Frid'Eh Update:Presented by Royal Distributing
APRIL 20, 2007
By Danny Brault
It’s on. In less than 24-hours our boy Darcy Lange will be on the starting line for the final Eastern Region Lites round in Downtown Dee-troy-it, shaking out his nerves on his Monster Energy/ Pro Circuit Kawasaki KX250F. If all goes well, we may see Lange earn Canada its first win in AMA SX. And if lady luck intervenes, a championship may be in store …
Sorry. I don’t want to get ahead of myself here. There are still two practices, qualifying and a 15-lap main event to go before Lange caps off his historical run in `07. No matter what the result in Detroit, Lange has already done us proud and he has proven that Canadians can hang with the best supercross riders in the world.
It’s going to be a war in Ford Field tomorrow night. Lange’s teammate Ben Townley is hungry to win his first SX title and the underdog Ryan Morais is looking to erase his injury plagued past with a championship. There will no doubt be team tactics used as well. While each rider wants that championship badly, ultimately, they will have to do what is best for the team.
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Darcy Lange then: his first year at the Canadian Nationals in 1998. |
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photo: Jason T. Griffiths |
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Darcy Lange now: at the 2007 AMA Eastern Region Lites series. |
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photo: Allison Kennedy |
Brett Dailey’s man crush Mike Harden sent in this comment:
"You can bet that someone on either the Pro Circuit team or the Yamaha of Troy team is going to slip a flagger a $20 to toss a banana peel in a slick corner to take one of the three out of the championship chase. You know, with the slippery side of the peel facing up?"
Very funny, Mikey. Now go back to that motel room, get out the yellow pages and make a sale!
If you live within six hours of Detroit and call yourself a true Canadian MX fan, then you better be in Motor City tomorrow night supporting Lange. If you haven’t done so already, go to www.ticketmaster.com and type in RACERX to get discounted tickets.
If, for some reason, you can’t make it, tune into the SupercrossLIVE! audio broadcast with the Weege and Jim Holley. It’s always convenient to have the live lap ticker open as well, you can find that here.
The Supercross class wil be televised the next day at noon EST on CBS, and the Lites class will be featured April 29 at noon EST on CBS. Go to http://supercrossonline.com/tvList for a complete TV schedule.
Stay tuned to www.racerxcanada.com for updates from Detroit.
The Ontario racing season kicked off at Gopher Dunes last weekend. I heard a few people whining that it was too cold and windy, but considering what the weather forecast was calling for (snow and rain) and previous openers at Gopher (you might remember in `04 when everyone raced dogsleds in snowsuits), I think it turned out to be a decent day.
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Johnny Silegren returned to racing at Gopher Dunes with the help of Ignition Racing. |
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Kyle Keast (30) leads Jason Burke (34) and Ryan McLellan (93) into the first corner. |
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Kassi Boone finished third overall in the Ladies class on her Inglis Cycle RM-Z250. |
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photos: Allison Kennedy |
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The most enteraining racing came in the GP Pro and Youth classes, where Honda riders Kyle Keast, Chuck Mesley and Jason Burke traded wins. Burke won the first Pro and Youth motos, but was forced to take second overall in both classes after Keast won the second Pro moto and Mesley passed him for the win in the final Youth race (Keast went down while leading).
I expected to see Burke and Keast run away with it, but The Mez got faster every lap and he definitely showed that he’s in much better shape this spring than he has been in the last three years. I caught up with him this week during his lunch break at work.
RXC: You must be happy with how you rode on the weekend?
Chuck Mesley: Yeah, I was happy with that, definitely.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from you. In the morning, it didn’t look like you were going as fast as Keast or Burke, but you stepped it up each moto.
I started feeling a lot better. I wish I had better starts in the Pro Am motos. It was the first time on the bike; I just broke it in that weekend [laughs].
What was [John] Nelson saying this week?
He was laughing because all of his old buddies were laughing at how fast I was going on a brand new bike [laughs]. They were just saying how messed up I am for getting on the bike and going wide open. There like, ‘That kid is totalled!’”
Well, it’s a race, right?
Yes, exactly!
You looked good out there; you looked smooth.
It’s the same as last year. I’m just trying to take my time and not try and win the race in the first lap.
What was your deal with racing in South Africa back in February?
Selwyn [Momberg], the guy that took me down there, is starting a company here in Canada. He’s trying to get it set up so younger Canadian kids can go over there during the winter for a month or two months, more or less, all expenses, go and ride and do some of their races. Then have some of the South African kids come over and do Walton and some of our stuff. I think that’s what they are looking for five years from now.
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Chuck Mesley made an appearance at the Gopher opener for the first time in three years on a CRF450 fresh from the crate. |
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photo: Allison Kennedy |
Lockhart Suzuki’s Jocelyn Killough finally traded in her RM125 for the all-new RM-Z250; she swept both motos in the Ladies class, ahead of Shantel DePaepe and Kassi Boone. Killough was even showing off her national number 7 she earned from the Women’s Candian National Series.
On that note, I spoke with CMRC President Mark Stallybrass this week and the Women’s Nationals are boasting a $10,000 series purse, courtesy of Suzuki Canada. This is definitely a big step forward seeing as how there wasn’t a purse last year—or even a trophy! The Women’s champ will claim $2,500 of that pot.
For anyone who isn’t a Racer X Canada/ Racer X Illustrated subscriber yet or if they wish to renew their subscription, now is the time to do it. Canadian residents who subscribe or renew before May 31 will be entered in a draw for a set of Gladiator gear from M2R. (Sorry, Russell Crowe is not inlcluded.)
Click here for full details.
The Medaglia brothers skipped the Gopher race to kick some Yankee butt in Englishtown, New Jersey. The eldest Medaglia, Tyler, rode his Suzuki OTSFF 250 and 450 to first overall in the 125 A and Open A classes. He won every moto except the first 125 A race where hometown rider Barry Carsten took the checkers.
In his first race on his MX101 Yamaha, Jeremy won three motos in the Lites B Mod and Motocross B Stock classes on Saturday for both overalls (he finished second in the other). Sunday’s rainstorm shortened the race program to a one-moto format. Jeremy went finished second in Lites B class on Sunday and sixth in the Motocross B Mod class.
I know from speaking with our ad rep, Jay Moore, who lives down the road from Sand Del Lee, that the weather hasn’t been the most accommodating and no tracks in the Ottawa area are open yet. So I was curious to know where the Medaglias have been practicing. It seems they’ve been using the Mitch Cooke program.
“We have a couple of old sand pits that we ride on,” said Tyler. “We just build up some corner tracks; we’ve actually ridden at least 12 times now.”
Their resourcefulness is working so far. Now that Jeremy is getting faster by the day, I asked Tyler if they’ve been battling with each other.
“He doesn’t really want to start any fights or something,” replied Tyler. “If we go up practicing, battling, we don’t want to start a little fight. We usually just stay on the opposite side of the track [laughs].”
You can find full results from Englishtown at www.racewaypark.com.
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Tyler Medaglia dominated the A classes at Englishtown last weekend ... |
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... while his younger brother Jeremy killed everyone in the B classes. |
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photos: Scott Lukaitis |
Tyler is heading up to the Toronto area this week to break in a new bike and he says he’s planning to race at RJ Motosport Park on Sunday. I know The Mez will be there too. Could be interesting …
The Blackfoot gang is in full swing for the Canadian Nationals. Team owner Jason Mitchell is excited and he sent along a few teaser photos of the team’s new weapons. Check them out here.
A quick injury update:
Suzuki OTSFF’s Ryan Lockhart is on the mend. After breaking his collarbone at the GPF four weeks ago, he flew out to Calgary to work with Evolved Nutrition on his rehabilitation. He hopes to be back on the bike in the next week or so. The Newf and his younger brother, Brad, are driving out to Chris Pomeroy’s place in Fergus this weekend. Brad is racing the Auburn Hills Spring Classic the following weekend, but Ryan isn’t sure he will be ready.
Another victim of the GPF track, Ryan Gauld had his cast cut off his arm this week. The MX Mechanics rider hasn’t had much time on the bike other than his helmet cam lap each weekend at the Toyota AMA Arenacross Series. We might see him on the line at Gopher Dunes provincial in two weeks.
Our 2006 Racer X Canada Total Devotion receipent, Ryan Millar, rode every day this week after breaking a growth plate in his hip three weeks ago.
We received this photo from Tim Doyle. It’s BC’s Tony Sandstrom at the opening round of the China MX Nationals! The 37-year-old went 1-1 at the event. Canada really is becoming a global MX force.
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Canadian Tony Sandstrom sits on his number 21 CRF at the opening round of the Chin MX Nationals. |
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photo courtesy of Sandstrom |
Allison Kennedy stopped by Royal Distributing’s open house at their new location in Barrie. She sent over this note and photos:
I had a chance to check out Royal Distributing's new flagship location just off the 400 at Innisfil Beach Road. The Royal crew threw a grand opening bash on Tuesday night that gave us the chance to check out the massive new store. This place is pretty amazing; it's actually bigger than their existing Guelph location and with its en-route-to-cottage-country location, I'm sure it's going to be a huge success.
There's a huge moto gear and accessories department as well as a separate parts area. There's also snowmobile gear, ATV gear, boating gear and some sweet wakeboards in the back. To top it off, they've made a huge effort to make this place look cool.
It's almost like a Troy Lee Designs meets Bass Pro Shop environment, with Willard's championship bike on display, Iain Hayden's championship sled, and a pair of antique Indian motorcycles displayed in the back window. You could spend some serious time at Royal just gawking. Congrats to the Royal crew and also thanks to them for continuing to support Canadian motocross. They will once again award each holeshot winner at the CMRC Canadian Nationals with an oversize $200 cheque at each round.
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Michael Willard's 2005 Championship KTM 250 SXF has found a home at the new Royal Distributing building in Barrie. |
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Thanks, Allison.
MotoPark’s Carl Bastedo gave us some bench racing ammo this week by mentioning possible names for the 2007 Canadian Team at the Motocross Des Nations in Budds Creek, Maryland. While JSR, Blair Morgan and Dusty Klatt were obvious names thrown into the hat, one candidate popped up that got me thinking: Darcy Lange.
Bastedo says that Lange was interested in racing the Des Nations last year, but felt he wasn’t prepared physically after injuring himself in Regina. It’s surprising because Lange has made it public on several occasions that he has no interest in racing outdoors. But as Bastedo adds, with Mitch Payton’s support of the event, it would be hard for the two-time AX champ to turn down the offer if has that Pro Circuit Kawi under him.
So, if Lange was serious about racing the Des Nations, that would make for a tough decision in the 450 class. JSR and Klatt have to be considered the two fastest candidates, but then Morgan has been our saviour at the last three events and Mitch Cooke and Colton Facciotti are on the verge of breakout seasons. As Bastedo says, we’ll just to wait and see how the race season unfolds.
www.mxforum.com has set up a poll for fans to pick their dream team.
If you’re in the Eastern Ontario area this weekend, there is an open practice at the MMRS track in Peterborough on Saturday and Sunday. It’s located right beside the Kawartha Downs Race Track and Slots. Go to ww.mmrs.ca for more info.
There have been a lot of questions raised with the introduction of the CRF150R, the increasing noise issue and the possibility of reducing engine size in 450s as of late. Don’t think those issues aren’t being addressed. Both the AMA and FIM sat down last week to hammer out some solutions, and you can read all about it in this interview with the AMA’s Steve Whitlock.
Okay, gang. I’m outta here. Say a little prayer for our boy Darcy this weekend!
