Diary of a Supercross Kid

 

Before he set out on his journey to Las Vegas for the final round of the Monster Energy Supercross Series, we asked Nicky Beatty if he would keep a diary of his trip. He was pumped to do it and his mom offered to take some pictures to go along with the story. Here are Nicky’s words about his trip last weekend to Vegas.

 

On Tuesday, April 30th my Mom and I drove my bike and gear to the Thompson’s house as Kyle Thompson offered to drive my bike out with Cole’s to Las Vegas. We chatted with Kyle and Cole for a while and we were on our way. My Mom, my girlfriend, Jenna, and I left home on Thursday May 2nd at about 3pm. We picked up my Dad from work and drove to the Detroit Metro Airport to catch our Delta Airlines flight at 8pm to Phoenix.We landed at 9pm Phoenix time and were instantly shocked that it was still over 30 degrees, it was like an oven. We picked up our rental car and drove to our hotel for the night.

On Friday, we looked at a motorhome but decided against it so we started our five hour drive to Las Vegas. It was another very hot, sunny 35 degree day, but the A/C was cool and the drive was amazing with all the scenery. We drove through the Joshua Tree Parkway, the desert, by Route 66, through the mountains into Nevada and stopped for some sightseeing at the Hoover Dam. It was one of the best drives of my life for sure.

 

 

While we were driving we received a text from Kyle Thompson to let us know that he had taken my bike through sound test for me and it passed again with no problem (thanks Kyle and FMF). We arrived into Las Vegas about 6pm and of course we had to drive by the famous Las Vegas sign for pictures, then on to our hotel at the Siena Suites about one mile from Sam Boyd Stadium.

We all had a good sleep. When we woke we made our way to the stadium by about 8:30am on Saturday, May 4th. The first thing we had to do was sign in at the AMA trailer and get mechanics and guest passes. We then found the Thompsons and we set up a make shift pit area – thanks to Dunlop for lending me their EZ-Up – we would’ve been insanely hot without it. I took my helmet (with Eject system), a jersey and my bike up to tech inspection to get everything cleared to race. This is the part of the day that seems to drag on as all that you want to do is ride.

At 10:30am it was time for the track walk, the first time you get to see the track up close. With the hot temperatures, they put down a lot of water so the track was really muddy to start with. The first practice was mine at noon. You only get eight minutes to ride the track and familiarize yourself with it so you can be prepared for the first timed qualifier. My first ten minute timed qualifier was at 1pm. I felt pretty good and I liked the track even though it was really wet and slippery. It was also 32 degrees outside so trying to stay hydrated and cool was even harder than riding the track.

At 2:55pm my last ten minute timed qualifier went off. The track was still slippery but I was able to shave four seconds off my previous best time. By 3:40pm all the 250 qualifiers were done so we just waited for the AMA to calculate the fastest twenty lap times from the East and the fastest twenty from the West to see who would go to the night show. These are the best guys from both East and West so the competition was crazy. I ended up 26th fastest in the East so I didn’t make the night show, but it was actually my highest finish of the series in qualifying so I was really happy.

At 6:30pm the Opening Ceremonies began and again it was just an amazing show. Sam Boyd Stadium was packed and the crowd was stoked. We had an exciting night of cheering on Cole to a well earned eighth in the main event. This gave him a series finish of sixth overall. He rode great and we were all so pumped for him. At 10:30pm my first Supercross series season came to a close with the best Grand Finale complete with a sky full of confetti and fireworks. It was an awesome sight to see and something I will never forget.

My Dad had to fly home early so he could be back for work but my Mom, my girlfriend and I won’t be flying home until Tuesday. We spent Sunday cruising The Strip and downtown Las Vegas. We checked out Pawn Stars and had a relaxing time. It gave me a little time to reflect on what I had done the last few months.

I couldn’t have imagined a better first season. I didn’t have any bike issues and most importantly no crashes or injuries. I set out to hopefully make some night shows and I did that. I feel as though I’ve improved each week and I also made a ton of new friends and have gained invaluable experience. Thank you for reading this and I hope you will be cheering me on this summer.

Nicky Beatty
#961

PS: Here is a list of my sponsors, I couldn’t have done this without them: MCR, Championship Powersports, Bentley GFX, M10 Designs, D & D Moto Products, Sharky’s Gym, Jim Farr of Farr Better Bodies, Scott Canada, Forma Boots Canada, MD Distributing, Orthoflex, Matrix Concepts, Atlas Brace, Guts Racing, FMF, Hinson, MSR, Dunlop, Acerbis, CV4, G2 Ergonomics, Ride Engineering, Flo Plates, Pit Posse, Outlaw Racing and of course my Mom and Dad or none of this would be possible.