APRIL 11, 2006
By Danny Brault
Photos by Allison Kennedy
The southwestern Ontario motocross community celebrated the unofficial opening of the racing season by showing up at the Gopher Dunes track in Courtland last Sunday for the first race of the season. Word around the pits was that there was close to 900 rider entries! While there were several fast racers on the rough sand track, no one could hold a candle to Machine Racing Honda’s Kyle Keast. He won both GP Pro Am motos as well as both Youth motos over the likes of Ryan Gauld, Pierce Chamberlain, Joel Saarits, Marty Burr, Richard Chater, Kyle Snelgrove and others. We caught up with Keast on Monday afternoon while he was cleaning out his new cube van and replacing the clutch in his CRF450R.
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Machine Racing Honda's Kyle Keast at Gopher Dunes. |
RXC: Things went pretty well for you at Gopher.
Kyle Keast: Yeah, things went well.
Did you expect things to go so well?
Well, I was hoping they would. I wanted a bit more out of me than I put out. I didn’t want … not to put anybody down, I’m not saying that, but this year I don’t think anyone should even be close. That’s what I want to be doing at the nationals, running top five in the MX1 class and so I don’t think anyone in Ontario should be close to me. I’m expecting to do that but, the way Gauldy was riding, I kind of got mad at myself for not … I was wanting to pass him and then put like 15 seconds on him.
You look really fit on the bike and in the pits. What have you been up to this winter?
Well, for a few months I just worked out up until I went to South Africa in February. Then when I got back, just training—not too heavy of weights just a lot of cardio. I decided this year that if I’m going to do this then we need to figure out a way to do it without having to work. So that’s when Rick Amyotte came on. He’s helping out with paying me each week, he bought me a cube van and is paying for fuel and I just think it’s a huge key in this season. I mean, without him I wouldn’t be able to do it, so a huge thanks to him. And John [Nelson] too, he was talking of just riding 450s and it will turn out good. So, I got home from South Africa and I've just been relaxing. I missed my friends and my family while I was in South Africa; so I was just having fun.
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Scotty Maidman (95), Mike Clark (240), Keast (18) and Ryan Gauld (55) blast off the line. |
Are you going to the gym with anyone?
Nope. Steve [Thurston], who used to work with my Dad, doesn’t come anymore but he still tells me a few things to do. But I don’t mind going by myself; it’s nice now that I can run around out in the country. I think the main thing is not working, how you’re not tired and having to get up and go to work. I just feel energized; it’s a totally different atmosphere. I can do whatever everyday. I can go get parts, go riding and it’s just more fun.
So, going back to what you said earlier, you’re not going to ride the MX2 class?
Yeah, I’m not riding the MX2; I’m just going to do the MX1 for the nationals. I will still get a 250F for the provincials and ride that.
Why did you decide to go this route?
Kind of a couple of things. Last year we talked about it--just after Gopher Dunes--how I felt and running top five there until I went down. I think I got ninth out at New Brunswick, or something like that. John made a good point: he says there is no need to run the 250F class, if you’re going to be top 10, which he thinks I am and I know I am. If I’m not, I’m retiring. And John also said, 'If you ride two classes, then you’ll for sure get top 10. But if you ride one class there’s the difference between a top five and a top 10 finish.' I want to ride one class. I want to be on one bike. It’s hard to go back and forth. Like at a track like Gopher, you ride both bikes and end up liking one bike more and focus on that bike. It ruins your whole focus on the other one, and I usually like the 250F. It’s small bike for me and I can throw it around. But I’ve never had a bike like the one I’m going to have this year at the nationals. John said it will be a better deal, and he’ll trick the crap out of it for me. And Stu [Adam Robinson] said he wants to get some internals for the suspension and make it better. I’ve never ridden a bike like that, and I will have two brand new bikes for the nationals. Just everything has been going so good this year, and it all started with Rick. And just a couple of other sponsors, like a neighbor who has been shooting me some money. He owns Hoek-Van-Holland Landscaping and his name is Kevin Strybosch. Even the guy at Podium Grafix, Gord Gilliatt, is doing a lot for me. I’m just doing a few things on my own without John having to worry about it. Like Podium, he’s doing all of my graphics and my bike looks mint; it’s never looked so good. Just everything has come together so far this year, and my family is there for anything I need.
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Keast leads Gauld in a Pro Am moto. |
For someone that didn’t spend any time training down south, you sure look ready to go.
Well, I just got back from South Africa and I missed everybody; I missed my parents. People probably think we rode down there—and you can ask Chuck [Mesley]—we only rode two days when we got our bikes and one moto on Sunday. I’m just so excited that I’m not working and I don’t have to get up at 4:30 a.m. and work for 12 hours, then come home and do everything. I don’t like to complain about it, but now that I’m not doing it, I’m just so excited that I don’t have to get up and go to work and I’m more motivated to train and more motivated to go ride. Like [after Gopher Dunes] I just said to myself, ‘I’m just excited to go race again.’ And it’s just everything with my life-life, you know, not my motocross life, I’m just having more fun. It just seems like the goals in life that I’ve had, have come true. And the next goal is to ride for Blackfoot.
Thanks, Kyle, See you at the next race.
No problem, talk to you later.
