The Gravity Slashers tour headed to the great state of Utah this week and we were stoked to be visiting the home of the Great Salt Lake. Traveling all over the country announcing professional motorsports is a terrific job and I really love it, but not always for the reasons most people think. Don’t get me wrong it is awesome watching the best riders in the world ply their trade on the dirt, in the air, on the water or on the pavement and getting paid to talk about it in front of thousands of people, but one of the things I enjoy most is meeting the people who come to the events, especially the younger fans. It is a thrill to see the kids scream and go crazy when they see their first back flip, and the look on their faces when they meet aforementioned back-flipper after the show and get his autograph. There was no shortage of great fans in Utah this weekend, both young and not so young and as always I tried to meet them all.
Things started off at a rather pedestrian pace for me, which is good since those of you that have followed my adventures in the past know my luck with air travel is less than spectacular. One of my goals when I get on the road is to get you as far back stage as I can and let you see what happens when the lights are off and the guys let their hair down. One of the guys I really wanted to get reacquainted with was Rich Kearns. Those of you who are familiar with Rich know he was one of the future stars of the FMX world just a couple of years ago, but RK started a business and spread himself a little thin and wasn’t able to focus totally on his riding. Well last year Rich had an epiphany and decided to get back to riding full time. He sold the business, jettisoned all the baggage and headed to the Southwest to get serious. Wow has that turned out to be a great decision. He has remade himself into, arguably, one of the top 5 competition riders in the country. To his already impressive arsenal of tricks he has added all the flip variations and looks completely relaxed on the bike. I spent about an hour with Rich just clownin’ around on the arena floor and he told me how happy he is to be able to just go out and ride. He loved owning and running his business but the constant pressure took its toll on him and helped him realize where he really wanted to be and that was competing on a dirt bike. I have no doubt you will see multiple podium finishes for “Richy” Rich this year and I look forward to watching him continue to develop into the star he will not doubt become.
There was bit of an anomaly this weekend because we had a Sunday afternoon show. That would be unusual all by itself, but add to the mix the fact that we were in Salt Lake City AND the Sundance film festival was going on just up the road which meant no one was getting out of town on Sunday. Everything worked out great on the whole with a great show and the entire crew getting together Sunday night for dinner. Usually we have to roll out early and don’t have a chance to just hang. The crew is like a family and we bring the riders with us when we can. This week the lucky moto head was Juliann Dusseau. He has been touring and riding for close to 10 years and had all kinds of old school stories to share with us. We took a little tour of downtown Salt Lake and ended up at a little pub that was hosting an open mic night. Well, it goes without saying with the FMX crew in the house it was a tough crowd for the comedians. It was all good though, and the bar owner ended up buying us a round and thanking us for helping make the night funnier than ever.
Monday at the airport was interesting. There were more stars than I could count being ushered thru the terminal and it is interesting to see how differently they are treated in security than the rest of us. I ended up sitting in the Sky Club with a couple of well know celebs and I think I might be the “other” guy in a paparazzi photo or two. Whatev’. I’d like to tell you the whole weekend went smoothly but I should have knownbetter than to jinx myself by mentioning my luck with the airlines. When I got back to the Winter Wonderland we call Michigan my friends at Q#$%@# Air Lines (name redacted to protect the innocent) decided I didn’t need my luggage. I waited around for an hour or two and was told it was “pending”. I have no idea what that means, but I’ll let you know more next week when we head to Wichita, KS. It should be a great weekend, two shows and a stacked line up of riders. Get on GravitySlasher.com and grab your tickets early for the best seats in the house and don’t forget to friend us on Facebook. All the riders and the announcers read the post regularly and will definitely answer your questions. If you have any questions or comments for the guys or me, hit me with an e-mail at
mxannouncer@hotmail.com
. David Knisley