Northern Notes: We can rest easy

By Danny Brault

The deals are done and the official PRs should be coming down the tubes any day now!

Of course, I’m referring to the Medaglia brothers, who have both recently secured bikes and support for the 2014 season. You may recall during my second edition of Notes, I was discussing the hot topic of the #3 (Tyler) and #4 (Jeremy) Canadian nationally ranked riders not having a deal in place for the Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals which are creeping up and nearing the 11^th hour.

I tried bringing some reality to the situation, stating if we looked deeper into the facts, we’d realize there were some legitimate reasons why the Medaglias were left without a chair. Always the optometrist … I mean, optimist, I knew Canada’s fastest brotherly duo would eventually find jobs. I don’t have a crystal ball, but come on, this is Canadian motocross we’re talking about; every year we wait until a week before Round 1 to finalize sponsorship contracts, build race bikes and groom tracks.

Since KTM purchased the Husqvarna brand, there’s been word of KTM Canada fielding a satellite team of sorts, with Cycle North at the helm, but that never materialized due to lack of budget on both sides. (Give KTM a year to get comfortable managing two brands, make some sales, and I bet we see a Husky ‘B’ team traveling the series in 2015.) After six months of uncertainty, it’s been decided that Tyler Medaglia is racing a Husky 450 in the MX1 class this summer. “The deal is done and I’m happy to be back on a familiar bike, but we still have lots of pieces to put together,” Medaglia said earlier this week.

‘A familiar bike, but Tyler’s never ridden a Husqvarna?’ That’s not entirely true. I hate mentioning this because KTM obviously wants to separate the two brands, but part for part, the KTM 450 SX-F and Husky FC 450 are nearly identical (major differences are colours and plastics). This is good for Tyler and KTM, er, Husqvarna, because Tyler enjoyed the fit and feel of his KTM 450 SX-F last year and he really wanted to continue riding the same bike/ brand for more than one year. The pieces still to be put together that Medaglia refers to are bike set-up, pit support at the rounds (most likely a string of dealers, or one on the east, one in the west, who will keep him cozy at each round) and how he’s going to make camo gear look good on a white, blue and yellow bike. While riding and racing at his home on East Coast, Freedom Cycle is keeping TM’s FC 450 fast and fresh.

It’s going to be strange seeing a Husky not only racing motocross but battling up front. It’s interesting, though, and I’m excited to see how things pan out. (Husky has a long history racing motocross, but at my ripe age of 30, the last time I remember the brand making an impact on the track was in the late ’90s with Alessio Chiodi, who the 125 FIM World Championship twice, in ’98 and ’99.) Tyler says he’s in his best race shape ever and really believes he’s going to surprise some people this year. First things first though, let’s get that sag set!

As for Tyler’s younger brother, Jeremy, we now know that it’s true: Mike Alessi, Kyle Cunningham and the MotoConcepts Team are coming to Canada and they’ve got a seat for “JerBear!” This has me excited for two reasons: this new relationship between Jeremy and MotoConcepts means that the Canadian has and will take the opportunity to race some AMA Nationals this summer, and we may see a good fist fight following an MX1 moto between Alessi and … who cares who, that stuff makes for great entertainment!

I’m kidding, I’m kidding. There’s no need for anyone to be fighting, and I’m sure Mike will be all business in his goal of winning a Canadian Championship. At first I thought Jeremy would be racing a Suzuki because that’s what Mike rides, but as I learned a couple weeks ago while talking with Jeremy, MotoConcepts runs Hondas in the MX2/ Lites class, not Suzukis. The team is unique in that they don’t have an official OEM supporter, so they mix and match bikes and parts to create some speedy steeds. With that, Jeremy remains on a CRF250R, which he’s more than familiar with after winning his first Canadian Arenacross title this past winter with Cycle North. Prior to becoming a ‘big thing’ in the Pro classes, Jeremy spent most of his amateur career racing Honda so it’s a sort of coming home for young Samson. (Interesting, Honda goes from having no real contenders in Canadian moto, to having two legitimate championship contenders with Colton Facciotti in MX1, and now Jeremy in MX2.)

Monster Energy Leading Edge Kawasaki’s Austin Politelli remains the MX2 title favourite heading into the Canadian Nationals, considering his speed, fitness and consistency shown last year. However, KTM’s Kaven Benoit showed him a wheel at times last year, even taking a moto win in Edmonton, and after we all doubted Jeremy’s abilities in the MX1 class last season (and then he goes out and wins motos), I’m not betting against him in his return to MX2. There also isn’t any love lost between Benoit and JM, who went back and forth as KTM’s top priority for a few years so expect some aggressive racing between those two.

JM, Alessi, Cunningham and the MotoConcepts team will hit up the AMA opener at Glen Helen prior to the first round of the Canadian series in Nanaimo, BC. Granted, the soil and conditions of Glen Helen and Nanaimo are at opposite ends of the spectrum, but this surely gives the team and racers a jumpstart over others on the line in Nanaimo.

So there you have it. Tyler and Jeremy Medaglia have bikes and backing for 2014 and now we can all rest easy. And hey, it’s only the first week of April. That’s like 14 years of time to prepare in Canadian years! On a serious note, I’m very happy to see the brothers find a home in 2014. I’m a huge fan of both and it wouldn’t be the same not seeing the Medaglias at the Canadian Nationals.

 

As of right now, I’m hearing that Tyler Medaglia is the only Canadian racer confirmed to be wearing a Red Bull lid in 2014. Again, this is Canada and I’m sure everything will be signed on the dotted line once the snow fully fades away. I tried emailing Red Bull’s athlete manager, Fergie Cancade, this week for an update on whether Colton Facciotti and the KTM team (Cole Thompson, Kaven Benoit) would be riding ‘The Bull’ again this summer, but I didn’t get a response.

I made a few other calls though, dug around and learned that deals are still waiting to be done. Prior to the Sochi Olympic Winter Games, Red Bull made it known they couldn’t sign or commit any dollars until they tallied up how much contingency they had to pay out to their Olympic athletes. Now with that event wrapped up, and considering Red Bull athletes didn’t completely paint the podium, it would seem there is money left over for motocross support.

Of course, as we all know, Canadian motocross isn’t as a big as we sometimes think it is—and considering the lack of championships won by Red Bull athletes and teams over the last two years—it wouldn’t be shocking if they did step back. Again, this is all my thinking without an official comment from Red Bull, an athlete or KTM and Honda. But as a marketing guy, when you spend big bucks and don’t receive the return intended, it makes things difficult to keep on spending. And that’s no bull! (No pun intended.)

Things are warming up in many parts of Canada, but Atlantic Canada, specifically Nova Scotia, is suffering through some last-minute snowstorms. Two days ago, the province endured a nasty storm that left 13,000 without power. This may lead to the annual Springhill (formerly Sackville) Arenacross not going off on April 18-19^th due to the dirt still frozen and full of frost. Despite filling up the local arena every spring, promoter Richard Strang still doesn’t boast quite the same budget as say, Feld Entertainment, so they’re unable to store dirt every winter.  Here’s hoping the weather does a sharp 180 with only two weeks before the event is scheduled to take off.

Off topic here, but who do you think should grace the cover of the next issue of MXP magazine? We’re in the midst of finalizing editorial for the first ‘summer’ issue and heads are spinning as to who we feature on page one. My choice is Kyle Keast because he’s the greatest Canadian racer ever (in my eyes, at least) but we should look at someone who is racing the full national series or has at least raced in the last six months. It’s been a while since a Honda has been on the cover, maybe Facciotti or Jeremy Medaglia? What about defending champ Brett Metcalfe? Seems fitting as the issue comes out shortly before the Nationals begin. Or maybe a Rockstar Energy Drink rider to honour Rockstar as the new series title sponsor? I’ve seen images of their riders Maffenbeier, Chisholm, Kiniry, and Izzi; one of those would look sharp.

Going back to Keast for a moment, no surprise here, but I spoke with the Blue Collar Bandit on Monday while he was finishing up his two week stay in Florida. He says the new 2014 YZ450F turns much better than the previous model, he can’t handle another day without a Tim Horton’s double-double, and he’s starting to change his mind on racing only the Eastern national rounds. The Machine Racing Yamaha rider has never really spent much time riding down south, but now that he has, he understands what all the hype is about and plans on returning every spring from here on out. “Oh, it’s awesome. You just show up, pay $20-$25 and ride a great track that’s tilled and watered every day,” he adds. It only took until he was 28-years-old to realize that there are other tracks in the world besides Gopher Dunes.

Did you know? Since 1997, there have been a total of 23 MX2/ 125 championships and 15 of those have been won by US riders (24 if you include Derrick Fisher who was born in Canada but spent most of his life living and racing in Georgia)?

Kyle Beaton touched base this week as he’s looking to purchase some WASPcams to film and share videos from his riding schools and training sessions. Did you hear that kids? He was looking to PURCHASE product, not get it for free. I really respect Beaton for not mentioning the word “free,” but instead looking to buy from and support a Canadian company with, of course, the goal being to show WASPcam that he can move product and then in the future we may hook him up with some free stickers or a t-shirt. No promises however.

The former Canadian throttle jockey is happy to say that he was out for his first real dirt bike ride last Sunday since destroying his ankle/ leg in a brutal get-off almost two years ago in Moncton. “I attempted to ride arenacross this winter but I wasn’t enjoying it, so said screw it and parked the bike,” Beaton begins. “But last Sunday, I got out on the bike and put in five, 15-minute motos. It felt good being back on the bike, but with half of my calf muscle being removed, I’ve lost feeling in my foot and I kept hitting neutral by accident going down the straightaways [laughs].”

Like Dusty Klatt, Beaton has hung up his hat on a serious pro racing career. Instead, he’s working a full-time job, operating heavy equipment, and teaching a group of local BC kids how to make it happen on the racetrack. “I’m helping out about five or six kids right now,” he says. “There’s Devin Sashe, Wyatt Waddell, Alex Dewar, Jared Greenough, Kyle Maskall, and (Dylan) Delaplace, but he’s gone to California for a bit. I have a gym at my house that doesn’t get used anymore, so these guys come over and I put them through the grinder. It’s fun and keeps me involved.”

I thought there may be some adjustments, going from racing full-time to joining the work force, but Beaton doesn’t sound depressed or feel like he’s missing out. “More than anything, I miss just being at the races, not so much being out on the track. Fortunately, I got to attend most of the Nationals last year, I attend most local events in BC and the moto sites are the only things I look at on the internet [laughs], so I’m still keeping touch with the sport.”

At the moment, Beaton says his foot/ ankle/ leg is at about 65-70% and that’s probably as good it will ever be. That said, he is not planning to race much more but will be out on the practice track here and there.

Thanks for tuning in, folks. Enjoy your weekend, and if you’re preparing for your first ride, please remember: it’s a long riding season. No need to go out and win the first practice day!