Last Thursday (February 8th) Scott and John loaded up their bikes, gear, and of course camera’s to take a trip out to California City. Why, you ask? Well, it wasn’t to go camping, although it is a great camping location, but rather they headed out to the new Cal City MX Park. The new Southern California track is owned by John and Inge Elmes. While talking to John he stated, “we have made a lot of changes to the track recently. There are a lot of options out there for riders of all ability levels. If you want to go big you can, but at the same time there is nothing out there that is do or die, so the track design is also very beginner safe.” John continued by stating, “we have also really stepped up our effort to give everyone the best track condition possible. We are ripping the track every day in addition to keeping water on it all day long. Combine that with the prime dirt we have and you are left with a very nice track!” We couldn’t have said it any better. In fact Scott stated, “We were quickly greeted by the track owners, John and Inge Elmes, and were very pleased to see a freshly groomed, ripped, and watered track. There were approximately 8 to 10 riders out there (4 of which were part of the Elmes gang); it was very encouraging to see such dedication for a limited number of customers. Without a doubt, the Elmes's dedication to give their riders a quality track made the trip well worth it!” If you would like more info on coming races or simply directions to Cal City MX Park please visit: www.calcitymxpark.com

Moreover, while searching on the web this week we ran across two clips videos we though you would all like to check out. The first is a video Matt Miller put together of his buddy Ricky James. It is so awesome to see the journey that Ricky has been on since his injury. Check it out: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2135312368013730159

The second video is a video interview of David Bailey. It really touched our heart and perhaps more importantly opened our eyes. David has some important things to say and we hope everyone can take the time to sit down for a few minutes and listen. Check it out: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2540171359427789623

There has been a buzz about when Final Lap Magazine is going to be stepping up to the plate to offer some amateur videos on their website. Well, the cats out of the bag, as we are currently playing with some footage and hope to throw down some sick videos from Texas! So stay tuned!

Talking about a buzz, it seems like Myspace is everywhere you look! We are currently working on putting a profile together. Hopefully it will be a good way for us to connect withyou all. We are looking forward to launching it here in about a week.

Probably the biggest buzz in the amateur scene right now is everyone scrambling around trying to get prepared for the big Texas Two-Step, (The Lake Whitney Spring Classic and The Oak Hill GNC). Whether it’s the industry or the families getting ready, it’s right around the corner. Actually, many amateur racers will head to Lake Whitney this weekend for the final round of the Honda of Houston/FMF Winter Series. We will bring you some info on who showed up and did well in the next BLOG.

We just got the low-down from our great contributor from the dirty south, Doc Melloy of www.Moto-X-Report.com. This is what he had to say:

“The Dirty South: Shaun Martin added Beau Baldwin to his Big Red Machine, Honda of Houston Racing. Another HHR rider, Brandon Mays is camped out at 3 Palms, getting precious seat time ahead of the Texas Two Step (Whitney and Oak Hill). He and Beau have been hammering it.

Team Green resigned Johnny Moore. Johnny's going to stay in the B class this year, so he should be a force to reckon with again this year.

As you know, the Wharton racing machine is orange these days, and the Texas duo are loving their new bikes.

The Louisiana gang is absolutely tearing things up here in the Houston racing scene. Lance Vincent and Jeremy Domingue have taken things to the next level.

Team Green's newest stud is Justin Summers, and he too has come to Texas to stay and ride at 3 Palms prior to the nationals. Summers, Domingue, and Vincent are all testing here this week with Josh Rogers of EBR Performance.

JP Money (Jessica Patterson) was here this weekend at 3 Palms, keeping her game sharp. She is still with Honda of Houston Racing.

New Mexico's Jason Anderson, as you know, is absolutely on fire these days. Jason should be one of the top riders in the 12-13 age class again this year. We are expecting some championships out of him in '07.

Trey Canard has made a smooth transition to the Honda, and is on the fast trek to being a pro rider in their camp. Trey will bag some big ones again this year.
DOC Melloy (The Dirty South)”

Our contributors down in Florida Tim Eggers and Jen Sheppard have been keeping us up to date with the Winter AM’s. The first round kicked off at the Gainesville Gatorback track under some wet conditions. Top Pro riders Nico Izzi, Michael Picone, Ricky Renner, PJ Larson and Darryn Durham our some of the big names that have been battling it out during the series in the Sunshine state. The B class is seeing some great talent sprouting up, riders like Les Smith, Brad Kiester, Derek Rogers, Vince Friese, and Lowell Spangler have all been the top runners throughout the series.

In the Mini classes, Honda’s mini sensation Justin Barcia (featured in the image to the right) broke away from his New York home to get in some racing action down in Florida. Barcia pretty much dominated the mini classes in the 14-15 and Supermini classes. The 12-13 ranks saw the likes of Grant Ransdell, Kyle Peters, Nick Desiderio, Brandon Mays, Justin Summers, and Zach Bell getting into the mix during the Winter Am’s series.

Kawasaki’s young prodigy, Adam Cianciarulo pretty much had a cake walk in the thru 11 classes. His biggest competition came from his Florida rival Dalton Myers, and Wisconsin’s Thomas Covington.

In California, we have three big large events that take place before the Texas Nationals, Gold Cup, CMC Golden State, and the GFI Winter Series. Gold Cup, like always draws the largest crowd. Blake Baggett, Tye Hames, Bryce Vallee, Aaron Harvey, Tommy Weeck (featured in the image to the left), Christian Craig, Travis Baker, Ben Lamay, and Tyler Villopoto are just a few of the names that have surfaced at the big California races. During the off season, we saw riders Austin Stroupe, Hunter Hewitt, Wil Hahn, Tevin Tapia, Jason Anderson, and the Wharton boys were all out here getting in some practice at some of our local so-cal tracks.

With the three big moto states getting geared up for Texas, you know its going to be another great year in amateur motocross!