APRIL 21, 2008
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Marty Halmazna and Shane Cuthbertson (middle two) are racing the Erzberg Rodeo this May. |
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photo: George Halmazna |
Alberta’s Shane Cuthbertson is taking a new direction—and riding a new bike—in 2008. Normally, Cuthbertson’s focus is on racing Canadian regional and national events, but after finishing sixth-place at the Red Bull Last Man Standing, he’s making a bigger effort to attend international extreme events like Romaniacs and the Erzberg Rodeo. We caught up with Cuthbertson for this edition of My Take, to see what his plans are for this summer, his new ride, and what he does to pay the bills….
Your new ride
The new ride is a joint venture between some Alberta off-road enthusiasts. Lee Fryberger and a couple of buddies I’ve known for quite a while ride Husaberg’s. They came up with the idea to put together a team to focus a Canadian effort on these international events and help promote the Canadian off-road scene. I said, sure, I’ll go for something like that! So we came up with the ‘Bergs, and that was our first major switch going over to that brand. We got some wicked support from the guys in the U.S., and, in Europe, they are just awesome to deal with and are providing us with bikes for a couple of events over there. So far it’s been really good, and we have some private sponsors to help out too.
Biggest off-road accomplishment
Recently, probably my sixth-place finish at the Red Bull Last Man Standing. Over the years, my five or six titles that I’ve won here in the pro class stand out too. Also, I’ve enjoyed my Six Days events; they were silver medals, though, not the gold medals that I wanted [laughs].
Best motocross race you’ve been in
There’s not a whole lot to choose from [laughs], so I’d have to say last year’s Raymond Amateur National. That’s pretty much the only one I’ve competed in and finished without crashing out of it. The only other motocross race I entered was the qualifier at Raymond last year, but I knocked myself out when I augured into a hill [laughs]. Raymond was a lot of fun; it was neat to see and that race is big so it was an eye opener.
Greatest off-road rider of all time
One is Giovanni Sala from Italy. He doesn’t race much anymore but he was really good in his time, he’s still around, and is just a cool guy. He is the guy who rode Kevin Cockane’s bike up the hill in Parry Sound last year! Juha Salminen is another guy I look up to. Blair Sharpless, too, as he was the first Canadian off-road hero and someone I idolized growing up. Sala is just cool and Salminen is probably the most gifted off-road rider of all time. I rode with him at the New Zealand ISDE and he makes thing look way too easy.
Toughest event you’ve competed in
I would have to say Last Man Standing. It’s fresh in my memory and I remember carrying my bike and doing bike launchings everywhere. There were some races back in the day in Alberta that were horrible, but it was probably a combination of my skill level and youth. But LMS is a very challenging event.
Craziest Canadian
Guy Giroux comes to mind; he seems really crazy but I don’t know him that well. Andy Bell is pretty crazy! I like that Nitro Circus crew; they’re pretty cool. They are supposed to be at Erzberg this year, so hopefully I get to see some of the craziness going on.
Your job
Basically, I’m an office guy. I’m a welding engineering technologist by trade. What I do is I contract out to large oil and gas engineering companies and coordinate all of their inspectors to look at the equipment that they are buying.
Your family
I have two boys. My oldest boy, Chase, is five, and my youngest boy, Cale, just turned two. They definitely have their dad’s racing passion; it’s about winning, winning, winning. My oldest is on a PW50, sporting the training wheels, and he likes ripping around the backyard. My wife, Charla, has never really been into it, but she really wants a quad so she can hangout with the kids and go riding.
World Enduro in Canada
I think it was big for the sport in general. The organizers did a fabulous job putting on that event. I think it really boosted the momentum in Canada. There are a handful of riders right now doing international events and getting us good exposure. The sport of off-road is definitely on the rise. I’m trying to accomplish that myself, so the younger guys coming up through the ranks can make their mark. I think once we get a national series in Canada, it will allow us to up our pace and help us compete on the world stage.
Training secret
Not really [laughs]. I just try to keep myself healthy. I would like to ride, ride, ride, but life gets in the way of that. I keep pretty busy chasing my kids around and do my best to fit cardio, riding, and injury rehab into my schedule. I also like to maintain a healthy diet of pizza and beer [laughs].
Best road trip
Road trips are always so much fun! For road trips, I would have to say the Washougal motocross national in 1994 with Julian Cerny and my buddy “Spodey.” Some standout memories include: listening to Metallica so loud for 20 hours straight that Julian went on strike and thought we damaged his ear drums permanently; taking aggressive driving lessons from Julian and Spodey and then scaring the crap out of them during a close call with a street bike; being witness to the sickest looking body part I have ever seen. During the previous weekend, we had a big party after a race that ended up with fire walking, jumping, and Julian diving into fire to save a fifty-cent hat he won. Needless to say, he burnt the hell out of his arm. We met to go to Washougal the next week and his arm was full of puss. Of course, he did not bandage it and then wore a green sweater, which left an absurd amount of green fuzzies impregnated in the wound. It was gross! It was also my first experience drinking cheap American beer. Who knew you could drink a flat and barely have a buzz? It caused me some stomach issues that night. The smell of race fuel lofting in the air; the roar of 500 cc two-strokes; Emig and Larocco at their prime; the sweetest MX track ever made; another interesting trip home in a single cab truck with three grown men after a weekend of partying and hanging out in the dirt; Metallica blaring on the stereo and a run in with an off-duty police officer during some nifty driving through Idaho. That's another story maybe Spodey can share!
2008 plans
I thought I would try more extreme events this year. I’ve been chasing the ISDE and World Enduro events, and obviously I raced lots of local events. From doing a couple of the world competition events, it is so frustrating, because those guys are so good at the ISDE-type sprint special tests. We get our butts kicked and it sucks because it takes so much to get up to their level. I did Last Man Standing last year, and it’s more like our everyday riding we do around here. I figured let’s do some more of these marquee events and see what I can do.
