Last weekend, I, along with my brother, my dad, and Doug and Chris Mowery, made the 14 hour trip to the Atlanta Supercross. For all of us, this was our first Atlanta SX but I was playing role of tour guide let's say since I went to 6 previous SX races in my life. It was pretty cool to see supercross once again, which doesn't happen much at all in the Northeast area. We left for Atlanta around 4pm Friday and wasn't too happy about that since I was missing the kickass DMXS pre-party! But oh well, maybe next year! So after a crazy night of driving and a brief stop with Virginia State Police, we were rolling into Atlanta Saturday around noon. We got there just in time for practice at 12:30pm and I, myself, watched all of practice while the rest cruised the pits.
When I made it to the pits to check out the new teams and all that industry stuff, I ran into some friends of mine, Alyssa Wald, Mike Gesso, Adam Wald and his GF, and Anthony Roth and his GF. They have been in FL for awhile and haven't seen them in awhile so it was cool to meet up and have Gesso demanding his promo video ASAP on the spot. (And have the word "McMuffin" oddly go around.....still not getting that fellas).
Also, I met up with the infamous Wes Cain at the DNA Energy Drink rig to talk about his asskicking performance for one night at Loretta Lynn's....still! It was about his video I did of him and all and then he dropped a bombshell with the following line: "What?! You got tickets! Dude, I had all access passes for you bud! Should have called up and met up and you woulda been in!" Talk about blowing it. I had Wes' number and all. I just didn't do the physical and mental exercise procedure to make that happen. Oh well, next year.....save 'em for me Wes! I briefly met up with Kevin Kelly from DMXS Radio, as well, and we just talked about how things were going and all that good stuff. It was cool to catch up on some things. Maybe we can work out another show appearance down the road.....? We'll see what happens there!
The primary reason for going to Atlanta was to check out local boy Phil Nicoletti race his first professional SX race with the new Team Xtreme/Motosport Outlet Kawasaki team. After years of tough luck and successful rides, it was absoultely amazing to see Phil signing autographs and being in the whole limelight of supercross. I remember on amateur day at the Broome-Tioga National back a few years ago, he was hanging with a kid named Mike Alessi on a Honda CR85 and it was Phil and Mike that were battling all weekend and was the only rider to keep pace and battle with the young phenom at the time. With his great rides at Loretta's in 2007 and years past, something had to happen for Phil for 2008. He proved himself enough all year long and it is great to see Phil make it. It's not just he's a local boy from the District 34 area. I have seen and experienced his troubles on and off the track and it has been a really rough road for Phil. At Loretta's 2007, his collarbone was literally inches out of his skin and he rode through the worst of pain to finish 3rd overall in the MX Lites A-Pro Sport class (Canard and Izzi were 1st and 2nd). At Atlanta, Phil looked good and it was a good race to just see how things would play out in his first ever supercross. He had tough luck in the Main Event after a hard getoff shortly after the start. He was sitting around the top 5 area until going down with Ryan Villopoto, which started RV's unfortunate train wreck. But we were all proud of Phil to see where he is now and we wish him the best in his professional career. As much fun I had watching Phil race his first SX, it was even cooler to watch Trey Canard out there racing his first SX, as well. I met Trey a bunch of times throughout the year in 2007. From Loretta's to Steel City, Trey was always upbeat, friendly, and great to talk to. We need more people like Trey out there for sure. After dominating every lap in his heat race, it definitely looked like Trey was a heavy favorite for the win, but with a field that included Ryan Villopoto and Josh Grant, it was sure going to be tough, especially for his first SX. Well, I was obviously wrong as he led every single lap in the main event took the win! I'm proud for Trey and wish him the best and hopefully this will be start of an amazing streak for Trey! The Supercross class, I thought, was going to be a Chad Reed runaway but whew, Davi Millsaps.....huge win for sure. Chad had a rough night for the 2nd weekend in a row, but Davi put it to him all night. Kevin Windham got second and has always impressed me since day one. His intro video at opening ceremonies was so cool BTW. Tim Ferry and Andrew Short had an amazing battle in the main event for the 3rd podium spot. Ferry was on it all night. His bike just seemed to get through everything with ease. I'm glad Honda went 1-2-3 on the podium since they had a rough time of it the past few years. Josh Hill was another rider who impressed me. He was doing a double-triple-double section that no one was doing and it did seem a lil faster and I don't think anyone caught on to it. This is his learning year in the 450 class but wow, he's definitely doing way better than when he was on the 250Fs. But what was the highlight of the weekend. RC on a two stroke brappin' all over the Georgia Dome. It was so cool to hear that sweet sound make its way over the triples and whoops. And he still freakin' rips!! And I tell ya. You know you have achieved a lot in your career when you get your own practice session! That was so cool and he earned every lap! RC is the GOAT! HG Films in March 2008 In the Northeast, the motocross races start to kick into gear in March. After a dreaded snowy/sleety/rainy time in January and February, HG Films was forced to keep the camera a rest throughout that time due to keep my job at UPS! I was able to get 2 videos done up. One of Gregg Duffy from last year's footage and one of some OP action from Blue Diamond on February 9th. As March approaches, I plan on hitting up some local races around the Northeast and promote my latest DVD, "Moto Xposure 3: The Xposure Continues". I will be filming less than usual but the camera will be in full force at the Budds Creek LL qualifier and giving you full coverage of the event. Check out the "Schedule" page on the left to see what races I will be hittting up for 2008.
This winter was all web design work for me. The folks at Blue Diamond MX Park put me to work this winter on their new track web site, which you can check out at www.bdmxpark.com. This was my first website design, other than Holeshot Graphics and this site, that I have constructed. Blue Diamond is also talking about doing more track changes for 2008 and I have been asked to help design some plans for a new race track! So, be ready to see some amazing changes throughout the year and see all the changes in time for the Delaware States and Fall Classic races in Fall 2008. This site has also had a few changes and tweaks over the winter time. I had a pretty nice Flash gallery for my videos going until some things didn't work out well like I wanted to. So, I ended going back to the old format that I used last year with a better looking style and you can check that out at the "Videos" page on the left! More cool stuff from t-shirts to even Moto Xposure 3 bike graphics are on the drawing board next month as well! So, keep checking back for more cool updates in the future!
With technology today changing like a nervous C rider, new things are happening in the video world these days, both on the Internet, on TV, and everything in between. At HG Films, I try to keep up with these new trends and ways of displaying or working on my videos. With the Internet, it's all about high quality videos and fast downloads....but that all depends on your connection most of the time. Last year, I had a special iPod download feature that can show my videos on your iPod. This year, I plan on working on more of a podcast format which you can directly download from iTunes. TV is such a hit or miss market but so far for 2008, ESPN has called me about footage I have of James Marshall they want to use for a segment for a show they are doing. So, that's a huge plus there for myself and James and hopefully, everything works well with that.
And then, the dreaded 2 letter acronym: HD. With everything going to High Definition these days, it is only an amount of time before I get my hands on a HD camera for the races I go to. I have seen the quality of HD, much thanks to the flat screen in my living room, and I get more in love with it each time I see the amazing quality that HD delivers. When will HG Films go HD? Time will tell....and how it financially works for me. I am super excited about HD but like any new technology out there, there is a big price tag to it. Hoepfully, it'll happen sooner than I would think.
Then, there is Moto Xposure 3. Sales have been lackluster the past month, much to the off season blues, but things are looking up for my new DVD. I have sold just over 600 copies so far in 2 months, which is nearly as half as what I sold of Moto Xposure 2 to this date from Janruay 31st, 2007. Also, MXP3 was nominated for a Xtremey Award for the first time, much thanks to Impact Video. MXP3 is nominated for "Best Amateur Race Video of 2007", along with RS Films' "Velocity 2" and Gear Media's "Loretta Lynn's Amateur Motocross Championship" DVD set. I am excited to get this type of recognition and you can make it happen by voting today at www.xtremey.net! Voting ends March 31st. So vote today!! The Xtremey Awards will be held on April 27th in Santa Ana, California.
Well,
that's what I been up to!
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