DesMoines

TEAM DIRTBIKEMIKE

Round 1 --- Des Moines, Iowa

November 3-5 2006

My name is Philip Mariage, I'm 23 years old and I live in Amity, Arkansas, about two hours south of Little Rock.

I was working on my bike about three weeks ago at Dirtbikemike's shop, when he informed me that they needed a mechanic for his new arenacross team. In addition to wrenching for the team, I would also be driving a new 2007 Toyota Tacoma TRD Package to all of the 2006/07 Toyota Arenacross events. So what did I do? So, I evaluated my situation. I work my butt off finishing concrete when the weather is good. Or I could travel all across the country in a badass truck, get to be at all of the National Arenacrosses, work on bikes and race on amateur day. AND get paid? Hell yeah!

So here I am, Toyota Phil and I'm on the road in the Toyota following Team Dirtbikemike for the entire Toyota Arenacross Series. This is a summary of our adventures. So try to keep up.

Tuesday November 2

Dirtbikemike, his wife Pam and I headed out on Tuesday for Round 1 in Des Moines, Iowa. We had to meet one of our riders Beau Romstedt in Kansas City at 6 o'clock but wound up being more like 1 am. We are never on time. When we got there, we had to wait on him because he had been stopped by the police for passing on a double yellow. He was awarded a nice $125 ticket, so he better make some Main events to pay that ticket. The rest of the riders planned to meet us in Des Moines on Thursday morning so they could ride press day. Dirtbikemike drove to Kansas City, then handed the Captain's chair of the motorhome over to me and I hammered out the last 7 hours of the trip to Des Moines. We rolled in about 7 am Wednesday morning and were welcomed to Iowa with 25 degrees and 17 degree wind chill factor. Welcome to Arenacross!!!!

Wednesday November 3

Not a lot for us to do but hang out in the motorhome and play some MX Unleashed. I was walking around the Wells Fargo Arena when I saw a Toyota Tacoma with a complete graphics kit that pictured two riders on bikes in midair with one kicking and the other one punching back, kind of a gladiator theme. But the doors were locked and I couldn't see inside due to the graphics on the windows. This is the truck that Miss Arenacross rides into the arena along with Tim Cotter, the Arenacross announcer for opening ceremonies. Keep a lookout for this truck as I drive it across America this winter. Give me a honk if you see it.

Thursday November 4

Thursday is always Press day and time to take a look at the track. The track crew usually has everything done except the whoops, which they don't build until after press is over From the number of riders that showed up for Press, I knew something was up. I would figure it out on Friday. There were around 20 riders ready to check out the track and throw down for the local TV and radio stations.

I have ridden a few Arenacross races and the first thing I noticed was the insane pitch of the catapult. It looked more like a freestyle ramp. You could definitely pull a back flip off this thing. The rhythm section was sweet with a 50 foot triple in, followed by a step-on step-off. Chad Cook, Robbie Smith, and Beau Romstedt were all ready to ride. Everything went well with no bike problems, but Mike did remind me that we had to mount up new Dunlops on 6 bikes. Surprise, surprise.....with tires that have been in 25 degree weather for a day or two. Pain in the butt, oh well that's what I do.

Friday November 5

The first round of the Toyota National Arenacross Series and everyone is either excited or nervous. Whether you are a seasoned veteran or a rookie, when the gate drops you forget everything but those instincts that you have learned from years of practicing and racing. Remember when I thought something was up? Over 80 riders in the Lites and over 90 in the Arenacross class were at the opening round. This year only 28 riders go to the night program. With that many riders, it wasn't easy. Tolland, Robbie, and Chad all made the night show. But the rookie Beau had a rough go and didn't get through the afternoon qualifiers. But now he knows what it takes. He will steadily improve his speed and confidence as the series progresses. Both the Lites and the Arenacross classes were stacked with plenty of experienced riders. Robbie Smith made the Lites main. A good start put him in third and he was looking good. With about three laps to go, he slid out in a corner and ended his chance for a podium finish. His fifth place finish was a good start for the team.

Saturday November 6

Chad and Tolland made the night show again. Tolland won his AX heat for a night transfer and he was pumped. Robbie had an encounter with some Tufblocks and failed to make the cut. Beau had a fire under his butt in the LCQ, but a crash kept him out of the show. Chad made the main out of his semi playing it safe and finishing 2nd. Tolland was in qualifying position in the Arenacross class semi but a clutch hub nut backed off and he was unable to finish. Back in the pits his dad and I pulled the clutch cover off and tightened it back down before his LCQ, but a bad start kept him out of the main. Chad got a bad start in the Lites main, but worked his way up to 7th, then he went down and couldn't get his bike started. He finished 13th. Not a bad way to start off the season with this many riders on hand.

Sunday November 7

No team work for me on Sunday, but Dirtbikemike is the Toyota mechanic for amatuer day. Yeah, even the team owner has to work on this team. It's not too bad though, he got a $5 dollar tip from a mom that called him the "McGyver of Dirtbikes". Of course I taught him everything he knows. Well, it might be the other way around. We all helped load the semi after the races and me and the Team headed out to find some chow. Not much stays open past ten in Des Moines on Sunday night. But I noticed that the truck was below E and ran out of gas before I could find a gas station. Good thing that my old roommate was following us in the Tracksidemx.com boxtruck and offered us a little U4 race gas to get to a station. When we pulled to fill up the tank, the gas station attendant let me know that my Toyota truck was "kick ass", but she was stating the obvious.

Monday November 8

A good night's sleep and we were ready to hit the road to New York. We left Des Moines around noon with the Dirtbikemike Team motorhome, the Toyota Truck and Michael Thacker's mechanic, Jason Miles in the Tracksidetx.com boxtruck. We stopped for lunch at the World's Largest Truckstop on I-80. There were three semis inside the truckstop, plus several old trucks and even a barbershop and a dentist. Then it was on to Chicago and we stopped in Toledo where we spent the night. Of course we got turned around in Toledo and couldn't find the ramp for the Turnpike and it took us an hour to get out of Toledo. As usual, we got a late start and headed out around 10am. We ended up in Clinton Corners, New York at Dave's Good Ole Boy Barbecue's house around midnight.

Tuesday November 9

We slept in and watched some movies. Washed clothes and watched it rain all day. Our plan was to ride on Dave's track on Wednesday and head on up to the arena on Thursday for press. Just hanging out at Dave's Zoo wore us out. It's on to Albany on Thursday with a 5am TV shoot at the arena on Friday. That's it for week one.

Toyota Phil