The crowd at the Oneida County fairgrounds enjoyed a full night of entertainment as they kicked off the 2023 Oneida County Fair Monday, August 14.  Live a Little Productions Freestyle Moto-Insanity returned to Malad to provide another thrilling show of jumps, stunts and tricks.  In addition to the freestyle stunts, the show also included lawn mower racers from the Rocky Mountain Mower Association based out of Idaho Falls as well as a ROV and “Tough Trucks” race off.  The night was full of loud motors and even louder cheers from the crowd as they enjoyed the night.

Oneida County’s own adrenaline junkies also participated in the night’s show as they raced for glory and bragging rights for the year to come.  The motorbike race divisions were broken down by bike size and stroke, as well as taking in mind the racers age.  The races showcased four different groups- the youngest riders under the age of eight on bikes ranging between 50-100 cc, riders aged eight to twelve on bikes 100-250 cc with both 2 stroke and 4 stroke engines, and racers thirteen and older racing on bikes with a 150-200 cc motor divided into 2 stroke and 4 stroke divisions.  

The night began with the Rocky Mountain Mower Association taking to the arena, racing eight laps around their own modified short track.  The racers brought their souped up class SS/2 mowers that, had they a blade mounted on the underside, would have gone right back to cutting grass as soon as the race finished.  

Next, the crowd cheered on the littlest drivers as they made their way around the track to open the local ATV talent.  Included in the first group with the most racers was Chevy Ward, Kaggon Ward, JoJo Jones, Cache Lake, Easton Johnson, McCall Summers, Kyler Blasidell, Lillian Blaisdell, Wade Eliason and Baler Hall.  The riders and their bikes might have been small but their drive to win wasn’t!  The track had some rough patches for the small bikes causing several riders to go down over the ruts.

Racing in the 85-120cc driving was Braykin Gamble, Madden Ganzden, Declan Summers, Paige Eliason, and Macoy Luke.  Racers of the third division included Oakley Maddox, Mason Eliason and Anvil Oyler.  The final division was comprised of Seth Barnes, Brookelin Isaacson, Michael Jones, Xander Merja, Tylee Venable, and Braun Nalder.  

Each division featured two races for the night.  The first race was a Chicago style race, with two riders going head to head where they began on opposite sides of the track.  In their second round, the riders lined up on a single starting line, finally competing to see the fastest of the group.

Skyler Neibaur, CEO of Live a Little Productions said of the Malad races, “We never get such a great turnout of the young riders like we do here in Malad.  This is awesome!  We love to see them get out there and race, especially the littlest ones.”

Following the local motorbike talent, the crowd enjoyed a little mud slinging from the ROV and “Tough Truck” division.  Flinging dirt into the stands and inspiring a few gasps as the racers took the turns on two wheels, nearly flipping over, the races inspired a little adrenaline for even the fans in the stands.  With only two racers in each division, they went head to head with the winner being crowned after the best of three.

Throughout the night, Live a Little Productions professional freestyle riders performed stunts and tricks across the arena.  They performed some of the sport’s most thrilling stunts to the awed crowd like the Kiss of Death, the Switchblade, the CanCan, the One Footed Candy Bar, and the Lazy Boy just to name a few.  The obvious favorite stunt of the night was a double backflip that had cheering and screaming with delight.  As the freestyle stunt riders went around the arena, they high-fived the excited young fans that tirelessly cheered them on for more and more tricks.

After the races and freestyle riding came to an end, the lights were doused as the Malad Fire Department ended the night with an exciting firework show, a perfect way to close out the opening night of the Oneida County Fair.  The MotoCross event as well as the fireworks were provided by the Oneida County Fair Board.