This past weekend Rounds 5 & 6 of the Florida State Series was held at Okeeheelee BMX, in West Palm Beach, Florida. There was a much a lot of buzz circulating about in regard to the new track design. Word had spread all over Florida about the track changes and I believe that nobody walked away disappointed. The new layout is MUCH more “Pro Friendly.” The Okeeheelee crew lead by Mitch Horne and TC Cross did an amazing job in the layout and preparation of the course. The new layout features two pro straights running parallel to the amateur straights. For a good look at the track both normal view and a crazy helmet-cam clip log on too www.flbmx.com. Oh yeah, “Flat Stanley” made a guest appearance in West Palm Beach!

The MCS Factory Team was on hand to get some good scores in. Though Mother nature wanted to ruin every bodies day on Saturday by having a cold front move through the state. The morning was overcast and chilly until about 2:30 or so when the winds picked up and the rain began to fall. The SSA decided to put everything on hold after the semis and wait it out. The word was given to come back at 6pm and we’ll have a decision. Well that decision came3 early as at 5:45 it was announced that we would be racing at 6:30! They did their best to dry everything out, the turns and track were ok, but the same could not be said for the gate. A lot of riders were having wheel spin, but they got the mains done and everyone was happy just to have it over and done with.

Team wise, we pretty good with a couple hick-ups… Andres Jimenez had his hands full with 25 other pros (one of the biggest classes of the weekend). Hemi wasn’t able to make the main either day, but he was in decent spirits none the less. He knows that this was not a normal weekend and he’ll be back with a vengence at the next one. Raul Gomez used his HTA (Home Track Advantage) to take home wins in both classes on Saturday. Sunday he raced cruiser, scoring the win, and 30 and Over Open where he finished fourth. Petey Peters had a good day going on Saturday taking a third in 16-29 Open, but then ran into some problems (literally) when a couple guys fell at the end of the first straight and Petey got collected up into them. Sunday Petey would cruise the main in Open to save it for Class. That strategy paid off, cause he finished first place. Bryan Kipp looked super strong in Saturdays Open main were he finished 2nd, then hit the gate in Class and finished 7th. Sunday proved to be the better day for Kipper as he took 5th in Open (Again, choosing to save it for Class) and scoring 2nd in 16 Expert. Tucker Rice was his usual smooth self this weekend. Tuck would go 4 for 4, winning Class and Cruiser both days. Jeff DeVido scored himself a 7th place finish in 40-44 Cruiser on Saturday, but wasn’t able to get himself into the main on Sunday. Dean DeVido finished 5th the first day in 13 Expert, but didn’t qualify for Sundays main event. Perry DeVido scored a 6th on Saturday, and a 3rd on Sunday in 12 Novice. Amanda Geving was in Chula Vista, CA at a USAC Elite Women’s Training Camp, so she wasn’t able to race this round and Cory Watts is still on the IR list. Hopefully he will be back in time for the NBL Spring Break Nationals.

As for Team competition, we didn’t have a good day on Saturday. Raul and Tucker came through, but PTP and Kipper screwed the pooch! LOL! It’s ok, everyone got it together for Sunday. With 3 firsts and a deuce we were able to take home the win. I was hoping to get two “keeper” scores out of the weekend, but one will have to do. Hopefully we can get a couple in Highlands in a couple months…

Well, there are no races on the schedule for us for the month of March, but April proves to be a busy month with the NBL’s Easter and Gator Nationals, as well as, the ABA’s Dixieland National with a SSA Qualifier chaser in Highlands at the end of the month. Talk about hectic… Good thing we have a “Calm before the “Storm” comes in! I’m sure we will see you at one of those events. Well, we better! LOL! Good luck and keep the rubber side down!

As always, we would like to thanks our cosponsors: Odyssey (www.odysseybmx.com), Profile Racing (www.profileracing.com), Powerbar (www.powerbar.com), DNA Energy Drink (www.dnaenergydrink.com), THE (www.the-industries.com), Intense Tyres (www.intensetires.com), Sun Rims (www.sun-ringle.com), ODI Grips (www.odigrips.com), VANS Shoes (www.vans.com), Tangent Plates ( www.tangentproducts.com) and The Hot Shoppe (www.thehotshoppe.com)