Words and Photos: Jeff Kardas

Thirty eight years ago, the U.S. was in the midst of the Vietnam War, Led Zeppelin gave the first live performance of "Stairway to Heaven", Jim Morrison of The Doors was found dead in his bathtub, Walt Disney World opened in Florida, and the inagural Florida Winter National Mini Olympics went down in the history books. That's 38 years ago, folks - 1971 - and since Loretta Lynn's Amateur Nationals has only been around since 1982, that pretty much makes the MiniO's the grand-daddy of all amateur nationals. We just got back, and here's what caught our eye.

In a nutshell, it rained a fair bit, was nippy most of the time, attendance was down, Ian Trettel won 6 titles and Adam Cianciarulo only won 1. There you have it - if that satisfies your hunger, then scroll on down to the pics. If you want some detail, well, here goes.

Historically a multi-format race, the Winter O's has sort of dumbed itself down to include only supercross and motocross. The format has changed several times over the years, and has included such oddities as TT (flat track with jumps), hare scrambles, and GP (which included the entire motocross and supercross tracks plus the hare scrambles course). With entries shooting through the roof and the logistics required to keep tabs on them all going along with them, the TT was first dropped and finally so was the GP. This year, supercross entries were "only" around 1200, which was down quite a bit from last year (we don't have last year's exact numbers). Typically the supercross entries are less than the motocross, but even so, there were many classes that didn't even have to run qualifiers and the gates were still not full. That's not a good sign of the state of amateur racing.

Held at Gatorback Cycle Park near Gainesville, this race has been on the short list of big amateur nationals forever, held in the same esteem as Loretta's, Lake Whitney and Oak Hill (formerly Mosier Valley). Splitting the summer and spring races by being held in the late fall, it's also always been a bit of a freak in so far as sometimes being cold, sometimes hot, but every time one hell of a good time for everyone involved. Part of the flavor comes from the fact that it takes place during Thanksgiving week and even though the racing families are away from their usual homes for the holidays, THOR and Parts Unlimited have been putting on a full-fledged turkey dinner for as long as anyone can remember. These things all add up to the MiniO's having a much more laid-back and family oriented atmosphere than most of the othe races, and is almost seen as a vacation for many of these top amateur racing families that now live out of their motorcoaches year-round.



There is such a wide variety of stories, intrigue, scandal and success that any report such as this really needs to be painted with a broad stroke - we simply can't get to everything, even if we are aware of it. We've decided to approach our race report as sort of a scouting report, attempting to predict who really is The "Next Big Thing" and maybe, the NEXT next big thing. There are a lot of ways to answer that question but, based on what we saw this year and comparing it to the past couple of years down there, we feel like we can make a prediction with two words: IAN TRETTEL. Originally from North Carolina and now living in central Florida, this 17 year old is one of the elite few truly factory supported Rockstar/Makita Suzuki riders still left, and he seems to be making the most of it. Ending his first year in the A class, Trettel's results at Loretta's weren't great but actually weren't too bad, despite ending up with two 9th overalls. He managed a 2nd and 4th in individual motos there against competition much tougher than what he was faced with here at Gatorback. Missing from action for a variety of reasons this time around in the A classes were Taylor Futrell, Blake Baggett, Kyle Regal, Max Anstie, Justin Weeks and Dean Wilson (all turned pro and moved up or in Weeks' case, was injured) while Malcolm Stewart, Jason Anderson and Lowell Spangler were no-shows. No matter though, really, since Trettel did face-off against a few others that pushed them all to their limits all week - namely Eli Tomac in his first A class race and relative unknown Lance Vincent, who beat Trettel a few times over the week. Despite the best efforts of those two riders in both MX and SX, along with the efforts of newly turned AMA Pro Tevin Tapia and a host of others, Trettel walked away with 6 titles out of 8 classes entered and 10 out of 16 moto wins, never finishing worse than 5th for the entire week. Thanks to that dominant performance, Trettel garnered both the two most coveted awards the MiniO's offers - The Pro Circuit Platinum Pipe, for top overall performance by any rider at the event and The Dunlop Silver Tire, for top rider in the expert divisions. Oh yea, and his riding style is so reminiscent of Ryan Dungey that it's just plain spooky.



But how did he look compared to top guys from the past two seasons down there? Well that's a loaded question for sure, since 2007 was Trey Canard's last big amateur race and 2008 it was Justin Barcia's. Those two guys flat-out smoked everyone in somewhat more stacked classes whereas Trettel wasn't quite as impressive in somewhat less stacked circumstances. If forced to choose who Trettel would finish in the middle of at an AMA Pro National if he were to enter one tomorrow, we'd say PJ Larsen, Blake Baggett and Taylor Futrell. In other words, anywhere from 5th-15th position. That may be a tough pill to swallow, but keep in mind that he'll probably have a little more time to mature between now and then and as of this point, he doesn't know when he'll make a run for the money in the pro ranks. Here's a vote for the talented youngster to stick it out in the Pro/Ams for another year to see how this shaky economy pans out and what rides open up in the ridiculously fast 250 pro nationals class.



Now that we've established Trettel was the standout performer, we'll continue by checking out the only rider who seemed to have his number all weekend - Lance Vincent. Coming off a broken foot at Mammoth this past summer, Vincent is the top dog of the Honda of Houston factory supported powerhouse. In only his first full year on a big bike, Vincent was racing the B class as recently as Oak Hill this spring and seems to have really stepped up his game to be running with - and in front of - arguably the top pro prospect in the amateur ranks (Trettel). He also considers Eli Tomac his biggest rival, and at the MiniO's this year, he finished ahead of him in about half of their motos together. Of the (only) two classes that Vincent entered in each discipline, he managed to win one title (250A/Pro-Am Stock in supercross) while Trettel won two of them and Tomac the other. Having said all of that doesn't really do justice to just how fun it is to watch this kid ride, though. In supercross, he just plain ripped and slowed up only a little bit too much in the mud moto between himself and the 2T's, allowing himself to get beat after briefly snagging the lead. The way he wheelied through the whoops like nobody else even attempted was awesome to watch, and definitely bought him some time on such a relatively easy track for riders of this caliber. If there's a tie for next Next Big Thing, Vincent is the likely candidate. But with whom does he share that honor with? The answer must be obvious by now...



Eli Tomac. Son of mega-super-star mountain bike racing icon (and Loretta Lynn's vet champ) John Tomac, Eli's pedigree and fitness is unquestionable. What he does seem to be is careful and calculated, which at this stage hasn't really delivered many fruits for his labor. Of the 4 classes in each discipline that Eli entered, he managed only 1 title, which either says a lot about his competition, or a lot about his performance. We'd imagine it's a little bit of both, but consistency definitely wasn't on his side, with a couple of finishes outside of the top 20 and a couple more outside the top 5 he definitely seemed to meet his match on several occasions throughout the week. With all due respect, this was his first A class appearance (albeit in a depleted field) and since patience has always been a Tomac family virtue, we'll chalk it up to him being in no rush to get up to speed. Well, that and really crummy starts just about every time the gate fell for the #43. Look for another year in the highly successful Geico/Factory Connection amateur team for young Eli, and for him to come out cool, calm, calculated and ultra-fast for the 2011 AMA Pro season.



There have been a lot of words written here thus far about riders at the MiniO's, but nary a word has been said about the most hyped amateur rider since Mike Alessi, and that's Team Green's Adam Cianciarulo. As good as supercross started out for the young phenom (with 3 of 4 qualifying moto wins), the finals were equally bad. Crashes, bad starts, and more crashes prevented even a single title in what is supposed to be his specialty. With a big chink in his armor heading into the motocross portion, AC could've rolled over and played dead, but he went out and ran up front in every moto, winning two of six and getting a title in the process (Supermini 1 (12-15). Not what he (and everyone else) probably expected, but not a total failure either. What this story really illustrates, though, is just how good the rest of the riders in his classes are and that they've grown tired of riding in his shadow the past couple of years. Some of these riders are Honda-mounted Cooper Webb and Rockstar/Makita Suzuki's Jesse Masterpool, both of whom beat AC on several occasions straight-up at Gatorback.



Besides Webb and Masterpool there were a boatload of impressive racers in the 85cc/Supermini classes, so we'll choose just two to focus on: Suzuki's Jace Owen and Team Green's Chase Bell. Ever heard of Jace Owen? If you hadn't, you will - this Midwestern kid won 5 titles in 85 (14-15) and Supermini 1 and 2 over the week, and he did it with a remarkable style. He looks fast, acts fast, rides fast and is aggressive. He gets good starts, is consistent and if he makes the transition to big bikes smoothly, he'll be a great B class and Schoolboy racer next year as he moves through the ranks. Another one of those factory Suzuki amateur kids, keep an eye on Jace Owen - he's a diamond in the (not so) rough.


(Corey Mays Photo)

Seemingly forever in the shadow of his brother Zach Bell, who's often considered to be the fastest minicycle racer in the country (but was injured for this race), little brother Chase isn't far behind. Every time he was on the track he smoked everyone else. He won 13 of his 16 motos, most with ease, and had it not been for a hard crash in the muddy whoops during supercross, he'd have had 6 titles. We failed to mention that Chase is in his last year on 65's, so his titles came in 65 (10-11) and 85 (9-11). He looks to be sprouting quickly though, so he should be plenty strong and big for moving up to the older mini classes and supermini. Chase Bell is definitely another one to watch.



Beyond our scouting efforts, there's plenty of other good stuff to talk about from Gatorback... oh wait, one more entry for the scouting report, and an unbelievable talent now on the bigger bikes - Joey Savatgy. This kid is awesome and exciting to watch and is either always up front or in a big hurry to get there. Still in the B classes and Schoolboy, he also won 5 titles on his Suzukis and again, is an interesting character that should continue to blossom as his speed increases.

For the rest of the report, we'll move into something more photo-heavy, since your eyes and brain are probably already sore from all of the reading it's taken to get this far...

GNCC series XC1 class title contender Charlie Mullins made an appearance in the motocross racing at MiniO's, and considering the crowd he was racing in, that was a fairly ballsy move. He did pretty well too, at least in one of his 3 classes, going 13-7 in Open A Pro-Am Stock. Not bad for a guy who, after 20 minutes of racing, was probably just getting rolling... and this shot from practice of his flying W on the elevator supports that claim.



The pits were packed and crazy as usual, clogged with pitbikes and countless golf carts, quads, side-by-sides, UTV's, etc. all week long. It's sort of like Loretta's crazy pit scene, only less managed and... faster. Much faster. It's sort of fun though, especially when it gets muddy!



There was an undercurrent of vague dread throughout the pits, as everyone seemed to be talking about the lack of contingency being paid out at the event this year. For sure, Kawasaki did not have this race on it's payout schedule where it typically would offer tens of thousands of dollars. Honda's was a bit vague whether they'd be paying out, and Yamaha did include it on theirs, offering over $50K for the week. The big question though, was what the OEM's plans for next year were, and whether there would be any contingency offered for amateur racing at all. The general consensus was that if 3 or 4 said 'no', then the final player would step up and offer a bunch, thereby essentially buying sales for the upcoming season. Of course nobody knows the answer, but suffice to say that many or most of the bikes being raced were 2009's and just about everyone is holding off on buying new bikes until things get sorted out for next year.



Pro racers and MiniO's graduates Justin Barcia and Mike Alessi were cruising around for most of the week, hob-knobbing and signing autographs for the fans. Barcia even did a few hot laps much to the delight of the crowd and he looked, uh, fast. Real fast. He spent much of the rest of his time helping out his buddy and teammate Eli Tomac, even prepping his gate a few times to help him try to improve his starts.

The MiniO's is also unique also because of the "overall" awards it hands out each year. Given to riders who excel compared to all other riders not necessarily just in their class, these in some ways are more meaningful than the actual racing results themselves. Having said that, the overall top gun this year with 6 titles is Ian Trettel. The full list of award winners is here:

- Pro Circuit Platinum Pipe: Ian Trettel
Most points for all classes combined.
- Dunlop Silver Tire: Ian Trettel
Most points for all expert classes.
- Thor Copper Helmet: Justin Summers
Award for outstanding achievement.
- Fox Bronze Boot: Jace Owen
Most points for all youth classes.
- Scott Golden Goggle: Brad Allison
Most points for all amateur classes.
- CTI Ironman Award: Tristan Charbonneau - Display of exceptional strength.

The big winners - those with more than one title - are provided here, compliments of Matt Wozney's awesome week-long coverage over at www.motoxposure.com:

6 Championships:
- Ian Trettel (Open A Stock/Modified - SX/MX, 250 A Stock/Modified - MX)
5 Championships:
- Chase Bell (65 (10-11) Stock - SX/MX, 65 (10-11) Modified - MX, 85 (9-11) Stock - MX, 85 (9-11) Modified - SX)
- Jace Owen (85 (14-15) Stock/Modified - SX, 85 (14-15) Stock - MX, Supermini 1 (12-15) - SX, Supermini 2 - (14-16) - MX)
- Joey Savatgy (Youth (12-16) Stock/Modified - SX, Youth (12-16) Modified - MX, 250 B Modified - SX/MX)
4 Championships:
- Mike Treadwell (Plus 35 - SX/MX, Plus 40 - SX/MX)
3 Championships:
- Cooper Webb (85 (12-13) Stock/Modified - SX, 85 (12-13) Stock - MX)
- Matt Bisceglia (Youth (12-16) Stock - MX, Schoolboy (14-16) - SX/MX)
- Brad Allison (250 C Stock - MX, Open C Stock - SX, Open C Modified - MX)
- James Evans (Plus 25 - SX, Plus 30 - SX/MX)
2 Championships:
- Jordan Bailey (51 (7-8) Stock - SX/MX)
- Gannon Audette (Open B Stock/Modified - MX)
- Lance Vincent (250 A Stock - MX, 250 A Stock - SX)
- Earl May (Plus 45 - SX/MX)
- Matt Tedder, Sr. (Plus 50 - SX/MX)
- Derek Hall (Four Stroke - MX/SX)

That about wraps it up for us. If you've never made it down to Gainesville for Thanksgiving week, you may want to give it a try. They've got racing, sun, typically good weather, two great race tracks and all the turkey you can eat. We'll be there next year, that much is for sure!