Brady Sheren at the 2004 Chilliwack Arenacross.

John Hellam and the Future West crew have successfully orchestrated hundreds of arenacross events in Canada and the UK. Hellam has watched the sport in Canada grow over the last decade, dreaming of a time when Canadian motocross would be ready for its own sustainable indoor series. This fall, Hellam—in partnership with the CMRC—will be giving Canada just that—the 2005 Future West CMRC Canadian Arenacross Championships. We spoke to Hellam about his continued ambitions for Canadian racing.

RXC: When did you first start dreaming of expanding the Future West Arenacross series across Canada?

John Hellam: Probably after our continued success in England, I would say. We’ve been there since 1998. We realized that it’s been very successful in England and we could do the same thing here. But until now, the Canadian riders were still in, what I call, a development phase—they were still coming up strong. Now we’ve got our own homegrown talent that can really put a show on. I think that’s what’s made us do it.

How are you hoping this expansion will help Canadian motocrossers?

Just looking at the talent we’ve developed in the West, mostly in BC and Alberta, we think if the whole of Canada was exposed to that, we’ve got huge potential. Doing the nationals is just the first step. Hopefully by doing the nationals, the provincial series will expand. Every round in each province is also a provincial championship. We’re hoping this will set the scene. If people like this, hopefully we can get a provincial series going all across the country. First of all, it makes being a Canadian racer viable—it means guys can make a living doing it. Second of all, it should help to boost the economic activity—the commercial side of racing, which is needed to make it work. And thirdly, it’s a pride thing. I just believe anybody can be as good as anybody else, whether they are Canadian or American or British. I just think we need to be forward thinking and give these guys the opportunity to do it. 

What has the response been like so far?

We’ve had absolutely no negativity, everything has been positive. I’ve never seen that before, there are always some nay-sayers. The response has been phenomenal. I was just talking to Jason Mitchell and it sounds like Mitchell Cooke is interested.  We’ve put a plan together for JSR and he seems very keen. The whole KTM Canada team is doing it. OTSFF said they would do it. Colton Facciotti and Kyle Beaton are doing it and we’re not sure about Dusty Klatt yet, but I think we are going to have a really good representation of our top riders.  

The Blackfoot Team rode the series last season.

What is the purse like for the AX series?

The purse is the same as it was last year. It’s $5,000 total purse per night. If you win the pro class, it’s $750 for each win in each class. Potentially, if a guy won everything in a weekend, he could win about $3000.

If it goes well this winter, will we see a broader expansion to include the Atlantic Provinces?

We’d like to but it’s the time table that makes it tough. We are very aware of the problems with the U.S. Supercross series crisscrossing the country. We want to keep this as simple as possible. Right now we are trying to keep it as simple and as do-able as possible. Also on that note, we are allowing the guys to ride a 250F in both pro classes, so there will be a 125 class and an open class.

You invested in a big rig for the series. Tell me about that?

Well, it’s quite an expense and it can’t just sit around all year after the arenacross series—it has to do something. So we are looking at the possibility of doing the U.S. Supercross 125 West series with an all-Canadian team. It’s all very tentative right now so we’ll see. We hope to do something similar for the outdoor nationals. Let’s just say, we’ve got the rig and we are very interested in using it if anyone has any ideas.

With all your European connections, has there been an interest in Canadian riders on the GP circuit?  

Yes, Colton’s had offers through the Church Kawasaki team and Kyle has too through Dixon Yamaha and we could arrange similar things for Dusty as well. Nothing has materialized yet.

What do you think a Canadian rider could gain by doing the GP series?

I think the guys look at it and say it would be a good opportunity, but I want to have a crack at the U.S. first. It might be a way of getting to the U.S. though. I think it would be a good experience for any young rider. There have been a lot of guys who have made it to the states through the Grand Prix route, as long as they don’t stay there too long.

Your job is a lot of work. What keeps you going?

It’s probably the most demanding job I’ve ever had in my life. Yesterday and today I was on the phone at 5:00 a.m. doing my stuff in the UK because they are six hours ahead of us. Once I run out of time to do anything there, I start on the Canadian stuff. Last night I was out in my shop making stuff for the Canadian series, actually welding and building stuff. Obviously when you are in motocross, there’s nothing else like it. We love the sport and we’ve found a way of making a living out of it.

For more information on the series, visit www.arenacross.ca

Yamaha's Kyle Beaton has been an AX regular from the start.