Tuesday Random #1
MXP Magazine has been around a long time and we have had a ton of photos come through our doors. I recently found this box at the old office. Now that I have a scanner, I am going to do this every week until I run out of pictures. It should keep me busy for the year I'm sure. So here is Tuesday Random #1.
Jeff Matasevich 1996
Most people will not remember this but in 1996 Ron Ashley from Two Wheel Motorsport had an ace up his sleeve for the final round of the 1996 championship. This was the year before the Blair Morgan/Two Wheel days. Ron Ashley always loved to be the guy that everyone talked about back then. So everyone was talking a lot before Walton that year after a rumour started that Ron was bringing up a past Supercross Champion. People were trying to guess and figure it out before Saturday qualifying, but no one did until the rider showed up. It was Jeff Matiasevich on a #20 Two Wheel Kawasaki. He kind of sucked for the first three motos, but managed to win the final moto of the day.  Dennis James #811 (1992)
For those who don't know Dennis James, it is most likely you're a little too young. Dennis was one of the fastest riders to ever come out of Ontario in the late ‘70s through to the early 1980s (I think). He was so naturally talented on a motorcycle. This shot is from Molson Park in 1992. It just may be his last race. Dennis and his family now own Fox/Shift Canada. 
Marco Dube 1995
This was Marco Dubé as a rookie Pro in 1995. He landed on the famed team Morgan Racing right out of the Intermediate class. He went on to finish 2nd overall in his rookie year then won the title in 1996. He now runs Forma Boots Canada and just had his first child. 
Ken ``Hammer`` Clark (1999)
This is from the YZ426 photo shoot from 1999. This bike had really cool GYT parts on it and Hammer was the test man out at the practice track we all called the ``Water Tower``. 
Iain Hayden #83 (1999)
I think this is from around 1999. Iain Hayden was just an Intermediate then but went on to win Walton that year in the GP class. He still races at times and actually showed some great speed at Walton this year. He also is a Snocross champion and currently rides the Factory Yamaha four-stroke sled. This was before he gave himself his own nickname ``Captain Pie``. 
Michael Island (1992) This is X Games gold medallist Michael Island on his KX 60 in 1992. He and his family had this weird fascination with pink back then. Everything was pink, even the frames of his bikes. Michael races once in a blue moon on a two-stroke, and just recently won the Stock class at the first round of the CSRA Snocross Championship.
JSR (1992)
This is a great shot of ‘The Champ’ from 1992 with his very first national number. Take a look at his gear. It was called Bieffe. It had to be one of the ugliest sets of gear on the market. The Champ didn’t care and went on to finish 3rd in the championship that year behind Carl Vaillancourt and Ross Pederson. 
Skydome 1989 ( I think) The SkyDome was introduced way back in 1989. The Toronto Supercross was the first non-baseball event to be held in the dome. The original supercross lasted there to the mid ‘90s then has been a regular occurrence since Y2K. It is now called the Rogers Center and houses the AMA SX on March 13th 2010. The CN Tower is located right beside it
Jason Thorne (1996)
For those who don't know Jason Thorne from the ‘90s definitely missed out. His personality and his own language basically made him a fan favourite with any crowd. Thorny was one of the first Canadians to put freestyle on the map north of the border. 
Pat Barton #83 and Carl Vaillancourt #58
These two names were huge in the late ‘80s to early ‘90s. Pat Barton was a fast guy from the NESC in the US and Carl Vaillancourt was the young, flashy Canadian that all the girls loved. Oh ya, he was super fast. Here they are battling at the Florida Winter Ams in 1992.
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