Being from Michigan and in the snow belt, when I first heard the name Ryder Malinoski, it sounded familiar. After thinking about it, I realized that Ryder was Robbie Malinoski’s son. Robbie was a pro snocross racer, and I even have a poster signed by him. Anyways, we are talking about the son Ryder, who made his pro motocross debut at the recent Budds Creek National Motocross. The cool thing about Ryder is that he didn’t even ride a dirt bike until COVID-19 hit and stopped all school team sports. In this short time, Ryder has excelled in the SMX Next series, and now had his first pro motocross race at Budds Creek with the ClubMX Yamaha team. We spoke to Ryder just before moto one to get his thoughts. Ryder would go on to finish 24th with 19/22 moto finishes.

BY JIM KIMBALL

RYDER, LET’S PICK UP AT LORETTA LYNN’S AND TALK ABOUT YOUR RESULTS. I did Loretta Lynn’s, and I was able to win the 250 Pro Sport Championship, which was super cool! I raced the Open Pro Sport, where I ended up crashing out, but I feel I rode well. I also did the Canadian Motocross series this year and finished up second in that 250 Championship, but I was in the running to win that championship too. It was very close! Overall, I did a lot of racing this summer, and now I’m lining up for my first Pro National here at Budds Creek.

AND YOU HAVE BEEN A PART OF THE CLUB MX TEAM, ON THE AMATEUR SIDE, FOR A WHILE NOW, RIGHT? Yes, that’s correct. I have been on the Club MX Amateur team now for two years, riding and training at the facility.

Ryder has been one of the most anticipated amateurs to jump into the pro ranks and we should see some big things coming from him in the next few years.

HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT RACING YOUR FIRST NATIONAL TOMORROW? I am feeling excited. This is what we work for, to come out here and race professionally. So, it’s a dream come true to be able to do it. I have all good emotions heading into tomorrow, and I’m ready to go.

YOU HAVE DONE REALLY WELL IN, I DON’T KNOW IF YOU WOULD CALL IT, SMX NEXT? Yes, I have been able to do solid in most of them, and those have helped me a lot to learn and race against good, top, up-and-coming talent for sure.

HOW ARE THE DYNAMICS AT THE CLUB FACILITY? I AM ASSUMING YOU DO EVERYTHING THE PRO GUYS ARE DOING? Yes, I’m doing all of it; you name it. I’m doing all the same training. We even have a nutritionist at Club MX, so most of our lunches and food we eat are pretty much the same healthy meals. But everything is specific to what you need because everybody is different. Overall, the whole program works great, and we all are similar.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST THING THAT YOU HAVE LEARNED AS FAR AS RACING PRO? I would say the biggest thing that I have learned from the pro riders at Club MX is just the experience they have, just a little bit more knowledge they have from racing. They know all the important stuff surrounding pro motocross, I would say. It is not so much the “just go fast” part! It is all in the little things and the little details required to race pro motocross. That is something that I have learned at Club MX that I would say is going to help me become a good pro.

Ryder Malinoski raced his first Pro National at Budds Creek.

WITH THAT SAID, DO YOU HAVE SOME TYPE OF EXPECTATION OF WHERE YOU WANT TO BE? I don’t really have too much of an expectation. But I want to score points, and that is, I would say, my goal: to score some points. If it goes well tomorrow, I think I could do well. As I said, I really don’t have a number, but just score some points.

YOU ARE ALREADY SIGNED WITH THIS TEAM FOR NEXT YEAR, RIGHT? Yes, I am with Club MX through the 2027 season. Next year, I will be racing full-time as a professional.

YOU’VE DONE PRETTY WELL IN THE SMX NEXT, RIGHT? At Anaheim 2, I had a bad crash in the final, which caused me to miss most of the others. But I’ve had three SMX Next podiums and won one round.

IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE TALENTED BOTH INDOORS AND OUTDOORS. I believe so. My outdoors is getting better. I would say that I was more confident in my indoor ability, but now, with all the racing I have been doing outdoors, I am getting better outdoors, and it is becoming good both indoors and outdoors.

LET’S FINISH UP WITH THIS; THE 2027 YAMAHA YZ 250-F IS ALL NEW. HAVE YOU RIDDEN ONE? Yes! It is funny you ask; I just rode the new bike this week at Club MX. They had the launch there, so I rode just a stock 2027 250F, and it was a lot of fun. I think it will have a lot of potential to be a really good bike, and I am excited that I will be on it next year.