By Billy Rainford
As I sit here this Monday Morning, I’m starting to think about making yet another drive south down the I-75 to Gainesville, Florida, for the 2023 Mini O’s at Gatorback Cycle Park. When I was a kid, reading the words “Mini Olympics”, “Ponca City“, or “World Mini’s” always gave me goosebumps. Looking back, it was actually Ponca City that I remember having the most affect on my young and imaginative brain.
You’d read about the races in Dirt Bike or Motocross Action or even Dirt Rider if you were desperate (which was often back in the day). I say that because they were always an off-road-slanting magazine that didn’t really “do it” for me when I was a kid.
I don’t mean to sound like an old guy, but back in the 1980’s bikes were changing so much visually that it was incredible to see what the following year’s bikes would look like. Seriously, can you imagine being a little kid and seeing that the next model of your 80cc bike would have the number plates on the rear fenders?! Yes, you’d likely think it was pretty gross like I did, but just seeing these types of changes kept us buying and then turning the pages of the magazines.
Of course, they’d get their heads screwed on straight again and the 1983 Kawasaki KX80 would be one of the best minis of all time!
Just look at how much these 3 bikes changed in 3 years! Actually, the 1981 and 1982 KX80s had the same look):
Another thing you’ll notice in these 3 photos is the presence of my buddy, Cary Hitchen. I did a short video with him last year when he got himself a new bike. I mentioned he was at pretty much all of my races, and you can see by these shots that I wasn’t exaggerating!
Here’s that video again:
Now where was I again?
Ah yes, the Mini O’s…
I don’t remember what it was called back in 1985, but I raced there that year in whatever the Junior class would have been called. The schedule back then went from the Daytona Supercross to the Pro Motocross National at Gatorback the next week. They had amateur racing leading up to it and that’s what I raced.
One of my best memories from that trip was riding at the practice track in Bithlo and getting absolutely sandblasted by none other than Bob Hannah as he went by me at mach speed, standing up around a pretty tight sand corner. It was like nothing I’d ever seen from behind my handlebars! But that’s not the most memorable part…
We all gathered around his pits to gawk as his mechanic worked on his bike. He leaned towards us and said, “Hey, pass me that screwdriver, Buckwheat.” I grabbed it, handed it to him and said, “Ohh-tayyy!” in my best Eddie Murphy playing Buckwheat on Saturday Night Live voice.
Everyone just stopped and looked at me like the idiot I was. It hadn’t clued in to me that Bob was called Buckwheat, and I had basically stepped in front of him to hand over the tool. Isn’t it funny the things you’ll remember forever?!
Did someone say they wish there was a photo of it? Well, here’s a shot from just before or just before it happened. Thanks, Dad.
The important things here are: my lack of a chest, my “rad” shorts, my mullet, my Diadora tennis shoes, Bevo Forte‘s Scott van, Bob’s box van, and, of course, that works HRC 250! There’s a lot…
Dammit, where was I again?!
Ah yes, the Mini O’s…
So, as I get ready to do this trip again, I have to assume it’ll be the last time I do it in the DMX Van…”mini” van, that is. The goal is to have something of a mobile office the next time I hit the road in the spring, but we’ll see how that goes.
We usually have a very strong contingent of Canadians that make the trip down for the final big US Amateur event of the year.
I know that Preston Masciangelo and Dylan Rempel are planning to be there racing the fastest classes, so that will be good to keep an eye on. There will be a ton of others flying the maple leaf that we’ll be sure to keep tabs on, too.
If you’re heading south or know of someone who is, please mention them in the comments (on Facebook, preferably) so I don’t miss anyone.
We’ll also have Jessica “Longname” there from Tree Three Media snagging video edits and interviews throughout the week, so that’ll be a big step forward for our coverage this time. I’m looking forward to having someone else to share the workload with! These multi-day events really force you to streamline your workload or risk going completely around the bend. Been there…
The biggest news of the week is the unofficial signing of our 250 MX champion Ryder McNabb leaving Red Bull Fly KTM Canada to pursue his dream of racing full-time in the USA.
Here’s his post on Instagram thanking the team:
Out of respect to everyone involved, we didn’t say much about it “officially” until Ryder and/or KTM Canada had a chance to mention it.
I spoke with his new team, AEO Powersports KTM Racing and they confirmed Ryder will race the 2024 Supercross Futures series and then the AMA Pro Motocross series in the summer. Ryder and his family’s dreams are about to start coming true!
So, that means we’ll have Ryder, Dylan Rempel, and Preston Masciangelo (and maybe more) racing Futures this season. Excellent!
RIP Art Eckman
Art Eckman took the level of professionalism to new heights when he came onboard to announce Supercross. If you’re old enough to remember his iconic voice and calls, you know what I’m talking about. If you’re not, be sure to click on this emotional tribute to him:
Noel Flatters Endurocross Updates
Noel Flatters from SuperFine Media has been doing a great job covering the 2023 IRC Endurocross series. With one more round remaining in Reno, Nevada, here are links to his coverage:
Round 5 coming soon…
He did the same thing with the 2023 ISDE in Argentina. CHeck out his reports:
Day 6 coming soon…
Australian Supercross Round 2 Results
Series Standings after 2 of 3 Rounds:
We’ve got a really good looking week ahead of us here in Southwestern Ontario, so I’m guessing practice tracks will be rocking as you just never know when we’ll get hit with snow that stays at this time of year.
Have a great week and I’ll see everyone at Gatorback!
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