Monday Morning Coffee|Presented by PR-MX
By Billy Rainford
Some Monday Mornings, I sit here at my computer and I’m not really sure where to start. Well, this strange feeling in my right arm tells me exactly where to begin. Here’s the thing, although I’m buried below my eyeballs in this sport these days, rarely does it give me the chance to actually ride. As anyone will tell you, a job in the industry is great if you don’t want to ride much. It sounds completely counter-intuitive but it’s true.
Anyway, this past weekend was the rare exception when I was able to throw a leg over a bike and ride. Jeff McConkey had driven to Montreal and picked up a brand new 2016 Husqvarna FC250 to demo and test for a short while. With the perfect weather here in Ontario, the Motopark Ride Day this past Saturday looked to be the right time to head north and shoot some photos of Jeff on the new beast. It also meant that I should give it a try, myself.
Jeff McConkey with the 2016 Husqvarna FC250.
Thanks to Ian, Carl, Nick, Davin, and Zeb for treating us so well, and for hooking me up with a little Yamaha 110 so I could get to different parts of the track with ease. I find out April 25th what will be done about my laundry list of right knee ailments: torn meniscus, 2 floating bodies, a Baker’s cyst, oh, and “moderate to severe osteoarthritis.” After surgery, I was told way back when I was a 15-year-old that this knee was going to probably give me some “issues” when I got older. I can’t believe I actually got older, and that time is now! Anyway, that little pit bike changed my life, so thank you. It was a perfect day and I took a ton of photos that we’ll get up on the site later.
Not being able to ride very often causes some rather immediate and obvious problems when the opportunity comes along to turn a few laps. Here’s what happened…
When I got home Saturday and went to bed, everything seemed normal. Yes, I had a few sore muscles but it was nothing. Halfway through the night, I woke up and didn’t know why. Then I realized something was up with my right arm. Had I slept on it? No, it wasn’t all pins and needles. I tried to move my right arm and realized it was in a lot of pain. Was there a chance I broke my arm while riding earlier that day? I don’t remember falling anywhere, but when you come up short on every double on the track, I guess there’s a chance of something going wrong.
I palpitated my right arm and didn’t feel any structural damage. Was it possible that my arm pump was so bad that it flared up and woke me up? Well, I can tell you that I’m still a little slow typing with my right hand today! In hindsight, I don’t think I took a single breath during my first session on the track with the other “non-jumpers.”
Let me make it clear that the Husky 250 was a dream to ride – I’m NOT blaming the bike. I’m blaming my death grip for the issues. The second time I hit the track, I could feel myself begin to relax a little, but the damage was already done; my arm was screwed. Anyway, I’m sure this pain will subside, eventually, and I’ll be back to my 15 words per minute typing speed in no time.
Jeff digs into his box of new FXR gear to wear, while Jack Wright gets dressed, too.
We pitted with Greg Workman from Parts Canada. Here he is proudly displaying some fresh Thor gear.
AMO’s Ryan Gauld was set up in his trailer signing riders for his Ontario series, with his growing family in tow.
Jeff styles it up early with this one-footer.
Jeff takes the Husky FC250 into a corner with Greg Workman in tow.
There were some actual fast riders testing and putting in laps, like #424 Austin Watling here.
#46 Marco Cannella is back in action after his scary crash at the RCSX in Daytona earlier this spring.
I didn’t see the transponder results, but #184 Tanner Ward was laying down some fast laps.
#259 Taylor Ciampichini was another one of the fast guys.
Jeff came in for a little chain tightening…
…and wardrobe change. Gotta keep everyone happy!
The brand new Husky was attracting quite a bit of attention. It’s easy for people to focus on it when it’s circulating at such low speeds…
It was a great day at the track, but I’ll save the photo report for later today.
OK, just a couple more things about this day. I have hit only 2 birds (that I can remember) in all of my days driving and both times have been driving up to Motopark from London, Ontario. The first was way back in 1985 when I was still dumb enough to swerve to try to miss hitting the damn thing. It almost cost everyone in the car their life! Well, I hit another one this past Saturday. I just thought that was weird and spent some time parked at the side of the road telling myself it wasn’t some sort of bad omen for the day. Yes, I’m kidding.
Also, is it just riders with limited skills like me that have a hard time with the jumps in corners at Motopark? I have struggled with the big flag hill jump since I used to race there ‘back in the day.’ I almost high-sided myself into the oblivion again this past weekend. Watching the skilled riders hold the throttle pinned off that lip impresses me every time. I have to make sure I”m set up pin straight off that one or risk being thrown over the high side as the rear end of the bike tried to become the front.
St. Louis Supercross
Dave Blanchet – St. Louis SX
Quebec’s #418 Dave Blanchet made the trip out to St. Louis in an attempt to make his first 450 night program on his PR-MX Strikt racing Kawasaki. He didn’t make it, but he was close. Here’s how Dave summed up his experience in the ‘Gateway to the West:’
Here’s how Dave Blanchet summed up his St. Louis SX experience.
The track was very technical. I [could have found] my second if I jumped the faster rhythm like triple in, double, triple for St. Louis. I will get my balls for Foxboro.
You’ve got to respect Dave’s matter-of-fact summary. We’ll be in Boston this week, so watch for lot’s of photos and live updates on how Dave’s bid for the night program continues.
Dave Blanchet just missed the night program in St. Louis by 1 second.
Hey, Morgan Burger, what are you doing this summer?
Idaho’s Morgan Burger showed up under the radar last spring and lined up in the MX2 class, to the surprise of most people. We hadn’t heard from his in some time again this winter so I got int touch with him to find out what his plans are for the 2016 summer racing season.
Just been super-busy with school this off season. I got Supercross off my bucket list last year with finally making a main and getting 14th. With that done, I decided to start that next step towards the afterlife of motocross, man. By no means am I done, I just wanted to start getting the train rolling on stuff like that.
I am planning on coming back up this summer, though, and traveling with the Brough brothers and the RMX Series squad. Mountains Edge Cycle and Sled hooked it up with a bike again this year and I purchased my practice bike. Right now I’m just dialing in the suspension with Devol and stoked with the motor on the new Yamaha after putting in my Rekluse torq drive. So now that I got a couple of those sponsor plugs out of the way, it’s looking to be like another good summer this year!
A few people I also wanted to thank for last year and in advance are:
Strikt
Insiduous Designs
The Barnett Family
OTW Safety
Scott Motorsports
Acerbis
Bell Powersports
Knobby Underwear
He hung up before I had the chance to confirm what class he was planning to race…
I had fun on the 250 but it is back to the 450 this year!
Morgan Burger is coming back to Canada in 2016, but he’ll go back to racing MX.
Amsoil GNCC Results
We had a few Canadians head to the Big Buck GNCC race in South Carolina over the weekend. Check out motocrosser, McKenzie Tricker, who showed up and won the WXC class.
Canadian Philippe Chaine took 13th in XC1 Pro and Felicia Robichaud took 7th in WXC. WMX legend, Jessica Patterson, also showed up and took 3rd.
OK, it’s time to get the Scott Solace 15 out on the road and enjoy some of this early spring sunshine and warm weather. We’re also going to hold our first DMX meeting in the corporate canoe (can we call it ‘Carmen the Canoe’ or is it still too soon?) a little later on. I’ll be sure to take the minutes of the meeting so you don’t miss anything…
PS The Scott Solace is for sale. It’s an XL fram with Shimano Ultegra components. It’s full carbon and is probably the most comfortable bike I’ve ever ridden. Email me at billy@directmotocross.com if you want more information.
PPS ‘Carmen the Buick Electra’ is for sale. Yes, you heard correctly. You can own a little piece of Canadian moto infamy. Email me if you want to know more.
We’ll let this next ‘band’ have the honour of signing off this Monday…
