Frid’Eh Update #23 | Ryan Surratt Interview | Presented by Kawasaki Canada

Frid’Eh Update #23 | Ryan Surratt Interview | Presented by Kawasaki Canada

By Billy Rainford

Welcome to Week #23 of the DMX Frid’Eh Update this week presented by Kawasaki Canada. Here where I live in London, Ontario, we’re about to head into some racing this weekend. AMO will be firing off on Sunday with their first round of racing at Gopher Dunes. The cool thing about this is that this will be a great chance for our Pro riders to get some gate drops and racing intensity on the track that will host rounds 3 and 4 of the 2021 Canadian Triple Crown Series.

I’ll be over there to capture all the action and will be trying to get an early idea of who’s been putting in the time this spring and who will be ready to take a run at these championships that start at Walton Raceway on July 2nd.

Ryan Surratt from Corona, California, is #23 for the 2021 season, but he’s busy racing the 450 class in the 2021 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championships in the USA for the AllSouth Kawasaki team.

He’s raced in Canada before and then came back in 2020 to ride for Al Dyck on his Sky Racing team. Here’s alook at his results from the MX portion of the summer:

I know that it was a tough season for Ryan because he had to get to Canada early to quarantine. Spending the summer in Ontario must have been a bit of a challenge. We grabbed him to talk about it. Here’s what he had to say:

Direct Motocross: Hey Ryan. We haven’t seen you since last summer here in Canada. I know it was a tough season with the pandemic and everything, but can you tell us how you thought you did up here in Canada?      

Ryan Surratt: Last year in Canada I think was decent for not focusing on moto at all just on off-road. It all kind of worked out with the pandemic happening to where I didn’t miss any off-road so I went and raced moto there and it went as good as it could’ve with what I had there.            

When did you start talking with Julien (Perrier) at PRMX about racing Supercross?

I started talking to Julien when I was in Canada. I was just trying to find something to go and race for this year.     

You guys had a great gang down there for SX. How did your indoor season go?                                                  

Supercross season went pretty good. I would say also I was still racing off-road till way late December so didn’t have much time to prep on Supercross before, but luckily Julien got me a bike a couple weeks before the first race and I just practiced as much as I could before showing up.

What was the highlight of your season?       

The highlight of my season was just being able to go back and race Supercross again under the lights, score some points, and make a couple mains!                  

And now you’re racing the 450 class for the outdoor season. Who are you riding with and for? How did this program come up?

I’m going to try to race the remainder of the 450 outdoors here riding an AllSouth bike. I’m kind of just trying to figure it out on my own to make it through the outdoor season to have a good year for Supercross next year.

If you look at the results, almost everyone ahead of you is a factory rider! Are you happy with the first two rounds?

Yeah, I can’t complain with how this outdoor season is going for the first two, doing almost everything on my own to get there and do it. To be in that position makes me feel pretty good and at least shows that I really have been putting my all into this.

You got to see a couple Canadians down at Pala and I think you guys were pretty close. Did you see Tyler Medaglia and Cole Thompson our there?

Yeah, I got to see some Canadians. Medaglia and I had some pretty good motos together at Pala chasing each other, and both motos him and I ended catching up and passing Thompson. 

Looking back at your racing in Canada, do you have a favourite track up here?

My favorite track up there will always be your Deschambeault. 

What are your plans for the rest of the summer season? Are cross-crossing the country with the series?

As of yesterday, I decided I’m going to try to pack up everything I got and put it all in the van and try to go racing and see what happens this summer.

Awesome! Would you ever come back up here to race?

I would love to come race in Canada, but for once I would need somebody there to give me a shot so I’m not paying out of my pocket to be there and I know I can win that series. 

Well, good luck. I wish the broadcast would show more of the field. Who would you like to thank?

I would like to thank Abby from team AllSouth for the bike. Eks Brand goggles, Gaerne, Asterisk, Earth Movers, AEO, Rep, Dunlop, No Toil, Odi, Lake Elsinore MX.

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We’re getting closer and closer to starting the 2021 season here in Canada. The Triple Crown Series will be here in 3 weeks when we drop the gate at Walton Raceway for rounds 1 and 2.

Here’s a look at the schedule:

Like I mentioned in the opening, I’ll be over at Gopher Dunes for an AMO on Sunday. I know quite a few of our top pro riders will be there, so this will be a great chance to finalize some of my predictions for how this coming summer of racing is going to play out in the 250 and 450 classes. Of course, not everyone is a strong sand rider, so we need to take that into account.

The weather around these parts has been ridiculously humid lately. Fortunately, the air is supposed to dry up for the weekend and I think we’ll have perfect conditions for racing on Sunday. The only problem is that I still have horrible cell service at the track in Courtland and I often find that video clips I’ve thought I’ve sent during the day don’t go up on Instagram etc. until I’m home at my place at the end of the day.

I’ll try to do some live Facebook streaming from the track because at least that seems to go up right away.

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FIM World Enduro Schedule

Canadian Kade Walker Set to Compete

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A post shared by Kade Tinkler-Walker (@kwalker651)

Calendar

GP Portugal

18-20 June 2021 Marco de Canaveses

GP Italy

25-27 June 2021 Edolo

GP Estonia

16-18 July 2021 Saaremaa

GP Sweden

22-24 July 2021 Skövde

GP Germany

08-10 Oct. 2021 Zschopau

GP France

15-17 Oct. 2021

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GNCC Racing Points

The GNCC Racing series takes a couple weeks off and will resume on June 26th-27 in Snowshoe, WV.

WXC – Bike – Class Points	RND 1	RND 2	RND 3	RND 4	RND 5	RND 6	RND 7	RND 8
Place	Make	Nbr	Name	Finish	Finish	Finish	Finish	Finish	Finish	Finish	Finish	Total Points
1	YAM	001	BECCA N SHEETS	2	1	2	1	1	1	4	1	218
2	YAM	650	RACHAEL ARCHER	1	2	1	2	4	2	1	3	204
3	HQV	713	TAYLA JONES	5	3	5	3	3	5	3	4	150
4	KAW	444	KORIE STEEDE	11		3	5	2	3	2	5	134
5	BET	417	RACHEL GUTISH	3	4	4	4	7	7	6	8	131
6	KTM	550	SHELBY A TURNER	4	5	6	6	6		7	7	107
7	YAM	205	PRESTIN RAINES	7	7	8	8	8	6	8	12	104
8	YAM	442	TAYLOR TAYLOR	8	10	11	11	11	10	10	11	86
9	KAW	777	JOCELYN BARNES	6	6	7	7		DNF	9	6	85
10	YAM	715	MARINA CANCRO	12	8	10	9	9	8		9	82

XC1 Open Pro – Bike – Class Points	RND 1	RND 2	RND 3	RND 4	RND 5	RND 6	RND 7	RND 8
Place	Make	Nbr	Name	Finish	Finish	Finish	Finish	Finish	Finish	Finish	Finish	Total Points
1	KTM	530	BENJAMIN M KELLEY	5	1	2	4	3	2	2	2	182
2	YAM	514	STEWARD BAYLOR JR		8	1	1	1	1	3	1	178
3	GAS	314	GRANT BAYLOR	1	4	4	5	4	6	7	6	140
4	KAW	114	JOSH V STRANG	3	2	7	2	11	10	1	4	140
5	HQV	003	JORDAN ASHBURN	4	3	6	3	6	5	6	3	137
6	KTM	206	JOSHUA M TOTH	8	5	3	6	8	9	5	5	110
7	GAS	212	RICKY A RUSSELL	6	6	5	9	2	8	4	10	106
8	YAM	523	LAYNE MICHAEL	7	7	13	11	5	3	10	11	62
9	HQV	478	TREVOR BOLLINGER			12	7	7	7	8	7	57
10	HQV	989	THADDEUS DUVALL	2				12	4		9	43
11	SHR	543	BENJAMIN HERRERA	10	9	11	8	10	11	9	8	30
12	BET	121	CORY BUTTRICK	9	10	11	10	9	13			12
13	KTM	902	TYLER D MEDAGLIA	DNF	12	8						6

XC2 250 Pro – Bike – Class Points	RND 1	RND 2	RND 3	RND 4	RND 5	RND 6	RND 7	RND 8
Place	Make	Nbr	Name	Finish	Finish	Finish	Finish	Finish	Finish	Finish	Finish	Total Points
1	GAS	969	JONATHAN GIRROIR	6	1	1	1	1	1	3	5	202
2	HQV	342	CRAIG B DELONG	2	2	3	3	2	6	1	3	183
3	HON	099	CODY J BARNES	5	5	4	4	8	3	5	7	132
4	KAW	178	LYNDON SNODGRASS	3	18	5	2	13	18	2	1	131
5	YAM	282	MICHAEL WITKOWSKI	1	3	4	13	7	2	15	16	127
6	HON	384	RUY BARBOSA	9	6	13	7	4	9	6	2	119
7	KTM	198	LIAM DRAPER	7	4	10	5	6	4	16	4	115
8	BET	109	THORN DEVLIN	10	13	9	8	3	5	10	8	105
9	HQV	347	EVAN SMITH	4	12	6	6	5		7	6	102
10	KTM	328	JESSE ANSLEY	8	7	8		9	15	8	15	77

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Tanner Ward and Ryder McNabb at Walton Raceway

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Greg Poisson on the 2021 Gas Gas MC450 at Motopark

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Kaven Benoit Busy Riding and Teaching

No, Kaven Benoit won’t be jumping back onto the pro circuit, but he’s been enjoying being back on the bike and teaching riders of all levels. Check out his latest riding video:

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The Story Behind the John C. Riley Motorcycle Tee-Shirt in Step Brothers Movie

Unless you’re the one person in the world who hasn’t seen the movie Step Brothers starring Will Farrell and John C. Riley, you’re familiar with the scene where Riley’s character, Dale Doback, comes in wearing a Kawasaki road racing tee shirt.

I remember watching the movie the first time and being like, “Hey, cool, he’s wearing a motorcycle shirt!” It’s kind of like the scene in Ghostbusters II where Bill Murray appears with a 100% sticker on his construction helmet. But the even cooler thing about the Step Brothers tee shirt story is that it involves a Canadian.

You may have heard that it’s actually a photo of Peter Derry, but let’s dive into the details. Here’s what Peter had to say about it:

“The actual original photo is of me racing to a win at Mosport (Photo credit to Flair Photography). The photo ended up all over the internet not long after and I guess someone thought it would make a nice retro-looking shirt for John C. Riley to wear during this “Did you touch my drumset?” scene. 

(Note: You have to click the “Watch on YouTube” link to view the scene)https://www.youtube.com/embed/-R81ugVBLlw?feature=oembed

“The movie was highly recommended to me to watch…in fact I was shocked about how many people had seen it and laughed their asses off. So, one Friday night in the dead of winter, Robyn and I got the movie. When this scene came on, I yelled, “Hit pause!” I grabbed the photo and held it up to the TV and we were stunned. It was funny how we stumbled onto it. 

“I never really did anything about it for a couple of years and then the story intrigued an entertainment lawyer who insisted on pursuing the case.
And…I bought a Kawasaki after that one. One can never have too many motorcycles!

Here are a few details on the actual motorcycle in the photo:

“So, the motorcycle in the shot was a 1982 Kawasaki S1 Superbike (Factory Kawasaki, only 30 made) and was originally ridden by the Canadian Superbike Champion, Lang Hindle. I was an amateur at the time this bike was campaigned. 

“I was asked to race the bike in 2002 for a collector and went on to win several races and break the all-time vintage lap record in the Vintage Road Racing series, twice. I had a good run on the bike until 2005 when it was finally retired from competition. I got a lot of press and so that’s probably how the photos were discovered.“

So, there you have it. That’s how a photo of Peter Derry road racing made it into the movie Step Brothers and now lives in Canadian Motorcycle Racing folklore.

*** By the way, if you’d like one of these tee shirts for yourself, give Peter a DM on his Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/peterderry96/ ***

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OK, if you’ve been reading my stuff lately, you’ll know that I’ve been lying on the living room floor with my laptop balanced awkwardly on my stomach as I tried to keep typing and posting this week. My back has been really bad. So, now I’m going to try and meet Mike McGill and his son, Max McGill, for a mountain bike loop around Fanshawe Lake.

If you read MXP, you’ll recognize Mike’s name as the brains behind all the historical features in the mag. And his son just competed in the London High School Battle of the Bands with his band, Full Throttle. Give that link a click and check them out. His dad is an old punker from the local band, The Legend Killers.

Anyway, I’m going to see if my back can take this. Wish me luck. Have a great weekend, and if you’re going to be at Gopher Dunes on Sunday, wave hello from a socially acceptable distance.