Frid'Eh Update #39 Presented by Smith Optics

Sponsored by: 

By Kyle Carruthers and Billy Rainford

Hey everyone and welcome to the 39^th edition of the DMX Frid’Eh Update brought to you by Smith Optics. I got a chance this past week to go riding with Rob from SMITH and got to try out the new 2013 Fuel V.2 Sweat-X Pastrana signature edition with the all new, re-engineered Ergonomic Outrigger and Sweat-X F.A.T. 3-Layer face foam. I will admit the foam felt a lot better than the 2012 line up and provided a great seal against my face to keep out any unwanted dust and dirt. I highly recommend you guys get down to your local dealer and get a set of these today. For $60.00 for the goggles and a set of roll offs or a colored lens you can’t go wrong! Check out www.smithoptics.ca to see the full line up and designs.

www.smithoptics.ca

This week’s updated, which comes to you on the eve of Montreal SX, is dedicated to national #39, Zack Ruff. Zack hails from B.C. but unfortunately had to miss the entire 2012 season after an injury happened preparing for it. Zack sent us over this update recently:

“Unfortunately, I missed the whole season this year. I was in Georgia training with Colton Facciotti for a few months over winter and on an unlucky Friday the 13th of April I broke the navicular bone in my right foot really badly and had to get 7 screws put in. Since I was missing the whole year I decided to go to trades school for HVAC (Heating ventilation air conditioning/ refrigeration) and after I’m done that In February I'll be getting ready for the 2013 nationals.”

Zack living the "rough" life down in Georgia at GPF. Bigwave photo

Thanks Zack and we look forward to seeing you back out there in 2013. Rumour has it that Zack was flying before his injury.

As I mentioned, we are just over 24 hours away from the 2012 Montreal Supercross and the first practice is going to kick off in the Olympic Stadium this afternoon. The racing is going to be great this year especially with the 3^rd main event thrown in there, “The Super Finale.” For those of you who don’t know what that is, it will be the top ten from MX2 and top ten from MX1 main events who will line up to compete for the Super Finale. It will be great to see another race and it should be interesting. Can Cole Thompson beat the likes of Klatt, Kiniry, Goerke and Maier on his 250F? Will Kaven Benoit take back to back wins in the MX2 and Super Finale? Will Goerke and Medaglia back up their wins from last year? Will this rumoured 'big name' ringer Kawasaki is bringing up win it all? Will the side-x-side’s be able to make a pass without taking each other out? Will the crowd stand on their feet for Nate Adams and Ben Milot during the freestyle show? All these will be answered tomorrow night under the roof of the big O.

We had a fun week here at DMX. We had the chance to go to a local Ontario test facility to film Dusty Klatt spinning some laps on his new 2013 KTM 450 SX-F getting ready for Montreal. I can’t say too much about it at the moment, but Klatt and his new steed are looking ready for battle and Klatt is looking for a win this weekend in Montreal. Look for a full video on that on DMX soon.

Klatt will be riding the new 2013 KTM 450 SX-F in Montreal. Bigwave photo

We also had the chance to go to Sand del lee to see the MX101 crew of Kevin, Johnny and Ben to test the new 2013 KTM 450 SX-F and 350 SX-F around the pristine Sand Del Lee facility. Both bikes are fantastic and the 450 especially is a large improvement over the current 2012 model. We will be posting a first impression test on them next week thanks to our test rider Brad Dool who will be helping us.

I personally fell in love with the new KTM 450 SX-F Dungey Replica. I guess you could say I was "Super Dungey Pumped" on it! Bigwave photo

Like we said many times before tracks across Canada are in the best shape possible this time of the year without the heat drying them up. Sand Del Lee is no exception and the place is looking great these days. Make sure you check out www.mx101.ca to get their full fall schedule as well as follow them on twitter @MX101_SDL for instant updates.

We also got a chance to hang out with local boy and Walton Champion, Dylan Wright. Dylan is making the leap to pro next year and is showing some serious speed on his Yamaha's right now. We have a pretty cool written feature with Dylan in the works right now as well. It's pretty awesome to see the heart and dedication his kid has towards racing and the support of his family. They are the true meaning of privateers and show us that they have what it takes even without all the bling and fancy parts behind them.

Dylan Wright is one of Canada's super stars of the next generation. We have an inside look at his life coming up in the near future on DMX. Bigwave photo

Ok I have to go pack the truck for Montreal so we can hit the road. Here is Billy…

Thanks, Kyle. We are just finishing up here at DMX World HQ before heading east on the 401 to Montreal for the big Supercross. After speaking with JSR a couple days ago, I’m pretty excited to see how this one plays out. Like ‘The Champ’ said in the interview we did earlier this week, there should be 5 or 6 riders who can win the Super Finale at the end of the night. The top 10 from both the MX1 and MX2 mains will face off against each other for all the Super Finale glory.

Will Monster Energy Leading Edge Kawasaki rider, Matt Goerke, continue his dominance from the summer and run away with this thing?

Will Rockstar OTSFF Motovan Yamaha’s Bobby Kiniry show that the hardest-working man in moto’s long arduous summer was worth the effort and take this one?

Will Dusty Klatt put his Red Bull Royal Distributing Fox KTM (the new Dungey model) 450 on the top spot on the podium after testing showed he is even faster on this thing?

Will either KTM riders Kaven Benoit or Jeremy Medaglia (they swapped MX2 wins the past couple years in Montreal) be able to best the MX1 bikes in the Super Final?

What about GDR racing’s Tyler Medaglia? Will he put his bad luck from last year and his leg injury from this year behind him and get up front where he belongs?

Then there is young superstar Cole Thompson. He’ll be on Kyle Beaton’s Monster Energy Leading Edge Kawasaki 250F for this race and looked fast when we saw him practicing on his supercross track last week.

If you had to bet on someone, who would it be? There was also a rumour (started by JSR) that Kawasaki might be lining up a hot shot from the US to make things even more interesting. Track walk and first pro practice was at 2pm today and there was no sign of Ryan Villopoto or Jake Weimer, so I guess this rumour had no legs. Oh well, this should be a pretty exciting weekend of supercross racing as, like JSR said, there are several riders who could win this thing.

Be sure to follow @directmx for Tweets and check the site for all the coverage.

Did you happen to see what’s in the works for the Popkum track out in BC?! They are taking this facility to the next level! Here is a drawing of what they have upcoming for the endure fans out there:

Popkum is fast becoming the flagship facility in Canadian motocross and off-road riding! Popkum photo

These guys are really developing quite the destination spot for all types of off-road riding. Who knows what they have up their sleeves in the future!

Kyle Keast made his return to racing last weekend at the MMRS race at Muttco. His motos didn’t go as he would have hoped, but it’s great to see he’s able to get back on his Machine Racing TLD Yamaha already. We got in touch with him and here’s how he summed things up:

Kyle Keast: “Well, I didn't think it would hurt as much as it did. I went out in moto one and couldn't put too much weight on my leg. Then I grabbed it in a rut and my hip started hurting bad,so I decided to do one more moto. I went out and was very timid doing right-hand corners. I couldn't dab my leg because my brain was telling me "you’re still hurt, don't use that leg!". The pain started shooting at the break and then when I was falling in a right hand corner, I just fell on my side. I didn't even try to save it with my leg—just kept it on the peg. So after that I pulled off and called it a day. I had fun riding again. It’s an amazing rush you get when you race a dirt bike! I'm taking the rest of the year off though. I'm super busy with work and need to get back to the gym and get some muscle back on this leg before I ride again. I had a great time at MMRS Muttco though! They make you feel special when you go there. It’s very nice to have that atmosphere and be appreciated. You don't get that really anywhere else. I'll be back strong for 2013 though—ready to go on the Yammy 450!”

Well, most of that is good news. If you think about it, it was less than 4 months since his injury at round two in Kamloops, so he is already well ahead of schedule for a femur break. Good luck with the recovery and it sounds like a good idea to work on rehabbing the leg before hitting a track again…and thanks for the update.

We also checked in with Kyle Beaton to see how his saga with his leg is going. He was on his way to yet another doctor’s appointment when we talked with him. This time, he’s meeting with a plastic surgeon to figure out what to do about the exposed bone that is visible through a wound. Sorry that is a little graphic, but poor Beats is going through a bit of hell with this thing. There is no sign of any more infection, so that’s great news. He also said that he isn’t taking any pain medication, so that is also great news.

When I asked him about Cole Thompson riding his race bike in Montreal this weekend, he said that Cole should do great and to make sure his mechanic, Donk, puts in the correct piston return spring. His advice for Cole in the Super Final against the bigger 450s was to “get a good jump in the start and then swerve all over the track to the first corner.” The sport needs Beats!

Ok, it’s not motocross or supercross, but how cool is it that we have three ladies competing for Canada in the ISDE over in Germany right now? Victoria Hett, Almeda Rive and Amber Giroux are all over there giving it their all in one of the toughest competitions out there. If you’ve ever done an enduro race, you know how tough they can be. Imagine 6 days of that?! The whole thing wraps up Saturday. The official website is:  http://www.fim-isde2012.com/start_en.php

This weekend is also the MXoN over in Belgium. Here is the schedule and how you can watch most or all of the action. I totally copy/pasted this from Racer X:

Live Coverage

Qualifying

Saturday September 29 - MX-Life.tv

• 6:00am EST - LIVE MX-Life.tv Studio Show
• 8:20am EST - LIVE Qualifying Heat MX1
• 9:20am EST - LIVE Qualifying Heat MX2
• 10:20am EST - LIVE Qualifying Heat Open

Racing
Sunday September 30 - MX-Life.tv

• 4:50am EST - LIVE B-Final
• 7:00am EST - LIVE MXON Race 1 (MX1 + MX2)
• 8:30am EST - LIVE MXON Race 2 (MX2 + Open)
• 10:00am EST - LIVE MXON Race 3 (MX1 + Open)
• 11:00am EST - LIVE Exclusive interviews with the winners

*All the times are relative to your computer clock (GMT-0400).

Delayed Broadcast

Racing
Sunday September 30 10pm EST - CBS Sports Network

*Check local listings

Live Timing and ScoringClick HERE

Motocross of Nations Pre-Entry List
Click HERE

Follow Racer X for Updates from Lommel
Twitter - @racerxonline

Instagram - racerxonline

Facebook

Thor Race Center

2011 Nations Overall

1. United States
2. France
3. Australia
4. Great Britain
5. Belgium
6. Rep. of South Africa
7. Germany
8. Spain
9. Netherlands
10, Estonia
11. Portugal
12. Switzerland
13. Japan
14. Czech Republic
15. Russia
16. Italy
17. Finland
18. Denmark
19. Ireland
20. Austria

After the Montreal SX and and the Motocross of Nations wrap up this weekend, the next thing on the agenda is the Monster Energy Cup in Las Vegas October, 20^th. It’s the second year for the event and we have two riders competing: Cole Thompson and Westen Wrozyna. DMX will be there covering all the action as our two Canadian heroes give it their all on what has quickly become the biggest stage for the sport of supercross. They’ve added some interesting things to the event this year (I’m sure, no doubt, to decrease the chances of someone actually taking home the $1 million first place prize for winning all three motos) like the mandatory sand section that must be taken at least once per race and the 2-section starting gate. I can’t wait to get there and watch as Cole and Westen line up against the best in the world. I’m also probably the only one who goes to Vegas and doesn’t even drop a penny into a slot machine.  Last time I was there I met up with Donk and Tyler Spikman for a beer and we had to go to the country and western bar, Gilley's. Can we go somewhere else this time guys?

The competition for Miss ME Cup is down to three. You can get all the info on the event here Supercrossonline.com photo

We had a chance to watch Red Bull Royal Distributing Fox KTM rider, Dusty Klatt, put in some testing laps on the new fuel injected ‘Dungey replica’ KTM 450 a couple days ago. Apparently, the stop watch said he was faster by over a second than anyone else has ever been on the track. He was even able to consistently do a big jump that only a couple other riders were able to clear when they took a run at it from off the track. Dusty was doing it every lap! That has to mean something, no? I say it means we can throw Dusty’s name in the mix for possible winners this weekend in Montreal.

Watch for a Mason Wrozyna edit of the riding and a chat with Dusty soon here on DMX. Bigwave photo

We also got the chance to ride the new KTM 450 ourselves at Sand Del Lee on Thursday. We’ll have a full report on our thoughts soon here on DMX, but, suffice it to say, and coming from a die-hard 2-stroke guy like myself, it was amazing! Big thanks to Danny Brault and his ‘hired help for the day,’ Luke. We had a blast on the bikes. Thanks to Bradley Dool for coming out and being our resident ‘fast guy’ test rider for the afternoon. He looked amazing on the big 450 4-stroke! Also, thanks to Kevin and Johnny for having the track in perfect condition for our day. I’ve always said that if I were to race again that I knew the Sand Del Lee track would be my favourite and I was right on the money! I enjoyed every turn, straightaway, and jump on that track (well, except for over-jumping the finish line and deciding to just roll it the rest of the day). Scrubbing was not something anyone did back in my day, so that isn’t in my ‘skill set.’

We had a great day at Sand Del Lee testing the new KTM 350 and 450. Ben from SDL photo

We also got another look at young Dylan Wright. He came out for some riding so we could take some pictures and get some info for an upcoming feature on the local rider. He only lives two minutes down the road from the track and that proximity really shows when you watch him rail the bejeebus out of the place (it’s a technical term). He goes into corners faster than anyone on the sandy Sand Del Lee track!

They say that everybody is replaceable. We ll like to think that it’s not the case with ourselves, but, unfortunately, you’re probably not the exception that proves the rule. Sorry. However, there’s one guy involved in Canadian moto that is as close to this exception as anybody could possibly be. Rumours have been swirling around about the sale of the CMRC for the past few months and now another rumour has been laid to rest, albeit proven to be actual fact: Brett Lee has handed in his resignation at the CMRC. Please read that again, we’ll wait. Brett has been the guy on the front lines of the CMRC for many, many years. He has always handled the pressure well and you could always count on a prompt response from him when something came up. Not only that, but you could tell he actually empathized with the person asking the question and always gave an answer that both solved the problem and didn’t leave the questioner feeling slighted.

Well, now what?! Brett ‘s shoes will be very hard to fill—not to mention someone to wear his 9-fingered glove!—and we won’t soon see anyone who can do what he did with such grace and honesty. He will be greatly missed from the racing scene and we wish him the best of luck with what comes next for him and his growing family. I had to get to the bottom of these rumours, so he was kind enough to reply to me. You know his phone must have been ringing off the hook these past few days! Here’s what he had to say about it all:

DMX: Um, are you really leaving the CMRC?

Yes, it is true. My last event working with CMRC is Oct 14, the Gopher Dunes Sandstorm event. It has been something I have thought about for a long time—intensely for the last couple months. It is a decision I made with my team at Walton, Melody and myself. If there is a time to roll the dice and now is the time.

What is the next step for you?

I love the sport of motocross and appreciate the fact it has been my life for a long time. First, I am going to focus on Walton, with the team there and the sponsoring partners as an event facility. Not just motocross, but building it into a functioning, successful event facility hosting many events. If people caught the video on DMX from our media day, you would see the direction Walton is going. I want to stay tightly involved in motocross. It really is my passion. Hopefully there is a role for me at some level. 

How was the news handled on the CMRC side? They must have flipped, no?

It was really hard for me. I have done this for a long time, invested a lot of myself in this company and the people there. Mark (Stallybrass, CMRC President) took it really well. I did this now to be fair, as the busy season is over, and I didn't just sit at home asking for a paycheck and then bail. I know they appreciated that. Mark also respected the fact I had reached the point where to grow as a business man, build a future with Melody and the kids, I had to do it either somewhere else, or on my own. 

So is there anything you have planned?

Well, first and foremost we are going to begin working on TransCan 2013. We have amazing partners like Parts Canada encouraging us. We feel we raised the bar last year and I feel confident that the event we have planned for 2013 will be something exceptional.  The goal for our team—from Mark Perrin, to Barry Heatherington, my parents, the entire team—is to set our bar high. We want to build a unique off road event with trucks, mud bogs, and general red neck fun. It is already in the planning stages. Bicycle events and endurance events are on our planning table. Walton is brand that is well known and respected and if there is a time to push now is it. For sure I am nervous, but I like our chances.

I also plan on dedicating some energy to my family. Melody is starting a new career and I want to support her. My daughter turns one in a few weeks and my son, Caden, is growing up so quickly that I want to be part of this year with them. It’s a pretty cool time in my life, I just hope I don’t go broke!

What are you going to miss?

I don’t know. I don’t know how I will be disconnected. I had a lot of calls in the last 24 hours and change creates opportunity. For sure the daily interaction with riders, clubs and tracks, but I hope that continues through the TransCan. We will see. For now it’s about moving forward, and that excites me.

Without you there, who will be the front line guy at the races?

Mark says he is going to be that guy. I have not had a lot of discussion about this, very limited. As I understand it, Mark is going to take a more involved role in CMRC day to day. It makes sense, since he is the boss and ultimately makes the decisions on where the company goes. For anyone steering the ship, being ‘hands on’ is an important part of being successful.

The one-and-only, Brett Lee, has hung up his CMRC goggles. Wow, who will do what he did with the same passion and honest empathy? Bigwave photo

I think I’m going to end on that bombshell. As George Costanza would say, “Always leave on a high note!” That was a pretty high note--big news, as it were. Like I said, everyone is replaceable, but some are as close to impossible as it gets and I feel Brett is one of those people.

We’re off to Montreal now, so have a great weekend, everyone, and we’ll see you at the races…