TEAM DIRTBIKEMIKE
Round 6 ------- Dayton, Ohio
JANUARY 19 --- 21, 2007
January 15
Another week on the road in the Toyota and we are headed to Dayton , Ohio
for round six. I love this truck. It drives like a car, but I can still
haul my bikes in it and actually afford to drive to the races. We were going
to stop by the AMA offices in Pickerington , Ohio . About 20 miles before
the exit for the AMA, we decided to stop for the night at a KOA campground.
We stopped to check in and found out they were shut down for the season, but
the manager said we could get a spot. They had a lot of rain there and she
said there was some standing water. Right, a little water. She didn’t tell
us that the entire campground was under water from a flooded creek. Most of
the hookups were underwater too. We found one that we thought we could hook
up to safely and called it a night.
January 16
The next morning, we took care of our laundry. (man I wish my mom was here
to take care of that for me) After we finished the laundry and serviced the
motorhome, we headed to the AMA office. We met up with Ryan Holliday, AMA
Motocross Manager. He showed us around the AMA offices and then took us
over to the AMA Museum . There is a history of motocross exhibit on display
until May 2007. Downstairs is the AMA Hall of Fame. There were a lot of
motocross bikes on display from the 50s all the way up to the present. Ever
heard of a Greeves, AJS, Ossa or Hodaka? They have old riding gear, loads
of pictures, videos and lots more. My favorite bike was the Yamaha four
stroke that Doug Henry raced into history taking it to the first four stroke
Supercross win. As I walked around the motocross exhibit, I thought that
the Toyota might be a part of this history someday. Maybe it will be
someday, with a mannequin of me, Toyota Phil in it of course.
January 17
After we got our fill of moto history, we headed to OMA. It's an indoor
arenacross track which is located just north of Dayton . We hooked up with
owner Jason Waters around 8pm and he gave us a tour of his facility. We
spent the night in the arena parking lot. The next morning, Jason let
Dirtbikemike hop on the dozer and rebuild his whoops. My plan was to get
some riding time in so I could kick some butt on Sunday in the Collegeboy
class. It didn't happen of course, I had bikes to work on. Everyone else
had a great time riding at OMA. Our team got plenty of riding and several
other Pros showed up to get some good practice. If you live close to Dayton
or you are traveling through Ohio , I suggest you check out OMA in Anna ,
Ohio . Tell Jason, Team Dirtbikemike and Toyota Phil sent you. We're going
back between the Saginaw and Nashville rounds.
January 18
We worked on bikes all day and then headed to the Nutter Center in Dayton .
The arena is located on the campus of Wright State University and is really
nice. The track crew was hard at work building the track. We watched for
a little while and called it a night.
January 19
On Friday morning, we got setup in the pits, which was the Wright State
basketball practice court. The qualifiers went well and Chad and Tolland
had no problems making it to the show. Beau even made it. Maybe he'll find
the speed he needs to get into the main. Friday night, Chad made the Lites
main, but didn’t make it in the big bike class. Tolland and Beau didn’t make
the main event. Beau has some mental block that is really hurting his
performance. Tolland struggled with starts and just couldn’t make it
happen. Chad had a back row start and was unable to move up through the pack
and wound up 9 th.
January 20
Chad and Tolland made the night show on Saturday and they both made the
Lites main. Again they both had back row starts. Making it into a main is
great, but starting from the second row won't get good results when the
competition is this tough. They both rode pretty good, but couldn't make
much headway. Chad wound up 7 th and Tolland was 13 th. After the
races, we decided to get a bite to eat and hang out at the Arenacross after
party at Quaker Steak & Lube. We checked out all of the cool cars hanging
from the ceiling and they even had replica motocross bikes there too.
Thanks to Lance Berry for buying our dinner. I hooked up with the 10 sec
board girl from the races. We hit it off right away, but I think she just
likes me for my Toyota . I'm pretty sure I'll see her again in Nashville .
January 21
I woke up with a hangover, but was excited to get back to my other job, the
Sunday announcer. Guess what? There was about 4 inches of snow on the
ground. I've lost my stage fright working as an announcer, but still have
trouble with the pronunciation of some names and cities. Our Sunday rider,
Justin Berry rode pretty good, getting two seconds after starting on the
second row. They say that when your racing career is over, you can find a
job in the industry. That may be true because I never won much money
racing. After the races were over, Angel, the 10 sec girl called and we
hooked up again. We headed to Cadillac Jack's and watched the
Colts/Patriots game. I wonder if anyone needs a good mechanic/announcer in
Dayton .
Check back in a week and I'll have the update from Denver .
Moving Forward
Toyota Phil