Monday Morning Coffee

By Billy Rainford

Happy Family Day, everyone.

From knowinsiders.com:

Family Day in Canada, the third Monday in February, is technically not a national, federally-mandated holiday.

But most Canadians live in areas that celebrate it as a province-level statutory holiday — in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Saskatchewan as ‘Family Day;’ in Manitoba as ‘Louis Riel Day;’ in Nova Scotia as ‘Nova Scotia Heritage Day,’ and on Prince Edward Island as ‘Islander Day.’ For our purposes, we will refer to the holiday as Family Day from here forward.

History of Family Day In Canada

Alberta was the first province to observe Family Day, back in 1990. As the next few years ensued, Saskatchewan and Ontario followed suit. In 2012, British Columbia followed as well, changing the date of its celebration from the second to the third Monday in February a few years later to match the date of neighboring provinces’ observances. New Brunswick announced its holiday in 2018. Manitoba, PEI, and Nova Scotia joined the party in 2007, 2009, 2013, respectively. In Yukon, the already-existing Yukon Heritage Day was considered close enough on the calendar to the new Family Day holiday that no changes were made.

As you may imagine, there are no established traditions surrounding Family Day as there are for Christmas and New Year’s Day, for example. But, as the name implies, many Canadians take advantage of the three-day weekend in February to spend extra time with loved ones. Road trips, winter sports outings, and extended family gatherings are all popular ways to observe the holiday. Celebrants find ways to overcome the cold and have a warm and cozy Family Day!

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The GT Arena Motocross Championship was on Fox Sports Racing earlier this morning from Kansas City, MO. Canadian #22 Tyler Gibbs from the CREO KTM team got himself into the Mains after winning the LCQ. What I noticed was how the track was definitely built to accommodate amateur riders.

In the podcast interview I did with Tyler a couple weeks ago, that’s one of the main things he talked about as far as that series was concerned. Because of the simplicity of the track designs, it made it difficult to separate yourself from the other riders because everyone was able to go fast. If you didn’t get a great start, it was tough to come through the field using your technical skills.

It was very obvious with the design of the track for Kansas #2.

One thing that was very technical was the fact that they had Daniel Blair and Justin Brayton doing the announcing. The only thing I didn’t like is when the announcers are either doing it after the fact or they are staring at a tv screen not facing the track.

Tyler went through to the Mains in the LCQ and his teammate #23 Dawson Kaub took over 4th position on the final lap to move on but they didn’t have any idea what happened to the rider who was in 4th and dropped to the back. It would be nice to know what happened.

I know there’s a rule of broadcasting where you’re supposed to talk about what’s being shown on screen, but I think it’s OK for one of them to have a look and be able to say, “Oh, and the rider who was in 4th went down in the whoops and fell to the back...” No?

On the opposite side of that coin…

Back in like 2015, I did some of the broadcast announcing for the AX Tour racing with Andy White and Chris Pomeroy and sometimes Chris Morgan. We were actually looking out the window over the track and calling the action without ever knowing what was being shown on the screen! That may have been difficult to watch…or maybe it was better? I never watched one of the shows, so I have no idea!

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Big Buck GNCC Round 1 – Union South Carolina

A couple interesting things happened at round 1 of the 2024 GNCC Racing at the Big Buck race in Union, SC. Shelby Turner from Brooks, AB was back in action after having double ACL reconstruction and sitting out the 2023 season. She has new knees and a new ride, having made the switch over to the GasGas team from KTM for the 2024 campaign.

She finished an impressive 4th in the WXC class, just a few minutes off the lead group of 3.

Shelby was expected to be on the line, but Daniel Elmore racing the XC2 class came as a big surprise! Daniel is down at SOBMX getting ready for the 2024 Canadian Triple Crown Series on his Yamaha 450. I guess he’s been following Tyler Medaglia because he lined up to race in SC.

WXC – Bike – Class Results
Place	Nbr	Name	Hometown	Brand	Laps	Elapsed
1	001	RACHAEL ARCHER	NEW ZEALAND, //	KAW	4	01:48:18.550
2	444	KORIE STEEDE	BELOIT, OH	HQV	4	01:48:23.519
3	198	BRANDY RICHARDS	LAKE HAVASU CITY, AZ	KTM	4	01:49:12.540
4	550	SHELBY A TURNER	CANADA, //	GAS	4	01:52:30.390
5	417	RACHEL GUTISH	TERRE HAUTE, IN	SHR	4	01:53:17.910
6	777	JOCELYN BARNES	HONESDALE, PA	HQV	4	01:53:59.330
7	310	KAYLA ONEILL	GREENWOOD LAKE, NY	YAM	4	02:01:35.614
8	879	KAITLYN LINDSEY	BEAVER DAM, KY	HQV	4	02:03:54.010
9	482	CARLY LEE	MILLVILLE, NJ	KTM	4	02:08:21.019
10	924	ADDISON J ELLIOTT	LASCASSAS, TN	KTM	4	02:10:21.417

XC1 Open Pro – Bike – Class Results
Place	Nbr	Name	Hometown	Brand	Laps	Elapsed
1	969	JONATHAN S GIRROIR	YADKINVILLE,, NC	KTM	6	02:53:45.059
2	514	STEWARD BAYLOR JR	HODGES, SC	KAW	6	02:53:56.073
3	314	GRANT BAYLOR	HONEA PATH, SC	KAW	6	02:54:14.158
4	003	JORDAN P ASHBURN	LIVINGSTON, TN	GAS	6	02:54:39.780
5	347	EVAN SMITH	JEFFERSON, GA	HQV	6	02:54:40.758
6	212	RICKY A RUSSELL	DUVALL, WA	YAM	6	02:55:51.512
7	739	TREVOR A BOLLINGER	MORGANTON, NC	HQV	6	02:56:56.558
8	356	DANTE OLIVEIRA	HOLLISTER, CA	KTM	6	02:56:57.778
9	007	JOSH V STRANG	AUSTRALIA, //	SHR	6	02:57:00.018
10	282	MICHAEL WITKOWSKI	TRAVELERS REST, SC	HON	6	02:57:45.100
11	001	CRAIG B DELONG	MORGANTOWN, PA	HQV	6	02:57:59.157
12	336	RYDER LAFFERTY	ELKIN, NC	GAS	6	02:58:36.299
13	178	LYNDON SNODGRASS	AUSTRAILIA, //	KAW	6	03:01:40.072
14	543	RILEY MCGILLIVRAY	AUSTRALIA, //	KTM	6	03:09:19.339
15	523	LAYNE C MICHAEL	BOONVILLE, NC	KTM	6	03:20:37.099

XC2 250 Pro – Bike – Class Results
Place	Nbr	Name	Hometown	Brand	Laps	Elapsed
1	035	ANGUS J RIORDAN	AUSTRALIA, //	KTM	6	02:55:14.157
2	198	LIAM DRAPER	NEW ZEALAND, //	YAM	6	02:55:16.359
3	922	GRANT W DAVIS	MESHOPPEN, PA	KTM	6	02:56:52.880
4	206	JOSHUA M TOTH	WINSTED, CT	HON	6	02:58:14.059
5	213	TOBY CLEVELAND	ERIN, NY	HQV	6	02:58:23.820
6	989	THADDEUS DUVALL	WILLIAMSTOWN, WV	KAW	6	02:58:57.016
7	981	JONATHAN T JOHNSON	LANDRUM, SC	BET	6	02:59:17.010
8	328	JESSE ANSLEY	MYAKKA CITY, FL	KAW	6	03:01:13.819
9	235	BRODY JOHNSON	LANDRUM, SC	HON	6	03:01:36.558
10	014	RUY BARBOSA	CHILE, //	HON	6	03:05:51.218
11	022	TYLER PALMER	DENVER, NC	HQV	6	03:07:09.932
12	707	JASON LIPSCOMB	PARKERSBURG, WV	BET	6	03:11:56.879
13	555	DANIEL ELMORE	CANADA, //	YAM	6	03:22:57.539
14	099	CODY J BARNES	STERLING, IL	HON	5	02:52:53.170
15	229	NICOLAS KUTULAS	ARGENTINA, //	KTM	3	01:34:29.559

Full results HERE.

I’ll be at Round 2 at Hog Waller in Palatka, Florida.

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Toronto Motorcycle Show

Back in 1982, The Buggles warned us that video just might kill the radio star. However, radio is still here. I was at the Toronto Motorcycle and Powersport Show at the Enercare Centre in downtown Toronto on Friday. I’ve had my concerns about MC shows the past few years because they seem to have lost some of their lustre of late.

Greg Poisson and I drove to the CNE grounds Friday and I think it’s pretty safe to say that social media is killing the motorcycle show star.

Back in the day – let’s just use the Buggles year for example, 1982 – it was always exciting to head to the latest show to see all the new dirt bikes. In those days, it was the 80cc bikes I was most interesting to see. Sometimes, you had no idea what the new ones looked like while other times you had an idea.

A big column in all the magazines was always the “spy photos” you’d see that gave you an early glimpse of what we could expect for the upcoming year.

Nowadays, we’ve seen all the new bikes, inside and out, months before motorcycle shows come to a city near you. We’ve even already seen shootouts!

The magic is gone (pretty much from everything, if I’m being honest) due to all of our instant information. Sure, you can argue it’s great to get everything we need to see as soon as it’s available, but I argue that it has ripped the excitement away from the winter months.

I say all thins because I hung out in the Triple Crown MX paddock (which was really cool) at the show but was very disappointed with the amount of people walking through to check it out.

I’m not blaming the display itself, I’m blaming the fact that we’ve see every bike that has already been available for purchase for 2024. It’s lame.

I did manage to have some great conversations with some of our industry peeps, so that saved the 2-hour (one way) drive and made it worthwhile.

Do you plan on going to the Montreal Motorcycle Show February 23-25? Let us know in the FB or IG comments.

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OK, I know this little offering was late but since it’s Family Day I went to meet Emily for her first break over at the hospital (I go every day lol).

I’m going to do an interview with Daniel Elmore this afternoon, so watch for that. I also watched the new documentary about the making of the We Are the World song and video last night. If you’re of an advanced age that remembers this from 1985, check it out. I thought it was interesting…because I’m old.

Have a good week, everyone. We’re back to racing next week for Round 2 of the 250 East Supercross series in Dallas…sorry, Arlington. They DO NOT think it’s the same thing out there, trust me!