TEAM DIRTBIKEMIKE
Round 2 --- Albany, New York
November 10 --- 12, 2006
TEAM DIRTBIKEMIKE
TOLLAND WEEMS--CROSSETT, ARKANSAS #911
ROBBIE SMITH--GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA #660
CHAD COOK--OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA #713
BEAU ROMSTEDT--BALDWIN CITY, KANSAS #357
Albany, New York
November 9
We had stayed at New York Dave’s for two days watching it rain and we were ready to get to Albany. Our plan was to leave early, but as usual we were running late. We had to wash 8 bikes and reload the trailer which is sort of an art that we are getting better at. We finally got on the road around noon and headed to the Pepsi Arena in Albany to ride press at 3 pm. But the track was nowhere near completion. Since there was no track or press, there wouldn’t be any riding either. We unloaded all of the bikes and began getting them ready for the weekend. We had sent Beau’s 450 suspension back to Oklahoma after Des Moines to get reworked by our suspension sponsor, Marshall’s Racing. We installed the forks and shock but noticed that something clanked when the shock was compressed. After some head scratching, a little troubleshooting and some phone calls, we were baffled. Eventually the problem was discovered. The schraeder valve was broken off the shock body and the nitrogen had leaked out. The suspension had been shipped in a gun case, but you know those baggage handlers. We'll get it fixed after Reno. He'll just have to ride the little bike in both classes. After the bikes were taken care of, we went to eat and just hung out in the motorhome. The team had a 5AM TV appearance so we hit the sack early. While we were getting ready to crash for the night, I heard the door jiggle on the motorhome. When I looked out the window, there was a guy standing on the steps looking back at me. He took off and I ran after him in true hillbilly fashion with no shoes on. I yelled at him and he just took off. I’m glad that I live in the country.
November 10
The team got up early for the 5AM press for the morning TV news. Getting up that early sucked for the boys, but they were able to get some good seat time in without a lot of riders on the track. Press went well except for the newswoman calling the riders “Evil Kneivel inspired riders”. Most of today’s Pros don’t even know who Evel is. Press ended and Tolland’s dad, Paul and I stuck a new Wiseco piston in his 450 to freshen the motor up for the weekend. Thanks goes out to Wiseco Ed. I headed out to the motorhome to take a shower and get a quick nap. The boys all piled in and crashed out too. We all got up around noon and walked over to the arena to get ready for the day qualifiers. There was another big turnout of pros, so I saw another rough weekend with a lot of bar banging going on. Beau Romstedt is still the only team member left that hasn’t made the night program this year. He was in qualifying position and let another rider come under him and both riders went down and missed transferring to the night show. Tolland Weems had a rough day Friday with a crash in the whoops during practice and only missed the show by one spot. ”A kick in the teeth.” he said. Chad Cook made the show but crashed, crashed and crashed some more. His riding style is real aggressive and sometimes it bites him. Robbie Smith made the night program in the Lites and the Arenacross class. He rode smart and made the Main in the Lites, but couldn’t put it together on the big bike. In the Lites class he finished 8th. Not bad with over 80 riders signed up in the Lites class alone.
November 11
Saturday was a lot smoother than Friday for everybody. Beau didn’t make the show again. He’s still got that monkey on his back. Tolland missed the show by one spot again but without the one hander in the whoops this time. Chad and Robbie had their raceface on as they both transferred straight to the night show from their qualifiers. Then in the night program they both qualified directly out of their heats to the Lites main. In the Arenacross class, Robbie never got the start he was looking for and failed to make that main. In the Lites main, Robbie and Chad both got great starts. Robbie got the holeshot and Chad was around 6th or 7th and worked his way up to 5th . Then his bike started losing power from overheating but he still managed to hold on to 5th. When Robbie came around in first, his dad began biting his nails off. Robbie dropped the front end in the whoops and gave second place, Phillip Nickolette the chance to pull up on Robbie’s rear fender. But two corners later, the 71 bike pushed it just a little to hard and lost the front end. That left Robbie with a comfortable lead over the rest of the field and he went on to win his first Arenacross Lites main event. That was a great moment for the entire Dirtbikemike Team. Then we found out that Dirtbikemike had given a little incentive to all the Dirtbikemike Team riders last week. The first one to win a main event would get to shave the mustache that Dirtbikemike has had since 1967. That’s longer than anyone on the team has been alive. Robbie told Mike after Des Moines that the mustache was coming off at Albany and it did. Speedvision was there to film the trimming, so check it out when they start airing in January.
November 12
Since I haven’t been able to ride for over a week, I decided Sunday would be a good day. I haven’t competed since July 2005, so I was a little nervous about it but I got over that real quick. I borrowed Beau’s KX 250F, threw on my gear that was about as dirty as my thoughts after being on the road with a motor home full of guys for almost three weeks and went out to practice for the Collegeboy class. That didn’t start out too well as I couldn’t get the bike to start since my old roommate, Jon-Paul “Pancho” Powell, sabotaged me by turning my gas off. Actually, I probably did it and forgot. But God must have thought I needed more than two laps of practice because the lights went out and we got another practice after the electricians fixed them. Thank You. I qualified right out of my heat with a 3rd. I was happy with a front row start or so I thought. But there were 30 plus in the class and they took three from the heats with four heats which meant I got first pick on the 2nd row.
I knew I should’ve cleaned that guy out in front of me in my heat race. The main didn’t go so smoothly as the back row sucks. But I came out about tenth and then someone crashed in front of me at the end of the whoops. Sorry about running those legs over who ever you were. I got little excited and made some mistakes and some people helped me work my way backwards for a 14th. That sucked. I really wanted to be top 3 but I had a blast anyway and in the words of Dirtbikemike, “ride with a smile on your face”.
November 13
On Monday it was time to hit the road again. Albany, New York to Reno, Nevada and I sure am glad the seats of the Toyota are comfortable as they are. This truck gets good mileage but I keep forgetting to check. I’ll report that next week. We headed out about noon from Albany and drove all night with a few interesting incidents. Tolland was driving and he christened the motorhome. No, I don’t mean he was the first to go number two in the bathroom. He kept saying that he didn’t like those toll booths and finally he took the passenger side mirror off when he hit a concrete post at a toll booth in Ohio. But we did what any hillbilly would do, broke out the duct tape and put it right back on. Yellow duct tape on a 2007 motorhome? Yep, we're hillbillies alright. We drove all day and all night. Did I tell you that it’s over 2700 miles from Albany to Reno? Who set up this schedule?
November 14
Tuesday was another long day on the road. We made it to Chicago around 430 AM and missed our turn. We know Chad Johnson is from Wisconsin, but we really didn’t need to go there. We found our way and ended up back in Iowa at the World’s Largest Truck Stop again. We had lunch, washed clothes and filled up with water. It is cool driving the Toyota truck. Every time we stop, it seems someone is complementing me on the Toyota or asking questions about it. “Hey, kickass truck” or “How much did that cost to get it wrapped like that?” I usually just tell them that it’s a one of a kind and you have to win an Arenacross main event and then Toyota does one up for you.
November 15
Still on the road and we
got into some snow on the way last night in western Nebraska. The wind was
gusting up to 50 mph and the chickens in the motorhome decided to call it a
night. Mike said he couldn’t get over 45 MPH and he was only getting 4 MPG in
the motorhome. It didn’t bother me in the Toyota at all. After we woke up, the
weather was better and we crossed over into Wyoming this morning where they got
about an inch of snow. We stopped for fuel and the attendant told us that four
semis were blown over on their sides by the high winds. I guess we did the
right thing by stopping for the night. Don’t tell the people at Toyota but I
had to get off in the ditch and try out the locking differential. It power
slides great and it’s real controllable. Anyway I better get back on the road if
I am going to make Reno tonight.
There is an early morning TV shoot at 5AM that we won’t
make. I called my buddy Pancho Powell and told him they needed him to be
there. I’ll let you know if he was dumb enough to go. The first place I’m
headed is a casino. Maybe I’ll win mucho dinero there, maybe even enough to buy
this truck and a couple of new bikes. I will keep everyone posted about our
adventures on the road to all of the Toyota Arenacross Series.
Toyota Phil
