Faces at the Races | 2025 Calgary MX National

I know, Kevin Tyler, I’m getting to this column as fast as I can!

The weekend started off with the Press Conference at the Hotel Blackfoot. WLTN Kawasaki’s Brett Lee was the MC for the proceedings.

A few WMX West riders took to the stage first.

Then the expected key players in the 250 Pro Am class took the stage and fielded questions.

Next it was the 450 class.

Team owners/managers got their chance, too.

New dad Tanner Ward.

In case anyone was wondering, this is why I rounded 3rd base and went for home on the play…

Wyatt Kerr kept his knee injury a pretty good secret heading into Round 1. At this point, there was still a chance he raced in Calgary.

You can always count on Ben showing up at any race, anywhere, anytime.

Team Canada MXON’s Kourtney Lloyd absolutely loves public speaking.

She did great, talking about what she has in store for fundraising for the team this season.

Kyle Thompson wears a lot of different hats at the races these days.

Dylan and Jade Wright probably looking at what DMX posted most recently…

I can honestly say that every WMX rider we interview for our ‘Out of the Blue’ column from the west mentions Danika White’s input to the health of women’s racing n Canada.

Don’t work too hard, Palms.

It’s always great to see my old friend John Meaney in Calgary and wherever else he decides to show up.

Paul Puky will work for and defend Wild Rose to the end, I can tell you that!

Julien Cerny. He missed qualifying by just one spot so he loaded everything into his panel van only to find out Charlie Johnson wasn’t going to race due to bike troubles. He off loaded everything and away he wet to the gate. He’s scored 26-DNF. He just told me this: “I sat out the second moto for a few reasons- track was very demanding and technical quite slick with the watering which gave me enough excitement for the day and my brother kept telling me about this great battle between Pettis and Dylan so I wanted to see it for myself and boy they did not disappoint!”

#31 Gavin Brough from Nevada (left) and #397 Dakota Bender from California. 8-7 put Gavin 7th but it wasn’t a banner year at the Bender house… (Google it, Bowker!) 30-DNF.

#35 Clayton Schmucki (left) had a good day, going 9-9 for 9th in the 250 class. His little bro, #315 Trey Schmucki, finished 4-6 for 4th on his Supermini in the Premix class.

Wyatt will rest up that busted knee cap and come back swinging at Ste Julie.

His 250 Priority MX teammate #93 Cole Pranger had a solid debut, going 13-11 for 11th.

It’s great to have #28 Sam Gaynor and his dad, Jeff Gaynor, back at the races in the big boy class. Sam had a solid 2nd moto and was 10th overall (13-9).

Seth Hughes was just here to hang out. He’s busy getting ready to head to Loretta Lynn’s.

#10 Hannah Cole from Nova Scotia was just off the podium in 4th with 4-4 motos. She definitely wants to step onto the box.

WLTN Kawasaki’s Crew Chief (I don’t know what fancy name they’ve whipped up, to be honest), Steve Simms. I’ve heard things like Team Principle (pal?) thrown around.

Over the years, I’ve found Americans to be extremely open to chatting when you’re one on one. #55 Nicolas Inman’s dad was in this category. Tough one for Nick though, going 25-28 for 29th in the 450 class.

With at least 2 fractures in his back on May 10th in Salt Lake City, it’s remarkable how fast #54 Dylan Walsh was in Calgary. He looks like someone and I’ll figure it out…

#6 Ryder McNabb really put on a show at the front and this should be a long, tough summer for him against Preston Kilroy.

That’s Travis Gibbs helping out his big brother #22 Tyler Gibbs. Tyler made more passes than just about anyone on Sunday. 7-7 put him 7th.

Ulf Viney is a guy you want to sit and have a beer with. Originally from Ottawa, they call Murrieta, California, home now.

If he sees this in time, I wonder if he can bring us some meat to Cold Lake. Word has it Papa Schmucki is a world-renowned butcher!

Justin Roney slid over from KTM Canada to take charge of the Priority GasGas team.

There were some new faces for me this week. That’s #318 Seth Crotty from Vancouver, WA. That’s basically where Washougal is.He finished 20-20 for 21st.

#74 Alex gatt from Penticton, BC finished 17th (18-17). More on the Gatt family later…

#975 Corentin Dietz barely made it to the line this week after motor issues. Unfortunately…

…he had some more.

Score the first victory to #80 Preston Kilroy over teammate #12 Sebastien Racine.

Sebastien finished 4-6 for 5th.

1-1 put Preston, you guessed it, 1st. Look for some red and blue in Cold Lake.

#58 Liam Dodds is from Revelstoke, BC. 14-15 put him 14th.

I really didn’t think we’d see the Ufimzeffs at the races yet. Zach isn’t quite himself yet, but 11-10 is a step in the right direction for him, that’s for sure.

Tough start for #700 Bobby Gravel. He crashed hard on lap 1 of moto 1 and headed back to the pits. He came back and was 13th which pushed him all the way up to 16th overall.

Don’t look now but we’ve got another videographer on the scene! That’s young Dexter Seitz getting the shots.

#574 Charles Charlton made it to the races thanks to the help of the Gatt family. There are a lot of good people in our sport. Charles is scored 32-29 for 29th.

#828 is Jadon Lehtonen from Tiny, Ontario. I’d have to Google that. He was 23rd (22-21).

And #615 is Damon McGuigan from Rocky Mountain House. 27th for Damon.

That’s not Jared Stock. That’s Josh McBride from Enumclaw, WA in 31st.

#277 Seth Unrau from Stanley, MB was 26th.

When Jim Frederickson looks at you like this before a race, you go out and give it 100%. That meant 16-14 for 15th for #120 Jacob Frederickson.

#317 Matthew Stokes is one “tall drink of water” as someone said. 18th for Matthew out of Manitoba.

Always great to see Lee Jenkinson. You won’t find many people with more “stoke” than him.

Anticipation and nerves will make you yawn. It can also be for another reason, but I’m hoping that’s not you right now…

Sure, I put my helmet on one strap at a time but when I do it I go out and lead pro motos. (SNL skit bastardization)

#29 Phil Nicoletti was not a huge fan of the track prep for moto 1.

One of the hardest-working men in Pro Motocross, #18 Parker Eales. He’s already back at day 2 of work as you read this after going 7-8 for 8th.

Not sure what Gavin’s plans are but I hope we see him more this summer.

Dakota needs some redemption after Round 1.

#737 Tee Perrott was finished 15-20 for 19th.

#121 is Kale Cuthbertson. He finished 22nd.

#84 Tanner Ward hit the ground 3 times in moto 1 for 9th. He came back and rode with some anger, finishing up in 5th place for 6th overall.

Watch for #107 Lars Van Berkel from The Netherlands to keep moving up in the standings. He finished 6-12 for 9th.

#14 Quinn Amyotte is such a great addition to the 450 class. He looked comfortable out there taking 4th with 4-6 motos.

Sam came out swinging in moto 2. He finished 13-9 for 10th.

It’s also good to see #482 Teren Gerber back and in the 450 class. 14-14 for 14th.

We should be talking about #377 Daniel Elmore in the top 5 but a chain issue took him out of moto 2. 5-DNF for 13th.

#292 Payton “Moon Unit” Morningstar grew up spending his time racing down south so it’s great to see him racing our series. 17-15 for 16th.

#44 Noah Porter is quietly getting faster. 11-13 put him 12th.

One of my top stories of the weekend was the return of #102 Jared Allison (left) with his brother Bryton Allison by his side.

Watching Hangtown from the MX101 pits on Saturday.

Saturday was Amateur Day. There’s a reason people sometimes refer to Edmonton as “Edmonchuk.” Lots of eastern European families immigrated to the Alberta region. My uncle is from Poland and his last name is Swiergosz. He went to Kirkland Lake, ON but most of his family is in Alberta.

There was some concern that the first tunnel jump was a little narrower than it should be. Paul Kingsley pulled out the measuring tape, and you know what? It was.

Saturday night, the wind really kicked up and did some damage in the pits. I know the AVL team lost their awning and Red Bull KTM suffered EZ Up damage too. This brings us to Sunday…

“Have you tried the Boston Calder?!” Boston is back from his stint in Europe and started his own suspension company called Devco. And yes, that’s Shawn Maffenbeier keeping an eye on Keylan Meston out on the track.

I enjoy our witty back and forth banter, so I’m going to call #50 Crayden Dillon a sandbagger for racing the PreMix class. He seems happy though.

Kourtney will be set up with her MXON tent selling merch that will help fund Team Canada at Ironman MX this fall. Be sure to check it out.

You can win this cool Jess Pettis muffler too!

$#591 Rylan Pozdnekoff moved his way forward in the PreMix class and found himself on the podium in 3rd.

The class is an interesting juxtaposition of riders. That’s young hotshot #226 Jonathan Bergeron who got 2nd.

And who knew Alec “Hell Ya!” Belyea was an on-air personality?!

Jim Scott is helping out Crayden Dillon.

Tanner Scott has his own guy now but was still there to cheer his buddy on.

Premix podium: Crayden Dillon, Jonathan Bergeron, Rylan Pozdnekoff.

#3 Kaylie Kayer dislocated her hip 6 weeks ago so she isn’t exactly where she’d like to be as this WMX West series gets underway. She was pretty upset at not winning but watch for her to be even stronger this weekend at the double-header in Cold Lake.

Tea Ferguson crashed and sat out this race. She took over as official Ferguson Photographer, making her the busiest of the day!

Her sister #4 Katrine Ferguson took the Round 1 win. Here’s her Fox Racing Canada sponsor JC Seitz congratulating her on the 1-1 motos.

I think I was most impressed with the improvements made bu #17 Destiny Slingerland. She was in the mix all day and took 2nd.

You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Ferguson!

The Slingerlands lost young Jason Slingerland in 2023. Destiny was racing for him.

Who knew that both Stacey and I were born in North Bay?!

Strong work, Hell Ya! And thank you for still making sure I got my results printouts at the end of the day. What a guy! 1-1 for “Kitty” at Round 1. She should be difficult to beat until Kayer is up to strength.

I really like this. That’s an Eve Brodeur jersey Kitty sits beneath for inspiration. I don’t know who took this photo but Sylvain Brodeur sent it to me.

WMX Round 1 podium: Katrine Ferguson, Destiny Slingerland, Kaylie Kayer.

Team Ferguson.

And look who was in the house! That’s Candice and Trever Cerny of the Devil’s Lake Team fame. Can you believe it’s been since 2015?! They told me they were going to have Josh Clark on the line for them THIS year but Josh just had a baby!