Okay, race fans, the
first round of the Toyota AMA Arenacross series is in the books. Des Moines, Iowa,
was the scene and it was a great way to start the series having four different
main event winners throughout the two nights of racing. As for my job and the
T.V. crew it was an easy race to make a great show. Glen, John and I had a great
weekend of shooting, had some laughs and, as I said, with four different winners
it will be easy for Glen to make a good show.
I arrived mid-day on Thursday and wandered over to the Wells Fargo Arena and was
able to witness press day. The atmosphere in the pits exciting; the track crew
and the staff were ecstatic to get the show under way. No one could really put
their thumb on who they thought was going to be the guy coming out of the weekend
with the points lead. With all the hype and the strong list of Arenacross talent
it was definitely going to be tough to pick the winners. On my side of things,
Glen and John showed up Thursday as well, driving in from Chicago. I tell you
Glen is one smart cookie when it comes to T.V. stuff, but he can't back up a 10-foot
trailer. I did not get to witness his poor trucker skills but he needed the assistance
of Dirt Bike Mike Lambert to get the job done.
Friday was a long day for all of us. There were so many entries in both classes
that each had to have seven or eight daytime qualifiers to get to the night. Only
eight riders out of the top 12 were there so that meant they took 22 riders in
the 30 man night show in the Arenacross class. Our job is to get headshots, b-roll
and general footage of riders getting dressed, and of mechanics twisting some
wrenches for the opening segments of each show. My job is to make sure I know
each and every rider so I can get a jump on what I need if we do an interview
with that rider. I need to know what team they're on, any injuries, and how their
summer was. I like to be buds with the guys so when the camera is in front of
them it is just like we are hanging out instead of being all nervous and stuff.
It being my fourth year, it is getting easy to know all the racers.
Glen and John set up the room where we have sit-down interviews. It is a bit more
of an intimate setting, rather than placing the rider and me in front of the camera.
These are just the ride
rs by themselves answering questions from me. They talk about their career, goals
for the season, thoughts on other riders, and basically answer anything I ask
the get the riders to answer. After we get all this done it is time for me to
go put my Speed T.V. face on. I shower and shave and show up. Man I hate shaving.
I wish I could run a beard, although my beard looks pretty sketchy at best. It
is kind of like if your buddies played a joke where they shaved your hair and
glued it to your face.
So I roll in for the show on Friday and Glen and I sit down and go over ideas
for the night. Who are we going to interview? What will be the Question of the
Week? How will I open the show? Live Nation went big time this weekend with killer
lasers, flame throwers and fireworks.
The racing was good but got better in the last 5 laps of the Arenacross main event.
Three-time champion, Josh Demuth, picked his way from a back row start to take
Danny Smith out in the final turn to take the win. The crowd was so amped up when
this happened. Afterward, I interviewed both riders. Danny said "Payback
is a *****" and Josh replied with "I owed him from a couple of years
ago." It was a good night of racing and for T.V. we got what we needed.
Saturday we did it all over again, just changing up the riders we interviewed
and the b-roll we took. Also, I rode the helmet cam. The track was sweet. I was
a bit off the pace from some summer injuries, so when it airs on Speed it will
be kind of embarrassing. The racing really got wild in the 8th lap of the Arenacross
main when Chad Johnson cleaned out Brock Sellards to take the lead. Just after
that, Brock could not jump the catapult and Danny Smith almost landed right on
him. So after two rounds it was Chad Johnson out in front in the points.
The other cool thing about the weekend was that there were a bunch of Arenacross
alumni in the house. Past AX regular Chad Pederson was around for Saturday. Denny
Stephenson was there with his still drop dead gorgeous wife Miss Arenacross, Michelle
Falls. Paul Lindsay from the now defunct Motoworld team was there as well. Junior
Jackson also made an appearance. It is always nice to see some of the pioneers
of AX in attendance.
Well that's all for this week. I hope you enjoyed my recap. The next one will
be after Rockford, Ill., just under a month from now. Last thing I want to say
to the AX fans out there is the T.V. show does a "Question of the Week,"
which is a funny little thing we do with riders to show the people watching that
they are quite a few clowns in the AX pit. E-mail me some questions if you have
any to ryan_gauld@hotmail.com, if
your question is good we will use it in the T.V. show.
