It's that time of year again. The time when trees turn gold, birds head for more tropical lands and the world of motocross puts on its big winter-stadium boots and pounds through the cold months like a pacemaker. Motocross life as we know it has been doing the same revolution for decades, and just like a migrating flock of Canada geese, motocross' journey has a hunting season to survive before it can reach the comforts of completion. The people in and around the herd at the AMA Nationals are very eager to finish out the year. Getting through healthy is important but, for many, so is taking a short break and revving up for next year. We scoured the scene at Glen Helen to give you an inside view of what people living the sport think, feel and plan when the last race finally comes around.
MX
Glen Helen: Not RC's favorite-now more than ever.
Keith Bowen
MotoWorld Racing/PPG/Yamaha Mechanic
I'm always ready for the season to be over with, but it gets fairly boring sitting at home, so I am also anxious for a new season to start. The Nationals are a lot of work for us. There is a ton of time involved in the bike. For next year, I'm staying with the MotoWorld team, and I won't get much of a break since I am starting with my new rider, Sean Hackley, almost immediately. We'll begin putting him on a test bike and getting used to things, then the initial testing kicks in as soon as a week after the Nationals are over. I've never had a new rider before, and I'm really looking forward to it because I usually work with an established pro who is already set in his ways. My goal is to be able to help a rider as much as possible. Tentatively, we want to do the U.S. Open, both Canadian rounds and the Bercy Supercross. So we've definitely got some work ahead of us!
Craig Rood
No Fear
It's going to be nice to have some time off and to get a weekend to do my own thing. On top of traveling during the Nationals, I am also in the office almost five days a week, so I'm super busy. The supercross season is definitely a little easier on me as far as traveling, not to mention we don't go through as much gear for our riders. In the outdoor season, we have nine riders who get four sets a weekend as well as numerous other supported riders who get various amounts of product, whereas in supercross they only need two sets of gear for an event. Right now we're also starting from square one as far as how the gear is designed, who has rides and all that. Between our main riders and the privateer guys, that's a lot of gear! Overall, it was a solid year, and except for some injuries, it was nice to see our riders up there.