Monday Maniac #1

The New Year is here and the gas is WFO. Everybody is back to work, resolutions are 6-7 days in, and probably the most amazing part of this time of year is Monster Energy Supercross. The series opened up in Anaheim and more than 7 hours of live coverage was watched on Saturday afternoon/night. It was truly AMAZING. Also this past weekend the CMRC hosted a banquet to recognize the provincial champions as well as announce the new leader of the South Western Ontario (SWO) Amateur scene:  Jim Scott. Lots of exciting news from the weekend from the CMRC, other clubs and media outlets during the Toronto International Bike show. So let’s dive right into it.

So the spot has been filled. For over a decade it was Brett Lee that held the torch for CMRC SWO’s race scene. The job was done well but just like most things in the last few years it has been tough to keep the same level going. Everybody wants their piece of the pie, egos get in the way, money, and all those other types of negatives that create difficulties that come with running any business. There is just no way around any of it except staying the course and working through it all to make better racing for your costumers. I don’t think you can’t point one finger. Some may be more to blame than others but it’s a collective partnership between sanctioning body, promoters, and racers to make the scene good for all. Jim Scott, a racer himself with two boys that race, will be the new face for SWO. I am stoked about this. I have known Jim for a long time now and I know he can run a business. He has run his own for more than 20 years. He knows what racers like, and if he doesn’t have the answer he’s not afraid to ask what you’re looking for. With his attitude he’ll find the right solution. I’ve talked to him about this already and he’s pretty amped about the whole situation. He knows it will be tough, but he has already made some changes that will help the races plus he has a long list of others. It’s exciting to see change. Sometimes we fear change but I think this time fear will not be in people’s minds. Jim welcomes this job with open arms and an open mind. Good luck buds. You got my vote Senator Scott!! Hahaha. You can start e-mailing jscott@cmrcracing.com if you have any questions or concerns, or check out CMRC on Facebook to get your requests heard.

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Trey Canard is an inspiration. Watch Revival41, and then watch the 450 main again in from A1. Dude is unreal.

So round 1 of the Monster Energy Supercross series went off Saturday night. They had three hours of live streaming coverage of practice, which was pretty cool if you ask me. I watched the entire show and I was impressed at all the footage and the job that Jim Holley and that other guy (forget his name) did, but it was good. Then at 8:30pm EST Arenacross was on and as per usual it was a bit of a yawner, but still amazing to see the LIVE coverage of AX. At 9:30pm EST Supercross started but it was a full hour before the first race started. Lots of talk and hype build up. I could do without all this stuff and just watch the racing but it is part of the show. Since Speed is the carrier of this series they will run it just like NASCAR, which is the most watched sport in the world. Lots of chatter, stats, hype etc. It’s cool but for die hard race fans all we want is RACING. Now let me tell you, once we saw some racing we were treated to some of the best the sport has ever seen. It was kind of funny, but usually the 250 class is the crazy one with riders cartwheeling and being super aggressive. A1 was not the case. Of all the 5 races during the night show in the 450 class, each one of them had all of us at the party I was at on our feet or yelling with joy from what we just witnessed. It’s hard not to be excited about the first race but how it turned out was so far from what people picked that excitement is a mild word. Straight UNREAL would be better. In the 250 class, Eli Tomac took the checkers with Ken Roczen and Cole Seely rounding out the podium. The most dominant 250 team ever, Monster Energy Pro Circuit, had a night they would like to forget. Both Baggett and Davalos went down in turn one and never rebounded. The main was pretty uneventful but still cool to see the very likeable champion Eli Tomac prove why he is #1.

This is the episode of Davi Millsaps and his story from Moto: Inside the outdoors. Another inspiration from Saturday night

Wikipedia defines Miracles as: A miracle is an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. I would say what Davi Millsaps did on Saturday night was a miracle. Maybe three people thought Davi could do what he did on this night: his wife, his son, (who has no idea what daddy does cause he’s too young but he’s on team18) and himself. I think it would be safe to say that not even his team manager Dave Gowland (Canadian) thought he could win. He hired Davi to do that but stats show Davi as a “slow starter”. Well a miracle took place and Davi became the dream he has had for his entire life: being the best. He holeshot the main and led for 17 laps. At times he looked like he would crumble and let Trey Canard, Justin Barcia, and Ryan Dungey sneak up on him, but he was a rock up front. It was Dungey that made the first mistake. Then, just as Canard found another gear to make a pass on Millsaps for the lead on lap 18, Barcia went down just behind them after hitting neutral on a little double. He was able to remount to grab 7^th. Back up front Canard had just made the pass and every person in the world watching was on their feet wishing this kid to win because of the struggles he had gone through to get to this point. The movie Revival41 had just been released that shows the difficulties Trey has gone through since his father passed away at age 12. It’s a crazy story and if he had won A1 it would have been a story book ending (even though it was the first race) to this amazing film. Then something happened. Trey began to pull away, but Millsaps found more inside of him. During the 17 laps he led everybody, including the three mentioned above, and he felt he could win. Then once Trey made the pass the crowd everyone figured he was done. How could he come back after leading so many laps? For most racers, once you get passed that late in a race you’re deflated. Millsaps apparently is not like other racers this year because what happened next was a miracle. On lap 18 Canard wasn’t able to nail down the quad they had been doing every lap but Davi did. This gave him new life. Once again, he had a shot and he took it and made the pass on lap 20 to take his first win in over 40 races. It was a sight to see that has the racing world in a place they haven’t been since 2009 when Josh Grant shocked the world. This one feels different though. Davi has something to fight for; he has something to prove this time around. We know this is just the first race of a 17 round series and to hold on from night one till the end is very tough to do. Can Davi keep it going? We will find out in Phoenix this Saturday night for another live Monster Energy Supercross race.

I got a chance to catch up with a few Canadian teams and racers this week to see how their 2013 has started. I talked to Monster Energy Leading Edge Kawasaki’s Jason Hughes about the ongoing Thompson deal. It’s pretty much put to bed. Cole is in the US for the year, and Jason wishes him good luck. So now there is a spot open for an MX2 ride under the tent. I know he has been talking with a young Canadian racer and they have a phone call this week to iron it out. I hope it goes because I think both parties will be happy if they can make it work. Stay tuned for more on that later this week –  we hope.

I also caught up with Andre Laurin of the Rockstar OTSFF Yamaha team. He confirmed that Bobby Kiniry is back along with Richard Grey, plus he has added Shawn Maffenbeier in the MX2 class. The cool part of the Maffenbeier deal is that he will ride the YZ250 two-stroke instead of a 250F four stroke. This is super cool news and it will be interesting to see if Shawn can make this rule questionable, meaning, can he take to the top a bike that takes a very good rider to make work well and compete with the very powerful factory four-strokes? I’m very excited to find out.

I also chatted with the Allison Brothers via e-mail and this is what I got from them:

Hey Gauldy,

Holidays were great. We had a family vacation to Mexico.

How were your holidays?

For 2013 so far the plan is the same as last year. We had a great team and great support.

The change for this year is that Bryton no longer will be racing nationals. His plan is to race select provincial rounds.

We have not sorted out most of our plans yet but we have a good idea it should be close.

We’re 99% sure that we will be running the Yamalube, blackfootdirect.com, TLD team again.

Thanks for the update fellas.

I also got this from Michael Da Silva who threw an A1 party to help generate some funds for his 2013 season. He plans to run all nine rounds and by the sounds of this party it went well. It looks like Mike will be making the national tour this summer. He shared this with me: Last night’s fundraiser was a huge success. With over 60 people to have shown up the turnout was great. Everybody had a blast. The TV was blaring and the bikes were revving, just the way us motocross fans like it! We raised some good money through tickets sold and items auctioned off and to top that all off sponsors were gained throughout the night to help support me in my future endeavors.

A certain sponsor I would like to give a huge shout out to is Brandon White from O.C.R Gas Bar as he sponsored me with 55 gallons of U2 VP racing fuel for this season! I am now one step closer to my future goal as a privateer pro rider. The next step is to get through all 9 rounds and break the top ten at every race. With all the pieces to my puzzle slowly coming together this locomotive is gone, full steam ahead! There is no turning back now.

Thank you again,

Michael Da Silva

Great new Mike and thanks for sharing.

The last news is from the Toronto International Bike show. My little buddy Randy Wiebe made the trip down and sent us this message about the show:

I made the trip over to Toronto for the CMRC banquet and Motorcycle show at the Toronto International Center. There was a long line up getting in the driveway and parking was packed as were the ticket lines. It looked like people had money to spend this year because I saw lots of people carrying different types of bike parts and apparel.

Mx Stars of tomorrow had a section full of riders, showing off their bikes and many awards they got over the year.

My favourite part is the old bikes and the Harleys. My dream bike is a Harley Deluxe. I need one!

The CMRC banquet was full with people who were there to pick up their awards, plus the food layout was good. I talked to a few parents and they said this was a better way to have the banquet, definitely kid friendly, plus they could check out the show too.

Jim Scott will be running the CMRC SWO division this year. He wants people to post their results on the CMRC Facebook page next year so friends and family can see how they did that weekend.

The one thing about the show is if you need something I am sure you can find it there or somebody with a booth can get it for you. From trailers to gear for dirt bikes to road bikes you can find it at this show.

Thanks

Randy

Thanks for the report Oompa!!

There ya have it kids, Monday Maniac #1 in the books and full of some exciting news. Thanks for reading. Be sure to check back here all week for reports from A1, MXP top 20 starts this week with Zach Deiana and whatever else we can get our hands on.

Cheers