Faces at the Races | 2024 Canadian MX Nationals | Pilot Mound – Round 3

It’s time for Faces at the Races from Round 3 of the 2024 Canadian Triple Crown Series MX Nationals at Prairie Hill MX in Manitoba

By Billy Rainford

For Round 3 of the Canadian MX Nationals, we were back at the picturesque and perfectly manicured Prairie Hill MX track in Pilot Mound, Manitoba. (Scratching needle on a record sound…SCREEETCH!) When I got there on Saturday afternoon (long story) the races were ending and the track crew was getting on the machinery and heading out to get the track ready for the Pro racing on Sunday.

I hopped on my MTB and wandered around to take some photos of just how nice they had the place looking. It was bannered beautifully and the grass was green and freshly mowed. It looked fantastic!

I pulled up beside a big dozer and out popped Brandon Dean from Vision Built Tracks over in Putnam, Ontario. We shot the breeze for a couple minutes and then he said he had to get back in and “rip the track like we’re not getting any rain tonight.”

Hey, he’s not from the area and that’s what everyone thought was the forecast! We were maybe going to get a little sprinkle at some point during the night, but nothing substantial. Off he went and off I went.

Look how good the place looked!

I sat working away with James Lissimore in his new camper trailer. He was facing the opposite direction I was at the kitchen table and saw the beginning of flashes of lighting starting to pop off in the distance. I took a look out the window and saw very dark clouds moving our way at a very slow pace, but it was coming. Uh oh…

As it started to get dark, it hit. Rain came down in buckets and the lightning flashes made it feel like you were in a 1970’s disco (Or my bedroom as a kid. I had a little strobe light I couldn’t get enough of). The sky was lit up constantly for the next hour as the rain did it’s thing and pounded the roofs of all the trailers and absolutely drenched the track.

I assume it kept the entire pits up for that hour and then it moved on. And then it came back for round 2 at 2. Again, I’m sure it woke everyone up in the pits and gave everyone that awful feeling of an impending mudder in their gut. I know it did to me!

Yep, the damage was done.

The first person I bumped into as I walked around to see what the storm had done was track owner Kyle McCannell. Now, I’ve known Kyle for a while now (I even stayed at his house a bunch of years ago) and he’s always very upbeat and ready to go. On this morning, he simply didn’t want to hear it. He was in full “save the race” mode.

Sorry we ruined your track, gang.

The once picture-perfect grounds of Prairie Hill MX was a mess. They were forced to push the mud off the track and onto the grass and the schedule was delayed for a few hours. Riders would only get one practice/qualifying session and the PreMix and WMX racing would come at the very end of the day.

The sun was out and the prairie wind was already picking up, so you knew they’d be looking for the water trucks later in the day. You just knew it.

OK, that’s the build up to the day. The crew did a great job getting the place race-ready and we actually had a great day of racing despite the storm’s attempt to chase us away.

Now let’s have some Faces at the Races fun. Oh, you should pour a fresh cup of coffee for this one…

The puffy eyes on #270 Josh Penner tell you he stayed at the track. Sleep was not easy Saturday night. It was great to see the Manitoba legend giving the Round a go. 21-29 put him 29th. I don’t think the storm bothered the kid in the background though. He’s fine. Lol.
It was cool to see Josh Mosiman from MXA at the race. He came up to do a little story as he tried one of our races on an MX101 FXR Yamaha 450.
He had photographer/videographer Trevor Nelson with him to document the adventure. I see Trevor at most of the Supercross and Pro Motocross races I hit. There’s a full-on sub-culture behind the scenes at the races. It could be a TV show in itself, kind of like the Ricky Gervais show Extras.

Here’s the video they produced:

That’s #59 Wyatt Kerr doing his thing in the morning. He didn’t pass anyone in the back of the van, but he likely made more passes than anyone on Sunday.
That’s Kevin Tyler breaking in a new bike, I think. Whatever he’s doing, he’s taking it very seriously by the looks of it.
I used to always bring a little football with me to the races and randomly throw it to riders in the pits to see who could throw a ball. It may surprise you, but Gavin Gracyk probably has the best arm of anyone I’ve done this with. Tiger Wood grabbed my camera and shot a few photos when I wasn’t looking. Dylan Rempel has a pretty good arm. Dexter Seitz is a work in progress.
He also caught Brad Lockhart “ganging it up.”
The biggest news of the day was that #1 Dylan Wright was going to try to race after his scary crash the week before in Raymond. He did it and earned 26 points to perhaps save his summer. We’ll see!
#79 Dawson Gravelle sums up how everyone felt heading out for qualifying.
Can you ride in the mud with deep ruts, Drew? Um, what do YOU think?!
#316 Evan Stice from Idaho looked like he was going to have a great day, but then, well, didn’t. He’ll take his Mulligan if that’s OK with everyone.
That’s #402 Gage Linville. The rider from Georgia is starting to come into form and will be in this title hunt to the end.
Already thinking about the post-race clean up.
Going with white, eh, Austin?
Time waits for no man…except Kaven Benoit.
#14 Quinn Amyotte hit the ground a few times and didn’t make things easy on himself at Round 3.
OK, I’m going to say it: #12 Sebastien Racine is a future Canadian champ in either class.
#165 Logan Burns was out west from SS Marie, ON on his own! I offered to hold his bike while he prepped his gate. He declined. Haha. We’ll take a look at his race rig when we get east in a couple weeks. These stories make moto what it is.
These columns aren’t about the racing on the track, so Paul Kingsley about to turn the board is about as close as we’ll get.
This photo makes me feel awkwardly tense for some reason. Everyone but #109 Aaron Tanti seems to have concerns about things…
I don’t know if that’s where Dylan learned this, but Bobby Kiniry used to do this reflex move before the gate dropped too.

BREAK TIME!

#808 Preston Kilroy will be there in case anyone at the top makes a mistake. He’s figuring out our way of doing things up here.
Hey, Ryan Derry, who gave Peter Derry the day off?! I know he’s there somewhere!
#8 Mitchell Harrison had the speed to win at Round 3 but a mechanical took him out on lap 7 of moto 2 to end his day early.
Josiah Natzke had one of those days you dream about.
I didn’t ask Zach Ufimzeff what “4ZEKE” meant.

A few black and whites:

❌ WEAK STOMACH WARNING ❌

That 250 red flag was caused when #338 Orrin Elmore fell in the deep ruts. I turned and snapped this shot before realizing what the issue was. I just spoke to Orrin and he’s had successful surgery to repair his leg and gave me the green light to post this shot. Ouch! He’s happy it didn’t end up being a torn up knee. He should leave the Winnipeg hospital today and they say he should be able to start walking in 4-6 weeks.
That’s Joe Kremkow and Kraig Riese from the Partzilla PRMX Team. Good to have you boys in Canada.
Uh oh, don’t look now but I think Zach Ufumzeff’s dad is in trouble because I’ve never seen Clayton Schmucki’s dad look this angry!
#328 Talan Hansen may be the only rider who enjoys it as much as Zack Zager does. He borrowed his GF’s bike to see if he wanted to race both classes. I only see his name in the 250 class so I guess he came to his senses. Lol
That’s Jim Scott, father of this week’s 250 Ryno Power Privateer Performance of the Week winner and subject of DMX Frid’Eh Update #25, Tanner Scott. Busy week!
This tread pattern jumpe d out at me as rare and different. Turns out it’s a Bridgestone sand tire.
Anyone else curious to see what this guy can do at Gopher Dunes?
If you see someone down on the track or in any kind of trouble, I can guarantee you that Steve Simms is already on the scene helping. You can see just a little tip of the cape sticking out from under his shirt.
Who keeps bugging me hack there?
Oh, it’s Brock Hoyer. So you’re telling me NOT to jump all the big jumps because it’s too windy? Pfft…
Thanks for coming north to our series and making it exciting. See you both somewhere soon.
Is a TV show about the Fergusons already being produced? If not, it should be.
#86 Bryce Wadge was feeling it after a moto, but still managed a smile.
#3 Kaylie Kayer is the heir apparent to Eve Brodeur when she finally steps away.
Fairly big boots to fill… No pressure. 😣
#doitformarco
Canadian moto is always a good time. Canadian WMX is next level!
I think we’ve come to the end. Would you two mind doing the honours? “See you at the races…“