Sparkplug 32

I'm a big man, not just in physical size, but when it comes to doing the right thing, I try my best to do it all the time. So after I spent last Saturday evening in the Long Beach Arena THOROUGHLY enjoying myself at the BooKoo/K&N Filter/Toyota Arenacross, I realized that I would have to write a Sparkplug column that would basically retract the bad things I said about arenacross in an earlier column (found here).

So I will now open my mouth, insert my foot and chew upon it slowly and thoughtfully.

It was a full day of motorcycle immersion for me and my buddy Lliam, as we took in the International Motorcycle Show that afternoon before we went to the races, which were conveniently held right next door. After a few hours of browsing, girl-watching, throttle-twisting, girl-watching, shock-bouncing and girl-watching, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed over to Arenacross way...

... and the first thing we got to do was walk right out onto the arena floor and walk the track! Folks, that right there is just about worth the price of admission. Compared to supercross, where the security guards have snipers in the stands, ready to pick off any “civilian” that dares to touch the track, at an arenacross they literally invite the audience to come on down and feel the dirt between their fingers, and to stumble through the whoops and stand on top of the triples. Which, by the way, don't really look like triples when you're standing on them. The first triple only had about a four-foot run up out of the corner... no WAY anyone would triple THAT, right?

But that's what the track walk is all about: letting the spectators really get a feel for what it must be like to do battle in an arenacross. Plus, they set up autograph tables along the start straight, and all of the “factory” riders were there, instead of out in a parking lot somewhere. You could walk all around them, and most of them were just sitting there talking to each other... and trying to catch glimpses of Erin Normoyle, Miss Arenacross.

You wouldn't believe how hot this woman is in person. Sheesh. You may have heard that a speaker caught on fire during the Friday night races, but how did it get started? It must have caught fire when Erin passed by it...

During the track walk, the announcers were doing their thing, and I have to take my hat off to Mike Kidd for hiring DMXS Radio's Kevin Kelley to be one of the announcers. Kevin was calmly standing on the track just running his mouth like it wasn't anything. In complete control. And when he saw me, he actually came over and did a quick on-mic interview with me! Then my head blew up and that was my night...

No, I managed to keep my ego in check, but I must confess that it was quite a thrill to address all of those people who weren't listening to a word I said. 15 minutes? No, more like 15 seconds of fame...

But the racing was what we were all there for, and when it started, it was intense all night long. It was so exciting, I didn't even take a moment to record any laptimes, which must have been in the 15 to 20 second range. Maybe 30 seconds? In any case, there was no place to rest on that track. It was attack or be lapped... in three laps.

So who stood out? Turbo Reif came out and immediately starting kicking ass. Unfortunately, he ended up breaking his collarbone in the 250F main, I believe (correction: per David Pingree over at Racer X Online, Turbo dislocated his hip). Shane “Daddy Knows” Bess (remember him?) was a solid contender as well, but had some problems with starts in the mains. The man of the night, though, was “The Sheriff” Josh Demuth, who won both mains by riding as aggressively as I've ever seen a motocrosser ride. How aggressive was Josh? If Mike Alessi were there, Josh would have used him as dental floss, to pick the other riders out of his teeth. Demuth never did anything dirty, he just rode it hard and put it away panting and slippery.

This is not to take anything away from any of the other riders. Even the “privateers” came to race hard, and everyone put on a great show. Unfortunately, the fine citizens of Long Beach all decided to stay home that night, so the crowd was miserably small... truly a surprise considering it's in the middle of the motocross kingdom. Some blamed the promoters for not doing enough; I think that SoCal is more of a supercross town, and the Long Beach arenacross was the first event of its kind to be held in this part of the state in a long while. But the small crowd didn't slow the riders down any, and it didn't stop me from having a blast.

So if the K&N Filters presents BooKoo Arenacross Championship Series brought to you by Toyota shows up in your town, do yourself a favor, get yourself a ticket and go see the show. It's racing, baby!