Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
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I cannot wait until round one of the 2015 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals in Kamloops so I can sit down again with the Champ!
On August 16th, 1977, I remember vividly, as if it were yesterday, being seated in the back of our family’s 1976 Dodge Duster headed northbound on Young St. in Chilliwack, B.C. when the news of Elvis Presley’s death aired on the radio. Although I was quite young at the time and new little about Elvis, I knew this was huge news! Fast forward to this Saturday morning where I was seated at the edge of my couch as news was being revealed to the North American Motocross community that if Ryan Villipoto was going to win the 2015 500cc World Championship of Motocross it was not going to happen in the manner that most thought. No there had not been a public slaying of a unicorn, no innocent lives were lost or be-headings committed, but this was huge, breaking Motocross industry news and a wake up to call to many, myself included. Or was it? Have we in North America been selling the international game short? Have our Motocross of Nations results in recent years been all the result of bad luck? Did Ryan Villopoto show his human side and just have an off day? Was his set up that bad? Can he still win the title? Will he win the title? If he does come back and win the title, is it good for Motocross globally? Will we continue to sell this World Championship series short? You could probably attach yes in an answer to most of these questions, as I did after looking back on round one this past weekend in Qatar.
Many questions, yes, but I assure you over the next seven months of this global marathon most of these answers and more will reveal themselves to all of us ravenous race fans. Let’s start with the Europeans or the world outside of North America if you will. Yes, they are Fast, and Fast with a capital F for good reason. I, like most North Americans, pay attention to the races closest to home for many reasons, most of which are obvious. I have, however, in recent years been following our country’s Motocross of Nations efforts closely, and have had a significantly increased respect for the international calibre of racing and product on the track at those events as a result. Yes, our team has had some terrible luck in recent years, but I am sure that any of our riders or their connections would be the first to tell you that heading overseas out of your own element to line up against the best in the world is tougher than most could imagine!
This past weekend’s race in Qatar saw record numbers tune in to get a glimpse of what many thought would be a dominating or at least podium performance by Ryan Villipoto. I personally expected to see Ryan content to hover somewhere in the top five all day as he got his feet wet in his new element, knowing this series was a marathon, and if anyone could manage these variables, he’d do just fine. So what happened and what does this mean moving forward, and is the title still a realistic goal? Yes, Ryan had a bad day by his standards, and I will not go as far as to say terrible as he is by all accounts healthy and will take all the fuel he can out of the past weekend in a positive way to make himself better. The track in Qatar is a one-off as it is not only in the Saudi desert but the race was run at night on a track that looked pretty one lined to me. The start was important, the track was not the roughest and did not seem to have a lot of variables that separated skill, but one could argue they all had to ride the same track. The first moto saw Ryan’s bike suffer some kind of ignition malfunction where it actually stalled prior to gate drop, and then he went down early in the Moto where he would have to settle for an inaugural 9th. Moto 2 was not a whole lot better as Villipoto, on a bike that was seemingly set up too stiffly for the track’s conditions, when at the halfway mark saw him with a rear brake failure, landing him 8th for his efforts. I think the most surprising part of both Motos, from my perspective, was not only the position of finish in each Moto but as to how far off the pace Villipoto was. Yes, if you checked the times he was some 40 plus seconds off of the leader’s pace. Ryan Villipoto has his work cut out for him, for sure, but I still believe he can get the job done. After all, he, like myself, is a red head and in order to beat us you have to pretty much kill us! The legacy of Ryan Villopoto survived round one to continue to write the script of his storied career at the expense of a little bit of this race fan’s pride, okay maybe more than a little!
Ryan Dungey is just chugging along like a diesel engine. I guess that’s why his new nickname is “The Diesel”, very fitting indeed. photo by Frank Hoppen
With the AMA Supecross series advancing beyond the halfway point in its quest to crown its 2015 Champions, Ryan Dungey once again did what the Diesel does best and got the win in Atlanta. Ryan made an aggressive pass early (yes, I used Ryan Dungey and aggressive in the same sentence) and took a comfortable victory at the second of two rounds on this year’s schedule there. In the big bike class, the Atlanta round was give and take for race fans in general, and maybe even more so for those who were cheering for Weston Peick and Chad Reed. As you may have read in last week’s Friday Flight, I am somewhat of a Chad Reed fan but I will admit he is not my favourite rider of all time. I was very surprised to find myself, early in the Moto before Reed spun himself out of contention, cheering my guts out for him, riding my couch for all it was worth and was disappointed to see him override the tight left hand turn. The early race battle between Reed, Weston Peick, Eli Tomac and Trey Canard was bar none the best battling we have seen to this point in the series on a very tight race track. I am super pumped for Peick as he is one of the hardest workers in the game. Many had him written off due to lack of ability and talent, and injuries; nice to see Weston, like Reed, show us anything with the right connections, determination and effort is possible.
Marvin Musquin and his Red Bull KTM rebounded nicely at the second Atlanta round and will head to Daytona with a seven point advantage over Jeremy Martin and ten points over Justin Bogle. The eastern portion of the 250 class has not been as competitive or deeply talent laden as the West, in my estimation. I am hoping the return to the outdoors this weekend in Daytona with Mother Nature cooperating will shake things up a little bit in both classes, but let’s face it, the two KTM frontrunners are driving the bus. Another good thing about getting out of Atlanta is not having to see what a third weekend of racing a layout in the Georgia Dome would look like. I don’t know about you but I see track layouts each year at the Parts Canada Walton Trans Can in the Sand Box that are more functional, and not as tight as what we saw this past weekend in the Georgia Dome. To all of those Canadians taking in bike week in Daytona, make sure you check out some of the Amateur Supercross action on the fabled grounds that will be participated in by MX-101’s Dylan Wright; good luck Dylan. I would also like to extend a good luck wish the way of Tyler Medaglia, who I had on my Canadian Moto Show on Wednesday night, as he gears up to compete in a GNCC in Florida this weekend. Tyler has a new deal to ride the iconic Husqvarna brand for the upcoming season, and is currently in the midst of a week where a lot of his immediate family and support system are enjoying some time with him in the Florida sun.
This is one of my favourite photos from Walton Raceway. Blue skies, the starting gate, the TransCan Giants biilboard and the Canadian flags in full flight. Bring on summer!!
With it being March and Bike Week in Daytona, it surely means that spring is close and we will be heading to all of our local outdoor tracks, and in short order lining up at ANQs. A and Who’s? Amateur National Qualifiers. That’s right, the three biggest races in the country outside of the Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals. The Amateur Nationals of the WCAN in Raymond, Alberta, the ECAN, East Coast Amateur National of Deschambault, Quebec, and the Parts Canada Walton Trans Can GNC where our country and beyond who’s who of our sport make their annual pilgrimage. I have been in touch just this past week with connections in Raymond and am proud to announce that I will be heading there to do ‘Live’ broadcasts for the Canada Day week event. I also spoke with Mark Perrin from Walton Raceway and he has assured me there are a lot of new and cool things in the works for the August event. Look for a couple of head turning press releases from the good folks at Walton Raceway real soon. Finally, the ECAN, which is at a facility that Tony Alessi said was one of the best race tracks he had ever been to and their favourite stop in Canada last year, is scheduled for July 24, 25 & 26 in Quebec. These events are not only a great way to gauge a rider’s talent and progress, but provide life memories of historic events that will one day be looked back on as the best trophies one could have.
Let’s Go Racing friends. Until next week, Brent ‘Airmail’ Worrall … out.
