My wife and I attended our first American Flat Track motorcycle Race. This was also the first time we had been to the West Virginia Motor Speedway.
I went as a fan, not part of the press, primarily because this was a last moment decision. As a fan I had a lot of fun! The dark brown clay-based track was in good condition, the racing was fast and exiting. The venue was quite nicely laid out, easy to get around both or food and visiting the pits.
We arrived just before qualifying started and stayed until the twins race finished. My favorite flat track racers did not do so well Shana Texter-Bauman missed qualifying in the singles but did get a provisional entry to ride in the main event and JD Beach finished 4th in the twins final.
Part of the event was the Royal Enfield Build Tran Race (BTR). Royal Enfield is sponsoring a women’s only series of races one of which was held at the speedway. The women get a Royal Enfield 650 which they “Build” a race bike, then they get professional “Training” and then race a series of six American Flat Track events. While there was a great disparity of talent the race for first place was very exciting. Morgan Monroe pulled out the win by .4 of a second.
The venue itself, the West Virginia Motor Speedway, was very nice. The “seats” were “bring your own chair” to place on the terraced “grandstand”. Our location provided good views of everything but the start and part of the front straight. Luckly most of the action in flat track is in the turns and we got great views of all that work.
The only major issue I had with the speedway was the sound system. Even with just four motorcycles racing in the Mission Foods Challenge races you could not hear the commentary.
Speaking of Mission Foods, they are a primary sponsor of both American Flat Track and MotoAmerica and had a booth at the track. They were giving away chips and tortillas to all in attendance. We have been using Mission Food products for years, this and this was just a race day bonus!!
*****
Ride on, Ride safe
