Frid'Eh Update #5 Presented by BlackfootDirect.com

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Hello and welcome to the DMX Frid’eh Update #5 brought to you by Blackfootdirect.com. Thanks to the guys there in Calgary for sponsoring this thing and I urge you to visit their site and buy yourself something. On top of the regular incredible prices that you usually get, if you enter the discount code “DMX” upon check-out, you will get an additional 10% off.

Remember shipping anywhere in Canada is just $20.00 and if you spend more than $500.00, shipping is free! What a deal and remember, support those that support the sport.

We’d like to dedicate this column to CMRC national number 5 and that is Tyler Medaglia. The newest signee of the powerful Blackfoot Yamaha team is looking for some good things next year in the MX2 class. I think T-Dags is going to do well in his return to the small bikes but more than ever, I’d like to see some Funky Cold Medina columns out of the guy.

T-Dags at Moncton last year, incredibly crappy photo by...me!

I suppose he’s in love and will get to it when he gets to it.

As I type this I’m staring outside my hotel room here in San Francisco overlooking the bay and wondering what tomorrow brings. I’m here for round four of the AMA Supercross series and trying to figure out if we’re seeing history here or not.

In 1993, a bunch of different things happened to the dominant riders of 1992 to allow Jeremy McGrath, a first year 250 rider, to grab his first win and he never let go after that. In fact, he reeled off ten straight wins and the title was soon his. The rest is history and MC would go on to become an all-time great.

You can read about my theory in more detail in my Transworld Motocross Magazine Observations from A2 column right HERE.

So is Ryan Dungey, by virtue of his 2-1-1 finishes so far in the season making history? Are we going to all remember this as a ‘Where was I when?’ moment as in where were you when you first saw Jeremy McGrath?

I don’t really know to be honest, I guess we’ll see here in the coming weeks. The reigning champion, James Stewart, is riding hurt right now and is not up to his usual ridiculous speed. What he’s doing by not being able to give 100%, besides healing, is allowing Dungey to gain that valuable confidence that he can indeed win this thing. In a sport that is decided by tenths of seconds, there are things like confidence and intimidation that come into play and right now, Dungey has a ton and none respectively.

The track will be soft and rutty but the rains are supposed to hold off which is a good thing. This race usually is pretty exciting, the track is short and the venue is fantastic. I know that Stewart’s going to be nursing this injured wrist (that’s the word I’ve gotten but not 100% sure) for a little while. He has to stay close and hope that he heals up. Then he can get down to business and try to get back that supercross title that he won last year.

Ryan Dungey should be called butter because he's been on a roll. Photo courtesy of Transworld Motocross

So last week I wrote this:

Well there is one thing that I (a guy that has been accused of hating Canadian moto-that still makes me laugh) am working on and if it comes together, and it’s a big if, the people that have long wanted a top Canadian on a good US team racing supercross will be happy.

And people texted me and called me all week wondering what I meant but I kept silent, I didn’t want to blow anything and was in talks with the team and the rider during the week. Sadly, it will not happen now and that’s too bad.

What I was talking about was two-time champion Colton Facciotti going to Motoconcepts Yamaha for the rest of supercross as a fill-in. A couple of weeks ago the team manager over there, Michael Young, asked me what I thought of some potential riders as fill-in for the injured Matt Georke and to be honest, they all kind of stunk.

You won't be seeing Facciotti riding for Motoconcepts Yamaha this year. Photo by James Lissimore

I immediately thought of Colton and how he could probably beat each and every one of the riders that Michael mentioned. Young seemed very interested and I made a phone call to Facciotti, who is currently in England racing the Future West sx series for the next couple of weeks.

Colton was interested, he asked some questions and hung up to try and see if his Canadian team, Blackfoot Yamaha and some other sponsors would let this deal happen. I thought it was a natural fit, he would be on a Yamaha, the team has solid equipment and support staff and Facciotti could keep his Red Bull deal. It seemed the stars were aligning and we could see the first top Canadian rider racing the premier class in supercross since JSR did it.

Unfortunately, things went a little sideways with Colton’s current sponsor Blackfoot and the deal isn’t going to happen. I can certainly understand BF Yamaha (and Yamaha Canada) positions. They pay Colton to win in Canada and certainly supercross isn’t the safest sport around. The danger for injury is high and they are getting ready to head down south to Florida to start testing for the 2010 season. The timing isn’t the greatest to be sure but it’s still a situation that, for lack of a better term, sucks to me.

I want to see Facciotti head down south and succeed. I think he’d do well and I also think that if he reaches a point where he wants to try his luck with a team down south, he’s going to have to cut the chord with all Canadian sponsors and head down on his own money and effort. I see both sides of the deal really and I guess you can’t have your cake ($ and titles in Canada) and eat it too (attempting to try to race supercross).

Motoconcepts went ahead and hired Kyle Chisholm for Georke’s spot and truth be told, that was probably a better signing that Colton anyways. Chisholm has finished just outside the top ten in two races and although I think Facciotti could finish right around there, with Chisholm you don’t have to think, you already know that he can do it.

Hey did you know that you Valentine’s Day is right around the corner? Why don’t you reward the loved one in your life with something from the DMX store?

Click HERE and check it out. Now added, the hella-cool Endurance book by Theresa Ortolani which is a photographic look at what racers go through.

And with that, let’s go to Dan Paris…

Thanks Steve, I’ve spent most of the week fighting off a stupid cold and trying, unsuccessfully, not to hork on the keyboard. Despite suffering from snot-overload I have managed to wade my way into some very cool upcoming projects for DMX.

This one is my personal favourite. DMX will be picking up the exact same BMW G450X that Guy Giroux rode to a podium finish at the Montreal Endurocross last fall. The basic plan is to dig in and see what makes it go, then bomb around on it at the indoor track in Tillsonburg. After that I (Well, Ryan Rainville actually, while I stand around drinking his beer with a dopey look on my face) will be mounting some killer ice racing tires, courtesy of bazillion time ISDE medallist Jeff Fredette’s company FRP. We’ll be blasting around on the Welland Canal or on one of our local rock quarry ponds on the factory ‘Beemer under the guise of ‘testing.’ I’ve already pre-warned Guy that he’ll be seeing photos of his old bike being violated.

He’s on a Husky for 2010, but in 2009 no bike in the CEC pits attracted as much curiosity as Giroux’s BMW G450X. Some sources say they are uncompetitive, but then again Guy got fourth overall at the CEC and third at the Montreal EX. We’ll start finding out the real scoop on the innovative Beemer next week.

DMX has some cool off-road coverage plans in the works for this spring, including aerial video footage of round one of the new CMRC/WEC Ontario Cross Country Series thanks to a whiskey-fuelled promise made by a friend with a powered parachute. Since OCCS round-one is practically in my backyard I might even enter, but if I do I’ll be incognito so you won’t have to see how bad I stink.

The guys out in Alberta at Cornergrass Racing http://cornergrass.com/ have some neat stuff on their website you’ll want to check out, like THIS endurocross video clip.

The guys from Cornergrass sent this shot of their newest Alberta Endurance Ice Racing weapon, the 2010 Husaberg 570F." and for photo 6094 "Hangin' it on the Husaberg.

They’ve been surviving this winter by ice racing. Jay McGregor sent me THIS clip of what they do for fun out there once the snow flies.

Jarrett King, from the Grand Prairie Motocross Association, has been getting ready for the Alberta Endurance Ice Racing Association www.aeira.com six hour long endurance races. This is the series that includes the infamous ‘Numb Bum 24-Hour Race’. He sent me THIS clip and promises to do a write up for DMX. 

Powered Parachute: Barring thunderstorms or pissed up hillbillies with shotguns, DMX will reach new heights in Off-Road race coverage at round-one of the CMRC/WEC Ontario Cross Country Series this May.

I also received an email this morning that has me stoked for a friend of mine. Husqvarna Canada announced today that Trevor Wideman, the man you know as the announcer of the Canadian Enduro Championship Series and the Canadian and U.S World Enduro Championship races in 2006/2007, has signed a contract with Barrett Marketing to assist them in Dealer Development and Sales for Ontario. Wideman, whose association with Husky started in 2001 with Cagiva USA, says "I am looking forward to helping Barrett take Husqvarna to the next level in the coming years. With Husqvarna's exciting new products, like the all new 250F, it is a fun time to be involved with great companies like Husqvarna and Barrett." 

Thanks Dan and now something from our new Editor-at-Large, Chris Pomeroy:

Hey Everyone,   Last weekend I got the opportunity to go to California to watch Anaheim 2. When I arrived Wednesday night and stepped out of Terminal 2 at LAX my first thought was that we had landed in Vancouver instead of Los Angeles, the weather was cold and rainy. This weather system (nicknamed a Pineapple Express because it starts near Hawaii) had been around the Los Angeles area for a few days and had dumped an incredible 6 inches of rain, in fact the local news called it the worst storm in 20 years!. Not exactly a great time for a Supercross in a stadium with no roof.

 Lucky for everyone the Dirt Wurx crew was all over the situation, they had built the track in record time before the rain came, they tarped it, drained it and when that was all done, I’m sure they prayed a little bit also. After 5 days of heavy rain, when everyone involved with the Supercross Circus woke up Saturday Morning to brilliant sunshine, Mother Nature must be a Supercross fan. 

 As practice began it quickly became clear that mud was not going to be an issue as the track was perfect, the dirt and the unique layout had smiles on most of the riders faces. With condense practice session’s all the riders were rushing to get the sections dialed; of course the usual guys (Weimer, Stewart, Dungey) were all on the gas.

 Both the lites class and the Supercross class both have guys that seem to be in league of their own. The Lites has Jake Weimer, who seems to be riding with just a ton of confidence. He’s fit, smooth, he’s on the best bike and he has a knack for staying out of trouble, all the stars are aligned for Jake right now.

 In the Supercross Class the same can be said for Ryan Dungey. It is such a pleasure to watch him ride a 450, he is also super smooth, has long legs (which helps him soak stuff up), he’s on the best all around 450 and he is taking advantage of everyone else’s problems. Chad Reed is out for awhile, Ryan Villopoto can’t buy a start when it counts and James Stewart has an upper body injury (or is it a lower body injury?). The Stewart thing is real mystery, first he pulled off in practice, then he skips the opening ceremony, comes back and rides great in his heat race. Then in the main he rides great, jumps stuff that no one does but can’t run the pace of Dungey or his teammate Josh Hill for 20 laps. 

 I think Stewart really is injured but I think we are also witnessing a changing of the guard. Ryan Dungey is for real, his approach to racing right now seems to be better than everyone else’s, both on the track and off. Dungey’s arrival is exactly what Supercross needs, with a still floundering economy, fans need to have some new blood to cheer for. We will see if Dungey can handle the pressure as it grows throughout the next few months. That is all for me, I hope everyone is staying warm as winter has defiantly arrived in Ontario at least.

Thanks Chris and we all here at DMX look forward to having you contribute some cool perspective articles in the next little while. Now, time for James Lissimore…

Ok, well it's been a pretty slow week for me this week, moto wise. The only moto news I've got is Brock Hoyer beat Steve Crevier and a bunch of other guys to take the Expert class win at a local Supermoto race that was held at the BC Motorcycle show at Trade Ex in Abbotsford. Not bad for never having ridden a Supermoto bike before.

 Other than that the only semi-moto related thing I've got to share is a slideshow I just finished up. With the slow time of the year, moto-wise, going on this time of year I haven't been shooting as much as I'd like so I put it to myself to take photos every day for a month. So, starting on Christmas day I went out and shot at least one photo right up until Jan 25. So, here it is:

Month In Photos - Images by James Lissimore

Thanks for reading the update and see you next week!