By Danny Brault
Photos by Allison Kennedy

Keswick, Ontario’s Richard Grey has been tearing it up on the southwestern Ontario MX scene for the last few years, dicing with Cole Thompson for the lead position in the 65cc and 85cc classes. Now the energetic, always smiling Grade six student is battling for the top positions at the Big Dances down south, most recently, at the Lake Whitney GNC. After only two weeks of riding before the weeklong event, Grey severely bruised his ankle but still toughed it out and was on the line for all of his classes in Texas. Then the weekend after, at a Loretta Lynn’s area qualifier at Paradise MX in Illinois, Grey won his 85cc 7 to 11 Stock race and finished second in 85cc Mod, 65cc 7 to11 Stock and 65cc Mod. We caught up with the rising amateur star’s father, big Richard, to find out how things went in Lake Whitney.

RXC: How did things go for Richard Jr. in Lake Whitney?
Richard Grey Sr.: Well, not bad. I mean, considering he got hurt before Whitney. They went down two weeks before Whitney, you know, trying to get Richard on his bike. So about five days into practice one morning, on the first lap, his foot came off the footpeg off of a jump and he ran over his ankle. So they had to rush him to the hospital; they thought it was broken and got it x-rayed. He didn’t break it, fortunately, but severely sprained it. He still wanted to ride, so we went with it and went to Whitney.

How did the racing go?
He didn’t look good in practice, for sure, his ankle was pretty bad. It was swollen right underneath his foot and above his ankle. In his qualifiers, he qualified a second, a third and a third in the 65cc 7 to 11 classes. In the 85s, he went for his hot lap, dropped his bike and literally broke his bars [laughs]. He came over to me and was like, “I broke my bars!” [Laughs] So he had to go to the consolation in that and made it in. Overall, he got a fourth in the 65cc 10 to 11 Mod, sixth in 65cc Open and eighth overall on Stock.

Well, that’s not too bad, considering he was riding with a hurt ankle and little time on the bike.
Yeah, not too bad. It was hard to take because it was so hot and his fitness just wasn’t there. Like in some races he was in, he was running fourth, then on the last lap he just faded back to seventh or something. He came off and just said, "Dad, I got bad arm pump and I just couldn't hang on." So, all and all, it wasn’t too bad. In my outlook, he rode only 80 percent [of his capabilities]. On Sunday he rode more like himself and got a fourth in the Mod moto and I think he set the fastest lap in that race. He rode cautious, obviously, but got really good starts, which helped him. Like he holeshot, got some seconds, thirds off the starts so that was one of his benefits. I said to him, ‘Get good starts and fade back gracefully [laughs].’ I think it was a huge maturity thing for him.

It may have been good for his confidence, though, without much time on the bike, riding hurt and still running up front.
No, he was okay with it. Like I said, he was fine. It just more frustrating on my part—and it’s not his fault either—but it’s frustrating from my point of view. One thing, Kyle Beaton came over to the pits area through the week and he said, "I watched little Richard race." I said, ‘Yeah, you know, he’s riding hurt but he’s doing pretty good. He goes, "Yeah, cause that doesn't look like the same kid at Walton last year." I said, ‘Yeah, I know. He doesn’t have that fire under him and he probably won’t.’ But Kyle said, "He’s doing good, he’s getting good starts." And I said, ‘Yeah, that’s what’s saving him.’ [Laughs]

I read on the internet that the conditions weren’t too good.
Well, one day it got really windy and, in my personal opinion, the track was good, but it got really windy and dried the track out. And they couldn’t keep up with the water and the maintenance. So they shut the track down early, they stopped racing at three o’clock. The track was definitely bumpy; there was tons of air ambulance. But it wasn’t the track itself, because the track was safe, the jumps were all safe, and there was nothing high speed. My Dad made a good observation, because he had never been to these big races before. He goes, "The kids that are in 30th place are racing like they’re in first and they’re hanging it all out." Everyone just goes for it down there.

What are those big events like down there?
Oh, you’ll have to talk to Gauldy, because he had never been to one before. He got his eyes opened, too. Just the amount of people, the amount of riders and how fast the classes can be. When you put seven of your fastest kids together, it just raises the bar. It was just awesome to watch.

Did you get a chance to watch many of the other Canadians down there racing?
I watched Cole [Thompson], [Brandon] Phinney, [Ryan] Gauld and Dean Wilson. Kyle Beaton was in the same stuff as Gauldy. I’m not 100 percent sure how everyone did, but I think Cole qualified for one event, 85cc 12 to 13. I think [Matt] McGuinness tried for three classes and he made it in one. I watched Dean’s races, and he did pretty well but his chain came off in one of his races. Gauldy did okay in +25, I think he got fourth. He just made it in the LCQ for 250A, that’s how fast it was.

Sounds like an interesting week, thanks for chatting, Richard.
No problem. Talk to you later.