Matthes Observations from Sand Del Lee
AUGUST 12, 2008

By Steve Matthes
Photos by James Lissimore

This weekend I went to Round 8 of the CMRC Monster Energy MX Nationals which were held at the Sand Del Lee track near Ottawa, Canada. I’d never been there before and I always grab any excuse to go and visit the motherland for a bit. The facility was pretty good, really, it’s not fair to compare them to the USA tracks I visit every week. The money and fans that the Canadian promoters have and get are not comparable. Having said that, I thought the track was great, it was sandy with flowing corners and got nice and rough for the riders.

The guys who run the track, Kevin Tyler, Steve Dool and Johnny Grant do a great job. They pour everything they can into improvements and they listen to the riders and teams and try to make it better. That’s all you can ask of a track promoter. And hopefully after all is said and done, they come away with some money in their pockets. The crowd was good on Sunday and they looked like they were into it.

Two gripes, however. First, there was not a Poutine stand anywhere; if there is one in Nanaimo, there should be one 20 minutes from Quebec. Also, there was no real hot dog vendors, there were dudes selling hot dogs but nobody that seemed to really care about the vending of hot dogs.

Facciotti was the man again and will wrap up his first MX1 title this weekend in Walton.

In the first MX1 moto at Sand Del Lee, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Dusty “Pug Life” Klatt and hometown hero Tyler “T-Dags” Medaglia were going at it tooth and nail for the lead and there seemed to be nothing that Colton Facciotti could do to gain anything on them.Then there was some major excitement in the first moto when Medaglia tipped over in a turn and Klatt ran into the back of the #13 and tipped over also. The Rekluse clutch set-up once again saved T-Dags some time as his bike kept running, but the two leaders crashed together, in the same turn, allowing Facciotti to grab the lead and go on for the moto win.

As probably most of you reading this know, I brought my buddy Nick Wey of the MDK/KTM team up from Michigan to ride this race. Nick called me and wanted to stay sharp on an off weekend of the U.S. series so I hopped on a plane and went to his house and drove the 11 hours (it didn’t seem that far on the map, like maybe the length of my thumb and forefinger stretched out. Who knew it would be so much driving?) to the track. Nick liked the track, had fun and went 4-5 on the day for 4th OA.

No excuses from the two-seven on the day. He (and I) thought he would do better but bad starts (11th in the second moto) and some fast Canadians conspired on us. I say us because I was granted “team manager” title with Nick’s practice bike mechanic Big Nasty (that’s the name everybody knows him by I guess) and Nick being on my “team.” At no point in either moto was he ahead of Facciotti, Klatt or Medaglia and their sprint speed caught him by surprise. I did notice on the start that pretty much everyone had a “paddle” sand tire on except for Nick. No wonder why he didn’t get the start. But like I said, Nick never had any excuses or put the blame on anything for him not doing as well as expected but he did have fun - I do know that!

Here's Big Nasty cheering Wey on. He did a good job despite his head being on a swivel whenever the ladies raced.

Nick Wey was happy to be in Canada, not so happy with his results. As we were leaving the track, he said he'd like to come back up next year.

Nick mentioned to me that he couldn’t believe how rough the track was. Remember, the AMA guys have been smoothing out the tracks the last couple of years in hopes of getting some closer racing. Wey remarked that “They never even touched the three-foot deep ruts in the back - Canadians are gnarly!”

Anyways, let the internet smack talk begin or continue or whatever, but I thought it took guts for a top rider to show up and race on an off weekend. If he won, everyone would just say that it was no big deal, he was supposed to, and if he loses, he sucks. It was a no-win proposition for Wey but he didn’t care, it was about racing and trying to become a better rider for him. I would bet my favorite dog Hank’s life that there is no other factory rider in America that would drive 11 hours to another country with a practice bike to race a Canadian national on an off weekend. As the kids like to say, mad props to him (and let the “Matthes is an ass kisser thread start in MXforum.com in 5 ... 4 ... 3 … 2 …1).

Dusty “Pug Life” Klatt should be riding for a job more often! He really impressed me this weekend. His foot is either broken, bruised or severed (depending on who you talked to) and he hasn’t been riding during the week much. He went 2-2 last weekend and 3-3 this weekend but led both motos and caught T-Dags in the first moto, crashed, and caught him again. Second moto he was in second for a bit but got a little tired at the end and let Kyle Keast get him for second. Still, I was impressed with his ride from what I saw in Regina and from what people have been telling me.

I heard he’s not coming back to Monster Kawasaki next year along with his teammate Jeff Gibson (more on him later) and I’m sure it was due to his lackluster supercross season more so than his Canadian MX results. You know, when you talk to Dusty, he doesn’t make any excuses really; he admits when he sucks and doesn’t use injuries as a crutch. He’s firmly the second best Canadian rider right now in my opinion.

Klatt probably wishes the series was a little longer, he's riding well at the last two rounds.

Kyle “KD Beets” Beaton was on fire this weekend! Teeny, tiny, eeny, weeny Beets went 1-1 on the day for the MX2 victory. Beaton grabbed both holeshots, led both motos and had about as perfect a day as a rider could have. He wasn’t the fastest guy in practice, but obviously, Beets was saving it for the race. That’s awesome and do you know that out of Beet’s six career moto wins, I’ve been there for four of them? Maybe that’s why, after the race, he told me I have to come to Walton next week.

He looked great on his bike, very fluid, and was making little double jumps out of the sand whoops. Just like a teeny, little bunny rabbit would do. His sprint speed was incredible also. With Beets we all know the speed is there; it's just little mistakes here and there that seem to bite him. Maybe it’s a mental thing; I know he’s switched up his training a bit and also with the title almost out of reach, he’s relaxed a bit more and letting it all hang out loosey-goosey style.

Here's Mike the mechanic hugging Beets after the second moto, glad to see the mechanic/rider relationship is strong here.

Eric Nye’s first moto ride was the stuff that titles are won with (and maybe that’s why at Walton, he’ll clinch the MX2 title). He was wayyyy back and just put his head down and ate sand for 25 minutes to finish fourth. He got third the next time out, finished second overall and is now 43 points up on Beets for the title.

I know that if if’s and butt’s were candies and nuts, but what if Beets bike hadn’t broken or he hadn’t gone off into the giggle weeds in Regina and hit a rock? Also, what if Jeremy Medaglia had kept it together all year? We’d have a great battle, but hey, Nye’s a veteran and deserves this title.

Tyler “T-Dags” Medaglia and Jeremy “Jr . Dags” Medaglia both had a bad day. Sure they both got a second in one moto in their respective classes, but the brothers are very fast and were riding a track they practice on almost every week. They probably have 8 million combined laps on the sandy circuit so if they both went 1-1 on the day, no one in the pits would’ve been surprised. And after practice, when they both had the best qualifying time in their classes, it looked like the number one movie on this day would be “Attack of the Killer Dags.”

Dunno if it was the hometown pressure or what, but both guys crashed out; Jeremy in the first moto while running second (I heard he had bike problems too) and Tyler in the second while running third. Too bad for the boys; I think they’re both going to be fine. I was speaking to Tyler before the race and told him that no matter what happened to him the rest of the year, he should be happy and proud of his season. He’s been a real surprise.

The Newf, The Newf, the Newf is on fire! Ryan Lockhart showed a lot of “heart” by rocking out to a second-place in the first moto and it was his best ride of the year. He finished fifth in the second moto but lost out on third OA when he came up short in the points with the worst second moto finish of him, Nye and Teddy Maier. Poor Newf. He probably had a podium bonus in his contract and now is going to have to pack some more 661 stuff over the winter. I heard he’s back with KTM next year on a 450 all season and I think that’s a good move for both parties.

Lockhart was really good this weekend and never gave up. No more "rockstar" talk about the Newf.

I also would like to thank Andy White at KTM Canada for the help this weekend. He came over and offered up his parts to “Team Two-Seven" (that’s for you Gauldy) and we took advantage of the foam, handguards and some kind of ground wire for the battery on the KTM 450 SX.

What is up with Jeff Gibson? Man, he’s having a rough year. He was running second or third in the first moto and got lapped! He’s holeshot a few races, but finished way back, and to me, there’s no reason that Jeff Freaking Gibson should be doing so bad, he’s a better rider than that. I’ve seen him ride his whole career and he’s a real nice guy and I feel bad for bagging on him but what’s going on under that Monster Kawasaki tent?

Speaking of Monster Kawasaki, I spoke to top people at both the Monster Kawi team and the Leading Edge Kawasaki 250F team and they’re both claiming that they are coming back and they are going to have the 450 team for Kawasaki. Both teams say that they’ve both been told that by Kawasaki so it should be interesting to see what’s actually going to happen come 2009. Hope they both stay!

Canadian off-road hero, Guy Giroux, showed up to sharpen his motocross skills and I think he did pretty good. For a guy that’s used to going through trees, he scored a point in the first moto. Running number 801 and probably acting crazier than an Alessi family member, Guy kept asking me to work on his bike for him. When I said I’m now a manager, he called me bad names that I can’t repeat here. Anyways, anyone who knows Guy, knows that he’s nuttier then a poop-house rat but it was still cool to see him out there.

In the second moto when it came to gate pick time, Nick was probably off peeing so I chose his gate for him. But when he ran back, he wanted a different one. It must’ve looked like it was taken with all the people around and the privateer dudes weren’t even looking to get this sweet gate. I offered it up to Giroux but he said he “wasn’t fast enough for that spot!” The lucky benefactor was Chuck “Number one with a coke” Mesley and he was laughing that he snagged such a good spot.

You know what surprised me a bit? All the people, like CMRC’s Brett Lee, Mark Stallybrass, Travers and Koster coming over to Nick and thanking him for coming. It seemed to me that the fans, track owners and CMRC people were excited and appreciative that Wey showed up to race. Nobody cared how he did or whatever, they just thought it was cool and wanted to tell him. And I thought that was cool.

One time, Nick told me that “That Bruce Lee guy is a good guy.” Also, I should say thanks to the CMRC for letting us run Nick’s AMA number 27 at the race. That was a nice gesture. As was Brett providing all the info we needed and answering all the questions we had.

There was a team manager's meeting on Sunday morning, but I skipped it thinking it was about next week’s race in Walton and other trivial things. I got the low down later that one thing that was discussed was the ban the CMRC guys put on trackside team people “cheering” on the riders. I saw JSR in Regina sprinting around the track like a white tailed deer (good thing it wasn’t my job to do that. I’d pass out after 5 minutes of running like JSR was) signaling to the Yamaha guys which line to take in corners and things like that. Then I heard from another manager that Medaglia’s dad has all these baseball type signs to his boys about what’s going on around them. (I also heard some teams are upset that Kyle Keast’s dad has secret signals to Kyle, but turns out he’s just pointing out the general direction the Tim Horton’s is that they are hitting 07 seconds upon leaving the track)  The CMRC got some complaints and put a ban on cheering or gesturing to the riders in any way. I think it’s a good rule because where does the signaling stop, y’know? But they should allow non-team personal to cheer on riders because after all, we’re all still friends with the guys out on the track.

I still saw JSR rooting guys on in the first moto. However, I did not see the signaling I saw in Regina. He was actually cheering Wey on as well as Colton and some French dudes. Classy guy that JSR!

Welder Boy came on strong in the second moto. If you look close you can probably see a Timbit stuffed somewhere for a mid-moto snack.

Kyle “Welder Boy” Keast rode great this week again. Man, he tears it up on the sand tracks, doesn’t he? His second moto ride was awesome to watch and he got third OA on the day. I really hope he gets a ride next year and dedicates himself to training and riding non-stop. I think he could do even better than what he does now. I was so hungry on Sunday after practice that I went over to the Keast pits looking for some Timbits, but they were out (Kyle said he sure could use some also) so I went to Beets' pits and Shane Weibe gave me a juicy burger.

Wey bought some groceries but only had ham for me and said “hands off the turkey” so that’s what forced me to go and forge for myself.

Here’s a conversation Nick and I had on the drive home"

Nick: “Hey, what’s with that Keast guy, what’s his deal?”
Me: “He’s a privateer doing well, good on sand tracks, in good shape and an up and coming guy that has a real job as a roofer or welder or something.”

Nick: “Oh like in the off season he has a job?”
Me: “No, no, like right now. He works 40 hrs and takes vacation time or whatever to make it to the races.”

Nick: “What??? For reals? Man, that guy is even more impressive ... you’re kidding, right?”

I hope that Keast shows up at Southwick in two weeks. I made some calls to get him a pro license, Beet’s style, but it might be too late for entries. I hope to see him there. I wonder if the lack of Tim Horton’s will factor in the decision to go or not?

Leading Edge had a good day, kinda. “Terrible” Teddy Maier grabbed third OA and BC’s Broc Hoyer had his best finish of the season with a seventh OA. The luck continues to go bad for Nick Evennou as he had bike problems again. It’s either him or the bike, something blows up every weekend for the kid. He’s fast but has really only been a factor in two races this season.

Broc Hoyer had his best race of the year. Who knew that BC boys could ride in the sand?

Nick’s mechanic, Big Nasty, was very impressed with the quality of the Canadian women’s racers. He made more than a few statements on this fact. He was distracted quite a bit while working on the bike, but in the end, did a flawless job. B. Nast also had good things to say about the series, remarking that “it feels like a local race where everybody is cool but there’s also hot chicks racing.”

Mitch Cooke looked pretty good also. He may be coming around right in time for the series to end. I haven’t heard what he’s doing next year. Is he staying or going?

He types! He edits! He races pro! He’s Danny Brault! (Hey, that rhymes!) The RXC editor went out and, despite a really late night out on the town that would make the Marlboro Man proud, he put it in the show and went 27-37 for, well, I really don’t know what he got overall. Good for you, Danny. You just giver.

Two-time Canadian MX2 champion Michael Willard showed up on his off weekend also to do battle with the Northern Warriors. Willard, despite having Todd Kuli spin the wrenches, did pretty good going 7-6 on the day wearing his sweet Moose gear riding a Yamaha 450. Down south, Willard has improved his results since switching to the 450 class and it was cool to see him show up.

The guys at Racer X Illustrated in Morgantown are taking notice of the Canadian series. In the new issue with Charlie Brown on the cover (?!?) there is a feature penned by Brault on the series up north and look for the Wey/Matthes/Big Nasty journey to Canada story to be in a RXI in your mailbox soon.

That’s it, that’s all I got. Considering I wasn’t going to do a Observations column, I think I did pretty good. It's 3,200 words and if you ask me, all quality words at that. Email me if you want at matthes@racerxcanada.com and tell me what you think about motocross, Sand De Lee, Dusty Klatt, Nick Wey or your theory on why George Lucas made Stormtroopers human in the very first Star Wars and robots later on.