Red-Necks and Red-Bud

This year the 2018 Motocross of Nations was held in my home state of Michigan. I had been dreaming about MXoN coming to RedBud as long as I can remember and this year that fantasy finally came true. As soon as I found out that MXoN was coming to RedBud I bought tickets for my wife and I. Then I called all my buddy’s and began making plans for the trek back to Michigan in October for the motocross event of a lifetime.

This was a big deal, not only were we going to see the best competitors in the world race head to head on one of the coolest National MX tracks in the Country but just weeks before the race we found out that Travis Pastrana, Kevin Windham, and Ryan Sipes were going to represent Team Puerto Rico and Travis would do it on a 2-stroke! I’m not sure if I was more excited to watch Tomac and Herlings go at it or Windham and Travis do their thing? One thing was for sure, it was going to be a party of epic proportions!

Here’s the plan; I fly to Michigan with all my gear on September 30th for a little pre-race family-time with the family. Jennifer will fly to Michigan from Boston on October 1st and meet up with me at the folks for a few days before heading South to Buchanan with Ryan and Denise Weatherby. The plan was to head to the track Thursday before qualifying began so we had an optimal placement within the campground. We executed this perfectly and by Thursday evening we were several beers into our first night of camping with the rest of the international motocross community.

Friday night I got sick sharing a bag of Cheetos with Maddy-Moto and it seems I have a thing with each member of the Weatherby clan-Rayan-Whiskey, Denise-Ice-Cream, Maddy-Cheetos…I’m not quite sure how this all came about but I’m pretty sure the FDA is involved in this somehow?

It’s Friday morning and the rain came down in buckets overnight. The track is full of water as the riders do an early pre-qualification race, track walk. It’s already clear to the teams that this is going to be a mudder! The forecast was for rain every day through the event on Sunday. This condition did little to dampen the spirits of the riders, teams or spectators. On the contrary, it seemed as though, like a wet dog, people were wound up like an 8-day clock. Things were about to come un-corked!

If you have ever been to RedBud for an MX National you have probably heard about B-Lot? If not I’ll give you the 10-cent tour. B-Lot is a place where anything can and does happen. Let me put it like this, they caught a mud road on fire! How? I guess 5-gallons of gas and a match will do it…not enough for ya? How about stripping your clothes off and running through it! Oh ya, the Red-Necks of Red-Bud were in full swing.

Ryno

Another super-cool, planned event was Pit-Bike of Nations to be held on Friday night. All the teams were gathering over at the night track directly behind the Racer-X live broadcast booth where Jason Wygant and his team were. Ryan Villopoto and the Brown Brothers were representing team USA but the track soon became mobbed by spectators that had bypassed the barricades. It took nearly an hour to clear the track before the event could begin. Once underway, Team USA showed their brilliance in the mud on small wheels by finishing first overall and bringing home the Pit-Bike of Nations trophy.

Saturday morning came with another round of rain overnight and left the track full of water once again. Fortunately for the riders, the crew at RedBud hauled in a few hundred thousand yards of sand which displaced the water well into the base of the track. With time and several laps of practice on Saturday morning, the track began to develop some good lines. The racing was actually quite good but the U.S. team of Tomac, Barcia, and Plessinger could only muster up 9th in qualifying. The good news was that they drew 2nd spot gate pick for the race on Sunday.

So far it looks like the Netherlands, France, and Italy were the teams to beat as they were hauling-ass in the deep wet sand. The European riders are well versed in these conditions and looked the part. After watching qualifying on Saturday, I knew that we had our work cut out for us but I was still optimistic about our chances.

The best race of the day? Without a doubt was Team Puerto Rico going to the B-Final in the last chance qualifier of the day. Windham, Pastrana, and Sipes rode their ass off narrowly beating out the Japanese team to secure their spot on the line for Sunday morning. The crowd was in a frenzy and I knew it was going to be another good night at the B-Lot!

Windham

For Jenn and I, there’s never a dull moment at the Weatherby camp and that coupled with the discotheque that arrived next door pumping out ground shattering tunes, we knew we were in for another long night. Rather than going on here about the rest of the event, I’ll let the video below sum it up for you.

REEEEEEEEEED-BUUUUUUUUUUUUUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!