South Point Equestrian & Event Center, Las Vegas, NV

Southridge Racing Club's Don Jackson has branched out into stadium 4-Cross. The Las Vegas Arena Mtn-X marks the first time that a private stadium has been leased to host a mountain bike race in front of a paying audience.

Don says, “For a first time event, we hit a big home run. The course layout, competition, and rider battles were close all night long. A 3 story start platform sent riders into a 25 foot step-up at 45 mph. It was followed by a 10 foot log double, 7 foot double, a left hand berm, into a double rhythm section. A following left hander to a tabletop lead to a 14 foot rock section that the riders had to jump in and out of. The circuit culminated with a crisscrossed log section and a log jump at the finish. It looked like old school supercross, with a touch of arenacross and endurocross thrown in.” Don, a former speedway racer himself continues, “We used a much more exciting speedway racing format. In it the best of the best continue up the ladder by going against each other. It means that each rider had to race at least 7 times to make the main, and at least once against every other competitor in the field.

“A week before the event 7 top American riders backed out without even telling us. Not only did they lose the chance of great media and spectator coverage, but also a $5000 purse. More than that it goes to show that these riders only halfheartedly care about mountain bike racing as much as they claim to.

“But we had a great time without them. How could we not with two of the current World Cup Champions, a current World Champion, the Gravity Calendar Champ, the current Norba number 1 and number 2 riders, and U.S. National number 2 in attendance? Larry Super Mouth Huffman did a sensational job of pumping the crowd up, and the halftime show with alternative rock band Ruin the Moment played very well; the fans loved them. We have set the template.”

LAS VEGAS ARENA MTN-X RESULTS

1. Petr Hanak (Cze)...Commencal

2. Rafael Alvarez (Spn)…Specialized

3. Aaron Gwin…Yeti-Fox

4. Dale Holmes (GBr)…KHS

5. Jake Kinney...Avent-Bombshell

8. Greg Minnaar (RSA)...Santa Cruz Syn

9. James Schwanke...Mongoose-Kenda-AXO-Oakley

10. Brian Schmith

11. Nathan Rennie (Aus)...Santa Cruz Syn

12. JD Swanguen...MS-Intense

13. Logan Binggeli...KHS

14. Brad Oien...odi-Southridge-Turner

15. Carter Holland...Black Market Bikes

15. Ian Odom...Brodie

17. Ryan Condrashoff...X-Fusion/Santa Cruz/Nema/Dean

18. Evelio Suarez...Ironhorse-Nema-SDG-odi

19. Jared Rando (Aus)...Giant

20. John Hauer...X-Fusion/Mongoose