One Nation, Under God

PCS Rides for Paul Smith

Hundreds gathered around for the Psycho Sports Cartel’s high flying act during the 15th Annual First State Bank Car Show in Malta.

The event featured Freestyle Motocross bikers Ryan Hilfiger, Devon Hoyer and Travis Cady from Lame Deer, Mont., as well as Freestyle Street biker Pat Manzi.

The event served as a memorial for fallen motocross legend Paul Smith, who had performed in Malta months before a back flip went tragically wrong during a practice run in California.

Vince D’Ambrose, the owner of Psycho Sports Cartel (PSC) shared some things Smith loved about Malta.

“Paul loved this place,” D’Ambrose said. “He’s from a small town in Canada and a majority of the shows that he did were all in big towns. That’s what he liked about this place. It reminded him of the small towns in Canada where everybody is so nice and waves at you. It is a very nice community and he had nothing but good things to say about this place.”

According to D’Ambrose, Smith was looking forward to the possibility of riding in Malta again.

Though the PSC crew had a higher volume of shows last year, the PSC crew had only done four shows this season, reflecting on their fallen brother.

“We kind of took a break from the shows a little bit,” D’Ambrose said. “It hit us really hard. When someone that close to you goes down doing something that you do every day, you just have to take a step back.”

D’Ambrose shared how Malta became the place where the group would hold a Memorial for Smith.

“The riders and I came together and said that we were putting this thing together for him,” D’Ambrose said. “We are out here and this show is in memory of him. It’s definitely not the same being out here without him but we know that he is here with us in spirit.”

He spoke about the crowd in Malta after the first show.

“We had a good, smooth little session with no wind, which is good,” D’Ambrose said. “The crowd was very receptive and liked what they saw.”

He also shared what PSC riders thought of Malta.

“So far they love Malta,” said D’Ambrose who was in Malta last year. “They’ve been super cool with us and very hospitable by welcoming us in and feeding us. It’s been a really good time.”

Manzi was a new addition to the show, having had known Smith as a friend.

“I just do a lot of shows at the same events with PSC, so we just became friends,” Manzi said. “They just said, ‘hey come down and do this event.’ I was friends with Paul Smith and unfortunately he passed away so I just came down for him.”

Manzi uses a pair of motorcycles to do stunts that you don’t typically see on motorcycles including wheelies, stoppies and tricks that include standing on his bike.

“There‘s a lot of crashing at first and then just lots of hours of wheelies and bike maintenance,” Manzi said.

His modified 2008 1200 Harley Davidson Sportster and a Honda CBR F4i which is his favorite of the two.

“I like riding the sports bike (Honda) because you can do a lot more tricks,” he said. “It’s a lot lighter at 400 pounds compared to 700 pounds.

“We run a bigger gearing that makes it easier for lower speed tricks,” Manzi said. “A lot of times we get stuff in small areas so it just helps slow things down a little bit.”

Manzi had a different angle of the crowd during the event and he wasn’t disappointed with their response.

“I think it was great,” Manzi said. “It was a great crowd with a lot of kids and everyone seemed pumped up, so it was a good time.”

Sports bike freestyle is also popular around the US and Manzi has become popular with the sport.

“We do competitions all around the US,” he said. “We travel around with the Moto GP and the Yamaha Road to America event, so we do competitions and demonstrations.”

 

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