Today at the Winter National Olympics at the Gatorback Cycle Park in Gainesville, Florida was more of a relaxing, fun day as practice for the Supercross portion of the program starts up Monday.  More motorhomes were making their way into the Gatorback Cycle Park facility but the attendance, so far, looks down compared to last year, even though there is the same amount of pre-entries compared to last year.  As of 3pm, the back field is about half full and from what I remember last year, it was packed.  Many factors come into play as I heard riders and their families say all weekend long.  With the bad economy cloud still hovering us and lots of people still skeptical about their future, there are many reasons to consider staying home for sure like lack of contingency for certain brands/classes, top riders not having their 2010 rides set in stone yet, cost of traveling, attending, and racing the event, and many others.

Iceland’s top woman riders, Signy (top) and Anita (bottom) enjoy the sunny weather when they arrived at Gatorback on Saturday.

Weather

The weather has been good, ever since I arrived to Gatorback around noon on Saturday, but moderate to small periods of heavy occurred in the morning until a little bit after noon.  This rain soaked the facility and the kids were waking up early to enjoy some classic muddy fun on their pit bikes, golf carts, or other forms of pit transportation.  As the pits were torn to shreds, the Unlimited Sports crew were hard at work keeping the roadways flat and dry throughout the day, which they did a very well job with after the rains subsided.  The first practices tomorrow may be a tad wet or tacky but nothing worse than that since the weather, as of now, is sunny and pretty hot to where people are taking off their hoodies and jackets and the roadways are drying up very quickly.

Supercross

As far as the Supercross track, the layout is a carbon copy of last year’s event except the back rhythm section, which has a different rhythm compared to last year.  At last year’s event, this section of the Supercross track put on a major toll on some of the top riders.  The section is different and features an inside/outside choice as soon as you enter the section.  On the inside, there is a small kicker/step up, which riders have said they would go double-double-double through.  This line, however, has some steep faces but the distances are very short and can be the slow but safe line.  Or there is the outside line which would be a double-triple rhythm that looks like the fastest line but can be risky considering those sharp, peaked faces are now the landings and the distances are much greater.   Falling short on any of these jumps in that line is not going to look pretty.  This section can determine the winners for the faster A/B classes.

Motocross

The first turns of the SX and MX tracks are pure grass.  Not after tomorrow!

I have only looked at the Motocross track very briefly and looks to be exactly the same as last year.  But the track is completely flat, currently, and seems like they have brought in more dirt throughout the track, which will, hopefully, make some deep, rutted lines but Gatorback is known to have a solid, hard pack track in the past.  With periods of rain expected on Wednesday and Thursday, the track can change completely so we’ll find out later in the week.

Riders
As far as riders who are here, there are lots of top names in attendance.  I’ll run off some names that I’ve seen in the pits the past day or 2…

Kyle Sidle, Matt Boyer, Greg Pamart, Mike Anderson, Heather Snyder, Brian Wasson, Luke Palonicola, Jack Rogers, Amanda Brown, Kara Groves, AJ Catanzaro, Tyler Kirschner, Austin Simpson, Stephen Stella, Nick Myers, Charles Sherby, Andrew Maroney, Nick Desiderio, Frank Lettieri, Matt Bisceglia (with 125/250f’s in the van), Bell Brothers, Justin Starling, Cooper Webb, Matt Toth, Garret Toth, Broc Schmelyun, Adam Cianciarulo, Henry Scheetz, Paul Lamb, Jesse Pierce, Avery Brown, Tristan Kimble, Tyler Golding, Mike Nuzzo, Freddy Kramer, Lewis Mackay, Josh Peery, Chase Yentzer, Cody Robbins, and others.

There are 2 riders I know of that won’t be racing or here.  Kawasaki’s Jacob Hayes suffered a collarbone getting ready for the Mini O’s.  He is here though with a sling on and making the best of this week by hanging with friends on golf carts and having fun.  Maryland’s Alexander Frye will not be here at all due to his father having knee surgery being done this week and his new ride that is not finalized yet.  More on that soon.

Vendors

Vendor’s row is quickly filling up at the Mini O’s.  As far as manufacturers, Kawasaki Team Green, Rock River Yamaha, American Honda/Honda of Houston are here and setup.  I seen a few KTM ez-ups lined up in the same spot as last year (assuming its Champion Cycles that is going to be there) and Rockstar/Suzuki does have a support trailer parked in the pits in the same spot as last year.  Thor and Parts Unlimited, who are title sponsors of the event are mostly set up.  Vurb Moto and Pant Saggin have good spots near registration and the announcer’s tower in the center of the facility.  Factory Connection, MXTrader.net, Road and Dirt, Pro Action, PR2/Fox Shox, Asterisk, Pro Circuit (the event’s presenting sponsor), FMF, Hinson, and other shops are lining up the 2 main strips leading to the center of the Gatorback facility.

Overall, not much has happened today other than rider registration, riders walking both MX and SX tracks, and the muddy pit bike/golf cart action in the pits.  The sun has been out since 2:30pm and is quickly drying up the pits as families start to have dinner and watch football games.  Monday will be the start of practice on the Supercross track and I believe they will start running the qualifiers after practice has concluded.  Stay tuned to MXPTV Live Updates for daily updates from the Mini O’s all week long!

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