So I Started an Arenacross Team... update: Goes to Supercross

Saturday update before the night show:

-Doc is riding well today. He’s really gelling with his race motor the more he rides it (he put .5 hr on it to break it in and we parked it). He’s 13th in timed qualifying. That’s .3 behind Chandler Baker, and .3 ahead of Jadon Cooper, so he’s in great company (I’m a big fan of both of those competitors). 

-Travis is another steady 25th in timed qualifying. I told him he could pull over and smoke cigarettes in the night show and I’d still be smiling from the main event he made last night. He’s also been a great source of wisdom for the kiddos throughout the day. 

-Josh is still timid in the whoops, but not letting it ruin his whole lap anymore. He’s harder on himself than I’ll ever be of a rider, he wants to get the whoops figured out and show his potential. A mini boot camp focusing on whoops and tripling in rhythms is in our future. Might even make a trip to the legendary DirtBikeMike’s to get some AX practice! If not, some time at Oak Hill or Masterpool’s on their SX tracks is in order. 

-River Guth has provided us the BEAUTIFUL photos on our Instagram page. The bikes look great in person, but I swear he has a little wizard in his camera making them pop even more. He’s also filled the role of mechanic for the guys on the line, you can see him floating around on the broadcast in a blue Suzuki pit shirt. 

-Kudos to the series, the new pit setups are amazing. I’ve wanted to pitch to sponsors the pit area being essentially a trade show booth, but previously there was just never enough room. This year the series provided professional looking pit areas, complete with backdrops for committed teams. Pretty cool, and frankly humbling to have ours next to the juggernaut of MCR. The series’ professionalism has been on the rise every year, and I think the Thompson family has brought some great insight as well. 

I have a complete motor, a works head, some long rods, works pistons, and started out just buying cams. Even have a works front brake line for an extra touchy setup. They also have probably over a million dollars worth of oem stuff. Complete 250 works engines and heads I think are gone, but there’s still components to build them with, and Dean Baker could build one to works levels. 

To get an exact idea of what’s available, you’d have to go to the source. Paul’s email is posted earlier in the thread.  

First of all, thank you for the compliment! For some recycled bikes and parts built in a two car garage in the suburbs I’m very pleased. 

As to the ownership… I’m not really sure. My loose understanding is this: A couple years ago Robby McQuarry bought it with two partners (a Nashville concert promoter and Jack Brassfield). Brassfield I believe withdrew after year one, and I believe the concert promoter pulled out sometime before this season (all 3rd hand information, not to be taken as the gospel). 

The Thompson family is who ran AX Tour in the south east for years (shoutout to them, I loved racing those in college) and currently I think they also produce the Canadian triple crown stuff. Cole Thompson is of course still a SX main event guy and racing in Australia. 

I’m assuming Robby is still the owner or a part owner, as Bob’s Coolers logo is plastered all over the arena, and I watched 47 commercials with him in them. I believe he is a part owner of Bob’s as well, so I’d assume if he said to heck with it he’d withdraw his company’s sponsorship of the series as well, but maybe he did sell it and just wants to support it as a sponsor? Idk.

Regardless of who is currently at the helm, this series continues to raise the bar and I think has forced the other AX stuff to up their game. I’m happy to have 3 different options for broadcasted AX racing with decent payouts for riders, even if I find it funny some of them are like the wrestling promoters trying to poach riders and put in cheesy halftime stuff. 

Little recap as we roll onto Boise (also, ML I figured I’d keep adding to this thread rather than start a new one for each round, let me know how you’d prefer I use this platform, and thanks for letting me play in your sandbox).

Firstly, shoutout to Kwikset, AND my fellow Vitalians.  It’s cool to see that partnership working.  If you’re a contractor or developer, reach out and we’ll get you some pit passes for a round.  Heck, I might even put you to work setting holeshot devices for the guys.

Our 450 that was initially purchased for Cody to ride has been tested out by a couple of points scoring Texans.  One it sounds like has a deal lined up for SMX, and the other was Jake Masterpool.  Jake has been a lot of fun to work with and the family has treated me, my wife, and my kid I’m teaching to ride like family as well, so it’s absolutely awesome to get to work with them.  We are trying to figure out a way to line up a couple of additional 450’s to make the full season work on Suzuki’s for him (AX and then rolling into SMX), and if someone has a complete program to offer him, I really cannot think of a better person.  I have no problem losing out on having a great guy because they get a better deal, in the meantime I'll continue to try to put something together worthy of his talents.   While we were scrambling to put something together, he made a commitment to race in South Africa that conflicts with Boise, so we'll have to wait another weekend to see him in the arena.  That being said, here’s the “Masterpool build” 450 breakdown:

-13.5:1 compression JE Piston (Part number #317239)

-Remapped OEM ecu using the WiGET app and the GET wifi box that comes with the bike.

-Bill’s Pipe

-Revalved and re-sprung production suspension (showa outdoors, KYB indoors)

-Fastway Stainless pegs with the super sharp teeth

I know I’m getting old, because with just those few engine mods I was like “dang, that thing is too much for me to handle”, where previously I have had more modified 450’s from other brands.  Whenever the bike ends up back in my possession I may try a 250 flywheel (6.25 inertia vs. 5.75) or just going with a more mellow map.  At this point Jake is pretty satisfied with the bike, just playing with optimizing gearing and waiting on some Hinson components to come back in stock to get a little better feel on the clutch engagement point.  In the meantime, we will play with spring tension and oil types to get the clutch feel he’s looking for.

The Bill’s Pipes were a very surprising addition.  I know PC has done their homework on the RMZ’s, but man the Bill’s was impressive. They asked several questions about our engine package and put together some beauties.  On the 450 the Bills has a super short muffler, but double spark arrestor cones to meet sound.  Sound is pleasant, most comparable to supercross level bikes, especially on the 250’s.  On the 450, I haven’t found anything that is as good at every RPM.  The PC is good up top and a smooth torque-y feeling down below, the FMF feels good at small throttle openings but kinda flat up top.  Josh and Doc’s feedback on the 250’s echoed mine and Jake’s impression on the 450.  Kudos to the team at Bill’s, and it’s cool to be partnered with a shop so intertwined with the Suzuki arenacross legacy.

Since there’s a handful of threads already out of nowhere about the BFRC, I’ll add a little note in here about it:  While Jake has been getting used to the Suzuki he’s been riding a revalved BFRC on outdoors.  He said it’s fine and didn’t understand why I was ready to hand him a KYB.  His tuner did decide to use KYB front and rear for his indoor setting though since he had more data available for that, so he’ll be able to swap back between the Showa stuff to ride outdoors.  Also, shout out to Direct Moto Supply in Dallas for hooking us up with some RMZ250 forks.  Anuj (the owner) is a bike reseller and sells parts and complete engines on MX Locker.  I’ve sold him a GasGas 250 in the past, and have several friends that have bought everything from complete bikes to hard to find trick parts and he’s always been great to deal with, and actually passionate about the local moto scene.

ASV reached out to the guys at round one and were interested in working with us.  The last time I used ASV was when I would buy their warranty returns on eBay back in the 2000’s, so I really had no idea what they were capable of.  They sent out some different options to try to increase the leverage ratio of the lever.  The result was they can make the most outdated master cylinder (Suzuki uses the OG 11mm master with no linkage in the lever) feel super responsive.  Honestly these would have let me save some money that was spent on stainless brake lines and Honda and KTM master cylinders.

So now with a few days until Boise, Doc and Josh are headed that way tomorrow afternoon.  Josh had a heck of a time leaving Reno, spending a week stuck in a casino while the local Mercedes dealer took an eternity fixing his parking brake on his Sprinter van.  When he finally got on the road he went to the Day in the Dirt at Glen Helen, presented by our sponsor Fasthouse!  He also rode the High Point one, and is a big fan of the event and atmosphere.  From there he went to spend a few days at Travis Smith’s house to do some bike work and get some more time on a proper supercross track.  Doc has been plugging away down in Texas, and gaining more confidence on supercross tracks.  Between rain and getting sick he only had a day and a half on his race bike going into round one, and it showed as he went from 25th fastest on Friday to 13th fastest on Saturday.  He did say as he’s getting more time on the RMZ that he’s impressed with the way it doesn’t kick or deflect on square edges on supercross like his Austrian bikes did.  On a personal note, I found an 05 RM250 to build and ride while my four strokes are loaned out for AX... My plan is to have it built and ready for the Guthrie round, although whether I race it on Friday as a backmarker in the pro class, or Saturday and Sunday as a +30 rider is to be determined.

Anyway, thanks again to everyone following along.

Heading to Colorado Update:

Odds and ends to update everyone.  (still open to suggestions what y’all might want to know)

Equipment:

Parts Replaced so far: 1 broken rear fender from Doc crashing in every qualifying race one night in Reno, 1 rear tire on Josh and Doc’s bikes, 1 chain on everyone’s, 1 clutch pack (after 3 practice days and 4 nights of racing) in Doc’s bike, 1 clutch pack in Jake’s 450 (he’s been practicing a ton of starts to get reacquainted with the cable clutch, more on that later…)

I mentioned previously we tried the AT82 rear.  The boys liked it, Doc said he prefers the MX34 in the whoops for a consistent drive and less side to side deflection.  Josh had no complaints at all with it, and I talked to John Short briefly about it and he swears by the new AT82.  They went on easy (soft sidewalls) and wore a little quicker than I expected, as I was under the impression that might have been a goal of theirs with them being marketed as an off-road tire.

Jake has been busy between racing in South Africa and then getting back right before a bunch of the industry takes off for the holidays, so while we had a couple of clear goals to get him comfy enough to race indoors (he hadn’t ridden supercross since 2020, and that was on a 250 so I can certainly understand his hesitation) we fell short simply due to time constraints in getting him comfy by Colorado.  He likes the overall power of the bike, and has just been playing with gearing to not drop below second gear.  The primary hurdle he’s faced is getting comfortable with the clutch engagement point.  Local suspension tuner and excellent mechanic, CoreMX, immediately spotted the problem and added 250cc of oil.  The added volume of the Hinson clutch cover allows for additional oil, but in order to take advantage of the extra heat dissipation you have to add additional oil, which I foolishly wasn’t.  With that done, and some Hinson springs, he’s feeling much better about it.  We also have a Hinson basket, and just waiting on some backordered pressure plate and inner hub to round out the package.  That said, he was still on the fence about this weekend with limited time on a supercross track, but we’ll see soon enough.  To his credit though, he’s invested a good amount of his own money to get comfortable on the Suzuki (paying for an MX and SX suspension revalve & springs, plus a clutch pack and probably 4 types of oil lol) when he could have just ridden his GasGas from last summer and prepared for SMX.  I’m selfishly eager to see him race the banana bike, but I can respect his desire to have everything perfect.

Jake’s only other modification since the last update is a Guts Racing tall seat with wings.  He swears by the wing seats for added grip.

Travel:

It’ll just be Josh and Doc at this round, and both of them had van issues!  Josh’s heater went out, so he made it, albeit bundled up in all of his clothes.  Doc’s issue was a bit more serious.  His dad, racingfortheson on here, had spent the week fixing his van only to have a new issue pop up after they left my house.  They were forced to backtrack six hours to go back home, and thankfully vital’s own racingfortheson convinced him to load up in his mini Transit with the bike and parts and restart the 14.5 hour road trip, 12 hours behind schedule and already exhausted.

Josh has been bouncing around California living out of his van since Boise.  Travis was kind enough to invite him to stay at his house, and while Josh was extremely grateful, he’s also enjoying living the van life and parking at various state and national parks in California.  He’s been getting in some mountain bike rides, hitting up some tracks in the area (he thinks he’s made some needed gains in the whoops, so we’re excited to see that), and getting in some workouts and shower at various planet fitness locations lol.

Speaking of Travis, he’s sitting out Colorado, but plans on rejoining starting in Guthrie.  After spending last year’s holidays in the hospital, he wanted to spend time with his family this year and frankly, I can’t argue with that one bit.  

Miscellaneous:

Yesterday was my first time to meet Doc’s dad when they came by to pick up some parts and fuel.  Vital is funny in that it’s like a little club, where all the members poke fun at how silly it all can be.  Racingfortheson was pretty much what I’d expect in meeting a Vitalian… We talked about homemade e-bikes, sweet old Yamaha TW200’s, old RM250’s, inside jokes from the forum, and different ways to power electric water pumps and plug the pump shaft hole.  Awesome dude (he did admit he’s had a couple of timeouts given to him on the forum hahaha), and Doc made him get back in the van before we spent too long talking about dirt scoots.

I honestly think we have the most attention grabbing bikes in the pits.  The bright yellow is just sooo hard to miss, I absolutely love it.  We’re going to run these graphics in Colorado, and then mix it up.  The next four rounds after that will be something I’m really looking forward to… We have something special in mind that both is similar to an iconic look from Suzuki’s past, and showcases one of our main sponsors, Kwikset, as they’ll be our title sponsor for Guthrie!  I’ll post a picture of the mockup once I get one.  I didn’t want to rush Throttle Syndicate before the holidays and A1, but we’ll have something to drool over soon.

With only one 450 to my name, we’ve been trying to secure another one for Jake.  I’ll shamelessly admit we even reached out to some magazines (or I suppose websites would be more accurate in this age) about borrowing one in exchange for content.  The justification was we would provide build details, race recaps, a bike test, and long term maintenance updates vs. the same content that always gets made with RM-Z’s (either an article stating to put a linkage on, and a high compression piston, or the 2000th build article with the 90% of the same mods as every other one before it).  There were no bites, and I get it.  It’s a liability to loan one out to anyone, let alone a racer.  That said, Jake’s planning on purchasing a couple from Motonation of Memphis so he can build a personal race bike for SMX and have a practice bike.  The RM Army program is the most aggressive support program, and frankly there’s no way this team would exist in its current form without it.  Between the dealer support program and getting second hand goods from JGR, we can build some amazing bikes for less than we can get tried and true equipment for less than a stock bike that still needs work to race at his level.

I’ve been wanting to purchase a sprinter or transit, but after seeing every year guys struggle to keep one on the road I’m leaning towards an old U-Haul box truck.  Every auto shop in America can fix one of those, and lord knows there’s a million remanufactured engines and transmissions for way less than any of the trendy vans (although I’ll admit I’d be down for a van if funds weren’t an issue).

Crutcher and Anton are coming to Colorado! That’s pretty cool, I know he’s heavily invested in the General Tire series, so it’ll be neat to see what he has to say about the different format, see where Anton stacks up, and of course be treated to that sweet symphony of two strokes!

Dude! The first couple weekends made me think “ok, I can double through the rhythm section, maybe hit some whoops, and do the catapult, I might just race Guthrie myself.”  Last night made me say heck no 🤣. For those who didn’t watch the broadcast, anyone not on a 450 was stretching the ever living crap out of that jump to make it. 
Here’s some pics courtesy of vital277 for context:

Highs and Lows from Guthrie

I always look forward to Guthrie for many reasons.  It’s close to home, the arena and track are massive, and despite the arena being in the middle of nowhere, the Okies turn out and pack the stands!  This year was going to be extra special, as Kwikset chose this round to be the title sponsor for the day.  The Kwikset guys have blown me away with how awesome and supportive they’ve been, something I never expected from a major company that frankly already dominates their market and doesn’t have any direct tie-ins to moto.  Their national sales manager is a fellow Vitalian, and frequent racer in the Texas moto scene.  It was fun to meet him in person and talk about all things moto, from how cool it is to see Andrew Short and his kid at the races (and get our butts kicked by him at local Texas races) to reminiscing about the 2007 Daytona supercross mud fest. As part of their title sponsorship for the evening, Kwikset brought out 29 people between builders and retailers to hang out and take in some racing and we handed out  team t-shirts during the track party.  It was a surreal feeling seeing some kids who were clearly excited to be there (they came wearing their pants and jersey) wearing our t-shirt over their pick up kit.  Having been that kid who would not only buy those god awful heavy cotton souvenir jerseys, but also did my first few races on an XR80 in one, it freaking melted my heart to see a similar pair of kids wearing our shirt over their jersey at the event.

Preparation leading up to this round was fairly straight forward:

-Doc’s engine is fine, we just pulled the clutch cover off to see about replacing it and Doc actually made the decision to keep running the clutch in it as it didn’t show any sign of heat and still hooked up well.  The top ends are good for a full season’s worth of gate drops on this engine setup, and since his was new at round 1, we’re all set to finish the season.

-Josh got a new piston in his race bike.  His is Cody’s from last season, and it had 8.7 hours before round one, and 17 before Guthrie, so we threw a fresh JE piston in it and checked clearances.  His clutch is also good to go.  We ran Hinson last year as well, but burger was getting around 12 hours on a clutch, and Cody was replacing clutches after 2-3 nights of racing.  Josh’s bike now has 15 hours on the clutch and no complaints.  I’m not sure if the difference is Josh’s riding style, or the switch to TiLUBE oil, but I’ll take it!

-Fresh Dunlops, graphics, seat covers and a gearing change since we’re FINALLY not racing at elevation and we’re good to go.

-Travis was going to have Aaron Seminoe haul his bike, but couldn’t get it to him in time.  No worries, I picked up my 450 from Jake Masterpool as his back is causing him issues again, and Travis flew in and bolted his suspension on Friday morning.

So with the bikes looking immaculate thanks to Throttle Syndicate, and the presence of one of our biggest sponsors the atmosphere was great.

Practice and timed qualifying were a roller coaster.  

Travis’ A main appearance at round 1 put him in the A group practice, and early on he went to follow his buddy Aaron Seminoe over the MASSIVE catapult.  On a 450 it seemed everyone was either in second gear, low RPM, and the top 5 or so seemed to be in a very high RPM in what I can only assume was first gear.  Travis came up just a little short just from mis-timing it, and went over the bars on the backside of the landing.  The landing had a ton of safety built into it if you went long, but was an absolute wall if you came up short at all.  Not sure what the fascination is with that, but it seems to be the new norm in AMA arenacross for the past few years.  Having raced in the feld days (11-15) I can safely say they were a little rounded.  He got up and going again, but was definitely feeling it.  It was in his head the rest of the night, as he said he essentially just rode around, but in true Travis fashion, he put it in the main for the second time in three attempts this year!  Not bad for someone who could race the +40 class today in the amateur championship.

Doc set the pace for the RM Army right away, as he hucked the big triple and the catapult right away on the 250.  He was unhappy with his riding, despite a top 10 time.  Disaster struck on the last lap of qualifying as he was doing a cool down lap.  After the whoops he was going double, then table over single.  A simple line that everyone was doing.  Unfortunately he overjumped the double slightly, then cased the table over single.  It didn’t look bad at all from the stands, but he immediately knew his wrist was broken.  In a flash, his season was over.  It was a heartbreaking moment for sure, as he had finally gotten some practice time on an indoor track, made strides getting used to the power characteristics, had his parents in attendance, and we spoke several times a week about how to continue building into next season.  I was absolutely gutted for him, and won’t hesitate for a second to line him up again next year.

Josh finally started to come into his own at Guthrie.  He’s been struggling to overcome his fear of the whoops, which is not only tough in it’s own right, but you’ll often see great outdoor riders ride like complete novices around the whole track because they’re in their head about one section of the track.  He committed to entering the whoops, and frankly did very well.  I’d say his corner speed before hand when he put his head down and gave it the ol’ college try was VERY good.  He would get through the first ½ or ⅔ of the whoops fine, but locked in to that stereotypical whoops position people who haven’t figured them out use.  Hanging off the back for dear life.  Unfortunately that doesn’t work as you have to use your legs and arms to raise and lower each end to deliberately place each wheel on the top few inches of each whoop, and until you gain confidence you won’t die in them it’s impossible to have the mindset to do so.  Travis, Doc, and myself all gave a few pointers and to his credit he soaked them in like a sponge.  In group B timed qualifying, the 250’s seemed to be struggling to consistently jump the catapult, if at all.  Josh jumped it every lap of the second session, and dropped his lap times 3 seconds, and still had some low hanging fruit to get some more speed.

Speaking of collaborative efforts, man it’s freaking cool to actually feel like a team, and not just a few dudes going racing.  Even with a broken wrist, and heading back home, Doc was texting the guys all night congratulating them and giving advice.  On the starting line for the heat race, Travis looked over at me and said “Hey, go help Josh and make sure he’s ready.  This is his night to make a main event and get some confidence and momentum.”  Doc’s parent’s and our photographer/road trip homie, River Guth, jumped in to help finish up the last details on graphics, set holeshot devices, and just make everything go smoothly.  Our guest from Kwikset seemed to have a great time as well, and I really can’t say enough nice things about the Kwikset crew.  With them being such a massive company, I was worried the expectation would be a championship level team.  While I would absolutely love that to be the case, I am entirely content having a team of overlooked riders, or kids eager to get a chance to race on that stage.  They completely get it, and are involved simply because racing is fun.  That meant the world to me.

So, night show time.

Josh and Travis both made the main event from the LCQ!  It was Josh’s first appearance in a main event, and Travis was so sore from his practice tumble he genuinely didn’t expect it.  The boys were backmarkers in the mains, but there were still a lot of positives to take away from the night and I’m immensely proud of them for making it in. Josh continued to fight for position on the opening laps, exiting the first turn around 7th with 14th gate pick thanks to some hustle around the outside of the first turn.

Other observations:

-There were some mid-season shakeups in team lineups.  Hicks is still here, but seems to be on a new program.  Still on a Yamaha, but with support from EBR and some other sponsors, as opposed to the Rock River squad.  Chandler Baker is still on a husky, but with help from a new dealership in East Texas, Turn One Powersports.

-The top guys are ridiculously fast.  Hicks is poetry to watch, as he moves both the gas and Stark bike around like a bicycle.  I’m pretty sure he was the first to go triple single before the finish, and would even jump all 4 when he got a good run at it.  Politelli had the triple single dialed, and Friese went back and forth between 2-2 and 3-1.  Hicks also broke Friese’s streak of starts in the mains.

-Just a tiny scoosh off are Bitterman and Baker.  Baker is fairly new to AX, and honestly outdoors I’d put him in the mix with any of those ahead of him indoors.

-One of my favorite parts of Guthrie is always bumping into Robert Reynard.  I love picking his brain about engines and suspension.  He’s quasi-retired, but currently working on some cylinder heads for Baker to race 250 East supercross.

-Seminoe had a BIG get off in practice, causing a red flag in that timed qualifying session.  He brushed it off and suited up for the night show, putting in an impressive ride in the main events.  *golf clap*

-Nick Jones continues to make mains, in spite of one of Vital’s lamest members vendetta against him.  In a weird turn of events, he fell passing Josh in a heat race, got up, and then in the same spot Josh accidentally cross jumped him.  Understandably so, he voiced his frustration as they pulled off the track after they almost met Jesus 100 yards before.  But what was really cool though, was he came by after the mains to share some of his birthday cup cakes.  A lot of dudes hold grudges when stuff happens, kudos to him for not doing so when Josh honestly was at fault with the cross jumping incident.

-I got to meet Carson Mainquist and his family.  I’ve been paying attention since I noticed the kid who was winning C class went to A class within 12 months, and holding his own and continuing to improve.  He and his parents showed a lot of maturity.  He would have been a main event guy last night, but an unfortunate pass attempt from someone in the LCQ ended his night with a bent brake disc.

Ok, that’s it from me for now.  Thanks everyone for following along!

If this is Ross K from Arkansas, DM me your address and size and I’ll send you some. Heck I’ll throw in some for Robert and Momma DK. This is Lee Taylor, if this is who I think it is we went to a DBM camp together wayyyyyy back on XR80’s and kinda raced each other ever since whenever we were in the same age brackets or got on big bikes (although you definitely figured it out and progressed WAY quicker than me). 

Likewise! Always fun to bench race, and I love seeing people who are willing to move up and challenge themselves as opposed to chasing random amateur titles. You guys have a very wise approach in my opinion, and at the heart of all of it is making memories together. 

I’m not sure what the next round I attend in person is… with a toddler it’s a little tough but I’d like to figure out a way to make it out to Daytona. Sandy arenacross, supercross the next day, and visiting my former Suzuki coworkers sounds like a good time. Regardless, I’ll tell Josh and Travis to keep an eye out for y’all and don’t be shy if there’s anything we can do to help!

I purchased the first set of shirts from https://www.5boysapparel.com/ and had some code to bring the total to $319 or $329 for 100 shirts... Be forewarned, the shirts at that price point will shrink and the turnaround time was pretty brutal, like 10 or 12 weeks.

The second batch came from https://dfwink.com/.  I got a set of KYB kit forks from a local DFW reseller, Anuj Sheth of Direct Moto Supply, and he was super supportive of the team.  He told me his brother does shirts, and man that's under selling it.  They have all the big fancy equipment, and knocked out the full color shirts in barely a week.  They printed them on a higher quality shirt as well, and I opted for the soft fit for an extra $.50 per shirt.  I think 30 shirts came out to the same price point as the 100 from 5 boys, but a Large doesn't become a crop top on my 6'5" self after the first wash, and the turnaround was super quick.  All in all, I'll use them again for anything I'd want to have done at that quality, and will ask them about a single color screen print like the first batch to see how close they are to the 5 boys deal.  I'd rather give my money to someone related to the DFW moto scene than a stranger.

One More Swing Out West & Daytona

I’ll be honest, I thought interest in this thread fizzled out and I forgot to update as I was waiting on pictures from Reno and Prescott. Shout out to my homie Sam for telling me he reads these and motivating me to update it even if only 10 people are still reading at this point 😂. 

Following Guthrie the guys headed out to double headers in Reno and Prescott. Reno’s arena floor always makes for a big track and some cool obstacles. A long set of whoops and a dragon’s back highlighted the Reno layout. Josh and Travis were on the bubble in speed pretty much all weekend. Josh was a bit frustrated when someone cleaned him out in a corner while in a transfer spot out of the lcq. I think he was mostly frustrated the culprit had one lap of stamina, so the takeout was essentially for nothing, but he needs to be ahead of those guys anyway and that problem solves itself. Travis’ weekend was a little more eventful. He really liked the dragon’s back, but in his heat race he endoed off of it and landed on his head. He was sore, but really impressed with the Arai helmet. He’s been wearing a brand with the newest style low speed impact absorption, so for him to become a believer in the Arai after a few good impacts really meant a lot to me. On a high note for Travis, he had purchased a 450 motor from JGR, and said it is an absolute rocket ship. Their 250 motor is insane in my opinion, I feel like I’d be a monkey with a loaded gun if I rode one of their 450 engines myself. 

Prescott was a little less eventful. While the boys didn’t put it in the A main, they ran up front in the B main and scored points by being top 3 there. Shoutout to Ryan Gauld, the announcer. He’s the iconic voice of Canadian nationals, and I was a little underwhelmed at first by his AX announcing, but had a hunch it was due to not knowing the racers and as much back story. He’s come pretty far in the few months with the AMA Arenacross series, and gave Travis a lot of credit for battling with teens when he’s eligible for +40 class. Added bonus, actually hearing the team name was cool. Don’t get me wrong, I loved ping and the guest announcers last year talking about Cody, and they made him a crowd favorite highlighting his wild side, but it feels good to be able to send a snippet of video to a sponsor where the announcer says “Motonation Kwikset TiLUBE Suzuki”. Gauldy has a nice balance of entertainment and professionalism. 

After Prescott, Josh loaded up Travis’ race bike to take to Daytona, and stopped by the house in dfw to pick up some plastic for our Daytona graphics. 

Speaking of Daytona, take a peek at the graphics for the finale:

Throttle Syndicate once again knocked it out of the park with their 90’s era kit, and Guts did a purple and yellow seat cover to match the 1992 RM oem look. I thought the bikes with these graphics looked good with black rims but told the guys it was their call, and I was veto’ed lol. Pardon the missing fork guard, I had to ship him a new one after some first turn carnage in Arizona. 

I’m excited to see how the guys do in the sand, particularly Josh, as I think he’s a bit more of an outdoor guy and been riding in Florida for the last week or so. I’m also excited to see Cody return to Arenacross this weekend, as he’ll be racing his Kawi 450. While he’s not officially with us this year, I’m always a fan. 

The guys just got set up this morning and sent me some track pics. I’m very interested to see how this dirt holds up. It’s not quite sand, but it’s definitely soft. I wouldn’t be surprised to see people running scoops.

Sorta… Josh is racing the Carmichael amateur day thing. He has his mx license, but hasn’t done SX Futures yet. Doc was planning on racing Daytona, but he just had surgery on his wrist the Wednesday before Arlington, so he’s in no condition to ride.