The Inaugural Moto Beach Classic at Bolsa Chica State Beach
The inaugural Moto Beach Classic started out as a wild idea and developed into a Southern California cultural explosion. The one-day festival brought together Super Hooligan street bike flat track racing, drag and mini bike racing, No Limit stunt shows, surf contests, art, music, food, custom motorcycles and of course, the love for two wheels. From sunup to sundown, SeaLegs at the Beach in Bolsa Chica was at capacity and filled with lovers of all types of creativity and counterculture. At any given moment, engines could be heard on the purpose-built hooligan flat track while waves were crashing as some of the West Coast’s best surfers competed for bragging rights in the WCBR Surf Competition. Live music from talented bands such as Black Uhuru, Unwritten Law, and Lit performed until the doors closed on what many thought was one of the most entertaining and authentic moto events to hit the coast of California in years.
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And because that's not gnarly enough, race day was also the day that one lucky Hooligan would win a brand new Indian FTR Purpose-built Flat track race bike. Three riders had the opportunity to snag the unicorn and bring her home in a winner-take-all double points finale. Fortunately, Alex Mock of DRT Racing, along with his crew made short work of wrangling the Hooligans and keeping the program running like clockwork.
The ultimate prize, an Indian Motorcycle FTR750 was up for grabs to the SHNC Series Champion, and three riders had the opportunity to take home the bike in a winner-take-all double points finale. Points leader and Grand National Champion, Joe Kopp, was leading Brad Spencer by a single point, with Andy DiBrino trailing by only 10 points – all three were in contention for the FTR.
Mikey Virus took the 1K Dunlop Dash for Cash in a sneak preview of the front runners for the evening.
Local spoiler, first timer and eventual double winner, Frankie Garcia, ended up with the Super Hooligan main event win on a freshly prepped Ducati Scrambler, and took home an Airtrix custom painted Bell Helmet, amongst other prizes. Mikey Virus of the Rusty Butcher team took a close second on his HD Sportster, and also took home the K&N Holeshot award. This left the battle for the Super Hooligan Championship wide open with Joe Kopp and Brad Spencer scrapping for the fourth position.
As racing goes, you put two competitors together vying for the prize and shit can happen, as it certainly did when Spencer tapped Kopp’s rear wheel in turn three resulting in both riders losing several positions with only a few laps to go. This scrap and loss of position by the two points leaders nudged DiBrino into the SHNC points lead with his third place finish. A double points round is bound to stir up the leaderboard, and proved to do so by placing DiBrino in the lead by a mere one point over previous leader, Joe Kopp. Robert Bush finished 4th on the Deus machine with Johnny Murhpee a close 5th on the RSD Pickle Tracker. Joe Kopp finished up 6th, James Monaco 7th, LCQ winner Troy Hoff was 8th, Joey Robinson 9th, Brad Spencer 10th, local hooligan Jason Klements 11th, Jordan Baber 12th and Chris McDougal ended his night with a DNF after crashing at the beginning of the race.
Sponsor and Indian Motorcycle partner, Baume & Mercier supplied custom engraved Clifton Club watches to SHNC runner ups Joe Kopp and Brad Spencer. Speakeasy Original provided custom Super Hooligan Championship rings to the top five leaders as well, which included Jordan Baber and Jordan Graham. Smokey Elford, a vintage Indian bike builder of Smokeys Classic Motorcycles in Long Beach, was dubbed with the Motul Cleanest Bike award at the event. It was Super Hooligan National Championship winner, Andy DiBrino, who took home the lions share of the prizes, as well as a $2,500 check from Bell Helmets for his accomplishments. Hooligans were not the only guys ripping around the track, as multiple classes hit the dirt including: Open Pro, Cycle Zombies Degenerate Choppers, Born Free Tank Shifters, VonZipper Vintage and Run What Ya Brung, where winners of each class were presented a custom trophy by FMF Racing.
The BMW Boxer Cup Challenge featured a host of riders from diverse backgrounds. Frankie Garcia, who won the Super Hooligan finale, also took home the sprint race win in a hard fought duel with Kevin Duke. It was a tough crowd with legends like Nitro Circus star Andy Bell going out in the first round, Shameless’ Justin Chatwin, custom builder Maxwell Hazan, Cycle World’s Sean MacDonald and seasoned photographer Preston Burroughs behind the bars - anything could happen on the sandy narrow course.
The Vendor Village was lined from asphalt to sand with industry leading manufactures such as Vance & Hines, Performance Machine and Von Zipper, to local dealerships Orange County Indian, Kiwi Indian, Long Beach BMW, Irv Seaver Motorcycles and Huntington Beach Harley Davidson along with Yamaha and the Ducati Scrambler Demo Bus. Interspersed were local style makers Brian Bent, Speakeasy Original and Stellar Moto amongst dozens of additional moto and surf vendors including: CutRate, Heroes Motorcycles, MoonEyes, MotoGeo and Riot Cycles. This eclectic grouping of large companies and individual shops lent to a high energy atmosphere where attendees could enjoy a cold beer at the Pacifico Airstream or opt for a spiked drink served up at the Red Bull Energy bar.
The Hurley Printing Press also set up shop in the vendor village for attendees to create shirts to help support Waves 4 Water charity. RSD partnered with Bonnier Motorcycle Group, and designer Matt Allard of Inked Iron, to support the "Come Hell or High Water" shirt that was sold to raise funds for recent hurricane relief efforts. All of the proceeds went to hurricane relief efforts.
Throughout the day there were amazing performances by legendary reggae band Black Uhuru, Spendtime Palace and Wargirl. As night fell, Unwritten Law put on an epic performance with Lit finishing the final musical performance of the festival.