I always tell my friends that dirt bike racing (motocross/supercross) is the greatest sport in the world. Of course, I am incredibly biased and do not deny how awesome other sports can be, however, I have many points to rest my case! The sport of motocross is the most pure blend of talent, courage, athleticism, and technology all rolled up into one sport, and on top of that, it is one of the most fan friendly sports in the world! Over the past few weeks, I've had the chance to go to the Houston and Salt Lake supercross races with my wife, and we got to meet nearly all of the top guys in the sport without having to wait more than 10 minutes for an autograph and a picture!
In this post, I want to show some photographic evidence of how fan friendly the sport really is! There is no other sport in the world that gives its fans so much access to the top riders in the world. The following pictures are of me and my wife with many of the top supercross racers !
This picture was me and my wife at a dealership signing with Blake Baggett (Lites East rider who just had his first win this season), Tommy Hahn (top 10 450 rider), and Austin Stroupe (Lites East rider).
This next picture was with the 2010 Supercross champion, Ryan Dungey! He was super cool and it only took about 10 minutes of waiting in a short line to meet and greet all of these Suzuki riders. You don't see that very often with any other sport!
At the Houston race, I got to catch up with Freestyle MX legend Kenny "The Cowboy" Bartram! We got to chat for about 10 minutes and he was extremely friendly! I hadn't had a chance to see him for about 8 years, so it was cool to catch up, definitely made my day!
The next two shots are with the Honda Red Bull Racing riders Andrew Short and Davi Millsaps. Short was back for his first race since injuring his ankle and did pretty well, it was great to see him out again. He has been putting up some great race recap and behind-the-scenes videos on his website that are well worth a few minutes of your time if you are a fan of the sport. Check them out at http://www.andrewshort.com/video and check back weekly for updates.
At the Salt Lake City race, we got to meet one of the top fan favorites, Kevin Windham, during a non-scheduled autograph session. It is very obvious that Kevin is having a ball this season and it shows by how much time he spends with his fans! He won the ice-cold rainstorm race that night to make two wins in a row, here's hoping for a third win to extend his streak in Vegas this week!
On top of all the supercross racers we got to see, we even bumped into Loui Vitto, one of the best snowboarders in the world right now! We got to chat with him about the Olympics, his recent visit to the White House to meet the President, and his experience on Dancing with the Stars! He was a cool dude who was very friendly and outgoing. At supercross races, it is not uncommon to meet high profile athletes and celebrities from outside the motocross world...the sport attracts a very diverse crowd!
It is almost surreal being able to chat and chill with the riders that we watch on the TV every week, but it is something that I have come to expect in the world of motocross/supercross. If you've never been to a supercross before, you are surely missing out if you show up at 7:00pm for the night races...the action starts at 12:30pm every time! Be sure to go out there and show your support to your favorite riders by saying hi and grabbing an autographed poster to hang on your wall!
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