I’m just going to throw this out there: Joey Lancaster might be my long-lost brother. Lancaster works in the motocross industry, he married way out of his league, his number is 101, and he loves 125cc two-strokes; we are practically the same person. He’s been asking me to come up to his annual 125 Dream Race at Washougal for a couple years now, and I finally pulled the trigger for 2017. The event, which has been going on for six years, was really the catalyst for the FMF 125 Dream Race Triple Crown Invitational series last year, as well as the 125 Dream Race Invitational during intermission at the Washougal National two years ago. Honestly, what’s not to love? Getting to race a 125 against other 125s on one of the best motocross tracks in the world at arguably the best time of the year? Where the hell do I sign up?

First, full disclosure: I’ve been a big proponent of the 125cc two-stroke movement. I don’t hate four-strokes at all, but I believe we have a serious gap between minicycles and 250Fs. This gap is where we are failing adolescents who are too big for an 80cc but don’t quite have the strength to ride a 250F, as well as new riders looking for an easy, affordable way to get started in motocross. The 125cc class is a simple fix to that problem.