Swizcorner: Steel City
Much like last years MX1 title, Steel City brought a substantial shift in the points leading into the final round; this year it was the young guns providing the fireworks though.
Steel City has long been the ho-hum track of the schedule. No one loves it, other than the handful of locals who call it home and no one abhors it like they do, say, a Washougal or Unadilla. It’s been rumored to be dropped from the schedule for the last few years(many hoping, in trade for the also long rumored “Southeast National”). It’s typically pretty warm and moderately muggy, hard-packed and develops slot-car ruts in the corners. This year it started out tacky but dry, choppy and not as deep as most tracks this year...in other words, classic Steel City. When the rains came for the second MX1 moto, all that hard-pack became a slick surface which you just knew was going to benefit the newly crowned MX1 champ. When the gate dropped on the second MX2 moto, the track had absorbed much of what had fallen from the sky and the tackiness began to return throughout the moto and the kids pushed it to the limits.