Monday Gate Drop

One of my favourite things about travelling is when you end up in a place you’ve been before and just by being there it triggers all sorts of memories and flashbacks. With the 2013 Monster Energy Motocross Tour stopping in Edmonton this past weekend, all my past memories from Alberta’s capital came flooding back.

Although I’ve had a little success racing in the area both in 1989 and then again in 1997, my fondest memory comes from the year 1985 and it involves a few famous names from the Canadian motocross history books. Back in August of that year my parents thought we needed a short vacation so we jumped on a plane and flew to Calgary to watch the 1985 Calgary Supercross. As I recall it was a mid-week affair at the famous Stampede Park, I honestly can’t remember who won but I do remember sitting in the stands as a twelve year old pretty much in awe.

One of the reasons my Dad chose to take me out the Calgary Supercross was to watch our family friend and one of my early “elbows up” mentors, the late Kevin Moore (its still hard to say that). Kevin was having a great year in 1985, it was his first year as a pro and he was top ten in both classes at the nationals. After we watched Kevin race in Calgary my Dad had arranged that I stay out with Kevin and travel with him and his mechanic Marshall Plumb to the final round of the 1985 nationals a few days later in Antler Lake, AB. I think this move clearly showed how much my Dad trusted Kevin and just how much Kevin could be trusted, I mean, I was twelve years old.

So, I said farewell to my family and I headed North to Edmonton. We had a few days to kill before the race on Sunday so we got a hotel and hung out while Marshall worked on both Kevin’s Hondas. The race did not go well for Kevin as he crashed pretty hard in one of the motos and couldn’t finish the day, he was pretty bummed but he did manage to hang on to top ten in the series. The biggest drama of the day was when Ross Pederson’s RM125 broke in one of the motos and that DNF handed Doug Hoover the 1985 125 National Championship. It’s funny, I can still picture Hoover’s dad running up and down the starting line jumping for joy.

Even with Kevin’s misfortune, that day really touched me and made me want to be part of that type of racing one day. Obviously I didn’t know I’d be back at that same track twelve years later battling with the likes of Blair Morgan, Marco Dube, Marty Burr and Ryan Gauld. I can still remember sitting on the starting line in 1997 waiting for the start of the first moto and thinking about old man Hoover running up and down that very start straight celebrating like it was Christmas. I guess for them it was Christmas, as Ross didn’t get beat very often. When I combine 1985 with the memories I carry with me from 1989, 1997 and 1998, the Edmonton area has been good to me.

Even though this year was a short visit to the area, I think it will stick out in my mind for awhile. Despite the freeway of a track, the crew did their best to keep the dust away and keep the racing tight. Two of my favourite parts of the day was watching just how fast the MX1 riders were going on the Castrol Raceway track. Brad Nauditt told us that they clocked Teddy Maier at 77mph down the back straight, that speed is just insane. At least the track remained fairly smooth so the riders didn’t have to deal with bumps at that speed. In the second MX1 moto Brett Metcalfe got another bad second moto start and was forced to play catch up, just like last week in Calgary. Once again the slippery Aussie found a couple lines that no one else was taking and in an amazing ride he went from tenth to first.

A few other rides stand out from Sunday, Teddy Maier’s first moto dominance in the MX1 class was pretty cool. Jeremy Medaglia led the second MX1 moto for a long time but made one little mistake and Metcalfe pounced. It was also good to see Kaven Benoit get his first overall win in the MX2 class, the kid works super hard and he has had a little bad luck this year so far. Finally, for those of us who get to sit up in the tower by the finish line for the final MX2 moto got treated to some old time Canadian motocross laughs. With Ryan Gauld freestyling random observations on the microphone, everyone was laughing and having a good time. It’s times like this that remind us just how much fun Canadian motocross is, good racing and good times. So the Western swing of the 2013 Monster Energy Motocross Nationals is all done, by all accounts it has gone really well. With the exception of Colton Facciotti and Shawn Maffenbeier getting injured, almost every rider is in one piece. So now it’s on to Gopher Dunes and the heat and humidity of the Eastern races. If the first four rounds were any indication, the final five rounds of the series are going to be awesome