(In Arnold Horshack voice, raising hand) oooh-ooh-oooh. I'll go first, I may ramble because I am deliriously tired as well!
As a native to the BC area I got to see the preperations leading up to the event and I will start there. No one works harder than the OMA family, BC family, Osborn family and many, many volunteers to put on a great race and show for all. Weeks of prep go into this event with a mad scramble the last few days trying to figure out mother nature, unexpected issues, logistics and so forth. It is a blur for me for when I even arrived at the track! I know I didn't leave until dark on Sunday, that's only because I did not want it to end! (wife made me). I felt the parking went really well, kudos to the self parking the racers did keeping lanes open. Yes, as the stragglers arrived late in the weekend they stuffed themselves into any spot to be found but I felt all handled it well! Freaking so hot and humid on Friday, I just about went down. My fault, hydration and forgot to eat all day. Saturday was the bomb from beginning till end! Only the boy rode this weekend so all feedback is from him regarding the track. Practice conditions were off the hook. Track, first round was tacky and traction galore. 2nd round was faster, dryer and rougher. We quit for the day after that. I wanted to see both sides of the track conditions and with the heat and long weekend we called it a day and just sat back for the evening festivities. I had no issues at sign up for practice, signed up Saturday for racing again no issues. Saturday night festivities were a blast. Loud music over the pa was rockin', pitbike racing was a blast to watch. Scary team race, lol! Guys come sliding in full bore sideways jumping off pit machines to hand off to their partner every lap was fun. "A" track addition pitbike race was cool. Justin Hall hucking the finish line at the checkers was epic! BMX demo was super cool. Every youngster with a BMX bike was right there watching the guys do a multitude of tricks. Pure talent them guys have. More importantly, the BMXers could have easily been annoyed by the kids but they talked, coached and totally interacted with each. Very cool role models they are! Now I have to build a ramp in my back yard, thanks? Dunk tank was fun, water was so freaking cold it took my breath away. Jeremy got dunked. Jarrett did an awesome job on the mic for dunking challenge and repeatedly got wet! Even a few kid volunteers got wet and loved it! Great day and night. Early to bed for us, not at the track so we did not experience the generator issue. Its a shame that those can be so inconsiderate! It was indeed a very loud unit. If you need to run a generator all night, purchase one with a lot less decibals. Sign up crew is on it. Bummer for those that got turned away on Sunday morning. C'mon, you gotta get to the track earlier. So much goes into sign up, the staff has to have time to build race order and be ready to start scoring. It is a complex system that is all tied together, you just can't plug names in after things are rolling. I could see at a regular weekend race plugging folks in late but a tight schedule it was. The staff busts their buns to be on time, so should you. The day clicked off on time, 7:30 riders meeting, practice at 8, racing started at 9:23. Killer pro quad moto, dudes haul! Every class rocked! So much talent in these parts it's crazy! Open A, 40 on the gate was a thunderous noise echoing in the woods, earth shaking! I do not see how the day could have went any smoother or quicker with the amount of racers had. Yes, a long day that does not appeal to all but it was the Battle and a battle it was! I thouroughly enjoyed the day and quite frankly needed the long day to make my rounds visiting old friends. We had so may friends and family that showed up to hang with us that we could have filled one set of bleachers. Kudos to all the racers! Everyone raced hard and safe! Minimal accidents, flaggers seemed to do a good job as well. Staging was organized and easy. Track was great even though the sun reared it's ugly head in attempt to destroy the moisture lurking within. Extra prep was done to give all a great surface. Ohio racers should be proud of themselves and proud to have such a great organization as the OMA to hold such an event. Thanks to all! My only beef of the event...Kids on pitbikes. I could not keep up running them off the tracks all weekend. They were everywhere, A,C, kids track. Kids ripping around on the tracks with no helmets is quite disturbing to me. Each time I politely yet sternly told them to move along. I was often greeted with the finger or choice words as they rode away. I'm just glad that I am raising mine right! Shame on the rest of you that have disrespectful little brats. Shame on you for making it look ok to future little MXers that not wearing safety equipment is ok. Total crap! If I had my way, no one under 16 would be allowed to have them anywhere. 1 violation and your DQd. Ok, Ive bored you enough! Good day!
Love, Matt.
PS. I peed in the dunk tank and I went first!