By Danny Brault

Normally, we keep busy around my parents’ place at Christmas time by playing pond hockey or ripping around on snowmobiles. This year, however, the pond didn’t freeze and the snow didn’t fall so we were forced to find other ways to entertain ourselves. What did we do? We went riding! That’s right. On Christmas morning, after unwrapping presents, my brother Corey and I suited up (Corey just had to show off his new Troy Lee Designs gear) and we took his CRF250 over to the sand pit across the road. We’ve been working on our little ‘Wick (it’s basically an oval) since the spring. At first it was just flat ground, but now the berms are built up high, the braking chop is big enough to remind me that I’m not in shape and someone even brought a dozer over to build a few jumps. It may not have been Gopher Dunes, but it didn’t matter—we were riding on December 25! Now that’s a Merry Christmas.

Moving right along ... Happy New Year! And just what makes every new year so happy? I’m guessing it’s whatever was slipped into the punch bowl. Just kidding … kind of. There is reason, however, to be happy when the calendar turns over to January 1. It’s a time for everyone to reflect on their lives—what went right, what went wrong and more often than not, what could have been. We can strip off the paint and start life all over again for the next three-hundred and sixty-five days.

I will admit that I’ve made my fair share of mistakes in 2006, but I’m ready to move ahead and accept the fact that everything was for the better and, in the long run, will make me a more responsible person. I’ve had my ups this year as well, such as qualifying for my first pro national, attending my first-ever Western Canadian Amateur National in Raymond, Alberta, watching two of my best friends tie the knot in Thunder Bay and Belleville, seeing my brother return to racing, finishing the season un-injured (always a good one) and in general, just being part of one of the greatest Canadian motocross seasons in history.

I really wasn’t sure what I would talk about for this edition of Frid’Eh Update, since not much has been going in the Canadian-moto scene as of late. But after watching countless best of/ worst of shows flash across the television screen, it’s inspired me to relive the 2006 Canadian motocross season. Here it is folks: The Best and Worst!

MAKING THE MAIN (The Best)
With limited racing options during the winter, Canadians Ryan Lockhart, Doug DeHaan, Colton Facciotti, Darcy Lange, Brady Sheren, Marco Dubé, Dusty Klatt and Mitch Cooke took to the stadiums in the Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series. Although not everyone made the mains, it gave Canadian fans someone to cheer for and added a new level of excitement. Performances such as Lange’s fifth-place at Anaheim 1, Dubé’s tenth-place in the mud at San Franciso, DeHaan’s constant battle for the final transfer spot in the Supercross class, and Klatt’s eighth-place in Orlando, taught the SX world that Canadians can ride supercross.

BIKE THEIVES (The Worst)
I can’t imagine anything worse than opening your trailer door only to find a vast emptiness staring back at you. At the Indianapolis supercross, Blackfoot Honda Fox Racing had two of their CRF250R race bikes stolen from their semi. It wasn’t looking good for Klatt and Cooke until Michael Holigan from BooKoo Honda offered up a loaner for Cooke and Blackfoot built Klatt a bike from spare parts. The thievery didn’t end in Indy. Several times throughout the summer, we saw announcements of stolen bikes such the Joel Saarits incident at the Gopher Dunes provincial and how could we forget Milo Christie’s wake up call in Quebec when he and his father, Val,  Josh Penner and Aaron Wiebe had everything—truck, bikes, trailer—stolen from a hotel parking lot.

MITCH COOKE (The Worst)
Now before you jump to conclusions on this one, I’d like to say that Mitch only ends up in the worst category because of the huge (unrealized) potential he had for 2006. We remain convinced that Cooke has the speed and potential to be a frontrunner, so seeing him face obstacle after obstacle as ’06 rolled on, is what relegates him to the worst pile. After his sixth-place and top Canadian finish at the Toronto WSXGP last December and his second Canadian finish in Vancouver, Cooke was showing promise for his debut in the AMA Eastern Region Lites series. Unfortunately, the Nova Scotian wasn’t comfortable in the stadiums and he decided to shift his focus and prepare for the MX2 East nationals. The Blackfoot rider showed that he was a championship contender by finishing third overall at the first round in Ste-Julie and then winning his qualifier over Michael Willard the next weekend at Gopher Dunes. Just as he was gaining momentum, Cooke was bitten by the injury bug in a horrendous first turn crash that left him with a concussion and a broken foot. He remounted in River Glade (six weeks later) and finished third in the first MX1 and MX2 motos (he raced his practice bike in the MX1 class), but the next weekend at Sand Del Lee, Cooke was accidentally hit by Pierce Chamberlain in a practice spill, breaking his foot yet again. That was Cooke’s final race with Blackfoot, as some miscommunication between him and the team left Cooke without a bike for the Montreal Supercross. The new-year is looking positive for Cooke though; he will finally get his wish for a full-time MX1 ride with the Suzuki OTSFF Motorsports Rockstar Energy Drink team. Let’s hope Mitch lands on the best list next January.

DUSTY KLATT (The Very Best)
There’s not much that can be said regarding Klatt’s breakout season that hasn’t been said already, so I will keep it brief: Dusty went really fast on his Blackfoot Honda 450, won five overalls, thirteen motos (eight straight from Gopher to Regina), collected his first MX1 championship, won the Montreal SX, and then signed on with Star Racing Yamaha for AMA Supercross and Motocross. Be sure to tune in next Saturday night at 10:00 p.m. PT on Speed for Dusty’s first race on his YZ250F at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. Judging by the AMA Outdoor schedule, we may even see Klatt make it up to Canada for a few races….

JSR (The Worst)
I don’t want to call Jean-Sébastien Roy’s 2006 campaign a “worst” but, on paper, it certainly is the King’s worst season compared to his previous five championship winning summers. The year never really came full circle for JSR. After healing up from knee surgery, JSR made his way down to Georgia for his usual spring training regimen. While putting in laps, JSR crashed hard and was bruised up heading into Ste-Julie. Any doubts concerning JSR’s health were put to bed after he spanked everyone—including Klatt—in both motos in Quebec. It felt like someone had hit the repeat button, but then at Gopher Dunes, the King’s court began falling apart. He suffered a bent shift lever in the first moto, and then stalled when the gate dropped in the second moto as he watched his young teammate, Klatt, take over the points lead heading to his hometown track in Nanaimo, BC. Other than a sweep at the wide-open track in Morden, Manitoba and the overall win at Sand Del Lee, JSR’s summer was spent playing second fiddle to Klatt. He was even forced to watch the Montreal Supercross from the cheap seats after a scary practice crash injured his shoulder. It looks to be a promising new-year for JSR, he has new blue bikes and more drive than ever to win races. It will look odd to see JSR line up at Ste Julie with a #2 on his plates.

SHADOW VALLEY AND SAND DEL LEE (The Best)
There has always been criticism about Canadian National tracks but, in 2006, our series had its best schedule yet and several tracks and promoters stepped things up. There were two newcomers to the nationals this year: Shadow Valley Raceway in Morden, Manitoba and Sand Del Lee in Munster, Ontario. Both tracks and promoters deserve a huge pat on the back for their efforts and professionalism, and we’re going to give Morden the nod as the Best Canadian Track in 2006. The Hoeppner family did an amazing job of replicating an AMA Outdoor circuit: they had fast, wide straightaways, safe jumps, perfectly tilled dirt, elevation changes, a fast and flowing layout and it offered great spectator viewing. From fans to riders to teams and the media, Morden definitely made an impact on the series—and we get to go back next year for the first round of the West series!

NANAIMO’S WHOOPS (The Worst)
There has been a long debate over which obstacles should and shouldn’t be on an outdoor motocross track. This year at The Wastelands in Nanaimo, BC, that debate boiled over after riders and teams staged a revolt and pressured the CMRC and promoters of the track to remove or tame down the whoop section. Although the whoops at Nanaimo have been there for several years, they looked bigger and deeper than ever this year. After reviewing the tape from Joliette in 2005 and this year’s Nanaimo race, I believe stadium-style whoops should stay in the stadiums (hence the “stadium” distinction). I mentioned above that our tracks are improving, but there are still some issues that we as fans, riders and promoters need to work together to resolve these problems.

PARRY SOUND (The Best)
Canada was given the opportunity to host a round of the World Enduro Championships this summer on the beautiful Georgian Bay coastline of Parry Sound, Ontario. The motorcycle-loving town (they hold the annual Sport Bike Rally) was a welcomed addition to the international series and it will surely land on the schedule next year. Two-time E3 champ, David Knight, made the course look like a walk through the park—in reality it’s more dangerous than a midnight walk through Central Park in New York City—and said it was one of the best courses of the year. Canadians Klade Glasgow and Cory Graffunder made names for themselves, by collecting Top Canadian awards from KTM Canada and Austrian Vacations.

THE WILD, WILD WEST (The Best)
If you haven’t had the chance to visit the Western Canadian Amateur National in Raymond, Alberta, I advise you to do so. The Temple Hill track offers something for everyone: jumps, bumps, sand, elevation changes and ruts. Not only is the track something to behold, so is the racing. Spencer Knowles, Todd Sewell and Ryan Millar kept everyone on the fence lines for the 85cc, Supermini and Junior motos; Malerie Prochnavy, Missy Hackett and Jessica Foster put forth some of the best Ladies racing in Canada; and local boy Luke Firth made a name for himself beating Shane Wiebe, Ryan Bissenden and a host of other fast westerners in intermediate class on his YZ125 two-stroke.

HOMETOWN HERO (The Best)
The tears were almost as heavy as the wet sand at the Gopher Dunes national this year. When Machine Racing Honda’s Kyle Keast jumped out into the lead in the second MX1 moto, it didn’t matter which pit shirt you were wearing or who your favourite rider was, you were on the side of track cheering on the #18 Honda. His lead only lasted a few laps, but the memory will last forever. Keast’s season was cut short in Nanaimo but he’ll be back in ’07 looking to realize his potential in the MX1 class.

CROSSED OFF (The Worst)
Airland Entertainment and the CMA made efforts to run an Ontario-based arenacross series, but they had to call it quits at the last minute because of a lack of rider interest. It didn’t help that the series coincided with CMRC Provincials and nationals. It’s too bad; Joe Baird had some great ideas and some really great big prize money….

TYLER MEDAGLIA (The Best)
After struggling through a few years with injuries, Kemptville, Ontario’s Tyler Medaglia returned to form this year at the MX2 East Nationals. The once next-big-thing proved that he still has it with third overall at his hometown national at Sand Del Lee and a fourth-place (top Canadian) series finish in the East. Medaglia was rewarded with a ride from OTSFF Suzuki and he’s already producing results: he finished sixth in the Lites class at the Toronto WSXGP.

KYLE BEATON (The Best)
I wasn’t sure if I should tag Kyle Beaton with The Best or The Worst title, since most of what happened on Sunday afternoons in 2006 he would rather forget. But the eighteen-year-old laid down a pretty big statement at the Vancouver WSXGP with his LCQ win and fifth-place in the Lites main event. If all goes well, we may even see Beaton on the line for some AMA West Coast Supercross rounds. Only 18-years-old, Beaton has now graduated high school and will spend the entire winter in California racing a riding with Spencer Knowles and family.

MX2 IMPORTS (The Best)
While JSR and Klatt didn't have much competition in the MX1 class this year, the level of competition in the MX2 East and West regions was unprecedented. Right from the drop of the gate, you could tell that Kyle Chisholm, Michael Willard, Jimmy Nelson and Teddy Maier were riding at a level not seen in Canada before. Often setting lap times close to the MX1 class, these elite riders tested each other every weekend and sure made for some epic racing at the Walton TranCan East/West Shootout. Each rider was on at least their second season in Canada and at least two are re-signed for '07 so that is a testamant to the quality of our Canadian race teams.

Our very own Arenacross icon, Darcy Lange, makes his return to racing this Friday and Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. Darcy leads the series which will feature the return of four Arenacross champs for this round: Darcy Lange (2X AMA AX champ), Chad Johnson (current AMA AX champ), Josh Demuth (current BooKoo champ and 2X AMA AX champ), and Robbie Reynard (1992 AMA AX champ). That’s quite a line-up! For event information go to www.racearenacross.com. Also, Mike Kidd says that James Marshall is coming to Fort Worth to watch the event.

If you’re not already revved up about the Anaheim Supercross opener, tune into CBS Sports on Saturday night at 5:00 p.m. ET for a look at the current season, in addition to highlights of last year’s storied season.

CBS Sports will broadcast seven hours of racing along with the preview show and a season finale show. SPEED will broadcast all 17 Amp’d Mobile Supercross races.

Anaheim 1 will air live for the first time ever Saturday, January 6, 2007 on SPEED.

2006-’07 Amp’d Mobile Supercross TV Schedule on CBS Sports:

                       
For more information about the Amp’d Mobile World Supercross GP/Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series, please log on to www.supercrossonline.com

That's it for this week. Have a safe and happy New Year and see you at the races!