Frid’Eh Update #18 | Parker Eales | Brought to You by Dirt Care
Week #18 belongs to Parker Eales from Maple Ridge, BC and is brought to you by Dirt Care Cleaners and Lubricants.
By Billy Rainford
Hello and welcome to Week #18 of the DMX Frid’EH Update brought to you by Dirt Care Cleaners and Lubricants. My run of 4 weekends in a row driving all day Friday to Supercross races in the north east has come to an end. It was asking a lot of the old DMX Van, but it handled the miles like the champ it has been for the last 10 years. This week, I’ll watch the action in Denver, Colorado, live on the App from the comfort of my couch.
In 250 West, Haiden Deegan has a 17-point lead over his teammate and breakout rider of the year, Cole Davies from New Zealand. Deegan has a 26-point lead over the rider who has become his nemesis on and off the track, Julien Beaumer. Their battles have been fun to watch this season but it seems as though Deegan has him beat in the mind games.
Canadian Cole Thompson from Brigden, Ontario, has been toughing it out through some pain and will be back in action on his Heartbeat Hot Sauce Team Solitaire Yamaha. This hot sauce company is from Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Team Solitaire is co-owned by Chris Elliott who is also from Thunder Bay. Cole sits in 13th place with Denver and then the Dave Coombs East/West Showdown next week at the University of Utah (Go, Utes!) in Salt Lake City.
250 WEST POINTS
1 38 Haiden Deegan 171 17 20 25 22 25 20 20 22
2 100 Cole Davies 154 14 18 20 20 15 17 25 25
3 23 Julien Beaumer 145 22 25 22 18 16 14 18 10
4 30 Jo Shimoda 136 25 15 16 12 18 16 17 17
5 37 Coty Schock 115 16 16 17 14 22 5 14 11
6 36 Garrett Marchbanks 110 13 14 N/A 16 17 13 22 15
7 19 Jordon Smith 108 20 22 18 25 0 N/A 10 13
8 93 Michael Mosiman 99 7 13 15 17 20 7 16 4
9 63 Hunter Yoder 68 9 12 12 8 11 4 9 3
10 65 Lux Turner 63 11 0 11 11 13 6 11 0
11 52 Anthony Bourdon 54 15 11 13 15 N/A N/A N/A N/A
12 302 Parker Ross 51 5 7 10 13 8 0 8 N/A
13 61 Cole Thompson 47 12 10 0 3 9 0 13 N/A
14 166 Enzo Lopes 43 N/A N/A 5 0 14 N/A 15 9
15 91 Tj Albright 36 8 6 8 10 3 0 1 0
16 25 Ryder Difrancesco 35 18 17 N/A N/A 0 N/A N/A N/A
17 115 Gavin Towers 35 3 4 7 0 5 2 12 2
18 54 Jett Reynolds 34 0 9 9 4 12 0 N/A N/A
19 101 Dylan Walsh 31 0 3 4 7 10 0 7 0
20 134 Avery Long 20 10 0 N/A N/A 4 0 6 0
Drew Adams will be back on the line in Denver for the PC Kawasaki team after really banging himself up earlier in the season.
From Race Kawasaki:
🚨Rider Update🚨
PC Race Team rider Drew Adams is set to return to racing this weekend in Denver for Round 16 of Supercross after a crash at Round 4 in early February sidelined the No. 98.
Welcome back!
Did I ever tell you about the season-opening duathlon I did in Salt Lake City way back in the spring of 1995? This feels more like a Monday Morning Coffee story, so I’ll sit on this one for a few days. Let’s just say that I made the headlines in the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper…
In the 450 class, Cooper Webb has done everything but wrap up his 3rd title after his clutch win last week in Pittsburgh. Chase Sexton looked to have the speed to catch and pass Cooper, but Webb’s mental toughness pulled him through again. You just can’t rattle this guy!
Webb heads into the 2nd-to-last round with a 12-point lead over Sexton who knows he will need some help in Denver and SLC if he’s going to steal this title from Webb. I liked Cooper’s comment at the Pittsburgh press conference when he said, “You think it’s easy to get 2nd every night? It’s not!” Fair point. We just sit on the sidelines and naively think these finishes are automatic for these guys.
450 POINTS
1 2 Cooper Webb 325 18 20 14 22 22 25 25 22
2 4 Chase Sexton 313 25 16 18 25 17 20 20 17
3 94 Ken Roczen 271 22 18 22 20 1 22 22 25
4 32 Justin Cooper 241 15 11 16 9 18 17 18 18
5 27 Malcolm Stewart 237 12 15 13 12 25 18 13 16
6 7 Aaron Plessinger 222 13 0 0 13 14 13 15 20
7 51 Justin Barcia 185 16 14 12 10 16 15 16 12
8 46 Justin Hill 170 14 8 7 16 12 12 17 15
9 14 Dylan Ferrandis 167 0 13 6 11 0 14 14 10
10 12 Shane McElrath 163 9 5 5 8 13 10 9 11
11 21 Jason Anderson 151 20 9 20 15 20 16 11 14
12 17 Joey Savatgy 122 1 12 11 7 15 9 12 13
13 49 Mitchell Oldenburg 121 6 3 9 5 11 8 10 9
14 45 Colt Nichols 112 -5 0 4 8 6 10 11 7 7
15 57 Benny Bloss 104 0 6 10 3 9 0 5 6
16 3 Eli Tomac 80 17 25 15 18 5 0 0 N/A
17 1 Jett Lawrence 71 10 22 25 14 N/A N/A N/A N/A
18 11 Kyle Chisholm 64 2 2 0 4 7 5 2 3
19 96 Hunter Lawrence 62 11 17 17 17 0 0 0 N/A
20 86 Mitchell Harrison 60 5 0 0 0 6 6 6 5
Ken Roczen will sit out the final two rounds of the Monster Energy Supercross season after aggravating a right ankle injury resulting in a complete tear of the syndemosis ligament requiring surgery.
Check this out, Canadian Julien Benek from Mission, BC will race the 450 class this weekend. It will make him the first to ever race the Triumph 450 in Supercross. No big deal. | Brown Dog Wilson photo
Canadian RAD Torque Racing Triumph rider #500 Julien Benek from Mission, BC will step up to the 450 class for this weekend’s Denver Supercross. The 6’3″ rider has been riding the 450 in local races and says “I’m liking the big dawg power more” and so he’ll make the move at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado.
Fellow Mission, BC teammate #585 Blake Davies will remain in the 250 West class.
Good luck to both riders!
Parker Eales from Maple Ridge, BC is rider #18 so we get to have a chat with one of the hardest working riders we have, certainly in the top 6! By that I mean that he works a full time job and still makes it to the entire Canadian Triple Crown Series MX Nationals every week. And he finished 6th in the 450 standings doing so!
Parker is one of our taller riders and is definitely one our thickest hair-headed riders! Of course, I had to ask him a silly question that combines both of these “facts,” as you’ll see.
Here’s a look at Parker’s 2024 season:
We’ve known Parker for a long time. When he was much younger he was already tall and I think most people who didn’t know him assumed he was much older than he actually was. I know I was always surprised when I’d get the answer to the age question when I’d ask him in an interview.
He’ll make the switch from KTM to GasGas this coming season as his Priority MX team will now be on the red bikes. He’s already lined up for a Future West Moto MX race and this weekend he’ll line up against some of our Ontario heavy hitters when he heads to Auburn for Round 2 of the AMO Ontario Provincials.
I thought I’d have a weekend to get some things done around the house but it looks like I’ll definitely be heading north to check out the racing on Sunday. It seems every time I head to Auburn it rains, so we’ll hope that doesn’t happen again this time, but it is spring in Ontario so you pretty much have a 50/50 chance of getting wet.
Direct Motocross: Hello, Parker. I haven’t spoken with you in quite a while, so I’ll need to back up to the summer Nationals first off. You pulled off a 6th place overall in 450 standings last summer. You have to be pretty happy with that, right?
Parker Eales: Hey, Billy! Hope all is well with you. It has been a minute, hey. Yeah for sure, 6th overall was great. I felt like I stepped my riding up to a new level last year which was awesome. I definitely got a little lucky getting 6th with a few of the top guys being out with injury, but my consistency each round paid off. My moto finishes last year were pretty similar to the previous year, but my biggest goal was to improve my gap to the leaders and my fast laps compared to theirs and I definitely did that in every moto, so to me I have to be pretty happy with that improvement.
How much better do you think you could be if you weren’t working all week and then flying into the races? What would be different?
I’m really not too sure, I’d imagine it would help a lot. I do feel like I have a pretty good program with balancing work, training and riding at the moment. I know I would feel a hell of a lot better on Monday mornings, I can tell ya that! I really do enjoy riding and training. The hardest part for me is not being able to do as much as I’d like to without over doing it. Id like to think that if I wasn’t working all week I could definitely get a fair bit better because I could double my time with everything. I just don’t think that’s an option for me so I am just trying to my best with what I got. It definitely could be worse though, I am pretty stoked on what I get to do.
Then you raced the AMO Arenacross series in Chilliwack again. You were 5th overall. As a past champion, were you happy with the way this short series went?
The series went okay for me. I struggled a fair bit the first weekend trying to get back into things after not really riding at all since Walton. My speed was actually pretty good. I qualified 1st or 2nd a few times and had some good lap times most motos. I just felt like my finishes didn’t really reflect how I was riding? Either way, it was still a ton of fun! I think AX is some of my favourite racing we get to do every year!
And then were you able to get away for a holiday or are those all taken up during these summers of racing?
Not many holidays were had after the summer was over. I pretty much went straight into working Monday to Saturday. I tried to make the most of my Sundays though! Lol. I did get to go to MXON for a week so I’d say that was a pretty sweet holiday.
Can you tell us all again what it is you do for work?
I work for Frazer Excavation. I’ve been a civil foreman there since high school basically. Although this year I’ve kinda transitioned into a superintendent roll. It’s actually helped a fair bit with my riding and off-bike training not being on the tools for 10 hours a day. I’m still on the ground for majority of the day but it’s definitely a bit of a lighter load on the body which I’ve noticed has helped a fair bit with recovery every day.
Can you give us your stats? What is your age, height, and weight?
26, feeling old. 6’3″, back hurts. 195 pounds, can’t ride a 250!
Racing has started out west and you raced Round 1 of the Future West Moto series out in BC. You went 2-2-4 and tied for 2nd with Tyler Gibbs. How did that day go for you?
It went okay I thought. The first 2 Pro motos were pretty good, they were later in the day on Saturday when the track had some bumps. Julien (Benek) was the fastest guy for sure, he’s riding super well right now. I wasn’t that far off really and we put a pretty big gap on 3rd place in both of those motos, so it was good to see we both had some good speed when the track got rough. The skies opened up right before our last moto on Sunday so I put myself in a bad position on the start and it was kind of follow the leader from there in the mud. It was a fun weekend being back at the races though.
I see that Julien went 1-1-1, did anyone have anything for him? How close were you?
Yeah, he was definitely the man to beat that weekend. My fastest lap of each moto were pretty close to his which I thought was good. He just had that 0.5 second or more per lap that I just couldn’t hang on to. Kelowna is a pretty fast track though so the times are always relatively tight.
And what’s with the 3-moto format for the Pro Am class? Is that the way it always is?
Yeah, usually Future West runs a 3-moto format up until the nationals start. It’s a good little format that allows us guys to get a bit more track time over the weekend. Usually they put it back to 2 motos for the summer and fall because they don’t usually get the turnout that makes it worth it to run 3 motos.
How many more races will you do before heading to Calgary for Round 1 of the Canadian Triple Crown MX Nationals?
Probably 2-3 more weekends. I am in Ontario as we speak shaking things down with Priority MX so I’ll be at Auburn this weekend for Round 2 of the AMO series. There’s a Future West race in Revelstoke I’ll hit on May long and then maybe I’ll hop across the border once more before Calgary for a race in Washington. I could probably race every weekend if I really wanted to but it definitely hurts me during the week a bit. Race weekends are great to do but stacking them up every weekend is tough when you have to drive 3-6 hours Friday after work and then try and do the same Sunday night to get home for work on Monday. It makes the following week more of a recovery week than anything.
Oh, great. See you this weekend! What are your racing/travel plans this summer?
I think my plans are looking similar to the last couple years: fly into the races Friday nights and fly home Sunday nights. I did take 2 weeks last year off which was awesome. 1 before Gopher and 1 between Moncton and Deschambault. I’m hoping to do the same this year. Who knows though, if things are going really well maybe I can tell the old man I’m putting the work boots away for the summer???
It can’t be easy doing it the way you are. How many more season will you chase this?
At the end of most summers sometimes I ask myself why I’m even doing this. Then winter comes around and you get the itch to do it all over again. I love it way too much to want to stop right now. Each year I’ve seemed to have improved and gotten more support, so I think I’d be dumb to call it now? Who really knows though, I take it year by year, I don’t have many big plans or an exact time I wanna stop racing the Canadian nationals. I definitely would like to do a year or two of a bit of everything, not just say I’m done racing.
I think it would be awesome to put the same amount of work in and take it just as serious but hit some sprint enduro races, maybe some SX in the spring, some AMA outdoors and hit a few Canadian outdoors and maybe finish the year off with the full week at Walton TransCan and the national? I really do enjoy racing my dirt bike and I don’t think I’ll ever get the burnt out feeling and not wanna ride anymore. Time will tell I guess!
Being tall and with the thickest head of hair on the gate, what would be worse for you, going bald or being only 5’8”?
5’8” for sure. You can make bald work well if ya have to!
OK, Parker, thanks for chatting with us for another Update Interview, See you in Calgary and who would you like to thank?
Yeah you bet, Billy, always enjoy doing these. We will for sure see you in Calgary. I’d like to give a huge thank you to everyone at Priority MX, especially Peter Knoop and Justin Roney. They have gone above and beyond for me and given me support I’d never thought I’d get. Of course everyone that’s helping us this year as well:
@gasgas.canada @gasgas.official @prioritymechanical @partscanada @thormxofficial @alpinestarsmx @dirtcare @teamltd @matrixconceptscanada @renthal_moto @dubyausa @dspec289 @didchain @seco_seatcover @apex.cycle @m7_designs @worksconnection @ridedunlop @renegadefuel @hallracefuel @nihiloconcepts @twinair @xtremetoyslondon @holeshotmotorsports @frazerexcavation
Watch 2025 Pulp MX Yamaha LCQ Challenge LIVE on YouTube
Watch the PulpMX Yamaha LCQ Challenge LIVE on the Vurbmoto YouTube channel at 4:45 Eastern.
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I will be heading to the Triple Crown MX Nationals in a new, bigger van wrapped in both Dirt Care and Direct Motocross colours!
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Changes for Tyler Medaglia
OK, so we’ve all seen by now that Tyler Medaglia is riding Yamahas from Valley Yamaha these days, but the word on the street was that he was planning on qualifying and racing Loretta Lynn‘s with his son, Talon Medaglia.
Unfortunately, there’s a timing conflict with an FMSQ race which is Tyler’s main focus this season that will prevent him from being able to race in Tennessee. Tyler said he definitely would have had there not been a conflict. Next year…
Oh, and it’s their annual Switcharoo race out there in Nova Scotia this weekend:
OK, good luck if you’re racing anywhere this weekend. I’ll see everyone up at Auburn on Sunday morning, unless the forecast is a nightmare like it’s been the past few times I’ve tried to go to a race up there.
Have a great weekend. Here’s the schedule for the Denver SX:
Have a great weekend, everyone.
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