Saturday at Moto Valley in Regina

By Billy Rainford

We’ve left the mountains of BC and Alberta behind and now the Rockstar Energy MX Nationals, and all of us following the circuit, find ourselves in the heart of the prairies, Regina, Saskatchewan. We all remember what happened last year when the rain and mud forced the cancellation of the second motos. The weather forecast seems to change every few minutes here this year, so we’ll just have to wait and see what we get in the morning.

Here are a few shots from today at Moto Valley:

Here we are nearing Regina, passing the famous moose in Moose Jaw, SK.

This was really just meant for inside the Rockstar OTSFF Yamaha pit area but we were all thinking the same thing in general.

#101 Matt Goerke will run the red plate this week as the MX1 points leader.

#7 Bobby Kiniry is ready for a solid weekend. Here he is working on his practice bike, just in case…

Derek Schuster’s new profile pic.

Moto dads shooting the breeze. That’s a LOT of breeze!

Honda Canada TLD GDR rider Kyle Keast and Craig Fortune.

There will be no MX2 rider for the Monster Energy Thor Kawasaki team in Regina. Cole Martinez is still nursing a sore shoulder he injured in a first turn crash in Nanaimo. Word on the street is that his mechanic, Adam Call, has the speed to be a solid replacement…

Duroy RTR KTM rider Michael Da Silva waiting for registration to open. He’s one of the few riders actually hoping for rain!

16-year-old #56 Kyle Biro was the class of the Intermediate class here today. Watch for him tomorrow in MX2.

My Regina hosts, Adam (AKA Crawdaddy) and Amanda), relaxing in the pits.

I like this story: Danyluk Racing Suzuki rider Kyle Swanson’s mechanic, John ‘Taco’ Tsakos, is only 18 and really wanted to hit the races as a mechanic. Kyle asked him to build his 4 Supercross bikes as a test. Well, here he is…

Devil’s Lake MX Yamaha rider #194 Jake Streichert making sure all the controls are where they should be.

Royal Distributing Fox Racing KTM Canada Mechanic, Jerome Therrien, even smiles when he’s doing menial tasks!

Fox’s Jason Moore just hates it when I take photos of him. And then when I actually post them…he probably won’t speak to me Sunday.

Derek Medaglia grinding down the spoke ends to prevent a possible flat in the front tire of #3 Tyler Medaglia’s Parts Canada Thor Husqvarna.

There’s always something to do the day before a national.

Making the Dunlops look good.

“OK, Mark Stallybrass, so what happens if it rains tomorrow?” Um…

I’m no mathematician, but…

That’s #444 Dustin Creson from California with his mechanic Robbie. He’s ready for a solid week with no mishaps. Last week he finished 8-35 after he had some front end troubles.

Hayden Halstead dragging the rear fender…er, license plate.

“It’s from doing wheelie, officer. Sorry.”

Michael Da Silva checking to see if the filters are ready. Nope. Five more minutes on high.

I don’t even know why they are holding a 4-week-old watermelon named ‘Wally’ or something. I have even less of an idea why they’re both flexing!

Eric Dubé of RTR Performance in Kamloops, BC fame.

The Huskys are ready.

KTM head mechanic and technician, Steph LeBlanc.

It looked like numbers were down a bit for amateur day. Except, of course, for the Junior classes!

Canada’s Motorcycle FXR Yamaha mechanic, Cale Foster (left) and Hayden Halstead’s man friend…er, dad.

Jamie Routley and Canada’s Motorcycle FXR Yamaha’s Jimmy Decotis taking in some amateur racing from the top of the trailer.

This young girl was just tiny standing next to the rest of the women racers here today.

It was all smiles at the Pettis rig this afternoon. Without that fall on the last lap of the first moto in Calgary, Jess would have finished up where he belongs.