By Danny Brault (with some help from Brett Dailey and Allison Kennedy)
Brett Dailey and I were chatting earlier this week on the unbelievable race action from the AMA national in Freestone, Texas. No, it wasn’t Speed’s television coverage—it was the Racer X Motocross Show on www.motocross.com. While I’ve been tuning into the pre and post shows each round, Dailey was too busy reading a map of Canada this summer to watch the episodes. So Freestone was his first viewing of the Racer X Show.

DC, Weigandt, and the RXI crew have truly outdone themselves with their online coverage of the Toyota AMA Motocross Championships. Somehow, they manage to catch all of the big moments, interviews, and then mix them together shortly after the final moto ends for anyone with internet (preferably high speed) to watch. If you missed Freestone—or any of the other rounds, visit http://live.motocross.com/.

Without RC and Bubba in the picture, it’s opened the doors for new heroes, winners and battles in the Motocross class. Tim Ferry was the recipient of the points lead after his Kawasaki teammate, Stewart, mangled his knee in Washougal, but since then, “Red Dog” has battled back from bad starts while Yamaha’s Grant Langston is rising to the top with great starts and a deep desire to win this title. It hasn’t been easy for Langston, as Windham and Alessi kept him more than honest in Steel City, and Andrew Short absolutely dominated for his first moto win in Freestone (he was leading the second race but fell and finished fifth). With two motos remaining at Glen Helen this weekend, Langston only has 8 points over Short, who only has five points over Ferry, who only has three points over Alessi. What a series!

Even though only of these four can take home the number one plate, they are all very deserving. Here are a few stats to show how close (and consistent) they’ve all been in the results:

Langston – two overalls, five podiums and five finishes outside the top 10.
Short – one moto win, four podiums, and one finish outside the top 10.
Ferry – one overall, three podiums, and two finishes outside the top 10.
Alessi – one moto win, five podiums, and three finishes outside the top 10.

So while Langston has actually been the most inconsistent earlier in the season, he’s gone 2-2-1-1 in the last four rounds, while the other three have traded around the second to fifth spots.

With Alessi sitting 15-points back of Langston, it starts to bring back memories from the 2005 Motocross Lites finale in GH, when young Mike went for it and cleaned out Ivan Tedesco. That was two years ago, however, and I don’t expect Mikey to try anything “funny” this time around. I was never a big Alessi fan, but the #800 is starting to grow on me as he grows up. It was a ballsy move for him to race the Motocross class against the big boys, but he’s proved that he belongs there.

The Lites class has been pretty awesome to watch as well, even though there are only two riders in the title hunt, especially in these last few rounds with amateur sensations Izzi, Stroupe, and Canard. Monster Energy/ Pro Circuit’s Ryan Villopoto has opened up a comfy 19-point lead over Ben Townley, so I expect him to win this title. I also expect him to beat everyone but Ricky Carmichael at the Motocross des Nations at Budds Creek in two weeks. Now that is a ballsy statement! Our art director, Dawn McClintock, disagrees. She says that Italy’s Antonio Cairoli will put the wood to little Poto. I’ve been wrong pretty much every time I make a bet, but I strongly believe that his familiarity with the Budds Creek and his pure speed these days will put him ahead of everyone but the GOAT.

Dougie DeHaan returned to the AMA nationals in Texas on his Butler Brothers Honda. The “Icon” went 29-20 for 28th in the Motocross class. Another “Almost Canadian” rider, MX2 East champ, Michael Willard was on the line in the Lites class and finished 24-20 for 26th overall.

Steve Matthes was back observing the AMA national circuit last weekend in the Lonestar state. For one his funniest columns yet (IMO) and some flawless photos from vendor’s row, read Matthes’ Obs from Texas.


French Canadian ATV racer, Richard Pelchat, finished seventh in the inaugural AMA Pro ATV Open in Steel City two weeks ago. The Yamaha rider was one of 20 invited riders to the event, and climbed his way through the pack to finish lucky number seven. Below are the complete results:

Results from the AMA Pro ATV Open

1. Patrick Brown Yamaha
2. Chad Wienen Suzuki
3. Doug Gust Suzuki
4. Josh Creamer Kawasaki
5. Dustin Wimmer Suzuki
6. Russell Shumaker Suzuki
7. Richard Pelchat Yamaha
8. Joe Haavisto Suzuki
9. Keith Little Honda
10. Hunter Miller Yamaha
11. Cale Downen Honda
12. Josh Upperman Kawasaki
13. Jason Luburgh Kawasaki
14. Rocco Arno Honda
15. Jason Dunkelburger Suzuki
16. Mike Brown Honda
17. Justin Bres Honda
18. Cody MillerYamaha
19. Travis Spader Yamaha
20. Kory Ellis Suzuki

To watch action from the one-moto race, go to www.racerxfilms.com. You can see Pelchat live on September 29th at the Montreal Supercross.

Last week, I posted a feature called “Who was the Fastest?” which showed all of the best lap times from the MX2 and MX1 classes at the Monster Energy Motocross Nationals this summer. I did make one mistake, however, Jason Burke not Nick Evennou set the fastest MX2 time in the second moto. Sorry, Burkey!


That’s it for me this week—I’m headed to Newfoundland for the Brian House Memorial Race!

Well, that's it for Danny "Factory Newfie for a Day" Brault, but we've got a few more things to add to the update.  

We received some mail from Riverside Yamaha's Greg Symabluk with an update on our buddy, James Marshall. Symbaluk has worked tirelessly to help raise funds since Marshall was injured, and as you can see from his letter, he's still on it. Great work as always, Greg.  
Hello Jason, Allison, Brett and the Racer X Canada crew:
 
You have done another stellar job this year covering Canadian MX, great job. I think you all deserve a good pat on the back. As this summer was so busy, I really did not get the chance to drop you a line and say hello (sorry). All is well here. Things are coming along well with James Marshall`s recovery. Although progress is slow, James has regained a lot of feeling and is still training like crazy every day to gain more ground. This is all in part from the help you gave my wife Laurie and I at the Calgary national raising money for James. It really helped, more than you know. I am also very proud of team Canada (MX DES NATIONS) as all of the riders. JSR, MORGAN and FACCIOTTI all donated jerseys in Calgary to help James. Great to see all those kind hearted guys representing us all. Thanks again for all your help.
 
All the very best, Greg and Laurie Symbaluk
Riverside Yamaha-Suzuki.

Canadian racer Jessica Foster will be on Shaw TV's Extreme Sports series this weekend. The station is doing a 50-part series on extreme sports and Jessica is the motocross episode. Check your local listings to see if the Shaw TV show airs in your area and visit Jess' website www.jessicafostermx.com.
 

With the MXDN just a few weeks away in Budds Creek, Maryland, efforts are continuing to raise funds for the team. The autographed JSR jersey just went for $212.50 U.S. and we just launched the auction for the autographed Blair Morgan jersey. You can place your bid right here. The bid is already up to $151 U.S. and there are still almost six days to go. You can also support the team by ordering a souvenir Team Canada t-shirt by following this link.

Blair Morgan has been busy dividing his time between riding outdoors and supercross in an effort to get ready for Des Nations and the Montreal Supercross. Blair sounds pumped for both. He also said you can now find satellite photos of his track on Google Maps. If you find the coordinates, send them to letters@racerxcanada.com  Good luck with that, I gave up after 15 minutes and I've been to his track...

We also caught up with JSR this week to find out what's he been doing since Walton and the Canadian outdoor season wrapped up. As usual, it sounds like Roy has been working hard and is focused on both the MXDN and the Montreal SX. Check out the interview here.  If you haven't got your tickets for the 30th Anniversary race at the Big O, you are nuts. It's always a good show and this year will be no exception. For more information, click here.

If there wasn't enough action at the Montreal SX for you already, there are going to be two huge Canadian DVD's making their debut the September 29th weekend. Felix Trepanier and Ben Milot have combined once again to release the third installment of the Invasion series. Felix sent along the new cover art and you can find out more about getting your copy of the movie right here.

The Destroyer Films team of Chris and Cody have also been busting their butts putting the finishing touches on the DVD, This Is It, they worked on all summer while following the Canadian National series. There are plans for a release party in Montreal so stay tuned to Racerxcanada.com for more details on that. In the meantime, watch the trailer for This Is It again... here.  

The CMRC released some pretty big news about the switch to a new nine-round format for the MX2 Nationals next summer. Gone are the four-round MX2 East and MX2 West series, as well as the Walton Shootout, and instead riders will compete in a nine-round single series. As Mark Stallybrass explains in the press release, "The series has experienced positive growth to the point where entry levels have exceeded expectations, and participation in the class by manufacturers, teams and privateers has continuously progressed with each passing year. Considering the talent pool that raced in each respective series, the MX2 class can no longer be considered a developing class. It is one that is now compared to the competition level of the premier MX1 division." You can read the entire press release here.  We checked in with Mark to confirm one aspect of the format change, and he confirmed that two time MX2 champs (like Dusty Klatt and Jimmy Nelson) will not be eligible for the class. According to Brett Lee, the manufacturers and the big teams were very much in support of the new format. It will be interesting to see if the new format means fewer rides for up and coming Canadians. We all know racing a competitive 250F is expensive, and it remains to be seen if the teams will hire a single MX2 rider, or will be willing to invest in a title contender as well as a future title contender for a full season. If not, it's going to be a very expensive proposition for any Canadian privateer to complete in either Canadian series, MX1 or MX2, on their own. There's a good debate going on over at Mxforum. If you have thoughts on the new format, send them to us at letters@racerxcanada.com and we'll run them in next week's update.

Brett Dailey has settled back in on the East Coast and hit the Kingston race last weekend. We'll let him pitch in here.

Hey folks, I'm just sitting here drowning my sorrows after missing my golden opportunity to travel to Newfoundland for the Brian House Memorial race and hang out with the crew from Blackfoot East and be a Factory Newfie for a Day. I desperately wanted to go but I've got a big move to get ready for so the nod went to my buddy Danbro. He called earlier and said that he had met up with Rod and the crew (by the way, the crew includes a social events co-ordinator) and was sitting in the hot tub for the pre-party to the pre-party to the pre-party to the big event. Oh man, how did I miss this one?!

I was able to skip out to Kingston last Sunday and watch a few races. I'm originally an Ontario guy so I'm always hesitant to pump up the Maritime racing scene too much but man, it really has a little bit of everything from national championship calibre riders to great tracks, people and race teams like Freedom Cycle, Atlantic Motoplex and Team Toys, and even some on-track drama! Unfortunately Mitch Cooke and Johnny Montes were not racing -- Mitch is back on the track but is not racing full-time yet while Montes tore his MCL in the later stages of the nationals but the injury was just recently diagnosed so he's staying off the bike for a while to let the injury heal. 

The drama I'm referring to involved Ignition Racing / RXC's Factory Rider for Moncton, Davey Fraser, and national #6 Ryan Lockhart. In an attempt to paint the picture, I'll try to associate them with a different era. Remember when Damon Bradshaw broke onto the pro scene in the U.S. and established riders like Jeff Stanton were upset that Bradshaw wasn't giving them the respect they deserved while out on the track? I remember a piece on ESPN where Stanton was attacking Bradshaw for his actions and then they cut to Bradshaw and he simply stated that he was there to win and he wasn't planning on cutting them any slack. I'll compare these two with Stanton and Bradshaw because a rider like Lockhart does deserve a level of respect from the younger up and comers but I also applaud Fraser for not backing down.

In the first 450 moto in Kingston, Fraser holeshot and pulled a comfortable lead. Lockhart made his way into second place about mid-way through the moto and put on an impressive charge in the closing laps to get right behind Fraser at the checkers. Fraser won the moto but Lockhart was not happy about some of the aggressive riding and voiced his opinion when they crossed the checkers (think WFO throttle). Rather than backing down, Fraser chased after Lockhart and rammed him and said a few words of his own. I talked to both of them after the race. Fraser is not sure why everyone seems to be picking on him and Lockhart says that he respects Fraser's speed but maybe not some of the decisions he makes on the track. I don't think they will be exchanging Christmas cards come December 25th. I don't want to encourage the rivalry but it's a good one (and they are two of my favourite riders) and it sure makes for some good racing! Bring it on Newf!