Amateur Spotlight | #151 Travis Gibbs

Amateur Spotlight | #151 Travis Gibbs

By Billy Rainford

There are always a few amateur riders who grab your attention at the races. Whether it’s blinding speed shown at a young age or simply a positive attitude, people like me are paying attention at every event.

The list of riders who impressed me at rounds 1 and 2 of the Future West Moto Canadian Arenacross Championships in Chilliwack, BC is actually pretty long. As I mentioned above, the reasons are varied. Let’s have a look at one such rider.

#151 Travis Gibbs – Mission, BC

Holeshot, FXR, 100%, Matrix, Mobis, Lime9

Travis is, of course, the younger brother of Canadian Pro rider Tyler Gibbs. Their dad, Paul Gibbs, grew up in my hometown and spent all his time at the beach in Grand Bend just like I did. I’m sure our paths crossed on a weekly basis back in the 1990’s, but neither of us knew it.

Anyway, Travis is the 15-year-old showing a ton of potential with his naturally-gifted talent leading the way to this point. In an aggressive mix of classes, he raced Supermini, 250 Intermediate, and Open Intermediate.

When I saw him lined up on the very inside of the gate for the Pro Am Lites (Intermediate and Pro riders on 250’s) first practice, I asked Paul what classes he was racing. I was surprised to see him out there.

He added that Travis didn’t want to line up in the Junior classes because he wants to race against faster riders to continue to improve. I was impressed by that.

Next, when riders were sent out on the track for their first session, the small-in-stature rider blasted off on the inside of 2021 250 MX National Champion Jake Piccolo, Julien Benek, and Tanner Ward. He led them all out!

Of course, they all found their way around him over the course of the practice, but he’d already shown me enough to be impressed. Also, he did it on a Yamaha YZ 125! It was great.

Here’s a look at his results from Rounds 1 and 2:

As we’ve seen many times before in our sport, the second-born child is often gifted with the ability to ride fast, but it comes down to how much they want it and how hard they are willing to work that determines their success. Hopefully, Travis realizes just how much potential he has and we see him progress through the ranks to become a top Pro one day.