HMX Moto Co. | You Never Know What’s Just behind Those Trees

Words and photos by Billy Rainford

I’m a wanderer, mentally and physically. I can admit that. My mind wanders often and, fortunately, I’m in the position that my body is able to follow it. Maybe one day I’ll explain how the stars aligned for me a bunch of years ago and I found myself in the position I’m in now…but that’s not what we’re talking about here today.

We’ve all been there – you’re driving along some back road in your area and you see a bike in the back of a pick-up and ask yourself, “I wonder where they were just riding?“

We’ve got so many small roads in Ontario that you can criss-cross the entire province on them, and many times you’ll see bikes in trucks and in trailers. You see them pulling onto even smaller dirt roads or driveways only to disappear as you continue on your way.

Well, this past Saturday I was able to do the same and disappear down a driveway, around a pond, down a tractor trail to a little slice of Ontario Motocross Heaven just outside the small town of Aylmer.

I had spoken with Kenzie Hennessy who runs HMX Moto Co. with the help of Kyle Snelgrove from OGs Moto earlier in the week and he invited me to come out and see what they have going on.

He added that I could bring my bike and hit the sandy track after the students were finished for the day, and I would normally have jumped at the chance, but my back has taken it’s annual trip to Pain Town so I was in no position to throw a leg over a bike just yet.

Anyway, I jumped at the chance to charge my camera batteries, load up the #DMXVan, and head south to the private track they were at on this particular Saturday. They have a few tracks in the area that they rotate between, and this was a nice one.

No, I’m not going to say where it is. All I’ll say is that it’s a private track on a family farm…and it’s awesome!

They cap the school off at 20 (2 groups of 10 based on skill level).

On this day, Kenzie handled the advanced riders while Kyle concentrated on the smaller bikes and beginner riders. It’s a proven technique and it gives everyone the best opportunity to get the best value out of their time.

We got some serious rain the night before.

The track this week is sand based. Not the gnarly, bottomless kind like you’ll find down the road at Gopher Dunes. No, this is more like Sand Del Lee near Ottawa or Baja Acres in Michigan.

Riding in mud is a lot like riding in sand, anyway.

It rained so hard overnight that it actually cleaned my van! Seriously, it was a mess when I went to bed and I woke up to a van shining in the sunlight.

Although the track is sand-based, there’s only so much a track can take. There were a few wet spots, but that just helps the instructors point out issues with technique in more types of conditions.

This pile of sand held a ton of water and became like a sponge, catching a few riders off guard. It was decided that they go around it.

Carlos Ponce didn’t have his bike at the track so he spent the day borrowing a big bike or ripping it up on this little ride.

I saw lots of familiar numbers but I didn’t know most of the riders. personally.

Nice attack position here. And it looks like young Bokma is working on a middle finger clutch situation.

Elbows up and eyes forward for #822 here.

As Calvin and Hobbes so famously said, “*You can’t tell how deep a puddle is from the top!*“

They broke the track down into a couple sections and pounded out some laps.

#158 Nathan Snelgrove is on the big-er bike full-time now and also looks good.

#46 TJ Scott and his dad, Jim Scott, were down from north of Barrie. Watch out for him in the Junior classes this season.

The moisture was coming up out of the dirt nicely throughout the day.

Everyone seemed to agree they loved the back section of the track.

A lot of these young kids probably only know Kyle as “The Goggle Guy.” Head over to YouTube and go back a few years to find him.

#18 Jonathon Arsenio under the watchful eye through the mist.

Travis Barrette and Nathan Snelgrove doing some drills.

Travis was the top Pro-level rider on the track.

It looked like a great day for all of the riders. With a 20-person cap, everyone got the attention they needed throughout the day.

If you’re interested in signing up, head over to the HMX Moto Co. Instagram page and fire Kenzie a message. If you get in early enough, they’d be happy to have you.

Thanks for the invite, gang. I saw Dawn McClintock from FXR heading in just as I was leaving, so I’m guessing there was some pretty sweet swag going around!