While my official dirt track racing season won't start until March 24 (at Winston, Missouri for a USMTS event), I have become an addict of another kind of dirt racing. For the past several weeks, I've become a fan of AMA Supercross. For those who may be unfamiliar with the sport, it is dirt bike racing held at football or baseball stadiums. There is also Arenacross, which is the same bikes but competing at basketball or hockey arenas.
Supercross is telecast live on the SPEED channel typically on Saturday nights with replays airing later on. While watching last night's event in St. Louis, the announcers mentioned that one of the drivers is originally from Fort Dodge, Iowa. That driver is Justin Brayton, who had his best finish of the season with a third place podium finish. Brayton started off the night by taking the early lead in his heat race, but soon found himself in the familiar position of following Ryan Villopoto (who happens to be the point leader). Villopoto went on to take the heat race win ahead of Brayton, and then backed it up with his sixth victory of the season already.
St. Louis was round 9 of 17 on the circuit. Next Saturday night's event will be held at Daytona. Villopoto takes a 13-point advantage into that event over Ryan Dungey, who finished in the runner-up position in St. Louis. Dungey hails from Belle Plaine, Minnesota. Justin Brayton ranks seventh in the point standings, 89 points behind Villopoto. However, he only sits twelve points out of fourth place with that fourth place rider Chad Reed sidelined with an injury.
A couple other riders were mentioned as being from Iowa as well. Gavin Faith also resides in Fort Dodge. He just missed the final transfer position in his heat race Saturday night, but was able to bounce back in the LCQ (last chance qualifier) and advance to the main event. Faith garnered a 17th-place finish. Faith sits 29th in points out of the 35 drivers listed as he's only managed to qualify for three main events.
The other rider is Cody Gilmore from Blair, Iowa. He finished twelfth in the same heat at Faith and ran the LCQ as well, but finished seventh in that with only the top two riders advancing. Gilmore has yet to qualify for a main event on the season, but he too got some air-time from the SPEED announcers.
While I can honestly say I've never heard of any of these three riders, I find it impressive that they have made it to the "big time" of their sport. I look forward to following their progress in second half of their short Supercross season. For more information with the Supercross, be sure to check out their website at http://www.supercrossonline.com or check out the appropriate link on the SPEED website.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Offseason Blues
Hello race fans. I'm sure you've been wondering where I've been and what I've been up to over the past couple of months as nothing has been written on this blog. Well, I can honestly answer "not a dang thing." You see, I typically spend the winter months (if you can call it that this year) saving up my money, looking at race schedules, and deciding which races I want to attend. This offseason has been a little different for me, and thus a few changes will be in store for 2012.
Back in January I attended a couple indoor go kart events. One was held at the North Iowa Fairgrounds in Mason City while the other was the Battle at the Barn held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. Both events drew a lot of participants as well as spectactors, and kind of got the blood pumping again after a month or so of not racing activity for me.
I also took the chance to take in the Karsyn's Krusaders Wacky Bowling tournament back in January. I didn't know what to expect, especially since I have no bowling skills whatsoever. By the time I arrived the place was packed and the "introductions" were soon to be announced. If memory serves me correctly, the amount raised that night was over $8,000!! I tried to bid on a few silent auction items, but my luck wasn't the best and I came home empty-handed.
As the calendar flipped to February, I found myself once again attending a go kart race up in Mason City for their second and final event. Karsyn's Krusaders made the trip up there and raised money with tshirt sales and auctioning off a few items. I was able to talk to several racing friends and a few drivers to find out their plans for the upcoming season, making it a lot of fun that night.
The dirt track season has already seen several events on the calendar at this point. The Talladega Short Track held its annual Ice Bowl, the Chili Bowl was run in Oklahoma, Arizona had a couple Wild West Shootouts, and the annual Canyon Winter Series took place in Arizona.
Now of course SpeedWeeks is taking place with all kinds of action down in Florida. The Lucas Oil Late Model Series, the World of Outlaws late models, and the World of Outlaws sprint cars got their season off to a strong start. Sounds like UMP modifieds are popular as well down there this year. Racing action coming up will be the opening weekend for USMTS as they take on the Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas. They were scheduled to race this past weekend, but heavy rains forced the cancellation and pushed it back a week. Also this weekend the annual Ice Breaker held down in Abilene, Texas will see IMCA racers get their season started.
As March gets closer, perhaps my anticpation will be enhanced as the racing action closer to home will get kicked off. While typically my race season gets underway around March 10th or so in the past several years, I'm going to wait until March 24 before I see my first official race. That event will be the USMTS race held at the I-35 Speedway near Winston, Missouri. While other events will occur before that, I have decided to bypass them due to travel distance and overnight stays (I know, hard to believe I just said that isn't it). March 31 I may find myself traveling to Farley for the opening night of the IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series for late models.
Perhaps the biggest anticipation for everybody in Iowa is for the annual Frostbusters. This year the normal three-race swing has added a few stops in the schedule, as Oskaloosa and Des Moines will preceed Marshalltown, Boone, and Vinton. Lots of cars are expected to show up for this "mini series" week.
Yesterday (Feb 18), I made a road trip south and attended the McDaniel Racing Enterprises open house. Bert and Sue McDaniel are friends of mine that I haven't seen in a couple years, so I thought I'd surprise them. Sue was definitely surprised to see me and made the comment "it must be a road trip day!" I also met up with fellow PositivelyRacing headmasters Jeff Broeg and Barry Johnson. We were able to get in plenty of bench racing! Jeff also introduced me to Chris Eggers, the driver-turned-promoter of the Bloomfield Speedway. He was on hand to give out information for the upcoming season and take driver registrations.
That pretty much concludes what I've been up to the past several months. As I have told a few people, the 2012 season is going to be very different for me. I don't plan to attend as many shows as I have in the past. I plan to hit a couple races I normally wouldn't, and hope to get to a few more tracks I've never been to. So while my anticipation level for racing is not as high as it has been over the years, I am excited to see how many of those goals I just mentioned I will attain.
Thanks for reading!!
Kevin Trittien
Back in January I attended a couple indoor go kart events. One was held at the North Iowa Fairgrounds in Mason City while the other was the Battle at the Barn held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. Both events drew a lot of participants as well as spectactors, and kind of got the blood pumping again after a month or so of not racing activity for me.
I also took the chance to take in the Karsyn's Krusaders Wacky Bowling tournament back in January. I didn't know what to expect, especially since I have no bowling skills whatsoever. By the time I arrived the place was packed and the "introductions" were soon to be announced. If memory serves me correctly, the amount raised that night was over $8,000!! I tried to bid on a few silent auction items, but my luck wasn't the best and I came home empty-handed.
As the calendar flipped to February, I found myself once again attending a go kart race up in Mason City for their second and final event. Karsyn's Krusaders made the trip up there and raised money with tshirt sales and auctioning off a few items. I was able to talk to several racing friends and a few drivers to find out their plans for the upcoming season, making it a lot of fun that night.
The dirt track season has already seen several events on the calendar at this point. The Talladega Short Track held its annual Ice Bowl, the Chili Bowl was run in Oklahoma, Arizona had a couple Wild West Shootouts, and the annual Canyon Winter Series took place in Arizona.
Now of course SpeedWeeks is taking place with all kinds of action down in Florida. The Lucas Oil Late Model Series, the World of Outlaws late models, and the World of Outlaws sprint cars got their season off to a strong start. Sounds like UMP modifieds are popular as well down there this year. Racing action coming up will be the opening weekend for USMTS as they take on the Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas. They were scheduled to race this past weekend, but heavy rains forced the cancellation and pushed it back a week. Also this weekend the annual Ice Breaker held down in Abilene, Texas will see IMCA racers get their season started.
As March gets closer, perhaps my anticpation will be enhanced as the racing action closer to home will get kicked off. While typically my race season gets underway around March 10th or so in the past several years, I'm going to wait until March 24 before I see my first official race. That event will be the USMTS race held at the I-35 Speedway near Winston, Missouri. While other events will occur before that, I have decided to bypass them due to travel distance and overnight stays (I know, hard to believe I just said that isn't it). March 31 I may find myself traveling to Farley for the opening night of the IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series for late models.
Perhaps the biggest anticipation for everybody in Iowa is for the annual Frostbusters. This year the normal three-race swing has added a few stops in the schedule, as Oskaloosa and Des Moines will preceed Marshalltown, Boone, and Vinton. Lots of cars are expected to show up for this "mini series" week.
Yesterday (Feb 18), I made a road trip south and attended the McDaniel Racing Enterprises open house. Bert and Sue McDaniel are friends of mine that I haven't seen in a couple years, so I thought I'd surprise them. Sue was definitely surprised to see me and made the comment "it must be a road trip day!" I also met up with fellow PositivelyRacing headmasters Jeff Broeg and Barry Johnson. We were able to get in plenty of bench racing! Jeff also introduced me to Chris Eggers, the driver-turned-promoter of the Bloomfield Speedway. He was on hand to give out information for the upcoming season and take driver registrations.
That pretty much concludes what I've been up to the past several months. As I have told a few people, the 2012 season is going to be very different for me. I don't plan to attend as many shows as I have in the past. I plan to hit a couple races I normally wouldn't, and hope to get to a few more tracks I've never been to. So while my anticipation level for racing is not as high as it has been over the years, I am excited to see how many of those goals I just mentioned I will attain.
Thanks for reading!!
Kevin Trittien
Sunday, November 27, 2011
2011 Wrap Up
I was hoping to have one more racing recap blog to write about at this time, but Mother Nature decided my race season was over when she forced the cancellation of the annual Thanksgiving race in Springfield, Missouri on Saturday. While I may not be terribly upset of the cancellation, it would have provided one more day/night of racing adrenaline, fumes, and excitement at the dirt track before the gloomy weather arrives for winter.
That does, however, give me an opportunity to provide a wrap-up of my 2011 season. I see Jeff Broeg already beat me to it at the "Backstretch", but here are my final stats.
I attended 73 races this year, at 25 different tracks, in 6 different states. Those states included Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Nevada. Among the 25 different tracks, I ventured to four new tracks (Grain Valley MO, Columbus Junction IA, Worthington MN, and The Dirt Track at Las Vegas NV). Those four brings my career total up to an even 100 different tracks in which I've watched races!
My season started back on March 12 with a visit to the Humboldt Speedway for USMTS action and concluded November 12 with the Duel in the Desert event out in Las Vegas. Along the way I took in 13 USMTS shows, 3 Deery Brothers Summer Series events, 5 Hawkeye Dirt Tour modified shows, and 31 nights of weekly competition. I managed to do something this year that I have not done in several years, and that is to attend every weekly show at one track. I witnessed every event held this year at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City, IA.
The 73 events is my lowest total since 2007.
At the Duel in the Desert race in Las Vegas, I was asked by Brett Root of IMCA if I would be willing to help post Facebook updates for the IMCA page. I told him I would be glad to, but when I arrived at the track that Thursday he informed me of a different plan. Rather then use Facebook, it had been arranged that Modfury.com chat updates would be the alternate plan. So along with Virginia Root, I helped provide updates to those unable to attend the show some of the action that was on the track. On Friday and Saturday audio and video was provided at the same website, along with the live chat updates. I'll be the first to admit that it was frustrating at times trying to keep up with both the action on the track as well as the comments and questions on the chat, but in retrospect I must say it was a lot of fun too! I have a feeling that kinda of media coverage (Modfury.com among others) will pop up a little bit more in 2012!
While its only late November and I have since stuffed myself full of Thanksgiving dinner, I have come up with a few ideas for my plans for next year. While they may or may not become reality, I'd like to travel north and northwest a little bit to witness some Wissota racing. After trying to compile racing stats for the top five drivers in different sanction body national points, I've decided that I want to see the drivers that I've been looking up.
If the above plan doesn't happen, a friend of mine told me he wants to attend every track in the state of Iowa. I told him that might be a challenge considering how far away some Friday night tracks are and the time I get off work, but that might be something to set as a goal.
Only time will tell what 2012 will have in store for us as race fans. Hopefully you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. And Happy Holidays to you and yours as Christmas and New Year's quickly approach.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
That does, however, give me an opportunity to provide a wrap-up of my 2011 season. I see Jeff Broeg already beat me to it at the "Backstretch", but here are my final stats.
I attended 73 races this year, at 25 different tracks, in 6 different states. Those states included Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Nevada. Among the 25 different tracks, I ventured to four new tracks (Grain Valley MO, Columbus Junction IA, Worthington MN, and The Dirt Track at Las Vegas NV). Those four brings my career total up to an even 100 different tracks in which I've watched races!
My season started back on March 12 with a visit to the Humboldt Speedway for USMTS action and concluded November 12 with the Duel in the Desert event out in Las Vegas. Along the way I took in 13 USMTS shows, 3 Deery Brothers Summer Series events, 5 Hawkeye Dirt Tour modified shows, and 31 nights of weekly competition. I managed to do something this year that I have not done in several years, and that is to attend every weekly show at one track. I witnessed every event held this year at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City, IA.
The 73 events is my lowest total since 2007.
At the Duel in the Desert race in Las Vegas, I was asked by Brett Root of IMCA if I would be willing to help post Facebook updates for the IMCA page. I told him I would be glad to, but when I arrived at the track that Thursday he informed me of a different plan. Rather then use Facebook, it had been arranged that Modfury.com chat updates would be the alternate plan. So along with Virginia Root, I helped provide updates to those unable to attend the show some of the action that was on the track. On Friday and Saturday audio and video was provided at the same website, along with the live chat updates. I'll be the first to admit that it was frustrating at times trying to keep up with both the action on the track as well as the comments and questions on the chat, but in retrospect I must say it was a lot of fun too! I have a feeling that kinda of media coverage (Modfury.com among others) will pop up a little bit more in 2012!
While its only late November and I have since stuffed myself full of Thanksgiving dinner, I have come up with a few ideas for my plans for next year. While they may or may not become reality, I'd like to travel north and northwest a little bit to witness some Wissota racing. After trying to compile racing stats for the top five drivers in different sanction body national points, I've decided that I want to see the drivers that I've been looking up.
If the above plan doesn't happen, a friend of mine told me he wants to attend every track in the state of Iowa. I told him that might be a challenge considering how far away some Friday night tracks are and the time I get off work, but that might be something to set as a goal.
Only time will tell what 2012 will have in store for us as race fans. Hopefully you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. And Happy Holidays to you and yours as Christmas and New Year's quickly approach.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
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