MotoExpo Takes On Glamis!
Side by Side Industry Ride 2020
Following the crazy president’s weekend in Glamis John Crowley from UTVGuide.net invited us to an industry “ride” weekend to introduce and showcase our new MotoExpo builds. In addition to the MotoExpo builds we had the opportunity to camp and ride with many of the leaders in our industry. This included SDR Motorsports, SSV Works, HCR Racing, XTC Power Products, Wolf Designs, and TMW Offroad. We started our trip Friday evening with some killer night shots provided by our in-house media personnel and some bonfire action by our campgrounds off Gecko Loop. After a restful evening we headed out early to our first destination, the newly renovated Duner’s Diner. Not only was the fast-paced ride down sand highway amazing the food and atmosphere was great!
After a satisfying breakfast we decided to make our way over Interstate 8 to check out the US/Mexico border wall. Passing several border patrol vehicles along the way we stopped at a great look out vista point about 8 miles south of Duner’s Diner in the Buttercup area of the southern dunes. Using this opportunity for a quick photo op, we planned on duning back down the ridge line of sand highway passing through Gordon’s well.
After stopping to help a fellow rider swap a belt out on their Can-Am Maverick X3 Max we made it back to our camp site or “glamp site”. HCR pulled in just as we did, and we rallied the troops after a quick lunch break to head to our next destination. TMW led the ride in their Funco sand car from Gecko heading towards the bigger bowls behind Oldsmobile Hill. Unfortunately, with such a large group its hard to stay together in some of the tighter sections of the dunes.
Getting the call out on the Rugged Radios, we turned around to aid SSV Works as one had gotten stuck cresting a dune transition. The MotoExpo X3 caught up with HCR’s Turbo S 4 Seat and decided to venture to the Veterans Memorial Flagpole as it was the closet destination to meet the SSV Works crew. After a quick photo session and water break, we decided to haul the mail back towards Gecko Campgrounds. We made it back to camp with plenty of day light and shortly SDR and UTVGuide pulled into camp.
Wanting to get some live action content John decided to go find a good rhythm section on the way out towards Osborn Lookout to “Sunset Point” for the evening’s destination. SDR led the charge and found a great “figure 8” section for us to get some great content. It was great to have both MotoExpo vehicles to showcase each major brands differences and strengths. We were able to get some great drone footage and some live action still shots. We loaded all the camera gear back up and headed out to Sunset Point.
Cresting the southern point, we lined up all the cars and got some great sunset evening photos and were even able to talk to several customers and fellow enthusiasts while stopped.
With the darkness and hunger mounting we headed back towards camp to start cooking some amazing carne asada tacos and tri-tip. This gave us an opportunity to check out some of the raw footage and photos from the last 12 hours which really got us excited to shoot the following day. Ensuing good laughs and bonfire chats we bunkered down for the evening.
Fearful of the upcoming weather speculation for Saturday we headed out early to the infamous “jump” location over by Osborn look out point. As we all hustled and got out there the wind was building quickly and even after several attempts at getting some great “in-air” photos the cars were just getting blown all over while jumping. Making a safer decision we decided to keep the tires on the ground and try a sand board that SSV works had brought out. With mild success and plenty of laughs it made the morning time pass waiting for the wind to die down.
With everybody getting antsy to ride we collectively decided on going to Oldsmobile hill and then the Swing set. Having some people in our group that have never been to Oldsmobile it’s a right of passage to do a couple of high-speed drag runs up the hill. “Shooting the hill” and hitting the gnarly whoop section is mandatory for any first timer! Even in stock form the 2020 Can-Am Maverick X3 and Turbo S 4 Seat are a blast to shoot the hill in! Joined by a plethora of enthusiasts watching the action we took the time to talk with other vendors and fellow dealerships hanging out at the bottom of the hill.
We then broke off from most of the group and headed towards the swing set with SDR, SSV, and UTVGuide. SDR led us on a great super well-paced ride past the swing set and then back around the southern part of the destination. The wind was unfortunately just howling at this point and it was not a great opportunity to get any good content or even discuss the MotoExpo builds on camera. We stayed a for a little bit while kids played on the actual swing set and volleyball net placed out there. Mounted up and ready to head back through the “sandstorm” with SDR leading we had a great set of lines allowing a super-fast paced ride back to camp.
Unfortunately, it looked like the weather was not going to let up so we hunkered down in our RV’s and discussed upcoming events and opportunities. TMW, Wolf Designs, SSV Works and UTV Guide saw the writing on the wall and decided to head out Saturday afternoon due to the weather. We stayed and cooked the rest of our food and hung out with the SDR crew for the evening.
This year’ industry ride was a great success with no broken vehicles or injuries and we can’t wait for our next destination ride!
A huge thank you to John from UTV Guide for organizing it, Tim and Stephanie from SDR Motorsports, John from Wolf Designs, Trevor from SSV Works, Doug from TMW Offroad, Brandon from HCR, and Chris from XTC Power Products for the amazing times, content and fun!
Stay Tuned for much more amazing stuff including write ups, destination trips, how to and install videos, and of course all of the best products in the industry available for purchase!
Thanks,
MotoExpo Team