Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1402132
Life's A Beach at 22nd Surfercross I t's been 22 years since the first Sufercross competition, which was the brainchild of Jeremy Albrecht, a former tuner for multiple top professional moto- cross riders, most notably James Stewart, before moving on to managing the Joe Gibbs Rac- ing (JGR) Team. At the time, he thought motocross and surfing, two very California sports, would be a good mix. He was right, and Surfercross is still going strong. Surfercross is traditionally held mid-week, one day at the beach and the other day at a nearby mo- tocross track and is a team sport. Usually, a motocross specialist is teamed with a surfing special- ist and their combined placings both days is used to determine an overall winner. Motocrossers such as Stewart, Jeremy McGrath and Jeff Emig have competed in the past, as have top surfers, such as Sunny Garcia, Nathan Fletcher and Kalani Robb. This year was no dif- ferent; in fact, it had more entrants than ever before, including past competitors Jeff Matiasevich, Robbie Maddison, David Pingree and McGrath, to name a few. This year's motocross was held at Perris Raceway. The moto race consisted of 12 laps, with partners sharing one bracelet that they had to exchange every lap. In the surfing competition, they paddle out together, with the moto guys usually getting a push to take off when their surfing skills aren't so good. This year's overall winner went to top wake surfer Josh Sleigh who partnered with motocrosser Carson Mumford, who could probably also compete at the pro level when it comes to surfing. Yes, he's that good. McGrath, who partnered with Jacob Szekely, took home the silver medal, and Dakota Tedder and Kalani Robb combined ef- forts for the bronze. David Pingree and Nathan Fletcher took top honors in the motocross competition, followed by the Matiasevich/T. Alwohi and Corbin Hayes/Brandon Tipton teams. BrownDog Wilson IN THE WIND P32 (L-R) Dakota Tedder, Kalani Robb, Jeff Lukasic, Kevin Barbosa, Jeremy McGrath and Jacob Szekely were some of the athletes who participated in this year's Surfercross. PHOTO: BROWNDOG WILSON