Photo Credit: Jake Souder (@hbmotoco)
The 47th Annual Winter Olympics kicked off this past week at Gatorback Cycle Park, Florida. In 2017, this event was plagued with downpouring rain, flooding, and delays. This year was quite the opposite. Riders and spectators were greeted with beautiful weather all week long. The Mini-O’s feature a unique competitive format: riders compete on both Supercross and Motocross tracks, champions are crowned in both disciplines, and SX and MX scores are combined to give highest honors to the overall “Olympiad” of the event.
Hailing from Chile, Hardy Munoz was running red hot during the Supercross portion of the week, proving to be a podium threat each moto and leading him to a 450 A SX title. Texan, Grant Harlan, also in the 450 Pro Sport class, caught and passed all but one rider in the final moto to lock in the championship on the outdoor MX track. The B class was stacked with talent this year, putting Stilez Robertson to work after recently coming back from injury. In the end, Stilez claimed some moto wins, yet had to settle for a handful of podium finishes aboard his KX250f. South African Dirco van der Westhuizen charged to an MX victory in the 450 B Limited, and put together a combined SX/MX effort in the CollegeBoy for a silver medal Overall Olympiad. In the Women’s 12+ class, Jordan Jarvis (J.J.) was on fire, as usual. She won on the outdoor track, but unfortunately was taken out hard by her competition in supercross, leaving her with a 2nd overall Olympiad score. From the West Coast, Jeremy Ryan lined up with his East Coast Fox teammate Gage Linville. They traded motos on their 125cc machines, with consistent podium finishes all week long. Also making the trip from California, Hunter Yoder threw down a 2-1 moto score in MX to earn the SuperMini 2 (13-16) title. 85cc pilot Casey Cochran tallied a staggering 8 podium moto finishes. Thor Powell capped off his last 65cc race with a controversial win for the title in the SX 65cc (7-11). Michigan’s John Grewe was on his normal path of success, as he hammered out 5 titles, 3 Olympiads, and earning him the Vet Masters Special Award at the end of the week!
Congratulations to all who lined up at this iconic venue. Links below lead to full event results, and a list of podium performances and champions by the Fox team.
1st PLACE – CHAMPION
- Hardy Munoz – 450 A (SX)
- Grant Harlan – 450 Pro Sport (MX)
- Jordan Jarvis – Women 12+ (MX)
- Dirco van der Westhuizen – 450 B Limited (MX)
- Gage Linville – SchoolBoy 1 (12/17) (SX)
- Hunter Yoder – SuperMini 2 (13-16) (MX)
- Thor Powell – 65cc (7-11) (SX)
- John Grewe – 40+ (SX/MX Olympiad)
- John Grewe – 45+ (SX/MX Olympiad)
- John Grewe – 50+ (SX/MX Olympiad)
***John Grewe – Vet Masters Special Award ***
2nd PLACE
- Grant Harlan – 450 A / Pro Sport (SX/MX Olympiad)
- Hardy Munoz – 250 A / Pro Sport (SX/MX Olympiad) Stilez Robertson – 250 B (SX
- Stilez Robertson – 250 B (MX) Dirco van der Westhuizen – CollegeBoy (16-24) (SX/MX Olympiad)
- Jordan Jarvis – Women 12+ (SX/MX Olympiad)
- Gage Linville – 125 / SchoolBoy 1 (SX/MX Olympiad)
- Jeremy Ryan – SchoolBoy 1 (12-17) (SX)
- Jeremy Ryan – 125cc (12-17) (MX)
- Casey Cochran – 85cc (9-11) (MX)
- Casey Cochran – 85cc (9-13) (SX)
3rd PLACE
- Hardy Munoz – 250 Pro Sport (SX)
- Dirco van der Westhuizen – 450 B / Limited (SX/MX Olympiad)
- Stilez Robertson – SchoolBoy 2 (13-17) (SX/MX Olympiad)
- Gage Linville – 125cc (12-17) (SX)
- Jeremy Ryan – 125 / SchoolBoy 1 (SX/MX Olympiad)
- Jeremy Ryan – 250 B Limited (SX)
- Hunter Yoder – SuperMini 1 & 2 (SX/MX Olympiad)
- Casey Cochran – 85cc (9-11) (SX/MX Olympiad)
- Casey Cochran – 85cc (9-13) (SX/MX Olympiad)
- Beckett Ferry – 51cc (4-6) Shaft Drive Limited (SX)
- John Grewe – 35+ (MX) Earl May – 45+ (SX/MX Olympiad)
Defending UCI World Champion, Loic Bruni, put on a magnificent performance to claim his 3rd UCI MTB DH World Champs title in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. In the closest of contests, Bruni edged out his nearest competitor by 0.2 seconds to take his 2nd consecutive World Champs title.
MOTO
Born into a family of racers, from early on it was clear that Ryan Dungey was something special. Fast forward through two decades, and having already notched up first place wins at the Supercross Lites Championship and the 250 Motocross Championship in 2009, the 2010 racing season proved to be a particularly memorable one for the American rider. Ryan started the season by showing that he belonged with the big boys in supercross. By the time the North American series was finished, he was crowned 2010 Supercross Champion.
But Ryan didn’t stop there – demonstrating his abilities as inarguably the best all-around motocross racer in the world, that same year he blitzed the competition in the AMA Motocross Championship and took the title. He thus finished the season as a history-maker, coming away as the first rookie in history to win both the premier Supercross and National Motocross titles in his inaugural season. To cap off the year, Dungey led Team USA to victory in the prestigious Motocross of Nations event, held on American soil in 2010 in Colorado.
By 2012, Ryan had joined the KTM family, bringing the team its first ever win in the AMA Motocross series. He finished his Supercross season in third place, despite a collarbone break that required surgery. At the 2013 AMA SX season finale in Las Vegas, Ryan finished second place, bringing his overall season points to 337 and a third place overall finish.
In 2014, Dungey kept his momentum, taking overall second places at both the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship 450 and the 2014 AMA Monster Energy Supercross Series, not to mention first place at Red Bull Unadilla National. With yet another stellar start in 2015, Ryan has demonstrated that commitment, hard work and sacrifice really do pay off with another AMA Supercross and AMA Motocross championship now under his belt.
Dungey, with back to back championships in the 2015 season, charged full steam ahead into the 2016 Supercross season energized with confidence. Ryan dominated the 2016 Supercross series winning 9 rounds that year. The 2016 Pro Motocross Championship opening round started off well for Ryan at Hangtown where he posted a 2nd place finish over-all. The very next round at Glen Helen, Ryan took home the victory and celebrated his 39th over-all win in the Motocross 450 Class. Round three in Colorado, Ryan finished with a 2-4 moto tally placing second over-all on the day. Ryan, at that race suffered a crash during the 2nd moto ending his chances of repeating his Championship in the 2016 Pro Motocross Championship. Even though the season was over, Ryan received top honors at the 2016 ESPY Award for Best Male Action Sports Athlete.
