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The AMA Hall of Fame class of 2025 had a familiar name amongst the inductees.
Ryan Young, a Williamsport native and a prodigy-turned-star in Moto Trials competitions, was one of the six new inductees in America's most prestigious motorcycle hall of fame.
But the story of Young's relationship with Trials is more than the championship hardware. Rather, it is the story of a father and son's love for the niche event, relentless determination, and utter domination that has yet to be matched in the sport.
The son of Jerry Young, pioneer of Trials competitions in America and the first Trials National Champion in 1972, Ryan had an up close and personal look at the sport from an early age.
"He started dragging us to all the trails competitions, he started competing locally." discussed Young. "I actually sat on the fuel tank and I would ride the trail in what is called sections, where you are scored in. Some of the sections, if they were super easy, I would stay on the bike while he competed in the section. I could feel his bodyweight coming forward and smashing me against the bars on the steep hills and trying not to resist the handlebars when we were turning. So even before riding a motorcycle I was already learning a lot about what the sport was all about."
The sport itself is not one that many people have heard of outside of the motorcycle community.
In contrast to Motocross or MotoGP, where racers go at it against each other for who crosses the finish line first, Mototrials is all about getting as low a score as possible. Competitors go through a section, with the object being successfully completing the section without their foot touching the ground , receiving penalty points when doing so or by failing to complete the section. Time points can also be given based on how late a competitor finishes.
"You are competing against the terrain," echoed Young. "Trials are riding over obstacles, hills, water falls, mud logs, ditches, roots, anything you can think of. It's competing against the roughest terrain that area has to offer. You have to get your bike through this terrain. To learn that, it takes hours and hours of focused practice, trying to learn one technique at a time. It's all balance and control."
It wouldn't take long for Ryan Young to get off of the fuel tank and into the seat of the competition. Young's first competition came at the age of eight, competing with a TY-80 Yamaha Trials Motorcycle in York, Pennsylvania. "I don't remember what place I got," Young admitted. "But I remember that first competition, and it was pretty cool."
Ryan would train like few others did in his time as a kid. In the winter, the Young family would ride in the winter by using ash from the stove that heated up their Williamsport house. When the ash quickly molded with the ice, it allowed the riders to get acclimated to the balance and technique required to succeed in the competitions.
Working his way through the junior classes, Young would take his first state championship at the age of 16.
But his first storied achievement came a year later, with Ryan sharing the top step of the podium with his dad, Jerry. Ryan would take the crown in the AMA/NATC Sportsman class, with his dad capturing the AMA/NATC SR35 title, marking the first father and son duo to both win their national class in the organisation's history.
"That was one of the most amazing feelings we had [together,]" reminisced Ryan. 'My dad actually tied in his event, and I won my event to win the championship. My dad being tied, we didn't know we were father and son champions until we were halfway driving home. Back then there were only five classes in the national championship series, and for a father and son team from Williamsport, Pennsylvania to win two of the five classes, that was just incredible. No one had ever done it before, so we were on cloud nine."
A year later, Ryan would take his talents to the top class, the AMA/NATC nationals, at the age of 18, taking ninth place in the 1985 competition. He would follow that campaign up with back to back second place finishes in 1986 and 1987, planting himself as the future of the sport.
But nobody would've imagined what would come next. From 1988-1993, Young had what would be known as the greatest six year run in the history of the competition, winning six straight national championships, a feat that had not been replicated before or since.
"The first two were very difficult... by the third one I was winning events by twenty or thirty points per event, and there were a couple events where I could just cruise," said an amused Young.
The streak gave Young the most Trials championships by a competitor in the organization's history at the time. While two riders have surpassed Young in overall championships (Geoff Aaron with six and Pat Smage with 14,) no trialist to this day has surpassed six straight championships like Young, making his stretch from the late 80's to the mid 90's an outlier in the history of the sport.
Young's success took him to the international level, with Young representing the United States in the annual Trial Des Nations, the most important and illustrious Trials competition in the world.
"It's the next big highlight of my career," echoed Young. "Being selected for that team and being able to represent the US in Europe. That's where trails pretty much started, that's where all the manufacturers for the bikes are, that is where most of the world champions are from.
"Part of the reward for trials," Young Continued. "It's not the money because there isn't much money in this sport, it is the travel and the people you meet all around the world. Most of my travels were Europe, Canada, El Salvador, Mexico, and every state in America. That is the reward for Trials. I still have tons of friendships to this day."
By the time Young retired from competing in 1996 Young had won a total of 50 events, the most by any competitor at the time.
"By coincidence, the trophy was a gold eagle," said Young. "Usually for every event you get an eagle, but it is black in color. To get that gold eagle knowing it was probably my last victory and it being a nice even number, it is pretty gold to have the gold eagle to come with the six championship eagles."
Young would retire after the 1996 season to start his own Trials business, importing parts and motorbikes to all over the country for the next 25 years. Today, he still runs a prestigious training school that has helped nurture the next generation of Trials riders.
He's also helped work with some massive names in the motorcycle racing sphere. Notable names include Patrick Smage, the new all time leading championship holder in the NATC pro class; Cody Webb, 2010 NATC pro class champion and three time EnduroCross champion; and Ryan Sipes, who was part of America's first ISDE overall championship team.
Young's mentorship, along with his illustrious Trials career, helped make him just the third trials rider in history to be inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame, and the fifth in the organization's history to be inducted in the Specialty Competitions category.
"I'm 58 years old now," discussed Young. "I still ride three or four times a week. I'm teaching all around the country. Now to be in the AMA Hall of Fame, to still be accomplishing things is incredible. "I'm competing with people in flat track, moto racing, motocross, humongous sports with huge popularity. To be the third is just amazing."
These days, Young resides in Louisville, Kentucky, running the Ryan Young Trials School. The first thing you see when you go to the training website echoes what Young wishes to accomplish as a mentor: "Become the next champion!"
"It's very very important," said Young when asked how important nurturing the next generation is to the future of Trials "It's very rewarding after a weekend of riding to see the improvement people make and seeing [the positive comments people make.] My new goal is to keep producing the best riders out there, the safest possible riders so they don;t get hurt. If they wanna be champions, I can get them there."
"If I can keep building champions," concluded Young. "That would be the cherry on top of the pie."