Month: July 2009

The AMA Trials Nationals finished up in New York this past weekend.  Smagical star Cody Webb took the victories both days, but Pat Smage did what he had to do to clinch his 3rd straight National Championship.

A huge congrats goes out to Noel Smage, who also clinched the +50 National Title!  For a guy that spends more time in the tractor shredding the fields than he does on his bike, he sure can ride!    

 Everyone at 551 Films would like to take a moment and wish Will Ibsen a speedy recovery.  Will was involved in a horrific crash at the final round that left him pretty beat up.  Keep him in your thoughts and lets hope he is back on the podium in no time.

551Films.com destroyer Pat Smage continued his perfect season this past weekend in Vermont.   Pat went 1-1 over the weekend with suave style.  Smagical shredders Cody Webb and Will Ibsen traded places on the podium behind Pat each day.  Wilbur represent!

The OMA National Series rolled into Smagical Acres backyard, Hixton Wisconsin. One of Wisconsin’s premier motocross and off road facilities, CMJ Raceway, played host for weekend. 

 Paul Whibley pulled off another near-perfect ride, taking the win.  Jimmy Jarrett had a tough weekend, as a nasty late-race crash left him with a busted wrist.  Scott Watkins rode strong all day, battling with Jarrett for 2nd.  He eventually claimed the spot over Brian Garahan in 3rd.  

 The real standout, however, was Mr. Binz.  As many of you witnessed in Smagical Adventure 2, 9 months ago Binz broke his wrist in 32 places.  He recieved 2 plates and 8 screws and was told he would never regain movement, much less ride. 

 Today, however,  Binz suited up in his freshest Mongoose BMX pants and took to the “C” class.  Two laps and 3 piles of vomit later, his KLX 110 let go.  He was left stranded at the bottom of a 100 yard hill. 

 Phil and Pat were in the area filming a tricky off camber that was taking down quite a few guys, including Max Factor.  At first they though they heard a dying ostrich, but, in fact, it was Binz doing his best whacky-waving-inflatable-arm-man impression. 

 He broke the shift shaft just a mile away from finishing his third lap.  He emptied his stomach a few more times, then fell to the ground where he would lay until the crew headed to find some cliffs to ride unicycles off of. 

 Just before sunset they arrived at the spot.  There was a perfect runway off a 40 or so foot cliff into 300+ feet of water.  Pat and Phil jumped off it a few times on the unicycles and Papa and Rex did some one leggers off of it.  Binz flopped off the little cliff for a bit, and it was back to the track.  

 Monday brought some trials filming in the Quarry with Pat, Uphill whoops stocker race, a helmet cam loop around the OMA track with Rex, and Pat and Phil shredding the KTM’s at CMJ.  A thanks goes out to the OMA promoters for bringing the event to the Hixton location, and also to Owner Chris Halverson for his hospitality, for holding the event, and for not running Phil over with his own trials bike.  On the way home they stopped to check out the home of future Smagical ripper Justin Jelenik. They took the tour of the trials sections, then Phil and Rex skated the mini for a bit.  Being a “beginner skater”, Rex took a few comical slams dropping in, luckily, with cameras rolling.  Next up is the Las Vegas Endurocross.  Check back soon for some filming updates.

The crew decided to try something new the other night.  Phil has been messing around riding some trials with the 200, and has been getting ideas for some shots here and there.  It wasn’t until after watching some footage from the Ambition Snowskates team trip this past winter that it him them: night time riding shots.  The generators came out and the lights were lit.  The rest, well…you’ll see in SA3.  Here are some pictures from the night.  

In the motocross world, two words are synonymous with the nations birthday, Red Bud.  Buchanan Michigan is the what many consider one of the birthplaces for American Motocross.  Dating all the way back to 1974 when Kenny Zhart (the same Kenny Zhart who dialed in Phil’s klx 110 suspension for Mini Moto SX) took top honors at the first Red Bud on his Bultaco, Red Bud has been a fixture on the motocross map.

 The event had three days of racing, with the amateurs racing friday night, saturday night, sunday, and the pros taking to the track saturday afternoon.  Friday night was also the setting for the Parts Unlimited Pitbike Race.  Phil’s mod 110 ended up having an oil leak that was unable to be fixed in time for the race.  So the crew just came to cheer on 551Films riders’ Willy Browning, Troy Smalls, Paulie Harding, and Eric Utech.  The later three hovered around inside the top five in the stacked 110 Pro class, so a congrats goes out to the group.  Smagical 2 shredder Willy Browning took top honors on his CHP 110.  Joining the evenings racing festivities was an incredible display of fireworks that Red Bud is known for.

Saturday marked the time for the Pros to show what they know.  Smagical 2 cover boy Willy Browning swapped his 110 out for a 250F and qualified for the Pro main event. Jake Wiemer took the overall in 250’s with a 2-4, Christophe Pourcel 2nd, and KTM’s Tommy Searle 3rd.  In the big bike class Josh Grant became a first time national winner with a 2-1,  points leader Chad Reed 2nd, and last rounds winner Ivan Tedesco 3rd.

On the ride home the crew ran into some 4th of July traffic.  This made it possible for them to read each of the 6,000 Krazy Kaplans billboards that littered the highway.  With Hochmuth the pyro along on the trip, it was inevitable that a stop was in order.  Everyone loaded up with some roman candles and other pain inducing fireworks.  Just as the van was loaded, Hock came up with the idea of a parking lot roman candle battle.  They kept the van running, grabbed the cameras, and shot flaming balls at each other.  551 Films hopes everyone had a grand 4th of July and that they celebrated it a little safer than we did.

551 Films rider Pat Smage has been doing his own video series for a couple of years.  He recently started his own Youtube monthly updates.  The updates include a  mix of incredible footage, edited by Pat himself.  Check out the link:    and eeeeeeeenjooooooy.

 The lush, rolling Tennessee mountains are home to more than just the Kimball Rollerskating Rink, they also house the legendary Trials Training Center (www.trialstrainingcenter.com).  Every type of terrain is well represented at the TTC, making it the perfect stop for rounds 3 and 4 of the AMA Trials National Championship.  The crew arrived late friday afternoon after a few stops to check out some land for sale in the area.   Light was sparse, so a quick trip up to Lampkins Falls was the only riding to be done.  

Saturday started off with hot temperatures and sun.  It seemed as the temperatures skyrocketed, so did Pat’s riding level.  Pat also raised the bar for loop scores, dropping just a single dab on his first time around the 12 sections.  He followed that up with an equally impressive 2 points on his second loop.  Cody Webb did his best to keep Pat honest, riding strong and stacking clean after clean. 

Heading into the 4 Pro Shootout sections, however, Pat had a firm grasp on the lead.  The shootout sections mimicked the top line in the FIM World Rounds, so difficulty was definitely on the mind of all the top 5 qualified Pros.  Then in rained.  Steady downpours greeted the riders as they dropped into each section. The riders rose to the occasion, with cleans being scored consistantly.  Pat kept on his “A game” the entire time, losing only a few marks and cleaning sections that most thought were impossible in the conditions. 

Pat and Phil’s cousin Erin ended up taking more of a beating than most of the riders.  Ronnie Como’s bike took a wrong turn up section 3’s opening splatter and his bike flipped out of control and came to a rest on her right knee.  She toughed it out and stayed to watch Pat throw a victory 1 footer off the final seven foot rock drop.  Pat 1st, Cody 2nd, and Will Ibsen 3rd. 

Sunday was much of the same for the Pros, as Pat set a pace that was too solid for the rest of the class to match.  The podium remained the same in all three positions. Some incredible rides were thrown down by the whole group, with MavTV.com there to document the action.  

    Phil decided  to save the $100 minder fee, and his body, and rode Expert this weekend.  One thing that didnt change was his JLaw-esque reputation with the NATC.  After getting penalty points before even starting for being late (with no start time to be found), he was still the final rider on the course got and got DNF’d for not getting his finishing time written on the scorecard. 

Sunday was better for “Smagical”, as the first points on his card this time were from actually dabbing.  After taking an extended first loop break to rub the crazy cramps out of his arms, it was crunch time.  Phil had 1 hour to finish his last 2 loops.  Most of the other guys thought it would be impossible to finish in time, but Phil saw it as an oppourtunity to turn the loop into one big endurocross track.  With it being so late, most of the other competitors were already finished, so a clear track lay ahead.  He kept his bike running the whole time and skipped checking out the sections beforehand, finishing exactly on his minute.  

Team 551 films rider Noel “Papa” Smage took over his class’s points lead with a solid 2-2 showing on the weekend.  For a guy who rarely practices, the eldest Smage sure can rip.

Everyone decided to hang around an extra day and do some filming on the 200.

  After bagging some shots they headed to Foster Falls in search of walls to climb up and cliffs to jump off.  A few busted feet later, and it was time to head back to Smagical Acres. 

Check back next week for some more filming teaser shots.  The night time is the right time…

551 Films is off to the Red Bud MX national.  We’d like to wish you all a  happy 4th of July weekend.  In order to properly celebrate the holiday…make your eyes smile with some of Phil’s “style”…