Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
After having another short break from moto, I’m happy to say my brother is on the road to recovery and is training his butt off to make a great comeback. Meanwhile, my Mom and I are travelling to the rest of the rounds of the 2017 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals, and I can honestly say what I’ve seen out east so far is truly breathtaking. Just as the west coast was, the beauty of Canada’s east coast is amazing, and the people are very friendly.
There is nothing as relaxing as being near the ocean.
The drive to Moncton’s Riverglade MX Park took us exactly19 hours, more than half the drive was in the USA. We crossed the Canadian border in Maine and then had three hours remaining to Moncton. Before we crossed, we thought we deserved a little vacation from our trip so we stopped at a beach in Maine called Old Orchard Beach. It was simply perfect.
For those of you familiar with the States, I’d like to compare this laid back beach to a smaller version of Myrtle Beach, SC. With a beachside amusement park, a pier with cool shops, a restaurant, and a main road with beach memorabilia, that is always one of my favourites when going to the beach. One thing that was shocking to us was even though we were still in Maine, my Mom and I sat on the beach and realized we were the only ones that spoke English around us, everyone else spoke French. I guess this little piece of paradise was also a popular vacation spot for French speaking residents of Canada. As soon as we crossed into New Brunswick the scenery was already amazing, with rock on both sides of the road, clear rivers and streams, and blue skies ahead delivering us a wonderful drive.
As much as I love being at the races, sometimes traveling to them is the most fun.
Pulling into the track the next morning, Riverglade was a very nice facility and I loved the track before I even got the chance to walk it. The track was a bit dusty and hard on Saturday, but Sunday’s racing and track was phenomenal. From the moment my Mom and I began walking around the paddock, the riders and teams welcomed us back with open arms. This made us both feel great and reinforced our decision to head east.
Sunday was a hot one, and staying hydrated and cool was a full time job for these dedicated pros. I had the chance to talk to a mechanic about the tracks and Canada in general and he was asking what we liked about racing in Canada. The first thing I had to point out was just how laid back and relaxed everything is. The riders and team staff are all friendly, and walking about, there’s never any confusion with what’s going on and everything is timed to perfection. As a photographer I get the inside scoop on what the riders think of the track and see them discuss their plan for their upcoming races with their mechanic. The pros I got to talk to were real happy with how the tracked turned out, hoping it was in a little better shape than it was on Saturday. I personally loved Riverglade for photos; it was very fun to shoot and wasn’t hard to get around the track during the mid moto commotion. The podium was one of the nicest podiums I have seen in a long time, and it was the nicest one we’ve had during this 2017 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals.
There is nothing quite like the sound of a pack of 450’s racing through the first turn.
Now, it’s onto Quebec and another track I haven’t been to. My Mom and I are planning on being at Deschambault all week so we can also check out the amateur racing at the 2017 Motovan ECAN. I hope everyone has a great week and I see you at Round 9.
MX1 Top 3:
#377 Christophe Pourcel
#2 Matt Goerke
#5 Mike Alessi
MX2 Top 3:
#12 Shawn Maffenbeier
#16 Jess Pettis
#100 Jacob Hayes
Huge shout out to MXP Magazine for all the help and the opportunity, follow both @sdenzlerphotography and @mxpmag for exclusive moto photos and stay in the loop for Sunday’s Racing.
