Frid'Eh Update:Presented by Royal Distributing
JANUARY 18, 2008

Toss in your Cyndi Lauper cassette, grow out your mullet, and grab your Ray Bans, because it’s 80’s night tomorrow at Anaheim 2!

I’ve heard good and bad comments from everyone regarding Retro Night, but personally, I like the idea. It’s a cool novelty, and I really wish I could be there in person to see the custom bikes, gear, and the 1986 Anaheim-inspired track. I don’t think TV will truly do it justice. Looking at the track map, the layout actually looks pretty interesting and I think it’s going to promote some good racing.

Do you remember the 1986 Anaheim Supercross? I don’t either, but thanks to Toronto’s Justin MacDonald we can watch the action here.

You can also check out this sweet Racer X Films redux of the 1986 race here.

Kyle Beaton will make his AMA Supercross debut at Anaheim 2 this weekend.

James Lissimore photo

As most of us know, our very own Kyle Beaton will race his first Monster Energy AMA Supercross tomorrow. Beaton, fresh off his Open and Lites Toyota Yamaha Canada Nex-Trax Arenacross Championships, made his way down to SoCal on Monday to start preparing for A2. Our roaming photographer, James Lissimore, tagged along and he told us that Beets is riding very well on the SX practice tracks and says that Beaton will surprise some people this weekend. Let’s hope so!

It’s been a long journey for Beaton to supercross. He’s went back and forth with the AMA on his credentials for over a year, but they’ve finally come to their senses and realized that this kid deserves a spot in the lineup. A big hand goes out to MXforum members who sent cheques to support Beaton’s SX efforts!


Actually Lissimore just checked in with this update about his journey south with Beaton and the crew:

We made it down on Monday evening to the Wilson's house. Dean had mentioned a guy he knew who had a supercross track nearby so on Tuesday morning we went to check it out, it was actually really good. DV and Eric Sorby originally built it and it's only 10 minutes from where we're staying so it's great. Kyle was the only one there on Tuesday which was nice since he hadn't ridden SX in a while. It was nice for him to be able to ease back into it without a lot of pressure. Kyle has been ripping so far, he looked comfortable after a few laps and really looks ready.

Beaton got in some SX practice this week and will break in his race bike today.

James Lissmore photo

Brady Sheren is getting closer to making the main.

James Lissimore photo

 

 
Thursday we again met up with Brady and Newf and headed up to Competetive Edge to ride their SX track. It was freezing up there in the high desert! Nor-Cal met us there so there was a lot of Canadian content circling the track. That guy is always good for a laugh. Joe Oehlhof was also there and Ryan knows him so they started talking and somehow Ryan is now going to be his mechanic/manfriend for the weekend. That should be interesting/funny to see.

Jeff 'Norcal' Northrop met up with the Canadian contingent this week too.

James Lissimore photo

Newf works on his landscaping skills...

James Lissimore photo

Beaton is running his old school #134 and these custom MXforum graphics, in honour of all the support the forum has given him.

James Lissimore photo

 

Afterwards we went back to Sean Hamblin's house where Brady and Newf are staying and Ryan showed us the weedeating skills he's going to use for his new landscaping career. I don't think he realizes that you're supposed to use it on the grass and not the cement. Today, Kyle's going to break in his race bike and finish his preparations for the big day on Saturday.

Thanks Jkliss. Can’t wait to see how A2 pans out …

The Lites class will be broadcast next Saturday on Speed @ 6 PM, but if you can’t wait that long, you can keep track of the action using SupercrossLive! and AMA @ The Wire for live results and lap times. As usual, though, the Supercross class hits the tube Sunday @ 6 PM on Speed.

Oh, and don’t forget to tune into Speed tomorrow at 6 PM for Lites racing from Phoenix. Judging by race reports and interviews, it was one heck of a race! Cheers to Torco Oils Honda’s Jake Weimer on his first AMA SX win.

A couple of notes from Phoenix before we move on …

Troy Lee Designs Honda’s Gavin Gracyk had a tough weekend, not transferring to the final after finishing an impressive seventh at A1. From what I’ve read, Gracyk was running in the final transfer position in the LCQ but went down and just missed out. Obviously, Gracyk is going through a difficult time following the passing of his father, Gary, last Monday, and the kid deserves credit for even being at the race. Here’s hoping this weekend is a return to A1 for Gavin.

Cycra/Roland Sands Honda’s Michael Willard also didn’t make the Lites main event, but he did walk away with the Racer X Gas Card for finishing fifth in the LCQ.

The lone Canadian soldier, Brady Sheren, was just a second off qualifying time for the night show. The Fun Center Suzuki rider has his buddy, Ryan Lockhart, keeping him company now, so hopefully Newf can give him a little kick in the butt to turn it up a notch. Sheren has the skills for supercross; it’s just a matter of being aggressive and “wanting it.”

2007 Canadian champ Paul Carpenter is the top 450 privateer after two rounds.

Simon Cudby photo

 

Hats off to Atomic Racing Honda’s Paul Carpenter (our 2007 Canadian champ) who is the top privateer in the 450 class after two rounds. Carpenter finished 12th in Phoenix and now sits 13th in the series, but he’s tied in points with Vuillemin and Wey and is two points behind Grant Langston in 10th.

Cernic’s Kawasaki’s Jeff Gibson took the final spot in the LCQ to advance to the Supercross main event. Unfortunately, Gibson was punted over the tuff blocks in the first corner and fell back to 19th. I was chatting with his injured teammate, Dusty Klatt, this week and he offered me this sarcastic—but very understandable response—when I asked him how he’s feeling. “I’m doing great! I’m at the races watching, instead of racing.” We should see him back by the Houston round.

Jeff “Norcal” Northrop recorded another 12th place finish in the Lites main event, and is tied for 10th in points with Michael Lapaglia. I tried to reach Norcal for a few comments yesterday, but apparently he doesn’t answer my messages. I thought we were buddies, Jeff?

How about those wickedly awesome audio interviews (I can’t call them Podcasts because, well, they aren’t quite downloadable yet) with Steve Matthes? This week, “The Matthes” checked in with Weege and who else? “The Dogger” himself, Ronnie Lechien. You can’t miss this candid interview with one of the most, if not the most, talented riders ever.

A cool video of Suzuki OTSFF’s Tyler Medaglia was posted this week on MXForum and www.racerxcanada.com. It’s mixed clips from Medaglia’s time training for supercross at the Georgia Practice Facility, produced by Jesse Hoagland. Below is a higher res version of the film:

Medaglia is keeping up his regimen of riding and training at GPF, where his younger brother and teammate, Jeremy, joined him after New Year’s. Tyler is getting anxious for the first round of the East Coast series in Atlanta. “I’m feeling pretty good; my speed is getting better all the time and we just changed my suspension settings, which has helped me get through the whoops a lot better.”

Colton Facciotti will lineup at the Daytona SX to keep his supercross eligibility for '09.

James Lissimore photo

 

Another rider we may see racing select East Coast SX rounds is Team Toyota Yamaha/BlackfootDirect.com/Fox Racing’s Colton Facciotti.

“The plan is to have Colton do the Daytona SX,” says BF’s team manager, Dean Thompson. “ We need to stay eligible for SX in 2009 and for that to happen he needs to qualify for a night program (not main) once this season and Toronto does not count.  We figure he has a better chance in Daytona than any other round as it is more outdoors style and they include more riders in the night show.  We do not want him to be injured so once he makes one night show that’s it for 2008.  Just to keep the doors open for next year and in order to do what he needs to do to remain eligible.”
 
Thompson also added that Facciotti and JSR are in Florida right now testing with Andrew McLean and Joe Skidd.  

“We spent a week on the dyno before Christmas working on engine configurations and we have numerous options for this summer available to suit each rider this summer.  We are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were last year! Our main focus is the outdoors in Canada and we plan on being 110 percent prepared for Ste-Julie on May 25th!”

Oh, and Thompson finally broke the news that they’ve hired on 2006 Women’s National champ, Jolene Van Vugt. While Jolene will remain on Suzuki’s, she will wear Fox gear, run Dr. D pipes, and be supported by many of the other team’s sponsors.

I’m glad to hear things are going well for Blackfoot. After the up and down season they had last year, they’re due for some better luck.
 
JSR raced the Dortmund SX last weekend, alongside fellow Canuck, Doug DeHaan, but from what DeHaan tells us, it was a weekend The King would rather forget. He supplied us with this update on his results:
 
“Coming into the weekend I hadn't been riding in over a month,” begins DeHaan. “The last race I did was on December 1st. So the Friday night of the three-day event started a little rough. I had to go to the LCQ but got the holeshot and won. I got a second place start in the main but it was then red flagged (Rodrig Thain crashed). On the restart I didn't come out quite as good. I got up to third at one point before falling back to 6th.

“Saturday I came out and won my first heat. The rest of the night didn't go that well after me and another rider came together and took us both out.
Sunday things got better; I had decent starts and finished a close fourth in the main. Joaquim Rodrigues just got by me and then there was another red flag (Rodrig Thain crash #2). So I finished up the weekend in 7th overall.”

That’s a nice ride for Dougie D as Dortmund is probably the biggest and most prestigious event of the German season.
 

Kyle Stephens was named Rider of the Year at the Ontario Provincial Championship banquet.

Dan Stenning photo

Steve Emery was named Sportsman of the Year.

Dan Stenning photo

Gopher Dunes picked up Track of the Year honours.

Dan Stenning photo

 

The CMRC Ontario Provincial Banquet went off at Zeke’s Restaurant on Saturday. Before the dinner and awards, however, us “old” Industry folk laid a beating to the Riders in a hockey game. I wasn’t too impressed with the stamina of the riders, it sure doesn’t bode well for the future of Ontario motocross—they should have been skating circles around us computer jockeys! Just messing with you guys. Really, how can you compete when we had Rob “I can do 14,000 push-ups in an hour and climb Mount Everest with my bare hands” McCullough on our side. Machine Racing Honda’s Chuck Mesley squared off with me in the final period. He got in a few lucky shots, but I feel I won the fight.

The dinner and awards went well, with Gopher Dunes collecting their umpteenth Track of the Year honours, Edge Performance Kawasaki’s Kyle Stephens was voted as Rider of the Year, and Steve Emery earned Sportsman of the Year for his efforts with Tom Bitz’s Auburn Hills track. Congrats to everyone who collected a trophy, and thanks to all those who came out for some bench racing and laughs! Ontario has a lot of great riders coming up through the ranks and I look forward to seeing them back on the track in `08.

It looks like Alberta transplant, Dean Wilson, is on the pipe. Check out this link. Team Green’s Wilson swept all three intermediate classes at the CMC Golden State race. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m very excited to see this kid race a Canadian National!

Dailey's new neighbourhood.

 

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to give an update on our general manager, Brett Dailey, but here is a note and some photos from our buddy in New Zealand:

Hello everyone,

We made it safe and sound but it sure was hectic getting everything ready at
the last minute. The flight was 14 hours from Vancouver to Auckland and then
we missed our connection to Dunedin because it took us so long to get all of
our bags and clear security. Fortunately we didn't have to deal with
immigration as we received all of our paperwork just before we left Canada.
The kids managed the various flights very well but I don't think they want
to do that again for a while.

When we arrived in Dunedin, we took a shuttle into town and the university
put us in a very nice townhouse for a week. We rented a car right away and,
although it took a little while to get used to driving on the other side,
you seem to adapt in a day. We've done a lot of driving over the past two
days and we're surprised how mountainous it is and how narrow and windy
(curvy) some of the roads are outside of the city.

The Dunedin vegetation is a lot like California which surprises us. Of
course it's summer here now so the weather is fantastic and I'm sure we're a
bit spoiled already. The beaches are fantastic. St. Clair beach has a lot to
offer from shops and cafes, parks, surfing and a heated salt water pool
right on the ocean. We also found a secluded beach that Erin likes the best
because she can run along the sand like ... surprise, surprise ... a wild
horse.

The WR450 is street legal here and I already saw one on the road!

That's it for now. Lisa starts work today believe it or not.

If you weren't sure about visiting New Zealand yet, this should seal the
deal. Strange how it appears to be a pairing of McDivitt and the Rollerball.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOohBytKTU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbbxA8a_M_s&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR2L98gobTQ&feature=related

All the best!
Love the Doyleys

I was speaking with Brett yesterday and he’s already looking into purchasing a KTM 530 E-XC, as he can ride on both the street and track. And don’t expect Dailey to forget his country or the sport. He’s still helping out with the website and we’ll see him passing along more editorial content shortly. We miss you good buddy!

Our culture queen, Dawn McClintock, has made friends in all corners of the world after attending the last two Motocross des Nations and maintains contact with pretty much all of them. Here is a funny little video her Swedish photographer buddy, Magnus Andersson, sent along:

Jonas Wing invited Magnus over for some pit bike fun. What a dork!
This is what ended up happening when their flight got cancelled for the Southern France GP.

http://www.jonaswing.se/movie/kinna.mov

Also best wishes go out to KTM Canada’s Mason Phillips. Mason, and his new wife, Hayley, got married in New Zealand last Saturday. Mason will be back in Canada this summer, racing the new coast to coast 250F series for KTM.

Canada now has three amateur national championships in place next year. Along with the Western Amateur National in Raymond, and the Walton TransCan, the crew over at MX101 will be hosting the Eastern Amateur National Championships at their beautiful Sand Del lee facility.

I’m on the road to the Dayton, Ohio Toyota AMA Arenacross today, along with Machine Racing Honda’s Kyle Keast, his mechanic, Johnny Silegren, and their two better halves, Kortney and Eerika. It’s Keast’s third AMA AX this winter; he’s already scored a fourth and sixth in the Lites in Rochester and Grand Rapids. With that momentum, he will easily top the podium in Ohio. Just kidding. But he better jump that damn catapult jump within 14 laps!

Well, that’s all for this week, folks. Thanks for reading!