Monday Morning Coffee Opinion Column

By Billy Rainford

Brought to you by Callus

I finally made it to an AMA Pro Motocross race this past weekend. And it wasn’t just some random race, it was Unadilla! After our Canadian Triple Crown Series Motocross Nationals are finished, I usually try to get to one or two races down south, but Unadilla isn’t normally an option. This year it was.

Before leaving London, I realized the last time I was at the famed track in New Berlin, NY was for the 1987 MXON. Yes, you heard me. It was the year Bob Hannah raced the Suzuki RM125 in the mud and thrilled the crowd.

Bob Hannah on the Suzuki RM125.

But here’s what I find interestng.

I was still racing competitively at the time and in hindsight I really didn’t care all that much about who was on Team Canada. It’s true. Truthfully, with a gun pointed at my head I’m not even sure I could tell you who was on our team! I’m sure Ross was there, but…

Ross Pederson wasn’t there but here’s a random 1984 Ross photo from Hully Gully.

[OK, I Googled it and Ross Pederson was not on the team in 1987. Now that I think about it, I remember Glenn Nicholson telling this story. Our team consisted of: 125 – Doug Hoover (15-7), 250 – Jeff Surwall (12-10), 500 – Glenn Nicholson (8-NC). We finished 12th. The podium was USA, The Netherlands, Belgium.]

And here’s Doug Hoover at Hully Gully also in 1984.

I mention this because it makes me think about when I interview our current riders these days I have to realize they are there to race and aren’t as concerned about who else is there like I am. It’s funny how that all changes when you go from racer to spectator.

As an intermediate rider in 1987, I was there to see my current AMA Supercross heroes, Bob Hannah, Jeff Ward, and Ricky Johnson. I didn’t care all that much about who was representing the Maple Leaf or the riders I’d see at races all the time back home in Canada.

Ricky Johnson on the CR250.

NB: In my dad’s defence, it was pouring rain and he wasn’t there as a photographer, so he did the best he could.

And the only piece of memorabilia I got from our trip there was a Craig Dack jersey! I’d never even heard of Craig Dack! He was on Team Australia and I only got the shirt because I thought it was funny that it said “Go The Rat!” on it. I didn’t know it was his nickname or anything. I just thought it was funny to have the word RAT on a shirt.

Hmm, now that I think about it, I was at Bike Week in Daytona in 1985 and all I brought home was a Rat’s Hole tee shirt. I’m seeing a trend here.

When I look through our old MX Album, there isn’t a single photo of any of our 3 Canadian riders! Man, that really sucks.

So, I was back at Unadilla for the first time in 38 years. Ouch. I was sitting next to another photographer during qualifying and he was also there that day and remembers it better than I do.

Oddly, I remember the track looking even bigger than it actually is, and it’s pretty big. I remember being up on the hill on the other side of the fence and looking at the far side where they’d come back across the side of the hill and thinking I’d never get all the way over there. Well, it’s not as far as I thought, but I still never went all the way over there. Lol

They straightened that area out so it’s no longer that super-tricky off-camber like you see in the old videos. They also groom the track like every other track, so it sort of loses that one-off feeling Unadilla used to have. It used to be all grass when riders showed up each year.

Yes, the Gravity Cavity and Screw U are still there, but they don’t have that same hyped-up vibe I had stashed away in my memory. It’s funny how things were so much more memorable at that younger age. You hold that nostalgia in your mind until you see it again at an older age and it just looks different than you had imagined for all those years. It almost makes me wish I didn’t go this year!

But I did.

#975 Corentin Dietz at his first-ever AMA Pro Motocross riders meeting at Unadilla.

We had #975 Corentin Dietz there trying to make the motos at his first-ever AMA Pro Motocross National, so that was cool to be there for. He’s actually from Paris, France but will get his Canadian citizenship later this year, so it counts. He calls Montreal home now.

I shot a bunch of video of his experience and will get that up on our Youtube channel as soon as I can.

He didn’t make it into the motos. Here’s a look at his results:

Qualifying: 68th

Consolation race: 29th

It was a huge learning experience for him and you really have to line up for one of these things to know what that means.

I’ll just talk about 2 things from the day:

Jo Shimoda was on another level at Unadilla.

#30 Jo Shimoda absolutely spanked the field in moto 1! He didn’t just win, he crushed everyone. How did that happen?! Did you watch it live or the highlights on Youtube? It was a clinic!

Jett Lawrence clinched the 450 title.

#18 Jett Lawrence made it all look so simple yet again. He had to do a little battle with his big brother, #98 Hunter Lawrence, for a while but in the end he just pulled away in that weirdly smooth style of his and got the job done, leaving riders like Eli Tomac in his dust. It’s crazy to watch in person.

I made it home from New York at about 4:00am. I did the classic pull over for a 20-minute nap only to fall asleep before I had the chance to set my alarm. I woke up 2 1/2 hours later and continued.

I don’t get paid by Chrysler, but I will say that the new model minivan gets great fuel mileage on the highway! The reason I decided against going bigger to a Ford Transit was for this reason alone and I’m already happy with my decision. Yes, it would be nice to have a bigger area when I got places, but it would have kept me from leaving home in the first place, so I think I made the right choice. Right? Dammit, did I??? Lol

MXGP of Sweden

This one hurt for the local crowd!

Standings:

MX2 – World Championship Classification
Pos Nr Rider Nat. Bike Total ARG ESP EUR SAR TRE SUI POR ESP FRA GER LAT GBR FIN CZE BEL SWE NED TUR CHN AUS
1 27 Längenfelder, S. GER KTM 754 7
22-15
(44)		 0
16-18
(34)		 9
25-20
(54)		 10
20-15
(45)		 8
14-20
(42)		 9
25-25
(59)		 6
22-18
(46)		 8
13-20
(41)		 9
25-25
(59)		 7
20-12
(39)		 10
22-20
(52)		 10
25-25
(60)		 7
15-16
(38)		 5
25-22
(52)		 7
14-18
(39)		 9
16-25
(50)		 – – – – – – – –
2 1 de Wolf, Kay NED HUS 714 8
25-16
(49)		 6
20-22
(48)		 0
15-18
(33)		 5
25-25
(55)		 6
22-18
(46)		 10
22-18
(50)		 7
20-20
(47)		 9
25-18
(52)		 3
7-9
(19)		 0
14-22
(36)		 5
13-25
(43)		 0
14-13
(27)		 10
25-25
(60)		 8
15-18
(41)		 10
25-25
(60)		 8
20-20
(48)		 – – – – – – – –
3 80 Adamo, Andrea ITA KTM 695 10
0-22
(32)		 7
12-20
(39)		 6
22-25
(53)		 7
18-22
(47)		 0
20-22
(42)		 7
16-22
(45)		 10
25-25
(60)		 0
16-25
(41)		 10
22-22
(54)		 8
25-20
(53)		 0
10-12
(22)		 6
11-18
(35)		 5
22-20
(47)		 7
16-25
(48)		 9
20-13
(42)		 2
25-13
(40)		 – – – – – – – –
4 19 Coenen, Sacha BEL KTM 599 9
12-25
(46)		 9
10-6
(25)		 5
18-7
(30)		 8
16-18
(42)		 0
12-14
(26)		 0
15-5
(20)		 9
2-22
(33)		 5
15-22
(42)		 8
15-18
(41)		 9
22-6
(37)		 0
25-22
(47)		 7
22-15
(44)		 9
18-22
(49)		 3
22-13
(38)		 4
18-22
(44)		 4
22-14
(40)		 – – – – – – – –
5 9 Benistant, T. FRA YAM 558 5
10-11
(26)		 10
18-9
(37)		 10
16-22
(48)		 6
7-4
(17)		 9
9-25
(43)		 6
10-16
(32)		 0
8-14
(22)		 10
20-16
(46)		 7
10-20
(37)		 3
16-10
(29)		 9
14-18
(41)		 9
10-20
(39)		 3
20-18
(41)		 6
14-14
(34)		 6
0-15
(21)		 10
13-22
(45)		 – – – – – – – –
6 8 Mc Lellan, C. RSA TRI 504 0
16-13
(29)		 0
11-2
(13)		 7
11-12
(30)		 4
22-20
(46)		 7
25-5
(37)		 4
18-14
(36)		 5
5-9
(19)		 3
14-14
(31)		 0
14-10
(24)		 1
13-15
(29)		 0
16-14
(30)		 4
18-12
(34)		 4
16-15
(35)		 0
8-16
(24)		 8
22-20
(50)		 7
14-16
(37)		 – – – – – – – –
7 26 Everts, Liam BEL HUS 497 3
13-20
(36)		 8
22-25
(55)		 8
20-16
(44)		 9
15-16
(40)		 10
18-0
(28)		 8
20-20
(48)		 8
10-0
(18)		 7
22-15
(44)		 1
13-16
(30)		 5
15-14
(34)		 6
20-16
(42)		 8
15-22
(45)		 0
0-0
–
–		 3
18-12
(33)		 – – – – – – – –
8 18 Lata, Valerio ITA HON 366 0
14-9
(23)		 0
8-10
(18)		 4
14-6
(24)		 0
10-9
(19)		 4
16-7
(27)		 5
11-15
(31)		 0
12-6
(18)		 1
12-9
(22)		 6
20-11
(37)		 10
18-18
(46)		 0
0-0		 0
7-9
(16)		 0
8-8
(16)		 9
13-11
(33)		 0
8-10
(18)		 1
11-6
(18)		 – – – – – – – –
9 99 Farres, G. ESP TRI 357 0
15-10
(25)		 1
5-15
(21)
–
–
–		 0
14-13
(27)		 4
9-13
(26)		 0
10-6
(16)		 0
11-15
(26)		 2
12-25
(39)		 2
12-15
(29)		 0
16-16
(32)		 8
14-9
(31)		 1
18-15
(34)		 0
7-11
(18)		 6
12-15
(33)		 – – – – – – – –
10 317 Valin, Mathis FRA KAW 347 6
0-18
(24)		 0
1-0
(1)		 0
8-13
(21)
–
–
–		 1
15-16
(32)		 0
11-3
(14)		 0
16-13
(29)		 6
0-0
(6)		 4
18-11
(33)		 2
13-14
(29)		 6
13-14
(33)		 10
20-20
(50)		 5
16-16
(37)		 5
15-18
(38)		 – – – – – – – 
MXGP – World Championship Classification
Pos Nr Rider Nat. Bike Total ARG ESP EUR SAR TRE SUI POR ESP FRA GER LAT GBR FIN CZE BEL SWE NED TUR CHN AUS
1 3 Febvre, Romain FRA KAW 794 9
25-22
(56)		 2
14-16
(32)		 6
22-22
(50)		 0
18-25
(43)		 10
22-22
(54)		 6
15-22
(43)		 8
22-22
(52)		 9
25-22
(56)		 8
22-25
(55)		 8
18-20
(46)		 8
15-20
(43)		 9
20-25
(54)		 5
16-22
(43)		 10
16-25
(51)		 9
25-22
(56)		 10
25-25
(60)		 – – – – – – – –
2 96 Coenen, Lucas BEL KTM 753 0
14-13
(27)		 5
12-13
(30)		 10
20-20
(50)		 9
25-0
(34)		 0
20-15
(35)		 1
25-25
(51)		 10
25-25
(60)		 7
18-25
(50)		 10
25-22
(57)		 10
25-22
(57)		 9
22-22
(53)		 6
22-20
(48)		 10
25-25
(60)		 9
25-22
(56)		 10
22-25
(57)		 5
14-9
(28)		 – – – – – – – –
3 259 Coldenhoff, G. NED FAN 572 5
16-14
(35)		 6
18-20
(44)		 0
10-18
(28)		 7
22-20
(49)		 4
16-20
(40)		 2
11-15
(28)		 3
13-15
(31)		 2
16-9
(27)		 2
11-12
(25)		 0
5-15
(20)		 6
20-14
(40)		 8
25-16
(49)		 0
22-16
(38)		 7
18-20
(45)		 6
16-18
(40)		 7
15-16
(38)		 – – – – – – – –
4 70 Fernandez, R. ESP HON 502 1
12-8
(21)		 1
22-9
(32)		 8
16-0
(24)		 8
15-10
(33)		 6
14-18
(38)		 10
20-0
(30)		 5
20-20
(45)		 0
20-18
(38)		 7
10-14
(31)		 6
0-0
(6)		 7
18-15
(40)		 7
16-22
(45)		 7
15-2
(24)		 8
22-14
(44)		 0
7-9
(16)		 4
18-13
(35)		 – – – – – – – –
5 10 Vlaanderen, C. NED YAM 480 3
2-10
(15)		 4
20-0
(24)		 5
13-0
(18)		 4
0-18
(22)		 5
13-5
(23)		 0
12-12
(24)		 9
9-18
(36)		 6
13-20
(39)		 0
14-13
(27)		 3
20-11
(34)		 0
10-12
(22)		 5
15-15
(35)		 9
18-20
(47)		 0
10-16
(26)		 8
20-16
(44)		 6
20-18
(44)		 – – – – – – – –
6 132 Bonacorsi, A. ITA FAN 424 0
10-11
(21)		 0
13-22
(35)		 0
0-7
(7)		 5
20-16
(41)		 1
5-12
(18)		 7
18-16
(41)		 0
15-16
(31)		 0
15-14
(29)		 0
15-15
(30)		 0
12-0
(12)		 5
14-16
(35)		 0
9-3
(12)		 8
20-13
(41)		 5
0-12
(17)		 3
12-20
(35)		 0
12-7
(19)		 – – – – – – – –
7 959 Renaux, Maxime FRA YAM 423 10
22-25
(57)		 9
11-10
(30)		 7
11-16
(34)		 0
4-0
(4)		 7
18-14
(39)		 8
16-0
(24)		 1
16-12
(29)		 8
22-12
(42)		 6
18-6
(30)		 4
15-18
(37)		 0
8-13
(21)
–
–		 6
15-0
(21)		 0
11-8
(19)		 0
16-20
(36)		 – – – – – – – –
8 84 Herlings, J. NED KTM 406 – – – – – – 0
1-14
(15)		 0
11-10
(21)		 4
7-18
(29)		 4
11-14
(29)		 3
14-15
(32)		 1
20-16
(37)		 9
22-25
(56)		 10
25-25
(60)		 10
18-18
(46)
–
–		 2
13-13
(28)		 9
22-22
(53)		 – – – – – – – –
9 91 Seewer, Jeremy SUI DUC 341 7
15-3
(25)		 0
7-7
(14)		 0
8-11
(19)		 0
6-12
(18)		 8
15-0
(23)		 5
14-20
(39)		 2
6-10
(18)		 5
2-16
(23)		 4
16-20
(40)		 2
16-7
(25)		 1
5-3
(9)		 1
8-12
(21)		 1
10-11
(22)		 3
13-15
(31)		 0
0-4
(4)		 0
0-10
(10)		 – – – – – – – –
10 243 Gajser, Tim SLO HON 327 8
20-20
(48)		 10
25-25
(60)		 9
25-25
(59)		 10
16-22
(48)		 9
25-25
(59)		 9
22-0
(31)
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–		 8
0-14
(22)		 – – – – – – – –

I’ve still got things to post from the TransCan! Emily and I are taking a couple days up on Lake Huron so I’ll sit on the beach with my laptop and get caught up on everything. Hey, I use cameras in the mud so why not a laptop in the sand?!

Oh, and are we talking about the AMA Arenacross coming to a few stops in Canada yet? I heard rumblings about it at Walton but the official schedule isn’t up on their site.

OK, have a great week, everyone. There’s only 1 round of AMA Pro Motocross left at Budds Creek this coming weekend and then we’re all about MXON at Ironman MX!

We’ll leave it this week with this shot of our old friend #208 Logan Leitzel from the weekend. “See you at the races…“