The King is dead. Long live the King.
It's a phrase that may seem a little strange at first, but once you understand it's meaning, it's actually a pretty apt heading for this week's Looking Forward. Basically, this was chant used in the olden days when a King passed away, to celebrate both the death of a leader and the crowning of a new one. And that's exactly where we stand this week, the 2011 supercross and motocross season's are effectively over, but now we can celebrate the start of the 2012 campaigns.
But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, the rest of 2011 does still hold some interest, and that's what we'll be looking at right now.
If you are an amateur rider, you've probably heard about the upcoming Vurb Classic events, held this year at Thunder Valley, Colorado on the 7-9th October as well as the 21-23rd October at Silver Dollar in Georgia. It's a tough drive to get to both events but we definitely recommend checking one of them out, and remember, if you beat a "Hired Gun" this year, it"s free entry for next year so make sure to bring your A-game.
Sandwiched in between those races is the Monster Cup in Las Vegas. This is the event that has taken over from the US Open and has the biggest prize purse of any event in the supercross/motocross industry. All you have to do is win the three races and $1million is yours. Sounds simple right? Well here's a list of confirmed riders, as of September 21st:
- Ryan Villopoto
- Marvin Musquin
- Jake Weimer
- Tyler Bowers
- Brett Metcalfe
- Justin Barcia
- Michael Byrne
- Ivan Tedesco
- Kevin Windham
- Nick Wey
- Cole Seely
- Wil Hahn
- Josh Hansen
- Mike Alessi
- James Stewart
- Chad Reed
Yup, it's a mixed field of 250s and 450s so if anyone can claim all three victories, they will have truly deserved it.
With that event out of the way, a few riders will be heading down under for the Australian SuperX series. It's been going for a couple of years now and seems to be attracting some big names to the races. Josh Hansen is the current champ, but people like Davi Millsaps, Mike Alessi, Billy Mackenzie, Chad Reed, Kevin Windham and even Jeremy McGrath have all had a go at it and it's a good warm-up for the American races that start in January.
While the pros are soaking up the rays in Australia, the kids will be chomping down on some turkey in Florida as once again Mini O's will taking place at the end of November. It's a race that has been going on for decades and it doesn't seem like stopping anytime soon. With both supercross and motocross classes run throughout the week at the Gatorback facility, it's an event which everyone enjoys, and causes families to travel halfway across America in order to attend. It's also usually a breaking-in event for the riders who have moved up after Loretta's. The 65 guys will be on 85s, B will be A and so forth and everyone will be trying to stamp their authority on their rivals. Exciting times for sure.
So don't despair about the end of AMA Nationals, there is still plenty of racing to be had in the remaining three months of the year... you just have to know where to look.
