If you've been around off road racing, you probably already know Mandi Mastin as a household name in GNCC Racing. It could be from her array of GNCC Championships, multiple National Enduro Championships or even her heavy involvement in the International Six Days Enduro Racing (ISDE). You may not know that Mandi, like many of our hard-working Women's class riders, works full time Monday-Friday on top of her demanding schedule as a GNCC Racer. This year has brought upon new journeys for the already busy Mastin, but she is ready to take on whatever comes her way - whether it's a new form of racing or promoting her own woods race. We caught up with Mandi as she prepares for the John Penton this weekend in her home state.
Photo By: Andrew Fredrickson
Husky stepped up to help out this year
Mandi Mastin: I definitely had a great time at Red Bud for the Motocross National. I didn't really do that well in the standings but I didn't really expect to do that well just because that's not what I do (laughs). I rode the same bike I ride at GNCC, the Husky 250 TXC and compared to what the other girls rode, mine definitely wasn't as fast. My bike is completely stock with woods suspension so it was a little soft over the jumps and stuff like that but all in all it was good, probably could have been a lot better if I had set it up for moto. This was the first WMX race I've ever tried and I had a whole lot of fun. I would maybe like to try some more this year and maybe try to get back into more moto stuff.
Get back into it? Did you come from a motocross background?
Yeah, back in the day when I very first started riding, I was about 5 or 6, and I rode strictly motocross until I was about 19 or 20. After that, I switched over to riding off road stuff because that's what my dad and my brother did - the GNCC and National Enduros mainly. So since 2001, I've been riding the off road stuff.
Very cool. And how does GNCC compare to motocross, for you?
I like the format of the GNCC a lot better. I kind of like to just go and ride. Motocross is a long day with a lot of sitting around and you go out there and only ride 15 minutes and then go back to the truck and sit, whereas the GNCC's you get to ride a lot of different terrain, you're out there for 2 hours and then you're done. The people too are great. Generally speaking, I think the off-road atmosphere is more laid back and it has more of a family environment, which is something I really like about it. But like I said, I wouldn't mind getting back into moto a little bit more.
Photo By: Andrew Fredrickson
Husky is home for this girl
It's been kind of a roller coaster season, I started out with the win in Florida and then when I went up to Georgia - I had an ok ride there but I had an off day kind of. North Carolina was a bad race for me, the suspension settings weren't quite right and I was still kind of learning the bike a little bit too and didn't really do that well. In South Carolina I had a good ride, I was really close to Maria I think I was only about 15 seconds from her. Since South Carolina I've been getting more used to the bike and trying to ride it a lot more - like at least once a week and that's helped me get acquainted with the bike and get better results, except for Snowshoe.
What happened at Snowshoe?
I was going down a fast road around mile 3 in about 4th gear and I hit a rock. With it being wet out, the front end kind of pitched me up on the front wheel and I went over the handlebars. It hurt pretty badly so I went to the Ski Patrol people and they were pretty sure I fractured my arm but once I got back home I went to the ER and it was just a bad hematoma and contusion to the elbow, so I got lucky.
Photo By: Andrew Fredrickson
Mastin currently sits 3rd in GNCC points
I think it was a combination of liking the terrain and having a good day. Florida isn't really that technical and pretty much wide open, this year more so than last year. It seemed like not as many palmettos and a lot more open fields and I think that played more of an advantage to me because not being used to my bike and not having it set up perfect, I was able to just kind of ride it. It was a good day though, I think everything clicked and everything was good that day but I think with it being wide open it was easier to go fast and ride versus riding a bike that I wasn't really familiar with in the tight technical stuff.
You're pretty stacked on Championships from what I hear, what are they?
I have won 5 GNCC Championships - 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. I have also had 10 National Enduro Championships as well.
What do you do for a weekly training program?
I pretty much work full time Monday-Friday at our family business, so getting out to ride during the week is difficult. I usually pick either go riding in the evening or go for a bicycle ride. I usually try to ride once a week and then work out the other nights during the week.
How do you like your new Husqvarna?
Photo By: Andrew Fredrickson
Mastin tried her hand at RedBud WMX
I hear that you're going to be participating in X Games this year. How'd you get involved with that?
Well, JT Bennett from GEICO came up to me a couple months ago and told me that Endurocross was thinking about adding a women's class to the X Games and I told him that I was interested in doing it. So he pretty much passed my information onto those guys over there and then from there, they ended up picking three of us from a handful of qualified girls that have either done Endurocross before or some form of off road racing. I've never ridden any Endurocrosses before but I think with the GNCC and other off road racing I've done, I'll be able to use similar techniques and riding skills in the Endurocross. I'm really excited; it should be a fun time.
Photo By: Andrew Fredrickson
Will the once moto girl try anymore WMX?
Yeah I'm pretty excited! This will be the 10th year that I've done the 6 days. The first time I went in 2001, we did have a three person women's club team but we didn't actually have a Women's class that we rode at the 6 days so we had to ride with the guys and against the guys. 2007 was the first year that they added the Women's World Cup, a special division for Women at the 6 days, and that year we were in Chile. My team members were Nicole Bradford and Lacey Jones and we ended up winning the cup that year for the first time, which was awesome! So we're definitely looking forward to winning that cup for a second time this year in Finland.
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