National Motocross Returns to Southwick!

I hadn't realized this until now (about three months behind the news) but its great news for offroad racing of any kind here in the Northeast.

After two years away, a change in promoters, a reacquiring of town permits and a rebuilding of its AMA relationship, the sand of Southwick, MA will see a national level motocross event in '16.  Last held in '13 with the 450 class won by Ryan Dungey and the 250 class won by Broc Tickle, the Southwick event is likely the largest pure offroad event in New England and its not likely that anything is even a close second.

Scheduled for Saturday 7/9/16 tickets are already on sale and available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/red-bull-southwick-national-motocross-2016-tickets-19320759913

I can tell you from having attended the event before, if you are going to attend, be prepared for a hot day and TONS of people with little room if you are holding a "general admission" ticket.  This was about as or more crowded an event as any concert I've been to with long lines for bathrooms and food/drink.  The action is great and you can be right on top of the track, the grounds are beautiful with the greenest of grass and pine trees and the most wonderfully tan sand/dirt track manicured as if it were Augusta National...but its not an event for those looking for cushy conditions on the cheap...If you have the ability to buy a VIP ticket that includes an all day pit pass, private bathroom and viewing areas, they are highly recommended.

Regardless, it will be great to has such a prestigeous and nationally known offroad event return to New England.  Website here: http://thewick338.com

2015 NASA Rally Sport Schedule

Well, this looks like what we have so far. There are rumors that there may be another event or more (?) added to the schedule that don't appear in this video but this is what exists so far and are the longer running, reliable events. It also doesn't include Hyperfest which is a typical event that is very short in nature but a good time and a points (though at a reduced rate) event for the Atlantic Rally Cup) race. Nice to see Rally Idaho and Magnum Opus back again in '14. Hopefully I'll be racing at a number of these!

TV Show Review: Helix

I wanted to like this show...I REALLY did.  I gave it three episodes but now I have to let it go.

The premise is right up my alley.  A kind of sci-fi show revolving around a secret biological facility in Greenland that has been working on various scary viruses and one gets "loose" within the facility's population, drawing in a team from the CDC to look into the matter.

You have the clean background of the arctic vs. the black goop that the virus turns the infected body into.  You have the mysterious corporation that is trying to control the virus for its own purposes. And you have all of this on the SyFy channel where you hope the program can be a bit edgy, dark and odd...

Unfortunately I should have known better from the network that has made its bones recently off of broadcasting WWE wrestling and movies like Sharknado.

Sure, there are a few qualities about the show I like-- Hiroyuki Sanada as Dr. Hiroshi Hatake is quite good as the lead corporate scientist in charge of the facility.  I first saw him in Danny Boyle's Sunshine and he is quite good in his role.  And there are some of the special effects--particularly the body ones where human bodies have been liquified or an infected individual spreads the virus to another by disgorging the black goop in mouth to mouth contact with its target.

Unfortunately SyFy meager budget, poor casting and weak directing kills the show for me.  Some of the props (Hello high school science lab face shields??  What are you doing here??) and special effects are EXTREMELY cheap, giving the show a decidedly D-movie feel to it at times.

The casting is also extremely weak...likely driven out of budgetary reasons.  Billy Campbell is barely acceptable as the head CDC scientist and primary character in the show but the supporting cast (outside of Sanada) is BRUTAL.  Beyond bad.  Like so bad I want to turn my eyes from the screen bad.  There is nothing believable or remotely realistic about the acting by most of the cast--made all the worse by terrible wardrobe choices as well.  The head of security for the base is a chubby male in his late twenties who looks about as ready to secure a facility as I do to join the Navy Seals.  And this is just one of the numerous poor casting and wardrobe choices for the characters.  The choices seem almost childlike in their stupidity--like someone was making a joke of a scifi program--virtually every single one is a disaster of one proportion or another.

Lastly the directing--its like someone threw a catalog of good scifi movies at the directors and said--here!  Make a TV show like this!  In the first three episodes we have direct ripoffs of the scene from Alien where Tom Skeritt searches for the titular monster through the metal airshafts as well as a scene from The Thing where Wilfred Brimley wields an ax against his comrades.  Each scene is so blatantly ripped off its like you are watching a Simpsons parody of the real thing.

This is all truly a shame as SyFy but a lot of marketing and focus on this series as a seeming attempt to get back to real programming.  It unfortunately fails on far too many levels for me to spend any more time with it.

Skullcandy Nissan Returning in '14 to the IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge

The black clad Skullcandy Nissan Altima's will be returning to the race circuit in 2014 after a solid effort in '13.  Its two car team finished 11th and 20th overall for the year out of 39 teams with one race win and a number of top ten finishes within the ST class.  It also looks like they have added a 370Z to their racing stable and will compete in the next rung up, GS class, in the IMSA CTSCC, having shown a fully race ready Z at SEMA '13 a couple months back.

The factory based series often runs on the same weekend as the high end TUDOR United SportsCar Championship (formerly the Rolex series).  The 2014 season will be 12 races long, up from 10 in '13 with the first event coming on 1/24/14 at Daytona prior to the 24 Hours of Daytona TUDOR event.

Skullcandy Nissan 2014 Plans...

NISMO Stuff Racing 2013 Schedule

We're a week into 2013 and to be honest this schedule has been in the works for a bit as I go over the mileage, entry fees, dates, locations, etc.

In 2012 I personally entered four events--Sandblast, Hyperfest, Rally West Virginia and Black River Stages.  I had intended on entering Charlevoix as well but given the late season dip in the pond for the race truck I decided against it.  The NISMO Stuff race truck also entered and finished the New England Forest Rally with Jamie Beliveau as well.

My plan for 2013 includes only a single repeat event of those I have run before--Black River Stages as I feel I want payback for this year on those roads and it is still one of the closest rallies to me.  I have added three Quebec Rally Series events to my schedule for a number of reasons--entry fee costs, close proximity and scheduling (all are on a Saturday and are one day events limiting my time away from home and work).

I will genuinely miss both Sandblast and Rally West Virginia this year as they are fantastic events with Sandblast being my favorite event that I've run so far due to the very different surface it takes place on.  Hopefully in addition to the below events the NISMO Stuff Racing Frontier will also make it out to a hillclimb or two and/or a rallycross event or so.  NEFR would be nice to run as well but is quite expensive.  The below is what I consider to be my baseline and not the "limit" of what I will look to do in '13.  As always I would be glad to have along anyone looking for a good time, low pressure racing and a cool adventure.  Oh, and if you've got a vehicle that can tow and/or a trailer that would be icing on the cake!  Just make sure to have your passport this year!  Based on this schedule we should get in some 450 stage racing miles which is more than what we did in 2012 and we'd be hitting up some of the more interesting rally terrain in the Northeast with BIG crowds attending all the Quebec located events.

Let me know if you have any questions or were considering coming on board for the adventure as a copilot, crew, transportation support, or just fan who wants to hang out drink beer and watch rally!!

Empire State Performance Rally, Rocky Hill, NY  April 20-21
Rally Saguenay, Saguenay, Quebec  June 16th
Rally Lac Aux Sables, Lac Aux Sables, Quebec, August 10th
Black River Stages, Harrisville, NY  September 14th
Rally Charlevoix, Clermont, Quebec  October 26th