Talk to the Robe!

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By 'Bigwave' Billy Rainford

Talk to the Robe!

In last week’s column the question of why Honda Canada hasn’t been involved with the CMRC Canadian Motocross Nationals was asked. I managed to fumble my way around an answer but wanted to speak to people in the positions to provide us with some facts, so I contacted both Honda Canada and the CMRC and, to my surprise, they responded.

Dear Robe (Ok, I added that!),

“As you are aware the economy has been going through some tough times. Honda needed to direct their energy towards ensuring a strong Honda as a whole, not intentionally focusing on one area over the other.

As you are aware (but possibly not all your readers) we have such a wide breadth of product (Auto--Power Equipment--Marine--ATV--MC) sometimes measures have to be taken to ensure the strength of all.  Honda is working hard towards ensuring all areas of the business are strong.

And please note even with the devastation that Japan dealt with this past year Honda is moving forward and launching many new and exciting products. This is possible due to the measures taken to strengthen the business.

Honda will be supporting the CMRC for the 2012 season however, I cannot comment further than that at this time. (Intriguing!)

Please tell your readers, our customers that patience is the key.

Keep in mind that speaks to the new products just launched for 2012 on all sides of the business. CRV, Civic, new Acura products, new PE products, new Marine products, the most recent to MC the new NC700S and X, and also the CRF250R which was overhauled for 2012. This is a huge undertaking considering the natural disasters Japan has been dealing with.”

Kim Moore
Honda Canada Inc.
Supervisor, Advertising & Press Relations

My Dearest Robe (He may or may not have said that!),

“It is well known among manufacturers that the first in line when necessary cuts are to be made is racing. All manufacturers have suffered a drastic decline of sales of motorcycles since 2008. Last year Honda was forced to make the unpopular decision to take a step back from racing due to budgetary cuts, and not just motocross but roadracing, off-road and additional disciplines as well.

Fortunately, all signs are pointing towards Honda Canada making a return to support both the series and a number of riders. Honda has been a valued supporter of the CMRC Nationals since the beginning and I hope they will return and resume their position within the sport.

I’ll let you know once I receive confirmation.”

Mark Stallybrass

President
cmrc corp 09 500

Well, would you look at that—all you have to do is ask! I guess I was pretty close to the correct answer last week, but it is always nice to hear it from people in the position to toss facts into a great story. (I screwed up that cliché, but it’s almost all there.) Big thanks to both parties for responding to us and also for dropping that big hint as to things to come.

Dear Robe,

I really don't get this whole "Bigwave" nickname of yours. It
makes no sense and I feel like it has nothing to do with moto? What is
the story behind it? Is it appropriate to even share especially on a
public site as big as DMX? Maybe we should change it to "Bigroost" or
"Nowave" or even just stick with Billy?

Thanks for your hard work and I love DMX! I hope you choose my question!

Matt Dobson --Fort St .John

Dear ‘Fort St. John Resident,’

You are correct when you make the assumption it has nothing to do with motocross. Without boring people to sleep, I will give you the Coles Notes version of the story. I moved out to Vancouver at the end of 1996 where I became friends with a group of people who considered themselves ‘surfers.’ It wasn’t long before we were all squished into a big van and headed over to Tofino, BC for a long weekend of fun in the waves.

I was borrowing all my gear (board, wetsuit, gloves, booties) and proceeded to head out into the surf—which looked relatively harmless at this point. As I was paddling out, the tide had switched to ‘rising’ and with that came a rather increased wave height. Needless to say, I had a hard time making it to the ‘outside’ (out past the breaking waves).

As I was fighting for my life in 8-foot swells, I looked over to see the owner of the surf shop in North Van called Second Wave cruising effortlessly through the white water nightmare that had me in its grips. After what seemed like 45-minutes, I finally made it to the calm water where I struggled to catch my breath and regain feeling in my shoulders and arms. ‘Second Wave Steve’ paddled over and said, “Hey, I thought that was “Bigwave Billy” caught in the impact zone fighting for his life.” All my friends heard him and what started out as a sarcastic insult just sort of stuck. I’m sure the nice dose of alliteration helps too (Google it, Bowker!). Strangely, my good buddy Dave received the nickname ‘Pants’ that same weekend. To this day, most people don’t even know his real name.

Sorry for the self-indulgent use of a question about me, but it seems Canadians are either too lazy or too polite and passive to send in questions! What gives? I’ve heard horror stories of Canadian websites offering the chance to win complete sets of gear to people who mail-in to enter the contest and only ONE PERSON makes the effort to do so! Really? Are we Canadians THAT passive?! Can what the rest of the world thinks of us be true?! Do we really say “eh” all the time?! Do we really hate soccer and love hockey?! Do we really take our dog sleds to work in July?! Do we really place inflection at the end of every sentence turning them all into questions?! Meh, whatever…

That reminds me of a Simpsons episode when someone mentions that Bart and Lisa are from the MTV generation and feel neither highs nor lows. When asked how it felt, they replied, “Meh…”   

Ok, that’s going to do it for this week. I received a question from someone who wanted to be referred to as ‘Johnny Montana’ that will require a bit of research on my part, so I’m not even going to pretend to know the answer this week. I will do some digging and maybe pester Steve Matthes a bit about it because I’m sure he will have some good insight or be able to point me in the right direction, at least.

Have a great week and, if it’s not too much to ask of my fellow Canadians (Maybe some Americans will chime in!), send your questions to billy@directmotocross.com.  As we’ve learned here this week, all we have to do is direct our queries to the right people and we can even learn a few things here! Let’s not expect that EVERY week, but I’ll do my best. Until next Wednesday,

See you at the races…

The Robe.