Cycle News Staff | August 10, 2009
The 10th annual Surfercross returned to Starwest Motocross Park and Trail 6 at San Onofre State Beach this past week. Every year the event gets bigger and better, with professional athletes coming together to try their hand at each others’ sports.The two-day Surfercross wrapped up after a moto day on August 4 and a surf day on August 5. In the Pro class, Justin Brayton and Ryan Sakal went 2-2 for the overall moto win and went on to get sixth on the surf day. That was enough for the overall win, as they just edged out Mark Gabriel and Lucas Crespi to become the 2009 Surfercross champs. Coming in third overall was the team of Jimmy Lewis and Josh Sleigh.In the Industry class, Chad Tiempo and Shawn Gritten went 1-1 on the moto day and sixth on the surf day to earn the overall. Scott Dimick and Jimmy McGuire were second overall, and Chris Fischetti and Dillon Schehr took third. Each overall podium – first, second and third – took home custom engraved Fender guitars as trophies. Trophies were also handed out to teams that podiumed on both the moto day and the surf day.Toyota, the event’s title sponsor, put together an entire adventure around the event. Their itinerary included hosting national journalists and introducing them to various aspects of action sports. They went off-roading in new Toyota vehicles, learned to ride with Justin Brayton and Tara Geiger, got custom goggle builds from Oakley, took a tour of the Fender factory in Corona, and learned to surf with Sunny Garcia and Chava Greenlee.Muscle Milk had a huge presence at the event, with the Muscle Milk girls making the rounds both days and a Muscle Milk Training Center at the track and the beach to keep competitors and spectators hydrated. No Fear supplied full moto gear to pro surfers in need, and made a few hundred event T-shirts to hand out to competitors and the crowd. Oakley brought out a custom truck to the event and had enough goggles for anyone needing pair to compete.Kawasaki and Yamaha brought out a range of KX and YZ motorcycles for surfers that don’t have bikes but still want to compete. As always, Wahoo’s provided a full lunch both days for participants and their crews.The event is set up as a team competition, with each pro motocrosser and each pro surfer riding on day one and surfing on day two. Teams are decided based on the luck of the draw – a random drawing at the start of day one determines the teams. After each day, the points are tallied and the team with the best combined score for both disciplines takes the overall win. Past winners include: Brandon Rambo/Jeff “Ox” Kargola, David Pingree/Adam Wickwire, Josh Hansen/Scott Farnsworth, James Stewart/Mike Parsons, Rick Johnson/Sunny Garcia, Dave Castillo/CJ Hobgood and Nathan Ramsey/Bryan Hewitson.The Toyota/Muscle Milk Surfercross presented by Oakley is sponsored by FMF, Asterisk, No Fear, Wahoo’s Fish Taco, N-Style, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Starwest Motocross Park and Fender. Created by Jeremy Albrecht and Mike Parsons, Surfercross has become an event that many pros look forward to each year – it’s a laid-back, no-pressure event that combines the overlapping interests of many surf and moto athletes.