2017 MOTO BEACH CLASSIC
The one-day festival brought together Super Hooligan street bike flat track racing, drag and mini bike racing, No Limitstunt 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.
SURF X MOTO FESTIVAL
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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.
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.
Law Tigers Mini Moto Race kicked off the festivities early in the day and showed what the mini’s were capable of. Fun is not a matter of size but a matter of throwing dozens of buzzing mini’s on the track and going for broke. Fueled by the energy of the mini moto race promoter, Ryan O’Neill of UMRA, this was one of the most entertaining races of the day with a multitude of bike styles and riders pushing these micro machines to the limits between water walls and cones.
Moto Beach Classic Mini Moto Winners
Mini Moto 65gp Winner – Ichi Horiba (Won a custom FMF Trophy)
Mini Moto Unlimited Winner – Michael Henao (Won a custom FMF Trophy)
Mini Moto Street 125 Winner – Chris Corum (Won a custom FMF Trophy)
The winds even held off long enough for Brian Bent’s Surf Drags, with eventual winner Taylor Evans from Seal Beach Board Riders ripping a 17mph speed on the hand shaped Kook Box. Brian wasn’t finished after his surf comp. He then took to the sand to perform a ripping live set at the Moto Beach Classic entrance entertaining a crew of enthusiastic admirers.
The surf contest was fueled by mother nature, luckily SOKFY and the WCBR scored that day with a near perfect little swell hitting the beach just in time for the competition to kick off at 8am. Surfers battled in a tag team format with Huntington Beach taking top honors. WCBR MVP, Jason Harcharic, took home a Baume & Mercier watch for his epic day at Bolsa Chica supporting the Hunting Board Riders team.
WCBR Surf Competition
Huntington Board Riders 1st Place
Seal Beach Board Riders 2nd Place
Newport Beach Board Riders 3rd Place
Laguna Beach Board Riders 4th Place
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.
Architects of Inspiration was one of the centerpieces of RSD’s Moto Beach Classic event; a collection of unique installations inspired by surf and motorculture. Curated by Kelly Yazdi and the Roland Sands Design team, the Architects of Inspiration area was a combination art collective, bike show, live mural displays, and a library lounge all designed to complement the Moto Beach experience by providing guests with a relaxing atmosphere.
Initially structured to solely be an art collective and bike show, the Architects of Inspiration grew to be a bigger platform that included more creatives, such as live muralist painters, local music gurus, as well as international builders. “On the day of the event, we constantly had to expand the borders of the Inspiration area because there were just so many amazing things to encompass in the show; so many unique installations, never before seen builds, and local talent who came to the show wanting to share their creations with us,” says Kelly Yazdi, “... it was truly a special event that took on a life of its own, and I’m blown away by the hard work and creativity of the RSD team as a whole.”
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.
