A Look Back with...Al Dyck

"This picture is from 1987 and I remember that Joe Skidd was wrenching for me. I rode Honda’s in the early 80’s and then switched to Yamaha’s for a couple of years. In ’86 I had a great year and won the Montreal supercross in front of the Honda guys which was cool because I stuck it to them a bit. They had helped out a bunch of guys but not me because I was eating spaghetti out of a can because I was so poor. Anyways, this is the year I was back on Honda’s and the bike felt really good for me. I was number 2 in Canada and was feeling great. This is Montreal supercross because of that Laurentide banner right there, it was a beer company that was a product of Molsons. I remember that in 1986 they had a sprint race in Montreal of the best riders from the two nights. It was called the "Sprint de Cock’dour" or something like that which means the Sprint of the Golden Rooster! A rooster was Laurentide's symbol, anyways they didn’t run it because it was too muddy and I got the trophy which was cool. I’ll never forget Laurentide beer even though I didn’t drink.

The bikes were better than the Yamaha’s, they fit me better and were easier to work on. Honda contingency this year wasn’t very good, it was only 300 a win and Yamaha was better. I had to work harder on three Honda’s to win the same amount on two Yamaha’s. I still would die for an open-face helmet. They were way better and way cooler. I remember that I got hit in the face with a closed face helmet on going up the hill at Washougal from Greg Zitterkoff who was riding one of those ATK’s. Wide open up the hill and I got knocked off my bike from a rock! Then I got hit another time with an open-face helmet and didn’t feel anything. I’m telling you, they were way better." Photo by Bill Petro

"This was 1991 and I wasn’t into it really. This was the Toronto supercross and it was really muddy and had massive ruts everywhere. See how those shrouds were cut at the bottom? That was because I kept catching my knees on them because I was so tall. This 250 was awesome man, probably the best power out of all 250’s that I rode. I just wasn’t into it this year. The next year I was heading out to the nationals in my van and the wheels flew off of it. I had to wait a day to get it fixed and then just turned around and went back home.

This gear was cool, I had a deal with Aurora Cycle Supply who was the importer back then. I never got paid by any gear companies, I might have been paid from R&M at some point but it wasn’t much. These boots here, I hated them. They took so long to break in and I like my boots like slippers." Photo by Bill Petro

"This is the year (1986) that I was #3 on a 125, #7 on the 250 and it was my first year on the 500’s so I had a high number. I think I raced one race on a 500 the year before or something. I had #171 as a kid so I wanted to be 77 in the 500’s. This bike was a big tank and I was racing against guys that had much better bikes so you just tried to do the best you could do. I remember that it pinged a lot. This is Copetown and it is my very favorite Canadian track. I don’t know if this is the new or old one but it was great. AXO gear here and it was Aurora also that helped me out this year. In ’87 I switched to good boots and good bikes the next year!

I don’t remember how I did in the 500’s, I was up there I think. The next year they switched to one number for each class, they combined the points and assigned you a number." Photo by Bill Petro

"This is 1985 and it’s also at Copetown again. I switched to Yamaha’s this year and the 125 was really bad. It was slow and I did ok somehow but I remember it was really bad. I don’t think anyone did my motors this year, I just ran it. That’s how good or stupid I was!

This jersey is a GA Checkpoint Yamaha one and I finally got a break with my sponsorships. A guy by the name of Bob Underhill got me a Yamaha deal and I got some great help. There were seven dealers across Canada that would help me whenever I raced in that region. Remember when I wore a Wildwood Yamaha jersey in Manitoba? Anyways, I was GA Checkpoint in BC and so on across the country. That ended up being pretty good really. If there was nobody in the region I would just wear an Answer jersey.

This is my first year with number 3, I started getting more confidence and I realized that I belonged with the fast guys. Joe Skidd was my mechanic full-time this year I think. The year before he came up to me at Valley Junction Quebec and asked me if I needed help that day. He helped me out and it was pretty cool. He came on full-time during the nationals after that." Photo by Bill Petro

"This is 1990 and I’m wearing number 1 here, I’m next to Carl Vallaincourt. I don’t remember much from this year really, it was miserable. I know of these years in here I got mono before the first race and only rode two out of the first four motos. I didn’t race much and I was still top three even with what happened. The bikes were really good, I remember that. There was one race the next year at Aldergrove where Carl came out west and was flying. I never really worried about him to be honest but then he showed up and was smoking Ross and myself. Then he broke his leg or something. I never thought much of Carl as a rider, he didn’t threaten me much. When he did beat me the next year, I wasn’t into it that much.

The year before this, when I won the titles was my most financially rewarding year that I ever had. I remember that Honda imported a 500 into the country that was different than the USA one for some reason. Darrel Martens was number 4 and I was number 1 and he used my practice bike to race on. Everyone had the Canadian version except for us and we were smoking guys on their Canadian versions. Then Vallaincourt got an American one later on in the year." Photo by Will De Clercq

"This is from when I raced in Manitoba. That’s Kim Houde right behind me, then Danny Winistok on the Suzuki. Racing in Manitoba all those years was awesome, we came out there for two or three months of the year in 1986 and 1988 and I stayed with a family in ’86. We enjoyed hanging out there and we would go to the races and just hang out. The best thing about racing in Manitoba were the people.

The competition was really tough, everyone just thought that I would cruise and win easily but I couldn’t slack at all. I had to be on my toes to win every weekend. The tracks were almost all hard pack and you had to really set someone up to get by them. It wasn’t easy.I remember that after my last race in Manitoba in '89 I gave away all my gear. Like everything and it was a mob scene at my van. I normally wouldn't have done that but the people there were so nice.

In ’86 I was #7 in the 250’s and I moved up the ladder to finish number 2 overall. I was consistently second behind Ross, even in the supercross series. And I won Montreal also this year and I think I might have won some motos in motocross and I could finally see that I had a chance of winning. It was a great year for me." Photo by G-Force

"This is Toronto supercross in ’86. Number 3 is Jeff Surwall, the guy on the inside is Lino Zecca I think and number 4 was Darren Sharuga. Surwall always had the cool outside sponsors that we were jealous of. We were better than him but he seemed to have the hot set-up. He couldn’t beat us but had the cool sponsors. I remember that he was a good sand rider and he would get the start and sprint away, those were gritty races for me. I had to work really hard to catch him at the end.  He was probably the second best starter in Canada. I was up front like 50% of the time and he was up there the other times.

This race I got third or fourth and Ross won the championship on this night. I had a chance to win but couldn’t seal the deal I guess." Photo by Bill Petro