Summertime with Summer Denzler

Ohio photographer Summer Denzler and her family have decided in 2017 to try and race the entire Rockstar Energy Drink MX National Series. With Kein Denzler racing in the MX2 class and sister Summer handling all of the photographer duties, this is true family effort. Making the long trek from their home in Ohio all the way to Prince George, BC for Round 2, the Denzler Family obviously witnessed a lot of things they’d never seen before. Each week, Summer is going to give us a weekly account of her travels across this great country of ours. This week in her blog that we’re calling ‘Summertime”, she talks about driving through BC for the very first time as they made their way to beautiful Prince George, BC.  

After a long but beautiful three-day drive across the United States and Canada, we finally reached our destination at Blackwater MX Track in Prince George, BC for Round 2 of the Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals. I’d do this drive over and over just to see the amazing things Western Canada has to offer! It’s definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’m blessed to have gotten the chance to experience it.    Seeing and traveling through many amazing USA sights like the great Chicago transportation trains and rooftop decks, to marshy flat land in North Dakota, and nothing but rolling hills, wide river valleys and farmland in Montana, it all led up to the breathtaking Canadian Mountains, crystal clear water, and many animals you’ll never see in the south. It’s definitely worth the trip. Jasper mountain was one of my favourite places as it offered pull in spots to get out and take in all the beautiful scenery. This is actually where we saw three brown bears, three black bears, a Moose and two coyotes. It was so cool that we almost forgot we had a race we had to get to.

From Alberta to BC, we took one road, but that one road gave us endless amounts of natural scenery that could never be duplicated. After being on this 200-mile (321 kilometer) long road, we arrived in Prince George and headed to the closest Walmart near the track to get some shut eye. Little did we know it was motocross central.

One thing we weren’t ready for was dealing with a little, or should I say a lot of, rain and mud. We were wondering if the track was going to be good or if the sun was going to come out, which had us a little nervous for our first pro race. However, after seeing all the moto families still out here in the rain watching their kiddos ride quickly made me forget about the mud and rain, which put a smile on my face knowing it’s all for the love of this sport. The Blackwater MX crew did an amazing job by smoothing everything out and giving us easy parking and a good track to race on for Sunday. Stay tuned for a small race report on Round 2 of the 25th Anniversary of the Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals presented by Motovan.

Sunday was definitely a much better day! The sun was shining and everyone was happy. The track came around from Saturday’s rain and had perfect track conditions. I love how much the Blackwater track ruts up; there’s nothing like photographing a prime track with ruts. I mean how could you turn that down?

With limited space for us photographers to stand in some corners, it gave us a challenge to find the right angle, but from what I saw on social media, we all found the right ones, for sure! The pro motos out here are so intense I find myself watching the races when I’m supposed to be taking photos! I mean, I get a media vest and an amazing view of all areas of the track. It’s a win win! Here are the top 3 from both the MX1 and MX2 classes.

MX1 Top 3: 

#377 Christophe Pourcell,

#2 Matt Goerke

#10 Colton Facciotti

MX2 top 3:

#1 Cole Thompson

#16 Jess Pettis

#100 Jacob Hayes.

It was an amazing weekend at the Blackwater MX Track in Prince George, British Columbia! These riders put on a show for all of their fans and teams! Congratulations to them and see y’all at Wild Rose in Calgary!

I’d like to thank MXP Magazine for giving me this opportunity. Please follow my Instagram (@sdenzlerphotography and @summerdenzler) for photos of the races, behind the scenes coverage, and photos of my adventure across Canada