Grant Langston and the US MX championship

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Whethefakawe

Race Dog
Joined
Jun 21, 2006
Messages
621
Reaction score
1
Bike
KTM 950 Adventure S
Just a quick report, must go spend a week on an island with the greek side of the family, flight leaves in 5 hours ;D

Sunday September 9, the last race of the 2007 US MX Nationals:

It was a beautiful day, about 26C instead of the more typical 35, and it seemed that traffic was lighter than usual. The crowd seemed a bit smaller than previous years which can only be a good thing. We always park at the back of the track and walk in, a distance of maybe 2 k's, this year the road had been tarred which made it very easy.

All my connections came to naught, had to buy a ticket, but did so gladly.
My friend from Cape Town at the gate:


There are two aspects to a day at the races: the racing itself, and the off-track sights and people. Glen Helen attracts a very strange crowd every year, every subculture in Southern California rocks up en masse. Like this specimen:


Pissed as a newt, of course.

There are many nice families too though, this dad was explaining the ins and out of the motocross season very well to his three boys:


I offered to explain some ins and outs to these two, but they were actually working for Red Bull at their hospitality tent and couldn't break away. They were even sorrier about that than I was. They told me so ;D


Saw some seriously dedicated fans:




Next to the pits, along the finish line, is a vendor area where all kinds of new, pretty and expensive gadgets and equipment is displayed. Saw this KTM rally bike that an oke named Jonah Street, who is a big name in Baja races here, rode in a rally in Central America. Seems the bike did the Paris-Dakar too:




The bike had a sticker in memory of Elmer Symonds from KZN, who died during the Dakar Rally in January:


Between the start line and the vendor area:


"A bit bigger than what I remember from the good ol' days...."


Glen Helen is a spectacular track, with many steep up- and downhills. Very intimidating, the big uphill called "Mount Saint Helens" has a 45 degree slope. I have seen some of these pro riders, arguably among the top 100 or so in the world, make a slight mistake and go sliding down that hill on their lips, bike cartwheeling behind:




Mount St Helens:


"Yebo baba, thees track, she's beeeg"


The start line of the 250 class (old 125's)



 
Top