The normal thunder of hooves will be replaced by the roar of engines this Saturday as the Mississippi Horse Park hosts the sixth annual Indoor Motocross championship.”[Attendees should] expect more than 250 bikes racing over a man-made dirt course,” said Tod Hammock, the promotions manager for Oklahoma’s Cycle City Promotions. The man-made dirt course will be constructed on top of a surface more accustomed to horseshoes than ramps.
“The transformation from a horse park to a dirt course involves two days worth of dirt-work construction,” Hammock said. “In order to form all of the jumps, turns and rhythm-jump sections, more than 1,500 cubic yards of dirt is needed.”
The arenacross event tends to draw the Horse Park’s capacity crowd of 3,000.
“Last year we had to turn away around 1,000 people 45 minutes before the show started,” said Bricklee Miller, the Horse Park’s facility manager. “People have been calling for tickets since before Christmas to give as presents.”
Over the past five years, Starkville’s off-road championships have gained popularity by showcasing professional riders to perform freestyle between races. Chuck Carothers will headline this year’s installment.
Carothers, a native of Hattiesburg, is a freestyle rider who made his mark on the sport of motocross by winning ESPN’s X-Games gold medal for Best Trick, which is only one on a list of accolades.
“[Carothers] is the best of the best,” said Miller. “Our ceilings are 85 feet high and that really enables us to have people like Carothers come and perform jumps that sometimes go as high as 75 feet in the air.”
The Starkville race represents the easternmost point in Cycle City’s winter racing circuit, which also includes races in Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas. Some of the professional racers travel from places as far away as the other states listed on the circuit’s schedule to compete.
“There is a lot invested by some of the riders for them to be able to race in the circuit,” Miller said. “But that’s how pros become pros.”
The riders that compete in the circuit are racing to win points that will count toward their total point earnings, which are tallied throughout the entire series of circuit races.
The Indoor Motocross will feature opportunities for younger, less experienced riders as well.
“You’ll see riders of all ages riding everything from all-terrain vehicles to two- and four-stroke motorbikes,” Miller said. “During one section you’ll see a little girl on a pink four-wheeler with her parents helping her over a jump. The next section you’ll see a professional fly over the same jump.”
Chad Picciotti, a marketing major at Mississippi State, credits the wide-ranging popularity of motocross to the alternative nature of the sport.
“[Motocross] has grown steadily over the past couple years,” said Picciotti, who also works for one of the Indoor Motocross sponsors. “I’ll say it has picked up considering the amount of people wanting to try a different type of sport. There is also more female participation in the sport recently.”
The Mississippi Horse Park will also host the Mega Promotions Monster Truck Rally Feb. 8-9 and the Rotary Classic PRCA Rodeo Feb. 15-16.
The Horse Park is located on Poorhouse Road, which is best accessed via South Montgomery Street. Gates will open at 6:30 p.m. Purchasers can save one dollar by buying tickets in advance at Village Cycle Center.
Admission at the door will cost adults $15 and children $8. A “Pit Pass” costs an additional $15 and allows ticket holders to hang out in the pits with riders and crews.