13 minutes and some odd seconds in the making, Doonies3 was forever captured for posterity via a battery of cinematic and still cameras put forth by four different production companies. Toss in two helicopters, an echelon of drones and a Monster Army of a crew and you wind up with one hell of a final product.
“We’ve been doing the Doonies for three years now,” said former main event-winning supercross racer and modern day Monster Energy employee Josh Hill. “It started out as a camping trip with a few of our elite athletes bringing their toys out to Glamis and the Dirt Shark making a video of it. Now it has evolved into a massive production with all of our top athletes. It’s like an off-road army out here with Monster bringing out semi-trucks, snowmobiles, helicopters, Monster Trucks, rally cars, Harley-Davidsons and a fleet of 20 dune taxis. This year we even had Jeremy McGrath’s “kool bus” to shuttle everyone through the sand whoops down to the local bar.”
The original inspiration for the Doonies was the daring young freestyle motocross men and their dune flying machines. Once again, Monster Energy’s world class air force of FMX pilots took to the blue skies above the sprawling Glamis silica.
“The riding out there is probably some of the most intense jumps and riding you’ve ever seen,” explained Josh Hill. “We weren’t setting world records as far as jumping huge distances, but the level of riding going on at Glamis is second to none. There is not a more motivated group of people out there with the intent of finding the craziest, biggest jumps conceivable. I mean we twist the throttle wide open, bang through the gears and get going as fast as the bikes will go to plow through the whooped-out and rutted-out out faces of 200-foot razor back to razor back jumps. When you launch, it’s like you’re jumping two mountains. Seriously, with the jumps we were hitting out there this year, if you brought the majority of top AMA supercross racers out here, I’ll bet you they wouldn’t jump them. It takes a different type of person to huck these jumps. Knowing if you don’t make the distance, you’re definitely going to the hospital. And the only thing you’re getting out of it, is a 5 second video clip and bragging rights. But it’s all worth it sitting around the campfire having a beer with your buds in the desert."
While the cast and crew and athletes involved in the shooting of Doonies3 gathered around a massive, roaring bonfire after the last day of shooting, legendary freestyle motocross stunt pilot Blake “Bilko” Williams brought up an interesting observation.
“If you look at anything from the Doonies3 video from out here at Glamis on social media or in the video, you’ll be like, ‘Damn, that looks like so much fun!’” said Bilko to the group. “And it is fun. I mean that’s why we’re all here, right?”
#DOONIES3 Features
Moto
Axell Hodges
Kris Foster
Josh Hill
Tyler Bereman
Jeremy "Twitch" Stenberg
Kaed Kniffing
Blake "Bilko" Williams
Taka Higashino
Jeremy McGrath
Seth Enslow
Tom Parsons
Harry Bink
Beau Manley
Stephanie Pietz
Jimmy Fitzpatrick
Connor Ericsson (Buttery)
4 Wheel Drivers
Kurt Busch
Liam Doran
Rodrigo Ampudia
Wayland Campbell
Bailey Campbell
Casey Currie
Damon Bradshaw
Coty Saucier
BJ Baldwin
Harley Stunt Riders
Buddy Suttle
Nick Leonetti
Logan Lackey
Kade Gates
Snowmobile Riders
Paul Thacker
Heath Frisby
Cory Davis
Joe Parsons
Monster Girls
Carla Morel
Kaylie Walton
Caitlin Nordby
Janey Lee
Magda Angel
Lauren York
Kelsey Sliwinski
Haley Capper