MotoPark General Manager and head of MXDN fundraising
Kristen DeJong and Canada's team manager Carl Bastedo.

By Allison Kennedy

2005 marks the second year that MotoPark’s Carl Bastedo has been at the helm of the Canadian Motocross Des Nations team. Last year, Bastedo and the team of JSR, Dusty Klatt and Blair Morgan posted Canada’s best finish, an eighth place. This year, Bastedo is looking to better that result with Morgan, Doug DeHaan and Simon Homans. DeHaan will be riding the MX2 class, Homans the MX1 class while Morgan will ride the Open class.  We caught up with Bastedo to find out how things are coming along with the ’05 Team Canada.

RXC: How are plans coming together?

Carl Bastedo: It’s gone a lot smoother this year. Last year, it seemed to go on forever and ever, there was so much planning to do. This year, Simon Homans has a good friend in Switzerland who has a Yamaha dealership. Basically, the bikes are coming from him and also his pit rig. So we are renting that and we are renting the bikes. Doug DeHaan is bringing his own engine and suspension, because he’s riding the 250F. Blair Morgan’s bike is a brand new one and Simon’s has raced one Grand Prix. His people in Switzerland are preparing the bike to his specifications. Having the motorcycles there will help. The shipping was a tremendous job last year. Andree from OTSFF did a great job in helping us get the bikes over there, the customs clearances and all that stuff; that is something we don’t have to worry about this year. World renowned artist, Vince Goodeve, is painting the helmets, which is very nice. Rail It Graphics are doing the graphics. Paul Mares from BC is going to be assisting me. He’s arranged for parts through some of his contacts in Europe, so we’ll have that going for us as well. All the flights and hotels have been arranged. I am going a day early with Jarod, Doug’s mechanic, so we can get the pit area set up and make sure the hotels are okay. The CMA have looked after all the insurance, medical and FIM paperwork. So it’s a lot smoother than last year, but last year was the first time.

So last year was the first time you personally had organized a team?

Yes, it was the first time I had organized it. The CMA had sent teams over several times before and I have no idea how that all went, other than that I know that last year was the best placing that Canada has ever had. They said that Blair Morgan was the weakest link; he turned out to be the strongest link.  Blair is a champion and he knows what it’s like to be a champion. Both in snowcross and having been involved in motocross for probably more years than he cares to remember, and he’s very strong. His strength really came through at the event.

How are you feeling about the team so far?

I’m just happy that these guys all really want to go. That really impresses me. You see Ricky leading the way in the states. He understands what the whole thing is all about and he wants to go and take part in the MXDN. This year there are 36 teams and that’s a record. So all the talk about Giuseppe and the problems with the FIM, in reality it’s the biggest race they’ve ever had. So something must be going right.

Blair Morgan earned Canada's best results in '04.

Can you tell me how the decision was made to have Simon Homans, Blair Morgan and Doug DeHaan on the team?

The team is chosen by the CMA board of directors. All politics aside, I could care less who chooses the team. It just so happen that they are the representatives. Thank goodness they are willing to do it. Even though they don’t hold races that these riders compete in, they understand the importance of the MXDN. They spend a lot of their own money getting the team there. They are willing to name a team and tell the FIM that these people are representing Canada.

Despite the fact that JSR and Dusty Klatt are not attending the MXDN this year, are you satisfied with the team that is representing Canada?

Okay, I guess I kind of dodged your question there. Dusty had said in an interview with Racer X Canada, that he wasn’t that excited about going. The minute I read that I said to myself, ‘You’ve got to want it.’  If you aren’t interested in coming and representing Canada, then we aren’t interested in having you there, it’s that simple. As far as having JSR on the team, that’s very interesting. Once Dusty was out of the equation—I’m not saying he’s right or wrong in his decision. It’s up to the individual riders to decide what they want to do with their career and you shouldn’t second guess them—at that point, Blair was always our first choice to go back. He was the team leader last year, he was the guy, and who knows how many more years he’ll be around. We all felt that Blair would be the number one choice to go back on the team. So then with Dusty out, it fell to Doug DeHaan, who was the alternate last year because of all his European experience. Then Simon did so well this year and he’s still improving year after year. So he was a consideration.

Of course JSR was the main consideration and JSR had indicated that he would go. But he was concerned about having his own motorcycle there, and he was a little bit concerned about what kind of backing he could get from his team, and he definitely wanted his 250 two stroke at the event. First of all, we didn’t agree that a 250 two stroke was the motorcycle for that high speed track, secondly, it definitely would have cost more to have him go. That was a consideration because the funding for the event has not been what we’d hoped. Also he has some back and knee problems and he currently has some sore ribs. So even though he was the shoe in, there were all these little things that just made it easier to go with one team with the same motorcycles. The CMA board of directors looked at all of those things, when they made their decision. They knew we were having trouble with funding, they knew all these things and that’s why they made the decision they did.

Simon Homans has connected the team with
a Yamaha dealer in Switzerland.

As far as feedback from Simon, Blair and Doug, do they all seem really excited to be going?

Yes and that’s really important and it’s really gratifying that they all want to be there and race this event. Especially a guy like Blair, he’s been there and done that, he doesn’t need it, and yet he wants to go and represent Canada. That’s part of the whole thing. If you’ve got three guys that are sitting there, that really want to be there and really want to do well for Canada, the psychological part of motocross is a big part of it. And we’ve got three guys who really want to do it.

Have you been to the track before?

No, I’ve just seen pictures. It’s high speed, very high speed. It looks gorgeous and, unlike Lierop, they say you can see 80 percent of the track.

You’ve been around the sport for a long time. Explain your motivation to take a team to MXDN last year?

I think it’s very important for the younger riders. What I’ve seen over the years are guys from Australia, South Africa and all over the world, do well in Europe and the next thing you know they’ve immigrated to the U.S. and they’ve got the factory rides there. Twenty years ago that was absolutely unheard of. If you weren’t from the U.S, more particularly if you weren’t from Southern California, there was no such thing as a factory ride. Jean-Michel Bayle changed all that. When Ross Pederson was at his prime, had the atmosphere been what it is today, he would have easily had a U.S. factory ride. I remember talking to Roger DeCoster about it and to have a Canadian on their US factory team was ridiculous to even think about. JMB broke that and then followed all the Australians and South Africans. It’s kind of like going in through the back door, if you start in Canada and our guys do well in Europe, then all of a sudden people start looking at you and saying maybe we should consider those Canadians for the big US factory rides. If a Canadian ever wants to go to Europe to make his way, he could probably do okay and eventually make his way back to the U.S. It’s a good proving ground. So to me, having a team represent Canada, if we can consistently get ourselves finishing in the top five year after year, then some doors may open in Europe and some doors may open in the U.S. because of that. And I was tired of all the talk of politics. Politics…who cares? You are representing Canada, who cares that it just happens that there is one organization that has the affiliation with the FIM to be able to do that. I could care less, as long as they are willing to do it, which they are.

DeHaan brings a wealth of European experience to the team.

Do you have any goals in mind for the team in 2005?

It’s individual. Our goals are for each rider in each class. I want Doug DeHaan to do better than Dusty did. I want to see Blair Morgan do as well or better than he did last year, which is going to be tough, and I want Simon to do better than JSR did. Those are the goals and if they do that, then the overall results will look after themselves. The only thing that really, really frustrates you about an event like this are mechanical or physical problems. That’s very frustrating when you’ve got three riders and the best five of six results count. Last year we were very fortunate in that way. They did get tired. The Europeans, they don’t start racing until the halfway board comes out and when two laps are left, they sprint. That’s their style of racing and I’ve told all the riders that and I’ve asked all the riders to step it up a notch in terms of their training.

Other than results, what would this team have to do to make you proud?

Just do the best that they can do, be the best that they can be that day, and we’ll be just fine. If they just do what I know they are capable of, they’ll be just fine. And of course to be in the top ten, we’d like to beat last year’s eighth.

To contribute to the MXDN team:

Deposit directly to:

Bank of Montreal

Motocross des Nations Fund

899-2^nd Avenue East

Owen Sound, Ontario

N4K 5P3

Transit Number 00322

Account # 1040-134

ABA for US Transfers only: 026007760

Or send mail to:

Motocross des Nations Fund

622794 MotoPark Road

Chatsworth, Ontario

NOH 1G0

Or call for credit card payments

519-794-2434

motopark@log.on.ca