Photo Report | 2016 Mini O’s | Saturday – Finals Day

By Billy Rainford

After a long week of racing and whittling down, we finally made it to Saturday of the 45th Annual Thor Winter Olympics, better known as “The Mini O’s.” With 2284 entries, the crew had their work cut out for them to keep everything running on schedule. You just never know what can happen when we’re racing motocross, but they kept it all moving to its conclusion Saturday.

We had a fair number of fast Canadians in attendance this week, so it was a great time to be a fan and watch some great racing. Congratulations to everyone who made the effort to get to Florida and line up against what have to be most of the fastest amateur racers in the world.

Here’s a look at the racing from Saturday at Gatorback Cycle Park.

#82 Garrett Marchbanks started the day off by winning the 250B Ltd. title.

20161126-img_1920 Nick Romano Evan Ferry

Nick Romano looks over and tells Evan that he’s never heard of his dad.

#22 Preston Masciangelo takes a face full of roost in the 85 (9-11) final moto. He finished 35th overall.

Romano and Leblanc go at it. Matthew would take the class title.

85’s being ridden this fast are fun to watch!

#852 Riley Clapp and his dad get set for 51 (7-8) Ltd. Riley took 33rd.

#300 Drew Adams took the win.

Nice battle to the flag.

Sam Cannella walks #34 Westen Wrozyna’s bike to the line for 250 A.

Westen picks his gate.

Whatever he said, worked.

Brandon Hartranft ready to go.

Westen got taken out in the 2nd turn, re-fired his bike and charged his way up to 20th for 17th overall after taking 14th in the first moto.

Tennant won the second moto and took 2nd (3-1).

Sean Cantrell’s 1-2 gave him the title.

I was feeling a little under-gunned all day when I brought a knife to what was clearly a glass fight.

Jordan Bailey getting his mind right before the gate drops. His 2-3 put him 3rd.

Been there, done that.

Carson Mumford warms up for the Supermini 1 final moto.

Canadian #53 Bjorn Viney finished 10-8 for 10th.

#101 Matthew Cemovic made it in and finished 37th.

Matthew comin’ in hot!

#74 Dilan Schwartz took the title with 3-1 motos.

While they were ripping it up, #45 Matt Crown was preparing for his Senior 45+ moto.

Matt tried to get in the middle of the usual #31 Barry Carsten/#70 John Grewe fight. Grewe took the win and Matt finished 4-4 for 4th.

Jalek Swoll took the Schoolboy 1 title.

Nathanael Thrasher split wins with Jace Kessler in 85 (12-13) Ltd. and took the title.

Thomas Rendall had 10-14 motos for 16th.

The final WMX round motos were scheduled for 10 and noon. Sylvain says, “Well, I do declare!” in his best southern belle voice.

Eve blasts into turn 1 sitting in 5th for the series.

#172 Hannah Hodges had all she could take of #65 Kaitlyn Morrow in the first moto but took the win.

Defending champ, Kylie Fasnacht was nursing a blown ACL but knew what she had to do and gutted out 2 motos.

Eve crashed on her shoulder in a College moto the day before and was nursing it for 5th at the flag in moto 1.

Brian gives Haiden Deegan some encouragement before a moto.

Noah Viney gets set for the final 65 (7-11).

Canadian #8 Vincent Fortin trying to get his head in the game before a start…

And BOOM! The ice water is down the back.

Vincent was actually #81 for this event and finished 16-37 for 34th in 65 (7-11).

Here comes Noah #43 into the chicane before the drop into the gator pit. It was #86 Adler Caudle who took the title.

Haiden Deegan had a rare miss and had to fight back to take 3rd in the final moto after winning his heat. He was 2nd overall.

Viney trying to keep Deegan behind him. It’s not easy…in most most classes.

#70 John Grewe won every time he was on the track…and that was a lot! 8 motos, 8 wins on the mx track last week.

He’s got to get out of his zone.

I’ve seen this guy every year since I’ve been going to Gatorback. Good old what’s his name…

‘B-Hart’ ready to rep one of our sponsors.

I really wish I’d wandered to the first turn for this moto because the FXR guys came out 1st and 2nd. Coulda been the cover shot, Andy!

Whatever he said, worked. Challen Tennant is fast! 3 moto wins in the A/Pro Sport classes for #71 on the mx track, but no overalls.

Darn kids and their phones, eh Matt.

#65 Estrella Cemovic needed good starts to finish where she belonged in the Women 14+ motos.

#196 Chloe Metcalfe was in the same class and finished 25-23 for 25th overall.

Nobody was going to touch #30 Jordan Jarvis.

Estrella’s 8-6 put her 6th.

In Schoolboy 2, #184 Tanner Ward finished 10-11 for 11th. with a good start, Tanner had the speed to chase for podiums.

Same goes for #46 Marco Cannella who took 2nd in his heat but then struggled in the final moto for a 33rd and 24th overall.

Garrett Marchbanks took this one.

Just waiting to race.

The WMX had their final moto of the season at noon on Saturday, and that meant #141 Eve Brodeur was back on the track.

She pushed harder in this one after crashing earlier in the week and popping her shoulder.

Hannah Hodges won both motos Saturday but wasn’t in the title chase.

Kaitlyn Morrow took a solid second and had Hannah looking over her shoulder quite often.

#1 Kylie Fasnaucht just had to keep it on two wheels to take the title and she did just that. She just cruised around with her blown out knee until Hannah came around to lap her. Then, she’d put on a charge to show her she had her speed but had to let off in the whoops section. She did what she had to do and took her 2nd title.

Eve finished 4th overall in points for the series. You can drop 4 motos so that’s why she will actually be 6th in the record books.

Meanwhile, back in the Cemovic pits, it was business as usual…

That’s Harold from MotoPlayground.

#28 Mackenzie Tricker from Australia.

Hannah Hodges gets her face time.

Austin Watling was up next in the final 450B Ltd. moto.

As some future champs wait their turn.

I was extremely impressed with the condition the track stayed in. They were in the middle of a pretty solid drought in Florida and the track was perfect all week.

Austin fights to stay with #50 Austin Winslow.

Austin was up in 7th early in the moto.

He pushed hard and took 5th at the flag for 5th overall (3-5). #529 Kobe Heffner took the title.

Reese Rendall (Anyone ever seen the Ramones movie, Rock ‘n Roll High School? The lead character’s name is Riff Randall) preps the gate for Thomas.

Good luck, bro.

Kaeden Amerine stretching it out before the Mini Sr. final moto.

It was a long track maintenance break so riders did what they could to rest.

And waited…

Thomas keeping the wrists loose.

Thomas finished 18-29 for 30th in the class.

In the following 85 (9-11) moto, this guy was so excited to be up front that he slammed straight into this big roll of hay. He was ok, but a little embarrassed, I think.

#22 Preston Masciangelo didn’t get out to a good start and then didn’t come around again for lap 4. We were all a little worried but it turned out he’d snapped a chain and took a DNF in this one.

OK, this is Nikko Capps. His dad is the keyboard player for the classic band, 38 Special. That’s pretty cool…and he’s fast! He finished 2-9 for 7th.

For you, Sean Bowker:

#329 Matthew Leblanc took the title.

Marco Cannella dropping into the gator pit in 250B. He finished 13th overall with 4-16 motos.

#327 Brandon Gourlay and #317 Cooper Larche drop into the pit at the same time in the 250B final. Cooper took 30th and Brandon was 24th.

Austin finished 6-7 for 7th in the class.

Tanner Ward was 2nd in his heat but had bike issues and took a DNF in the final for 28th overall.

#133 Ricky Renner took the 25+ class. His baby had his back.

#122 Carson Mumford leads the charge in the final Supermini 2 moto.

Matthew Cemovic took 28th in Supermini 2.

#53 Bjorn Viney grabs a tear off over the finish line and took 13 (9-11).

The win and the title went to #510 Seth Hammaker (1-1).

#343 Max Filipek heads out in the final 450B moto of the week.

Max launching over the finish line to put another lap in the books.

He pushed to the flag for 15th overall (12-15).

Cooper Larche didn’t get out to a good start and finished 26th (10-29).

Tanner had some issues and nursed it around to finish 27th overall (6-34).

Austin Watling was in around 16th spot on lap 2 and worked his way up to 10 at the flag. 4-10 gave him 7th.

Marco Cannella was up in 12th on lap 2 and moved up to 9th. His 7-9 motos gave him 9th.

#128 Carter Halpain’s 1-2 beat Garrett Marchbanks’s 3-1 in 450 B.

A victorious hug for Connie Millsaps and Gavin Gracyk.

Welcome to Florida!

Carson Mumford took Mini Sr. (12-15).

Munoz and Swoll battle in the final 125 (12-16) moto. They were out front and then didn’t come around again! I didn’t see it but whatever happened must have been exciting.