The opportunity to race dirt bikes during the winter months in the Upper Midwest are few and far between.
Riders will get the chance to break out their bikes on Jan. 18 for the first of four MX at the DEX events to be held on the South Dakota State Fairgrounds in Huron.
I have always been thinking that Huron needed a dirt bike track, and when I walked into the DEX the first time, I looked at the ceiling and saw the height, all I thought about was how good a dirt bike race in this building would be, said Tom Glanzer, who is one of the event organizers. I did some research and the closest other indoor facility that runs a regular schedule is in Wisconsin, so regionally it was a need and our open practice numbers have proved that athletes want to race dirt bikes in the winter.
Glanzer pointed to events in Rapid City and Sioux Falls as the only opportunity for riders to hit the track during the winter months.
There is only one other indoor race on this side of the state and that is Jesse and Dustin Petersons race over Thanksgiving weekend (at the W.H.Lyon Fairgrounds Expo Center in Sioux Falls), said Glanzer, who has been involved with motocross racing since his son Brecken, who is now 18, started in the sport at the age of five.
Regionally, we are already drawing in folks from North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and we know for our races we have Wisconsin and Montana folks interested. Ironically, I called the Petersons right away to see if they would help us get started and they jumped on board, he said.
Nearly 2,000 yards of dirt provided by Wipf Excavating, which is the title sponsor of the event, was hauled into the DEX to build the track. Several other businesses have made contributions as well, according to Glanzer.
The community has made this dream a reality, the Chamber of Commerce, the South Dakota State Fair, and all of our sponsors, Glanzer said. Lance and Dakota Tschetter at LanKota have not only sponsored the event, but are fabricating some of the equipment that we need.
Ben Wipfs Wipf Excavating made the biggest investment into this, as they are our dirt work crew, he said. Bens employee, Drew Frey, is a motocross athlete and a skid steer artist, they are responsible for the almost 2,000 yards of dirt it took to build this thing, and without them this would not be happening.
Rather than being formed by distance, track sizes for motocross racing are determined by lap times. A typical outdoor track is in the 1:30 to 3 minute range, according to Glanzer. Lap times for indoor tracks are in the 30-second range.
The January track is about a 31-second track, but a couple of the pros have laid down some heaters and are in that 27 second range, Glanzer said. We will build a new track design every month so fans and riders wont see the same track ever. That is the cool thing about indoor motocross, the track design options are endless, and the space the DEX has inside gives us a blank canvas to be creative with track builds.
The track for the Jan. 18 event will have some unique character to it.
We kept it pretty safe, but there are some challenging parts, Glanzer said. We put the big finish line jump right in front of the crowd for race one, because we know they will love that. Our whoops section is pretty gnarly, and on the far south end we have a split section of the track the inside lane is faster, but you have to contend with a massive wall jump and it is intimidating, but it pays off.
The event will include several classes for amateurs from beginners to veteran riders involving both men and women. A total of seven Pee Wee classes are slated to compete, along with three pro classes.
Every class brings something different, but obviously the pro class will be extremely entertaining, Glanzer said. Then you will have 5-year-olds on little 50cc machines that just putt around the track and you instantly fall in love with them.
Our beginner class will bring some thrills and spills, because they will have that extra shot of adrenaline of racing in front of a crowd, he said. The 65cc and 85cc bikes are ridden by elementary-aged kids and they will absolutely hit every jump and feature that the big bikes are doing, they are pretty incredible.
Glanzer is expecting a good turnout for the inaugural event both from competitors and fans.
If we have between 300 and 400 entries I would be satisfied, and we are using the south side arena that seats 2,000 fans, so I would love to see that full, Glanzer said. Our family didnt just do this for the motocross community, it is also for the region, we want to give people something to do in the winter that will entertain them.
This will be a rock show, he said. We have laser lights, a booming stereo system and Cody Toupal is the announcer so the energy will be high all the time.
During each of the four MX at the DEX events, doors for the main event will open at 5 p.m., for a fan fest. The pits will be open for fans to walk around and see the bikes and talk with the riders. Also included for the fans will be a merchandise booth, vendors of all sorts and a full concession stand, which will include SDSU ice cream.
It will be unlike anything the DEX or Huron has ever seen. We put a lot of time and money into making this thing look, sound and perform well, Glanzer said. There is not a lot of downtime in a motocross event. We have 25 main event races to get through, so after one race leaves the track, the gate will drop for the next one in under a minute.
Trophies will be awarded to the winners in each division. A custom-made belt buckle will be given to the winner of the race deemed as the Race of the Night during each of the four events.
We are racing dirt bikes in a rodeo arena, so we thought we would embrace that culture, Glanzer said of the belt buckle award.
A practice session will be held at 10:15 a.m., on the day of the event, with qualifying to begin at 11:30 a.m. Gates for the main events are slated to open at 5 p.m., with racing slated to start at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets for the event will be available at the game for $15. Each ticket will be good for the entire day if fans would like to come watch qualifying.
The other three events are slated for Feb. 15, March 15 and April 12.
Leave a Reply