The 2014/2015 Winter Indoor MX Series started off with its first event on Thanksgiving weekend. In our area for all those that don't head to Florida for the Mini O's, they head to Fletcher, NC for Victory Sports Indoor Series. This has been a well-attended event for many years and we always look forward to the season starting. Luckily for us it's only a short hour and a half ride from Charlotte to Fletcher with a quick hop and jump up the mountains to just outside of Asheville, NC.
We hit the road bright and early Friday morning, which is tough to do on a full stomach from Thanksgiving Day feast. We arrived early to give us time to set up our vending area inside the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center, aka WNC Ag Center. It's a small indoor arena used for livestock shows, horse riding events and of course three indoor MX races a season. What we like the best is that usually this time of year it's cold and we get to sit inside, which is headed, avoiding the cold.
Race day, Friday and Saturday, starts off at noon with practice rounds for all groups/classes of riders. This usually takes a few hours to complete and once practice has concluded they begin running heat races and qualifiers to get the order for main events. Main events usually start around 5PM with the Main racing program starting at 6:30PM. Most of the time during practice rounds and heat races the crowd attendance is usually small with only the rider's family, friends, mechanics watching. But, when the Main program starts at the crowd begins filling in the arena around 6:00PM to take in the start of the Main program at 6:30PM. The last couple of years we have been doing this event the stands have been full of spectators and provides for an awesome event.
As usual a packed group of riders showed for both nights of racing. Many classes were over filled and qualifier races were run to thin the group for the Main events. The program kicked off Friday afternoon, as round 1, and then again on Saturday for round 2. Many local pro riders also made the trip to Fletcher to try and grab their share of the pro purse cash. A few that took part in the 250 A and 450 A pro classes were Kyle Bitterman, who won both classes on Friday and one on Saturday, Joshua Cartwright, James Decotis, Robbie Horton, Cody Robbins and Tyler McSwain.
You can check out a short video from a pro practice HERE.
