Ben says he has seen 100 per cent improvement in Flynn’s riding since he returned.
“It’s very very noticeable. It’s been a great gain for him in my view, he’s seen it and absorbed it and brought it home — that was very evident when he rode at Summercross. He did exceptionally well there in my opinion.”
Flynn also recognised he has extra work do to on his fitness if he is to compete at the highest level.
“He struggled with the heat a lot. He was under the eye of Jeff Stanton, who’s a multi-time American champion and that was huge — he was able to learn a lot about his training from him.”
With his influence and reputation, Ben was also instrumental in getting Flynn one of 24 places in the roster for the 2023 Scouting Moto Combine.
“They are similar to the stick and ball sports in America where they have [combines] to showcase teenagers to the pro teams.”
The combines are run in conjunction with pro motocross and supercross events and Flynn rode at the Ironman and RedBud combines held at tracks running rounds of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship.
“It was a good eye opener for him on the level of what it takes [to reach] the goals that he has .”
Flynn says the goal of the trip was to gain experience.
“I realised I needed to do some work after those two [combines].
“At the first one, the first race was so hot and I just couldn’t handle it and pretty much didn’t finish the race.”
A mechanical issue stopped him from finishing the second race.
At the second combine there was an improvement with a ninth-place finish in one of the races.
“The main thing I learned was how much training you need to put in and bike time — it’s seven days a week really.”
After a brief visit home, Flynn returned to the US and competed at the Thor Mini O’s, a week-long motocross and supercross meeting in Florida that attracts riders from across America.
“The schedule in a day is really different [to New Zealand] and the Mini O’s had 60 different classes.”
Nevertheless, he had good results with a seventh in one motocross race and an eighth in a supercross race.
“So that went well for me.”
Ben, who raced in world and AMA series, says good New Zealand riders naturally get to a point where they need some more competition to gauge where they are at in terms of their dreams and aspirations.
“You need to go a get some experience toward those and see if you truly are in the zone or have the ability and skillset to compete at that level, so I encouraged him to go.”
He is looking forward to a good summer of racing for Flynn.”
“He’s got a great opportunity with Yamaha.”
The national series starts on February 3 when the Rotorua Motorcycle Club hosts the first round.
The other rounds are at South Otago, Pukekohe and Taranaki.
