It’s Jake Moss (9th) again topping out on the list of Spy Optic 450 class racers; Scott Champion leads Spy in 250 class with a 16th place finish
It was all about the goggles this past weekend as Spy Optic motocross racers slogged their way through another rain-soaked MX National – the second in two weeks – running the rutted sands of Southwick, Mass., and relying on their Spy Magneto goggles with Super Plush-style foam to keep out the flying sand granules and Spy’s patented Scoop® ventilation system to keep the fog off the lenses in the damp and humid (inside the goggles) eastern U.S. conditions.
“You can’t imagine how brutal the conditions are – 40 rear knobbies churning up sand everywhere – and you can’t help but ride right into a wall of sand coming out of every corner,” said Spy Optic’s Jake Moss (Monster Energy/Kawasaki). “And it’s not like other races where you can just ditch your goggles if it gets too muddy. Sand gets in your eyes and it’s all over, so your goggles have to stay on at all times at Southwick. My Spy Magnetos and roll-offs gave me clear vision in the rainy conditions all day long.”
Moss ran in second place for the entire first moto, placing 2nd to series champ Chad Reed in just his second race with the factory Monster/Kawasaki team. In the second moto Moss got out in 10th place and was moving up, all the way to 4th at one point, but ran into a mechanical issue (clutch) and was forced out of the contest and a most certain podium finish – settling on 9th with a 2nd/30th two-moto finish.
Spy Optic’s Nick Wey (Boost Mobile/ampm/Monster Energy/Troy-JLaw Racing) would go down in the first moto and have to battle through the pack, doing so behind the clear view of his Magneto roll offs. After losing his clutch as well (first moto),Wey fought back through the pack in the second contest to finish 15th for 20th overall (30th/15th).
“There’s no way I could have come back in the second moto, pass as many guys as I did without my Spy Magnetos with roll-offs,” said Wey. “Everywhere line you took there was just a curtain of sand waiting for you. And I had no problems at all with my goggles.”
Another racer rocking Spys at Southwick was SoCal’s Scott Champion, who ran to a class-best 16th place (12th/17th) in the 250 class for Spy Optic. And chasing the 250 pack after to 35th place starts was Spy Optic’s Tucker Hibbert, who ran the first moto with tear-offs on his Magnetos, then opted for the roll-offs in the second moto.
“Roll-offs were the way to go,” added Hibbert. “It was gnarly out there.”
Next up for the Spy Optic MXers is this Saturday’s final round of the 2009 MX Nationals at Steel City Raceway in Delmont, Pa.
