FXR Racing Presents A Different Kind of Pit by Chris Elliott

It’s that time of the year again; I am sitting on a plane going to Glendale, Arizona to get a variety of things sorted out for the upcoming 2018 Monster Energy Supercross Series. If you don’t already know who I am, my name is Chris Elliott and I manage the Rockwell Watches supercross team with the help of Nuclear Blast Records and FXR.

I have done a handful of things in the action sports industry during my past decade of involvement, which has been highlighted with everything from being a contributor at ESPN, to a brief stint in digital marketing/brand management, to now my role as the race team manager for ROCKWELL RACING.

Having grown up a fan of both heavy metal and dirt bikes, you can only imagine how working for a supercross team who’s primary sponsor is the record label for bands like Slayer and Machine-head would be an unlikely dream to a kid like me, but here we are. My column “A different kind of PIT” will be my attempt to give readers the best inside look into our team pit and program not only on race day, but also our mid-week operations.

It’s almost time to put the wrenches down and head to the starting gate for the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross Series.

While my riders are finishing up their training boot camps and testing their race bikes to iron out any of the last minute kinks, the mechanics have bikes to build and I have a list as long as the eye can see of “to dos.” The first thing you need to know, pre-season and a good number of race days can at times be a form of controlled chaos. We are just over a week until we head to the tunnel of Angels Stadium for the first set of practices, and there are 10,208 hours of work left to do and only 200 hours to do it in. But it always ends up coming together one way or another…

So ready or not, here we go! I am going to check in every couple weeks or so to give you some insight to my weekly or even daily dealings as the race team manager.

The off-season goes by fast and now it’s just over a week until Anaheim 1.

Make sure you stop by the ROCKWEL RACING pits to meet AJ, Ryan, Bradley, and the rest of the team when the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross season kicks off on January 6, 2018 in Anaheim, California. Follow the riders on Instagram: AJ Catanzaro (@ajcatanzaro), Ryan Breece  (@ryanbreece92), and Bradley Lionnet (@bradlionnet321) for an inside look at the team as they prepare for the 2018 season.

Pre-orders for official 2018 team apparel are available exclusively at www.justifiedcultures.com. You can check us out on Instagram and Twitter (@ROCKWELLRACING), and of course find them on Facebook.

For more information on ROCKWELL RACING and their sponsors, check out: http://www.rockwelltime.com/team/