The McKibben Motorsports Race Team
- Updated: May 6, 2011
By Mandy Brodil Cervantes
Photos by Matt Robertson of
Blue Groove Photos
As I walked through the pro pit area at the 2011 Extreme Dirt Track (EDT) Series opener in Kinston, NC, I could feel a fresh new sense of excitement and anticipation in the air. After what I would call a few stagnant years the much-revised series seemed to shine proudly as it tipped off at round one in the North Carolina sunshine. The new and improved eight-round EDT series, now under new ownership, seems to have a new breath of life in it. It’s too early to tell just how successful the 2011 EDT Series will be, but if it goes the direction that Team McKibben Motorsports has, its future looks as bright as ever.
Feeling enthusiastic, and seeing the improvements that were underway at the EDT Series, team manager Charles McKibben decided to give his McKibben Motorsports team a make-over as well. Charles wasn’t content to just build on last year’s momentum, instead he’s taken McKibben Motorsports to a whole new level.
I went behind the scenes of what I’ll call the coolest team in the series to get the scoop on the McKibben Motorsports transformation and witnessed the team’s working dynamic. I spent the day with Charles and his three riders Casey McKibben, Frank Batista, and the newest addition to the team, reigning Women’s EDT National Champion Paula Shank, and observed how they built the team and how it worked.
Charles McKibben
Charles got involved in the sport when his son Casey came to him eight years ago and said that he would like to race ATVs after watching a friend race. When he saw that his son was serious about the sport, and as an added bonus pretty successful at it, he formed McKibben Motorsports, Inc.
After hearing that Frank Batista lost his Polaris backing he approached him and soonafter made him the second member of the McKibben Motorsports team. Charles, Casey and Frank all agree that it has been a good fit for both parties.
After a long talk with his son, they decided not to race GNCC again this year, focus all their efforts on running the EDT series and move up to the Pro class. This left McKibben Motorsports without representation on the amateur side so they decided it was time to add another rider to the team and that’s when they decided to make an offer to Paula Shank. Charles felt that adding the perfect female racer would diversify the team and add to the strength of its portfilio. Paula’s resume spoke for itself. She’s the 3-time Women’s national champion and the only female currently racing in a Pro-Am class, (she finished a respectable 7th place at the Kinson, NC opener) .Paula accepted the offer and this impressive collection of riders were merged into one team.
This is a highly competitive team made from riders who are used to winning. If they make it a collaborative effort off the track and share their insight, they each have the ability to be on top of the podium week in-week out. All three riders are racing in more than one class, sometimes against each other. My goal is for each of them to bring home a championship in at least one of the classes they are racing in. — Charles McKibben
Frank Batista
It quickly became apparent that Frank is the team mechanic and all around go-to-guy. When anything needs to be done or when his teammates are looking for advice on improvement Frankie seems to come to the rescue. His knowledge and talent makes this no surprise as Frank was the fastest qualifier and also had the fastest heat times at round one. Unfortunately, Frank was involved in an accident in the Pro-Am Unlimited main event which sent him to the ground. Even though he aggravated an old knee injury and got run over by another quad, he dug deep and managed to finish 6th in both the Pro-Am Unlimited and Pro main events. If you’re putting a team together try to anchor it with someone as hard-working and tough as Frank Batista.
If the interest from Charles and Casey wasn’t there, I would probably be retired right now. And as for all the traveling, it has actually gone really smooth. I fly from California to Florida or Kentucky, depending on where the race trailer is, and we travel to and from the track from there. In the off season I fly out a couple times to work on the bikes for the next season so we don’t really have a chance to get on one another’s nerves at the race track. All in all the team works well because we get along great with one another. — Frank Batista
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| Frank Batista #13 Born: February 16, 1981 First ATV: Yamaha Banshee First Race: 1999 Racing the EDT Series: 6 years Years Racing Pro/Pro-Am: 6 year Pro Off Season: When he’s not traveling to Florida from California to work on the bikes, Frank (or Frankie as his friends call him) works in his family’s business. He also tries to compete at a few races on the west coast. He has raced nearly every type of ATV race including motocross, desert cross country and team endurance racing. This year he is competing in all four SCORE Baja events and he just won the Stateline Supermoto in Nevada. If it involves an ATV, he’s ready and eager to race it. |
Casey McKibben
Casey is currently ranked 3rd overall in Pro-Am Unlimited and 5th overall in Pro-Lites in the National EDT Series, and finished 7th overall in College B class at the 2010 GNCC Series. At the series opener Casey qualified for the Pro-Am main and finished a respectable 7th overall despite admitting he was fatigued since his school work kept him from training.
Casey is young, ambitious and clearly has his head on straight. I noticed that Casey, the young gun on the team, doesn’t really show his nerves and is pretty laid back. He’s very smart to put his education before ATV raci
ng, even though he’s competing in the professional ranks of ATV racing where many might try to build a career. In the summer of 2008 he began school as a Mechanical
Engineering Major at the University of Florida.
Between 2006 and 2008 Casey had claimed a whopping 31 National wins. One day his mentor Tim Farr encouraged him to start racing the GNCC Series under his guidance. Casey went for it and spent 44 weekends at the GNCC, EDT and local races! Since Casey was busy racing a KTM on the FRE KTM GNCC team he wasn’t able to race the EDT series fulltime. This is when Frank was asked to join the team so they could build on its three consecutive years of championships.
I was happy to have Frankie as a teammate. He has slowly transitioned into being my mentor. The only time we really bump heads is when he gives me technical advice and I don’t agree with his suggestion. Sometimes we both have different ways of getting to the same end result so I call Tim Farr to give him the same issue and get his thoughts. Then I go back to Frankie and we discuss it. And as for adding Paula, I couldn’t be happier. — Casey McKibben
| Casey McKibben #8 Born: May 25, 1991 First ATV: Yamaha Badger First Race: 2005 Racing the EDT Series: 6 years Years Racing Pro/Pro-Am: First Year Pro, 2nd Year Pro-Am Off Season: Full time student at the University of Florida where he is studying to become a mechanical engineer. He is also taking Skip Barber racing classes for his pro license in SSCA. Being so committed to his education, Casey doesn’t start training or riding until either; the EDT series begins or school is out for the summer. |
Paula Shank
I was drawn to this story from a Women’s class rider standpoint because, as far as I know, this is the first race team in the EDT series that has given a full factory-like sponsorship to a woman rider. The only teams out there now with women on the team are husband-wife, relatives or good friends who travel together and formed a team together. None have purposely saught out, recruited and supported a female racer to this level like McKibben Motorsports has.
Paula has raced with some of the best female quad racers of all time including Angela Moore (Butler), Heather Rose (Byrd), Susan Parker and Leslie Wells. She has been racing since 1990 and is a 3-Time Women’s class champion, With this she has been able to add a lot of value to the McKibben Motorsports team simply because of who she is. In fact, when the team sent out a combined portfolio resume Paula’s good name in the industry, and having the title of Champion next to her name, increased the team’s sponsorship opportunities.
Last year Paula struck up a friendship with Frank when she had questions about setup. He helped her tremendously, so she knew having him as a teammate would be very beneficial. And since Casey is already a multi-time champion in his few short years of racing she knew that McKibben Motorsports was a championship caliber team without question.
Despite this, I oberved that Paula, the newest member of the team, was still trying to feel her way through and not wanting to step on anyone’s toes. I noticed that the guys had their personal stuff throughout the trailer, while Paula was sort of keeping her stuff in the truck she came in. I think she will slowly move in, become more comfortable and ease her way into having her race gear hanging in the closet with theirs soon. If anything, in my opinion, she’s already earned her way into the pre-race rock-out session as she was the only one to bring home a win for McKibben Motorsports at round one in Kinston, NC.
It’s a very big step for me, my dad has aways been my main sponsor and my biggest supporter. I wouldn’t be racing if it wasn’t for him and all he’s done for me, but being asked to race on the McKibben Motorsports team is really exciting for both of us. He’s really happy to see me get this additional help and I’m so thankful to have it. He will always be at every race and help me with whatever he can but maybe now he can relax and enjoy being there a bit more. It’s a fantastic deal for me. I supplied them with a bike and then they did the rest. McKibben Motorsports maintains it, transports it and works on it at the track. My job, although not an easy one, is to win. I plan on giving it 150% every weekend and hopefully win them a championship. — Paula Shank
| Paula Shank #99 Born: May 21, 1981 First ATV: Suzuki 50 First Race: 1990 Racing the EDT Series: 6 years (5 years when it was TT) Years Racing Pro/Pro-Am: 2 years Off Season: A Graduate of Columbia Southern University, Paula works fulltime for William & Mary as an Environmental Health & Safety Specialist. The off season doesn’t allow her much time to ride as her quad stays in Pennsylvania with her dad and she lives in Virginia. She tries to stay on top of her game by hitting they gym regularly for weights and cardio. The lack of being able to ride hasn’t stopped her from winning four EDT National Championships in the past four years! |
| Machine of Choice: 2006-2007 Honda TRX 450R Engine: DASA Ignition: Custom Dyna FS Carburetor: DASA Exhaust: DASA A-Arms: Rath Racing Swing Arm: JB Axle: Lone Star Racing Hubs: Baldwin Motorsports Nerfs/Bumpers: Rath Racing Sub-Frame: Currently Stock, Switching to Walsh Race Craft FT/RR Shocks: PEPs Wheels: DWT Tires: American Racers Plastics: Laker Custom Graphics: Dirt Factory Graphics |
I want to thank the entire McKibben Motorsports team for allowing me to follow and access them at round one of this year’s EDTs. It is great to see that both the EDT series and some of the people and teams within it are taking new and innovative steps to expand each year. You can’t reap rewards without taking risks. I wish the McKibben Motorsports team and the EDT Series and all the riders competing in it the best of luck in 2011 and beyond.
Learn more about the team at the McKibben Motosports Facebook Page
Check where Mandy will be next on Mady’s Facebook Page
