Frid'Eh Update:Presented by Royal Distributing
JANUARY 12, 2007

By Danny Brault
Photos by James Lissimore
 

Hype—it’s a dangerous word. And this past weekend in Anaheim, Canadians fans (myself included) were taught a valuable lesson that once again, in motocross, anything can happen. Of course, I’m referring to the early predictions we had for Star Racing Yamaha’s Dusty Klatt’s big debut at A1.

Many pegged Klatt to finish around the seventh to fourteenth mark in the Supercross Lites main event. Heck, I even told a few people I wouldn’t be surprised if he finished third, especially after Tommy Hahn bruised his lung and Josh Grant crashed hard in practice. Unfortunately, his night ended before completing one lap when he dropped the front end of his YZ250F in the deep whoop sectionat the start of his qualifier. For anyone who watched the race live on Speed Saturday night, it was a frightening crash that left Klatt trapped under his bike. While suffering burns, he tried to escape from the bike but the rear wheel was still spinning and it ripped his goggles right from his helmet. Scary stuff and quite an introduction to Anaheim.

Dusty Klatt won't know until Saturday morning whether he will race Phoenix.

While it could have been worse, Klatt did suffer some extreme burns on his back and shoulders, along with a hurt shoulder and wrist. The Campbell River kid still made it to the gym on Monday and RXC photographer James Lissimore spotted him out on the track on Wednesday.

“I did a few spin workouts,” said Klatt yesterday. “I tried riding yesterday [Wednesday]. I was able to ride, but there was some stuff I couldn’t do. I had a hard time sitting down and then standing up. My wrist is still pretty sore along with my shoulder, but my back is not too bad. My shoulder is all colourful and it’s starting to get blood into it now.”

Klatt says it will be a “Chad Reed” game time decision, and he won’t know until Saturday morning whether he will be able to race. He does add that he will be ready for Anaheim 2. I still stick by my claims that he can finish on the podium if he can nail a good start like his teammate Matt Lemoine. Speaking of Dusty, he just posted an update on his website: www.dustyklatt.com.

Our lone soldier in the 450 class, Doug DeHaan, earned some TV time with his altercation with Chad Reed in their qualifier and then again in the LCQ when the #77 Honda went down in the first corner. It wasn’t the coverage he was hoping for, but coverage nonetheless. The entire weekend started off on a rough note for the BTO Sports/ Butler Brothers Honda rider. When we caught up with DeHaan yesterday, we found out that he was riding slightly injured after crashing on the team’s private SX track in Gainesville, Florida.

RXC: Doug, we caught a few glimpses of you from Anaheim on Speed last weekend and it looked like you were riding well. Unfortunately, some bad luck in the LCQ kept you from the main.
Doug DeHaan: Yeah, I rode pretty good. I didn’t get a good start [in my qualifier] at all; some guys went down and I was on the bubble there. If I had of ridden just a bit more consistent, I think I could have been in there. I was just missing a couple of sections here and there. I didn’t have a good week before the race; I crashed and skinned my knees and then I crashed again in my first practice and missed the rest of my practice so I had a rough start. Whatever, by the end of the night I felt pretty good.

A lot of guys were making mistakes and crashing on the track all night. It looked like one of the more technical tracks we’ve seen in a while.
Yeah, it was. Stuff was really tight and close together. It was a pretty tough track; it was slick, too, Anaheim is always slick.

Even RC commented that it was difficult to ride the track and focus on racing.
Yeah [laughs], you know it’s a little bit tougher when he says that.

The whoops looked much deeper too.
It was weird. I didn’t think they were going to be that bad. They were really square edged and they were spaced weird. The third or fourth whoop would be really far apart and then a big one. Once you get up skimming, all of a sudden you miss one and you get kicked.

I find it interesting to watch what some of the guys can come up with on a really technical track, but at the same time, it can hurt the racing because they are concentrating so much on the track rather than racing.
I like it sometimes. It can be an advantage or it can work against you. I guess it depends on your night. A lot of people were making mistakes, which is good, if you have a bad start or something. My starts weren’t the best this weekend. They were good in Toronto and Vancouver, so there is no reason why they shouldn’t be good now.

What do you think of the new qualifying format used in supercross with the two heats and LCQ, instead of two heats, two semis and an LCQ?
I like it, actually. I like the timed practice, [laughs] even though mine was a little stressful last weekend. But I do like the new system and the timed practices. Those day qualifiers could be deadly at times. Then, if you make the main, you’re still fresh because you’re not riding a heat, semi and an LCQ—if you do make the main. Then at gate pick time also, your lap time gets you your spot on the gate.

There is always constant debate over how tough a supercross track should be, especially with today’s high-performance motorcycles and talented racers. While watching last weekend’s race in Anaheim, I’m sure I wasn’t the only once who noticed the high amount of crashes in the Lites and Supercross classes. I was going to add in my opinion on the track being tough, and that it hindered the racing, but after I asked DC his take on the A1 track, I’m not going any further with it.

“It was a supercross track, nothing more, nothing less,” was his response. That’s very true, Mr. Coombs.

The third member of the Canadian contingent, Brady Sheren, made his first appearance on his MDK/ Wonder Warthog Yamaha in the 250F class. Sheren, like DeHaan, was running on the bubble during his qualifier but just couldn’t hold off the charge of KTM rider Dennis Jonon. Still struggling with starts, Sheren finished tenth in the LCQ.

The world's most famous moto dog.

If you scanned the Lites main event results, you may have noticed that nearly half the field had raced on Canadian soil before making their entrance into AMA Supercross:

1. 2006 Lites Outdoor champ, Ryan Villopoto ran away with the win at A1. The Monster Energy/ Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider rode his first-ever pro race at the Calgary national in 2005 and won the first moto.

2. Yamaha of Troy’s Jason Lawrence was third in the Lites main event. Lawrence raced the Walton TransCan in 2002 and won the 85cc 12-16 and Supermini championships.

3. SoBe/Samsung Mobile Honda’s Jake Weimer, who finished fifth, raced the MX2 West series for OTSFF Suzuki in 2005 and he won the second moto at Calgary.

4. Current MX2 East champ, Kyle Chisholm, finished ninth on his Motorsport Outlet Kawasaki.

5. Before making his entrance into supercross last year with the BooKoo Honda team, Justin Keeney won the MX2 overall at Walton in 2004 after his incredible pass on Gavin Gracyk in the final corner. He finished one spot behind Chisholm at A1.

6. Michael Willard, our 2005 MX2 East champ and two-time Walton Shootout champ finished sixteenth in his very first AMA Supercross at A1.

7. Dennis Jonon, who raced several Canadian Arenacross Championship rounds in the last two years, rode his privateer KTM 250 SX-F to seventeenth behind Willard.

Nearly all of these young American racers used our series as a stepping-stone to the AMA leagues—it looks like it’s working! Also, Nick Wey won a championship a few years ago at the Walton TransCan.

If you missed the live airing of A1, don’t worry—you can still catch the Supercross class today at noon EST on Speed and the Lites class tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. 

Now a few notes and photos from our man in SoCal, James Lissimore:

It's been non-stop since I got here. I flew into Palm Springs last Thursday afternoon and Howie Spencer and Dusty's uncle, Mike Kelly picked me up. We headed back to Riverside and met Dusty and Jim Barberie for dinner.

Friday morning, Brady picked me up and we went out to Elsinore to shoot photos of him on his new Wonder Warthog race bike in the craziest wind I've ever had to shoot in. Afterwards, he took me on a tour of the race shop they're operating out of.

Saturday was a full day of shooting at the Supercross. It was a total heart breaker to see Dusty go down in his heat and that none of the Canadians made the main … oh, well, there are still tons of races left.

Jeff Emig's works on his re-grip at the Marty Moates Memorial Ride Day.

 

 

Alberta's (and now California's) Dean Wilson was turning in some quick laps at Cahuilla.

On Monday, Scott USA held the launch of their new boot, the Genius, at the Competitive Edge MX track in Hesperia. Since I don't have any gear or a bike with me down here, I conned my friend Tyler Marchak into coming with me. It actually wasn't too hard convincing him to come ride a nicely prepped track for free, eat a full-catered meal and try out some new, high tech boots. The boots are crazy and definitely have a ton of new and innovative features. Be sure to check out a test and photos on the new boot here.

Tuesday was the Marty Moates Memorial ride day at Cahuilla Creek so we made the trek down there to check it out. Along with myself, Howie Spencer, and Tyler, we ran into fellow Canadians Spencer Knowles, Dean Wilson, Pete DeGraaf, and Lance Rickard out pounding laps. Also in attendance was KTM Europe’s Tommy Searle, fast amateur Austin Stroupe, the dude with the dog that rides on his lap, and the legendary Jeff Emig.

Tomorrow, Kyle Beaton, Brock Hoyer, and Kris Foster get into town so stay tuned for updates on their progress.

Amateur rider Ben LaMay is Scott's first team rider for their Genius boot.

 

Howie Spencer borrowed a bike to turn a few laps at the Marty Moates Memorial ride.

Switching to the other indoor racing scene—arenacross—Babbitt’s Kawasaki’s Darcy Lange is absolutey killing the BooKoo Arenacross Championships. Lange won both nights on the 250F and finished fifth both nights in the 450F class last weekend in Reading, Pennsylvannia. He now has a commanding eighty-nine point lead in the championship over Brad Ripple. The series heads to Chicago this weekend at the Sears Centre.

Our troops over in Germany—Ryan Lockhart, Marco Dubé and Colton Facciotti—are signed up for the Dortmund event this weekend. Other riders on the list include: Ryan Abrigo, Willy Browning, Eric Nye, Gordon Crockard, Colin Dugmore, Damien Plotts, Craig Anderson, Daniel Blair, Josh Demuth, and John Dowd.

If all of this AX/SX talk is making you anxious to get out riding, be sure to check out Chesterman’s Indoor Track in Southwestern Ontario and the AX Des-Monts in Quebec. If you have yet to ride at either facility, I suggest you do so immediately.

California's Kris Keefer is returning to Canada for 2007 and will join the KTM Canada team for the MX2 West championships. He's been testing and training with Michael Willard and is very excited to have another run at the championship.

Still have a little extra Christmas money burning a hole in your pocket? How about a Racer X subscription for $29.98? You'll support our magazine, this website and get 12 issues of Racer X Illustrated, 6 issues of Racer X Canada, a 2007 calendar to track your race schedule and we'll even let you read the world renowned (self-proclaimed, of course!) Frid'Eh update for free. What a deal! Click here for more details.

Your Canadian Fact of the Day:
Our country’s name, Canada, derived from the Huron-Iroquis’s word Kanata, meaning ‘village’ or ‘settlement.’ It was first used in 1535 by French explorer, Jacques Cartier.

The CMRC Ontario Provincial Banquet takes place this Saturday at Zeke’s Bar and Grill in Kitchener. Awards will be given out for the top three in each class as well for Sportsman of the Year, Rider of the Year, and Track of the Year. Dinner will begin at 6:00 p.m., but you’re free to arrive earlier for cocktails and bench racing. Tickets are $25. I wonder if I made Brett Lee's top three list for anything I did at the provincials? Don't answer that, Brett!

In other provincial news, Jeremy Medaglia has signed on with the MX101 Yamaha team in Eastern Ontario. The seventeen-year-old had a strong year in 2006, qualifying for two pro races—Ste-Julie and Gopher Dunes—where he finished twenty-second and nineteenth overall. Armed with national #98, Medaglia will contest the OPC, the MX101 Ironman Series and the MX2 East nationals.

Jeremy Medaglia is joining the MX101 Yamaha team for 2007.

photo: Allison Kennedy

A few copies of All The Marbles 2: When the Rooster Crows just landed in our office. I spent Tuesday morning working hard to review the DVD (believe me, it was painful, ha) and I must say, great job Dylan! The film features all of the highlights from the TransCan in 2006, including the battles in the 85cc, junior and intermediate classes. It also spotlights the up-and-coming pro riders and the Walton award winners. You can order a copy through the www.racerxwear.ca site or visit www.waltontranscan.com.

That’s all the news for this week. Keep your stick on the ice!