With Jeff Emig hosting the press conference (Paul Malin’s US doppelganger anyone?) under heavy air conditioning at the Sam Boyd stadium an array of riders from Mike Alessi to Kevin Windham gave their views on the event and the track that was being given the final touches on the arena floor below them. The meeting will involve three races of 10 laps duration each with the overall winner taking a 100,000 dollar prize and the victor of all three motos walking off with the million.

“The main key will be good starts and riding aggressively,” said Alessi, now riding a privateer Suzuki and confessed he is on a shoestring budget for 2012. “The money is there but the motivation will mainly be about going out there and showing what you’ve got.”

“It is going to be intense,” admitted new Honda recruit Justin Brayton. “I just hope it gets crazy, we can look at each over the jumps and point to the crowd,” said Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Josh Hansen.

“I love this town. I’d race around the tables, the track anything,” quipped Windham. “I think anyone can win a ten lap main event but until the gate drops we won’t be able to see how it will play out. Even though there is a million in the box there is also 100k for the winner and somebody is getting that for sure.”

As the sole European Marvin Musquin was able to offer a perspective on first glimpse of the track and whether it might be able to attract more World Championship based competitors next year. “I don’t think it is that difficult and many riders will like it and feel like they could win on it.”

“Our schedule makes it tough to do another race, so I see where they are coming from, a lot of those guys don’t have to do it,” said Villopoto of the absence of competitors like James Stewart and Chad Reed and also hinting at the fact that his arm had been twisted to compete, particularly after allegedly having to cancel his honeymoon.

Ricky Carmichael was on-hand and I was able to grab a cool little interview with him once the media pack had dissipated. “I think this event is a great opportunity for the sport with the exposure of live TV…there is potential to really give it a boost.”

RC, of course, contributed to the track design with the opinions of Jeremy McGrath also considered. “I had my idea. I wanted something that looked good for TV, was fun for the riders and made good racing. Jeremy and I were on the same page.”

A decent media attendance were able to enjoy the expressions on the rider’s faces when the ‘monster million’ was wheeled to the front of the room under police escort. Next to the box of cash was the hefty 5ft trophy. “I don’t want that, said Villopoto pointing to the heavy lump of metal in reference to its annual ‘loan’ status for the winner “the cash is mine though!”

After the proceedings were done I was able to talk with Marvin and Ben Townley briefly before heading back to Steve Matthes’ abode to record a lengthy podcast for his impressive PulpMX. He kindly dropped me back at the Hard Rock where I bumped into AMA Nationals/RacerX supremo Davey Coombs and shared a long overdue beer over more motocross topic-chewing. I was pretty much hanging by the time of the arrival of Massimo, an Italian journalist who covered the Motocross of Nations for Playboy Italy and who was on a ticket from Monster Energy to provide more coverage. There was just enough energy in reserves to grab a quick pizza and jot some words on this page…

Click here to see a quick video of what the track looks like