By Danny Brault

Photos: Jason T. Griffiths

It was another year to forget for Pierce Chamberlain. He won another 250 Provincial Championship, and finished third overall at the Walton MX2 East/ West shootout but Chamberlain just couldn’t put together results at the nationals. With no bikes and a torn ACL, Chamberlain hasn’t been riding, but did teach a ladies-only MX school at Gopher Dunes over the weekend with Derek Schuster. We spoke with Chamberlain about the school and if he has spoke with any teams for the 2006 season.

RXC: Pierce, what are you up to?

Pierce Chamberlain: Just working right now.

What are you doing for work?

Mechanical assembly.

How long have you been doing that?

This is my third week I’ve been doing it.

So what do you do there?

They build a lot of automation equipment, which is basically like feeding systems. They do stuff for Pepsi and Toyota.

How did the ladies-only MX school go that you ran with Derek Schuster at Gopher Dunes?

It was good.

What was the rider turnout like?

It was all right, I think there was six maybe. It was easy to teach with a small group. It was easier to teach the girls than boys because the boys are always kind of crazy and go off and do there own thing. The girls actually listen better.

Have you done MX schools before?

Yeah I’ve done it a couple of times. I did one with Derrick (Schuster) awhile ago in the summer. I’m kind of thinking of starting up my own little school, I think it would be beneficial for me too.

How did the idea come about to run a ladies-only school?

Digger just called me and asked if I wanted to do it.

How is the knee feeling?

It’s all right, a bit sore.

Do you have surgery scheduled yet?

No. I have an appointment his week with one of the surgeons. I have two different appointments, with two different surgeons to get a couple of opinions. And I guess after my second or last appointment, I hope I can get in somewhere.

Have you been speaking with anyone about deals for next year?

Yeah I’ve been talking with Ron Ashley and Andre Laurin from OTSFF. Maybe working a deal out with them, I’m not sure. Nothing’s concrete, we’ve just been talking back and forth.

Will you be in for WSX, or is that out of the question?

Probably out of the question. If I have surgery, I will be off for a little while.

What exactly happened to your knee?

I tore my ACL really badly, it’s completely in half. There’s a couple of other things they need to fix too, I’m not sure what the deal is but I will have a better idea after my appointments.

When did you injure it?

I tore it actually a week before the first national. It was just horrible, through every single national. I couldn’t ride for about three weeks. I rode before Walton once, but other than that, nothing really.

Going over your season, it looked like you were on it while leading at Gopher Dunes in the MX2 class, but then after that, you just never looked comfortable.

It sucked after that, actually. Unfortunately, with hurting my knee, and just not being able to ride; I was sick too, I had some weird stomach infection and the second round in Quebec was brutal; I couldn’t even ride. I could do five laps, and I was in such pain I couldn’t ride. It was horrible. I don’t know, I just kind of struggled with bike set-up and I had a practice bike for three days and it broke.

Okay, good luck with your surgery and finding a deal for next year.

Thanks. I appreciate it.