GEICO Honda’s 250cc class rookie Justin Bogle is going to miss the next few rounds of the AMA Motocross Nationals following minor knee surgery this week. Bogle suffered the injury at the Toronto Supercross, but kept riding through the rest of the Supercross season.
The team his hopeful that the surgery on Bogle’s meniscus will allow him to be healthy for the rest of the AMA Motocross Championship.
The rest of the GEICO team is ready to battle in the heat of Texas tomorrow with the Freestone National the next top in the Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Championship season. Temperatures are expected to soar to more than 90 degrees with high humidity peaking in north central Texas, making it one of the toughest stops on the tour.
“Every year I’ve been there it’s been 100 degrees or more,” said GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac, who is racing in his third Freestone event. “It’s a tough one, so you’ve really got to be able to pace yourself there. You just have to be prepared for it to be that hot.”
Wil Hahn, who as a Texas native grew up riding in these conditions, said the way a rider prepares in the days before for a hot weather race is crucial to being able to hang in there for two 35-minute motos.
“You go into it knowing you are going to lose a lot of liquids during the day,” Hahn said. “We’re going to have an hour and 10 minutes of racing on the track plus all the practice sessions. It’s a long day, but as long as you go in hydrated and keep up your liquid intake, you can give it all you’ve got and recover the next day.”
Justin Barcia, who finished second overall at the 250cc season opener last weekend in Hangtown, has been getting used the sticky conditions by training at his home track in Florida.
“The best way to cope with heat and humidity is to train in it,” Barcia said. “I’ve been doing it that way for a while and it works for me. No matter what, it’s definitely a test of your fitness. If you don’t go there a 100 percent, the conditions are going to drag you down hard.”
A Colorado native, Tomac said conditions are so extreme at Freestone that there’s really no way to completely acclimate your body to them.
“When it gets that hot, there’s really no way to get used to it,” Tomac said. “I’d rather show up at the race completely fresh and use all your energy that day then to try and get used to the heat. I do all my moto work early in the week and really take it easy on Thursday and Friday so I don’t burn myself out before I get there.”
