Future West Moto Presents Friday Flight With Brent Worrall

This week’s Friday Flight is brought to you by Future West Moto. Future West Moto is the name in the West that has quickly gathered a large, fun, family oriented following. Round 6 of the CMRC Canadian Kawasaki Future West Moto South Series goes this weekend at the Popkum Motor Park with practice on Saturday and racing on Sunday. There will also be a Future West Moto Motocross school at the park on Friday, June 26th at 5:00 PM. There was also some huge breaking news in the Future West Moto camp last week with the release of the upcoming Fall Future West Moto Canadian Arenacross Series. This series has built a ton of momentum throughout the years and this year once again promises to deliver. The Pro purses are huge and the scheduled venues are very diverse that provide their own individual elements of technicality. This series has sponsorship packages available and would love to have you as a valued partner. Future West Moto has always gone above and beyond to provide a first class entertaining product for its riders, their families and its partners. Everyone loves a winner and this series is just that and has become the birthplace for many great motocross racing careers. If you would like to become an Arenacross series partner and join our winning team, contact fwmstu@hotmail.com now.

Once again friends it is an honour to be able to help you launch into another great weekend of Motocross related action and throttle twisting activities via the ‘Friday Flight.’ I guess you could say that if last week we were collectively all just shifting upward into top gear, we are now comfortably cruising along pretty much wide open. This is the time of year where what most endured through the long winter months is all but erased from the memory bank. In a Motocrosser’s psyche, a short memory is quite often a valuable commodity and an asset moving forward. The old cliche of ‘you are only as good as your last race’ comes to mind, and when it comes to moving forward, negativity has no place in the forward progress equation.

There is a lot going on across this country and I would like to start with some of my thoughts with what is on the immediate horizon for this country’s grassroots racing. I will be at the high profile Popkum Motor Park this weekend for RD-6 of the Future West Moto Canadian Kawasaki CMRC South series to do the ‘Live’ race announcing. The weatherman has predicted we could see temperatures nearing 40 degrees on Sunday but the crew there, along with Future West frontman Stu Mcqueen, is ready. Hopefully all riders take heed and hydrate appropriately. I am also happy to announce that Future West Moto will be honouring the legacy of one of our own this weekend with an inaugural annual award. Gord Steward, a loving father of one of our own racers, Jordan Stewart, lost his life this spring and Future West has set the wheels in motion for this honour. The parameters of what they will recognize have been noted in a post on the BC Motocross Facebook page. I have some very fond memories of Gord as he too was a paraplegic and he helped me with many things along the way in my early days of recovery. You will often see me post or here me say “Keep moving forward;” that is something that Gord would always direct my way every time we spoke or parted. RIP my friend you left us way too soon and will be missed and remembered forever.

The Western Canadian Amateur National is on deck and I will have my van pointed in that direction this Wednesday. This event has seen numbers dwindle over recent years. Teamed up this year with Ryno Power Sports Supplements and Donny Ellis from Pro Action Suspension, I have hit the campaign trail hard. I have been to races in both BC and Alberta along with profiling many involved behind the scenes on my Canadian Moto Show and by all accounts I believe this year will hit the mark. Rylan Pozdnekoff, who is a good southern Alberta boy, has been on the dozer and made some notable track changes, which includes the birth of a new sand section.

That sounds not only interesting but very cool as the existing race track was already top notch with its good soil and hillside layout. It is not like they are trying to make a racehorse out of mule friends, Raymond is a great battlefield and playground to crown Amateur National Champions on. The Yamaha Factory Ride is back with an opportunity to win a brand new Yamaha and more. On a bit of a down note, last year’s winner, Casey Keast, will not be able to participate as I have just got word from him that he will be out of action for 8-10 weeks. Casey suffered a broken humerus on Amateur day at the Calgary National on the first lap of a moto. Get well soon Casey, the Monster Energy Cup awaits October 17th. Also up for grabs is the Kermax Silver Sprocket, which last year was won by Jake Streichert. Jake has clearly validated his potential and done his new connections of Devils Lake Yamaha very proud with his holeshot in Regina and his first top 10 points score as a professional. Nice work Jake. There is still time friends, head over to the Lethbridge Motorcycle Club’s website and get your entry form in. http://www.lethbridgemotorcycleclub.com/#!blank/c160b

The second leg of the Moto Park Cup also goes this weekend and the crew there, as always, will look to build on the opening weekend of that series, which had 1100 entries. At this time of year with so much going on in our vast country I am envious of those that are able to attend the high profile events that I simply cannot. I would like to thank each and everyone of you who goes out of your way to share social media posts via Instagram, Twitter and Facebook etc. Positive posts sharing the goodness of our great sport have a strong and profound butterfly effect on the big picture. This is probably one of the simplest things to do in the day and age that we live, and let’s do our best to take advantage of it. Also if you would be so kind #MXPMag or #CanadianMotoShow or tag us. Short of that those helping pay the bills and make it possible deserve the love as well. Let’s not sell that short, sometimes a random post can pay itself forward ten fold. The podium speeches are great and if you should be so lucky to get one of those, keep it coming; however I find that sometimes those obligatory, even though good to hear, are tuned out. Nothing is a given, do not take anything for granted and you never know who is watching or listening. Yes, it could make a huge difference in what you get or do not get in the future. There is support to be had at all levels here in Canada, make it yours!

Banging the support drums and relating a story as it pertains to a rider I have come to know a bit better and very much admire the character, efforts and passion. A while back I went up to a race in Dawson Creek and spent some time with Matt Davenport. Matt has shifted gears this past year to make the best efforts possible to ensure that he is set up beyond his Motocross racing days. Matt is studying at the University of Calgary and is a very well rounded athlete. While I was up at the Dawson Creek race, we sat and talked about his plans and commitments to the upcoming season and regards to sponsorship support, etc. Yes, he is helped in a big way by Yamaha Motor Canada and Red Line Cycle and a few others, but there are many other things (travel time, etc.) that he, like most in this series, have to do on their own dime. I guess this is relevant because after our conversation I reached into my bag of goodies and gave him a couple of T-shirts and a hat. No big deal, right. Wrong! To me it was but he lit up in a big way and quite simply said, “Wow, that is more than I am getting from a lot of people this season, my support is very minimal.” Take what you want out of this spiel but my point is that I was in a position to help someone and I feel that his genuine appreciation and honesty validated my commitment to him. Yes, it was only a couple of lousy t-shirts and a hat but they were paid for out of my hard earned money. Friends, when someone helps you or gives you something, they are making an investment in you, it is not your given right. Show them the love they deserve. People are watching and if you make a positive impression you might get some of that support you are lacking or needing. Matt is a guy that knows what it means to pay the price, and seeing him finish up in Regina with his goggles on his arm is just another example of his strong value system. Congratulations Matt on your first top ten of the season. You’ve earned it and good luck the rest of the way.

Regina proved to be some of the best battling of the season and we race fans are in for a real treat down the stretch. The top three in the MX2 class, led by Royal Distributing FOX KTM’s Kaven Benoit, have only 23 points separating them. The MX1 class saw the fiercest battle of the season this past weekend and Rockstar OTSFF Yamaha’s Matt Goerke holds the highly coveted red plate heading to Gopher Dunes. A narrow 14 points sits between the top four riders in this year’s title chase and in my opinion the best racing is yet to come. Twelve motos left, starting on the 12th of July at Gopher Dunes. It should be noted that Smart Top Moto Concepts riders Mike Alessi and Vince Friese have opted out of Gopher Dunes and have tentatively planned to be at the finale in Walton on August 16th. I am very much looking forward to catching all the action firsthand on one of the gnarliest race tracks in the world.

Hope to see you at a race soon. Let’s Go Racing friends. Until next ‘Friday Flight‘Airmail’ out………………….