Slippin Sideways is making a stop at the La Plata County Fairgrounds on September 3rd and will bring the noise as tons of motorcycles hit the rev limiter on the oval dirt racetrack.
What is the Hooligan Dirt Dash Race Series and what makes it a must see event? Hooligan racing is the antithesis of flat track racing but with a strict lack of rules. Simply put, you can’t be a professional motorcycle racer and your bike must be street worthy. The bottom line is if you have a bike and the guts to race you can go out and compete bar to bar. The race card includes numerous classes including a Kick-Start Only Class, Run What You Brung, Adult Pit Bike, and everyone’s favorite, the Hooligan class. The essence of Hooligan racing is anyone with a motorcycle and the guts to race is welcome. With plenty of heat races attendees are sure to get the most exciting racing action they can imagine that all culminates in a main event with the fastest racers lining up side by side.
The Hooligan races will pit the best-of-the-best amateur riders with shoulder-to-shoulder action. Unique to the Hooligan Dirt Dash Series is the ability for a Last Chance Qualifying race where the winner of all the losers gets to go in the main event, making the race anybody’s game. The Hooligan class features larger bikes with more power, no front brakes, and some serious speeds as they drift around the corners. Often times the rear brake rotor gets red hot from how hard the rider is finding that balance between throttle and brake.
The Run What You Brung class will pit all different style of bikes from choppers to scramblers against each other. The Run What You Brung class can have some of the biggest upsets and is typically won by the racer who knows how to get on the throttle and slide through turns. Expect to see riders turn to racers as they enter the parking lot riding the same bike they will race later that evening.
The Kick-Start races have a unique starting format. Since they are all kick-start bikes (which can sometimes be temperamental), they are required to stage their bikes at the starting line on their kickstands in the off position. Racers line up 50 feet behind their bikes and then on the green flag they run to their bike and kick-start it, try to kick-start them rather. The first person to cross the turn two finish line wins the race. The reason for only a two turn race is that there very well could be racers still trying to start their bikes when the other racers come around turn around turn 4.
The last and most comedic of the races are the Adult Pit Bike races. Think big guys on small bikes. The most popular are the Kawasaki KLX 110 but racers could be riding anything from a balloon tire mini-bike with a Predator 212cc engine to a Honda Z50. This race has the most crashes because racers are going all out, but it is much slower than the other races and they are closer to the ground so it doesn’t hurt nearly as much. It resembles a circus on small bikes and is a crowd favorite.
No matter what you are doing Labor Day Weekend visiting La Plata County Fairgrounds and watching Slippin Sideways is a must.