Monday Morning Coffee
By Billy Rainford
Huge thanks to Denis and Eric Dubé from RTR Performance in Kamloops for the use of the Can Am quad this past weekend.
Well, folks, it’s finally here and it answered a lot of pre-season questions…and raised a few others. Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals Round 1 is in the books. #15 Shawn Maffenbeier gave the Redemption Racing team it’s first-ever overall win and #118 Davi Millsaps put his KTM Thor Racing 450 on the top step of the podium (that, for some reason, sat beside the stage and not on top of it).
Let me start off by saying congratulations to both teams. Let me continue by saying I thought everyone would be watching the action live on the new Conx2share app and following along with the live timing, so we concentrated on getting video footage for our wrap-up show and photos for our upcoming, lengthy photo report. It sounds like people had a hard time getting consistent joy from either source and I hope that’s just a little glitch that will be sorted out as we move across the country.
Take it from me, trying something new and having the expectations build up is a daunting feeling and really sucks when it doesn’t deliver. I remember trying the live audio back in 2009 from these out-of-the-way locations and spending most of my time apologizing for dropping the signal and giving patchy results.
I know that, in the past, I’ve had no luck at Whispering Pines with my Rogers cell phone but this year I was actually getting LTE service out there at the track. Apparently, they’ve added a tower out there in the North Thompson-Okanogan, somewhere.
Anyway, whenever I’d click on our Twitter account, someone was ranting about the poor quality of this or that. Let’s get it sorted out this week and move forward. It was a long couple days out in the almost-40-degree weather. There were racing delays for a few odd reasons and riders were left to swelter on the line for an additional 10-15 minutes. I felt sorry for Daryl Murphy and Head Referee Paul Kingsley as they were bombarded with questions from every direction during the delays. It certainly wasn’t their fault.
Again, let’s write these off as growing pains and move forward to the Wastelands track in Nanaimo with expectations of a smooth show. But maybe we’ll have to hire someone to Tweet the action for us this week…just in case. Anyone? Far be it from me to wear suspenders AND a belt, but there are high expectations out there that need to be met.
Rockstar Energy MX Nationals – Results
Women’s West Nationals – Round 1
The Women’s West Nationals first round took place Saturday and because I was at the track until after 8 and then didn’t get home (my sister’s place) until after 9, I wasn’t able to get the coverage up on the site that I wanted to before going to bed to get up and head back to the track for Pro Day, so I apologize for that.
It was a bit of an off-road takeover, though. It looks like defending champion #1W Sara King will have lots of competition from Endurocross and Off Road specialists, #50 Shelby Turner and #151 Lexi Pechout.
Lexi’s 1-5 for 3rd was not representative of her speed. She crashed hard and finished that 2nd moto with “The Magoo Bend” (Dals) on her handlebars. It was an impressive performance!
Shelby finished 2-1 for the overall and should be there each moto. Sara is a rider who really enjoys the big jumps, so watch for her to get comfortable as we head to Nanaimo and Calgary. It should be a great series up at the front, for sure.
Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Results – Lakewood, Colorado
I’m going to have to leave it there so I can get to editing our FXR/Factory Ride Suspension Canadian Motocross Weekly Wrap-Up Show that we produced last night after the dust had settled out at Whispering Pines. We tried our hardest to keep it short, but there was just too much to talk about. When I have it posted, grab another cup of coffee and some snacks and check it out.
Have a great week, everyone. These are long days and weeks, but it’s what we live for!
