*Editor’s Note: Since this is a busy week for Donk we decided to send him a few questions that we’re sure a lot of people want the answers to.
MXP: This summer you’re wrenching again for Shawn Maffenbeier. What goes into getting a bike ready for a rider at Shawn’s level?
SD: Yes sir! I’ll be back with Shawn for another summer under the FXR, MX101, Yamaha tent again. I really enjoy the group over there and Kevin is just a damn good human being first and foremost, and that alone makes working for him just great. Shawn just had his 30th birthday so I’m teaching him all about the vet rider approach this year, smooth lines and a copious amount of comfort are what we’re here for. He’s really catching on! Preparing a race bike for a rider of Shawn’s caliber requires a lot of work spread across the whole team. Simply due to the fact that we race dirtbikes professionally in Canada and budgets aren’t what we see in America, there is a lot more responsibility on the rider and mechanic if you want to succeed. By that I mean, it’s incredibly beneficial for the rider to have a good understanding of how the motorcycle works, and how to make it work for them. Shawn is great at this, and between himself, Allan Brown down in California, where Shawn spent a couple of months training this winter, and a lot of texts and long drawn out phone calls with myself, I think we’ve come up with a much different motorcycle than we raced last year. As I mentioned, comfort is key and we are in a much better place than where we started with last year.
Preparing the bike on my end starts with a complete disassembly of the bike, every nut and bolt is removed. I disassemble the entire engine and parts are modified to suit Shawn’s desires and then I reassemble with different parts necessary for a professional racer, rather than your average rider. I believe from the inception of the MX101 team, Uncle Joe Skidd from SSS right here in Ontario has handled all of the suspension duties. As far as the rest of the chassis goes, your standard greasing of the bearings and then again, using parts from our great sponsors Shawn has specifically chosen, I’ll implement them into the build. Things like our Ride Engineering triple clamps with a specific offset and bar mounts, certain bar bend, etc. I do a few modifications to the wiring harness to reduce the chance of failure and route a few things a little differently to keep things safe. Every single fastener has a specific torque value, and in certain cases such as the main chassis and engine mounts, a specific torque value that Shawn has found to work the best for him is used. One of the most important parts with every rebuild is that I must ensure the bike is built the exact same way each time, maintaining a consistent feel for Shawn. A full race bike is built over several months and many hours of testing to create a solid, comfortable starting point, then, the bike can be manipulated for each track we race at. As far as my work, the initial build and prep can be a lengthy process, but for a normal tear down and frame it can usually be tackled in a day if I have a few things prepared.
MXP: Of all of the riders you’ve worked for which one was the most picky when it came to bike set up?
I don’t really see riders as being picky. In my opinion, this is their job and to do your job to the best of your abilities you’re going to require specific things suited to you. In saying that, some guys require more specific things than others, but for the most part, I just see it all as part of the deal. Being a rider and racer myself makes it a lot easier to understand the weird little things that some of my riders request. Like Shawn’s 800mm”ish” bar width. Lol
MXP: Riders are famous for having the thought process that if they do well then the bike must be good. Also, it can go the other way when they blame the bike for their poor performance. You don’t have to mention any names but has there ever been a time when you’ve had to tell a rider that their bike was great but that they just sucked?
That mostly comes down to what kind of relationship I have with said rider. If I can tell him he sucked out there without him getting pissed off or upset with me, I will. Sometimes the truth is what they need. But, for the most part, I have been fortunate enough to work with a lot of very mature and experienced riders that understand when the bike isn’t working to their liking, or if it’s just that they are underperforming. Most of my riders are very in tune with the bike and between myself, the rider, and certain others we can collectively come up with an educated adjustment, and if we end up going the wrong way, well, sometimes that’s just the way it goes. Fortunately, with my years of experience along with the rider’s experience, we rarely run into a situation where a rider is blaming the bike. I believe I’m able to deliver a safe, consistent, good working motorcycle for my rider each week and I feel that is something they understand. I think that gives them a certain sense of comfort and without having to worry about their bike, they can just focus on the task at hand.
MXP: Every rider is different when it comes to what they want on their pit boards during a moto. Of the riders you’ve worked with which one was the most laid back with what they wanted to be written and which one was the most specific?
Again, this is fairly dependent on what type of relationship I have with my rider. There are certain words or phrases that can mean several different things to each rider, so knowing your guy is important. A lot of guys like to know time elapsed, or time to go, plus or minus to the rider ahead or behind. Some guys like to have the standard reminders to breathe, focus, etc. The pit board can be a very useful tool between rider and mechanic, if the rider has a better understanding of his positioning on the track, he can choose to conserve, push, or just maintain a pace for a certain period of the moto. As in any relationship, communication is key.
MXP: Is there a race that stands out as far as one that you were the most nervous about for your rider before the gate dropped?
100%, hands down the final round of the Canadian outdoor nationals in 2017. I was working with Matt Goerke and the OTSFF Yamaha team and I think we had a 15-point lead going into the day. Not many people know this, but Steve Simms and I were at the track working in the semi til 1 or 2 am the night before. I had completely rebuilt the bike the week leading up to the final round, full engine rebuild, using mostly new, and the best of the used parts we had left for the season that I felt confident with. Usually, I wrap up the build around 4 o’clock on Saturdays and I went to ride the bike around and make sure everything was ok. I heard a noise. Something different, something unusual and new. I rode it around some more thinking maybe it was just in my head due to the fact we were trying to wrap up a championship the next day. Steve rode it and he heard it too. So, a nice relaxing team dinner the night before a hopeful great day was out the window. Everyone left but Steve, our truck driver Kerry, and I. Uncle Steve and I went to work, we dug into this engine searching for something, anything that stood out. If memory serves correct, I think we pulled the whole top off the engine, then the whole right side, clutch, oil pump etc, then the left side, flywheel, cam chain… We didn’t find a damn thing. So, out comes that motor, and we were swapping the new clutch basket and components, piston, head, etc over to what was to be the spare engine. Well, now that becomes the main engine and our spare, spare on the shelf wasn’t really an engine I wasn’t 100% confident in so we hoped like hell we didn’t need it. We buttoned everything up, started it, rode it around as quietly as we could, and we were content. It was late, we were tired, and man the stress levels were all time. I’m not sure we slept that night. We decided not to tell anyone what we had to do that night to keep the rest of the crew, and especially Matt calm the next day. Although we had to resort to our back up engine and we were stressed, Steve and I were confident things were going to be ok. If there’s one dude I want in my corner in a situation like that, it’s that dude. He may be a pain in the ass, much like myself, lol, but he’s a very smart dude and when we put our minds together, good things happen.
The next day, Gerkins was a mess, lol, and rightfully so! But man, get it together! The first moto he fell a couple of times early on, and the last time he couldn’t get the bike going after a few kicks, and I’ll never forget that moment, hell I’m getting the goosebumps typing this. My heart was in my shoes as I stood there and watched him kick, and kick, and kick, and I was like no f&$@ing way this is gonna end like this!? But, sure enough, the big blue deuce fired up and Matt got his shit together and made some passes back. We eventually got through the next moto and ended the day achieving the goal. Turns out the motor was just fine because I bounced that thing off the rev limiter for a while that evening. Later the following week I tore apart the bottom end of the original motor we had planned to use… I found that the left side input shaft bearing was slightly spinning in the case, the one behind the clutch actuator arm. Sunuva B!
MXP: Over the years what has been your most hectic ‘in between’ motos repair job?
Nothing too major, but a cool story from Edmonton in 2012 while I was working for the Leading Edge Kawi team and my good buddy Kyle Beaton. We had completed our first 250 moto and I had just brought my bike back around under the tent from washing, I looked over to Frenchie, who was working for Tyler Villopoto that year as he was atop his race bike getting ready to warm it up to head down for 450 staging. His bike fired, and I started to change from my boots back into my shoes and all I heard was a crunch, clunk crunch, and snap, the bike shut off. I looked at Frenchie, he looked at me, and he immediately asked someone to grab the spare engine from upstairs. As he did that, I grabbed an 8,10, and 12 T handle and went down to start swapping this engine. I’m not joking, we had that thing out, the spare back in, and fired up in about 7 minutes. There wasn’t much talking, we both knew exactly what to do, and who was doing what. Looking back, it was one of the coolest moments in my career, we even had a small crowd in front of the tent that recognized what was taking place. When we fired it up, they cheered and Tyler didn’t even miss staging. It was so cool, just completely in the zone, calculated and controlled chaos. I guess that could be a pretty good description of motocross in general!
MXP: Between your business and working as a mechanic for Maff, are you still going to find time to ride and race the Walton TransCan?
I absolutely am! In my 20+ years racing dirt bikes I never had as much fun as I did last year. We have such a unique, cool group in our 30B class that just makes racing that much more enjoyable. For the most part, everyone understands where we’re all at with our racing careers. We are competitive, but at the end of the day, we’re all here for fun and we all have to go to work on Monday. The majority of us raced each other 10-15 years ago when we were young punks chasing the dream and now we’re all just a bunch of old dudes that still love dirt bikes. Several of us have kids, families, and actual real-life responsibilities now, so there’s a certain level of respect given on the track that makes it incredibly fun to race your friends. Due to the national series returning to a full coast-to-coast series, I’ll miss most of our AMO provincial series as the rounds coincide with each other and that means I won’t be able to defend my perfect attendance award I got last year. So the focus this year is on the Walton TransCan where I can represent my personal team and sponsors with the Priority Mechanical MX Team. I am considering attempting the ECAN at Deschambault as well if the time and logistics permit. That track looked like a lot of fun last year. I knew this time of the year was going to be busy for me, just not this busy, but I put in a little work earlier this year to build myself to a point where I can safely and comfortably navigate the track for our 5 lap motos and still be able to take some time off that to handle the busy season with Dialed MX and the MX101 team responsibilities. Now that we’re on the backside of that mountain, I’ll be able to get some seat time in on my Priority MX, KTM450 and search high and low to find some 10ths so I can try not to have my buddy Ricky Conway breathing down my neck for all 5 laps at this years TransCan! Sprinting for the whole damn moto in the Vet 30B class violates many rules of the Vet Rider handbook that ol’ 451 clearly didn’t read. Check your junk folder Ricky!