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It’s always an exciting time when we welcome in a new year as it always provides us with new opportunities as well as a fresh start. Well, here we are in the early part of 2022 and we’re back with some more weekly questions for Ryan Lockhart. As you probably know, Ryan has been in the industry for over two decades and during that time he’s worn many hats. We believe it’s this experience as well as his fun-loving nature that makes his insight so valuable and so entertaining. So as we all guide our way through the first part of 2022 here is this week’s Matrix Concepts Canada 3 Q’s with Ryan Lockhart.
MXP: I guess we’ll start with two questions in one Newf. First, how was the Future West AX in Chilliwack last weekend and what can we expect with the final two rounds this weekend?
RL: All in all, it was a great weekend being back in the barn. The entries were a little on the low side but that’s to be expected for February and we had to postpone twice. Also, several of our regular riders are already down south getting ready for the outdoor season so it was expected. As I said, we had a safe but challenging track with some cool features and had a decent amount of spectators in the stands so that was all positive. We have three rounds of racing coming up Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to finish this thing off and we have reversed the track to spice things up a bit. I’m looking forward to another great weekend and then it’s onto outdoors. The Future West MX schedule will be launched next week.
MXP: Our next question is about Cole Thompson and what happened to him in Glendale. Up until the second 250SX West main event on Saturday evening Cole had done a great job of staying out of trouble, but sadly that came to end. Now he’s headed home with a torn labrum in his left shoulder and I’m assuming he’ll be off the bike for some time. When he sits back in a few weeks and reflects on his SX adventure what do you think he’ll be most proud of?
Yes you’re right he has stayed out of trouble and that is where most of his success has come from as far as his results go. However, as we all know it’s just a matter of time before that runs out. It sounds like this one wasn’t his fault as another rider landed on him but it is what it is. It sucks for sure but unfortunately, that is part of the game. It’s been hard for me to talk about Cole as I’m not a huge fan of his on and off-the-track antics and I believe he hasn’t done himself any favors in either of those areas. But I do respect the fact that he did line up and wasn’t scared race the 205SX West Series with limited preparation. I’m not sure what’s next for Cole as he’s a bit of a mystery but at least he gave it a go and gave us someone to cheer for during the first five rounds.
MXP: We cannot do this without asking you about the Friese/ Craig incident from Glendale. Moving forward is there anything that can be done about situations like the one that happened on Saturday night. Also, going back to your pro racing days, was there ever a rider that you competed against that raced as Vince Friese does?
It was a nasty one that’s for sure and completely uncalled for. Three people can do something about it and that’s the AMA, Vince’s team, and Vince himself. This has been going on for years so who knows what will happen. The thing is Vince is a good rider and he doesn’t have to race like this. He makes things interesting with his great starts but he’s an idiot with how he races and some of the moves he makes on other riders. What really bothers me in this instance was that it was on the first lap. What was he going to gain by this? Craig is way faster than him. If Vince thought by taking Craig out on the opening was going to give him a better chance to win the race, well he was wrong. Other dudes were going to get him anyway. It was a dumb move and he only gets probation from the AMA? That’s an odd call, to say the least.
No, I never had anyone like him in my competitive racing days and I’m thankful for that. Don’t get me wrong there were guys who you couldn’t trust and just when you did they would catch you by surprise and put you on the ground. But nothing like Friese, he’s one of a kind!
