Zeb Dennis can pretty much do it all on two wheels whether it be scrubbing a jump on a dirt bike or back flipping a BMX bike. During the day this talented rider helps Iain Hayden run things at Moto Park and is the guy in charge of teaching kids how to ride. This past week, Zeb travelled over to Germany with Team Canada to help out and as we saw, he also sent home some pretty cool Wasp videos. To get his take on what went on at the MXON, we gave him a call a few hours after Team Canada’s plane touched down in Toronto.
Q: Hey Zebo, you just got home from Germany where you were helping out Team Canada. You must be feeling a little jet lagged.
A: Yes, a little bit, for sure. We got in last night and by the time I got home it was late. This morning I had a workout at the gym and right now I’m not too bad. I will probably just crash tonight though.
Q: Okay, let’s start from the beginning of your trip to Germany. How was the trip over there and the first few days?
A: The trip over was great and the flight was good. When we arrived in Frankfurt everyone had their bags so we were pretty pumped on that. That first day we drove to where the Sarholz Team was located and the mechanics went to work building the bikes and getting them ready.
On day two, which was Wednesday, we went to a private practice track so the boys could get some time on their bikes before the weekend. It was a little weird because they’re so caught up over there with everything being on time. We got to the track late so it was a rush just to get some riding in. The jetting was off on Jeremy’s bike so they had to do some work on his bike. They eventually got it working but it took some time. I don’t know, it was okay, but it just felt rushed.
Q: So it sounds as though everything was going as planned as the weekend approached. This was your second time going to the MXON to help out so you’ve seen pretty much all sides of it. Would it be safe to say that as a team you can do everything right leading up to the event and then if you draw a bad gate pick, things can do downhill in a hurry?
A: I think you’re bang on, and boy did we get a bad pick. I know it sounds like an excuse but with the type of start that this track had, you needed a good gate pick. Other than the few inside gates, most of them didn’t point at the first turn, so when you were lined up on the outside you were pointed to the outside of the start straight. I was very surprised at this because, after all, it’s supposed to be the biggest race in the world.
Having said that though, Great Britain had 40th pick and they finished much better than we did so I guess it could go either way. At times all of our guys rode amazing but there were also times that they struggled. At that event, I think you have to have all three riders on their A game and that’s pretty hard to do. Look at USA; Tomac was awesome and rode great; Barcia was okay and did his job, but Dungey had an off day. There is just zero room for error whether you’re USA or Canada.
Q: Did we just get bad starts all day on Saturday?
A: Yes, pretty much. I know all three of our guys are great starters but usually they don’t have such bad gate picks. It was the type of track that if you were stuck in the back of the pack off the start it was almost impossible to catch up. So many riders were going fast. While the track had a lot of lines, with all the ruts there weren’t exactly great passing lines.
Q: Were you surprised at the speed of some of the Euros?
A: Not so much of their speed but just how they rode. I mean Roczen was so fast but I kind of expected that. Cairoli was a guy who impressed me the most. He was riding a KTM 350 and when he was on the track he was barely revving it. He was just so smooth and calculating on that bike, there was no wasted energy and he carried a lot of momentum everywhere. Also, the Euros are very good at picking lines. I noticed how they would miss a lot of the ruts and skip over bumps. I thought team USA would be like that also but it seemed sometimes like they were trying too hard.
Q: How was the mood on Sunday after the B final?
A: It was pretty much how you’d expect it to be. Everyone was pretty bummed, for sure. Although, once everyone kind of vented a bit, the mood improved and I think everyone realized that while it was too bad that we didn’t make it to the motos, everyone did give 100%. I think it’s awesome that we sent a team there in the first place, I know what Carl goes through trying to organize it all and he deserves a ton of credit. Maybe next year we get a better gate pick, things go better and everyone comes home smiling. It is motocross and sometimes you have bad days. Like I said, it’s hard for all three riders to have their best day on the same day.
Q: Well, we’re glad everyone made it home safe. What is next for you? Anymore racing or is it just BMX now?
A: We have a couple more events at Moto Park and if the weather stays like this then we’ll be open for a while. After that I’m not sure. We have a BMX track at Moto Park now so we don’t have to make as many trips this winter to Joyride, but we’ll probably still be there quite a bit.
Q: You’re a home owner now, how is that going?
A: It’s going great, thanks for asking. The only thing I don’t like is that all the bills are in my name now. That’s kind of scary (laughs).
Q: Are we going to see you racing any Nationals in 2014 or are you an age class guy now?
A: As you know, I’m not getting any younger and I really want to do one more full year of racing Nationals while I still can. I think I still have it in me and I think I could do well at the Nationals if I was consistently racing them every weekend. You know how it is, you want to try and have no regrets when you’re older.
Q: For sure. You have to use your talents while you can. Well Zeb, get some sleep and we’ll talk soon. All the best and thanks for helping out Team Canada in Germany.
A: No worries, thanks for calling. Hopefully we’ll see you at Moto Park again before the snow flies.