Frid’Eh Update #33 Presented by Mongoose Machine

By Jeff McConkey and Billy Rainford

Welcome to week #33. This week we have seen the end of the 2015 Rockstar Energy MX Nationals. This summer, Shawn Robinson was #33. He will be #27 for 2016 and will be lining up at the final round of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championships at Ironman MX in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

We got in touch with the Gatineau, Quebec, resident to find out how his summer went and what his plans are:

Direct Motocross: Hello, Shawn. You managed to knock a few off your national ranking. You’ll be number for 2016. Can you sum up your summer of racing for us?

Yeah, I did get my number a little lower this year. I was hoping to get that number 10 but a big crash in Ulvertoon set me back and wasn’t able to get enough points. I am happy with my season. It started off rough but was way better after Regina – not many DNFs this year which helps a lot.

You guys kind of branched off on your own with Jeremy Pronovost as your teammate. How did that all work for you guys?

Yeah, me and Pronovost were together because I was going to do the series alone then he wanted to do it as well, so it helped out for the cost out west and he got to do the full series for the first time.

This weekend, you’re off to the Ironman National in Indiana for the season-ending AMA National. How did this all come about and what will you be riding and what will you be pitted in?

Yeah, this weekend I am going to do Indiana, the last AMA round on a Honda 450. I will be pitting under the GDR tent with Jeremy (Medaglia), Colton (Facciotti), and (Kyle) Keast.

Watch for Shawn Robinson on a Honda 450 this Saturday at Ironman MX in Indiana. – Bigwave photo

Have you ever raced one before? What are you hoping for this weekend?

No, I have never raced an AMA Pro event, so that will be really cool for me. My goals are to qualify and have fun.

What will you do for the rest of the summer/fall season of racing?

After Indiana I am not sure exactly what I am going to do. Probably some local races and that’s about it.

What are your winter training/racing plans?

I am not sure on my winter training plan since it’s still pretty early, but for sure go ride somewhere.

Shawn with long-time friend, Cale Foster, at the Sand Del Lee round of the Nationals. – Bigwave photo

Will you do the whole series again in 2016?

Yes, I will be doing the full series next year, for sure.

Well, good luck and see you this weekend! Who would you like to thank?

I want to thank all the people for making my 2015 season possible.

It should be a great weekend watching all the Canadians line up in Indiana Saturday. More on that later.

This week’s Update is brought to you by Mongoose Machine in Abbotsford, BC. Give them a click and check out all their great products and services.

Jeff McConkey

Rockstar Energy MX Nationals

Well, the CMRC Rockstar Energy Nationals have come and gone. We were blessed with great weather and great racing in both classes. We had a few surprises, but for the most part, the guys we expected to be up front, were. Like always, some tracks and track prep were awesome, and others were crappy. I feel like the officials were fair all season long and ran a good series.

Obviously, there are a few changes that are needed for the series to continue to grow, but the CMRC did the best with what they had for 2015. For 2016, I really think they need to change the 250 2-stroke rule. No, I’m not bagging on Kaven Benoit and his bike of choice this season ( I would have ridden it too). The bike does not belong in the class. Stock or mod, it is an unfair advantage. I feel that if the bike is allowed to race in 2016, it should be for Intermediate riders only. There were rumours floating that riders or teams without ‘factory backing’ could ride the 2-stroke. That is a terrible idea. It should be Intermediates or nothing.

Does the 250 2-stroke belong in the MX2 class? – Bigwave photo

In MX2, Kaven Benoit had an incredible run and claimed his 2nd straight MX2 Championship. Yes, Kaven was on a 250 2-stroke, but you are kidding yourself if you think he would not have won on a 250 4-stroke. His speed and fitness were top shelf all season long. Jimmy Decotis joined our series and instantly the talk was, ‘he has no fitness, no heart, and can only ride sand.’ You people who said that can now remove your heads from your own [rear ends]. Jimmy not only showed us he has pretty good fitness, he showed everyone that the kid has heart, and lots of it! Yes, he had a little bit of difficulty halfway through the East, but I’m willing to bet it doesn’t happen again next season. This guy wants to win as bad as anyone, and now that he knows the series, the tracks and the country, he’s a serious championship contender for 2016.

Jeremy Medaglia had a very consistent season early on; he showed fantastic speed and fitness like always. He really turned it on the last few rounds and will be looking to finally claim the title in ’16 that he has been so close to for so many seasons. Shawn Maffenbeier came in a little behind the eight ball, but rebounded very nice like always.

The big question I keep asking myself and others, is who will replace Benoit in the MX2 class for the Royal Distributing Fox Racing Factory KTM team. It’s well known that KTM prefers to have Canadians on their team, so that leaves 3 riders in my opinion. The first is young Dylan Wright. It’s rumored that Dylan has an option for next season with the MX101 gang. He’s a young kid, with speed, fitness and that ‘WOW’ factor. Next is Shawn Maffenbeier. With Shawn, you know what you are getting each and every weekend. He will be fast, fit and a true professional. The one thing Shawn has against him is that everyone thinks he is too old. The poor guy was riding 450’s at 16. He looks older then he is and would be a championship contender on the orange bike. Last but not least is Jesse Pettis. Jesse has really improved this season and looks to be ready to get back on a team. In my eyes, he just wasn’t strong enough back in his Leading Edge Monster Kawi days. Maybe it was too much, too soon, who knows? All I know is that he is a great kid, from a great family, and he is constantly improving. He may not be a championship guy the first year, but with a lot of hard work, I can see him challenging for wins the following year. Only time will tell. Those are my thoughts, and most of the time they are wrong.

In MX1 we had the best top 5 guys in Canada ever. Matt Goerke, Colton Facciotti, Brett Metcalfe, Cole Thompson, and Tyler Medaglia put on a show each and every moto. Any one of the 5 could lead laps and go for the win. Both Facciotti and Goerke came in a little behind due to injury. Thompson was away from racing for over a year and was a tad bit rusty, but that didn’t stop any of these guys from putting on a great show. It’s too bad Metcalfe had a few mechanicals, as he would have been right there gunning for the title in that final moto of the season in Walton. There were a few surprises this season: Redemption Racing KTM fill-in rider Cade Clason was a very pleasant surprise. The very likeable Clason showed serious speed and fitness and will no doubt be a podium guy next season. 6th overall for a guy that was only going to ride 3 rounds.

2015 MX1 Overall Podium: Matt Goerke (527), Colton Facciotti (521), Brett Metcalfe (482).

The MX1 title came down to the final moto of the final round. – Bigwave photo

The other pleasant surprise was Kyle Swanson leaving the MX2 class and switching to the 450. He looked good enough on the Suzuki 450 for the Devils Lake Yamaha Team to take a chance on him. That chance paid off big-time and the two looked like they had been together since 85’s. Let’s hope Kyle and Trevor Cerny can ink a deal for next season! The rider turnout in the MX1 class was a little weak at a few rounds, but thankfully the action up front more then made up for it.

Final Standings

MX1

MMRS Madoc National

The MMRS Madoc National goes off this weekend. The crew has made some track changes and, like always, the entire town is opening their arms to us racers. I will be their sporting the big number 1 on the DMX test bike. I was really hoping to line up against old Bigwave and relieve him of my 2015 Legends Class title that was stripped from me last year due to disqualification. Good thing for Billy that he is on his way to Indiana to support the Canadians racing the last US national of the season. I was looking for blood this year, but I guess I will just have to settle for victory. Good luck to all the guys at Indiana, and I hope to see many of you at Madoc.

Check out this week’s ‘Out of the Blue’ column with Alexandra Raymond. – Bigwave photo

Be sure to have a look at this weeks Out of the Blue with Alexandra Raymond. She had a great National season and will be fighting for podiums this weekend in Madoc. That’s all for me this week. Have a great weekend and remember to always #smileforBC!

Billy Rainford

Thanks, Jeff. If I can highlight one of your most poetic sentences ever, “I was looking for blood this year, but I guess I will just have to settle for victory.” That’s quality stuff right there, Jeff! But you seem to think rules are bendable and don’t apply to you though. You lined up earlier in the day for a race at the track we were set to race the Legends Race on. That’s a no-no. Ask Tim Tremblay if rules are rules. George Jones is going to lap you this year anyway so that #1 on your bike is just going to serve as insult to injury or salt in your wounds, you choose. I guess we’ll just have to wait until 2016 for the showdown between ‘also-rans.’

Ironman MX

I put together a short preview for Racer X earlier today. They were wondering who to watch for in their Fantasy Pool so here is what I managed to come up with for them:

Canadians Racing Ironman MX National in Indiana

By Billy Rainford

Here is a brief look at Canadians to watch for this weekend in Indiana. All Canadians are racing the 450 class.

#495 Colton Facciotti
Honda Canada TLD GDR team
Colton finished 2nd overall in the 450 class. It came down to the final round last weekend at Walton Raceway between him and Matt Goerke for the title. They both went down together in the 2nd turn of the final moto. It was intense as they both worked their way through the field. There was even a very quick kill-switch grab attempt by Goerke on Facciotti!
In the end, Colton finished 6 points back of Goerke.

#141 Jeremy Medaglia
Honda Canada TLD GDR
Jeremy had 2 bad weekends this summer in the 250 class compared to Jimmy Decotis, who only had 1. The was the difference between 2nd and 3rd in the 250 championship this summer behind a seemingly unbeatable Kaven Benoit.

#464 Kyle Keast
Honda Canada TLD GDR
Kyle buckled down with his training over the winter and it showed this summer as he simply wore down his competition and moved steadily forward every moto. He finished with a very impressive 8th place in the 450 class while also running a very busy business in his ‘spare time.’

#626 Shawn Robinson
Riding a Honda 450 this weekend instead of the KTM 450 he raced all summer.
Robinson was #33 this summer in the 450 class and finished 12th overall in the class. Shawn has never lined up for an AMA National so this will be pretty exciting for him to even make the motos.

#926 Kaven Benoit
Royal Distributing Fox KTM Canada
Kaven was basically unbeatable this summer on his KTM 250 2-stroke in the MX2 class. He will now be forced up to the 450 class for 2016 as 2-time champion. He will be racing Cole Thompson’s back-up 450 KTM race bike this week.

#903 Tyler Medaglia
Parts Canada Thor Husqvarna
Tyler was always the ‘next guy’ after the top 4 in the MX1 class. He managed to grab two 3rd place overalls in the very stacked top end of the MX1 class. He gets great starts, which should be a big help this week in Indiana in this field. He’s also got lots of international racing experience so the big stage is not an issue for him.

#330 Eric Jeffery
Redemption Racing Fly Dragon KTM
Eric finished 17th this summer in the 450 class. His best overall was 16th at the first round in Kamloops. The team will have their big rig there in support of Eric and his 6th place MX1 finishing teammate Cade Clason who is also competing this weekend on the #92 KTM. This will be a great experience for the young Oshawa, Ontario, rider.

Good luck, everyone. We’ll be there covering our guys so follow along on Twitter @directmx and on Instagram @directmotocross for updates all day long.

2015 Canadian National Arenacross Tour

Schedule:

Sept 25-26 London, Ontario

Oct 2-3 Sarnia, Ontario

Oct 23-24 Penticton, BC

Nov 6-7 Calgary, Alberta

Click this LINK to get all the information on Round 1 in London, Ontario.

The Ken Roczen ‘Situation’

There’s speaking your mind and then there’s sinking a ship. Have you read the latest interview from Ken Roczen‘s dad? The whole thing was translated from the German Motocross Magazine, Cross Magazin, over on Vital MX. You can read it HERE.

Racer X spoke with Kenny Thursday and he wanted to make sure several things were clear. You can read that HERE.

I think if you pealed anyone (especially a parent!) away from a team and sat them down, you could hear all kinds of distasteful stuff. There are even personal conflicts within winning teams. It’s just a matter of knowing what to say and when to say it. Ken still has a year on his contract and this has got to have made for a rather ‘uncomfortable’ setting in the RCH/Soaring Eagle Suzuki pits.

The best thing for him to do is go out and win this weekend in Indiana and move forward from there. ‘Loose lips sink ships‘ is a cliché for a reason!

“Who said what to who now?” – Bigwave photo

More MXON Teams Announced

Although Team Canada won’t be lining up in France this year, there is still a big race going on over in Ernée September 26-27.

From MXGP.com:

There have been more team announcements for the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations. Here’s how they are stacking up so far:

Team France

Gautier Paulin

Romain Febvre

Marvin Musquin

Team Belgium

Jeremy Van Horebeek

Kevin Strijbos

Julien Lieber

Team USA

Justin Barcia

Jeremy Martin

Cooper Webb

Team Great Britain

Shaun Simpson

Max Anstie

The third rider is yet to be confirmed. [Dean Wilson has been confirmed to ride for the team.]

Team Australia

Todd Waters

Dean Ferris

Jay Wilson

Team New Zealand

Ben Townley

Cody Cooper

Kayne Lamont

Team Ireland

Graeme Irwin

Martin Barr

Stuart Edmonds

Team Brazil

Thales Vilardi

Fabinho Santos

Jean Ramos

Team Japan

Makoto Ogata

Toshiki Tomita

Yohei Kojima

Future West Canadian Arenacross Championships

Canadian MX Weekly Wrap-Up Show

We did our final Wrap-Up Show of the season this past Sunday in Walton. Andy White and I had a blast shooting these things all summer. We hope they were informative as an after-race role. I know that 15-18 minutes is a lot to ask a youngster to sit through (They’re in for a treat. This one is over 19 minutes!), but we feel a news-like show like this is a welcome addition to all the other coverage the series gets from the various media sources.

We have bigger and better ideas for the 2016 season, so be sure to check us out when the series kicks off next spring. A huge thanks to Canada’s Motorcycle and FXR Racing for backing the project. With a little more prep time, we can most-assuredly up the production value for the viewers.

Thank you to Mitch Goheen from Just Giver Productions for grabbing the cool shots at most of the rounds and for editing them together. Thanks to Jeff McConkey for stepping in and holding the board in Mitch’s absence. And thanks to Papa Schmoke for coining one of the most memorable lines of the entire summer: “THEY DON’T READ THE BOARD!”

Here’s the last episode of the show. Thanks for watching and all your support:

Direct Motocross Walton Round 10 Recap from Just Giver Productions on Vimeo.

Parts Canada TransCan – THE CHAMPIONS

Congratulations to everyone who competed in the biggest amateur motocross event in Canada last week at Walton Raceway. Here’s a list of the champions from the 24th annual.

MX1 Intermediate – Jean Christophe Bujold

MX1 Junior – Nicholas Denniston

MX2 Intermediate – Joey Crown

MX2 Junior – Nicholas Denniston

MX2 Junior B – Dylan Rouse

MX3 Intermediate – Joey Crown

MX3 Junior – Austin Watling

MX3 Junior B – Baden Brunning

Ladies – Eve Brodeur

Plus 25 – Ryan Lockhart

Vet Junior – Jim Scott

Vet Master – Ryan Lockhart

Plus 40 – Chris Pomeroy

Youth (14-24) – Nathan Haas

Supermini – Tanner Ward

Schoolboy 1 – Tanner Ward

Schoolboy 2 – Marco Cannella

85 (7-11) – Jeremy McKie

85 (12-16) – Jake Tricco

65 (7-9) – Leyland Golaszewski

65 (10-11) – Damon Burbine

50 (4-6) – Blake Davies

50 (7-8) – Sebastien Racine

50 Open – Preston Masciangelo

[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.directmotocross.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Marco-Cannella-Factory-Ride-PR-ENG.pdf”]

We’re going to leave it there for this week. It’s time to hop into the #dmxvan and head across Michigan and then west past Indianapolis to the small town of Crawfordsville to watch some Canadians line up for The Show! A Canadian team consisting of Colton Facciotti, Kaven Benoit, and Jeremy Medaglia would be a fine choice for any Team Canada at a MXON, so we’ll have to just pretend this is what we have here Saturday.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter @directmx and on Instagram @directmotocross as we will be bringing you all the action from our guys as the day progresses.

Congratulations (?) to Dan Tricco for taking our annual Direct Motocross ‘Total Devotion’ Award for the 2015 Parts Canada TransCan. Dan crashed remarkably hard over the ‘Natural Double’ Thursday and the result was a long list of injuries. Instead of taking a month off work (like I would) he came back to the track to watch his two sons finish their races. He didn’t want to make a scene and was already back in bed during the awards ceremony so his wife and two kids accepted the ‘Total Devo’ award (Dan, I was hoping you were there because at least you would have gotten the flower pot reference!) that consisted of some new Thor gear to replace the stuff I’m sure he mangled in the crash, a free week at County Line in Panama City, Fla, and the now-‘coveted’ flower pot.