Stream the Winter Throwdown

Cory Texter Race Promotions has partnered with online sports streaming service FansChoice.TV to show this week's Winter Throwdown race, and the rest of the 2025 CTR Series. In a few years C-Tex has established the January race as one of the biggest and most important amateur races on the calendar.

Many of the top racers compete, chasing the big prize money, while this edition will see a bunch of DTRA regular racers travelling over the Atlantic to compete in a variety of classes. 2024 DTRA champs Jack Bell and Skye Adams are part of a big crew organised by Rory of Deadgood Racing

Adam James and Jack Bell are entered into the Pro class where they'll be competing against a host of AFT stars including Briar Bauman, Kody Kopp and Dallas Daniels.

The Florida race is held over three-days. The press release explains: 'Coverage of the Winter Throwdown will kick off with the "King of Throwdown" 1v1 Bracket Challenge, a head-to-head race that has been a fan favorite in previous years, on Thursday, January 16 at 3:00 PM ET, followed by two full days of racing on Friday, January 17 at 11:00 AM ET and Saturday, January 18 at 11:00 AM ET. 

There are options for paying for a online subscription or single event pay-per-view. Details from FansChoice are below.

FansChoice.tv’s offerings include:

Mission Foods CTR Flat Track Series Livestreaming: FansChoice.tv becomes the exclusive livestreaming home for the Mission Foods CTR Flat Track Series. Subscribers will have access to live and on-demand content from each event.

Progressive AFT Content: While all livestreaming coverage of Progressive American Flat Track is now exclusively on FloSports, FansChoice.tv subscribers will have access to a comprehensive VOD archive. This includes full coverage from every AFT National from 2017 through 2024, and following each FloSports livestream in 2025, full coverage of each AFT National will be published as VOD on FansChoice.tv. Additionally, historic content from the golden years of the AMA Grand National Championship will be available.

Subscription Options: FansChoice.tv offers two subscription plans: $9.99 per month or $54.99 for six months, granting access to both Mission Foods CTR Flat Track Series Livestreaming and the extensive AFT VOD archive.

For more information or to subscribe, visit www.FansChoice.tv.

2025 Mission Foods CTR Flat Track Series Schedule

Winter Throwdown – January 16-18, Callahan Speedway, Callahan, FL

Buckeye Nationals – May 16-17, Western Reserve Motorcycle Club, Salem, OH

O to the H Nationals – June 13-14, Triangle Motorcycle Club, Harpster, OH

Peoria Classic – July 18-19, Peoria Speedway, Peoria, IL

Cackalacky Classic – September 19-20, Mid-Carolina Speedway, Neeses, SC

BOOK: Miles - The Art of Losing A Motorcycle Race

Book review by Gary Inman

Malle London began as a maker of stylish motorcycle luggage, but have expanded into apparel and, undoubtedly what they are now more well known for, freewheeling motorcycle happenings. They organise long-distance Malle Rallies, both in the UK and Europe, and a beach race, but are best known for the Malle Mile. Ten years in, Malle (Ma-Lay) have created a book to commemorate their best idea.

The Mile is an annual run-what-you-brung festival of participation motorsport. It's aimed at classic and customs (and best when that is strictly adhered to). Launched in 2015, they had held five before I attended my first in 2020, but I haven't missed one since, and was glad to have made it to the final Mile held at Kevington Hall, before the move to Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire. If I can make this about Sideburn, for one moment, the Malle Mile is the privately-educated cousin of Dirt Quake, which introduced these kind of dirt shenanigans and inappropriate bike racing to the UK in 2012, expanding into the alpine Snow Quake a few years later.

While Dirt Quake ran out of steam, Malle's inherent style and enthusiasm has seen the event grow into a wonderfully relaxed jamboree, with a huge stage for live bands, plus quicks like early morning yoga and wild swimming, without losing the focus of why people attend, to ride and race from morning till night. While far from mainstream, it has crossed over and is certainly no longer the preserve of the hip - and in doing so, helped secure its success. It has now cemented itself on the UK motorcycle event calendar.

This 256-page hardback is a history and celebration of the Miles, the people and bikes that have competed there. It's a supremely photogenic event, and the large format hardback is principally a photobook, with some essays dotted throughout. If you've attended Malle events, and enjoyed them, the book's targeted at you. If you're in it, even better.

Available as 'regular' hardback for £48 or special edition for £128 from MalleLondon.com

The Best: Trackmasters

Hello! We're back with some posts in which we're going to look at different categories of bikes covered during the 15 years of the mag as a reminder of some great machinery, and to revel in a bit of Sideburn history while we decide what we're doing next. Hope you enjoy these trips down memory lane. If you do, perhaps let us know.

We're starting with Sideburn's featured Trackmasters. If you have a suggestion of anything else you'd like us to look back on, let us know.

For those new to the Sideburn scene, Trackmaster were a specialist frame manufacturer, who built championship-winning racing chassis, and are best remembered for their flat track frames. Founded by Ray Hensley in the late-60s, then taken over by Walt Mahony, various individuals have owned the rights to the Trackmaster name over the years, but it has remained in California for much of the history. Gary Inman, editor

SB54: Newbold's Trackmaster Kawasaki KX500

We start with the most recent Trackmaster we featured, and perhaps the least typical. Regular Sideburn contributor, Travis of Newbold's Motorbike Shop, Colorado, was left this Trackmaster frame when a good friend died, with the instructions he should build it into something special. Travis decided that should be an uncompromising 500cc two-stroke single.

BUY SIDEBURN 54

SB49: Trackmaster Yamaha XS650

We spoke to Chuck Palmgren, the man who gave Yamaha their first pro flat track win, which was also their first US National win, and a Japanese manufacturer's first US National win. And he did it with the essential help of a Trackmaster frame.

BUY SIDEBURN 54

SB46: Trackmaster BSA A65

If you wonder why people still get excited about Trackmaster all you have to do is look at Jason's beautiful BSA.

BUY SIDEBURN 46

SB42: Trackmaster Triumph T120R

We featured the only Trackmaster in Russia back in 2020. It was something of a replica of Jim Odom's bike, which upset the then owner of Jim Odom's bike, but if you have a famous, good looking race bike, it's likely to influence other bikes. The modern titanium silencer wasn't to everyone's taste.

SB36: Trackmaster Ducati 860 GT

We always made the effort to hunt down the oddballs to keep this interesting, and this was a real quirky build. V-twins dominated flat track for a lot of years, but not V-twins like this one. The owner told us the bike did well on the competitive Kansas Fairgrounds race circuit.

SB23: Trackmaster Triumph 650

Gary Nixon Tribute street tracker built by Don 'Donzzilla' Miller (of Metro Racing) built to memorialise Don's good friend, and former national champ, Nixon. If you'e not following @donzzilla_don_miller on instagram, you're missing out.

SB20: Trackmaster Suzuki Titan 500

We came across this beautifully-proportioned two-stroke twin in the Springfield Mile campground when we visited in 2015. The owner, who raced it in 1969 and '70, started it up for us. I wish we had a video of that.

SB14: Trackmaster Benelli 650

Yep, we could really dig up the obscurities. This feature was about US East Coast bike importer Cosmopolitan Motors, and their attempt to get into flat track with a pair of Benelli 650 twins in Trackmaster frames. In a quirk, or coincidence, or just because we wrote about a lot of stuff and made a lot of connections over the years, rider 68S above is Gene Hartline. Friend of the mag, contributor and regular DTRA racer, Gareth Howes now races a ex-Hartline Trackmaster Triumph in the UK and Europe.

SB12: Trackmaster Triumph 750

Is there anything cooler than seeing a bitchin' vintage special just going about its daily business in a busy modern city? This is Bertrand, editor/publisher of the now defunct, French Café Racer magazine (whatever 'it' was 'it' was contagious...) on his former desert racing Trackmaster, modified into a dirt track-style street bike.

SB1: Trackmaster Yamaha XS650

Sideburn and Trackmaster go way back, right back to issue 1 and Alastair McQuaid's Shell Thuet tuned, big-bore XS.

That's it for now. If you liked it, try let us know.

Cheers