PHOTOS BY DEBBI TAMIETTI
MXA holds a ride day every year at Glen Helen. It is a fun get-together for the people and companies that support us throughout the other 364 days of the year. This year, because of the strains of Covid-19, it was especially important that we get out and ride. For 2020 we scheduled our Ride Day three days after the World Vet Motocross Championship so that every industry rider would get a chance to ride on the exact track that the racers rode on Saturday and Sunday. Well, not exactly what they rode on, because we had a bright and sunny 70-degree day on Wednesday. They had a cold, drizzly, wet and muddy day on Sunday.
MXA’s Jody Weisel was disappointed that his unique track design for the World Vet Championship could only be enjoyed through rolls-off while wearing a rain jacket over the weekend and he asked Glen Helen to prep the Ride Day track just as it was laid out for the race. Everybody loved the track and we owe a big thanks to the track crew for getting it in such great shape.
Planned as a fun day, there were no speeches, we didn’t close the track for the catered lunch, from the popular SoCal hamburger restaurant The Habit, because we left it up to the riders if they wanted to eat or ride. Everybody rode into the afternoon, or until we took mercy on the track crew, who needed enough daylight to get the track ready for their regular Thursday practice.
We want to thank everyone who came and the MXA test riders who cleaned and prepped every 2021 motocross bikes so that anyone who wanted to try out a new bike, had a bike that was ready to race.
RALF SCHMIDT: THE MAN WITH THE PLAN
Ralf Schmidt is the U.S. Importer of TM Motorcycles. He loves to ride and race, but as the man with the plan to make TM motorcycles grow in America he wants to know exactly what his competition is capable of. MXA noticed that Ralf kept coming back to the MXA pit and borrowing a 2021 bikes to ride. Finally, we realized that Ralf was trying to ride every 2021 bike we had on hand. We assigned moto-photo star Debbi Tamietti to keep an eye out for Ralf while she was shooting photos on Ride Day. Believe it or not, here is a small. sample of photos of Ralf on different MXA test bikes.