Frid'Eh Update:Presented by Royal Distributing
MAY 16, 2008

Aw, the great outdoors! The opening round of the Monster Energy CMRC Motocross Nationals kicks off next weekend in beautiful Ste-Julie, Quebec.

photo: James Lissimore

By Danny Brault

Time sure flies by, doesn’t it? I can hardly believe that in one week, the big rigs, the best riders, and the biggest show in Canadian motocross arrives in Ste-Julie, Quebec for the opening round of the Monster Energy CMRC Motocross Nationals.

The biggest change to the series this year is the addition of a nine round MX2 series. Rather than splitting up the talent according to area codes, every single rider east or west of the Mississippi can now challenge for the MX2 championship. It’s going to be a Royal Rumble of motocross madness!!! (Too cheesy?)
Another cool update to the series is the use of AMB Transponders. The old ones that we strapped around our boots were okay, but they had their flaws (like everything, I suppose) and lap times didn’t always show up properly. Now Kyle Keast is only 21 seconds faster than me, not 22 seconds (yes, that’s one lap). The AMB models were tried and tested with no bugs at the Gopher Dunes Provincial. I’m not sure if they’re the same ones the AMA uses, but they strap onto the upper fork leg similar to the AMA transponders.

Monster Energy is back as the title sponsor, so you can bet each track will be decorated in big green claws, the podium girls will be busting buttons on their hacked up Monster tees, and kids will slurping up the enormous beverages faster than you can say guarana. I’m also happy to see Monster supporting the Cernic’s Kawasaki and Leading Edge teams. Now it’s our job to do what we can to retain Monster as our title sponsor for years to come.

The Frid'Eh Update guy's pick for the MX1 overall next weekend: Mitch "The Oiler" Cooke.

photo: Lissimore

So, now the big question is: who is going to win? Well, if you ask any of the MX1 team managers, they’ll say their guy(s). What do I say? I think it’s a toss up between Klatt, Cooke and Facciotti … but it will be the Cookie Monster who takes the cake. He had the speed to win last year, he’s wicked fast in the ruts, and he’s H.A.F. My only wish, really, is that we see a great battle in both classes and everyone goes home healthy and happy, just like my mom always says.

To read interviews with the big four MX1 team managers, follow these links: Sorenson, White, Thompson, and Laurin.

If you’re confident and know who’s going to win, then sign up for Brett Dailey’s motocross pool, www.motoleague.com, Mr. Smartypants. It’s a great way to follow the series, cheer for your riders and win some cool prizes. Check out my team for Ste-Julie: Gibson, Keast (obviously), Chamberlain, Maier, Nye, Klatt, Medaglia, and Lockhart. That’s one solid team, eh?

The boys aren’t the only ones who get to show off their shiny new bikes; it’s also the opening round of the Canadian Women’s National Series. We have four women now riding for factory teams—Van Vugt/Blackfoot/Suzuki, Hackett/OTSFF/Suzuki, Cooke/Cernic’s/Kawasaki, Ross/Royal/KTM—plus a large contingent of contenders from across Canada, including the Giroux sisters, Kristina Sundal, Karly Pozdnekoff, Kim Emery, Jocelyn Killough, Jess Foster, Camille Baker, and the list goes on!

Jolene Van Vugt will trade in her backflips and heel clickers for holeshots and whoops in the women's motocross series.

photo courtesy of Van Vugt

One rider we won’t see racing Ste-Julie is the undisputed King of Canadian Motocross, Jean-Sébastien Roy. The five-time Canadian champ has turned the page, and his main focus is his family, staying healthy, and developing Blackfoot’s bikes and riders. It won’t be the same watching the races without JSR. Like Marc Travers said to me yesterday, “It’s never easy seeing the changing of the guard.” He’s certainly right. I’m sure a lot of fans struggled to watch Ricky Carmichael, Jeremy McGrath, or our GOAT, Ross “Rollerball” Pederson, call it quits. However, I don’t want to say JSR is officially retiring, as he’s still riding and I heard rumour that we may see him on the line at Walton.


Let’s turn this over to Steve Matthes and get his take on the upcoming Canadian—and American—outdoor nationals.

Thanks, Danny. I’m pumped to have a weekend off again but I’m more excited about the upcoming opening of both countries’ national motocross series. The AMA boys get it on at Glen Helen and the Canucks are showing up at Ste-Julie to see who can get the titles. I think I like the MX2 series being all 9 rounds; it allows it to be a premier class now just like the big boys. We just need to get the purse money up to par now to truly make it a national series that everybody wants and can do.
As far as the AMA boys, that’s where I’ll be this weekend, unfortunately. Well, kind of unfortunately, I suppose. I mean I get to watch the world’s best riders duke it out on the hills of Helen but I was looking forward to doing all the CMRC Nationals this year for a little bit of a change. The RXC Moto Show just couldn’t swing the finances after we figured in all the chicken fingers that Danny would need for the year. I’m going to try my best to get out west, however, and drop in and see the motherland. I will even go into the Blackfoot tent and hang out; maybe I’ll get a white suit and disguise myself as a CMA official?

This week I wrote a column dreaming of what it would be like if the teams could “trade” riders to other teams. I asked for your responses and this is the best one I got:

Here would be a legend (I hope you’re not lactose intolerant) dary trade!!

First off, J-Law gets traded to Hart and Huntington. Then him and handsome Hansen form the most toke-ing team since Cheech and Chong. What does YoT get in return you ask? 4 tribal bands, 2 calf tattoos and future considerations.  Then Big James realizes that he’s Big James and decides to form his own team called “Ya I’m Big James Racing."  Bubba immediately joins the team along with Dean Wilson (cause he is from Canada and awesome). They then recruit Tony Cairoli from Europe and Akira Narita from Japan. Together these riders form the most ethnically diverse team in motorsports. Stealing the hearts (and Huntington) of fans everywhere. This is more of a free-agent-frenzy than a trade.

Marcus Weibe

Thanks, Marcus, for that, umm, interesting trade. Sounds like you should spend a little less time dropping acid and dreaming of unicorns and more time riding. This did provide me with a good laugh especially before I fixed the spelling and grammar, so thanks for that and thanks for reading.

On my recent Podcast, I was asked by Jimmy Button who I think is going to win Glen Helen. At the risk of getting beat up by Red Dog, I think Ben Townley is going to come out swinging and show everyone what he’s got. I just like BT101 because he’s been training and riding outdoors for a while and my Honda buddies tell me he’s flying. As far as the Lites class, I like Ryan Villopoto but besides that obvious pick, I think that you’ll see Josh Grant come out en fuego. I dunno why, I just do.

In Canada, I think you’ll get a great battle between Mitch Cooke and Dusty Klatt for the MX1 win and KD Beets will go 1-1 with 45 second leads in each moto. He’ll be so far in front that he’ll actually stop and eat a dish of poutine each moto around half-way. No pressure my little buddy! Speaking of poutine, Danny do you remember that delicious poutine we got together at Nanaimo last year? That was some seriously good stuff.

I just have to say this before I go. Most of you people who read my ramblings know that I enjoy the Rocky movies. I think this is because of the underdog factor involved in the movies. Y’know, Rock is down on his luck, takes things for granted and before you know it, he’s down and out with nothing, yet he always fights back time and again to get to the top (cue in “Eye of the Tiger”) and that guy cheering in the theatre is me.

That’s why I think Dusty Klatt’s return to Canada is such an interesting subplot to me. He once was a BAD dude up in Canada, unbeatable really; he took the ride down south, struggled with confidence and some injuries and now finds himself back where he started. Can he rise up and beat Clubber Lang (Lang being represented here in the form of 39 other riders)? Is he still dominant? Is he mentally beat down from his USA struggles and can’t remember what it was like to be the best? This to me is going to be great theatre all summer long and I, for one, hope he gets back to the top. “Rising up/ straight to the top/ got the guts/ got the glory….”

Nice, job, Steve. You should fill in for Bowyer in next week’s Rev-Up. Hopefully your inspiring words and movie knowledge can motivate Dusty to come up here and lay the smack down. They don’t call him the “Campbell River Crusher” for nothing! (Actually, I think Matthes is the only one who calls him that.) And yes, that poutine we shared in Nanaimo was delicious. How can someone not love French fries, cheese and gravy, all spun together in a hearty and filling mixture? I’m sure our gear pig, Rob McCullough, downs them before, during, and after his workouts (with some HGH mixed in of course).

The Racer X Canada/Destroyer Films Moto Show: Coming to an internet access nearest you!

Steve also made our first public mention of the Racer X Canada/Destroyer Films Moto Show. We wanted to keep this semi-secret until the last possible minute, but we’ll spill the beans now. (Thanks, Steve!)

We’ve been working our butts off, like everyone else, to take Canadian motocross to the next level. So, in a similar fashion to the Racer X MX Show that DC and the gang produced from the AMA nationals last year (and are doing again this year),we’ve partnered with the ultra-talented Destroyer Films duo of Chris Griffiths and Cody Bradley to bring weekly online videos from the Canadian nationals. Of course, I say similar because you can bet that our show will have a Canadian twist to it. Following each round, be sure to stop by racerxcanada.com to catch our Moto Shows; they’ll feature race footage, interviews, and a behind the scenes look at our sport. It’s going to be the centerpiece of RXC 2.0.

A big thanks goes out to SixSixOne Canada and OTSFF for stepping up and sponsoring the series. On that note, if anyone else would like to support the Moto Show, shoot me an email to dannyb@racerxcanada.com.

Tune into Canadian MX Radio every Monday night @ 9 Pm EST following the Canadian Nationals. Travers, Koster, and Gauldy kick off a preview show this Monday too!

And Canadian motocross keeps getting better. I caught up with Marc Travers this week and he says he, Brian Koster, and Ryan Gauld are continuing their successful online radio show, Canadian Motocross Radio (CMR). These guys not only produce the best television motocross show, but they do an amazing job over the radio waves too. Looking to step things up, Travers says they’re going to be offering a live video feed and video clips from the weekend that was, so you can now listen and watch the hosts in the studio, sort of like Hardcore Hockey on The Score.

“It’s not going to be mayhem for the two hours, but it will certainly give people more insight into the show and offer more interaction from us, “ says Travers. “One thing we’d like to see more of is people calling in and voicing opinions. It’s surprising how few people call, and we know they’re listeing because we can track listener numbers.”

Did you hear that forum heads? Get off your keyboards and call into CMR! The first show kicks off this Monday, with guests JSR, Brady Sheren, and Matthes, and Koster, Travers and Gauld will be in the booth. Check out www.canadianmxradio.com for complete info!

In order to keep racing (and life) somewhat organized, civilized, and professional, rules are created. I will admit, there are certain rules in the CMRC rulebook—or any rulebook—that will not cause the world to stop turning if they are broken, but most of them ensure a fair racing atmosphere. One rule that we are constantly reminded about, and constantly breaking, is proper lettering and numbers on our jerseys/chest protectors.

Well, last weekend at the Walton round of the Royal Distributing CMRC Ontario Provincial Championships Presented by Motovan, a handful of pro racers were docked positions in the first MX1 moto for not wearing numbers on their jersey/chest protectors or for running numbers that didn’t correspond with their number plates. It caused quite a shake up, obviously, as riders were docked positions and it cost them a chunk of purse money.

I’ve never agreed with protests on proper jersey lettering. The best man wins, right? Not the guy with a number on his back. Plus, we do have three number plates on our bike for the scorers to read. On the other side of the coin, a rule is a rule, it’s brought up at every rider’s meeting, and it was broken. Also, this was the pro class and these guys should know better. They’ve probably raced longer than most, understand the rules, and should set the example. (Btw, who was that squid at Gopher Dunes running  #ZZ4? It’s a good thing he was never a factor— or he’d have been docked so many positions that he’d back in beginner!)

For me, personally, I wouldn’t feel good about myself for protesting someone for wearing the wrong numbers on their back. There isn’t much purity left in our sport, and, as riders, we need to protect that by not challenging our fellow competitors over silly “rules.” If you want to beat that guy, then get on the gas!

Now to the actual racing at Walton. I wasn’t there, and I have too many excuses to list, but my colleagues Dan Stenning and "BigWave" Billy Rainford made it out on Sunday. Stenning put together this Photo Report. Since the event was a Provincial and an ANQ (Amateur National Qualifier), rider entries were once again astronomical. Someone told me that there were three LCQs for a junior class. Wow! We may need to start running three-day provincials. It was nice to see amateur stars Cole Thompson and John Pauk in the mix. These two have been following most of the big amateur nationals down south, but made it to Walton for ANQ points and track time before the TransCan in August. Both riders are coming along well, with Pauk becoming a force in the intermediate classes, and Thompson still has that beautiful style on his little CRF150 thumper. I’ve noticed that a lot of our riders adopt a more aggressive riding style from racing in the U.S. and you can definitely see that in Cernic’s Cole Thompson and Dean Wilson.

The pro classes were stocked with national talent. Machine Racing Honda’s Kyle Keast continued his unbeaten streak from Gopher Dunes, but Kerim Fitzgerald didn’t make it easy on Keast in the first MX2 moto and Brady Sheren hung close for a few laps in an MX1 moto. DeHaan, O’Farrell, Raymer, Hamm, and many more were in the mix as well. Orange Motorsports KTM’s Trever Hall is on the mend after endoing over the stepdown. Thankfully, he should be okay other than a few bumps and bruises and twisted up shoulder. Get well soon, Trev!

As I noted in last week’s Update, Stayner, Ontario’s Chuck Mesley found support and bikes from Team Honda Powerhouse of Milton. Mesley will race a CRF450 in the nationals this summer, but don’t expect to see him—or his teammate Fitzergald—to be pitting out of a big Morgan Racing semi. I talked to Morgan Racing’s Rick Rundberg at the Dunes, and he said they might have a setup at the Ste-Julie or Gopher Dunes national, but it’s doubtful. Mesley and Fitzgerald may drive across the country together, but it’s still up in the air.

I had half of John Nelson’s attention yesterday and he had me laughing, saying, “Yeah, Chuck’s here right now. I’m giving him some CDs back after our break up [laughs].” Nelson would have loved to support Mesley, but he had nothing for him. It’s good to see that the long time buddies are still, well, buddies, even though Chuck isn’t a Machine rider this year.

In off-road news, Husaberg's newest Canadian pilot, Shane Cuthbertson, was injured while training for the Erzberg Rodeo in Austria.

"I broke my ankle while training for my next major competition which is Erzberg Enduro in Austria on May 22-25," says Cuthbertson in an email.  "So major bummer for me and the team, as we had been working hard on bike set-up and refining my extreme riding skills.  I was starting to feel really good and looking forward to an epic battle with the 'Iron Giant' Mountain.  Maybe next year...

"Corner Grass Racing Team and myself decided we could not let this 'bump in the road' stop us from bringing value to our sponsors and achieving our team goals.  So with the blessing of Husaberg and the Erzberg organizers, we were able to substitute a very capable replacement in my spot.  That's right; my good friend, training partner, and multi-time Canadian Champion, Jarod Thomas has agreed to take on the Iron Giant in my place!  I am really pumped for Jarod, as I have full confidence in his capabilities and feel he has a legitimate shot at achieving success."

We also received one of the most entertaining press releases or updates, whatever you call it, from Suzuki off-road rider, Guy Giroux. Click right HERE to read it.

"Top Pimp" Guy Giroux proved he's no has-been at the opening round of the FMSQ last weekend.

Dan Stenning passed along this link. It’s a thread on MotoTalk started by MotoVerte’s Stephan Legrand, letting us know that one of the best moto-photographers, Joe Bonnello, is suffering health issues and hasn’t been able to shoot. Legrand went ahead and set up an account for those wishing to donate money to help out Joe. I met Joe last year at KTM’s launch of their 2008 enduro models, and he is one of the most professional—and funniest—photogs I’ve ever met. I remember him laughing, hysterically, as Patrick Garrahan was showing me how so climb over rocks and Joe kept calling me the “Canook.” Good times. Get well soon, Joe!

Washington’s Kevin Urquhart was involved in a late night car accident on Thursday. Apparently, Urquhart and his mechanic had just bought a trailer and were heading from Northern California to Urquhart’s home in WA when they lost control and crashed. Neither of them was injured, but Kevin’s dog, Diesel, passed away. FXR’s Ami Houde notified us about accident and said that all of their belongings, bikes, truck and trailer were destroyed. The two were eventually going north to Manitoba and then heading east for Ste-Julie. Hopefully things work out for Urquhart and we see him on the line next weekend.

Our Quebec correspondent, Bruno Menard, always likes to keep the “scoops” to himself, but he finally let us in on this one …

Cristian Huidobro has teamed up with Marco Dubé on Les Chutes Kawasaki and will ride a KX250F in the MX2 Class. The 19 year old from Santiago, Chile will bring his friend, mechanic and translator Philippe Albrecht. Dubé and him have been training together for 6 weeks at the Seminole Tribe Motocross installations in Florida. The team believes a top 5 overall is an appropriate goal for Huidobro. Last year, he finished 12th in the 6 Days Mondial Endurocross and he's been collecting podium finishes in his country since he won the 85cc National title.

It’s true, Dubé has hired on Cristian to race MX2. We found out yesterday in this 5 mins with … Dubé. The Monster Energy CMRC Motocross Nationals is turning into quite the melting pot of cultures, with two South Africans (Kerim Fitzergald and Liam O’Farrell) and one Chilean in the mix! Oh, then we have the New Zealander, Mason Phillips, and the Spaniard, Johnny “Juan Alfonso” Montes in there too.

Speaking of Montes, Destroyer Films are featuring him in their next “Northern Exposure” piece and they said he’s racing a YZ450F for Atlantic Motoplex in local events and the Eastern national rounds. Montes had a great ride in Ste-Julie last year, going 11-10 for ninth overall. He’s spent over a month living in SoCal with Jeff Northrop and helping out Spencer Knowles, so he should be in good shape for the upcoming season. Montes is running Patty Roy’s infamous #33 this summer. Come on, Juan, go get’em!

Okay, folks, that’s all I have for you this week. Don’t forget to sign up for motoleague, listen to CMR on Monday, and support the sport in anyway you can!

Thanks for reading!


  You're not done yet! A free 2009 KTM 250 SX-F would be nice, wouldn't it? Check out www.royaldistributing.com to find out how you can win one!