ATV Racing Redefined

Devastated by the loss of the team's spiritual leader, the team struggled through the first half of the season. Switching brands was another factor, adapting to the new LT-R seemed to take longer than expected. On the bright side, Caleb Moore, who dabbled a bit in freestyle, decided to start backflipping his ATV on a regular basis which put him in every magazine, video and website in 2007 leading to a barrage of coverage for the team. Danny Cooper and Jordan Digby also added a pair of No. 1 plates to the team's trophy case, salvaging the results and carrying the weight of the team. As the season came to a close, the expected roster downsizing took place. Caleb's newfound celebrity led to a lucrative Polaris freestyle-only contract, while Casey Martin, Bobby Ross and Chad Sumner all left as well.

Entering 2008, the Media Allstars once again made serious sponsor and roster changes, opting to downsize for the first time since the team's inception. "It was just way too much at that point; my wife was pregnant with twins, and weeding out the complainers and whiners was necessary for my sanity," admitted Cuartas when recalling the decision. "I needed to delegate a bit of the responsibilities, and decided to farm out or franchise a couple of smaller teams that would absorb our existing riders, leaving me with just the core of Pro Am, A, B and Women to deal with."

The Media Allstars split into multiple teams, including a side-by-side effort, youth effort and support rider effort, all being managed independently of the core or original team. The only additions to the core team were Dale Batson and Mario Diangelo, who assumed support roles. Each team enjoyed different levels of success and adversity depending on how heavily vested they were in the WPSA series. The GNCC side-by-side effort took off as Josh Starrett and Dustin Shuler earned early point leads in their respective classes and as of this writing seem poised to win championships. On the MX side, the untimely demise of the WPSA left everyone scrambling; despite the scramble, the Pro Am MX duo of Aaron Meyer and Cody Grant put in a strong showing taking wins and nearly the championship. Chase Cunningham and Jordan Digby managed to bring home three championships for the team, thus salvaging the roller-coaster ride of a season. The youth and support teams didn't fare as well, as neither recovered from the series switch.

As of this writing, the 2009 incarnation of the Media Allstars team is still in the planning stages. A rough economy coupled with high gas prices has led to cutbacks in support and major holes in the racing budgets of the industry. When asked where they were headed in '09, Cuartas had only this to say, "Despite the obstacles, rest assured that if there's a National-caliber ATV MX series, there will be a Media Allstars team. The sport as a whole is in a better place, and the amateurs have stepped it up to the point where it's hard to distinguish them from the pros. It's funny that the 'anti-team' inadvertently set the bar for professionalism and sponsor representation."