Frid’Eh Update #19 Presented by Mongoose Machine

Frid’Eh Update #19 Presented by Mongoose Machine

By Jeff McConkey and Billy Rainford

Week #19 goes out to California rider, Austin Politelli. – Bigwave photo

Welcome to Week #19 of the DMX Frid’Eh Update this week presented by Mongoose Machine. In 2015, the rider who would be running the famous hockey number, 19, would have been California rider and former MX2 Canadian Champion, Austin Politelli. Seriously, you have to be good to wear #19 in hockey…look it up!

Austin came up to Canada in 2011 and finished 3rd in the MX2 championship behind Tyler Medaglia and Kaven Benoit. Politelli’s only overall that first summer was at Gopher Dunes. Austin came back in 2013 and let the field know he meant business at the very first round at The Wastelands in Nanaimo, BC by taking the overall (1-2).

He looked like he had the potential to run the table in 2013 and he would go on to win Kamloops, Calgary, Sand Del Lee, and Moncton, en route to winning the 2013 MX2 title.

He came back again last summer in an attempt to defend his #1 plate and cap off his 250 racing with another title, but had what can only be described as an ‘off ‘ summer. His 2014 result sheet looks like this: 3rd, 7th, 8th, 3rd, 11th, 3rd, DNF, DNF, DNS, DNS.

He left the series prematurely and headed home to California. We caught up with him briefly. Here’s what he had to say:

Direct Motocross: I know you’re probably over this story now, but could you tell us how your 2014 summer went up here in Canada?

Austin Politelli: I just had an off year in 2014. That’s really all I can say.

This week’s Update is presented by Mongoose Machine and INNTECK BRAKES.

This week, the Update is brought to you by Mongoose Machine and InnTeck Braking Products in Port Coquitlam, BC. Mongoose is a one-stop shop for all of your Powersports machining needs offering in-house cylinder plating, crankshaft rebuilding, 4-stroke head rebuilding, cylinder boring and sleeving. They carry Wiseco, Pro-X and Kibblewhite products and are the Canadian Distributor for Rekluse clutch products and SKF two wheeler sealing solutions.

The latest product line Mongoose has taken on is the InnTeck branded braking products, which includes oversize front rotor kits, vented and solid rear rotors and brake pads. This great product line offers excellent performance and quality at a very reasonable price.

The InnTeck rotors are the choice of the Canada’s Motorcycle / FXR / MX101 / Yamaha team and will be the standard equipment all season for Jimmy Decotis, Dylan Wright and Kris Keefer.

Jeff McConkey

Lucas Oil AMA Outdoor Championships

Hey, guys. Its Friday, May 15th, and that means the Great Outdoors starts tomorrow. The Lucas Oil AMA Outdoor Nationals start tomorrow! It doesn’t get much better than that. Both classes have the reigning champions returning to defend their respected number 1 plates. In 250 action, Jeremy Martin will look to bounce back from a so-so SX season, and try to keep his red number 1 plates. Newly crowned 250 West champion Cooper Webb and 250 East champ Marvin Musquin will obviously have something to say about that. Throw in a finally healthy Adam Cianciarulo and we are in for one heck of a summer.

In the 450 class, defending champion Ken Roczen will have his hands full with the likes of Ryan Dungey, Eli Tomac, Trey Canard, and Blake Baggett, to name a few. We will still be missing the legendary James Stewart Jr., but we can now throw a wild card in the mix. That wild card just happens to be former World Champion Christophe Pourcel. It doesn’t get much better than that. Plus, if you are looking for a little drama, I am sure the Davi Millsaps / Factory Kawasaki issue may heat up. Will Davi find a ride? Will he show up on his own privateer Suzuki? Only time will tell. Here are my Hangtown predictions for the overalls:

250 Class

1st Cooper Webb
2nd Adam Cianciarulo
3rd Jeremy Martin
4th Zach Osbourne
5th RJ Hampsire

450 Class

1st Eli Tomac
2nd Ryan Dungey
3rd Ken Roczen
4th Blake Baggett
5th Josh Grant

Rockstar Energy MX Nationals

With the AMA Outdoors starting up this weekend, that means our own Rockstar Energy MX Nationals are just around the corner. I don’t think we have ever had this much talent in our series at one time. It’s going to be stacked! Top 5’s will be a super-tough chore and every position will mean something. Unfortunately, Dylan Kaelin was injured during a pre-season team photo shoot. Dylan is one of the hardest-working guys out there, and seems to have finally found a good home with the Devil’s Lake MX Team. It’s got to be a huge letdown for Dylan, but don’t fool yourself. DK will bust his ass and be back better than ever in 2016. Keep your head up, Dylan, it’s just a bump in the road. Is it just me or is the number 8 bad luck? When is the last time we have seen it in our series. We’ve been missing the number quite a bit the last few years. Let’s just hope it’s a coincidence.

MMRS KTM Provincial Series

Round 3 of the MMRS KTM Provincial Series goes off this weekend in Madoc, Ontario. It’s a fun, fast track with flow that will make any level rider smile. The track is located in the town’s fair grounds. How cool is that? Not often does a town open up their arms to motocross racers. Well, this great town does, over and over again. It really goes to show you something about the quality of the club and the great people behind it. If you haven’t already, you really need to give the MMRS club a shot. You won’t be disappointed.

MADOC PRACTICE AND RACE SCHEDULE

Sunday 7:45 a.m. Riders Meeting
8:00 a.m. Manditory Practice starts ( 3 laps )
1. Big Bikes, C & D
2. Ladies A, 80’s 12-16
3. 60’s, 80’s 7-11, Girls 9-13, Ladies B
4. Vet 30, 40, 50 A & B
5. 50’s, Girls 4-8
6. Big Bikes, A & B

Short and sweet again for me this week. Be sure to check out my Out Of The Blue with Natalie Bruno, and my On The Radar featuring one of the nicest young racers you’ll ever meet, Jamie Baskerville. Have a great long weekend and always remember to #smileforBC!

Billy Rainford

Thanks, Jeff. Yes, this is one of the 3 huge weekends of the year: A1, Hangtown, and Kamloops. Yes, there are lots of other big races on the calendar, but when we’re on the eve of one of these events, it’s just different. So, we find ourselves sitting here on the day before round 1 of the Lucas Oil AMA Outdoor Championships at Hangtown in Sacramento, California.

Jeff mentioned some of the key riders but there is also a contingent of Canadian-connected riders racing Saturday. Here is a list of riders you should keep your eyes on:

450

24 Brett Metcalfe

84 Jesse Wentland

131 Noah McConahy

204 David Gassin

618 Sylvain Le Gad

670 Dylan Schmoke

Keylon Meston

250

497 Brock Leitner

Head over to www.promotocross.com for some Press Day photos HERE.

Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Schedule

Our buddies out in Yorkton, SK are having an Open House and Sale Saturday. Check ’em out if you’re in the area.

Jimmy Decotis Testing in Canada

It’s always exciting this time of year when we start learning who’s coming up form down south to challenge for a Canadian title. In the last few years, names like Goerke, Metcalfe, Politelli, Wentland, and Alessi have gotten everyone questioning whether ‘our guys’ had what it takes to compete with these stars.

This year, we’ve now got New England’s Jimmy Decotis coming up to ride for the Canada’s Motorcycle FXR Yamaha MX2 team out of MX101. Our buddy Tyler Spikman headed to Ottawa early in the week to shoot their team photos and then a few pics of Jimmy at Sand Del Lee were leaked yesterday.

Here are the 4 ‘spy photos’ we got our hands on from test day:

According to someone who was there, Jimmy loves the new Yamaha and feels he can climb all over the thing without any trouble. Someone else who was there was quoted as saying, “Jimmy D was hauling the mail” at Sand Del Lee! When we ambushed him at the East Rutherford SX he was very approachable and said he was really looking forward to this opportunity. Will he win? Who knows, but he will definitely be in the hunt!

Carl Bastedo in Stephen King’s Christine

Or was it ‘Back to School’ with Rodney Dangerfield?

Sorry, Carl, I couldn’t resist when I saw Motopark‘s Iain Hayden post this on Facebook.

“She’s not my girlfriend. And since when is it against the law to fix up your own car when somebody else busts it up, huh?” Google it, Bowker!

Motopark’s New Era Motopark Cup Round 1 this Weekend

Speaking of Motopark…

Casey Keast

It was a few weeks ago now, but I just got a photo from Fox Brigade Yamaha rider Casey Keast‘s dad, Dean, and had to give him some love for lining up at this big US event. Congratulations, guys. We’ll be seeing Casey lining up as an Intermediate at the first round of the Rockstar Energy MX Nationals this year.

I spoke with Dean today to get an update on what their racing plans for the year are and was pleased to hear they are heading to the Regional Loretta Lynn’s qualifier at Washougal June 6-7. They are expecting to be competing against 50-60 other Supermini hopefuls all vying for the 4 spots available. They tried a couple years ago but didn’t make it past the regional, where he got 7th. They took a pass in 2014 but are giving it their all this year.

As mentioned, they’ll be in Kamloops but will take a pass on Nanaimo (same weekend as Washougal) and then go from there as to whether or not they make the trip to Calgary, too. Another race on their schedule is the Mammoth Motocross race June 19-28th. It will be a busy summer for the Kelowna, BC native.

Casey’s Sponsors: Kelowna Yamaha, Fox, JMS Performance, King Concepts, Lime9 Graphics, Golden Tyre, Eks Brand goggles, Atlas Brace, Yamaha Canada

Casey Keast grabbed a 3rd overall at the California Classic. – Keast photo

Nitro Circus 6 Canadian Dates in 2015

Parts Canada TransCan ANQs This Weekend

If you are planning a run at the 2015 Parts Canada TransCan at Walton Raceway this year, here’s where you want to be this long weekend:

Alberta North (ADRA) GNC Allocation (2)

ANQ Events = 4

Saturday & Sunday, May 16 & 17 at Valiant Memorial, Fort McMurray

Saturday & Sunday, May 23 & 24 at Valiant Memorial, Fort McMurray

Contact: ADRA www.albertadirtriders.com

Alberta South (AMSA) – GNC Allocation (3)

ANQ Events = 3

Sunday, May 10 at Brooks MX Park

Sunday, May 18 at Medicine Hat (Check website for proper date(s))

Saturday, June 13 at Calgary Wildrose MX Park

Contact: AMSA www.amsamx.com

Saskatchewan – GNC Allocation (2)

ANQ Events = 4

Sunday, April 26 at Swift Current

Sunday, May 3 at Saskatoon

Sunday, May 17 at Yorkton

Sunday, May 24 at Weyburn

Contact: www.saskmotocross.com

Atlantic – GNC Allocation (4)

ANQ Events = 3

Sunday, May 17 at Mill Hill, NS

Saturday, May 23 at Riverglade, NB

Sunday, May 31 at Mount Thom, NS

Contact: ARMX

Good luck to everyone.

Top 20 Rockstar Energy MX Nationals Riders and Teams

1. Colton Facciotti – Honda Canada TLD GDR

2. Mike Alessi – Smartop MotoConcepts Racing (Will probably be in Calgary and at Gopher Dunes)

3. Tyler Medaglia – Parts Canada Thor Husqvarna

4. Kyle Chisholm – Not returning to Canada in 2015

5. Teddy Maier – Monster Energy Thor Kawasaki

6. Josh Hill – Not returning to Canada in 2015

7. Bobby Kiniry – Rockstar Energy OTSFF Yamaha

8. Dylan Kaelin – Devil’s Lake MX (Knee injury will keep him out for 2015 season)

9. Morgan Burger – RMX Series Mountain’s Edge Yamaha #blackpearlmoto

10. Nathan Bles – Redemption Racing Fly Dragon KTM

11. Kaven Benoit – Royal Distributing Fox KTM

12. Vince Friese – Lucas Oil AMA Nationals

14. Shawn Maffenbeier – Rockstar Energy OTSFF Yamaha

15. Jesse Wentland – Racing Lucas Oil AMA Nationals

16. Topher Ingalls – Spoke to him today and he likes to keep it a surprise

17. Seth Rarick – Redemption Racing Fly Dragon KTM

18. Sylvain Le Gad – Extreme Miller Yamaha Fox

19. Austin Politelli – Has been rehabbing a wrist injury sustained in Santa Clara. Not returning to Canada

20. Dylan Wright – Canada’s Motorcycle FXR Yamaha

Cole Thompson Update

When I spoke with Royal Distributing Fox KTM 450 rider Cole Thompson today it felt like it had been a ling time. Since he sustained his ACL injury, he’s been flying just under the moto radar. He’s been on a bike a ling time now but decided to sit out the remainder of the Supercross series to focus on the Canadian series that is about to start May 31st in Kamloops, BC.

He said he’s been doing lots of riding but little racing. He did a couple local Texas races and then headed out to California where he spent about a month training with his old friend, Cooper Webb. His original plan was to race Hangtown and Glen Helen before heading to BC but it was decided that with getting the 2016 Factory Edition KTM 450 recently, it just wasn’t enough time to get things sorted out perfectly. Regarding the new bike, Cole said you really can’t even compare it to the 2014 model, the new one feels so light and fast.

He hopes to do a race in Michigan before heading west. There is a race at Baja Acres in Millington, MI next week so maybe he’ll line up there.

I’d heard there was a problem with his using the #148 this season and that another rider out west had already claimed it for the year. Cole wasn’t involved in the decision making but says that he thinks JSR, the rider, and the CMRC have worked something out so that Cole gets to run the number. The other rider is apparently a 250 rider so it really isn’t a huge deal and he doesn’t usually compete the entire series.

With the stiff competition headed Cole’s way this summer, he summed up the challenge like this: It’s gonna be a good year for Canada!

Cole says, “It’s gonna be a good year for Canada!” – KTM photo

It’s May 2-4 weekend! Enjoy yourselves, whether you’re on a track somewhere or at the beach or campground. We’ll leave you with this short video clip of an invention that will put a smile on your face and really would have helped my buddy Terry back in the ‘club days.’ See you at the races…