Frid'Eh Update:Presented by Royal Distributing
NOVEMBER 16, 2007
The Toyota/ Yamaha Canada Arenacross Championships kicked off last weekend in Chilliwack, BC. From what our photographer James Lissimore, says there was some great racing, especially in the Dash for Cash on Friday night, good spectator turnout, and dealers like RTR Performance, Leading Edge Kawasaki and Clearbrook Yamaha featured full-on race teams.
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Chilliwack Heritage Place: Finally time for some racing... |
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James Lissimore photo |
While the favourites, Colton Facciotti and Kyle Beaton, took off with the AX2 (Beaton) and Open (Facciotti) wins both nights, it was wide open for the other two steps on the podium. Johnny Montes, Brock Hoyer, Lee Coutts, Cory Graffunder, Kris Foster, Shane Wiebe, Broc Shury, and Scott Saura were all in the mix throughout the weekend. Ryan Lockhart and the Allison brothers were in town as well, but unfortunately, Lockhart cased a jump in his qualifier on Friday night and was landed on by Graffunder, resulting in a contusion on his back. He should be back for the November 30th round. Jared Allison was also struck with injury when he crashed and broke both arms. Ouch! His brother, Parker, qualified, but they opted to rush home and have Jared visit their family doctor.
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National Number 2: Facciotti won the Open class both nights. |
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James Lissimore photo |
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Beaton won the AX2 main both nights, and was chasing Colt in the open class before he crashed. |
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James Lissimore photo |
Check out Lissimore’s SixSixOne Photo Report from Chilliwack to see how things went down.
Also, if you haven’t done so already, slap on one of Lissimore’s top pics to your desktop right here.
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Lee Coutts is the fastest (and most aggressive) one lap rider in Canada. |
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James Lissimore photo |
I caught up with Lee Coutts for this week’s “My Take.” One of the topics was the Chilliwack track, which received debate on www.mxforum.com.
Some argued that the layout was too dangerous and caused injuries. I
asked Coutts what he thought of the track and he admitted that it was a
“little technical” for the first race of the year. I wasn’t there, but
considering the title “arenacross” I would expect to see obstacles that
require some precision and timing. It was also the first round and it’s
been a while since anyone’s raced, so I imagine everyone went in a
little too excited.
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Johnny Montes flew out to BC last week to contest the full AX series. Montes' best finish was a pair of fourth's on Friday night. |
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James Lissimore photo |
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Shane Wiebe (55) and Kyle Beaton's (22) bikes sit beside the Clearbrook Yamaha trailer. |
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James Lissimore photo |
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Nex-Trax's Tony Cording welcomes Ryan Lockhart into Chilliwack. |
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James Lissimore photo |
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Spanner Pat O'Connor kept Lockhart's KX250F in one piece. |
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James Lissimore photo |
One racer who didn’t line up in Chilliwack was Brady Sheren. He’s still recovering from a fractured wrist, but is planning a return to AMA Supercross with the help of the new Fun Center/ Suzuki Team. Sheren, along with Chris and Michael Blose,
will represent the Suzuki team in the West Coast Lites series. So
within a year, Sheren will have ridden four different brands: Yamaha,
Honda, Kawasaki, and soon, Suzuki. He started the West Coast series
last year on a Wonder Warthog Yamaha, switched over to Honda’s when he
was picked up by Ryan Clark’s Team Solitaire for the final Western rounds, and then raced for Denny’s/ Holeshot Racing Kawasaki in the MX2 West series.
The Fun Center/ Suzuki deal is supercross-only; Sheren is still
speaking with Canadian Kawasaki for the 2008 Canadian Nationals. Sheren
qualified in San Diego last year with Team Solitaire, where he finished
21st. He definitely has the technical skills for supercross; he just
needs to work on his first corner nerves and get aggressive to be a
regular main event maker.
Chad Reed is the new King of Bercy. The San Manuel Yamaha rider
won every race, except the first moto Friday night, which was won by
AMA National champ, Grant Langston. Honda’s Andrew Short and Josh Grant and MDK/ KTM’s Justin Brayton rounded out the top five. Other names in the mix include Mike Brown, Eric Sorby, Jeremy McGrath, Sebastien Pourcel, and Blackfoot Yamaha’s JSR. His best rides were a 12th in moto one on Saturday night and an 11th in the second moto on Sunday.
Doug DeHaan returned to the Germany SX series, which kicked off in Stuttgart last weekend. Riding a Meyer Honda CRF450, DeHaan opened the weekend with a solid second-place in his semi behind Bryan Johnson
and went on to finish sixth in the main event. On Saturday night,
DeHaan qualified in fourth, but fell back to 12th in the final. Florent Richier and Jason Thomas traded main event wins. I see Jeff Northrop went 5-6 in Stuttgart on a KTM …
I thought it was interesting to see Suzuki rider Tyler Bright
win the Albany round of the Toyota Arenacross Series. Not because
Bright wasn’t considered a contender, but because he raced a few
Eastern round of the Canadian Nationals in 2006 and never did anything
groundbreaking. But he obviously has some speed and indoor skills.
Bright caught my eye at the Detroit SX last year too, where he finished
fifth in a heat race. The AX series is full of riders who have raced on
Canadian soil right now—Chad Johnson, Keith Johnson, Gray Davenport, Teddy Maier, Tiger Lacey, and Kevin Johnson.
The AMA series swings out west this weekend to Reno, Nevada. So far we’ve had three different winners in just two rounds—Josh Demuth, Chad Johnson and Bright—so it’s basically anyone’s race in Reno. Who will take Round 3? That’s this week’s Machine Racing Poll question to the right.
Simon Homans raced in Albany, but didn’t make the final. His mechanic Pat Cyr says
Simon needs to work on his aggressiveness in the tight confines of AX.
“Those guys in arenacross have big balls,” says Cyr. “They’re jumping
over each other, under each other, across the track—they’re going for
it and Simon’s just not used to it.”
Cyr added that Homans did get aggressive in the LCQ when he tangled
with the leader before going down. Hopefully we see Simon back on the
Toyota AX line again.
In racerxill.com’s Yamaha’s Monday Wake-up Call, I saw that Canadian Brandon Phinney finished third in the 125 Intermediate class.
Dusty Klatt update: “He looks really good and says he feels very comfortable,” said Cernic’s Kawasaki’s team manager, Derek Sorenson. “He has only ridden outdoors so far but tomorrow or Friday we are hoping to get him out to the Kawi test track.”
What did the pros think of the 2008 250 four-strokes? Check out their thoughts here.
The big Albertan Drew Clegg is looking for support in 2008.
“I’m helping my friend Drew "Alberta Beef" Clegg line up his sponsors
for next season,” said Jarrett King in an email. “He is currently
200kms from civilization on his privateer sponsorship program—working
in the oilfield. We still haven’t secured a ride for 2008. If anyone is
looking for a top 10 MX1 rider, please contact me at (780) 933-0612, jarrett@wirelinetools.com, or jarrett_king@hotmail.com.
Drew is a returning two-time Alberta Provincial Champion for 2007.
Check out his stats on his sponsor house profile (currently being
updated):
http://sponsorhouse.loopd.com/Members/DrewClegg/Home.aspx
Clegg made a splash in the western rounds of the MX1 series, most
notably in Calgary and Nanaimo where he ran up front early in the motos
before finishing 18-13 for 16th overall and 9-10 for eighth overall. I
believe OTSFF Suzuki gave him some support in Sand Del Lee and Walton,
with his best moto a 20th in Walton.
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John Pauk and Cole Thompson will be on the line at the Mini O's this weekend. |
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Allison Kennedy photo |
The Mini Olympics Amateur National takes off the line in
Gainesville, Florida this weekend. I scanned the very long list of
entries and only spotted two Canucks—John Pauk and Cole
Thompson—but I’m sure there will be a few more on the track. It's
normally a hot spot for Canadian amateurs. For race results and updates
from the event, go to http://www.unlimitedsportsmx.com/
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RTR Performance KTM's Cory Graffunder warmed up in Chilliwack for the Endurocross in Vegas this weekend. |
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James Lissimore photo |
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And she said, yes! Our ad rep Jay Moore watched his sister, Amy, tie the knot with her long time boyfriend, Pat, in the Dominican Republic a week ago. |
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That's a big fish! |
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Get down from there! |
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The Moore men in DR. |
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