Frid'Eh Update #38 Presented by Smith Optics

Sponsored by: 

By Kyle Carruthers and Billy Rainford

Welcome back to the 38^th edition of the DMX Frid’Eh Update brought to you by Smith Optics. Smith has launched a whole new line for 2013 featuring all new, re-engineered Ergonomic Outrigger and Sweat-X F.A.T. 3-Layer face foam combined to provide superior fit and excellent sweat absorption for the race-proven Fuel v.2 Sweat-X. There’s a reason why guys like Teddy Maier and Matt Goerke trusted their Smith goggles to help them win their Canadian titles this summer. Check out www.smithoptics.ca for more info on all their products.

Just like Goerke and Maier, Kyle Keast trusts Smith Goggles to keep him safe with clear vision on the track. Billy Rainford photo

This week’s update also goes out to 2012 national #38 Jared Stock. Jared is the true definition of “privateer” in Canada. He works hard all winter on the oil rigs to save for the sport he loves and then competes all summer long on a small budget. Stuff is changing in Jared’s life so I'll let him tell you himself as he sent over this update today...

“I would like to publicly thank everyone who helped me this year. Yamaha Canada, Southland Powersports, Ironhand Drilling, Competition Service/SDi, Shift MX, Elemental Fitness, Vanquish MX, Sosa, FMF, Arnette, Kermaxx, IMX, Motovan, and Decal Works. It was an interesting season for me; having major ups and downs. I finished off in 14th overall in the 450 class which is no easy task. I am very satisfied how it all ended up. As of now I have been really busy just ending my third week of school. Instead of heading to the drilling rig this winter I am taking a Petroleum Engineering program at S.A.I.T. With school this winter I am not certain what my future racing holds as I will have no personal income to allow my usual schedule. My plan is to ride a 250 two stroke to keep it cheap and still attend some Nationals. Maybe, just maybe they will allow the pro's to ride them in 2013 MX2 class??? Other than that I am also working closely with Vanquish in promoting the new line so everyone check out the new Vanquish website and stay tuned for a near release. Thanks again to everyone who threw support my way and thank you Kyle for contacting me for this week’s Friday Update!

Anyone who has any big ideas for allowing 250 2strokes email me at jaredmx32@hotmail.com or hit me up on twitter @Jstock732 or on facebook!”

Thanks, Jared, and best of luck with your studies.

Jared Stock is still hoping the CMRC will allow Pro's to race the 250 2-Stroke in the MX2 class. Billy Rainford photo

Today marks the first day of fall, officially, and it means this is the best time of the year to ride. Lots of racing is going on across Canada this weekend so make sure you go out and get some motos in while you can, as the snow will be here before you know it! Looking for an old school “bean field” race? Make sure you head down to Walton this weekend to check that out. More details can be found right here.

Chad Reed is taking advantage of the Fall season riding at Gopher Dunes. Dawn McClintock photo

Montreal Supercross is now just one week away. It should be a great event and it looks like we will have a solid list of players there in both classes. I think the battle to watch is going to be the Benoit, Medaglia, Thompson battle in the MX2 class. Look for our top ten list of what to look forward to at Montreal this week here on DMX.

DMX Freestyle editor and FMXnews.com owner, Chris Elliot, was able to catch up with Felix Trapanier, one of the head men behind the scences of the race. Check it out below as it is full of great info!

Felix, we are one week out from this year's Montreal SX....time flies! How did your summer go?

Summer was good.  I’m still working on a TV show here in Quebec called MotoX. This was my tenth year directing the show…we had some pretty good shows this year, including one in California with Colton Facciotti and of course a couple episodes with Quebec riders Ben Milot and Kaven Benoit.

 
Did you get to check out any outdoor nationals?

I only went to three Nationals this year and, to be honest, I miss the races! I want to start going to every round like I used to.

 
I understand everything is locked in for the FMX portion on the Montreal SX?

Everything is ready to go! This year Paul Smith will be there on Tuesday and will build the landing to make sure it’s perfect for Saturday night.

 
Can we except a similar format to past years?

Yes and no.  Each rider will have a ninety-second run to prove himself in this crowd-judged contest. But this year, in addition to the contest, we’ll have a 10-minute 'jam session' just before the Super Final. FMX riders have been asking for this for a year or two and we felt this was a good way to excite the fans before this new Super Final where the top 10 MX1 and MX2 riders will race each other for the big money at the end of the night!!!

 
I had to keep quiet about who is coming up to Canada to jump for a while, you have to be pretty happy?

I’m super stoked this year…we have Nate Adams on the roster and this is a great news for Canadian FMX fans. I’ve been lucky enough to film with him over the years and all I can tell you is this; if you think he’s good when you see him on TV, you haven’t seen anything yet!  His riding is impressive and you just have to be there to see him perform live night Saturday, September 29^th.  And he’s not alone in the FMX show, X-Games gold medalist Adam Jones is back in the Big O.  Southern California’s Destin Cantrell will join his fellow countrymen to throw his massive whips for the fans alongside Canadian FMX rider, Paul Smith, and of course, Quebec’s favorite FMX rider, Ben Milot.  BC’s Kris Foster was supposed to ride as well but unfortunately he got injured a couple of weeks ago.

 
Although the FMX is always the highlight for me, the racing is usually just as exciting. Who are your picks to win this weekend?

In MX1, Matt Goerke is without a doubt the man to beat.  Canadian Nationals regular Dusty Klatt and Bobby Kiniry will obviously be there to challenge him and we also have Frenchman Mikael Musquin (Marvin Musquin’s brother)  who is; according to his brother, really fast in Supercross and I’m still working on a couple of surprises to mix things up!  MX2 should be fun too, I’m not going to lie, I would love to see Kaven Benoit win this race again but with Jeremy Medaglia and now Cole Thompson, he’s going to have to work hard to win this one!!!

And, like I said earlier, I’m really pumped about the Super Final and I have no clue about who is going to win this one!!!

Year after year, what do you look forward to the most at the Montreal SX?

Personally, I like to see the fans go crazy about big FMX tricks and crazy racing. We've been really lucky the past few years and I hope this 35^th edition will be just as fun...and let’s be honest, the Oakley after-party is always a highlight as well…

 
Where can people grab tickets to the event?

Supermotocross.ca , it’s that easy!

 
And if people can't make it out, is there any TV airing dates set yet?

The show will be broadcast on TSN and in French on RDS, but I don’t have any dates yet.  I’ll make sure to keep everyone in the loop for the times.

 
Thanks.

Thanks Chris and Felix!

I also spotted this, thanks to JSR's Facebook page. A little sneak peek idea on what to expect for the track.

I was cruising Twitter this week and saw Kyle Beaton with another unfortunate status on his injury. I was able to get this update from Kyle today on how hes doing.

“Ya I don't really know what's going on. Everyone I've seen pretty much has a different opinion. I'm having to go back to the hospital everyday to get hooked up to iv antibiotics. They think it may be getting infected but I’ve been on antibiotics since I got hurt. I am getting a bone scan today. Just seems like the wound isn't healing up either on my ankle. I have an appointment on Tuesday with a really good specialist so I'll hopefully get everything answered then.”

Good luck with it all Kyle and we're wishing you all the best!

Kyle Beaton is battling a hard injury right now. Billy Rainford photo

I know we have been pumping up Westen Wrozyna a lot here on DMX lately helping him get to the Monster Energy Cup. He is getting a lot of support and he would like to thank everyone who has helped him out so far. He would like to extend a personal thank you to Dan Goheen and the Hale family for their big contributions towards the trip.

It is pretty cool to see how dedicated Westen is to training as well. He has been riding his bike to school every day and stashing it at my house around the corner and then biking back home after school. It takes him an hour each way and it is definitely a great cardio workout towards his Monster Cup debut. Keep up the good work, Westen. Alright, make sure you check out this awesome video Mason Wrozyna made of Westen right here in the first part of his mini series.

Westen Wrozyna's Road To Vegas: Episode One from Fresh Pressed Productions on Vimeo.

We did an interview with Tanner Ward as well this week. Tanner is a great kid who took home one of the Yamaha Factory Rider Awards at Walton this year at the Walton Transcan. You can check out the interview right here. It is great to see the future of Canadian racing is in good hands with names like Ward, Wrozyna, Wright, Pettis, DaSilva, Biro and many, many more kids.

Ok, over to Billy for everything news related...

Thanks Kyle. It’s been a week of waiting around for me. The plan was to get over to the Thompson’s to shoot some pics and video of riders getting ready for the Montreal Supercross on their practice track, but the weather just hasn’t cooperated around SWO. Fall seems to have been dropped on us rather suddenly. We just had the most incredible summer and now we’ve been thrust into 15 degree highs and single-digit nightly lows! My friend—who fancies himself an amateur meteorologist—guarantees we’ll have another week of 30-degree weather, but I’m losing faith in his skills.

Anyway, it looks like more riders will be showing up early next week at the Thompson Training Compound, so things should all work out on Monday when me and Tyler Spikman head over…right, everyone?! We’ll see.

Speaking of which, we did a ‘Catching Up With…Richard Grey’ this week and he was one of the first ones on the track. He doesn’t have much time on an actual supercross track, but will be lining up in Montreal next weekend. I always like chatting with him because he has a great attitude and I think we’ll see him up his game even more when the outdoor season rolls around next summer. He also told a pretty funny story about his Rockstar OTSFF Motovan Yamaha teammate, Bobby Kiniry, too, so it’s a pretty good read. In case you missed it, you can read the interview here.

If you're looking for an amazing road bike at a great price, the size large Scott Addict R15 cabon fibre, SRAM red-equipped rocket ship is up for sale. If you're interested, please email me at bigwavebilly@gmail.com for more information. Put it this way, if you're in the market for an amazing bike, you won't beat this price for what you get!

This gem could be yours!

I also finally got around to putting together the 4 short video clips of Monster Energy Leading Edge Kawasaki rider, #161 Tyler Villopoto, whipping his big 450 like crazy in Moncton. He’s a great guy and it was pretty funny because he started having some troubles in one of the motos and when he came to the section he sort of waived all of us media types who’d gathered at the big step down off with a quick shake of his head. He certainly upped the entertainment value of the series this past summer. It also sounds like we should be seeing him back up here next summer, but maybe on the lighter and more whip-able 250. I can’t wait to see that! Here’s the short video clip:

Getting back to Montreal, a couple years ago I went and shot a video (definitely not a ‘Cudby Joint,’ but…) and concentrated on three ‘groms’ trying for their first Montreal Supercross. The three riders were Michael DaSilva, Nicky Beatty, and Brad Dool. That year, only Dool made it into the main event. Michael and Nicky were both trying to ride through injuries and were unable to make it in. Here’s the video:

I checked in with the three riders, now that 2 years have gone by, and here’s what they have going on for this Montreal season:

#111 Brad Dool:

“I'm just at home working for my dad hitting some local races and waiting to get eye surgery and I'm looking into some of the Canadian ax races.

After Loretta Lynn's I've just been taking it easy, haven't done much racing just a bit of practicing! Loretta's was my main goal this year and I got that done! So I was really happy with that. Now Montreal is coming up and Jimmy from Wheelsport is giving me a 250f to ride so I'm super stoked on that. I haven't rode one since last Montreal but I'm gonna try and spin a bunch of laps on it this week and see how it goes!

I'd like to thank My Dad and his Girlfriend, My Girlfriend, Wheelsport, Ktm Canada, Ventura Blvd Tattoo, SSS, Forma Boots, Deft Family gloves, Dunlop, Rental and everyone else helping me out thanks a lot!”

#25 Nicky Beatty:

Montreal doesn’t look like it will happen for Nicky. “My new [Hondas] aren't in yet so unless by some miracle they come in this week... I’m just waiting for the call to go pick them up. There’s always next year though.”

#117 Michael DaSilva:

"I've been out to practice a couple times so far with supercross suspension. I even had to go race an outdoor provincial with supercross suspensions on and that's when you realize how important it is to have the suspension setup for the type of track and terrain you are going to ride. The supercross suspension setup that I had loved just the day before on a supercross track made me cr**ss tab****** swear in my helmet as I was riding at the last Quebec provincial at X Town!

I feel great about my chances at the Montreal Supercross as I am physically and mentally ready for it this year. I am confident that I will be able to crack the top ten and with the caliber expected this year in Montreal that would be a great accomplishment!

Thanks to everyone from DMX for the great coverage this year of both amateur and pro racing. P.S. check out my little bro Chris 118 as the supermini final is at 6:00 during the night show! Thanks for this great opportunity and I can't wait to see everyone there"

Ok, so we are guaranteed to see at least two of the three in Montreal this year. It should be good and there will be a whole crop of new Intermediate riders trying to do well in the class this year too so we have that to look forward to.

Yamalube Schrader’s SMX Yamaha rider Denaye Giroux’s injury-filled 2012 continued recently. The Yorkton, Saskatchewan, resident planted her foot awkwardly and injured her…let’s just let her tell the story:

“To add to the list of injuries I got this year, at our year-end race in Regina Sept 8^th, I didn’t crash, but I hit a kicker before one of the doubles and my foot came off the peg and got caught in between the ground and my footpeg off the face of the double. I now have an Achilles tendon rupture to add to my list. lol. When I first went to the hospital they told me it was just a sprain so i wasn’t too worried about it. I even went out for our year-end banquet, but a few days later when I went back to the hospital they scheduled me in for emergency surgery in Regina. Surgery went good and now it will be a long recovery. The doctor said it will be 5-6 months before I’m walking good again. 
It’s been a crazy year for me! lol

Denaye”

Thanks for the update, Denaye, and I know I speak for all of us when I say I hope your recover goes properly and quickly. I’m sure Rick Bradshaw will let you just sit at his desk and do your job at Schrader’s from there, right?

We just received a press release stating that another Indy Car superstar has joined Patrick Carpentier in the side-by-side race for next weekend. Alex Tagliani has signed on to do the event. You may not be a big 4-wheel fanatic, but if they keep adding drivers like these it will help make the Montreal Supercross bigger and better and that’s good for everyone! Here’s the latest PR:

Since it’s also the MXoN next weekend in Lommel, Belgium, (and I just saw a cool photo of Bob Hannah from the 1987 event at Unadilla—which I was at btw) I thought I’d dig into my chest of ancient paraphernalia and dug this gem out. I actually knew nothing about Craig Dack when I got this shirt, but neon was cool back then and kangaroos are always cool…as are rats! In hindsight, I always wish I knew enough to get these things in a bigger size so I could show up at an event and be ‘that guy’ in an old jersey of some sort. Nah, I’d actually never do that. Anyway, here is a picture of the jersey I got back on that muddy day in Upstate New York:

Hmm, I just moved last weekend and couldn't find the actual jersey, but, apparently, we also bought an Australian t-shirt!

This was the official print for the event. This one might still fit!

If you’re an old fart like me then you may have heard about the great event that Brett Lee put together for vet riders to converge on the Walton track to compete for bragging rights and the coldest beer. Well, unfortunately, it’s not happening this year. I got in touch with Brett to find out the reasoning behind its cancelation for this year. You can bet the reason is money and time. Nobody cancels an event because they were making too much money! Here’s what he had to say on the subject:

“I love the race, but at best I break even and I am happy with that. I want to see a few of these types of special events. I think it takes securing pre-entries, having smaller clubs not compete on the same day, and perhaps some volunteers to come forward. I don’t want to make money on this and I know other tracks are the same. Guys just need to commit to it, rain or shine, and have some fun.

Vet guys are picky. If it looks wet or cold they bail and the guy like me has already forked out the cash for trophies, staff, etc. I swear if I knew I was getting 200 entries, I’d roll out the Budweisers, have them cold at the gate, and give it... but when the schedule is looking like rain and 20 guys call you asking if it’s going to rain and you know they are bailing, it makes you jumpy!

Pre-entry, some volunteers to do small jobs, and you have a great series at great tracks. The bottom line is 180 entries, not riders, and tracks will do it.”

Thanks for that, Brett. The topic was discussed over on MX Forum and someone mentioned the pre-entry thing. Like Brett said, he doesn’t want to make money on the deal, he just doesn’t want to lose his shirt! Who doesn’t understand that?

Brett Lee did it all at the last Vet National held at Walton. Bigwave photo

The day was all about things like silly bets with your buddies and getting through the day so you could crack an ice cold beverage! Let's get on this for next year. Bigwave photo

Also, it looks like California rider (and 3^rd overall in the 2012 Monster Energy CMRC Canadian MX2 Nationals), Topher Ingalls, will be lining up in Montreal on an interesting ride. He will be on a Walton TransCan Scott Honda in the big bike class. In 2011, Walton supplied Swiss rider, Julien Bill, with a bike to ride at the TransCan and at the final national and that bike is still in Walton’s possession.

This brings up an interesting point: This sponsorship deal brings the number of tracks supporting pro riders to three. Sand Del Lee is heavily involved with the SMX team, Gopher Dunes will have Californian, Blake Savage, and Tyler Medaglia, and now Walton will have Topher Ingalls. I asked Brett if this was a sign that tracks are just tripping over extra cash (yes, jokingly) or if it was something else. His response was that they “realize that if you don’t invest in your sport you won’t have one to make a living from.”  It’s all about advertising at the professional level in any sport. It’s time we all realize this and work together to get more outside sponsors involved in our great sport. I remember way back when wondering why there wasn’t ‘Monday Night Motocross’ on tv?! I still wonder that! If the sport sells out (almost) 16 stadiums throughout the winter for the AMA Supercross Series and yet I see baseball games on tv in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon with only a handful of people in the stands, something is wrong somewhere. It’s advertising. We all know that.

Ok, that's it for me this week. I can't wait to get over to the Thompson's place next week, so watch for a bunch of coverage of the riders who show up on Monday right here on DMX! Until then, see you at the races...

Who will we see in Montreal next weekend? My money is on Red-headed Julie and Dianna Dahlgren. Bigwave photo