Cycle News

rey Canard, Jessy Nelson and Matt Bani topped the long list of winners at the 34th annual Thor Winter National Olympics presented by Pro Circuit, which was held at Gatorback Cycle Park in Gainesville, Florida, over the Thanksgiving holiday. The weeklong event drew over 4300 entries and crowned 70 overall class champions, but Canard, Nelson and Bani garnered the highest honors by winning the special industry awards given to the best all-around performers. Canard claimed four overall Championships; three in Motocross and one in Supercross, and was awarded the coveted Pro Circuit Platinum Pipe, which is given to the top overall-scoring rider from all divisions combined. The Kawasaki-mounted Oklahoman also received the Scott Golden Goggle Award for being the top-scoring rider in the Amateur divisions. T Canard's overall titles came in the 125cc B Stock, 250cc B Stock, 250cc B Modified Motocross classes and in the 2S0cc B Modified Supercross class. Bani, who has missed most of this year because of injuries, won the Dunlop Silver Tire Award, for accumulating the highest number of Olympic points (Motocross and Supercross combined). The Xtreme Team Green rider, who lives in nearby Orlando, took overall wins in the 250500cc A Expert Modified MX, 125cc A Expert Modified SX and 250-S00cc A Expert Modified SX classes. The Fox Bronze Boot, which is given to the top-scoring rider in the Youth divisions, went to Californian Jessy Nelson. The Suzuki rider collected titles in the 6Scc (10-1 I) Stock SX, 65cc (10-1 I) Modified SX and 65cc (10-1 I) Modified MX divisions. Canard's acquisition of the top prize was certainly impressive, considering the starstudded amateur field on hand in the big-bike classes, and perhaps a bit surprising after his slow start during the Supercross portion of the program, which kicked off the week of racing. "The week started off a little rough for me in the Supercross races, because I struggled through the whoops," Canard said. "I didn't really get the best of starts, and I didn't hit the whoops as fast as I wanted to. But everything turned around in the Motocross races." Indeed, Canard did turn things around during the Motocross portion of the week, and served up one of the best performances of the event when he passed early leader Nico Izzi to win the I25cc B Stock finale. The Suzuki-mounted lui had only just moved up to the big bikes after Loretta Lynn's in August, but was still considered one of the riders to beat going into the Winter Nationals. "I came in here not really knowing what to think, because there are a lot of new kids on big bikes," Canard said. Brief'Y··· Each year on the Thursday of the weeklong Winter Nationals event, Parts Unlimited sponsors a free Thanksgiving dinner for the racers and their families, and this year over 1500 people were fed. Kip Kipton is the person in charge of the cooking, something that he has done for 25 years. Kipton used to own Yamaha of Fayetteville, (which, at one time, sponsored Damon Bradshaw), and he started out cooking for just a small group back in the early days. However, each year the group grew larger and larger, until finally, the promoters convinced him to cook for everyone. This year, Kipton cooked 80 large turkeys, 25 extra-large hams, 25 pounds of dressing and 150 pies for the feast. There were plenty of family connections (racers with famous brothers or fathers) competing at this year's event. James "Bubba" Stewart's little brother Malcolm raced in the 12-13 age brackets; Aaron Plessinger, son of GNCC star Scott Plessinger, competed in the 7-9 age classes; and Kenny Keylon's sons, Kory and Kyle, also made good showings for themselves. The format for Winter Nationals has changed somewhat since the first few events in the '70s, however, the "Olympic" style of crowning the best all-around riders still exists. For years, riders competed in three disciplines: Motocross, Hare Scrambles and Flat Track. A rider's points in each category were added together, and the one with the best score, in each age group, won the Olympiad award for that class. These days riders only compete in two disciplines, Motocross and Supercross, and a rider's total points in each are added together to find an Olympiad overall winner in each age group and class. The Olympiad winners for this year were Matt Boni (250cc A), Myles Tedder ( I25cc C), Nico lui (125cc 12-15), Cooper Webb (65cc 7-9), Jessy Nelson (65cc 10-1 I), Terren O'dell (85cc 12-13), Trey Canard (250cc B), Tyler Sjoberg (85cc 14-15), Bryce Stewart (8Scc 7-1 I) and Broc Tickle (125cc A). In addition to the Pro Circuit Platinum Pipe Award, the Scott Golden Goggle Award and the Fox Bronze Boot, there are several other industry awards handed out at the end of the week. Trey Canard's mechanic, Brent Presnell, won the Mechanix Wear Award, which is given to the mechanic who displays outstanding mechanical skills and sportsmanship. And Garrett Edmisten won the CTI Iron Man Award, which is given to the rider who displays exceptional strength and determination, both on and off the track. How the different manufacturers fare is usually of interest at the amateur national events, and ofthe 70 overall class winners at the Mini a's, 21 were Suzuki mounted, 18 were on Kawasakis, 13 on Yamahas, lOon Hondas, five on KTMs and three on Cobras. There is a lot more at stake than just racing at the Mini a's. Every morning there is a scavenger hunt sponsored by Parts Unlimited. A karaoke contest starts on Monday night and runs every night until the final winner is chosen on Friday. Scott USA sponsors a tug-af-war contest on Tuesday. On Wednesday, there is a Pit Bike race, and on Thursday there is a treasure hunt. Wrapping up the extracurricular activities is the Thor Miss Olympic Pageant on Friday.

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