The Motokazie banquet last night was an excellent time with dinner, drinks, socializing with riding friends, and celebrating the accomplishments of the entire season with year-end awards. First through third place winners also received a custom-printed sweatshirt with their name, rider number, class, and standing. Top notch recognition for these riders that dedicated their time and effort to the series.
Carter also designed a collage for Jacob and presented it to him in thanks for all the assistance and coaching he’s given him and the rest of the group. He’s truly a shining star in the quad motocross world!
Congratulations to our quad honors this season:
Quad Sport 1st Place – Trenton Borning, Litchfield, MN 2nd Place – Kyra Hassler, Faribault, MN
Quad Open B 1st Place – Jacob Schilling, Mondovi, WI 2nd Place – Logan Herker, Darwin, MN 3rd Place – Carter Pollock, Litchfield, MN
Mini Quad 90 Semi Stock/Rec 1st Place – Landon Coons and Richard Schilling, Mondovi, WI
Mini Quad 50 Semi Stock/Rec 1st Place – Noah Abraham, Norwood Young America, MN 2nd Place – Willow Abraham, Norwood Young America, MN 3rd Place – Bristal Paulson, Darwin, MN
Mini Quad Production 1st Place – Mason Giller, Dayton, MN 2nd Place – Maverick Smith, Baldwin, WI
From September 2007, a large group of dirt bikes and quads ride out at “The Compound”, our motocross and freestyle motocross track, including yours truly on a new 2007 Yamaha YFZ450.
After Joseph Eul crashes after hitting the ramp and rips open his elbow, he comes back later with fresh stitches and a “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups” t-shirt. Classic!
Raw and unedited footage, showing just how it always was on any given weekend.
ATV Motocross has been a large part of my life for the past 18 years. It has given me a reason to get in shape and stay in shape, and the friendships that have formed along the way have been a very important part of who I have become. ATV Motocross family is special, and that’s why I’m proud to announce that for the upcoming 2026 year, I’ll be giving a total of $1,000 of cash sponsorships (FIVE $200 awards) to FIVE ATV Motocross racers in MINNESOTA, WISCONSIN, or IOWA, that represent the spirit of the sport. Those that exhibit exemplary sportsmanship on and off the track. Those that provide assistance and support for their fellow riders in the pits. Those that show exceptional dedication to the sport.
You DO NOT need to be racing AMA District or Nationals events to apply. Local outlaw series, motocross or supercross alike, are just fine!
You DO NOT need to be a pro, and your race results aren’t all that important. In fact, I particularly encourage riders that are starting out but striving to improve their skill to apply.
You DO NOT need to be an adult, however, if you are chosen as a sponsorship recipient, you will need to provide parent or guardian contact information to receive the award.
You DO need to value sportsmanship and camaraderie with your fellow riders.
You DO need to live in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Iowa.
You DO need to show dedication to running one or more race series where you’ll be eligible for year-end awards. In other words, racing at least the minimum amount of races for one of them.
You DO need to understand that your actions in the pits and on the track represent you, your family, your sponsors, and your sport.
FIVE $200 awards will be announced in February 2026. To be paid in CASH through Venmo, PayPal, or check.
To apply, please include:
Your name
Your age
City and state where you live
Your grade-point average (if you’re a student)
How long you’ve been riding
What kind of machine you ride
Pictures of you and your machine
Social media links
Race resume with a list of events you’ve participated in this last year or two
List of goals for 2026
And finally, a well-written short essay (two or three paragraphs) about what sportsmanship and ATV Motocross mean to you. Feel free to include an example or two about how you’ve helped a rider in time of need, or a time where you felt your sportsmanship was most tested and how you responded.
Send this all to:
brian.klier@gmail.com (E-Mail), or Brian Klier (Facebook) through a direct message, or @brianklier (Instagram) through a direct message, or @archestar (Snapchat) through a direct message, or U.S. Mail (direct message me through any of the methods above for my mailing address).
NOMINATIONS APPRECIATED!
Please send me a direct message if you know somebody particularly worthy of this award. Nominations will be highly considered when choosing sponsorship award recipients. Nominees will be told someone (anonymously) has noticed their positive track presence and will be encouraged to apply for the sponsorship opportunity.
SHARE this post to groups whose members might benefit from this opportunity.
It’s a wrap! The Motokazie Supercross series had their last race on Friday night, and as you can see, I decided to come out to the Scott County Fair in Jordan and race one last time this year too. And you know the races were close because there were usually a pair of us in each picture! I’ve had a lot of fun hanging out in the pits and watching these young men get faster and better this season, and I enjoyed turning a few wrenches for these guys as well. Quad MX family is the best!
CONGRATULATIONS to Jacob Schilling for taking 1st place in Quad Open B class this season, with Logan Herker taking 2nd place, and Carter Pollock taking 3rd.
I thought about quitting several times over the past 18 years. There were some years I didn’t ride more than twice. Then, there were some years I hit the track more than 20 times. Why was I so active some years, and then barely ride other years? Motocross is just as fun to me now as it was in the beginning. So what makes the difference?
It’s the people.
Our riding group has been dynamic and changing since the beginning. But I have had some of the absolute most fun riding with this group of people this year. People all rooting for each other, coaching each other, and watching each other grow and improve in the sport. Heck, I even came out of retirement to race this year! It’s not a chore to spend hours checking over the quad, washing the quad and all the gear, driving hours to get to the track, and spending money on repairs and gas and everything else, when you can’t wait to get to the track to ride with your friends. It’s the middle of September now, and I ask myself, “Where the heck did the summer go? I’m just getting started!”
To those inviting us over to their backyard tracks, to those saying they’d have never stuck with it if it wasn’t for us, I offer a very sincere thank you. This year has been a special one, and it has been so much fun to meet all the new people and try out new tracks together.
I hope next year brings me continued health, luck, and more opportunities to build these kind of relationships!
Thanks to Jacob for letting Carter and I rip around his track yesterday! Such a fun sand track with multiple lines and fun jumps. Also, congratulations to Carter for nailing these two large jumps after some expert advice and coaching from Jacob. As you can see, he was pretty thrilled!
Hope to see everybody this coming Saturday at the Scott County Fairgrounds for the next Motokazie Organized Practice and Race!
Great ride at Moto Monkeys MX with the gang this last Sunday. It has been some time since I’ve ridden a track technical enough where I could still barely walk several days later , but nonetheless, it was a great time trying out a brand new track. Thanks, Sam, for the wonderful hospitality!
Afterwards, Bethany and I stopped by Pier 500 in Hudson for a fantastic meal before the holiday weekend was through.
There were a multitude of reasons why this was the time to temporarily “come out of retirement” as it were, and it’s been 16 years since I took a gate drop and holeshot at a motocross or supercross race. I never was too bad at starts.
I have to admit, I actually wasn’t nervous at the gate. I was that morning though. Friday at 4 a.m., about an hour before my alarm would normally go off. Of course, I start thinking about what it’d be like 12 hours later, and my heart and adrenaline instantly start bringing me to an uninvited start of the day. Not a chance of getting back to sleep.
Of course, it’s different now. I’m 47 years old. My thoughts aren’t exactly running frantic picturing going through the track in my head a hundred times. It’s about getting in the pits as soon as they open so I can get set up, and buy myself some time in case me or any of my friends have problems with their machine. How am I going to act if I happen to get a trophy? What’s the most important thing about what the evening is going to mean for me? How will I act if I get dead last?
It’s usually a pretty small group these days. Not exactly a full gate like it used to be. All four of us, and that’s including me, know each other and are friends. Carter is the youngest of the group. He got started with a bone stock Honda 450 last year, and now joins a gate full of Yamaha 450s with a Yamaha 450 of his own. The kid has been getting faster and smarter every time he rides.
It’s practice time. The track is absolutely mint after a week of moisture. The machine is running great. The race order comes out. 20th. That means 19 races are in front of us before we race our “heat”, and 21 are after us before we get to race our “main”. Folks, that’s a 10:30 p.m. main event. Temporarily, I start to second guess my decision to come out of retirement.
But after hanging out with people I have come to call my friends after several years, time flies by, and before we know it it’s heat time.
And I get first gate pick. There’s a first time for everything!
I select a position directly to the right of the doghouse, Carter lines up to my right. Jacob takes the far inside and Logan lines up to our left. The 2 minute board comes out. The engines rumble to a start. I had anticipated having the song “Gimme Some Lovin'” by The Spencer Davis Group playing through my head at this time to ease my nerves, just like I did during my first ever race, but I wasn’t nervous. I was instead preoccupied with making sure I was in second gear, I was at the perfect spot from the gate, and my goggles were clean. We all notice our photographer to our left covering the start of the race, and we all give a thumbs up. Everyone at this gate are friends and this photo will memorialize this time and this place for me.
The board flips over to show 30 seconds. The starting guy points to each of us one at a time and we each sequentially give him a nod showing that we were ready. And I was. The board goes sideways and the starting guy walks deliberately to the doghouse and everybody punches 3/4 throttle awaiting the inevitable. The gates drop, and so does my clutch, and the rest of the throttle. Jacob and Logan are out in front first coming up to the first corner, and when we get there, we’re all within about a quad length of each other. And that’s about where I’m reminded that, “Hey, Brian? This is a race for 3rd, not for 1st!”. Despite running my usual pace, Jacob and Logan are well in front, and I can sense Carter’s machine behind me but close.
The heat is 4 laps, and I finish in position 3 for the heat. In supercross, this means nothing. It simply determines that you get 3rd gate pick for the main.
My usual bedtime comes and goes. It’s about 10:20 p.m. and most of the pits are empty. Even the last glimmers of sunset have faded away, and the now rutted, torn up track is brightly illuminated with shadows casting from the same.
It’s go time again!
We line up in identical spots. I already know my gear is correct. My goggles are clear. The 30 second board turns sideways. The gate drops and I’m already off. I leave the gate in second. Now, for the first time this day, my 47-year-old senior class brain sees things crystal clear and I’m temporarily frightened. It’s that internal mind dialog I had at 4 a.m. calling. Why am I here? What does this all mean? I let slightly go of the throttle as I don’t want to be ahead of someone in a race for the series points. Terrible race strategy, by the way, but it’s the strategy right for me. In the process, Carter sneaks by, but I’m on him.
The track is rough. Beaten, rutted, and dark. Over 42 races have taken place on this track today. But none of that really matters. I’m still on him.
I can remember each of the corners, each of the jumps as clear as day here on Monday, as they’ve been on replay through my head since Friday night. Carter is on it like I’ve never seen before. He wants this, and I’m on his rear number plate, sometimes just a foot or two away.
Carter takes the outside preparing for the culvert step-up. A mistake! Hmmmmm, inside option, check. But it’s not quite enough. I’m still behind.
Last lap. The guy is obsessed. This isn’t the guy I was two corners ahead of in the heat race. I opened the door for an opportunity early in the main, and by God he isn’t going to shut it.
After five laps, some of the most fun, intense, laps I’ve ever taken on a moto or supercross track, it’s over. I yell out a “Whooooooooo!” and hold my clutch in while leaning over the front of my quad to give Carter a fist bump.
Just like the internal mind dialog I had that morning, this cemented it for me. This is what it is all about. Some of the best riding, with some great friends, supported by the best people. I had an absolutely wonderful time.
So, 3-4 in round 6, 18 points. Label out on the can, finish sharing the evening with a personal beverage or perhaps two with my friend.
I have to thank my sponsors. Well, I don’t have any. But Bethany has sponsored my riding by virtue over the last 16 years, always allowing me to do what I love. Isn’t that the best kind of sponsorship?
Until next time?
266MX PhotoGraphy, Bethany Schweisthal, Crystal Nicole Diederich, Carter Pollock
Six years ago today, dirt bikers collectively rolled their eyes as the largest group of quads that I’ve ever seen together rode at Hurricane Hills Motocross for a fantastic day of riding. That young man to my left just took a 6th overall in Production B class at the ATV National Championship race at Sunset Ridge in Walnut, Illinois this weekend. Congratulations and a job well done, Chad Merow!
Seventeen years ago, after a full day of riding Donny’s track, our riding group got together for this single snapshot in time.
I’ve come to the realization that I must have a real addiction to motocross and I’m not exactly sure if I’ll ever be able to stop. The friends I’ve met in this sport have been with me for decades!
With the weather we’ve had so far this summer, it’s never been a bad day riding! I rode with a buddy of mine in Litchfield at a friend’s backyard Motocross track. I had a fun, fun time!
A cool start to Saturday at the Scott County Fairgrounds in Jordan for my fourth Motokazie supercross event of the year, but after Noon, things started to heat up fast!
I had fun starting near the front, middle, and back of the pack for each of 4 practice sessions. Each position has its own unique challenge and way of thinking. It took no time at all for the far more talented “A” and true “B” class riders to work their way around me, sending dirt and mud flying every direction. There’s a lot of trust for one another out there, and this is what makes being in the air side-by-side on a jump and going two wide in a place with no room to spare possible most of the time.
I had a friend crash pretty hard out there during the third practice session and we had to coordinate to help him make a hospital run. After a little pain, everything turned out to be just fine. He’ll be riding again soon enough!
I’ve been having a lot of fun riding with a great group of quad guys this Spring, and hopefully with good health and good fitness, I’ll continue to mix it up with the young pups out there the rest of the year!
Congratulations on Mason Giller for his Mini Quad Production win!
Shout out to 266MX PhotoGraphy specifically for making a vet guy look fast, but also to Manny Wall for several shots throughout the day, and the video you see below. Also, thanks to Logan Herker for making a GoPro video that I stole a screenshot from to show you part of our rather big practice group of 16 quads!
Feeling nostalgic tonight, so posting this old video from 15 years ago of my friend Dave on his Honda 250R at the Scott County Fairgrounds Motokazie Track in Jordan, MN. Check out that old gnarly layout!
Standard definition because that’s what the original GoPro was!
This is probably the best layout that the Sandbox/Cedar Lake Arena has had since the inception of the facility. 35 quads in total came out for the private rental today. We all had a terrific time!
MXMatt.com Motocross Photography, Bethany Schweisthal, and yours truly.
, but nonetheless, it was a great time trying out a brand new track. Thanks, Sam, for the wonderful hospitality!
