Faces at the Races | Ironman MX AMA National

By Jeff McConkey

This past Saturday I made the 10-hour drive down to Ironman MX in Crawfordsville, Indiana. I was pretty bummed out last season when I heard from everyone how great this round was. I decided early that I was all in for Ironman, and I’m glad I did. I was a huge fan of the town, the track, and the entire event. It’s definitely a round to put on your ‘things to do’ list in the future.

The weather started out a little wet early on Saturday morning, but actually turned out to be a great day and made for some great racing. The crowd and atmosphere was very good for a final round that already had both titles wrapped up. We had quite a bit of Canadian content at Ironman, so it was really easy to have fun. Here are a few behind-the-scene pictures of this year’s event. Thanks for looking.

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Our half Canadian #761 Cade Clason hams it up and ruins a good photo with his mother. Clason had a very good day in front of a ton of family.

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They’re not only teammates, they are also cuddle buddies.

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We never really get to see any of Dave Snider’s photos, but I’m going to say this isn’t one of his best.

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It was hot, it was humid, and it was very rough. Someone forgot to tell #926 Kaven Benoit, because he looked super-smooth all day long.

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This guy asked me to take his picture. I never did get his name, but look for him on the line in the MX2 class at Gopher in ’17.

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I found Keith Howsam breaking out the ‘Blue Steel” amongst the Ironman locals.

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Mathieu Deroy has had a lot to smile about this year. What a rookie season he had as Benoit’s new wrench.

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Fly Racing’s Jason Thomas is one of the nicest guys out there.

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Plus he’s always down with the latest hair styles.

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The awkward eye contact before an awkward photo with John Tomac.

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It was nice to see that quite a few Americans followed DMX and wanted their pictures taken,

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It was nice to see injured Cole Seely at Ironman. He was signing autographs for the majority of the day.

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Pretty cool how they snuck the number one onto Coop’s bike. Look close.

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Aaron Plessinger won the last moto of the season here at Ironman in 2015, and guess what happened in 2016?

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RJ Hampshire didn’t have the greatest Ironman, but he was still throwing out the vibe before the motos.

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Carey Hart is still trying to grasp the fact that Kenny is leaving.

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Double duty on the 25 machine before moto 2. Marvin Musquin rode solid all day.

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Mr. Scott Prospect himself, John Knowles, takes a breather between motos.

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Hey Robin Hutch, your mom made the Faces. Where were you?

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I don’t know if the Rock ever smiles. Maybe he will crack one next season with Jeremy Martin under the tent.

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The guys at Pirelli have a pretty cool set up. Have I ever mentioned how great the MX32 Pro tire is?

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Billy Wright had a lot to smile about. Thanks for the beer, Billy.

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It was one heck of a career for Shorty. Thanks for the memories, Andrew.

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JSR was a proud poppa this weekend.

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It’s always nice to run into some familiar Canadian (and one Kiwi) faces down south.

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When you’re terribly slow on the track, you need to look this good off of the track, eh mate?

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Adam Cianciarulo was all smiles after completing his first full season outdoors as a Pro.

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Plessinger had a ton of family and friends screaming for him all around the entire track.

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Cooper’s ride will get one last hurrah at the Charlotte GP, then it’s on to the 450 for good.

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Where has the season gone? Young Canadian, Brandon Caplar, had the dream job this summer with the TPJ Racing team.

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Karcher had a very cool set up for the privateers.

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Time flies when you’re having fun.

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Our friend, Grant Hutcheson, still stayed busy even with his rider, Justin Bogle, on the shelf.

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I believe this guy was a Roczen fan.

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‘Stank Dog ‘Gared Steinke had some issues early in practice and smoked out the entire valley. Of course the crowd went crazy.

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I bumped into these 2 familiar faces. Eve Brodeur holeshot a moto on Sunday and finished 7th overall.

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Cade Clason’s inspirational message.

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I’m not going to lie, it took us a while to figure out the spelling.

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Not now Chief, I’m in the zone. Kaven was calm and cool all day long. He belongs down there in the top 10.

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Add Justin Starling to the FXR family.

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You wouldn’t have guessed that this was Dylan Wright’s first AMA National.

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After qualifying, everybody was asking who the #223 of Dylan Wright was.

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Half Canadian Cole Martinez had two solid mots and finished 13th o/a in the 450 class.

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After Des Nations, word is that Alex Martin will be trading blue for orange.

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Programming the #23 machine for the ghost ride wheelie after the moto 2 win.

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You can show up to riders meeting with bed head when you’re this good.

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Bam Bam and Trey catch up at riders’ meeting.

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Nice to see young Mitchell Harrison stay on 2 wheels. He was 7th o/a in the 250 class.

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Jordan Smith had an off day in his last ride for the Geico team. Word is he will be orange in ’17.

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Cunningham, Albertson and Osby take in riders’ meeting.

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Momma Webb has lots to text about.

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Our good friend Seth Rarick has never looked happier. He is Cooper Webb’s main guy and looks to be loving every minute of the job.

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No Dylan, you qualified 3rd overall not 2nd.

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Team USA looking so fresh and so clean as always.

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Benny Bloss’ 167 machine should be dropping quite a few numbers after this season.

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6th overall for the season in the 450 class. Who would have thunk. Great job, Benny!

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Dylan had good reason to be smiling. Qualifying 3rd, and going 21-16 for 19th is a pretty solid 1st time south of the border.

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I always seem to catch the best of Shawn. Great guy…

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Nice to see Grant Langston at the races.

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I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dave not smiling.

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Thanks for a great outdoors everyone, see you at Arenacross in October.