MARCH 12, 2008
Chuck Mesley in his "factory" race shop.
By Danny Brault
Photos by Allison Kennedy
It’s been a long winter for Chuck Mesley. Other than playing Senior ‘A’ hockey in Stayner, Ontario, and sneaking out to Lethbridge, Alberta for an arenacross, things have been quiet for Mesley. Now it’s March and “The Mez” still doesn’t have anything nailed down for the Provincials or Nationals. While Machine Racing and John Nelson normally come through for Mesley, they just don’t have the resources this year. Hopefully, something or someone comes through, because it wouldn’t feel right not having Mesley’s personality at the races. We check in with The Mez to get his take on everything from mud races to his job to the best bike he’s ever ridden.
Your job
Right now, I’m working 60-hours a week iron working. I work ten hours on Friday and Saturday. I’m a full journeyman. My dad is the superintendent for the company I work for. I’m not sure what I’m doing this summer, but I will probably take some time off. I’m trying to work as much as I can right now, so I can afford to take time off. I don’t think I’ll be able to afford to run the whole national series, now that the transponders cost $240 that takes up some of my gas money [laughs].
Canadian winters
They’re terrible. Can I say shitty? I get to play hockey, but it didn’t really keep me in too good of shape this year. You need to ride. If you want to be competitive, you need to ride. If you’re not riding the whole year, you’re just playing catch up. Then, you get up to speed and crash because you’re just not strong enough.
Mud races
I find them difficult especially if you have to ride a 30-minute moto in it. Daytona was definitely one of the worst, but it looked like the bikes were half ass light because it was raining so hard. But it was definitely one of the worst ones I’ve ever seen.
Being a father
It’s hard [laughs]! It’s fun though. She [Kayli] loves racing and wants to come with me every weekend. It can be hard if I don’t have someone to help me out, when I’m racing or going training. She loves the races and I love bringing her; hopefully she’ll want to ride one day.
Toronto supercross
I’m not racing; I’m not in good enough shape right now. I haven’t been on the bike enough. I would have liked to go down south, but a couple of my buddies backed out on me [laughs]. [Ed note: That’s a dig at me. Sorry for backing out, Chuck.] But I can’t afford the time off work to go and do what I want to do. I don’t want to come up short or get hurt. You can’t go in at 75 percent.
Not having a ride this year
John [Nelson] keeps calling me, saying ‘What are we doing this year?’ and I say, ‘Well, what are we doing?’ Hopefully I can get some bikes. I want to do all the Eastern rounds and maybe the first two out West. I can’t afford to go to Nanaimo. I did that last year, but I have a couple of more bills this year. There’s no money this year. Even five years ago, you could get start money and go racing. The industry is hurting this year and it’s cut back on a lot of people not getting rides. There’s people way in front me, like [Simon] Homans and [Kyle] Beaton, who have proved themselves more. I’ve put my bike up front, on the podium, but not every weekend which guarantees you a ride. No one wants a fifth place every weekend; they want to see it on the podium. But with me, there’s always something, like I shouldn’t have tried that jump or done this or that.
Best bike you’ve ridden
I’ve only raced Hondas, and then KTM one year and Yamaha one year. But I would have to go with my CR250, two-stroke. That thing was awesome! I think it was `03, I was number 13, and that bike was unreal. I wasn’t scared to come right of a corner and jump anything. Now it’s just easy to ride a 450; you don’t need to commit to a rut or come through a rut perfect. They make everything a little easier.
JSR retiring
I can see him still coming to a few rounds, and doing well. He’s fast and he’s always been fast. I didn’t see it coming, but everyone knows it’s a sport that is hard on your body. He’s had a long road. I can’t see him giving it right up; he wants to be the King of Walton [laughs]. He can go ride Plus 30 all week and get a whole bunch of laps on the track! It helps all the intermediate kids who race the national there.
First pro national
Ste-Julie. I was #942 on a Honda CR125. The track was identical. I think they added a couple of corners. I crashed in the first moto [laughs] and bruised my lung and broke my hand. I came into the corner, right off the start, into a triple-double and a guy whiskey throttled into me. It wasn’t good; I spent two days in the hospital.
Or, no, wait—that wasn’t my first national! Ulverton was my very first pro national because that was the year I rode intermediate. Walton wasn’t the last round that year, Ulverton was. I went 15-14 for 13th overall. I was running top-10 in both motos, but got taken out in one and crashed in the other. That was in `96. Ste-Julie was the first year I rode pro.
AMA Nationals
I qualified at Binghamton a few times and at Mount Morris. Some were 125 and some were 250. I tried qualifying at Steel City, but I crashed in the first corner; it was the first U.S. national where I didn’t make it. I didn’t have great finishes, because I wasn’t 100 percent in shape. I just loved racing with all of the fast guys. I just wanted to see if I was fast enough to compete. Everyone knows the fastest guys in the world are the AMA guys. We watched one year when I was on 80s, and I rode intermediate at Loretta’s that year, and then turned pro and raced it my first year pro.
Riding Style
My riding style? I’m either out front or on the ground [laughs]. And I think I’ve been on the ground more than out front lately! I need to sometimes go slower to go faster, but I like to hang it out. I’m there for the fans; it’s fun.
