Hello I’m Josh Mott and you may have heard I’m going to be writing a blog for The Braaappp. I’m going to be writing about the local Boise Id motorcycle racing and riding. I’ll be talking about local S.I.D.R.A (southern Idaho desert racing association), Flat track, motocross ISDE, Custom motorcycles, Tech tips, and just plain riding with buddies. I hope you dig some of the things that I write about. We have a lot going on here in Boise Idaho that is hidden to the outside world.
A little about myself to start off
I grew up in a motorcycle shop racing flat track and trail riding with my dad. I raced Flattrack from the time I was 13 to about time I was 17. Around that time Flattrack motorcycle racing was on a decline, it pretty much died. So I made to decision to sell all the Flat track bikes and move to something else. I saw an article of Ryan Hughes and Kurt Caselli battling it out at the 2006 Mesquite NV WORCS race and wanted to give it a try. The very next year I raced the Mesquite WORCS race in the C class and I was hooked. That same day I pitted next to a guy named Justin Soule who was a semi pro privateer at that time. The whole weekend he was giving me pointers which I’ll never forget. You see him now and he’s a top WORCS and Endurocross contender. I learned that off road racing is a man’s (and some really tough girls) sport. I knew I would have to get fit and be mentally/physically tough. But I kept up with it all these years even with the roller coaster ups and downs.
2007: Was a survival and finish races year for me in the local Sidra Boise offroad series
2008: Was a top 15 overall year for me in Sidra. Ended 8th Overall in the points
2009: Was a year that I lead dam near every local race but couldn’t get it done due to freak deals like running out gas, breaking down, or crashing.
2010: Won my first overall at the first Sidra race of the year Oreana. After that I went on to win the Sidra Overall A championship. I ran 12th in the overall NHHA points and then I tore my ACL which sidelined me till July of 2011
2011: Didn’t do much Sidra local stuff but I did get invited to ride on Don Matheney’s 6 hour team. We had it won till the last 10 mins of the race due to a mechanical issue lol. I also got to ride the 24 hours of Starvation Ridge which was super fun. Our team On The Pipe ended up 4th overall. I recommend everyone race Starvation Ridge at least once in your life.
2012: I caught mono and really didn’t do much racing out of town. It took me a year to get over mono fully. I still raced Sidra and finished 3rd in the heavyweight A. the combo of mono and the torn ACL made me start thinking about quitting racing. Every time I get back up I got knocked back down. I bought a new KTM to trail ride and I was going to end the racing program till I met Ian Kinnear. Not giving him all the credit but he restarted the need to compete for me.
2013: Got beat straight up by David Kamo in the first 2 Sidra races. That guy still has me wondering how he makes up 2 to 3 mins on me in a race. The guy definitely deserves a paying factory ride with his speed. He’s always been a rider I’ve looked up to and it’s cool to see how I compare to a guy who’s on the winning Baja team. Anyways I feel like this year my results have turned completely around. I won the 2013 Sidra Overall Points. I won the AA class overall for the two day ISDE Qualifier. I had 2nd fastest time in special test 2 on day 2. I would’ve got 2nd in the LOI E3 class day 1 and 1st day 2. I would’ve qualified! Basically I surprised myself. I didn’t think I had it in me lol. Team On The Pipe got a disappointing 4th overall again at the 24 hours of Starvation Ridge after we led the first 10 hours. One of our team members crashed on his first lap and destroyed his bike. So we went down a lap and the team depression set in. We tried to fight back but we made mistake after mistake. But we learned a lot for up and coming years so all you Oregon and Washington folk better be ready haha!
I’ve been recently getting involved with Flat Track again. It started last year sometime in December. For the first time since I have been living here in Boise Id it snowed 6 inches in the desert. It was nearly impossible to ride and I mean we tried 3 or 4 weekends in a row ;). There was ice underneath the snow that made for some big get offs. That’s about the time a local buddy Joel Bosserman hit me and a bunch of other guys up to come race some Flat Track. It brought back memories and we had so much fun that a couple of us decided to bring it back. One guy in particular Dan Lowther bought a couple bikes. We’ve been sponsoring him by building his suspension, motors, and tuning for him. Dan made the AMA Pro singles main event at the Castle Rock TT national this year. So you can say between him and I team JMR will be strong in the Flat Track scene for 2014.
Dan picked up a 2007 and 2004 crf 450 and I picked up a 2004 crf 450. We’ve been working on them all season trying to get the setup right so we can be competitive. Dan has been taking Flat track more seriously than me and has been to 3 nationals this year. He even got to ride a mile this year which is a crazy thought. Going sideways a 120mph is still on the to do list. So Dan and I decided we wanted flat track to come back to Boise because it was dead. Our plan was to put on a big two day race with a money purse to attract the fast Northwest riders to come down. We called it the Idaho Indoor Flattrack National. After promoting this race for months we got word that 2013 Pro Singles champ Wyatt Maguire was going to show which really got us stoked. The race was shaping up to be the biggest Flat track race Idaho has seen in the last 10 years.
My Idaho Flat track National Race Report:
Sign up was at 3:30 Friday the 29th of Nov and along with riding I was in charge of helping sign up. I quickly learned that we had a bigger turn out then OMC has had in many years which felt like a win and the races hadn’t even started. We had 9 riders signed up for the pro class and 10 signed up for the pro/am. Every race from Pee wee’s to Pro’s was close bar to bar racing that was very exciting to watch.
My first race of the weekend was my Pro heat race. I first noticed I was put in the same heat as the 2013 champ so I knew I had my work cut out for me. I got the holeshot and lead 4 out of the 8 laps. On the 5th lap I made a mistake and Wyatt got by me. I ended up 2nd but I made it to the dash for cash. My Pro/am heat Wyatt happened to be in too. This time I got a second place start and passed Brandon Watters for the lead and ended up winning. The Dash for cash pot got up to $325 winner takes all. I got a 2nd place start fallowing my buddy Dan Lowther and ending up a close disappointing 2nd. Pro/am main was pretty good to me. I got the holeshot and lead half the race till I gave up the lead to Wyatt. He led two or three laps till I got back by him. Then I led a lap or two and on the last lap he got by me for the win. The Pro main event was not so good. I got a 2nd place start to Dan Lowther and decided I didn’t want him to run away with it. He and I literally were bar to bar for three laps till I low sided. I picked the bike up and it just wouldn’t start. By the time it started I couldn’t figure out where I was. I learned later that I got 5th out of the 9 rider field even after getting lapped twice.
Sat night was the same program with about the same amount of riders. The difference was the $1,000 added pro class purse. My first heat was the Pro class and I again got the hole shot and lead half the race till Wyatt again got by me. No big deal I made the Dash for Cash that by the way got to $360. My Pro/am heat I had a repeat win over Wyatt just like Fri night. The dash was crazy! Everyone in the Dash ended up crashing once. If you don’t know how a dash for cash works in Flat track here you go. It’s a 4 lap sprint between the 4 riders from the pro heat races that got 1st or 2nd and winner takes all the money. You put 4 guys on a track for 4 laps racing for $360 dollars and things get out of control. Off the start I was 3rd behind Wyatt and Dan. Wyatt’s bike lost traction and slid into my line knocking the front wheel of my bike off the ground. I went down quick but when I looked up I saw the very next turn Dan and Rodney were laying on the ground. So they restarted the race and this time I got a last place start. I got by Rodney then Wyatt Low sided so it left me in 2nd with two to go behind Dan. I put my head down and charged. I might have over done it because I almost high sided and I ended up in the fence somehow saving it. Congrats to Dan again on winning both nights Dash for cash races.Now to the big money main events! The $1,000 Pro class was as Joel Bosserman puts it “a fight in a phone booth”. Wyatt got the hole shot following close behind was Rodney 2nd, Dan 3rd, and me 4th. Rodney and Dan were battling so hard that it allowed me to sneak by them on the inside line. Rodney ran it in deep and ended up pushing both Dan and himself wide. I just rode right by them. About 2 laps later Dan had a really hard crash which red flagged the race. Dan took a handle bar to the chest but ended up finishing the race. On the restart I stayed right on Wyatt’s ass all the way to the flag. He’s a really hard guy to run down but I guess that’s why he’s the national champ.
The last Main event of the night for me was the Pro/am. For some strange reason I was on fire with my starts as I got the hole shot again. I led 10 laps till Wyatt found a way around me and I again was the runner up.
All and all I’m not too bummed about finishing 3 out of 4 main events 2nd to Wyatt. He is really good at what he does and that’s why he’ll be national # 18 next year. I’m going to take what I learned this weekend and use it for next year’s pro singles class. I’m hoping to hit at least 4 AMA Pro Flat track races next year along with the long list of Off Road races. We’ll see how it goes.
For footage of the race check out the youtube link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhJvjOkze7Y
or for more info on Idaho Flat track check out
https://www.facebook.com/IdahoStateFlatTrackInfo
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