Northern Notes: The first one

By Danny Brault

Hey there, folks, and welcome to the very first edition of ‘Northern Notes.’ Some of you reading this may be familiar with my background in Canadian moto (and for all 12 of you, don’t fret, I promise no shirtless pics or constant references to the Trailer Park Boys as I’ve grown up, just a little, since the last time I was a regular writer in the wonderful world of Canadian moto), but for those who don’t know who I am, let give me you the Coles Notes version:

• I’ve been riding and racing motocross in Canada, with less than moderate success, since I was 3 years old. I’m now 30 and absolutely love Men’s League Motocross, otherwise known as Plus 30.

• After attending Durham College, earning my diploma in Journalism, I tried out for a spot on the Racer X Canada squad and happily made the cut. From 2005 to 2008, I wrote stories, shot photos and built up my knowledge of Canadian motocross while working at RXC.
  

  Always the consummate professional, when Danny Brault isn’t hocking WASPcam action-cams, he’s writing stories about dirt bikes.

• In August 2008, RXC came to a close and so I, along with Martin Anderson-Clutz and Dawn McClintock, launched a new website dedicated to Canadian motocross: directmotocross.com. Things went very well, but only three months into the program, I pulled the chute and accepted a safe and secure marketing position with Yamaha Motor Canada. Fortunately, Kyle Carruthers would step up and keep DMX going.
• After three great years with Yamaha, I made the move to KTM Canada in December 2012, becoming their national marketing rep and events coordinator. (I don’t know much, but I know people!)

• I left KTM Canada in July 2013 to begin a marketing/content generating agency, but before I had chance to dig too deeply into my own gig, Justin Moore of 636 Distributing Inc. offered me a chance to help develop his new action-sports camera brand, WASPcam, and I said “Why not?” It’s been an interesting and rewarding ride building a brand from the ground up.

That brings us to ‘the now,’ which sees me still working a full-time position at WASPcam, and when I find the time, telling stories and sharing my opinions about Canadian racers and events for MXP magazine and mxpmag.com. It’s been a while, but I appreciate the crew at MXP giving me an opportunity to dabble once again in the written word.

In this weekly column, I’ll do my best to focus on various regional happenings across Canada. Whether it’s discussing local hotshots, must-attend events or simply sharing some loose-lip gossip that I promised somebody I wouldn’t tell, but go ahead and share it anyways … like when I heard a day ago that Nathan Bles could be riding a KTM this year.

Even though I call Peterborough, Ontario home (well, technically it’s the small town of Warsaw, east of Peterborough, but most probably aren’t familiar with it) and should have everything you need to know about the Ontario region, I’ll start things off with news from the East Coast.

Like most of our country right now,  Atlantic Canada remains covered in snow and ice, but it won’t be too long before Amateurs and Pros are banging bars at the unofficial season opener, the Annual Sackville (now Springhill) Arenacross Championships. Since April 2008, local potato farmer and race promoter, Richard Strang, has been putting on this indoor event. He’s been fortunate to have a hard working group behind him, along with the knowledge and experience of Ryan Lockhart who is already prepping for his ‘Homecoming’ speech.

I’m proud to say that I got to attend the very first event, which was then held in the small town of Sackville, just outside of Moncton. It has since moved to Springhill, Nova Scotia, home of Lockhart and also Canadian singing sensation, Ann Murray, in case you didn’t know. The race always features a good track design, excellent rider and fan attendance, and the promoters usually open their wallet to bring in a few celebs from outside their province and south of the border. This year’s Springhill Arenacross takes place on Easter weekend, April 18-19. Always a great way to get the blood and competitive juices flowing before the outdoor tracks finish thawing out.

Atlantic Canada has yet to release their regional CMRC schedule, but I am hearing rumours that Tyler Medaglia and Mitch Cooke are teaming up to launch a four round outdoor Supercross series. Last fall, the two hosted an ‘under the lights’ supercrosss-style event at Cooke’s ranch in Brookfield, Nova Scotia. Things went so well that it’s been decided to expand the event into multiple rounds.

Local good-guy, Ryan Ferris, says Kawasaki and Freedom Cycle have stepped up to support the series and Cooke is even offering free H.A.F. tattoos to winners in the mini-bike classes. That way, kids don’t need to make more room on the trophy mantle but instead can keep their supercross memories with them at all times. Certainly appreciate the creativity, Mitch.

This just in: Ryan Ferris’ son, Malcolm, has been selected to compete in the KTM Junior Supercross Challenge at the Toronto event on March 22. Congrats!

A month ago, I caught wind that Honda Canada was snooping around, looking for the best series/races to offer Amateur and Pro contingency payout. It appears that this is more than a rumour as Gopher Dunes Honda team owner, Derek Schuster, informed everyone on mxforum.com that Big Red is, in fact, paying out contingency in most regions across Canada. I suggest viewing his post here because unless I’m blind, I cannot for the life of me find details of the program on Honda.ca or their Facebook page … Derek, if you’re reading this, please let us know where we can find the official details on Honda’s digital platform (s). Thanks!

There are many passionate and hard working track owners in every corner of Canada but perhaps one of the most unique and interesting characters is Daniel Thibault. Owner and operator of the Deschambault Motocross & Off-Road Park, located 20 minutes outside of Quebec City, Thibault pours everything he has into his facility. For years he was working all day as a city construction worker, and after clocking out, he would drive straight to Deschambault, working late into the evening on his pride and joy.

I may have heard wrong but I believe Daniel’s wife even gave him an ultimatum a year or two ago, saying, “It’s either working for the city, or working at the track, but you can’t do both!”

What did he do? Well, it was an easy decision for Thibault—he quit his day job and focused full time on his track! Anyone who has experienced the Deschambault facility is surely quite thankful that Thibault didn’t give up on his dream. From the track and trails, to the pits and roadways, Deschambault could easily be mistaken for a golf course, rather than a dirt bike track. Be careful, however, if you disobey Thibault’s rules of treating his place with respect, or ride your bike through the pits … you’re out of the there, literally.

It may sound a little extreme, but again, if you’ve been fortunate enough to ride at Deschambault, you’ll be more than happy to follow the rules so you can keep on riding. It is a true gem in Canadian motocross.

Things are moving quite well in Quebec motocross. For three years now, the province has had great success with their new, non-profit racing club, AMXQ (the CMRC of Quebec, essentially). There are seven tracks that operate under the AMXQ umbrella and they share the same goal of listening to riders’ thoughts and concerns and ensuring their safety. I could be wrong, and I will confirm this next week, but I believe the AMXQ uses the same flagmen (and women) for every race, to save retraining flaggers every weekend and limit mistakes. Now that’s clear thinking.

There are more than 500 members in the AMXQ with nine provincial events and two Nationals: Ulverton and Deschambault (who also plays host to the Eastern Amateur National leading up the Pro National; same deal as Walton).

Thibault is still riding a major high from having a Pro National back at Deschambault in 2013 (his last one was 2004), and is quick to remind me of flattering comments from 2013 MX1 Champion, Brett Metcalfe, following his National: “He said it was the most beautiful National all along the circuit; Quebecers are true motocross fans!”

I would have to agree with that feedback, even though I know that Daniel likes to play up things a little bit. Quebec does feature some amazing tracks and their fans really are second to none as far as energy and passion go.

“We are committed to making the Rockstar Energy Drink Pro MX National and the ECAN National Championship the biggest event in the country!”, adds Thibault. “We are investing more than $100,000 into the park and we really want to give the fans a great show. The National is important but we also put a lot of energy into our Red Rider schools, rentals and enduro trails.”

Moving into my Western Canadian notes, I caught up with CMRC National Event Manager and Saskatchewan Motocross Advocate, Daryl Murphy, last week. He was all fired up regarding some questions/comments that I made in an interview with Regina’s Motocross Club President, Craig Hillrich. I’m just kidding; Murphy wasn’t too fired up, but he did take offense to my noting of some racers not digging the hard packed Moto Valley Raceway in Regina, which is back on the National circuit in 2014.

“I do have one more thing to add, actually”, said Murphy at the end of our discussion. “When you said some riders didn’t like the Regina track, I think you heard wrong. I talked to a lot of guys last summer who said they wished it was back on the National schedule.”

After some reflection, I admitted to Murphy that I shouldn’t have included that comment in my interview with Hillrich. In reality, any negativity towards Moto Valley came purely from some sand-loving Ontario riders. As we all know, you can’t trust an Ontarian. We think we know what we’re talking about, but we don’t. We’d like to think we’re the epicenter of motocross and pretty much every other sport in Canada, but we’re not. So Daryl, I do apologize, and I do believe Regina is a great track with excellent elevation changes and interesting obstacles. Now one track that is really shitty and should be removed from the National Series is …. Haha, gotcha!

On the far West Side of the country, we received some unfortunate news today. After putting together an impressive effort in their first time racing the national series, Cycle North, out of Prince George, BC, issued notice that they will not be returning to the Rockstar Energy Motocross Nationals in 2014. It takes a lot of money to fund a national team, and Kourtnet Lloyd and her crew just couldn’t find enough resources to make it happen. A definite bummer, as Cycle North always put forth a top-notch, front-running team every time out. That said, Kourtney says her dealership will continue supporting 30 amateurs in BC and she plans to attend a few of the Western nationals. Read the full release here.

That’s all I’ve got up my sleeve for this week. Check back next Thursday as we’ll dig into more dirt from other regions in this big, beautiful country of ours.

If you have some news or interesting facts we should be aware of from your neck of the woods, please send them over to: dannybro224@gmail.com 

Remember when all else fails, just giver.