Smagical Weekly #3
It was an off weekend at Smagical Acres. The moto season is winding down, and the snowskate season is still on its way, so we decided to go check out Smagical shredder J.J. Flairty and friends ride Horizons Trails. Enjoy.
It was an off weekend at Smagical Acres. The moto season is winding down, and the snowskate season is still on its way, so we decided to go check out Smagical shredder J.J. Flairty and friends ride Horizons Trails. Enjoy.
Fall in Wisconsin usually means cold temperatures, freezing rain, and more of natures tricks to keep people indoors. Nearly 50 riders braved the dreary looking morning, endured the snow on the drive, and were rewarded to a prime mini track coupled with great weather. The clouds opened up after morning practice, and gave way to plentiful sun throughout the day.
What began a few years back as a few buddies ramming stockers into each other, has quickly turned into a “high stakes” event, at least in terms of big dollar bikes cruising through the pits. Tom Neilson took note of this and made sure there were classes for all bikes and riders. Tom stacked the classes, from 50 and 110 stock/mod classes, to youth and vet classes, team races, tag, even a slow race for the trials riders out there.
Spectators came out in heards when the word spread about the number of fast wisconsin MXers pre entered in the event. Throw in free food, door prizes, and free beer and you have and event thats almost as fun to watch as it is to ride! The pits were packed, parking was full, and all was set for a great showdown.
The racing was intense throughout all the classes. One thing that remained consistent throughout the day was the Kevin Popaeko rode almost every race and landed on the podium in most of them. Phil took the slow race win, while Matty Maier took the overall Brawl for It All.
With winter approaching, and the new snowskate edit in the works, its time to take a look at some old footage. Here is an edit from Phil’s 07 winter snowskate season. Enjoy until the new edit comes out.
551 Films is proud to present a weekly video update for the viewers pleasure. The updates will range from weekend activities, to Smagical 2 throwback segments. This weeks video contains off the walls action from the Smage Bros. recent riding show at Adrenaline Powersports. So click the link, sit back, crack open that Go Fast! energy drink and enjoy the show.
The day started off as soon as the sun began to rise. It was a busy one, with two hour-long riding shows at a nearby school, followed by 3 shows the same night at KnuckleHead Fest. First up to bat was a few hundred screaming kids. The show started with some riding, then broke into a Q and A session with the youngsters.
After a few backflip questions, the challenges came out. They started with some simple endo tricks. But as the challenges kept rolling in, the difficulty increased rapidly. For once, Phil was glad to be at the Mic when a student challenged Pat to do a three-minute long wheelie. By the time the stop watch clicked 3:00, Pat had completed a couple dozen circle wheelies around the show trailer, and his arms were spent.
After the school-age demos, the gang had enough time to throw some lunch down the hatch before it was off to set up for Knucklehead Fest in Eagle, Wi. The forecast called for beautiful weather all weekend long, and beautiful weather it was for this last weekend of summer; aka Labor Day Weekend. Everyone was looking forward to the Smage Pond Party on Sunday, but in the meantime the Smage Brothers had some shows to put on and many smiles to disperse of!
Upon Wilbur the goat van’s arrival, everyone soon found out that the SmageShercoSales/551Films.com riding show wasn’t the only sweet act in town. The Wall of Death rig soon overshadowed the Sherco rig on KnuckleHeadFest’s infield, but these two great acts worked together to make for one fine weekend of Harley fans getting to see two great shows back to back to back. Combining some good trials balancing skills with the skills of the old, crazy Wall of Death guy’s holding it pinned on their old school Harleys, this was set out to be a good weekend!
Pat’s spirits were low about this particular show as he thought there would be minimal activities to do as this seemed like just another Harley party. Another Harley party it was indeed, but one for everyone of all ages to partake in! The Fest had a mechanical bull on site, an Army pull-up bar with free t-shirts, a burnout pit, a wine tasting bar, an on site dyno, live bands, and much more.
It looked more like a small village, with some great festivities thrown in the mix! This, along with some sweet bikes to look at, and Phil’s encouragement, quickly lifted Pat’s spirits and his Sherco atop the demo rig to start off the first show of the weekend.
The Saturday sunshine brought out more crowds for the last and final day of shows. Along with the crowds came Uncle Wild Bill, and Uncle Circe. It seemed as if none of the Harley faithful wanted to put their high dollar bikes in the burnout pit as it remained untouched. With a little bit of RexKwando’s coaxing, and some cameras, Wild “one arm” Bill (aka PDB Unit) would be the first one to sack up and stack up some footage in the burnout pit. Stack some footage he did indeed!
With a big smile and a bigger cloud of smoke behind that smile, PDB Unit started out the 2009 burnout pit with great fashion. The Harley faithful soon rose to the occasion as they weren’t going to get shown up by PDB’s Honda CBX, with one arm nonetheless! But first, the burnout pit would claim the rear tire of a street bike that sent both the rider and his date looking for a new ride home. The pit then claimed the clutch of the first Harley in, and what smelled like the transmission on the fourth and final burnout contestant of the night.
Uncle Circe would shortly thereafter claim the ankle of RexKwando the announcer while pulling one of his patented pranks. This however, did not stop the Smage Bros or Kwandy Kwanderson from putting on a great third and final show! The Harley faithful was once again left with their jaws sagging into their beverage of choice for the night. The crew then ventured to check out some of what the village within a fairgrounds had to offer and get some of that sweet John Denver flowing in their ears.
Muskego, WI is the hometown of the newest foam pit in the midwest. It’s Owner, Rick, used his passion for action sports to create what is now called Adrenaline Sports. The store isn’t just about products though, as a quick wheelie to the back of the building will reveal an entire skatepark, complete with a trampoline and foam pit.
Venturing outside, attendees were greeted with the sprawling 551 Films/Smage Shero Sales/EVS demo trailer and the Aerotek BMX box jump. Venders outlined the two show rigs with products, while Monster and Vitamin Water kept the crowds both hydrated and energized. FM 102.1 was on hand to keep the athletes and store-goers pumped on being stoked with some good tunes.
The Aerotek guys worked side by side with the Smage Bros and the two groups entertained in harmony, with shows running back to back through the day. The motorless magicians kicked off each hour of entertainment throwing high flying “gnarly-manuevers” into the sky for 25 minutes straight.
Highlights include stretched out superman tailwhips, no-handed front flips, and one of the smoothest backflip tailwhips ever done. They also had a some dialed in flat-land riders on hand to wow the onlookers with some crazy concrete combos.
Once the Aerotek show wrapped up, Pat and Phil fired their Shercos to life. The show began with both riders selecting a kid from the crowd and riding up to them as Rex Kwando introduced the brothers. Each rider had to balance and hand out some swag.
Pat passed over a GoFast! Energy Drink, while Phil handed out a 551Films/Ambition Snowskate/EVS/KBC Helmets/Xtremegrip/One Industries Poster. WIth the goodies in their rightful hands, Pat and Phil wheelied off to the trailer.
Some show highlights include Phil giving Kwandy quite a scare as he held and endo straight up and down between his legs for several seconds as gas started to leak from his cap, Pat chased Rex around the trailer on his back wheel, and Troy Smalls braved the consequences and let his hat be removed by a front wheel, just centimeters from his face.
After the shows were completed, the fun really began. Rick opened his skatepark doors to Pat and Phil on their Shercos. It was the brothers first time getting to ride a skatepark, and it instantly created show number 4 for the day. With 2 angles on nearly every shot, Josh Oakes and Rex Kwando had the footage stacking covered. The crowd enjoyed some huge 180’s, side by side halfpipe blunt-to-faikies, and nose wheelies around the entire park.
Once the Shercos were put to rest, Pat and Phil finally shed their gear and grabbed their skateboards and bicycles. Pat went down fast with an early release backflip, which ended with the bike finding its way partially through his helmet. Phil took turns flipping and spinning with Binz on his bike and threw a few kickflip indies on the skateboard. Up and coming snowskate shredder Josh Oakes showed where his snow skills come from by destroying the foam pit, the long rail, and the bowl.
With the 2nd round of the Maxxis Endurocross series rapidly approaching, the crew decided a trip down to WTF (Wessels Training Facility) was in order. With that in mind, a detour to Alma, Nebraska was added to the previously scheduled Guthrie, OK road trip.
Day 1
Just as the sun attempted to peer through the Wisconsin gloom, the gang arose and began loading up. The goat van was packed full with three pitbikes, two unicycles, two skateboards, a motostik, and a trials bicycle. Locating a trailer that could fit the rest of the bikes was the problem. After some quick thinking, Pat snuck down to Uncle PDB Units and snagged his 5 bike trailer. The three trials bikes and two KTM 200s were loaded to perfection and the GV pulled out around 8 A.M. to ensure an early arrival at WTF; or so we thought. Just two miles down the road, and half a mile from the interstate, a little red rocket pulled up along side the van with a screaming driver slinging spit towards the crew. The driver was PDBUnit himself, exclaiming his need for the trailer the upcoming weekend. Back to Smagical Acres and back to square one. After a few hours of dead end phone calls while the bikes sat vacant in the driveway, it was last resort time. A rickety three bike trailer from 1970’s was the last chance to get to Alma without losing another day of testing. Although the plywood was rotting through and the trailer box (now affectionately known as the “Fun Box”) was packed with wasps nests ; the crew tossed the bikes on and hit the highway. Rex started the day as driver after a failed hand of rock-paper-scissors.
After the first tank was drained the games began. Having spent the better part of the year on the road stacking footage, the drivers seat is usually a dreaded place to spend time. No one wants the chore of driving, and rock-paper-scissors wasn’t cutting it anymore. Thats where the idea for the “Drivers Seat Stack-off”, (DSSO) originated. Everyone gets three attempts to capture the best footage at each stop, be it rad, funny, painful, ect…with the previous driver being the judge. Stop number 1 had Phil stomp a fakie frontside flip on the skateboard, Pat peg stalled on a dumpster pole on the Motostik, Binz chomped on someones discarded pretzel from the parking lot, and Rex brought up the tail end with two sketchy soybean field cartwheels.
With only a few hours left in the journey to WTF, the Goat Van needed gas, and the gang needed body fuel. A quick stop at Walmart and another round of “DSSO” was in order. Phil frog hopped his way over each of the entry-way pillars and safely into the passenger seat. Pat carthwheeled his way up to the entrance doors, and nearly over an unexpecting shopper, and back to the couch. It was Binz’s turn to take the hot seat, as his “pick a cigar up of the ground and smoke it” was deemed to similar to his first stunt. With that, Binz cruised the GV steadily into the darkness, arriving at WTF just before midnight.
Day 2
The first day of activities began with a trip around the farm on the trials bikes to introduce Pat to what WTF had to offer. After a good homecooked lunch by Mr. Wessels himself, it was time to put some laps in on the endurocross track. Pat got used to riding a bike with a seat, while Phil tried to work out some bogging issues. With the sun at its highest, and hottest point of the day, it was unanimous that a trip to the lake was the thing to do. Not only could the group escape the heat for a bit, it would also be Pats first time riding a stand-up Jet Ski. After a few (cough, 20+, cough) crashes, Pat got it dialed in and footage was stacked. J-Weezy (Jesse Wessels) then took to the controls and showed everyone how a Jet Ski is supposed to be ridden, while Phil and Squid (Sydni Wessels) threw some flips off a neighboring house boat.
Day 3
The third day of the trip started with some morning motos on the Alma MX track. Rain had been sparse in recent weeks, so the motos were short and dusty. After another immaculately prepared lunch by J-Weezy, it was time to load up the Trials bikes and head to Spillmans quarry to stack some trials footage. Pat was greeted with trials paradise. Pat turned seemingly endless rock bluffs into a canvas of mind-blowing trials art. Huge splatters, 10 foot rock gaps, and crazy rear wheel combos filled the evening with quality footage and entertained the numerous spectators for the remainder of the night.
Day 4
Rex and Binz loaded the goat van and headed to pick up One Shot Circe from the airport in Oklahoma City. Pat and Phil stayed to get the bikes as dialed as possible for the weekends race. After a few laps to try and dial in the bikes, Phil, Pat, and Jweez loaded up the motorhome and headed south to Guthrie. It was smooth sailing until Jesse noticed the 200 attempting to pass the motorhome while hanging off the side of the trailer. It turns out the hitch’s ball completely sheered off, leaving the trailer dragging by only the chains. After gathering up the bikes and getting them off the highway, the master Jdubs went to work on getting the trailer in working order to get to the track. Out came the tools, work light, and camera, and in the blink of an eye it was back on the road. The rig pulled into the Lazy E Arena just before 1 AM, and just in time for some sleep.
Day 5
Race day. The morning was spent picking apart the track and sharing lines with JWeezy through his morning qualifiers. The heats arrived quickly, with Pat riding heat 1 and Phil in heat 3. Pat suffered from a poor start, which left him clawing his way to the front, only to miss it by a few positions. Phil crashed out of his heat while running towards the front early on. Both riders narrowly missed the transfer spot in the Semi. This left the brothers side by side on the starting gate for the LCQ. Pat got the early jump off the gate and held strong in the lead. Destry Abbot and Josh Demuth were hot on his tail as Phil worked his way up into the top 5 after getting pinched off at the start. Pat and Destry battled right down to the wire, with Abbot taking the win, and Pat grabbing the final transfer spot
Pat was forced to line up in the second row, with his qualifying position. This sat him right behind the eventual race winner, Taddy Blasuziak. It was clear that Pat was completely exhausted after running three races in a row. He battled his way into the top five and up onto the fender of Geoff Aaron. The two trials champs went at it for a few laps before fatigue got the best of Pat. He slowly faded back to 10th at the checkers.
After driving through nearly the entire night, the crew was forced to pull into a rest stop and take a break. One Shot Circe rolled out his Ogio gear bag for a nap in a nearby playground, Phil took the floor of the GV, Pat snagged the couch, Binz crossed the 2 front seats, while Rex camped out in the “Fun Box” on top of all the sweaty gear and gas. After a few hours of rest, it was back on the road to Festus, MO.
Day 6
Round 7 of the OMA Nationals happen to fall on the day following round 2 of the AMA Endurocross series. This made for a tired crew, and a lot of driving. Pat and Rex took over pit and filming duties, while One Shot Circe tried to keep his points lead. Phil and Binz set out to be the first riders to finish an OMA National on a 110 pitbike. Circe started out strong with what looked to be a certain holeshot, only to miss his breaking point and overshoot the corner. Two hours and twenty minutes after the start of the race, Phil carried his KLX 110 across the finish line, chain dangling behind. He finished in the top half of his class and top 100 overall. Not bad for a mini bike. After 20 or so minutes of post race moto-talk, the group started to worry about Binz’s whereabouts. A few moments later, and up pulled a 4 wheeler dragging an exhausted Binz and a clapped out 110 behind it. Speechless, Binz dropped the bike and headed for the cooler.
After all the craziness of the last week on the road, it was time to relax and cool down with some food. Of course, not just any food would do, so it was off to give the “Blazing Challenge” at Buffalo Wild Wings a try. After spending 2 and a half hours eating dust and dirt, the challenge was a breeze for Binz and Phil, and they both left with some new free shirts and burnt lips.