Frid'Eh Update:Presented by Royal Distributing
MAY 31, 2008

By Danny Brault

One round in and I’m already looking forward to the two-week break between Gopher Dunes and Shadow Valley. It’s not that I didn’t have a great time in Quebec, but we (RXC and Destroyer Films) may have bit off more than we can chew. But who cares—we love motocross and we’re having the time of our lives!

While the idea of the Moto Show seemed pretty flawless in my mind (shoot dirt bikes going around a track, toss in some interviews, add an intro, and toss it online), it was anything but. We had quite a few setbacks in production, but we finally got it dialed in. Even my computer illiterate mom, Josie, helped out by uploading the Ste-Julie Show as we made our way to the RXC/Roost Clothing Ride Day. Thanks, ma!

If you haven’t had a chance to watch our Moto Show yet, please click here. We’re pretty happy with the end result, although Stenning and I have been pretty hard on ourselves for our nervous hosting debut, but wait until you see the Gopher Dunes Show. It’s going to be a goody! As we noted in the show, we couldn’t do this without the support of RG3 Canada, OTSFF Motorsports, SixSixOne Canada, and Monster Energy—and the ultra talented Destroyer Films trio of Cody, Chris and Chuck. Thanks, guys. Check back to the site following each national for future episodes. If all goes well, the next eight shows should be online much earlier.

Why does everyone think Gopher Dunes is such a tough track? Look how smooth it is!

photo: Digger

So what happened in Ste-Julie other than the obvious (Facciotti sweeping MX1, and a great five-way battle in MX2)? Well, I made a few “observations.”

I’m sure everyone is wondering, what the heck is up with Suzuki/OTSFF/Rockstar’s Mitch Cooke? Unfortunately, I’m still asking the same question. I tried calling Mitch every day this week, but as most people know, the Cookester doesn’t pick up the phone too often, especially when he barely cracks the top-20. I heard that Cooke looked depressed right from the get-go on Friday night and didn’t seem too “pumped” to race. I’m sure he’s still mourning the loss of his two buddies that passed away two weeks ago when their boat overturned while fishing, so it’s understandable if he’s not in the mood for dirt bikes. Whatever the reason, we hope the real Mitch Cooke returns this Sunday and shows us his skills in the Dunes.

I thought it was pretty cool to see privateers Pierce Chamberlain and Jason Burke up front in MX1. Chamberlain, who bought a KX450F from Sturgess Cycle in Hamilton, had great starts in both motos and rode in the top-10 for half of each moto. He admitted he wasn’t in race shape because of limited seat time, and pumped up a little. He went 12-12 for 12th overall, and was looking forward to Gopher Dunes. I say "was" because, this Wednesday, at our Ride Day, Chamberlain’s Kawi made some funny noises and then came to an abrupt stop. Will the #15 make it out to Gopher? We’ll find out tomorrow.

Label It’s Jay Burke surprised a few people with probably his best-ever national ride. “The Hamilton Hooligan” didn’t have the best starts in either moto, but worked his butt off every lap, battling with Morgan, Dubé, Keast, Homans, and O’Farrell to finish 9-7 for seventh overall. His boss, Rob McCullough, told me Burke even made it into work at 6 AM on Monday after driving all night. That’s some work ethic, but hopefully he’s taken some time to rest up and recover for the big Dunes war this weekend.

Local heroes: The locals are always fast in Quebec; I suppose that’s true for any national. Nonetheless, Kaven Benoit and Marc-Antoine Genereux made their hometown crowd proud, going 5-6 in the first MX2 moto. In the second moto, the Honda mounted Genereux grabbed the top honour with a seventh, while Benoit finished right behind in eighth.

Kaven Benoit had a great day in Ste-Julie.

photo: James Lissimore

Oh, and how can we forget Marco Dubé and Simon Homans in MX1. The two-time Canadian champ, Dubé, shot out of the gate in moto 1 with a great start and was riding in third-place until he went cartwheeling over a triple jump. He got back up, however, finished and then came out in the second moto to finish sixth.

Simon Homans was riding well in the first moto until his bike died on the last lap. Simon says never give up though, and he came out swinging in the second moto for eighth ahead of Kyle Keast. It would be nice to see Homans finish well at Gopher so he has some motivation to drive out west. Did you know that Homans bought his own bikes this year? Did you also know that he won two motos and an overall last year and earned national number 6?

Peaked up jumps and flat landings—they were everywhere on the Ste-Julie track. I know this because several riders made complaints about the odd style of jumps and I rode the track in Sunday morning practice for the Sturgess Cycle National Track Tour. I heard that CMRC’s race director, Brett Lee, asked the Ste-Julie promoters to make some adjustments, but it fell on deaf ears. Regardless of the hard landings, the track was in great shape; the dirt was full of moisture, multiple ruts built up in the corners, and the track always has a nice, natural flow to it.

I think Ste-Julie is the perfect place for the opening round of the series (other than the normally high rate of stolen trucks, vans and bikes). Ste-Julie has great fan attendance and it’s close to an airport and amenities, but I heard from a few sources that this year’s national could be the last. Apparently, some of the neighbours don’t enjoy loud noises and have been vocal enough to catch the municipality’s attention. Where could we go in Quebec instead Ste-Julie? My vote goes to either Deschambault or Ulverton.

Double classing. I got into a debate with Davey Fraser and his father, big Dave, at the Sackville AX a month ago, on whether double classing is a good idea or not. I believe it’s not a good idea, but they ignored my advice and went for all four motos in Ste-Julie. How did Davey finish? 18-DNS-17-DNF. Sorry for being  hard on you Daves, but, in my opinion, you need to focus on one class only. And I like Davey and want to see him do well. This isn’t 1986, however, and you’re not the Rollerball. From what Label It’s team manager Brad Coles tells me, Davey is only racing two 30-minute motos this weekend. Good idea.

Oh yeah, and I finally checked the results and found out who the mystery man on the #243 Honda was in MX1: Matt Eastman. Never heard of this fellow, but he held his own in third place in the first moto for quite some time, before finishing seventh ahead of Liam O’Farrell. Speaking of the South African, O’Farrell, learn more about him here.

It was good to see FXR Honda’s Kevin Urquhart in Ste-Julie after being involved in a scary car crash. Urquhart was exhausted after the first moto and barely had enough energy to walk over and say hello to me, but after missing two weeks of riding because of his car accident and suffering a broken femur in SX, I understand. He went 19-20 for the day.

Your thoughts ...

Okay, I have to get into some other topics here before it’s midnight!

For full details from Ste-Julie, check out this Race Report and our Moto Show. Full results can be found here.

Off-road crusader, Lawrence Hacking, has a new website up and running. What’s it called? Lawrencehacking.com.

This has absolutely nothing to do with motocross, but guess what I did on Thursday? I went to the Ricky, Bubbles, and Julian Variety Show at the Memorial Centre in Peterborough (home of the Peterborough Petes!). The stars of the Trailer Park Boys put on one heck of a show in my hometown, and I got to be a part of it. That’s right, I was called up by Julian to take part in Ricky’s hypnotizing skit. I shook Julian’s hand and even tickled Bubbles belly. My life is now complete and everything else is now a bonus. Check out photos from the event here. You can spot me behind Bubbles in one of them.

Let’s turn it over to my good buddy, Steve Matthes….

Thanks, Danny and I'm glad your life is now complete with the TPB experience. Well I was in Glen Helen this past weekend and by the time you guys read this, I will be on the way to Sacramento for the second round of the AMA nationals. This past weekend was a bonus, really, as the crowd got to see three races. The Lites class, the Motocross class and the James Stewart class! I say this because the seven was in a class by himself out there and proved to all the doubters (me) that his surgically repaired knee was well … repaired.  Just a great ride and it's going to be a long season for the rest of the class unless Tim Ferry can get up there and challenge Stewie. (A man can dream can't he?)
 
The Lites class was, as usual, the real excitement of the day. Monster Energy Pro Circuit's Austin Stroupe-Daddy won his first career 250F national. He was on it for sure. Lost in the excitement was a great ride by Brett Metcalfe who would've had the overall had it not been for a couple of late race passes by Stroupe. Judging by the unhappiness by Brett after each race, I'd say he knows that he was really close to the win. I think he's been really close for a while now and will get one this year. Some other notes for you readers….
 
Atomic Racing's Paul Carpenter went down hard in the second moto and will miss a week, maybe two with a leg contusion. The defending Canadian champion barely qualified at Glen Helen, partly because of the deep field and partly because he was in the tougher practice.
 
YoT's Zach Osbourne broke his arm in the first moto and will be out for a while. Too bad for him, he hasn't had a lot of luck this past couple of years.
 
KTM's Ryan Sipes' name won't show up real high in the scores but he actually rode very well. He was up front in the first moto and went down about halfway. In the second moto, he was also doing well before something happened to him. Look for him to be a sleeper this weekend at Hangtown.
 
Two factory Hondas DNF'd!! When was the last time that happened? I don't know, but it's been a while for sure. Andrew Short broke a shifter off and then, to make it worse, the shift shaft itself was bent and he had to call it a day. Ben Townley's bike just came to a stop early in moto 2 and although I wrote in Observations that it was a transmission, I got a call from someone at Honda that told me it wasn't. Of course they wouldn't tell me what it was, but insisted it wasn't a tranny. Whatever….
 
My buddy Eric Sorby went down hard and was knocked out for 3-4 minutes in the second moto. Eric is going to miss the next three races so that means that his outdoor season is done as he was a fill in for Gavin Gracyk anyways. Eric will go back to his regular testing job with the team once healthy. When I say "my buddy,” it's true. He and I have made up and we are AIM buddies once again! So I just have Hansen who hates me, and strangely enough, I'm okay with that.
 
How cool is Kawasaki? They hired Travis Preston for Supercross and when it was over, so was their commitment to him. But Kawi gave TP two bikes, one with almost works suspension and Ti bolts, and said, “Keep riding, we might need you again and maybe the X games in July.” As TP told me, "I was with Honda for like 6 years, won a championship for them and couldn't even get a stock bike to practice on."
 
As you read in Observations, the new Indiana Jones movie basically sucked huge donkey balls. It was very depressing to me and I'm trying to move on. The good thing is I got a bunch of letters from readers telling me the same thing so that just reinforces that it was no good. Here is a letter I got from a reader that made me laugh:
 
I think that you are being a little bit rough on the new Indiana Jones movie. I thought that it was a great movie and it wasn't far fetched at all. It is perfectly reasonable to assume that a man could survive a nuclear blast by hiding in a refrigerator. Didn't you see that it was "Lead Lined?" You really missed the point on this one man.

The monkeys teaching the guy how to swing on the vines, was symbolic of a societal de-evolution, in that we now look to the monkeys to teach us, rather than the other way around. The monkeys also could symbolize a society, culture or race of people that we ignorant Americans look down upon. Yet, we are taught something by the people of these cultures, but our arrogance will not allow us to seek help until times of desperation.

I could go on, but you are obviously a narrow minded racist who does not appreciate the greatest piece of cinemagic that we are likely to see for years to come. Mark my words; this movie will be mentioned with masterpieces like Whose Your Caddy?, Astronaut Farmer, and Glitter when historians look back on this era of cinema.
 
Russel Hart 
 
Thanks, Steve. I’m actually surprised you sent me some notes, after our little tiff last night. What happened between good buddies Dan and Steve, you ask? Well, I’ve been showing Steve how to post new stories on the site, but he normally has me review them prior to them going live. Last night, however, after he conducted a great interview with Tyler Medaglia, the funny guy went for it, created his own 5 mins with and made it live. I appreciate the thought and help, but there were more mistakes than a homeschool spelling contest. Steve took the whole thing to heart and thinks I hate him now. I don’t, of course, and look forward to returning to his home in October for the US Open and playing with Buddy, Hank and Fred Spencer.

The Erzberg Rodeo kicked off in Austria last week with some Canadians in the mix. Husaberg’s Shane Cuthbertson was supposed to race this tough guy event but a broken ankle put him on the sidelines. He found a replacement, however, in Jarod Thomas and he sent along this race report:

Mission Accomplished!  That’s right; Jarod Thomas put his Husaberg FE450 to the ultimate test and conquered the ‘Iron Giant!’  Not bad for a guy who had just 10 days of preparation following an injury sustained by me.  Even better, is the fact that he placed 39th out of the1500 competitors attending the world famous Erzbergrodeo!

The course was by far the most difficult in the fourteen-year event history.  The organizer's main objective was to have no more than five racers see the checkered flag.  Words cannot describe the intensity of the marquee sections designed to eliminate the competitors.  Nasty uphills, then downhills, then sidehills, and then rocks…  Make that BOULDERS!  Everywhere!!

The "Iron Giant" in Erzberg was scaled by a few Canadians this year.

photo: Shane Cuthbertson

The Corner Grass Racing Team (CGRT) was in full force in support of ‘The Replacement.’  Lee Fryberger and Richard Cox had the bike primed for imminent torture. Chad Bailey and Janine Thomas were busy looking after our rider and last minute preparations. My wife Charla and I were busy snapping photographs and dealing with press related items. 

Speaking of Canadian riders, the team would like to congratulate all the Canadians attending the event. Just making it to this event is an accomplishment in itself, and then having the fortitude to take on this race is inspiring. Hats off to Noel Bolso, Marty Halmazna, Cory Graffunder, and Chris from Fort St. John, B.C.  You did us proud!

And of course we cannot overlook the prodigy, Cory Graffunder. An 18th place secured him Top Canadian status and further solidified him as a contender in world competition.

Aside from the Canucks, there was, of course, a world-class field competing at the event. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) from Poland absolutely destroyed the course and his competition! He is amazing and has unbelievable control on a motorcycle. Fifteen minutes later, second place finisher Andreas Lettenbichler (BMW) of Germany rolled in, followed by privateer Paul Bolton (Honda) of Great Britain.

So now we look forward to my return, the Corner Grass Hare Scramble, and then Red Bull Romaniacs! 

Thanks for the update, Shane. Hopefully we see you back on the bike soon!

I’m going to wrap this up with some pics from the RXC/Roost Clothing Ride Day on Wednesday. Thanks to the Carruthers family for the great track, great food and great day and everyone for coming out. Good Times!

Something was needed to help everyone find the track, since I told everyone to turn right.

The Carruthers Ranch, what a dive.

Steve Simms and Jay Burke are still buddies, even though Simms works for fellow MX1 competitor, Tyler Medaglia.

Jeff Northrop never passes up a good time!

B-Coles snuck in some track time, and then had a "couple-a-beers."

One-third of the Destroyer Films crew, Cody Bradley, hopped on my factory backed KX250F. Believe it or not, this bike is straight from Japan.

Jason Thorne came out and showed Nick Evennou some freestyle tricks.

Roost Clothing's Kyle Carruthers made sure the track and food were a perfect 10.

Mike Smith drove the train to Bowmanville.

photos: James Lissimore