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Charlie Williams has a long history in BMX. He's raced for such iconic teams as Robinson, Hutch, GHP, and currently Zeronine. 

Lately though he's known more for the incident that unfolded at Grands with Harry Leary. He took an elbow to the back right after the finish line from Leary. Over the next month things went viral with Leary's response to the incident on social media and an interview with this very podcast. For his actions he was dropped by Factory Daylight and given a suspension from USA BMX. 

Since Williams was on the receiving end of the elbow by Leary I thought it best to reach out to him and get his side of the story.  He graciously agreed to do an interview with me. Not only did we speak about Grands but also about racing for Hutch and his recent move to Florida. I rather enjoyed this interview not just because of the Grands stuff but getting to speak with Charlie on all things BMX.

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By now everyone has heard or seen what happened at Grands between Harry Leary and Charlie Williams who rides for Factory Zeronine. Leary says it's been an on going thing between him and Williams all season and it came to a head with an elbow to the back at Grands . 

This interview with Leary took place on December 7th while he was driving. I wanted to hear from him and get his views on the incident, the backlash, and losing Daylight Cycle Co. as a sponsor. In the end he's been suspended by USA BMX and under the same circumstances he told me he'd do it again. 

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Michele Tomizioli is in the process of preparing for the 2024 season. He recently ended his season at the famous St. Etienne Indoor race in France. Just for reference St. Etienne is about an hour or so outside of Lyon. 

Tomizioli is from a town called San Giovanni Lupatoto it's not far from Verona, Italy. 

The 25 year old elite rider is coming off a difficult season. It all started with a back injury from the 2022 season. Right after racing the Verona European Cup in 2023 he had to pull the plug for two months. It took him a minute to get the thing straightened out. Once he got going it was like playing catchup the rest of the season. 

Tomizioli has made some much needed changes. He's changed from an Italian to a French coach. This means he'll be spending more time in France next year. He thinks the change will help him when it comes to the technical skills on the bike. Literally we did the interview when he'd just come back from France from having a training camp. 

Surprisingly Tomizioli's focus next season will primarily be the European Cup series, selected World Cups and the European Championships which are being held in Verona, Italy. 

Dude is cool and a fun interview. I hope you enjoy our talk as much as I did.  

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Quillan Isidore is one of my favorite pros. I've followed him on social media to YouTube for years. So when I started my own podcast he was one person I wanted to interview. Meeting someone you admire doesn't always turn out how you want it. But with him I had a blast getting the chance to know him. 

In this episode we talked about him getting 3rd in round 10 of the World Cup in Argentina. Both weekends in Argentina according to Isidore were his most consistent. He even says it changed his mentality. 

Isidore had an up and down season with winning races in Tours, France, a couple Euro cups, a British Championship, and injuries. He has a no give up attitude I admire. 

We touched on his long time friendship with Tre and Kye Whyte, the changing of the guard from coach Marcus Bloomfield to former pro Kyle Evans, and the young guns Ross Cullen to the ever stylish Paddy Sharrock.

At the moment Isidore is back in training for the new season and hopefully a place on the GB Olympic team in Paris. 

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Richard Huvard is the founder and owner of Daylight Cycle Co. This man has a long and prolific history in BMX.  Huvard has a design background, he's started two tracks, worked with Mike Redman, ran Staats, ran factory Diamond Back and he helped with the transition of the ABA to USA BMX. 

When it comes to Daylight he says he's the guy with the ideas and he has a genius team around him that bring his ideas to life. 

In this interview we talk about R&D of products, The Daylight name, his team roster and where he sees his company in the future. This is one of those interviews I would advise you to make some time for it, grab a drink and prepare to learn. 

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Robert Raymonde is originally from Queens, New York. His family eventually moved out west to Colorado. His cousin and George Goodall were racing at the time and it peaked Raymonde's interest and he jumped in the car with them. His first race was in Aurora, Colorado. 

He says the scene in Colorado in the 80's was hot. At a local race he said they'd regularly have 70 motor. Raymonde says state wide at the time there were close to 10 tracks. He raced mainly in the Denver area racing mostly on the weekends. Raymonde says he wasn't a natural at the sport. He was fast but struggled with skill and crashed a lot. 

Once he finished high school Raymonde packed up his van and drove out to California. His first stop was Sacramento. He stayed there for a bit but eventually moved to Southern California. The pro bug bit him and he raced mainly in the A-pro class. He said he knew how to work the system to not have to move up with the big boys. In 1987 Raymonde left BMX. He'd gotten married and those responsibilities took charge. 7 years he was away from racing but in 1994 he was back on a track. Ever since then he hasn't stopped and he's not planning on it. 

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Brandon Cato is an enigma for me. I don't mean that in a bad way. What I mean is he simply moves to his own beat. One minute you'll see him at the track and the next minute he's focused on school and you don't see him for a while. It's not that he doesn't love BMX it's just that Cato has a variety of interests and he likes to explore them. 

Here's the crazy thing, when he gets back on the track it is as if he never left. He's crazy fast and hella smooth. It's as if the guy is never out of shape. At the moment he's in school and preparing for Grands. 

Being the private guy that he is I was surprised he agreed to do an interview with me.  I caught up with him on a Saturday while I was in Minnesota. I literally did the interview in my hotel room. I brought my podcast equipment with me because I wasn't going to miss this opportunity. 

Sitting in my hotel room looking out the window we talked about school, riding and racing for B.A.B.S, his admiration for Sam Willoughby and Maris Strombergs and the future.  

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Evan Schaefer started his for pro season in Houston this year He says it took him by surprise in how hard the racing was. This comes from a guy who's been racing with the pros in the Florida state series since he was an amateur. He says the toughest part is fighting for every position. 

His first half of the season was plagued by a hip injury, then a dislocated shoulder and now a bad knee. So at the moment Schaefer is focusing on his health. Mentally it's been tough on him. 

Schaefer says living in Sarasota is a blessing. He lives only 30 minutes from the facility that has a supercross track. He believes it gives him an advantage and a sense of comfort. 

At five Schaefer started riding dirt bikes. His parents got him into BMX because they thought it was safer. Look at him now going head first down an eight meter hill. 

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George Goodall started racing in 1979 when his friend Jack invited him to a BMX race. He was living in Boulder, Colorado with his dad at the time. His first race he got last in every Moto. A month later Goodall made the box and the rest is history. 

George says riding the streets of Boulder helped him become one with his bike. He raced a lot on the local scene at the Adam's county indoor and at Castlerock. He attributes the rides from Robert Raymonde's dad for helping getting to races to improve. 

He didn't hit the national scene until he was 15 years old. Goodall says the national racing wasn't easy for him. By the time he was 18 years old he turned pro. He sums up his pro career even after turning AA pro twice as a "5th place semi guy." He would eventually retire because of family commitments. 

As soon as his son was able to race Goodall turned his attention from show cars back to bikes. He would eventually race for Redline. Some people have all the luck when having teammates like Jason Carnes, Denzel Stein, Alise and Sam Willoughby to Jeff Upshaw. The team would eventually fold and Goodall would end up racing for his current sponsor Supercross. 

I had a lot fun with this interview. Goodall is funny, informative, and an all-around good guy. 

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Martti Sciortino is a member of the Italian National BMX Team. He's a six time national champion and a 2 time European Champion silver medalist.  

This interview took place right after the Sarrians, France World Cup Races and just before he flew off to Argentina for the final World Cups of the season. 

Sciortino is a really chill dude. He's raced all over the world including here in the U.S. and Grands twice. He says he likes racing in the states and that level of competition is high. His only gripe is that he thinks the tracks aren't technical enough. Sciortino says racing the elite class can be humbling. He says he's never been a first straight guy so he's had to learn how to maneuver within the pack.

He started racing in 2004 when he was six years old. His parents took him to a track about 30 minutes from their home. Sciortino says he got good quickly but by the time he was a teenager things got tough. He considers himself a late bloomer. 

Sciortino says he's fully focused on making the Italian Olympic team heading to Paris in 2024. He'll be 26 next year so he'll decide whether he wants to take his racing a bit further to the L.A. Olympics. 

Outside of BMX Sciortino recently finished his degree in sports science and is planning on pursuing his masters.