NEW BERLIN, New York: Standing under an awning outside of the Pro Motocross hauler with dozens of dirt bike riders milling about one day before Round 9 of the Pro Motocross season, Unadilla MX co-owner Greg Robinson was unfazed by the heavy remnants of Hurricane Debby that had been soaking the track for days. In part, that’s because he’s seen this too often in 2024, but mostly it’s because he had a plan - a plan that he began to put in place weeks ago.
“When we know we have weather coming in, we prepare the track and we’ve been doing that for about two weeks,” Robinson told NBC Sports. “What is involves is you just pack it down and let the water run off.”
There was plenty of water to accommodate. In the previous 24 hours, approximately three inches fell.
The dirt of Upstate New York is the product of glaciers that last scraped through the region 20,000 years ago. As it advanced and retreated, it left rocky sediment that was covered by topsoil over centuries.
The rocks have bided their time, waiting for an opportunity to bubble back to the top. And they do that every year. Unadilla MX removes what they can, when they can, but it’s a Sisyphean task.
“Unfortunately, this year, we’ve had three mud races,” Robinson continued. “All of our events this year have been major mud races. We really didn’t have a choice after the last race. We ran over half of the track through a mining screen. What that entails is you excavate the track down two to three feet deep, truck it off, run it through a mining screen, and truck it all back.
“If you truck 20 loads of dirt away, you have to bring back 40 because when you screen it, you lose 20 percent, 25 percent rock. You lose 10 percet dirt, so that’s 35 percent.
And when the dirt returns, it’s different. Less rocky, yes, but with the potential to be denser.
“Just as when you make a cake, they tell you not to sift the flour because it makes the concentration heavier, when you sift dirt, it does the same thing,” Robinson said. “When you put the dirt back, there’s a lot less there so you have to bring a lot more back. We did the entire start line and probably half the rest of the circuit has been screened.”
As the rains approached, the track crew had their plan in place. There is an art to prepping the track that Robinson and his family has learned during the 55 years that this course has hosted motocross events.
“Then we took our big fat-wheeled trucks we used to use for water trucks and packed the entire track multiple times,” Robinson said. “That lets the water puddle up on top. The good thing with water is that it won’t penetrate dry dirt, so once it gets muddy on top, the water pools up and runs off. It might penetrate a half inch; it might penetrate an inch. It might penetrate two, but it won’t go very deep. Once we get the standing water off and turn the track over, the dirt underneath hasn’t been watered so it’s dry.”
Rain from Hurricane Debby ended in the late afternoon on Friday, giving the track time to recover. By the time bikes take a few laps and ongoing maintenance has turned the dirt multiple times, Robinson is confident the course will be the same track riders have come to love and respect.
The forecast for Saturday calls for highs in the mid-70s and no more than a two percent chance of rain throughout the day.
Cooper Webb is one rider who hopes the track won’t completely eliminate the muddy conditions.
Back from a lengthy recovery process after injuring his thumb in a Monster Energy Supercross race mid-season, Webb thinks the mud could provide a great equalizer.
“For me, this first race, if I could be a top-five I would be over the moon. The first rack back could be either very good or it could be man, we have some work to do. I’m not going to put a number on it, but I do like the mud so that could change those things.”
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