Faces at the Races | MX Deschambault | Leatt

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To start things off, let me just say that MX Deschambault had more fans than all the other rounds put together, and likely then some. Congratulations on what had to be a very successful event!

The week started with the ECAN and I’m sure it helped everyone relax knowing we had Ron Cameron and his team watching over everyone’s safety.

Hey, there’s Ron now! See you at the TransCan next.

I always have to snap an official shot of Gilles Braun to start the week.

We’d be here all day if I posted every shot from the ECAN, but this little guy, #510 Ryder Baribeau, was a stand-out in the 50cc class! Let’s keep an eye on this young fella from Brockville, ON.

A very concerned look on #9 Chandler Powell’s face.

#19 Deagan Gibney from Mission, BC went 1-1-1 in the 85 (7-11) class. Watch for him at the TransCan.

Let’s assume the AVL gang either got a smoking deal on these or a refund…

#226 Jonathan Bergeron and #667 Tyler Kirby went at it tooth and nail all week. Nice to see them sitting next to each other after a battle. Tyler is down at Loretta Lynn’s right now.

A smile from Lauren Valentim before #64 Wyatt Kerr hits the track in the Pro Am class.

Jeff Gaynor gave me the full rundown on the Fasst Company Flex Handlebars that are helping #28 Sam Gaynor hold on. Compression, rebound…very adjustable.

#118 Chris DaSilva goes with Frenchies. His brother, #117 Michael DaSilva goes with Rottweilers. More on Michael later…

It’s great to see PJ Stratton back at the races. Both he and his son #194 Patrick Stratton are on the track.

That’s Zach Ufimzeff. He’s still nursing that broken collarbone.

It always amazes me to see bikes down to the frame the day before a race. I’d miss a lot of races…

Bummer for #4 Katrine Ferguson. A Vet rider cut in front of her during practice on Tuesday and she went down hard and messed up her shoulder. You still can’t remove her smile though!

Seeing this just makes me feel old.

We had a storm roll through one night and we lost a lot of EZ Ups. What do a divorce in West Virginia and a tornado in Oklahoma have in common? Either way, someone’s losing a trailer!

#60 Riley Brough was back in action after burning his lower back. It still looked pretty painful.

Usually no riding pics in these columns, but Tyler Gravel rode in his big brother Bobby Gravel’s gear, so he gets in. There’s a Go Fund Me started to help Louanne and Eric Gravel stay in Quebec City while they wait for Bobby to improve: GoFundMe

Waiting to hit the Pee Wee track.

I asked if he came up short or OJ’d. It was an OJ situation.

I always get a laugh when people from Saskatchewan think anyone else in Canada cares about the CFL. Did I say that? Just kidding, Daryl Murphy.

Breanna Rose-Hamm cheering on #136 Derek Hamm. Shameless plug in 3, 2, 1… You know you can get Dirt Care stuff at Hudson’s where Breanna works, right?

This is what #861 Lincoln Green looks like. A few of us were found looking at the live timing trying to figure out who he was and why we knew nothing about this fast and stylish rider from Lake Country, BC. The kid rips and appears to be a bit of a character.

There’s music that goes with Ryan Lockhart’s walk here, but I can’t think of what it is.

James “Nothing Is Cool” Lissimore. Just kidding. He knows I’M cool.

As I type this caption, Tyler Kirby just finished 38th in Schoolboy 1 moto 1. Not sure what happened, but I know JD was wearing a DMX/Team Canada MXON tee shirt!

#150 Dexter Seitz and JC Seitz waiting to talk with Mathieu Gervais.

Getting this little rider back in the race. Or trying to coax something out that they dropped in the frame. Maybe that’s just how I work on a bicycle…

Quite a few riders fell victim to the big double. #126 Ayrton Pomeroy was one of them. Hopefully it’s not a scaphoid, but he’ll find out more this week.

It was cool to see Marvin Musquin back in Canada again. He raced Walton last year and even did Tanner Ward’s ‘Ride with Me’ fundraiser bike ride, too. He helped hand out a few awards at the ECAN.

Uh uh, trouble with the ultra-busy 250 Junior results… They got it sorted.

Jacob Thibault addressing the awards crowd.

Watch out because #212 Nico Holmes a very good on the 450!

The deep, wet sand took a toll on bikes last week.

These guys thought this was hilarious. I didn’t have the heart to tell them I didn’t know what it meant. Actually, without looking, I think it means “Try Harder”? Google Translate says it means “Grows Stronger.” I think I’m right.

Current rippers and possible future champions.

There’s a lot to break down here. First, there’s no way he’s got a Supra from that year. Second…ah, never mind.

They went to a traditional Sunday morning riders meeting. They always start with Paul Kingsley.

And end with riders full of race day nerves.

#213 Hayden Dupuis has made the commitment to MX and will leave GNCC alone for a while, is what I’m told.

Noah Viney thought his row was going to get to leave early if he sat politely. Do students even care about anything anymore?

Marco Dubé is the man behind MD Distribution. His son #41 Alexy Dubé is another reason he’s at the races these days.

Another hair shot.

#54 Dylan Walsh and #981 Ryder Malinoski. Man, Dylan’s bike wouldn’t have made it 2 more corners in moto 1, but he didn’t care, he was going for it.

I can’t help but feel like I’m the butt of some #131 Adrian Malaval and #107 Lars Van Berkel joke here. On his week off, Lars will head home and race the MXGP at Lommel. Ouch.

#14 Quinn Amyotte has fit into the 450 upper echelon quite nicely. He sits 4th, just 1 points out of 3rd.

I think #315 Cody Groves missed his decade. He would have fit right in back in the 1970’s I think. What a character. He rode an old 10 speed in shorts and no helmet all the way to Tim Hortons just for a coffee.

#427 Alek Guadagno just turned 14 recently. Yep, it’s true. He’s got top 5 Pro speed already but has been dealing with a string of bad racing luck. It will make him stronger as he progresses in his career.

Steve Simms grabbing some 7:30am poutine? I actually brought home a huge pie plate of the stuff and we ate it last night.

Don’t look now, but it looks like we could lose both our titles to the Americans this season.

That’s #37 Kyle Murdoch and his dad. They’re enjoying their time up here in Canada this summer. Kyle sits 11th in the 250 class but is shooting to crack the top 10 after Walton.

#3 Kaylie Kayer sits alone in 2nd place, but she’s a full 40 points back.

It was great to see #355 Joey Crown back in Canada. He showed up to race a 250 2-stroke in the 250 class but when it blew up he found himself on a 150 out there.

I gave #610 Hayden Halstead the Ryno Power ‘Privateer Performance of the Week’ in the 250 class.

Tanner was pretty upset about having to give the position back to Lars in moto 1, and I think he’s got a pretty strong case. He said he’ll do whatever it takes at the final round next week.

That’s #148 Jayden Riley. He grabbed a title at the ECAN. I didn’t see what happened in moto 1 but he came back for a 19th in 250 moto 2.

Jay DaSilva popped a pretty sweet wheelie in the next photo, but it was even more out of focus than this one! Sorry.

Irrefutable evidence of #sasquatch alive and living near a #motocross track just north of the St Lawrence River, west of Quebec City.

I followed its tracks but lost them in the dense woods and muskeg that surrounds this sub-tundra area of North America.

It was muttering something about a spark plug, as far as I could make out.

#94 Kiana Kurtz is now racing at Loretta Lynn’s. She made a sweet last corner pass to take 17th in WMX moto 1 at The Ranch.

We had fly-overs and helicopters this week!

It was great to see Eve Brodeur back on the line again to run her 1W. If you look closely you can see the scrape under her right eye from her qualifying crash with Hannah Cole. Eve landed on the podium in 3rd with 3-4 motos.

It was also nice to see #241 Sarah-Kim Villeneuve back on the gate. She finished 10-6 for 8th.

I couldn’t believe how many riders did this with their hair. #10 Braxton Zeitner is so fast, he could shave his hair all of and still look cool. Wait a second…

A ‘Kids in the Hall’ skit premise would be about squishing Jonathan’s head here… OK, I’m old!

That’s #5 Zach Phifer.

Hey, Kornel Nemeth, you seeing this? #34 Blake Davies looks like you on a bike!

When Colten Garden comes at you, they say the best thing you can do is make yourself as big as you can. It doesn’t always scare him off though.

Not sure what Steve Simms and Phil Nicoletti are talking about here, but they head to Walton Raceway with a 10-point lead over #84 Tanner Ward in the 450 class.

It was great to have #519 Josh Cartwright back in Canada racing. He finished 9-8 for 8th too! If anyone has a Kawasaki 450 he could ride, he’d love to race Walton too.

#1E Jamie Astudillo has quietly posted nothing but 1’s across the board in the East.

Daryl is a big “Green and Black” fan.

Pretty cool for Mathieu to be able to interview Marvin Musquin.

Cayden Dillon looked concerned when Mathieu asked if he’s been cycling enough this summer.

Mathilde Musquin was also in Quebec.

Cale Foster and Jess Pettis going over the plan for more racing with one arm.

Daniel Thibault always thanks everyone for coming to his race, but I think he made it through it without tears this time. I was disappointed.

I hope Mathieu remembered to remove the spell on Jacob Thibault and Daniel before he left!

1980’s Madonna would call this “striking a pose.”

“There’s nothing to it…”

That’s Jonathan Bergeron’s mom. I can’t believe I’d never even met her before!

Hey Brandon Rodwell, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is, you made it into one of these. The bad news is, well…

JSR surveying the land. He gave me a sarcastic laugh when I pointed out it was actually this tree marking the track and said, “Only in Quebec…”

Even Kaven Benoit jumped on the bleach bandwagon. But I think he really should have shaved it down.

Of course, they had a #1 jersey ready and waiting for Preston Kilroy. Yes, he clinched the title heading into Walton. 450 at Walton to try to gain Jess more points? I say yes.

I got a tap on my shoulder and turned to see this gentleman. Do you know who it is? It took me a minute. I think the last time I saw Alex Laliberté was when he won Open Intermediate at the TransCan back in…2009! Great to see he’s happy and doing well.

That’s new mom Claudie Lissimore.

Look out, here comes another shameless plug! That’s Tanner Ward tossing out some Dirt Care swag. The Priority MX team ran special Dirt Care graphics this week.

At the end of our interview Sunday, Phil snuck in an “I still owe you!” After walking away, I thought about what I should have said. It should have gone like this: “Ya, you owe me your street cred!” Boom.

Another one of Daniel. Why not?

And Daniel’s better half.

#46 Nathan Germain is from just north of Quebec City and looked at home on the track. He finished an impressive 5-6 for 6th.

#58 Liam Dodds was all 15’s.

#185 is Max Sanford from Maryland. He made up for his first moto with a 9th in the 2nd.

#85 Joe Tait actually rode off the track and gave me a high five in Q1. It was hilarious.

Checking to see if this photo was up on DMX yet.

I had to check Live Timing to figure out that #59 is James Harrington from either Maine or Massachusetts. He was 10th in moto 1 but was a DNS in moto 2.

Well, you can throw #117 Michael DaSilva’s name onto the list of riders hurt by the big jump. He broke his tib/fib in 3 places and needed surgery. Hope you’re feeling better, Michael.

#515 Anthony Lebel spends the winters racing snowmobiles. He didn’t make the Fast 30 this week.

The Spadaccinis. Anthony ended up also not making the motos.

I assume Brandon Keene normally rides #185 or 195? Either way, this kept throwing me off.

Yo know who doesn’t like the Europeans coming over here and stealing our money and trophies?

This guy.

I’m just kidding. 377 Daniel Elmore was 5th in moto 1 but then had a clutch problem that took him out of moto 2 on lap 1. Oh, it you found a GoPro on the track, it was Daniel’s.

Ayrton telling Josh what not to do over the big double.

Bennet “Larry” Amyotte with Quinn’s 450. Quinn ended up 7-7 for 7th. Go buy a lottery ticket, Quinn!

Priority MX Team Manager, Justin Roney.

You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a budding videographer at the races these days!

#71 Preston Masciangelo pre-motos. He ended up frying his clutch late in moto 1 and didn’t have time to get it all sorted before moto 2.

#28 Sam Gaynor is one of the toughest riders at the track. He jammed his back and still tried to race. His dad said, “If you can’t get on the bike yourself you can’t race.” I watched him fight and struggle until he crawled onboard. He paid for it though. They’ll head to the doctor to make sure it’s just muscular.