Monday Maniac #24

by Gauldy107

I’m an absolute zombie right now. This last 12 days of travel and work have been amazing but apparently not that good on my body and mind. Even getting home early after the first ever Saturday Monster Energy Motocross National didn’t work out too well considering I had to be in a court room Monday morning at 9am to fight a ticket. That worked out though cause after 6 hours of sitting there the cop never showed and I managed to get off scott free. Yee Haa! Then when I made my way back home I figured I would get my MM done but sat down for a minute instead. Next thing I know, it’s like 6:30pm and I just woke up. I guess travelling through 8 time zones and taking 8 planes over the course of my trip took its toll on me. We are only two rounds in and I am over travelling already. But as Ray from Trailer Park Boys says, “it’s the way she goes!!”

So for the first time in the history of the sport the Canadian Nationals took place on a Saturday as opposed to the regular Sunday program. Now from the eyes of the spectator, fan riders, or teams, I would say it was a full blown success. Now from the promoter side of things it looked like the spectator turnout was a little down and that left a frown on the face of SPI owner Mark Stallybrass. It was kind of funny but it looked to me that loads of people were there and it should have worked out accordingly. I guess my eyes are a bit off these days. The track was unreal tough and the weather was on our side. It was cool and overcast for most of the day, which made for some great racing. Though all things worked out for the most part, we saw some big crashes and lost some important faces for the rest of the year. The biggest name was Kyle Keast. The Machine Racing pilot rode like a hero in moto one coming from outside the top 20 to fourth by moto’s end. He did all this after a huge crash mid-week that left him with cracked ribs. So what he did in that first moto put Keast up another notch in the “I want to be like that guy” chart. It was unreal to watch the “Dozer” ride with so much heart only to have it taken away with a big mistake at the halfway mark of moto two that left him with a broken femur, which will no doubt sideline him for the rest of 2012. Kyle McGlynn was another rider that got smacked to the ground in Kamloops. He was running just inside the top 10 when he said he dropped the front wheel in a hole and couldn’t recover. This crash left him with broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a very sore body. Ryan Lockhart and I visited the two riders in the hospital on Saturday night. Both were in good spirits but in obvious pain. Shawn Maffenbeier also had a really scary crash. He approached the finish line while running 6th and miss-shifted and was launched over the bars. Luckily for Shawn he was able to get away with just a banged up body and no serious injury. The last name in the MX1 class that crashed hard was Jared Stock in moto two. He was taken down in the first turn but was able to walk away. Does anybody else see the similarities in all these riders? I’m sure it’s just a coincidence but each of these guys rides the YZ450F; rough day for Yamaha pilots. Apparently the Kamloops track and Yamaha riders didn’t mesh too well in 2012.

What is up with Royal Distributing KTM Red Bull Fox’s Dusty Klatt right now? So far his first four motos are 12-6-5-6; very uncharacteristic for the two-time MX1 champion. A few people are throwing around the theory that sounds like this: Dusty Klatt is the same guy, training the same way and should be the same rider but the equipment is just not bonding as good as years past. Can this be true? It’s tough to not agree with that theory a little right now because Klatt is not even close to the front of the pack where he has been his entire career on the big bike. But then if we look back to 2012 when he won the title, he came from 6th in the points at Round 3 to claim the title by year’s end. This slow start could be just that, a slow start. He currently sits sixth in the title chase, 45 points behind the series leader, Monster Energy Leading Edge Kawasaki’s Matt Goerke who has been perfect so far. Will Klatt rebound this weekend in Calgary and hit the box like we all know he can? We’ll see but he needs to get it going now to stay in the hunt for this title.

 

 

How about the duo of Teddy Maier and Matt Goerke on their Monster Energy Leading Edge Kawasakis? Both riders dominated this past weekend on the tough Whispering Pines circuit. In both motos Maier came from just inside the top ten and passed all the top dogs with ease and won both motos handily and showed the 2009 MX2 Champion means business this year. His teammate, Matt Goerke, showed that nothing is going to stop him this year, even a first moto crash on lap one with Royal Distributing KTM Red Bull Fox 2011 Champion Colton Facciotti (which led to a DNF for Yotes in moto one). He managed to come back and still won the moto by over 10 seconds. In moto two, he grabbed the early lead and gapped the field proving that a healthy Goerke is an unstoppable one, so far. It’s safe to say that Monster Energy is all smiles about the series and their #1 team running the show so far in 2012.

 

Now I have a question for all of you. Why in the hell do the US Nationals get over 20 thousand fans and a Canadian Nat can barely garner a couple thousand? Whether you hate Monster, CMRC, or anybody that supports our series, the racing is still as good and offers great entertainment for four motos a day just like the US. The promoters are spending the money on advertising, the word is out, the media is doing an amazing job (Direct Motocross and MXP, not a big list but great efforts from both) so the platform is built for all to come see. Why are people just not interested in this sport? It’s frustrating for guys like me that have done nothing else but poor blood, sweat and tears into this, but you never see the passion I have leak out to bring in more fans. What more can we do? Send me an e-mail at gauldy@mxpmag.com and let’s get some chat going to see how we can get more people to these races. If we even got 3-5 thousand out, that would be way better.

[youtube id=”d04wKHbGMbk” width=”600″ height=”350″]

Sweet intro video from the CGRT team and Husaberg.

[youtube id=”Y8K9WxQHQpI” width=”600″ height=”350″]

Highlight Video from the AMA round of the Lucas Oil Nationals in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania.

To end this off I want to give a big shout out to Brent Worrall. This guy sat in the booth with Koster and I the entire day for the radio show. He also showed me some txt from MX Forum’s Hammertime, long time hater of what the Canadian Nationals have become, saying he wishes he was there and to say hi to Gauldy for him. Well, Brent thanks a ton for chilling with us and being on the show. It was awesome to see you. You are a great inspiration to all that love this sport as much as you.

There ya have it kids, thanks for reading. Sorry for it being late. I could share my excuses but those are for the weak!!