Arena Mountain X 9/24/08

[denmother]

http://www.arenamtn-x.com/

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 24, 2008
(DURING INTERBIKE)

Featuring Top Riders:

Current World 4X Champ Rafael Alvarez,
Dale Holmes, Eric Carter, Chris Kovarik,
Rich Houseman , Brian Lopes, Carter
Holland, Kirt Voreis, and many more...

For more information:

Call Southridge 951-361-0149
+ Head to Head Racing / Speedway Format
+ $5000 Prize Purse
+ Doors Open at 7pm / Races at 8pm
+ FREE shuttle service from Interbike show starting at
6:00 pm to the South Point Casino.
+ Tickets On Sale Now!

Call 866-796-7111 or visit www.southpointeventscenter.com
+ After-Party with Autograph Signing
+ Free Ice Toolz™ Multi-Tool (First 1000 people in attendance)

[Letyrides]

We're actually staying here Wed/Thursday night but won't get there in time to check this out.

[Frozen208]

I was thinking about seeing this but I think we're gonna go watch the cross race instead.

[denmother]

Las Vegas Arena Mountain-X

10/1/08

South Point Equestrian & Event Center, Las Vegas, NV



Southridge Racing Club's Don Jackson has branched out into stadium 4-Cross. The Las Vegas Arena Mtn-X marks the first time that a private stadium has been leased to host a mountain bike race in front of a paying audience.



Don says, “For a first time event, we hit a big home run. The course layout, competition, and rider battles were close all night long. A 3 story start platform sent riders into a 25 foot step-up at 45 mph. It was followed by a 10 foot log double, 7 foot double, a left hand berm, into a double rhythm section. A following left hander to a tabletop lead to a 14 foot rock section that the riders had to jump in and out of. The circuit culminated with a crisscrossed log section and a log jump at the finish. It looked like old school supercross, with a touch of arenacross and endurocross thrown in.” Don, a former speedway racer himself continues, “We used a much more exciting speedway racing format. In it the best of the best continue up the ladder by going against each other. It means that each rider had to race at least 7 times to make the main, and at least once against every other competitor in the field.



“A week before the event 7 top American riders backed out without even telling us. Not only did they lose the chance of great media and spectator coverage, but also a $5000 purse. More than that it goes to show that these riders only halfheartedly care about mountain bike racing as much as they claim to.



“But we had a great time without them. How could we not with two of the current World Cup Champions, a current World Champion, the Gravity Calendar Champ, the current Norba number 1 and number 2 riders, and U.S. National number 2 in attendance? Larry Super Mouth Huffman did a sensational job of pumping the crowd up, and the halftime show with alternative rock band Ruin the Moment played very well; the fans loved them. We have set the template.”



LAS VEGAS ARENA MTN-X RESULTS
1. Petr Hanak (Cze)...Commencal
2. Rafael Alvarez (Spn)…Specialized
3. Aaron Gwin…Yeti-Fox
4. Dale Holmes (GBr)…KHS
5. Jake Kinney...Avent-Bombshell
6. Cody Warren...Specialized-Redline
7. Mike Haderer...Fox Shox-Yeti
8. Greg Minnaar (RSA)...Santa Cruz Syn
9. James Schwanke...Mongoose-Kenda-AXO-Oakley
10. Brian Schmith
11. Nathan Rennie (Aus)...Santa Cruz Syn
12. JD Swanguen...MS-Intense
13. Logan Binggeli...KHS
14. Brad Oien...odi-Southridge-Turner
15. Carter Holland...Black Market Bikes
15. Ian Odom...Brodie
17. Ryan Condrashoff...X-Fusion/Santa Cruz/Nema/Dean
18. Evelio Suarez...Ironhorse-Nema-SDG-odi
19. Jared Rando (Aus)...Giant
20. John Hauer...X-Fusion/Mongoose

[CalEpic]

Hopefully we'll see more of this type of racing. It can only help grow the sport by showcasing it in a spectator friendly environment.

[Frozen208]

Originally Posted by CalEpic

Hopefully we'll see more of this type of racing. It can only help grow the sport by showcasing it in a spectator friendly environment.

Yeah, that would be a great for the sport, go to small arena's, like the new one in Ontario and build a following for the sport.

[2wheel_lee]

This really had the potential to be a great event. The course looks awesome, and they legitimately had some top riders.

They did not have spectators.

As I've seen in several event photos, there are only about 75 spectators.

I wasn't there, so I don't know the whole story, but I understand that this event was held at the same time is the CX race, which I hear draws thousands of spectators. I also heard that there were issues with the shuttles that were supposed to go to this arena either not working on schedule or some other problem. That was really unfortunate.

Based on the results and the initial press release, it appears that some of those who bailed out were:
Eric Carter
Brian Lopes
Chris Kovarik
Rich Houseman
Kirt Voreis

Did they know something? Most of these riders should know Donny and SRC, so what's up?

It's too bad that this event wasn't what it could have been. Nonetheless, they pulled it off. Let's hope that next year it gets even better. There's so much potential!

[denmother]

I had heard that Carter (who had a meeting) and Lopes (getting inducted to the MTB Hall of Fame) pulled out and Rich just had a baby, right?

[carbonman]

We went to the race and we were very disapointed that all of the people that we went to see had pulled out of the race. The posters in the hotel made it look like it would be a nice event, boy were they wrong. They had about 30 heats and of all those races only about 5 were exciting. When all was said and done we wanted our money back due to the misleading info about all of the stars that would be racing.
They should have had some kids racing bmx, the races might have been more exciting. I hope that if they continue this that they learned from this mistake and the next time the races turn out to be a little more exciting.
We left this event thinking what fools we were for not going to the cyclocross event insted.

[RED5]

Originally Posted by denmother

I had heard that Carter and Lopes pulled out and Rich just had a baby, right?

WERD. Brian had an award ceremony that he could'nt miss, Carter had some personal issues and yes Rich & wife had a baby.

This show was awesome, I can't wait till next years. All the riders were killing it. I was especially impressed with Rafael Alvarez, he took a horrible spill in practice on the last log section and I thought for sure he broke his neck. Thankfully this was not the case, he shook it off and continued to ride taking 2nd place, he did bend his bars pretty bad though. Big ups!!!

[2wheel_lee]

It sounds like life happened for at least some of those who couldn't attend. Donny shouldn't have chastised them in the press release. It's not like they were paid to be there, and it was only a $5000 purse (which means probably only $2500 to the winner). In the big scheme of things, those riders had more important things to do. Donny shouldn't have been such an ass to call them out as he did.

“A week before the event 7 top American riders backed out without even telling us. Not only did they lose the chance of great media and spectator coverage, but also a $5000 purse. More than that it goes to show that these riders only halfheartedly care about mountain bike racing as much as they claim to." - Donny Jackson

[EC1]

the statement below is a just poor journalism... i can't speak for the 5 riders (not 7 one of which is Aussie) but i can for 3

Rich Houseman was having his first child.

Brian Lopes was getting inducted to the MTB hall of Fame

I had a sales dinner/banquet at the same time the event was going off.

i don't know the time table the others notified Donnie but i told him a week in advance to try to have my spot filled.

it sucks we backed out but we all had commitments that were unavoidable....i take offense to someone questioning how much i care about our sport.

i called Donnie to ask him about it and he confirmed only that he said we backed out...not any of the other stuff.

just wanted to set the record straight for us and Donnie


“A week before the event 7 top American riders backed out without even telling us. Not only did they lose the chance of great media and spectator coverage, but also a $5000 purse. More than that it goes to show that these riders only halfheartedly care about mountain bike racing as much as they claim to.

[denmother]

Originally Posted by EC1

just wanted to set the record straight for us and Donnie.

Thanks for clarifying, EC, sometimes we never get the full scoop!!!!

[Jman]

I've been following EC and Lopes for much of their careers and I doubted they would bail on an event without good reason. It just doesn't fit with what I've seen of them in the past.

It looks like this was a good first step towars something much bigger and better down the road. Does anyone know if there are any good vids of a heat or two?