by: Chelsea Taylor
Friday, March 11, 2016 | 12:00 PM
Dirt Bike Week at Daytona
2,300 Racers From Across the Country and World Visit Central Florida to Compete
During the past 75 years, the first full week of March in the Sunshine State has meant motorcycles. Starting with the Daytona 200 in 1937, Daytona’s Bike Week has grown into one of the biggest motorcycle rallies in the world, with events taking place over a 10-day period. Most attendees are there to enjoy riding on the streets, but there is a growing contingent of dirt bike and ATV riders that descend on Central Florida for the first big races of the year. In the midst of Daytona’s 75th Annual Bike Week festivities there was plenty of racing action.
Between the AMSOIL Grand National Cross Country Series presented by Maxxis (GNCC), the Ricky Carmichael Daytona Amateur Supercross (RCSX) and the FLY Racing ATV Supercross (ATVSX), more than 2,300 unique racers and their families and friends were on hand for the first half of Bike Week. All three events are AMA sanctioned, bringing AMA members from all over the country and world compete to in the Daytona Beach area.
“The Racer Productions and MX Sports team are elated by having over 2,300 unique racers that made the journey to Daytona Bike Week to compete in our events,” said Events Director Tim Cotter. “We are honored that these AMA members and their families have entrusted us with organizing the disciplines they love and overwhelmed to see how far reaching our events can be with riders from nearly every state and many foreign countries. Central Florida and its ideal spring weather has been a great host to start our 2016 seasons.”
The GNCC series kicked off in Palatka, Florida, one hour north of Daytona Beach on Saturday, March 5. After two hours of battling the rugged track conditions on ATVs, it was the reigning XC1 Pro National Champion Walker Fowler who picked up where he left off with the overall win to start the 13-round 2016 season. With 428 ATV racers and 98 UTV racers, the Wild Boar GNCC pits were full of racers eager to compete in America’s premier off-road racing series. GNCC Racing hosted competitors from 37 U.S states and almost a dozen foreign countries.
On Sunday, March 6, the Moose Racing Wild Boar GNCC featured 928 motorcycle riders, including defending champion and Cycle News’ 2015 Rider of the Year, Kailub Russell, and ISDE individual overall winner and the AMA 2015 Rider of the Year, Ryan Sipes. Both riders would face problems in the first turn, allowing Australia’s Josh Strang to jump out to the early lead in the three-hour race and then get to the checkered flag first.
Meanwhile, back at Daytona International Speedway, dozens of AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship alumni participated in Saturday night’s Daytona Supercross by Honda, including race winners Eli Tomac (450 SX) and Jeremy Martin (250 SX). As soon as the checkered flag fell on the pros, a team of course workers began modifying the Ricky Carmichael-designed supercross track to make it suitable for riders of all ages and skill levels.
Subsequently, while the Wild Boar GNCC was happening on Sunday, nearly one thousand amateur motocross racers were battling it out at the Seventh Annual Ricky Carmichael Daytona Amateur Supercross, which took place over the course of Sunday and Monday. The star power continued with up-and-coming stars Austin Forkner, Jett Reynolds, Matt LeBlanc and Jordan Jarvis each winning multiple classes.
Monday, March 7 played host to the RCSX main events and the opening round of the Women’s Motocross Championship (WMX). Florida native Kylie Fasnacht claimed the win and the points lead heading into round two of the 10-round WMX Series. And former professional riders like Michael Byrne, Barry Carsten and John Grewe were the big winners in the Vet class races.
"We're all really proud of how much this event has grown and how important it is to Bike Week," said Ricky Carmichael, the 15-time AMA Supercross and AMA Motocross Champion, who co-created the event and is its namesake. "Having all of these families come to Daytona to race during the day and then camp on the infield makes for a really special and unique motorcycle racing event, and get to race on the legendary Daytona Supercross track right after watching the fastest racers in the world compete on the same track! I wish this was around when I was a kid growing up."
There were 36 AMA Major Event number one plates awarded on Monday to the class winners, many of which are currently in the process of qualifying for the 35th Annual AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships at Loretta Lynn Ranch on August 1-6 in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.
Once all the two-wheeled action was completed the track was turned over for the Second Annual FLY Racing ATV Supercross. This unique event serves as the opening round for the 2016 ATV Motocross National Championship, presented by CST Tires. With thousands of spectators on hand, in addition to the over 300 unique racers, four-time ATV National Champion Chad Wienen took home gold proving that he remains to be the man to beat this season.
The FLY Racing ATV Supercross brought down the curtain on what could be called Dirt Bike Week at Daytona, four straight days of racing in three different disciplines. By Wednesday afternoon the RCSX track had been flattened, in preparation for the upcoming road racing activities at Daytona International Speedway.
For more information on MX Sports events please visit www.mxsports.com or call (304) 284-0101. For additional information on GNCC Racing please visit www.gnccracing.com or call (304) 284-0084.