Monday Maniac #10

Monday Maniac #10

By: Ryan Gauld

Another seven days has come and gone in life. This week was full on nostalgia week. I bet I watched well over 10 hours of old school Canadian MX races and viewed over 100 awesome pics from the ‘80s and ‘90s for some stories we are doing in our first issue. I actually spent most of Friday and Saturday organizing my collection of races on tape or disc. I’m betting I have the biggest out of anybody in Canada (except for Hill’s studios who has produced the show from 1998 till present day.) I just love that old stuff.

A good bud of mine Brent Thur thought that Justin Barcia (present day with the little stash) and Damon Bradshaw (1993) look a lot alike. I would agree from these pics. It’s also funny that Damon Bradshaw’s most hated rival, Jeff Stanton, trains Barcia now. Isn’t that weird?

A few friends came over Friday that are not in my motocross clique but wanted to see me racing the nationals when I was a kid, ya know, to see if any of these stories I’ve told were BS. That is one thing we all know I don’t do. (right Danny. LOL) I pulled out my 1999 win from Ulverton in the mud. We just watched the final moto and then the podium speeches. My buddies totally thought it was somebody else I was showing them. In 1999, I had blonde hair and was about 50-60 lbs lighter than I am today. I guess I looked quite different. Needless to say it took me a bit of explaining to make them believe it was me. It’s so crazy to think how things have changed from back in those days. Our bodies, looks, attitudes, age, hair colour, racing, tracks, industry people, so many different things have happened over the years it’s nice to see what it was like back then. This whole adventure was from me wanting to prove my useless info was not incorrect. We have a good spread for Shawn Maffenbeier in our first issue and I remembered him holeshotting both motos in 2008 at Gopher Dunes in MX2. Just to make sure the memory wasn’t totally rubber, I pulled that race out and watched it. Now, like I said above, I’m more than 10 hours deep into old races. I’m betting I will be through my entire collection by the end of this month; brush up on my history for the Toronto Supercross. Speaking of Toronto SX, I got this e-mail from MPI Sports’ Mark Perrin about TO SX tickets and the upcoming race this weekend in Wallaceburg:

RC watching practice. He made some comments about the KTM 350 that Marvin Musquin was riding this weekend on live TV. Wonder if he’ll get some phone calls asking for an explanation on his words? LOL

Photo by Rich Shepherd

Last Chance for Discount Toronto Supercross Tickets, From The Ontario Arenacross Facility in Wallaceburg

Round 3 & 4 of  The Ontario Arenacross Championship is March 10th & March 31st

March 1, 2012 – Are you planning to attend the Toronto Supercross and still need tickets? Friday, March 2nd at 4pm is the cut off deadline to place your tickets with MPI Sport Management and Save up to $10 per ticket. Ticket will be available for $45 for 100 level seats or $25 for 200 level seats until the cut off time, please call  519 384 1067 or email mark@mpisportmanagement.com. If you are looking to purchase tickets after this date please use the promotional code MPI5 on Ticketmaster as it will save you $5 off tickets.

Additionally, all tickets purchased will include access to the first ever Toronto Supercross Pit Party happening Friday March 23, 2012 at the Rogers Centre from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. During the pit party riders will be available for autographs, you can walk the track and Monster Energy will be on hand providing the entertainment.

The third and fourth rounds of the Ontario Arenacross Championship in Wallaceburg will take place Saturday, March 10 and Saturday March 31. Sign in is from 7:00am to 9:00am, with riders meeting at 9:15am and Practice beginning at 9:30am. Races are open to all riders and riding abilities, as we have a class for everyone!  For more racing information please visit our website http://www.supercrosscanada.com/RACE%20INFORMATION.pdf

Looking to stay the Weekend? The Oaks Inn Wallaceburg is offering $30 off a one night stay, simply show your Ontario Arenacross Membership card and stay the night for only $59.00 plus HST.

The Ontario Arenacross Facility Practice Hours are as follows:

Wednesdays – 5:30pm to 9:30pm

Thursdays – 5:30pm to 9:30pm

Fridays – 5:30pm to 9:30pm

Saturdays – 12:00pm to 6:00pm

Sundays – 12:00pm to 6:00pm

*Private Rentals are available by request

Be sure to visit us on Facebook by clicking: http://www.facebook.com/OntarioArenacrossChampionship

For additional information on the Ontario Arenacross Championship please visit: http://www.ontarioarenacross.com For all questions or inquiries, please contact

admin@supercrosscanada.com or call 519 384 1067.

Hopefully you all have your tickets and are as excited as me to watch some great racing with good friends on home turf.

Have you ever heard of the “Numb Bum”? It’s a 24 hour race held in Sandy Beach, Alberta. Check out this sweet video from the Rick Mercer Report on this year’s Numb Bum.

[youtube id=”JR3_yLTLbXE” width=”600″ height=”350″]

Rick Mercer heads to Sandy Beach, Alberta for the Annual 24 hour Numb Bum Motorcycle Ice Race — the longest ice race in the world.

As I have been saying the last couple weeks, MXP issue 1 of 2012 goes to press next week. So I have been splitting my time between web and mag. The mag is still our main focus, and man does it take up a lot of time: Downloading, uploading, writing, editing, finding pics, building templates, etc, etc. It’s a lot of work but I’m fortunate to really enjoy and be doing something I love. Check this quote from Roger Decoster on the weekend from St Louis:

“Riders have to realize how good a job they have. They’re making a living by doing something they would already be doing for fun. I thinks it’s a great job and you should enjoy it while you’re there, not because it doesn’t last long” – KTM Team Manager Roger Decoster

Man that guy can make ya think.

Check out this sequence of Kyle Chisholm. Bit of face plant.

Photos by Rich Shepherd

Yowzer!!

Matt Goerke is having a solid east coast swing. He placed 12th on Saturday. Photo by Matt Wellumson

So the St. Louis Supercross is now in the history books for 2012. The racing was subpar but it had its “Jumping out of the seat” moments. Thanks to Matt Wellumson and Rich Shepherd for running the MXP name down there and taking some great pics. Look for a report, slide shows and more this week on www.mxpmag.com through their eyes. It was good to see Cole Thompson get in the main again. He was actually one of the “jump out of your seat” moments I mentioned. He made the pass for the final transfer spot right at the finish line to get right from his heat into the main. Then about 5 minutes after that my phone started blowing asking me if what was said on TV was right. Quote Ralph Sheheen “Good job by Cole Thompson aboard that CMX racing bike.” People were asking me if that was what they heard and if it was CMX from Canada. I did some digging and yes it is CMX from Canada and they are supporting Cole with some dollars to help him get from round to round. I chatted with Kyle Thompson (@KThomps160) via twitter to get this info. Good on them for helping out. I can’t imagine it helping them get more members but who cares, they’re supporting a Canuck and that’s cool by me. We also ran the contest again for Cole Thompson’s heat and main finishes. If you can believe it, that’s three weeks in a row that nobody has guessed it correctly. So let’s do it again. If you pick Cole Thompson’s heat race finish and main event finish correctly, you will win an MXP prize pack full of goodies (over $100 in value). E-mail gauldy@mxpmag.com your answers. Good luck!!

Cole scored a 13th in the Lites main this past weekend.

Photo by Rich Shepherd

The young Robbie Marshall back in 2006.

Another name popped up on the screen that we all know. Robbie Marshall rode his first SX of the year. He just missed out making the main but looked really solid for his first race. I also talked to him via twitter (@TheMarshal774) and he was pretty pumped on the night and realizes it was the first race and he will only get better from here. He was also a name that popped up on my walk down history lane when watching the videos. In 2006, he showed up as a 16 year-old and hit the podium in the final MX2 moto at Joliette. Again, so funny how names and faces come and go throughout the years.

Robbie this past weekend in St Louis.

Photo by Matt Wellumson

 

Bobby Kiniry rode to his 4th straight 14th place finish in St Louis.

Photo by Rich Shepherd