Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
Your Friday Flight pilot Brent Worrall is ready for take-off.
This week’s Friday Flight is brought to you by Future West Moto. Future West Moto is a relatively new name in the West that has quickly gathered a large, fun, family oriented following. As many are aware Future West Productions was owned by the Hellam family for many years. They recently relinquished controlling interest to a new partner, Lesley Reid. The Hellam family did a great job for years of putting in countless hours of promoting and growing the sport as well as establishing an awesome Canadian Arenacross series. The new connections have taken the reins and continued to build momentum on the ball that John Hellam set in motion.
Last fall at the Canadian Arenacross Series, Future West Moto partners met with the CMRC brass and inked a deal with Mark Stallybrass to race the 2015 outdoor season under the CMRC umbrella. We are now three rounds into our Canadian Kawasaki Future West Moto CMRC South Series and are very happy to report that we are experiencing numbers that we have not seen in a long time. Motocross is a family sport and Future West Moto is doing a great job of providing a product that is accommodating for every level of racer and their families. Future West believes that the union with CMRC is responsible for attracting the great rider turnouts we have seen this season and are very much looking forward to reaching even newer heights. The Canadian Kawasaki South Series resumes May 23 and 24th in the hometown of Canadian National number 49 for 2015, Brock Hoyer Williams Lake B.C. Brock will be hosting a Yamaha Motor Canada, Spectra Powersports Future West ride clinic on Friday, May 22nd at the Williams Lake track at 5:00pm for $75. To reserve your spot, e-mail fwmlisa@hotmail.com. Also, all Future West event info can be found at www.bcmotocross.ca.
Brad Nauditt is one of the fast Americans headed North this summer to compete in the Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals presented by Motovan. photo by James Lissimore
Once again friends we are set for lift off into another weekend of highly anticipated racing action. I feel very fortunate to be as connected to as many passionate individuals and their support systems with my varying racing and media commitments. I love sharing my passion with my fellow race fans through this outlet of the ‘Friday Flight’ here at MXP Mag. By the time I get the opportunity late in the week to sit down to write this, I have spoken with many involved in our sport across the continent at all levels. I am not so sure if it is the genuine interest I have in spreading the love of all this sport’s goodness or just some kind of need to vicariously live through those of you fortunate enough to be chasing your dreams.
If the Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals presented by Motovan are on your agenda, and you have put your best foot forward and are anyone of this season’s contenders, there is a good chance my number has showed up on your phone recently. I would like to thank each and every one of you who has been so kind with your time, and has responded and taken the time for the updates. Time is of the essence right now. If you are involved or have someone involved in this upcoming series, you are nodding your head up and down as you read. I will be all over the map here in my part of the world before the gate drops in Kamloops just to make sure my obligations are met. Who loves action? Need I even put my hand up!
I guess one of the best places to start, or worst if you will, is with our own Dylan Kaelin. I am tempted to dig out the dictionary to see if there are any words that I am unaware of to insert here that can help justify what I am writing or how I feel. I guess in plain simple English, it sucks will have to suffice. We all know that things can go sideways in this sport in less than a heartbeat with no rhyme or reason as to why. In Dylan’s case, this is exactly what happened. His photo shoot / knee setback marks the end of his 2015 championship chase. He has noted that it is not the end of the world and that things could always be worse. It is pretty amazing to see as much as it hurts Dylan that he is maintaining a positive outlook on his future and life in general. I have said it before – when you hear me say or write that sometimes this sport offers and teaches values beyond point totals, prize money, trophies and titles, this is what I am talking about. Dylan has grown up and matured in this sport and is the man that he is because of it, and I know he would not have it any other way.
Jake Streichert is hoping for a few more of these plates this summer as he will now be racing for the Devils Lake Yamaha Team.
Devils Lake Yamaha was put in a position to find a replacement rider for Dylan on short notice. When I spoke to Cal Nowicki from the team on Tuesday they had found their replacement. Yes, it is a bummer for Dylan and I truly believe that he was on a level this year to break into the elite top 5 this season. In the midst of this disappointment and heartache, a great opportunity has come for Kaslo, B.C.’s Jake Streichert. Some may not have heard of Jake but if you followed the Amateur Nationals last year you know that he won a title at the WCAN in Raymond, Alberta as well as the Parts Canada Walton Trans Can. I have gotten to know Jake over the last year and cannot say enough about the good things I know about this 19-year-old. He is as classy and respectful as the day is long, and is as smooth as butter on a motorcycle. Opportunities like the one that has presented itself to Streichert are hard to come by, and by the time a rider is where Jake is, the support can be a game breaker. Jake spent the winter south of the border living with Phil Nicoletti and had plans to line up this year for the Western Rounds of the nationals on his own dime. I reached out and gave Jake a call on Wednesday and he admitted that he was very excited about the opportunity and was sorry that it had to come at Dylan’s expense. I do not have Jake pegged to be battling as high up in the standings as Kaelin would have been this summer but I truly believe he will make good on this opportunity and continue to impress. Good luck to Jake and his teammate Blake Savage and the whole gang over at Devils Lake this summer.
The other rider I reached out to this week was Tyler Medaglia who lined up this past weekend on the Husqvarna two-stroke in New York at the GNCC. I usually tune into the ‘Live’ feed of those races but unfortunately missed the best part of the race for him – the start. I quickly went to the live timing feed and combed through the 294 riders on the screen and could not find Tyler’s name anywhere. Perplexed, I headed over to Twitter and found nothing. Back to the live video feed I noticed the track was very dusty and if you were anywhere behind the leaders it looked like you would struggle big time. After a short while I was able to find out that Tyler, on the Freedom Cycle, Parts Canada, Husqvarna Canada bike, did in fact get the holeshot but early in the race rolled his ankle badly. Tyler was forced out of the race and of course is going through a number of negative emotions and scenarios. As I said, I found it necessary to reach out to Tyler on Wednesday to get an exact read on his condition and knew I would get more than the typical ‘Lower Body Injury.’ Tyler agreed that even though his whole season had temporarily flashed in front of him, he was happy to be home and testing his new SSS Suspension for RD-1 of the Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals. I also asked him what the plan was between now and Kamloops and he said he would do his best to try not to overdo it. I stated that short of someone locking him up it would probably not be the easiest task as between his cycling, mountain biking and pounding out motos his life is always WFO. Tyler is very much looking forward to being in Kamloops with his dad, Derek, on the wrenches and his wife Heidi on the sidelines assisting him with all the support he will need to achieve a career best number. In his own words, he said “Enough already, I want to get going now!” Yes, if there are type ‘A’ personalities and type ‘B,’ I would have to make an exception to the rule and give Tyler ‘AAA.’ If you do not have Tyler on your radar for podium finishes round in and round out in 2015, I believe you will be disappointed. Good luck to Tyler and all his new connections in 2015.
It’s almost time to watch Colton Facciotti begin his defense of last season’s MX1 title.
All the last minute pieces are being placed by all the foot soldiers and competitors for this year’s series and I myself am even more amped up than I was last week. Things are going to get real crazy here as of closing the lid on this lap top and I will be hitting the road. I will be in Dawson Creek to participate in round two of the Peace Motocross Association’s race next weekend. I am very much looking forward to hitting the far north region and connecting with those great people. The Moto Park Cup goes this weekend and I was fortunate enough to chat with Carl Bastedo for some 45 plus minutes on my Canadian Moto Show on Wednesday night. Carl is excited about the upcoming weekend at the venue that he has put his heart and soul into for many years. There are many others that have done the same there to make the Moto Park Cup one of the premier events on each year’s racing calendar. They had 1,050 entries last year over the first two days of the event and this year are expecting as many as 1200. Wow, if you’re anywhere in the hood, get out to Moto Park this weekend. There will be a ton of fast national calibre riders there as well as many of our bright future.
On the note of bright future, I spoke with Carl briefly about Canada’s efforts internationally and it was a great conversation. I will not get into details but will disclose here that Carl and his connection have plans to send possibly three riders this year to the World Junior Motocross Championship in Madrid, Spain this July. He did mention the names of the three riders on the Canadian Moto Show on Wednesday and if you want to hear what he said, head over to my site www.canadianmotoshow.com and check out the archive. I think this is an awesome step in an effort to get some international experience for some of what I believe is a very deep, up and coming pool of amateur talent in Canada. The passion never dies and Carl’s timeless efforts for the many things he has done for this sport are very much appreciated by this race fan. Thanks Carl.
Wherever you get to this weekend friends, keep that Moto passion pinned and do your best to stay safe.
Until next ‘Friday Flight‘ Airmail’ out………………….
