Monday Morning Coffee

By Billy Rainford

I’m running on Pacific Time for these next couple weeks, so forgive me that it may not be “Morning” where you are. As I’ve already mentioned a few times, I’m in Kamloops, BC to look after my mom while my sister takes a well-deserved 2-week vacation. My mom has advancing dementia and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a handful to be here alone with her – happy most of the time, but when things change, they change fast.

I made a post on my personal Facebook page a couple days ago just to show a stack of papers and a photo of her and my dad together that she’s been clutching in her hand the past few days. She doesn’t know who it is in the photo but I’m sure there’s a connection there.

I heard from a few of my old friends who I hadn’t heard from in a long time. They’re obviously around my age and so their parents are also similar in age. Sadly, some of them are also in the same situation with one of their parents.

We always blame things such as aluminum in antiperspirants and other things for a cause, and that may be the case, but we can’t ignore the fact that historically humans died before they even made it to 50. We didn’t live long enough to lose our memories!

Anyway, if you’re reading this column you know just how close moto families are, so this is really difficult to witness happen to my mom. And sadly, it seems like everyone I talk to is either going through it themselves or knows someone who is or has. It’s just way too common.

I’m here until the 16th, so if you’re looking for me, this is where I’ll be.

Last year when I was here doing the same thing, the AMO Arenacross Series (formerly the Future West Moto Arenacross Championship) and I decided to give it a try and load my mom into one of my sister’s cars and make the 3-hour drive south and west on the Coquihalla Highway to Chilliwack Heritage Park in Chilliwack, BC.

I was able to run around and snag a few photos and get some interviews, but it was just too much for my mom, so I didn’t put her through that again this year, even though we could have been there to see #14 Quinn Amyotte win his first Pro title on his new ride.

Fortunately, Jessica Longname from Tree Three Media was going so we had her get us some content over the weekend, and she did a great job for us.

Congratulations to Quinn on going undefeated in overalls over the course of two weekends of racing out west. Each Pro Am round consisted of 3 motos for an overall win. Quinn won all 4, 1-1-1-1. I like to type that out because it looks more impressive that way.

Quinn moves over to the WLTN Kawasaki team for the 2024 season. You’ll notice he was still wearing his Fox Racing Canada gear because he was riding one of #84 Tanner Ward‘s bikes and his new contract isn’t official until the new year.

Equally impressive, especially on the final weekend, was young #56 Blake Davies on his Husqvarna.

The Barn has seen its share of established top-level riders and also helped many on their way to becoming those. Blake is only 15 and is definitely a rider on the rise. He’s 7 feet tall and goes by the name of Homer…

You may have also noticed that I kept listing Parker Eales‘ number as 1(8). Parker finished 2nd overall this year. However, he won last year. And in very typical, understated Parker style, he decided not to run the big #1 this year, claiming that the series is under new ownership so he wasn’t really the defending champ. I, like everyone else, disagree. Parker should have run the #1 and I’m going to keep bugging him about this. He’ll regret not having photos (other than my Photoshopped one) to look back on when he’s old.

Arguably, the fastest rider on the track each night was #26 Julien Benek but he just couldn’t stay consistent. ON the final night, he was the only rider to consistently dip into the 37-second range but mistakes and classic AX circumstances kept him from finishing where he was capable of.

Jessica did a few interviews, so you can check those out here if you haven’t yet:

2023 RENTAL EQUIP – YOURFLOORS.CA AMO AX

PRO-AM POINTS

Place – Name Number – Hometown 11/24/2023 Finish 11/25/2023 Finish 12/1/2023 Finish 12/2/2023 Finish Total Points 1st – QUINN AMYOTTE #14  – Blackstock, ON 1st 1st 1st 1st 100 2nd – PARKER EALES #18  – Maple Ridge, BC 4th 3rd 2nd 3rd 80 (-20) 3rd – SEBASTIEN RACINE #12  – Casselman, ON 6th 2nd 4th 5th 71 (-29) 4th – BLAKE DAVIES #56  – Mission, BC 7th 8th 3rd 2nd 69 (-31) 5th – NICK COLLINS #711  – CALGARY, AB 11th 4th 7th 6th 57 (-43) 6th – ZACH UFIMZEFF #31  – LAKE COUNTRY, BC 12th 5th 6th 7th 54 (-46) 7th – JULIEN BENEK #26  – Mission, BC 8th   5th 4th 47 (-53) 8th – LIAM DODDS #930  – Revelstoke, BC 9th 9th 12th 9th 45 (-55) 9th – TEREN GERBER #36  – CORONATION, AB   7th 8th 8th 40 (-60) 10th – DEVYN SMITH #48  – MAPLE RIDGE, BC 13th 11th 9th 12th 39 (-61)

Annalyse Lopushinsky took the win in the Ladies 12+. I really wish I was there just so I could have done another interview with her. When I first met her a few years ago, she just hated doing interviews, so you know I found that more fun. She’s gotten a lot more comfortable doing them and I look forward to doing many more with her in the future.

Ladies 12+

Place – Name Number – Hometown 11/24/2023 Finish 11/25/2023 Finish 12/1/2023 Finish 12/2/2023 Finish Total Points 1st – ANNALYSE LOPUSHINSKY #5w  – Williams Lake, BC 2nd 1st 1st 1st 97 2nd – PEYTON BELISLE #12  – Smithers, BC 4th 2nd 3rd 3rd 80 (-17) 3rd – KAYLIE KAYER #3w  – Savona, BC 3rd 10th 2nd 2nd 75 (-22) 4th – DANIKA SNIDER #87  – Langley, BC 5th 3rd 4th 4th 72 (-25) 5th – JORRDYN BRENNAN #267  – Okotoks, AB 6th 5th 5th 5th 63 (-34) 6th – AUBREY SMITH #13  – Rosedale, BC 1st 8th 11th 10th 59 (-38) 7th – BROOKLYNN GIBNEY #19  – Mission, BC 7th 6th 7th 6th 58 (-39) 8th – SYLVIE HAMANA #23  – Coquitlam, BC 9th 9th 8th 7th 51 (-46) 9th – JENNIFER HORNER #811  – Abbotsford, BC 10th 7th 10th 9th 48 (-49) 10th – SADIE THIBERT #50  – Prince George, BC 8th 4th     31 (-66)

You can look over all the results HERE.

Big changes for Shelby Turner in 2024:

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A post shared by Shelby Turner (@shelby50turner)

GT Arena Motocross Results

Here’s a recap from Tyler Gibbs‘ team owner Jeff Crutcher:

CREO KTM:

Rounds 3 and 4 went very well, and were a stark difference from how the opening weekend of GT AX played out. I’m thrilled with our riders and the way they worked their way through adversity and bounced back from how things started this season.

The new venue for the tour in Enid, OK was a top notch facility and will serve as a great location for years to come in the future of GT AX. It’s a high seating capacity arena with a large floor and delicious soil that our Hoosier’s absolutely ate up. 

On the weekend – Friday results:

Jorgen 4-4

Tyler 6-7

Dawson 9-13

Saturday results:

Jorgen 8-5

Tyler 14-7

Dawson 10-9

Points:

Jorgen – 6th 58 points

Dawson – 7th 48 points

Tyler – 7th 48 points

Jorgen won the head to head challenge on Saturday and scored an extra championship point, and he pulled several holeshots with a handful of laps lead. Tyler is ready and capable of a podium finish as he works on ironing out the first few laps of the mains, the results on paper don’t show the riding ability. Dawson, strong as an ox, was charging and making minimal mistakes though he did have a costly one on Friday that dropped him a few positions.

The plan is working, our guys are developing, and we continue to gel.

We have something in our corner that everyone wants – momentum. All 3 athletes are foaming at the mouth to continue the charge going into Lebanon this weekend – where we will be featuring EVS in support of their 20% off entire online store Christmas campaign.

RESULTS

Friday night:

2024 GTAMX – R3 Enid – PRO  – 12/1/2023 Enid OK

Open Pro (250,350,450) – Overall Finish Positions    View Laptimes Heat 1 Heat 2 Semi 1 Moto 1 Moto 2    Points for this class

Overall   Name Heat Semi Moto 1 Moto 2 Moto 3 Points Earned 1st #1  MICHAEL HICKS  FENTON, MO   1st   Heat 1  – 1st 1st 1st 25 2nd #9  CHASE MARQUIER  NEWCASTLE, OK   2nd   Heat 1  – 2nd 2nd 2nd 24 3rd #7  CHEYENNE HARMON  ROANOKE, TX   1st   Heat 2  – 3rd 3rd 3rd 23 4th #723  BEN NELKO  ALIQUIPPA, PA   3rd   Heat 2  – 5th 4th 4th 22 5th #26  JORGEN TALVIKU  PARNU – ESTONIA,    3rd   Heat 1  – 4th 6th 6th 21 6th #800  MIKE ALESSI  HILLIARD, FL   2nd   Heat 2  – 8th 5th 5th 20 7th #22  TYLER GIBBS MISSION, BC    4th   Heat 1  – 6th 7th 7th 19 8th #188  EDDIE NORRED  ROCKFORD, IL   6th   Heat 1  2nd   Semi 1  7th 8th 8th 18 9th #18  RONNIE ORRES  FORT DODGE, IA   9th   Heat 1  4th   Semi 1  11th 9th 9th 17 10th #41  JORDAN MILLER  MONTGOMERY, TX   7th   Heat 1  3rd   Semi 1  10th 11th 11th 16

Saturday night:

2024 GTAMX – R4 Enid – PRO – 12/2/2023 Enid Ok

Open Pro (250,350,450) – Overall Finish Positions    View Laptimes Heat 1 Heat 2 Semi 1 Moto 1 Moto 2    Points for this class

Overall   Name Heat Semi Moto 1 Moto 2 Moto 3 Points Earned 1st #1  MICHAEL HICKS  FENTON, MO   1st   Heat 1  – 1st 1st 1st 25 2nd #7  CHEYENNE HARMON  ROANOKE, TX   1st   Heat 2  – 2nd 2nd 2nd 24 3rd #800  MIKE ALESSI  HILLIARD, FL   4th   Heat 1  – 4th 4th 4th 23 4th #9  CHASE MARQUIER  NEWCASTLE, OK   2nd   Heat 2  – 6th 3rd 3rd 22 5th #723  BEN NELKO  ALIQUIPPA, PA   3rd   Heat 1  – 3rd 6th 6th 21 6th #26  JORGEN TALVIKU  PARNU – ESTONIA,    2nd   Heat 1  – 8th 5th 5th 20 7th #3  CARTER GORDON  LOUISVILLE, IL   4th   Heat 2  – 5th 8th 8th 19 8th #18  RONNIE ORRES  FORT DODGE, IA   3rd   Heat 2  – 7th 10th 10th 18 9th #23  DAWSON KAUB  OTTAWA, KS   6th   Heat 1  4th   Semi 1  10th 9th 9th 17 10th #188  EDDIE NORRED  ROCKFORD, IL   9th   Heat 2  2nd   Semi 1  9th 11th 11th 16 11th #22  TYLER GIBBS MISSION, BC    5th   Heat 1  – 14th 7th 7th 15

Open Pro POINTS

Place – Name Number – Hometown 2024 GTAMX – R 01 Topeka – PRO 11/3/2023 Points 2024 GTAMX – R 02 Topeka – PRO 11/4/2023 Points 2024 GTAMX – R5 Enid – PRO 12/1/2023 Points 2024 GTAMX – R6 Enid – PRO 12/2/2023 Points Total Points 1st – CHEYENNE HARMON #7  – ROANOKE, TX 24 25 23 24 96 1st – MICHAEL HICKS #1  – FENTON, MO 25 21 25 25 96 3rd – CHASE MARQUIER #9  – NEWCASTLE, OK 23 24 24 22 93 (-3) 4th – BEN NELKO #723  – ALIQUIPPA, PA 21 19 22 21 83 (-13) 5th – RONNIE ORRES #18  – FORT DODGE, IA 14 15 17 18 64 (-32) 6th – JORGEN TALVIKU #26  – PARNU – ESTONIA,  16 5 21 20 62 (-34) 7th – DAWSON KAUB #23  – OTTAWA, KS 5 16 15 17 53 (-43) 8th – EDDIE NORRED #188  – ROCKFORD, IL 5 12 18 16 51 (-45) 9th – TYLER GIBBS #22  – MISSION, BC  12   19 15 46 (-50) 10th – BRANDEN WALTHER #688  – DENTON, TX 5 13 12 14 44 (-52) 11th – MIKE ALESSI #800  – HILLIARD, FL     20 23 43 (-53) 12th – JAYDEN CLOUGH #45  – ELKO, MN 18 22     40 (-56) 12th – DEVIN HARRIMAN #16  – RIDGEFIELD, WA 20 20     40 (-56) 14th – CHANDLER BAKER #350  – TULSA, OK 22 17     39 (-57) 15th – PRESTON TAYLOR #996  – HASTINGS, NE 17 18     35 (-61) 16th – CARTER GORDON #5  – LOUISVILLE, IL     14 19 33 (-63) 17th – MATTHEW CURLER #958  – MABANK, TX 19 11     30 (-66) 17th – BRYCE MCLAUD #104  – CEDAR RAPIDS IA, IA 15 5 5 5 30 (-66) 19th – BRETT GREENLEY #266  – NEW MEMPHIS, IL 5 14 5 5 29 (-67) 20th – KYLE BITTERMAN #581  – PELZER, SC 5 23     28 (-68)

Next round: December 9-10 Lebanon, MO

AMA Arenacross Series POints

Next round: December 8 – Madison, WI

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Have a great week, everyone.