Extreme Sports / monstercup

So it's the day of the Red Bull Straight Rhythm and it's all lined up to be a cracker of an race. I will be posting so more info about the unique event later on but first i have some epic GoPro videos from the recent Monster Cup at the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. First up we have the winner of the first moto in the Amateur Allstars class Derek Drake and don't be out off by the use of the word Amateur! Drake made short work of that start straight putting his KTM into the corner first and grabbing the holeshot. You really get a sense for how rough that initial sand section is when they hit it coming round the first corner! These guys are really laying it all on the line and you can tell when he hits the jump into the sand rollers wow! Drake almost makes this one look easy as he grabs the win with no drama or battles. Derek Drake - Monster Energy Cup 2018 - Amateur Allstars Moto 1 Next up we have moto 2 from the Amateur Allstars class and once again it's Mr Drake but this time he is not gifted such a great start. Halpain manages to get his Yamaha in front and block off his corner which puts him deep into the pack and outside the top ten going into the first turn. It's races like this that really show a champion as they have to regroup and keep pace with the front runners and not copy the pace of the riders around them. It's very easy to get in sync with a rider in front and you end up going the same speed which is self destruct in a race. Things go from bad to worse as he drops back to thirteenth place and a tough block gets knocked into the track and right under his bike... He must've been thinking "I'm done...". That is not how champs think though guys haha, they always believe they can win and that is what sets them apart. Drake gets his head down and powers through the pack and manages to take home sixth place. Pretty amazing ride from the young star and i think we will be seeing a lot more from him in the coming years. Derek Drake - Monster Energy Cup 2018 - Amateur Allstars Moto 2 Lastly, we have a pro rider from the premier 450 Cup class, Jordan Smith. Smith is a 250 rider with the Factory Troy Lee KTM team but it seems they have loaned him a Factory KTM 450 for the Monster Cup. A faltering start though leaves him behind coming into the first corner. Musquin gets knocked into the bunch though and Smith gets an opening into turn one and somehow ends up fifth into the sand! The 450 class is no joke though and the veteran riders soon start to pick the rider off as he slips back to ninth. A costly fall on the banked turn saw him wash out the front wheel and get stuck under the bike and picking that 450 up on a banked turn must've taken some muscle! The electric start earns it's money though and he rode on to a tenth place. Jordon Smith - Monster Energy Cup 2018 - Main Event 3 End of the road for Alta? Now unfortunately it's time for some bad news. It seems a news report has surfaced that Alta Motors has ceased operations in an attempt to potentially stay afloat as a company while they search for a new investor or a company sale. The US based company has had great reviews and was well received throughout the Supercross/ Motocross world by everyone who rode the bike. That being said, starting up any company is a hard road to tread and especially one manufacturing cutting edge vehicles. It could take years or even decades to recover the initial set up costs and push the company into profitability. They are a well known company though with pedigree and the product has been proven on some big platforms so far. Josh Hill had some great success with the bike when they entered the 2016 Red Bull Straight Rhythm and went up against traditional Motocross bikes. Josh Hill - Alta Motors - Red Bull Straight Rhythm prep 2016 This does not mean that it's over for the Californian based company though as per the report posted: The company explains that now it has shut down the factory it has effectively ended the big expenses eating into the capital it has earned. This will buy the management some time to find a new investor or potentially a sale. This could work as they had had their best year yet in 2018 selling about 1,000 units and with a backlog of 300 more that is a ton of cash when you look at the retail of $12,999 a bike. I do know that Harley-Davidson pulled out from a possible investment plan with Alta and have now decided to build it's own facility in the Silicon Valley area, which coincidentally is also where Alta are based. I hope Alta can turn this around as not only is it a good thing to see companies innovating in this space but also good to see smaller companies doing well. Fingers crossed for them as i have a feeling that they could take down the idea of electric Motocross with them if they fail...