By Danny Brault

What a weekend. Nearly the entire RXC crew made its way down to the annual Indianapolis Dealer Expo to kick some Yankee butt in the Racer X Canada vs. USA Hockey Tourney (which Canada has yet to lose a single game) last weekend. Once again, we returned home with gold medals, bags under our eyes, and plenty of stories.

Our editor, Jason Griffiths, took home the MVP honours for his stellar play between the pipes. I still don’t know how he keeps up his reflexes or doesn’t pull a groin or something because Indy is the only time each year that he plays hockey. Even though the final scores HEAVILY favoured the North (8-3 and 12-4), Team USA kept pace for the first two periods in each game, but they just couldn’t capitalize on their gazillion penalty shots and our secret weapon, Steve Matthes, who came through with a creditable +6 rating and two assists.

Team Corona Honda sponsored the event, and they provided over 500 cold beverages for fans, players and anyone else who made it into the arena. They also brought out their team, the Corona girls, and a replica bike onto the red carpet for photos before the puck dropped. It really brought up the prestige of the tourney. (Not that it wasn’t already the biggest ice hockey game in the history of puck and stick.)

So, the States has the Des Nations and we have the Indy tourney! Seems like a fair trade off.

Away from the rink, every dealer, new product, moto-celeb and rep was on hand for the Dealer Expo. I’m not really that keen on walking around, checking out the flashy new products. It’s like looking at a lineup of centerfolds, but not being able to touch them!

The highlight of my weekend came Sunday night at the Ogio party at Jillian’s when I got my pic taken with none other than Ron Lechien himself. I was shaking like a little girl getting an autograph from Hillary Duff.

While half of the industry was busy mingling in Indy, the other half was at the final round of the Western swing of the Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series in San Diego (until it returns to Seattle in two months).

It was by far the most successful weekend for the Canadian contingent, as two out of three—Dusty Klatt and Brady Sheren—made the Lites main event and BTO Sports/ Butler Brothers Honda’s Doug DeHaan walked away with the Racer X Gas Card for his third-place in the 450 LCQ. I’m sure he would have rather finished one spot higher and moved into the main event, but he has to be satisfied that his results are improving; he still beat guys like Erick Vallejo, Leighton Lillie, Cole Siebler and San Manuel Yamaha’s Nathan Ramsey, which is quite an accomplishment.

Sheren and his fans were obviously stoked that the Team Solitaire rider qualified for his first-ever Lites main event in San Diego. Sheren didn’t have to go to the LCQ either; he made it into the main from his heat with two positions to spare. He finished out of the points but at least he got a taste of the big show. The eighteen-year-old has returned home to BC and will now start preparing for the Canadian Nationals. He’s still undecided whether he will race MX1 or MX2 West, but hopes to be on a trusty Honda either way.

Sheren’s teammate and team manager, Ryan Clark posted a bit about his Lites rider’s SD accomplishment on his website, www.teamsolitaire.com.

Star Racing Yamaha’s Klatt tied his season best finish with an 11th in SD; he was satisfied with the result but was shooting for a top 10. Still one more round to go, Dusty.

With some time off, Klatt will begin testing and training for the outdoors, where he will be much more in his element. He also purchased a YZ450F—just for fun he says—so it will be interesting to see which class he races when Hangtown comes.

One Industries KTM’s Michael Willard scored a 16th in the Lites main and now holds down 19th overall in the Western Region.

In a previous Frid’Eh Update, I noted how many U.S. riders in the West Coast Lites class had raced the Canadian Nationals before making a name for themselves on the AMA circuit. That same trend applies to the Eastern Region.

Ryan Morais, Ryan Abrigo, Ashlee Waskob, Tucker Hibbert, Tyler Bright, Tim Hollenbeck and Gray Davenport are all signed up for Atlanta (Ryan Sipes was set to race in the East until he suffered an injury while training at GPF) and all raced a Canadian National or two.

Yamaha of Troy’s Morais is probably the biggest contender this weekend in Atlanta, who has raced up north. He was Dusty Klatt’s teammate on the Blackfoot Honda squad in 2004, and finished second overall to Klatt in the MX2 West series.

Has anyone stopped by www.mxforum.com lately? I’m sure everyone will give you a warm STFU welcoming and make you feel right at home! Did you know that Rick Hamer-Jackson (a.k.a. Hammertime) has quite a few BC pro championships to his name? It’s true, check out his style in this classic AXO ad:

Back to supercross….

Darcy Lange makes his big debut with the Monster Energy/ Pro Circuit Kawasaki team this weekend in Atlanta. How will he do? You can vote for yourself on our Anarchy Ride Shop Poll to the right and vote for this weekend’s race at www.racerxill.com on their Troy Lee Designs Poll.

OTSFF Suzuki’s Tyler Medaglia will also be running in the 250F class, as well as the next four rounds. He’s been working hard at GPF and says he’s ready to race.

His younger brother, Jeremy, has also been in Georgia pounding motos on his new YZ250F. Check it out our Sponsormeonline.com Amateur Spotlight we posted with him yesterday.

MX101, who has added the sixteen-year-old to their race team, will also be the Canadian Distributor for the Hat’s Off helmet device. The safety device hooks into the back inside of a rider’s lid, and helps to lift the helmet off without causing the rider to move their neck around. Asterisk’s Doc Bodnar is big supporter of Hat’s Off, which can be found in many of the top pros helmets.

I’m happy to say that I will have the opportunity to watch our boys live this weekend, as myself, Derek Schuster, Glen Caley, Dylan Langlois, and Pierce Chamberlain are stopping by the Georgia Dome on Saturday night before we make our way over to MTF and GPF for a week of riding.

It will be quite the Canadian crew down in Georgia, with the four of us, plus Medgalia who will return to GPF after Atlanta, Ryan Lockhart should be dropping by soon, Adam Deakon is working hard at MTF and Trever Hall and Matt McGuinness have been in and out of the area as well.

Til next Frid’Eh, keep on givener!