As the 2004 season approached we managed to BS our way into Outerwears, Shift, SixSixOne, SF Racing, Maxima, Smith, Image Racing, Fullbore, & Digby Sales. Even more impressively, we convinced Jeremiah Jones to join the team. In hind sight, it was probably Jamie Rentz that got him interested in the team, so interested in fact that the two got engaged within ten days of Round One; Go Team! At the ATV Olympics that year, we had an opportunity to trade out some journalistic work for a full page in that event’s program, being that we didn’t have a real team name of our own, and we were splitting the ad with ATV Scene.com we ran an all black page with the two website logos, the words “For those about to rock, we salute you”, and a small “Media Allstars” logo in the middle as a show of unity between the two sites. Little did we know that the ad would garner so much attention, or that the “Media Allstars” name would stick in people’s heads. At Round One of the 2004 season, we were approached dozens of times as to whether we were the new “Media Allstars” team, by the end of the weekend we were sick of explaining that we weren’t, and finally gave in and said, yes. People never really latched on to the “Kames” name for some reason, and by the end of 2004 we were simply the Media Allstars.

Our inaugural year was a mess, but we managed to put together a good pit presence, nice pit shirts, a decent graphics kit, and an attention grabbing ad campaign. Our lack of experience was well masked by the fact that we started the ATV Ambassador Program with American Honda, the Mobile Medical Unit, and arguably the best event programs in off road racing. In addition we picked up two new riders (John and Leslie Ragon) when Hollie Shartzer had to drop out. At the last round of the season, Jeremiah and his fiancée were picked up by Team Yoshimura Suzuki, as was John Ragon, Lee Rentz quit racing, and the scrambling process started all over again.

The Tree
In what can only be described as some sort of miracle, FMF Racing picked up the team at the end of 2004, and an 18-wheeler was thrown into the mix. From Punk Rock and a double-decker bus at Applebees, to an eighteen wheeler in only one year, not bad for a team with no real name. 2005 started with allot of major changes, for starters six new riders were added to the roster (Angela Moore, Josh Upperman, Casey and Patton Thompson, Rob Baumsteiger, & Hunter Johnson) joining Cuartas, Willett, Kendall, & Leslie Ragon. The profile of the team went from “new team with no real shot” to “hard hitting, serious contenders on a mission”. The chemistry was amazing and everyone seemed to push themselves and each other towards the front, to say it was impressive would be an under statement. By mid season, the team was dominating several classes including the two Pro-Am classes, the two Women’s classes, plus the Production B and Open A classes. The ad campaign grew stronger and the press took notice, months went by where every issue of every relevant ATV magazine had some sort of FMF Media Allstar representation. The release of Rainbow Studios “MX vs. ATV Unleashed” title caught everyone off guard when it was discovered that the team had two ATVs in the game as well as tens of thousands of impressions throughout the game. The team’s presence in the game coupled with their on track performance further solidified the fact that the FMF Media Allstars could no longer be taken lightly. Round nine of the 2005 GNC MX Season saw the team win just about every moto and podium every class they entered. The unprecedented domination came at the perfect time, as the team Manager was hospitalized for a broken femur. The highs at round nine were matched by the lows of round ten where everyone on the team crashed resulting in another batch of broken bones and the loss of two championships for the team. 2005 ended with Josh Upperman winning the team it’s first Championship, while the rest of the team fought until the end for top positions. In the end, the results speak for themselves; 51 moto wins, 48 podium finishes, 28 moto top fives, 55 moto top tens, & 19 Overall wins, 20 overall podiums, 15 overall top fives, and 23 overall top tens.

In 2006 the team once again lost team riders to the factory teams, further proving that the added exposure gained by the team was helping riders and sponsors alike, this time it was Upperman and Kendall getting the call to join the Motosport Outlet Honda Team. The Thompson brothers opted to head back to the privateer lifestyle and their own program with the help of Terry Racing, & Rob Baumsteiger decided to concentrate on the West Coast ITP Quadcross series thus leaving more empty slots on the roster. Luckily, slots on the team aren’t exactly hard to fill; Brittany and Brenden Snider, Jake Brattain, Jay Corey, Lee Rentz, & Caleb Moore were picked up to contest the 2006 GNC MX, and WPSA MX series in various mini through Pro-Am level classes. Sponsors weren’t exactly hard to come by in 2006 once Kellogg’s (yes, the cereal company), Ohlins, American Honda, and punk rock band Stretch Armstrong announced their support of the team for the 2006 season. Armed with a slew of new sponsors, the 2006 Media Allstars headed into the season with high hopes. New recruits Caleb Moore, and Jake Brattain were on the gas, the rig was sporting a great new look thanks to a new wrap, and a “hand me down” awning (Thanks Holligan Racing), and the press was once again paying attention. As we all know though, high hopes don’t always pan out, bad luck and crashes seemed to plague the team for the first three rounds. Despite the new talent, the chemistry just wasn’t right until round four, where we drafted Nathan Commer, and just like that, our luck started changing. There’s a strange phenomenon associated with winning; it’s contagious. Luckily for us, Nathan is a winner to the core, and everything seemed to come together once he joined the team.

Unfortunately, the positive energy didn’t last long, as the increased focus on bad business and dirty politics in our sport struck a serious blow to the team. Title sponsor FMF and the Media Allstars parted ways after a political “S**t Storm” was caused by the team’s vocal support of the new WPSA series. Now “rig-less” the team simply soldiered on, and continued to dominate races. Try as they may, the powers that be just couldn’t stop the “Media Allstars Revolution”, and in what can only be described as “Poetic Justice” the extortionistic practices that interfered with the team’s sponsors gave the team a new role; martyrs. The team was quickly picked up by bigger, and better sponsors for the remainder of 2006, and the dirty politics backfired, as just about every serious racer decided to follow us to the new WPSA series. Politics aside, the team’s on track performance culminated in four championships, 70 moto wins, & 32 overall wins. Not bad considering the turmoil.