Author: David Bulmer

One of the mostly fiercely contested classes is the 85 classes, and in particular the 9-11 age group. We caught up with Thor rider Jordan Bailey who made the long trip from Florida to Mammoth, in what was his first ever visit to the mountain resort. Being just 9 years old, Jordan had his work cut out against the older kids in the class but he still posted some decent results, ending up with a pair of 8th's for 7th overall.

So it's your first time here in Mammoth, what have you been up to so far?

There's so much stuff to do up here, the other day I saw people snowboarding and skiing still. There's a big skatepark, there's movie theatres and golf courses. I went tubing the other day down a huge whoop section on the snow. I don't think you could have any more fun than it is here.

And why did you make the long trip to California?

I decided to come out here because Suzuki owed me another bike and it stays at James Coy's house. He used to work at Pro Circuit and his new company is 360 Unlimited so he has my bike, and since he has a bike I could come out here and ride and check out California for the first time.

But now it is your favorite National track?

This is the most fun I've had at a national, this and Loretta's are probably my favorite tracks though. It isn't the biggest national I've been to but it's the one where I've had the most fun. Plus the people in Mammoth are more low key, they are really nice. The other day this girl was snowboarding and she told us about this skate park and she was like "I'll give you a skateboard." I couldn't believe it, people back home and at motocross tracks are not even close to being as nice as these people.

But it isn't all fun and games here, you've got Loretta's in a few weeks, is the pressure on?

It's definitely one of the hardest training seasons for me. We do motos and training. Practice yesterday was an hour long and I did one of the whole entire practices. Training for Loretta's is pretty much all we do, but it all pays off once we reach Tennessee and the tough humid conditions of Loretta's.

What classes are you running down in Tennessee, and how do you think you'll do?

I'll be racing 85 9-11 Stock and Mod and as always it's going to be one of the biggest, hardest races of my life, but I'm going to go all out for it and hopefully finish first in at least one class and I'll be happy with that. This year I'm hoping to win of course, but just finish solid and then next year I'll be in the same class but as an older kid. So that year I'll win, that has to happen, but I want to win really bad this year as well and I'm going to put in the effort.