The youth bike course in Florida was approximately five miles and was pretty typical for a Florida race – lots of sand. In some places it’s a fine sugar sand, while in others it mixes with black dirt, making a slightly loamier sand. Of course, there are plenty of swampy sections as well. But for the minibikes with the smaller wheel base, the sand, mud and exposed palmetto roots present in the youth course still make for a tough day. While the shorter 1.3 mile micro course is designed to accommodate the younger racers and even smaller bikes in the micro race, it is undeniable that sand is hard on them, making Florida an especially tough event. A total of 108 youth riders and 36 micro riders took part in the Wild Boar. Of them, Joseph Cunningham was the overall winner in the youth race while Maddox Moretz was the overall winner in the micro division. 

In addition to his overall win, Cunningham won the YXC1 class in a dominating fashion, taking the lead on lap two and finishing with a nearly five-minute gap on the next closest rider, Brayden Nolette. Nolette worked his way from fifth, to third, and then into second by lap three, and pulled a respectable lead over third place Blaceton Moore. Despite his great performance, relatively speaking, Cunningham does not appear to be a fan of the Florida sand: “The race went pretty good for the most part, I stayed off the ground and led my own race right to the checkers. I’m very happy to get this race over with though and move onto different terrain where I know how to ride.”

Grant Davis also had a very successful race – not only did he win the YXC2 class by about three and a half minutes, he also placed second overall from the second row. Davis held the lead from the start of the race, and had no real challengers for the duration. Cooper Jones placed second, after battling his way up from seventh on the first lap. Meanwhile, despite a mistake on lap five that knocked him back a position, Garyson Smith was able to recover in time to nab the final podium spot at the Wild Boar. When asked about his race, Davis stated “I had a great weekend at the first round of GNCC racing. I am happy to get the win in my class and second overall.”

The overall non-YXC rider in the bike youth race was Owen Barnes (KAW), racing in the 85 (12-13) class. He finished 12th overall. 

In the micro race, Colby Goodman placed second overall and earned his first ever win in the MXC1 class! Goodman had a very up-and-down race, dropping as far back as fifth place and as far off the leader as two minutes following a bad third lap. However, he was able to charge forward and regain the lead on the next to last lap. Second place finisher Brian Poindexter wasn’t letting Goodman off easy though and finished close behind. Ashton Pellegrini was a ways back from the lead pack, but still finished in a comfortable third place. Colby Goodman provided an excellent race report for such a young kid, saying “The track had a good flow but was wet and sandy. There were some places I struggled to keep the bike under me, but I managed to hang on and win MXC1 and finish second overall. I had a great time and can’t wait until this weekend for round 2 in Washington, GA!”

Not only did Mason Moretz win the MXC2 class, he won the overall in the Micro race from the second row! Although Nash Peerson held on as long as he could, he finally began to drop back from Moretz at about the halfway point in the race, but still finishing second by a safe margin. Sawyer Clayton was the last MXC2 rider to complete the full number of laps, which was enough to give him the final podium spot. Moretz seems to not like sand very well despite his win, with the quiet eight-year old simply laughing and saying, “take me back to the mud!” 

The overall non-MXC rider in the bike micro race was Trent Gaines, competing in the 50 Sr. (6-11) class. He placed 8th overall.