![]() ![]() motorcycling industry’s must-attend amateur events, because it offered the first look at many of the top young riders, often right as they moved up from 60s to 80s, 105s to 125s and more. This east-versus-west vibe at the Mini O’s is what really helped elevate its stature as one of the U.S. The work of the Adairs helped elevate southeastern motocross in a big way, especially in the pages of the industry’s bible of the time, Cycle News. West also brought on the husband-and-wife photography team of Mike and Anne Adair to document the races, which in turn helped the Mini O’s to expand even further into the motocross mainstream. It was also soon time for another move, and West took the event to its current home, Gatorback Cycle Park, though the dirt track racing would still take place in Ocala. All of the OEMs were participating as well. Moms would cook up turkeys bought by either the promoter or race sponsors for a big Thanksgiving feast that become a major part of the whole Mini O’s experience. And by now the race was known around the amateur circuit as the Mini O’s.īy the early 1980s the Mini O’s had expanded its class structure to include more and more adult motorcycle classes, as the race had become a Thanksgiving tradition for many moto families. The big winners of the ’77 event, officially dubbed the sixth Annual Florida Winter National Minicycle Olympiad and attended by some 700 riders, were Todd Hempstead (of Barney’s Yamaha fame) and Scooter Stafford. But new names were emerging from all over the country, including Louisiana’s Scooter Stafford, Michigan’s Dave Hollis and Jeff Spreeman, Pennsylvania’s Davey Johnson, and Florida’s own Kenny Keylon, Karl Jordan, Todd Hempstead, John Olten, and Ronnie Tichenor. (Supercross would not become a part of the deal until the mid-‘80s.) West also sanctioned with the Ohio-based AMA rather than the NMA.īy this point the sport of amateur motocross in America was really growing, though the West Coast still basically ruled most big amateur races. The event still called for a hare scrambles, then a flat track race at nearby Ocala, and then the motocross finals. Peterburg-based Supersports took over the event from Ray and moved it from North Florida Raceway to a bigger place further south called Chicken Farm Raceway, near a Gulf Coast town called Homosassa Springs. Flat track racer-turned-event promoter Bill West and his St. Among the big winners were once again Jeff Ward in the 80cc classes and Indiana’s Kenny “The Missile” Blissett, who topped Ward in the 100cc flat track finals aboard a Steen Allsport.įast forward to 1977. There were some fast local boys were there too, including Mark Murphy, Brian Ward, Ricky Folsom, Dale Ellis, Doug Longwell, and Tim Eggers. ![]() Also on hand were Yamaha-mounted Jim “Hollywood” Holley, along with Wardy’s J&B Racing Honda teammates Brad Dutoit and Kurt Henricksen. The NMA’s presence had the effect of drawing many West Coast riders all the way to Florida to compete, helping put the race on the national map that was dominated at the time by the west coast-based NMA.įollowing the “Flying Freckle,” as Ward was already known, to North Florida Raceway was “Flying” Mike Brown, who came out with his trick factory Indian motorcycles, as did his California neighbors Paul Denis and Lance Moorewood. minicycle racing.įuture AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Jeff Ward’s presence that first year added enough national attention to the Winter Nationals that West Coast promoter Ron Henricksen of the NMA reached out to Pat Ray to sanction the race the following year. ![]() Rain and mud hampered the event, but both Ward and McCay would win motos and classes from one another, setting the stage for one of the earliest rivalries in U.S. They would meet for the first time at North Florida Raceway, with McCay on a Honda SL-70 converted into a race bike, and Ward riding the brand new Honda XR75-the first racing-specific off-road model that Honda ever put out. Even without a sanction that first year, the 1972 race attracted two of the best young prodigies in the country and who helped define and advance minicycle racing in the early seventies, California’s “Flying Freckle” Jeff Ward and Tennessee’s Gene McCay. It was unsanctioned the first year, but then picked up for 1973 by the California-based NMA (National Minicycle Association). Ray scheduled the event for the extended Thanksgiving holiday and called it the Florida Winter Nationals. Ray’s initial concept was to have all three disciplines-flat track, hare scrambles, and motocross-over a single weekend to crown the best all-around minicycle racers. The facility had a small flat track that ran alongside its motocross track, as well as surrounding woods for some off-road trails. First run in November 1972, it all started as the brainchild of a Florida promoter named Pat Ray who ran a track just above Jacksonville called North Florida Raceway. ![]()
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