By Brett Dailey

I finally had the pleasure of riding Wednesday Night Motos at Pleasant Valley last night. All of the rumours about the Rob Cooke-prepped track are true: immaculately groomed, watered, mowed grass, white fences. I was surprised to see about 60 or 70 riders show up ranging from 50cc riders to a few of Canada’s finest. Of course, Rob and Joanne’s son and daughter were there—Mitch and Heidi—but also Ryan Lockhart, Broc Shury, Boo Green, Davey Fraser, Kyle Elliott and more fast locals hit the track last night. The dirt is deep and loamy so it is going to take me a while to get used to the track but I’ll be back next week to give Mitch a run for his money!

Of course, Honda Canada Blackfoot Fox Racing’s Mitch Cooke was injured at the start of the first moto at Gopher Dunes. He broke his foot and suffered a nasty concussion and has been sidelined ever since. He’s now back on the bike and plans to race Mill Hill this weekend in preparation for the Moncton National next weekend. We caught up with Mitch between motos to find out how his recovery is coming along.

RXC: Mitch, how are you feeling?
Mitch Cooke: Pretty good. Just trying to get my right leg back into shape, it’s a little smaller than the left.

How serious was the injury? Did you need surgery?
No. The doctors were talking about putting pins in it but decided to let it go for a couple of weeks and see what it looked like. My bones started to heal and straighten themselves out so it was a good deal.

Tell us a bit about the crash.
From what I remember, I don’t know if someone cut [Kyle] Chisholm off or something but he slowed right down in the first corner and I didn’t have anywhere to go. His back tire swapped over and I got pitched off the bike and got run over. That’s all I know. It was in the sand so I didn’t think it was going to be bad—until everyone ran over me. And one of my best buddies, Boo [Green], was the one who knocked me out. I actually have to thank him for that [laughs] because I didn’t really know what was going on, it was better that way.

Yes, Boo was pretty shook up about the whole thing.
Yeah, it was a pretty bad concussion.

How long have you been off the bike?
I was off the bike for just over five weeks. I took it easy, just rode a couple of days, so it took about six weeks before I was back to normal. I would just like to thank Honda Canada, Fox, PR2 and everyone at Blackfoot Racing for sticking behind me while I was injured.

Feel better to be back on the bike?
Oh yeah, 100 percent better. If I could just ride a 450 only, I would be even happier.

So you’re heading up my way to race Mill Hill this weekend?
Yes, it’s a good track. I heard that he made some changes so it should be good.

How do you feel about coming back into Moncton where you finished 4-1 last year?
Well, I have no pressure now—just ride and have fun. I’ll just try to make the most of the series and the 250F.

Have you been keeping up with the western rounds?
Well, I try not to pay attention to it too much. I’ll check Racer X on Sunday and Monday and that’s pretty much it. I don’t worry too much about what people are doing.

What’s the history here at Pleasant Valley with Wednesday Night Motos?
It’s the best thing going. You can come here any Wednesday for motos and it’s awesome. Everyone seems to like it—I love it.

How long have you been running them for?
This is our third year. We’ve had over 90 bikes a few times, always over 50.

I always thought that it was actual motos, but it’s really more like an organized practice day. I like this format better because it’s low-key but you still get to go out and race with riders of your same skill level.
It was like that, we used to run motos, but my dad doesn’t want everyone ripping up the grass start. He likes to keep it for the races. There is always lots of competition out there for everyone so this format seems ideal.

I guess you couldn’t skateboard either while you were out with the foot injury?
No, that’s when I know I’ll be 100 percent, when I can skateboard again. I tried last night but it hurt to do any flip tricks so… I actually went into a few competition mud bogs with my truck while I was out but that’s about it.

Good luck this weekend at Mill Hill and next weekend in Moncton.
Thank you.

For more information on Pleasant Valley MX and Wednesday Night Motos, visit:
www.pleasantvalleymotocross.com