Nik Nestoroff - LOCALS - Eps 8 2

Welcome to Locals episode 8! Another week and another fresh face for ya. This weekend we cruised by San Marcos, San Diego to check-in with the young racer, Nik Nestoroff. Having seen this grom smash through the Jr ranks for the past few years has been an absolute treat. His drive to fulfill his dreams of becoming World Champion are now closer than ever. Nik took us out to some new trails he built behind his house and let it hang out for our lens.

Nik is part of the new generation of riders. Having started racing in 2009 at 9 years old, he's got as many years of bike racing as Gwin and he's only 16. Learning speed before he learned multiplication (still not sure if he's mastered this), racing has been his everything since as long as he can remember. But as a kid, you only can go as far as your parents will take you. His dad Brian is THE MAN. He took the youngin’s passion seriously and made sacrifices so he could enable him to the fullest. Nik went to every SoCal race and was at every group ride. Brian made sure that his son had every opportunity to learn and progress on a bike. Nik soaked it all in like a sponge. His progression took off at an exponential rate and hasn't slowed down.

2015 was a big year for Nestoroff. Intense Cycles launched The Palmer Project and took him on board. Palmer saw Nik’s immense amount of speed/talent and knew he could help mold him into a champion. Shaun’s mental coaching pushed him to the next level. It’s one thing to think you're fast but it's another to have Palmer tell you you're the next World Champ and that he won't settle for you bringing home a silver. That year Nik went on to be a contender in the national series points chase. At only 15, he stood his own in a field of seasoned 18-year-olds. At Nationals he smashed the 15-16 field taking the win with a time that would have had him sitting pretty with the pro men. Nik saw that his dream of World Cup racing was within reach so he decided to get a little taste of the real thing. He jumped at the chance to pre-run at MSA and Windham. They specifically tell the pre-runners to go slow and be cautious but when asked if he was going to listen, Nik only said “I’m here to race.” Although his time didn't count for anything, he threw down and had comparable times to the tops of the junior field. At the end of the season, Palmer decided to release his creation on the world. Knowing that pushing him up the World Cup would be the next step, he handed Nestoroff to the Intense Factory race team.

2016 brought a lot of firsts for Little Nikky: traveling outside of the U.S, racing World Cups, living without parental guidance for months and eating something other than chicken fingers. That's a lot of things that could easily throw off your mental race game. Also, being on a factory team a has been Nik’s dream forever. Not many people can say they achieve goals like that. Out of the small percentage that do, many let the pressures and distractions take them down. It's amazing how none of these have touched Nestoroff. He still has the same cool headedness that gotten him to where he is now.

So far this season he has been smashing it as a first year Jr. He came out of the gate strong in Lourdes, finishing 3rd. First race, first podium. Proving that he had what it takes and that just because you're from SoCal, doesn't mean you're afraid of the mud. Next stop was Cairns which was a long way from home. Fighting his way through the jungle, he finished in 6th place. Although it wasn't on the box, it held his position in 3rd for the overall points. Next stop is Fort Bill and Leogang. He killed it his first time in Europe, we can't wait to see how he does the second time around. We couldn't have chosen a better junior to represent our country. Go smash it Nik!!

We will leave you with this gem. Lil Nikky trying out for rampage in 2011.