Two Brothers' Joel Albrecht nearly shed a tear when I left with his prized minibike.
This year I decided to experience the Daytona Bike Week in all of its glory. From the second round of the GNCC to the Alligator Enduro to the Supercross, never mind all of that Chopper stuff that clogs up the streets of Central Florida's most famous racing town. So I decided to pack up my motorhome with a fleet of bikes and drive East with a haphazard plan to take it all in and do as much as possible. You can follow the trip here as much as possible, as we'll upload installments as often as we hit internet hot spots...
Days One and Two: The Drive
Our plan was to get out of town (Orange County, CA) on Wednesday evening but that got shelved as soon as I found out the KTM Red Bull Team party was going to happen on Thursday evening. Had to make that party; those guys deserve it! So my wife Heather and I loaded up the motorhome and headed out to Temecula. But not without one last stop. I was going to do some minibike racing in Florida and the SDG guys originally had a bike for me, only my trip came too soon and I had to call in a last minute favor from a good buddy, Joel Albrecht of Two Brothers Racing.
The KTM Red Bull party was a blur.
With about 10-hours notice, Joel put the finishing touched on his personal KLX110 (more on this bike later) and gave it to me to test out over my trip. I couldn't believe he did that—I think I saw a tear come out of his eye as I loaded it in the back of the Megamover and shut the door. "I don't know how it's going to work; everything inside of it is brand new, but it is fast!" Joel told me. I was as hooked up as a minibike rider could be, and on the road quicker than a magazine editor can stuff free things into the back of a truck. Really.
I considered alternate transportation, but it stunk!
Our second stop was twofold. One: to honor the accomplishment of the USA Dakar team, and two: to load up on a free case of Red Bull to make the long drive go by in a non-stop fashion. Where better to get a case of Red Bull than at a Red Bull party? Though I momentarily thought the camel might be a better ride for the next few days (beer induced), common sense prevailed and I chose to go easier on the sauce so we could hit the highway early the next morning.
Finally I was unloading at the Orange Crush GNCC in Florida.
What was I thinking leaving a perfectly wet and loamy Southern California to drive across country in three days to ride in a drought-stricken Florida? I got three days of highway driving to think about it—and don't believe anyone when they tell you that you can't get through Texas in a day!
After 45 hours of driving and 2,604 miles we pulled into the pits of the Florida round of the GNCC series in Lake Winona, just outside Daytona Beach.
Day Three: The Mini GNCC
Well, I'm finally riding. After three days in the truck it was great to take a few laps around the sand-whoop-infested GNCC test loop on the CRF450X. I added some clicks of compression, mounted a set of Pirelli sand tires, basically a paddle tire in the rear, and convinced myself that the Industry class in the AM is better than three hours in the PM. Yup, chicken. But my muscles will thank me for it later!
The Two-Brothers works bike was ripping up practice till it seized.
The night before the race, Parts Unlimited puts on a Mini GNCC for some of us knuckleheads that can't get enough mini bike racing. So I took to the starting line, and that rocket ship of a KLX110 that Joel Albrecht gave me was just that. Guy Cooper (yes, that's Guy Cooper) was very concerned about how fast my bike was. Well, either I didn't do a very good job of breaking it in on the Florida sand or it was just plain too fast because it stopped in what I'd call a classic seize. On a four-stroke even. But I was lucky to bum a bike off the cool guys from MiniMoto magazine where I went something like 2-5-3-2 in my four motos, I think?
Where I really placed doesn't matter. I had a blast and beat out next month's Dirt Rider cover boy Dick Burleson in every moto—even though he weighs about 90 pounds and is built to ride minibikes, even if he is pushing 65. Cooper and his super-trick Extreme bike won most of the races, but one of his moto wins was accomplished without an air filter, which can be pretty expensive I'm told.
DR ad guy Damian Ercole almost kept Guy Cooper honest, if he'd only had 10 more hp... | 
The lit up Mini GNCC racecourse was as sandy as it gets in Florida. Nothing but fun! | 
Another checkered flag on a borrowed bike. |
Now I'm all stretched out and dehydrated—perfect condition to take on the rest of the industry class tomorrow.
Catch you later!
—Jimmy Lewis
More Daytona Road Trip stories:
Part Two: The Orange Crush GNCC
Part Three: The Alligator Enduro
Part Four: The General GNCC
Part Five: Millsaps Training Facility