Monday Maniac #10

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman.

Another great quote to start off the morning. I am a little slow this particular AM. I guess the time change from Cali back to Ontario is a little harder sometimes. I couldn’t seem to get to sleep last night till like 4am. It wasn’t too bad though because I caught up on my Netflix watching Parks and Recreation; definitely one of my new favourite shows.

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Last week was pretty amazing. Once again I have to give a big thanks to the Deiana family for letting me crash in their hood and see all that the California scene has to offer for young racers chasing their dream. Payten and Zach are basically family now and I miss them tons already. Cali is an amazing spot for anything moto, especially where Zach has his place. The Murrieta/Temecula area is the spot to be. It’s got it all but “gold jacket, green jacket. Who gives a %^$#.” Bahahha. That was our bumper sticker for the week.

The big news of the day is Tyler Medaglia is switching from the GDR Honda team over to the KTM Red Bull Royal Distributing Fox squad, but that may be old news now. At first glance this whole deal may have looked a bit shady and not too fair, but as I got further into the story I understood a little more of Tyler’s decision. The GDR team did a great job for Tyler last year and he couldn’t be more appreciative, but he felt he needed to not worry about certain things at this point of his career. He’s not just racing for himself anymore, he is now a Father. That responsibility gives you good reason to make tougher decisions. The tough one this time was leaving GDR and heading to the factory KTM team. It has left a sour taste in the mouth of GDR owner Derek Schuster but as time passes maybe he will understand the decision made by Tyler. Derek is already working on replacing TM’s spot with another rider. Sometimes these types of choices can cause a riff between friends but sometimes they need to be made. From an outsider looking in, that’s just my opinion and I wish both parties a successful 2013 and beyond.

Last week, as I said, I was in Cali hanging with so many Canadians that are getting ready for the upcoming season. I for one always picked the east coast for my winter training spots. It was just the way it was, really. California never became an option or even a thought for that matter back in the day. Now I have seen firsthand the amount of opportunity these kids have down there. As Dave Gowland said to me as I was doing an interview with him, “If you want to make it in this industry, whether as racer or working in the industry, this is the spot to be.” I couldn’t agree more. Just watching at the practice tracks was like a list of who’s who in the race scene. I was like a kid in a candy store. For all you young racers out there, if you get the chance to go to California, take it. You won’t be disappointed.

 

Nowadays teams or even just the riders themselves really like to keep crashes or injuries on the down low. Wil Hahn kept a broken toe very quiet since round one of SX. Davi Millsaps had a big crash this week before Daytona and nobody knew till the race. Our own Colton Facciotti had a big crash last week and has injured his shoulder and also broke his toe. Injuries are unfortunate for anybody but our sport is not like Boxing or MMA where another athlete can take advantage of the injury. I just find it weird but I guess the injured can share or not share. It’s their prerogative. Colton will be fine and will recover smoothly.

How amazing was the Daytona Supercross? I just loved every minute of that event, the atmosphere, the people, the track, and of course the beautiful Florida sun. This year’s track was a little longer than the last few years, which made the main event nearly 30 minutes long. How tough would that have been to be part of the 250 or 450 main events? I bet the 40 riders in those races were absolutely spent after that main event. Each one of those guys deserves a big high five for just finishing that race. The track was so gnarly this year and because of that the racing wasn’t that spectacular, but watching those athletes fight for position and be extremely exhausted after is a sight that every race fan needs to see.

Our Canadian boys, Nicky Beatty and Cole Thompson, were at it again. Nicky once again just missed the night show. I figured this weekend would have been his best chance but it was not to be I guess. I’m still on Team Beatty and believe he will make one of these before it’s all over. If Toronto is the one, and we all hope it is, then the adventure will be worth it.

For Cole Thompson it was another successful weekend. Though, if you watched the race you would have seen that Cole was way back on the start, basically dead last at the start of the 15 laps. So for Thompson to charge to 9^th passing 11 guys on his way just shows how hard this kid is working down there to make a name for himself. I am getting e-mails each week asking for pictures of Cole for Feld, the promotion group for SX, to showcase him at the Toronto event. At least that’s what I think they want them for. Plus a little birdy that runs a certain team that owned the red plate in the 450 class till this weekend said that the #48 is on the radar for sure. It’s all starting to come together for the Thompsons that have worked so hard to get where they are today. Keep it rocking CT!!!