Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
Good Morning and Happy Monday to everyone out there on this beautiful, final Monday of April. Is it me or did this past month go by really, really fast? I guess when you’re busy it makes time go by fast. With April almost over we’re heading into the month of May, which by the way is my favourite month of the year. I love May for a few reasons: first it’s the month where we usually see the weather start to get really nice and most tracks are in great shape, also May is my birthday month. Today I’m exactly one month away from turning 41. It’s crazy to think that it feels like yesterday that I was super pumped to be turning 16! Anyway, I’m sure it feels like that for everyone, so as long as we try to make the most of our time here, we should be okay.
Before I get into how my weekend was, let’s talk about the big rumour that came out last week. With only a month left before round one of the 2014 Rockstar Energy MX Nationals in Nanaimo, BC, you’d think that everything would be set in stone. Well, this doesn’t seem to be the case as last week it was reported that Ryan Villopoto was going to sit out of this summer’s Outdoor Nationals, and with his absence, Kawasaki USA needs a replacement. Well, this is where everything gets interesting and confusing all at the same time as the name mentioned was our 2013 MX1 Champion, Brett Metcalfe. Let’s try and follow this story as it came out last week.
Will we still see Brett Metcalfe in Canada this summer?
With so much chatter the last few weeks that Ryan Villopoto is fighting some sort of injury in the closing weeks of Supercross, while no one has said what the injury is, some people have speculated that it’s one of his knees that is the problem, but as I said, only his tight knit circle knows for sure. So with Villopoto (supposedly) set to take the summer off, obviously Kawasaki has to fill the void. From what I hear, Brett Metcalfe is their number one choice. Right away this sounds like a great deal for Metcalfe as he’s made no secret that his ultimate goal is to once again try to chase down an AMA Outdoor Championship. But this doesn’t sound like a great deal for us as we want to see him up here this summer with the big #1 plate and so does his Monster Energy Leading Edge Parts Canada Kawasaki Team. So how would this work?
We hear that while Kawasaki wants Metcalfe south of the border as Jake Weimer’s teammate, Monster Energy wants Metty in Canada and they proposed that the newly unemployed Josh Hill fill in for Villopoto instead. Well, for whatever reason (I could think of a few), Kawasaki USA would rather have Metcalfe over Hill and this is why Hill’s name was thrown around as a replacement in Canada for Metcalfe. Do you follow all of this now because it really is a bit confusing?
Is Ryan Villopoto contemplating taking the summer off? Only his inner circle knows for sure.
So what is happening now? By all accounts, things were getting sorted out this weekend at the New Jersey SX and we should know more today or tomorrow. To make this even more interesting, Villopoto told reporters this weekend that he is going outdoor racing this summer so who knows what is happening. Of course lost in all of this is the poor Leading Edge Team and all of their sponsors who are waiting, just like us, to see what happens. I’m quite sure they’d love to have Metcalfe back this season but I don’t think it would be in their best interest to play hardball with Kawasaki USA or Monster Energy. It will be interesting to see what happens this week. Do we get Metcalfe up here or do we get Hill? Going by what I witnessed both on and off the track last summer, I really hope that it’s Brett Metcalfe. We shall see!
In other Leading Edge news, their 2013 MX2 Champion, Austin Politelli, is now back riding after the broken femur he suffered back in January. By all accounts, he felt good and should be ready to go by Nanaimo. I know there’s been a lot of talk about the MX1 class this summer, but it looks as though the MX2 is going to be equally as good. With names like Politelli, Medaglia, Benoit, Clark, Wright and a few more, the MX2 class is going to be fun to watch.
Let’s now move from rumours to what we know is fact. My weekend was pretty fun actually. On Saturday we participated in a charity run/walk in Rockwood, Ontario. We had a good time and it was all for a great cause. Yesterday we made the trek up to RJ Motorsports for the first ANQ of 2014. The weather started off cool but turned out okay by midday, the track looked as though it was in great shape, and even with the bright sunshine it held together all day. The issue of the day, or one of the big issues, was the transponder system and the confusion surrounding renewing them. As Jim Scott mentioned at rider’s meeting, if your transponder is flashing red then you must renew it or reactivate it. This morning Jim sent me this link so everyone who needs to can go on and get their transponder set up again. Go to www.mytransponder.com?#Reactivate and get your transponder working again so everyone can say goodbye to the problems that surfaced yesterday.
On a historic night in New Jersey we saw Ryan Villopoto write yet another chapter in his storied career.
So the 2014 ANQ season kicked off with a bang. In speaking with Brett Lee last week, he mentioned that at this point if you can’t attend all of the ANQs in your area and you’re worried about not qualifying, the most important thing to do is get your entry in and save your spot. He also sent me the following email with some important information.
“With the 2014 Amateur National Qualifiers (ANQ) in full swing, there are always questions on how to ensure a racer has a spot on the line at the Parts Canada Trans Can. There are some tips, but for the most part it is just about education!
The number one, best tip is… do not wait to sign up! Get registered today. www.motoregistry.ca is the place to go, go online and register. From there, there are a lot of places to get educated on the biggest event on every top amateur racer’s calendar. Here is a quick reference guide.
Website – Walton has a good site with lots of information. Click on their “Participant” button to a read through all the information.
www.waltonraceway
Social Media – Walton is one of the most active facilities when it comes to social media. They have close to 1000 members on all their social media handles, and thousands of Facebook friends. Walton has been pushing the hashtags #anq, #transcan and #mxcanada so make sure you tag @Waltonraceway, or @Transcan and also use a hashtag so they can share your message.
Twitter@transcan@waltonraceway
Instagram@waltonraceway
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/TransCan
Google +https://plus.google.com/114832634388029398435/about
Linkedinhttp://www.linkedin.com/company/tite-racing-promotions
There you have it for this week. As you can tell there’s a lot going on in Canadian Motocross right now as the 2014 season is getting ramped up. In closing, I’d like to say two things: First, congratulations to Ryan Villopoto on his fourth consecutive Supercross Championship. I feel very lucky as a fan and as someone close to the sport to have witnessed both Jeremy McGrath and now Ryan Villopoto accomplish this feat. Can he go for five in a row next year? Finally, everyone at MXP would like to send our well wishes to Davey Fraser after his crash on Saturday night in New Jersey. Get well Davey and keep up the great riding! I hope everyone has a great week and please ride safe.
