Ian Champness: Age 12, Gardnerville, Nevada Ian Champness really didn’t have any feelings one way or another about road racing. He had spent his early childhood racing in the dirt, doing a bit of Supermoto, and generally having fun emulating his father Tim, who was a dirt racing and riding enthusiast. So Champness had an open mind when his father rented him a Kawasaki Ninja 250 and gave him a shot at the pavement. “My dad liked it, but I really wasn’t familiar with it. I kind of just tried it, and then I thought differently of it,” says Champness. After his first weekend on the pavement, Champness had three trophies. Five rounds later, he is leading the points in three WERA West Novice classes, and is moving up the ladder of road racing machines–sensibly. Champness was on a Yamaha PW50 before he could ride a bicycle, and was racing in arenas and across the deserts at the age of four. For the next eight years, Champness raced on dirt bikes fitted with knobbie tires. But watching his son soar through the air over triple-jumps was a little heart-stopping, Tim Champness says. So he took his son down a different path. In addition to road racing, Ian Champness is starting to race flat-track on a pair of Hondas, a CRF250R and a CRF450R. That, likely, was a little more familiar to the young dirt rider than pavement. Champness describes his first experience on a paced racetrack as “very odd. But I’d been doing a little Supermoto, and that helped.” And having dipped his toe into the waters with the rental Ninja, Champness soon had his own road racer–a Honda CBR250R. The family likes Hondas, and the agile little Single has proven to be an excellent learning platform, as well as providing Champness with a small-but-growing collection of trophies. The goal for this season, Champness says, was getting familiar with the pavement. “Get as much track time as we can,” he says. “This year’s our learning year.” Champness is preparing for next year in another way. The family has procured one of Honda’s new CBR500Rs, and it is rapidly being developed into a mirror of one of the European Junior Cup racers. It is a logical, practical step for a young racer, and Champness was impressed with his new mount at a recent shakedown. On the near horizon for Champness: Europe, with any luck. He’s looking at the Red Bull Rookies Cup series, as well as the European Junior Cup, and the family is looking at Moto3 bikes as well. But for now, Champness is enjoying his learning year. “The thrill. The dicing with other riders. That’s what I like,” he says.