By Danny Brault

Photos by Simon Cudby

Anaheim 1 went extremely well for one Canadian last weekend but not so well for three other Canucks. Look for that to change this weekend at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona.

Following Richmond Racing Team Green Kawasaki’s Darcy Lange’s sixth place finish at the Vancouver WSXGP, expectations instantly grew for the two-time U.S. AX champ. Well, Lange delivered at A1. After setting average lap times and qualifying sixth in his Lites heat race, Lange put together possibly one of the greatest Canadian supercross races, ever. After pulling the holeshot in the main event (the holeshot award was given to Ryan Villopoto, however) and leading for two laps before being passed by Villopoto, Lange went on to finish in fifth-place behind Villopoto’s teammate—and last year’s East Lites champ—Grant Langston.

In his Racer X Canada online interview following A1, Lange said that he didn’t ride as well as he could have and he felt tight. So, unless he’s just being modest, we may see Lange reach the podium this weekend in Phoenix or at some point in the series. Click here to view Lange’s interview from last Monday.

Lange’s teammate (although he pits out of a box van and not the Richmond semi) Colton Facciotti spent two weeks before A1 training in California and had the modest goal of just making the Lites main event. Facciotti looked bright early in the day, winning his pre-qualifier ahead of WBR Suzuki’s Michael LaPaglia to advance to the night program. Unfortunately, the BC kid suffered a 13^th in his heat race and a tenth in the LCQ, so he didn’t make the show. Expect a much better performance out of Facciotti at Phoenix.

A1 marked the first time Marco Dubé had ever raced a Yamaha motorcycle. The Frenchman has been testing for Yamaha of Troy for the last few months and in exchange for his services, the team has given him a bike and spot under the awning. After racing 450s for much of ’05, Dubé was still getting accustomed to the YZ250F at A1 and didn’t push too hard. He finished sixth in his pre-qualifier (the same qualifier as Facciotti) but finished outside of the top ten in his heat race and the LCQ and was forced to find a seat in the stands to watch the main event. Dubé says Phoenix will be another story. If you missed Allison Kennedy’s interview with Dubé from Wednesday, click here to check it out.

Doug DeHaan was the lone Canadian soldier in the Supercross class, riding a Butler Brothers Honda CRF450R. Like Facciotti and Dubé, Big D’s weekend didn’t go as expected. DeHaan has qualified for quite a few main events over the years, but bad starts and crashes kept him from making the show at A1. Assistant Editor, Danny Brault, caught up with DeHaan yesterday while he was getting his neck adjusted at the chiropractor and DeHaan said that he has been training all week at the Butler’s place in Florida, so he should be good and loose for Phoenix.

Ryan Lockhart made the 50-plus hour trek from his home in Springhill, Nova Scotia to Sean Hamblin’s home in SoCal last week. (But not before stopping in Toronto to pick-up a RMZ-450F from Suzuki and suspension from Ron Ashley at Two Wheel Motorsports.) Lockhart has been spinning countless laps at the Rockstar Suzuki supercross track and the Competitive Edge MX track while he’s been out west and he says that he is really enjoying the 450. His main goal is to make the night program.

Brady Sheren is battling through a serious case of mono so his supercross debut will be further delayed for a few rounds. He has an ultrasound scheduled for January 24th and he is optimistic that the mono will have run its course by then. If so, he will start training and will try for A3 and San Diego.

Be sure to listen to all the race action from Phoenix on Supercross LIVE! at http://www.supercross.cc.com/. And then watch the Supercross class on Sunday at 6:00PM on SPEED. Oh, and the Supercross Lites class from A1 is on tomorrow at 6:00Pm on SPEED … don’t miss it!