We headed out to Arizona Cycle Park this past Saturday September 24th for a little shred session. In less then a month round of the FMF Power Beverage Western Pro-AM will kick off at the track. We wanted to get some footage in before the round and give you a short video to hold you over until then.

Edit: AWhite
Camers: AWhite/JMetzger

Song: 16 BDE Bonus (Prod. By: ID Labs) – Mac Miller

This past weekend I decided to go check out the new and, from what I think, improved ET Motopark.  ET closed for the month of August and found it the perfect time to make some fresh change ups to their track.  In my opinion the new track is awesome!  The changes they made are great improvements that everyone can enjoy.

Photo: James Singer

The locations of most of the jumps are the same, but the rest of the lay out is mostly new.  Of course they kept Quadzilla!  The track is very fast now and flows much better.  In the past it seemed as if the straight aways were odd lengths and made the track ride choppy.  Now they added numerous long 3rd-4th gear straights.  It’s also refreshing to see a track with just an straight away that isn’t full of odd distance jumps.  Don’t get me wrong ET has its fair share of jumps, they just added more of an old school motocross style to a few of the new sections.

Photo: James Singer

Of course with the rerouting of the straights that lead to some new turns.  The new track has them all tight 180’s, sweeping 90’s, even an off camber.  My favorite part of the track was the turns, and of course the track is covered with the mulch they put on it.  The combination of the mulch and the amount of water they put on it the turns were incredible.  Bar draggin’ ruts, rough stand up sweepers, and breaking bumps at the ending of the fast straight aways made for an awesome day of riding!

Photo: James Singer

Overall the new ET is a blast to ride!  I had so much fun I’ll even be back this weekend! I can’t wait to race the new track.  With a few changes to some of the insides of the turns, to create more lines and to make the track less one lined, the racing action will be epic to say the least!  Hope to see you there!

Photo: James Singer

Nelson Wins Quad X Overall

Story and Photos by Robert Van Damme

Dustin Nelson went 1-1 for the win in the 450 Pro Class at round two of the Yamaha Quad X Series with support by Big Kid Racing, STI Tire, Pro-X and MTA at Arizona Cycle Park. Promoter Lori Bryant commented that this was the first race of the season since the first round was all about surviving in the rain and mud. Racers were greeted with clear skies and warm temperatures in the Arizona desert just outside Buckeye, Arizona. Before the start of the first 450 Pro moto, the racers did a slow commemorative parade lap. Last month just before the first round of the Quad X Series, former pro competitor Jeffery Spooner was in a fatal automobile accident. Evan Spooner, Jeffery’s brother, led the procession around the racecourse and honored his brother by running Jeffery’s #56 on his quad.                                

For the start of the first moto it was Nelson absconding the lead over Ethan Thatcher, Beau Baron and Dirkie Baard. Thatcher and Baron battled for several laps, allowing Nelson to pull away. Jason Fife sat alone in fifth while Evan Spooner, Justin Jones and Johnny Shafe battled over sixth. On lap three Jones moved around Spooner for sixth. Then on the next lap Shafe passed Spooner for seventh. Then on the next go around, Thatcher still under pressure had something fling off his quad just passed the tower. Jones went down on the uphill triple taking himself out of contention. Through the hills Baron was able to secure second over Thatcher. Then Baard made a mistake on the next lap dropping out of the top five. Baron closed within three seconds of Nelson on the final lap but ran out of time. Nelson first past the checkered followed by Baron, Thatcher, Fife, Shafe, Spooner and Christopher Ray Martinez. 

Nelson grabbed the top spot after the second moto start, but this time Baron was right behind Nelson then came Baard. The two top riders pulled away from the pack with Nelson creping away from Baron in the next few laps. Baard was alone in third while Josh Row in fourth battled with Thatcher and Jesse Goss. Thatcher on the side-hill jump, double-singled through it while Row and Goss were tripling it. So Thatcher would close down on Row while pulling away from Goss. Then they would get to the side-hill and Thatcher would lose ground to Row and have Goss on his rear fender. Thatcher used the rest of the hills to get around Row on lap 6. The Yamaha/Motoworks/DWT/One Roll/MotoWorld backed Nelson finished the race in the top spot. The Maxxis/John Burr sponsored Baron was not far behind in second, followed by Baard, Thatcher, Row, Goss, Fife, Shafe, Spooner and Martinez. 

Ryan Nevin’s box score of 1-1 for first overall in the 450 Intermediates looked like a simple win. Though in the first moto Nevin was making things interesting. Kloster pulled the holeshot in the first moto, but it was Nevin who made up the most ground out of a poor start. Nevin stumbled out of the gate and was third from last. Nevin found a crease between several competitors going into the left-hander. Then he stayed to the inside while the rest went wide and Nevin passed 6 racers within 100 feet. Nevin was in third by the end of the first lap. Then Nevin went past Cody Miller for second on lap two. Kloster stumbled on the next circuit around that sent Nevin to the front.  Miller moved to second over a tiring Kloster who would plummet down to 7^th by the end of the moto. Nevin took the win followed by Miller, then came Michael MacGregor, Robert Stewart, Levi Shirley and Ryan Waldo.     

Nevin looked to have the holeshot in the second moto, but by the time the pack came by the scoring section it was Miller leading Nevin. Then halfway through lap two Nevin moved by Miller and stayed there the entire moto. Stewart midway through the moto went around Miller for third. The Auburn, California resident Nevin came through with the win, then came Stewart, Miller, Kloster, MacGregor, Shirley and Waldo.

CMC Copperstate Classic Motocross Championship Round 4
Story and Photos by Robert Van Damme
Arizona Cycle Park
Buckeye, AZ April 3

Steinberger, Mikkelsen and Bartlett stay the course at the Copperstate

Clear skies and mid 80 degree temperatures greeted our competitors at the Fourth Round of the CMC Copperstate Classic presented by Scott USA, Hinson, ZR1, Muscle Milk, MotoCity, FMF, The Pit, DVS, and Ruby Tuesday. 

Andy Steinberger used solid starts and smooth lines to take the win in the 30+ Intermediate class. Steinberger on the first moto was in the top spot as the pack came into the sand pit section. Pursuing Steinberger was the Dearing Brothers Kelly and Danny, followed by Ed Hession and Bobby White. Kelly Dearing was keeping in Steinberger in sight on the first lap and was trying to show wheel on the leader. Then during lap two, Kelly dove to the inside of the u-turn that led to the front rhythm section, but grabbed too much throttle and did a 180 and stalled the bike. That let Danny Dearing, Hession and White to move up a spot each temporarily. Kelly would get by White and then Hession on lap three. Then Kelly moved around Danny to regain second. Danny Dearing pulled off the track as the white flag was out. Steinberger, racing in three classes, held on for the moto win with Kelly Dearing second, Hession third and White fourth. The Daystar backed Steinberger would win the second moto and take the overall besting Hession, Kelly Dearing, White and Danny Dearing.

Dakota Mikkelsen doubled up this weekend with wins in the 85 (12-13) and Supermini. Mikkelsen bested Blake Harguess and Skylar Beckman in the age group. Then Mikkelsen won both motos in the Supermini with Larae Harguess got second in the first moto holding off her brother Blake Harguess. In the second moto, while Mikkelsen was pulling away, Larae once again started second with Blake in third. By lap one Larae had a ten-bike length cushion over Blake. But Blake chipped away and was on her sister’s rear wheel as they started lap four. Blake moved around Larae after the sand pit section taking over second. The 661/FMF/O’Neal sponsored Mikkelsen took the moto win followed by Blake Harguess with Larae Harguess in third.

In the 250/450F Junior race it was a case of slide outs for our top riders. In the first moto Odin Bartlett absconded the lead over Brandon Deatherage and Thomas Chavez. Then Bartlett couldn’t complete the left hand turn going down and handing the lead to Deatherage. From that point Deatherage pulled away with the moto win with Chavez taking second and Bartlett recovering for third. Deatherage jumped out in front of everyone in the second moto and was pulling away for over half a lap. Then Deatherage went wide after the uphill triple and slid out on the lefthander. It took a while for Deatherage to get his Suzuki re-fired and by then the damage was done. Bartlett inherited the lead and never looked back taking the moto win over Chavez. With his 3-1 score, the MotoCity sponsored Bartlett took the overall.

A recent video we spotted from the CMC Cactus State Rnd 3 from first moto in the novice class.

James Singer recently went out to Arizona Cycle Park for the final round of the CMC Cactus State; where a couple of Cali kids made the trek over to start getting ready for the Amateur Open 2010.

A large gallery for you peeps from the weekend at the CMC Cactus State. Video this weekend along with some wallpapers if possible!

This past weekend Moto City KTM and MX Tech let us test back-to-back a stock KTM 350 and an all done up KTM 350. We will be giving you a full review from a Beginner, Nov/Int, and Pro rider stand point. Here is a little video of the days action.

Song $nowbird – Mayday
Video/Edit: James Singer / AWhite

Be sure to check out the full review over on our sister site, insidermx.com

Check out this Destry Abbott ISDE Fundraiser Video!

By: Josh Metzger & Austin Bergeron

We headed out to Arizona Cycle Park over the weekend to film Rnd 2 of the CMC Cactus State. With the temperature around 100 for weekend, it was a hot one, but the track stayed awesome all day long and turned out to be a fun day.

Video/Edit: AWhite
Song: If i owned a midget – Benifit