Out of the Blue sponsored by Schrader's

Sponsored by: 

Photos by James Lissimore

Fourteen-year-old Shelby Turner finished her first ever national series with a championship title. The Alberta national rookie rode her KTM with confidence in all three rounds: Kamloops, Edmonton and Calgary. Schrader's Yamaha's Denaye Giroux was the favourite heading into round one, but only few knew how capable Shelby was of coming out on top. A few weeks before the national season started, heads turned towards Shelby when she defeated Enduro champion, Victoria Hett in an off-road competition. Denaye had some solid rides, however a couple small errors cost her the western title.

Shelby had double moto wins in Calgary. She captured the #1 West plate four points ahead of Denaye Giroux.

The day started off with Shelby nailing the holeshot in moto 1 and immediately gaining a large lead with Karly Pozdnekoff in second. Tressa Rau, who was 13^th in the standings, was alone in third. Denaye, Amber Giroux and Missy Hackett were battling in pursuit until Amber went down. Shelby took the moto 1 win; Karly was second and Denaye was third. Rau finish the moto in fourth while Amber regained for fifth and Missy finished sixth.

In the second moto, Denaye was determined to recover some much needed points and beat Shelby for the holeshot. Denaye had slid out on the concrete start pad in moto 1 and would not let that happen again. This was the final moto in the six moto western challenge. Unfortunately for Denaye, a small error had her down in a corner. Karly passed and took over the lead with Shelby, Amber, Tressa and Missy in the chase. Denaye remounted and charged hard, closing in on the top five, eventually passing Missy for fifth.

Shelby had made a pass on Karly, who had led a couple of laps. Shelby was in a good position to win the series. Denaye was unable to catch up to the rest of the frontrunners and finished in fifth. Shelby took the win and the overall series title. Karly finished the moto in second, Amber was third, Tressa was fourth, Denaye – fifth and Missy was sixth.

Going into Calgary, Shelby had not been confident that she had a chance at winning the title until she noticed that Denaye had finished the first moto in third. “I was expecting to be second overall in the series but after the race I saw [Denaye’s] results and seen she had placed third I got some hope. And at that point anything was possible. I was hoping for the best.”

Karly was excited about the racing in Calgary. “The first moto there were some pretty intense battles going on behind me; I could see both Giroux sisters and Tressa Rau from the corner of my eye.” Despite being really nervous, Karly ended up with the lead in moto 2 for a few laps. “I was thinking about the whole points situation and hoping for a safe and clean last moto. One thing about the short series is that there is really no room for mistakes and crashing, every point and position counts. I was consistent and that’s what has really helped me out in the long run. I had a lot of fun and I am proud of my results and look forward to duke’ing it out at Walton in August!”

Amber describes her Calgary experience: “Calgary was awesome! The ruts were deep and rough, but I stayed focused and on the ball both motos. I was on Denaye and Tressa in the first moto and had many chances to pass but I was waiting for the perfect timing and when I had it, I messed up - cross rutted and went down but managed to catch up to Tressa in the last lap, two corners before the finish line and made the pass. That got me fourth position. I was in second off the start in both the motos.

Moto 2 went super well too. It got a little rougher but I stayed focused and rode my own race. I find the key to staying focused is to "race the track, not the riders". I was in fourth in the first couple laps then my sister ended up going down in a corner so I held a solid third for the rest of the moto. Now I can't wait till the Walton Transcan arrives!”

Denaye wasn’t as excited about Calgary. “It just wasn't a good weekend for me…The second moto I had a great start. Holeshot, and was feeling good, until I fell over in a corner…it was the stupidest thing ever…just one of those silly mistakes. So the bike stalled and it took a little bit to get it going again, by this time I was at the back of the pack, and these 12 minute motos don't give much time to work your way back up to the front. I am going to work even harder before we get to Walton, because now it has given me that extra motivation!”

Shelby is the recipient of the 2010 Out of the Blue Top West Rider award, winning a 2011 Parts Canada sponsorship.

Denaye has a strong 131 points heading into Walton. She acknowledged that she tried her best and has no one to blame but herself for her mistakes in Calgary.

Karly had a fantastic ride at Calgary finishing 2-2 for second overall. She has 124 points heading into Walton.

Missy Hackett didn't have the speed and clean lines to finish ahead of Tressa Rau. However her raw power and competitiveness helped her finish sixth overall in Calgary.

Rachel Springman is usually in the mix with the top ten. She finished Calgary 10-7 for eighth.

Camille Baker would like to have more points heading into Walton. She finished sixth in Kamloops, seventh in Edmonton, and ninth in Calgary.

America's Tressa Rau came to Canada for two rounds. She was fifth in Calgary and eighth in Edmonton

Jessica Foster lined up in Calgary; her first national race in over a year. She wasn’t impressed with her riding, describing it as “way way way off the pace, as predicted and expected.” The elementary school teacher claims she still has a competitive attitude making her 16^th overall “suck”. Jessica: “I crashed first moto on the last lap and couldn't start my bike. A fellow Blackfoot rider/flagger did for me. It even took him over 10 kicks. I was so embarrassed because I knew I was holding up the hot lap for the mx1 class. My brain was more tired then anything surprisingly. I'm just not used to riding. Hopefully next winter will be a healthy and fit one for me.”

Despite mediocre results for Jessica, she had a great day being back at the track, hanging out with friends, including Nova Scotia’s Heidi Cooke who made the trek out west as a spectator and supporter. Jessica misses racing “dearly”.

2009 National Champion, Heidi Cooke, made an appearance at the Calgary national as a spectator. She will line up in the eastern leg of the series, which commences July 25 at the Ste-Julie track in Quebec.

If you can't find the national women's results on the CMRC website click here (it's hard to find! under British Columbia...National...Ladies).

If you haven’t already heard, 2008 Women’s National Champion, Jacqueline Ross, will be back in Canada to race the eastern leg of the 2010 national series. She had to skip the 2009 nationals due to a serious knee injury. Freedom Cycle, who supported Heidi Cooke for the last few years, will back J-Ro on a KTM 150SX. The competition in the east will be fierce with Heidi in competitive mode on the Rock Star Energy OTSFF Suzuki factory team and Loretta Lynn champion, Alabama native, Taylor Miller in the mix.

Jacqueline will also work this summer as an instructor at Motopark’s five-day motocross camps in Ontario. She will also race the Motopark Motocross Cup July 3-4 on her Freedom Cycle Troy Lee Designs KTM. For further information on Motopark and its summer camp program go to www.motoparkracing.com or email info@motoparkracing.com or call 519-794-2434.

Ashley Fiolek

The Honda Red Bull Racing rider is nominated for the award of Best Female Action Sports Athlete for the second year in succession. She lost out in 2009 to surfing’s Maya Gabeira for the award.

The Female Action Sport ESPY will go to the athlete with the most votes from fans. All fans of Ashley and motocross are encouraged to vote online or by mobile device at www.espn.com/espys or on the ESPN Facebook page: www.facebook.com/espn.

The 2010 ESPYs will be televised live on ESPN July 14 from Los Angeles.  This year’s show will be hosted by Seth Meyers. 

Click here to vote: http://espn.go.com/espys/#/home

International Women Riders Congress and Festival

If you’re not racing Walton, Ormstown Vintage Fest or any other race August 14-15, then perhaps you might want to join the crowd at the International Women Riders Congress and Festival, presented by Honda and hosted by Motorcyclists Confederation of Canada (MCC). This event is the first of its kind to be held in Canada. Royal Distributing is endorsing this event both through sponsorship and an on-site presence. 

The event will take place August 11-15, 2010 at the Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville. It will feature skills challenges, off-road riding lessons, advanced skills training, workshops and seminars where you can hear about everything from around-the-world motorcycle adventures to helmet safety to riding responsibly.

Full registration will provide you access to the following:

1. Demo Rides – from Honda, BMW, Harley-Davidson, Ducati and Spyder
2. Off Road Riding Introduction
3. Riding Skills Challenges
4. Advanced riding lessons
5. Maintenance workshops
6. All workshop, seminar sessions:
   • more than 20 presenters who are leaders and experts in the motorcycle community
   • more than 15 interactive, informative topics
7. Participation in Meg's Ride (women only trail ride)
8. Beach BBQ with Johnny Rev and the Pushrods
9. Closing ceremonies and Banquet with Keynote Address by Jennifer Botterill of the Canadian Women’s Olympic Hockey Team
10. Motorcycle touring routes
11. Opportunities to meet other riders
12. Vendors

Eastern Women's Nationals

If you plan on racing the eastern women's nationals this summer, email me at angie@directmotocross.com.