follow whichever battle you want.
Yes it was amazing and a party to remember. Pig shit mud as far as the eye could see in the pits put a damper on things.
Viewing wasn’t the greatest, because of the layout, but I made my way around to see the whole track on Friday and a little on Saturday.
Contrary to some of the other posts, I think RedBud did a GREAT job, but there were a few good points made as well from these posts.
VIP parking and entry was the best and we had ZERO issues with the mud, although we saw many cars/ trucks stuck in the mud.
The food in VIP area was pretty good quality, but not a great selection of breakfast food, by amy means. But none the less, there was PLENTY of food, if you were hungry. Free beer was nice, although it was Bud Light... lol
Racing was awesome, except for the USA teams results. Coldenhoff, Cairoli, Herrlings, Prado, Lawrence, Paulin weee all so impressive !!
The roller they put in before the LaRoccos leap was dumb, but it didn’t stop Coldenhoff from hitting (and downsiding it) every lap on Sunday !! The guy was having the race of his life, so smooth and looked effortless.
I’d do it all again, but hopefully without the rain !
I’ve only been to 1 other national (Ironman) and I feel like Red Bud was kind of shitty for viewing compared to it. You could only see 1/3 or 1/4 of the track in any spot we could find. That wasn't a big deal though, I went for the experience more than to watch the race. Also, I’ll probably get some shit for this, but the leap was smaller than I imagined. It’s a decent size jump with a huge roller as a landing. That built up landing is all that seems to make it big.
Lot B is as crazy as you hear about. I felt like I entered a whole different world when I walked past the gate. I saw so much shit I can’t believe. If anyone was there Saturday night, I’m sure you saw or heard about the gas can incident. I was standing right by it when all that went down! Haha.
Overall, I had an awesome time. All the locals we talked to were really nice too. If I could round up some buddies, I’d definitely make the trip back up for a National or another MXDN.
One last thing, the night track looks like the most epic pitbike track. That track would be perfect to host a big pitbike race.
Post a reply to: Redbud Virgins...give me your thoughts.