A DAY IN THE DIRT BEATS TURKEY ANY DAY OF THE WEEK

ÿBy John Basher

Barcodes were used for scoring purposes

The annual A Day In The Dirt took place this past weekend at Competitive Edge MX Park in Hesperia, California. The three-day affair, which is considered to be a celebration of the Hollywood stunt and film community coupled with the motocross industry, was again a success this year. Names like Jeff Ward, Erik Kehoe, Ricky Johnson, Ron Lechien, Jeff Emig, John DeSoto, Jim Holley, Ronnie Renner, Victor Sheldon, and Jeff Matiasevich were on hand to do battle and have fun.

Friday was dedicated to ƒ??Happy Hour,ƒ? or practice before the racing on Saturday and Sunday. The track itself had a GP-style layout, which translated into lap times that hovered around the six-minute mark. Many racers set camp for the weekend and motor homes littered the various pit areas throughout the Competitive Edge facility. It was quite a sight to behold, and one group even went to the extreme of laying down sod and putting up a fence to mark their territory. Talk about luxury!

Mouse McCoy and Kenny Alexander

Although I had heard from many people about how great A Day In The Dirt (ADITD) was to race and be a part of, the event always fell around Thanksgiving. If thereƒ??s one thing that I should point out about myself, itƒ??s that I donƒ??t take turkey day lightly, in both heart and stomach. Typically I stuff myself full of all the fixings, lay on a couch, and pass out from a food coma while watching football. The following days rarely prove better for my arteries, as leftovers get shoveled down the hatch and into my bloated belly.

Yet that is now a thing of the past. This Thanksgiving I limited myself to two helpings of dinner instead of the usual four servings because I had a goal, and that was to race at ADITD. I should give credit where credit is due, and thatƒ??s to MXA Assistant Editor Dennis Stapleton. Through his entire racing endeavors Dennis never competed in ADITD, so it was on his hit list of things that he wanted to do. He also wanted to compete in the industry team race, and thatƒ??s where I came in. I figured that if one orange helmet was good then two would be better. Besides, with Stapletonƒ??s pro speed I knew that we would fare pretty well, and did we ever! After the hour-long race Dennis and I ended up in third place out of 28.

Racing on Thanksgiving,–Yes!

What I found truly interesting was that although the racing was intense, it wasnƒ??t cutthroat. While racing involves competition, fun seemed to be the overall objective, and fun was the optimal word to describe ADITD. Thanks to people like Troy Lee, Mouse McCoy, Kenny and Amber Alexander, the Nordstromƒ??s, and the sponsors, my first ADITD experience couldnƒ??t have been better (expect maybe for a big W on the score sheet). Suffice it to say, skipping out on the extra helpings at Thanksgiving in order to race was definitely worth the sacrifice. For more information on the event be sure to visit www.adayinthedirt.com.

The track layout was great