Five Minutes with ... Lorne Pavan
FEBRUARY 4, 2008

Five Minutes with ... Lorne Pavan Presented by BlackfootDirect.com

Over The Bars Club president, Lorne Pavan.

By Danny Brault


What a weekend we had in Lethbridge for the 14th Annual Alberta Arenacross Championships! The track, the racing, the fans, and the riders were all top notch. I personally can’t wait to go back next year. A lot of work goes into a race, obviously, especially one inside an arena with volunteer staff. Fortunately, all of the local race clubs come together to cover the details and put on one heck of an event. Lorne Pavan, the president of the Over The Bars Club, is a big part of the Lethbridge race. He could be found working on the track during the day, and then working the mic at night. I caught up with Lorne following the AX1 final on Saturday night to get his take on this year’s event.


RXC: Lorne, how do you feel things went for the 14th Alberta Arenacross Championships?
Lorne Pavan: I think it went pretty good. The track layout was a bit better this year. It was more pro-oriented; we tried to make the jumps longer, a little wider and better for racing action. It’s great to see Lockhart and Mesley and all of these guys coming back—and Eric Nye too. The word is out that we put on a good event. I’m really happy with the riders and the fan turnout. It’s so cold here and they still come out. This is moto-central in Alberta!

It’s great to see the event going on as long as it has. For a one-off race, you definitely get a great turnout for riders and spectators.
Well, we have around 1,200 riders in Alberta and about 60 percent of them come from Southern Alberta. You get a little bit better weather than the rest of the province, and that works to our advantage. It’s volunteer-based and people just know when they come here it’s going to be an excellent race.

I’ve heard you’re an unsung hero of the arenacross, Lorne. What are your responsibilities with the event?
I’m the track builder, designer, and I bitch everyone out if they’re not doing the right things. Someone has to take charge. When it’s volunteer based, it’s really tough. So I’m a bit of a hardass that way, but the people who know me, understand where I’m coming from. I always go back and apologize to them if I ragged on them. 

Pavan was happy with the track design this year. It allowed for tight racing in all classes.

I heard you’re part of the Over The Bars Club, and they’re a big reason for the success of the arenacross. What is that club all about?
We’re all members of the LMC; it’s a family oriented club. We started out basically as a boys’ club. It turned out that we were always there; we were the ones putting on the events. We started to get a little bit of money built up in our account, and started a club. Our goal is to help other riders. Jason Schrage, he rode Last Man Standing, and he went to Chili and New York, he’s sponsored by our club. We turned him $1,500 from our earnings from our events and spread it out over the year.

How important is it to the event to have guys like Lockhart, Mesley, Nye, and Montes to fly in to race?
The fans, we have a lot of repeat fans, and when the pros aren’t there—we only have four guys in a qualifer or something like that—it’s not good for entertainment. Tonight, I think we had full gates in all the qualifiers for AX1 and AX2. It was awesome, unbelievable racing!

That final AX1 main event was definitely the best race of the weekend. It was great to see the local kid, George De Graaf Jr., leading.
Oh, yeah! The local guy! I think he got a little ragged at the end there; the pressure from everybody else, Montes and Nye, got to him. But he’s a rookie and he’s got to learn.

Any amateurs catch your attention this weekend?
Sure, Ryan Millar did. That’s the third year he’s been out here with us. There were a couple of guys from California. This year Matt Parker turned it up a bit. He won the intermediate class, so we’re looking for him to come back. Every year they’ve been here, they’ve brought different riders.

I know I had a great time in Lethbridge, Lorne! You guys are blessed with a great, supportive motocross community.
And everyone knows how to have fun here. You know, with the after parties, that’s a part of it. It’s about the camaraderie and everyone getting along. The bike shops in town get along great and that helps out. We’re all friends in town here.

You sure are. Thanks a lot, Lorne. We’ll see you in Raymond!
Thanks for coming out, Danny.