Super-X Waikato Stadium 2009

The Waikato Stadium in Hamilton took on a new look for the Super-X when hundreds of tons of dirt was trucked in and sculpted into 79m of AMA-standard supercross track for Round 7 of the Australasian Super-X. If you weren't there with me and the other 20'000 plus fans in the stands... where were you? It was the largest most professionally set up supercross event New Zealand has ever seen. And hopefully the first of more to come because it was a damn great night!

The only thing that would have made it better would be if we had the choice of another beer other than Lion Red, Lion Red or um...? Lion Red. And unless you had ears and hearing to match Spock's off Star Trek, you most likely had a shite show in hell at being able to decipher the muffled words blaring from the M.C over the loud speakers - but who really cared anyway? We were there to listen to the roar of the bikes!

For those of you that haven't heard about the Australasian Super-X... basically, it's the Southern Hemisphere's version of American style supercross. The brainchild of Chad Reed - these events don't fail to entertain! The racing format is short, varied, and is designed to keep us - the spectators - on the edge of our seats and the riders fighting to stay on theirs.

With the dirt softened by the drizzly rain earlier on in the day, the track opened up some deep ruts that kept the bully's busy in between rounds. It didn't matter to us beer swilling, hot dog chowing luni's in the stands though - it just made for some extra entertainment as some riders struggled to keep it on two wheels. The worst crash happened when Jay Marmont and Daniel Reardon collided (in pics below) and had the bejezzers pummeled out of them before being escorted from the track by the medics.

Final Results:

Chad Reed (Kawasaki #1) was in top form taking the open class win for the night and winning the one on one/man vs man event. Tye Simmonds (KTM #42) took 2nd overall and Dan Reardon (Honda #122) 3rd.

In the lites class, Michael Phillips (Honda #2) made us Kiwi's proud and managed to bring home the number 1 spot for the night. Danny Anderson (KTM #104) took 2nd place and Jesse Wiky (Honda NZ) claimed 3rd.

So check out some of the photos and action below that I managed to snap in between stuffing my face and shouting. And next time the Super-X comes to a town near you... make sure you're there.

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