Frid’Eh Update #11 | Davey Fraser Interview | Brought to You by Husqvarna Motorcycles Canada

Frid’Eh Update #11 | Davey Fraser Interview | Brought to You by Husqvarna Motorcycles Canada

By Billy Rainford

Welcome to Week #11 of the DMX Frid’Eh Update this week brought to you by Husqvarna Motorcycles Canada. Greg and I are on our way home from Press Day at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, for Round 10 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series. There weren’t as many of the top factory riders here this week, for some reason, but it was still a good chance for those who were here to get a feel for the track.

We grabbed Canadian RRCZ KTM rider #551 Guillaume St Cyr from Quebec for a quick chat to talk about getting his new ride and we also spoke with New Zealand Partzilla PRMX Kawasaki rider #86 Josiah Natzke before they hit the track. We also shot video and photos and will get to that as soon as we get home.

Davey Fraser is the very familiar #11 in the Canadian Triple Crown Series. Davey has been a Pro since 2006 but actually raced his first National in 2004. Of all the current riders still racing the series, only Tyler Medaglia has been racing at this level as long.

Davey is originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia, but now calls the lower Mainland of British Columbia home. In fact, Davey just had his first child, a boy named Jack out in BC. Congratulations.

Here’s what Davey had to say when we contacted him this week:

Direct Motocross: Hello, Davey. Obviously, we have to start with your big news. You’ve joined the New Father club! Congratulations. What did you name him and how did it all go?

Davey Fraser: Hey Billy. His name is Jack William Keith Fraser. It went amazing. My fiancé Brooke was an absolute trooper and pushed through a long labour, but it couldn’t have been any better.

There are so many of our top pro riders having kids right now. Do you see a day when the same names as now are battling for Pro titles? I guess it’s always been that way.

Yeah, that seems to be the trend. It’s such a family driven sport that it only makes sense that the generations keep cycling through.

If you have things your way, what sport would you like to see Jack doing as a career or serious hobby?

Anything on wheels and I’m sure we’ll get along great.

OK, let’s talk about you for a minute here. Does having a newborn make you want to race the Nationals more or less?

Can I say both? It makes me want to stay involved in the sport for sure. I love racing my dirt bike and I have a lot of fun racing the Nationals. It makes me want to be at the track more and if I can line up, great, and if not, no big deal. I pretty much grew up at the track and would like my son to have that same experience.

Can you take us through how your 2022 season went? You did the first round and then we didn’t see you again until the end.

2022… It’s been an ongoing battle with the bad ankle. I lined up when I could. I ended the season strong with Calgary Arenacross. It was a fun and successful weekend of racing.

Are you still working for the Carlson family? What have you been doing all winter?

I’m still working for the Carlson family but also working for myself. I’ve spent my winter doing the carpentry thing, and spent some time outside doing some riding, mountain biking, and a fair bit of trail building.

I know you’re an avid mountain biker these days. Have you bee getting out much? Do you ride with James Lissimore? Who’s in your MTB crew?

I do get out to the local trails a fair bit. These days you won’t catch me riding unless it’s on my e-bike. I’ve been on a couple rides with James. He actually lives just down the road from me. I’m trying to convert him to riding e-bikes.

The amount of great people to ride with out here is endless, but I get out a fair bit with Kevin Lepp, Kyle Springman, Parker Eales, and soon I get my main riding partner back, my baby mama.

So, you’ve joined the ranks of electric assist riders? Can you explain why?

I’m on team e-bike. Acoustic bikes have their place and are super fun. You can just get so much more riding in on an e-bike.

Because I don’t know what your racing plans are for the future, let me ask you to go back over your most-lengthy career of all active pro riders and ask you what your most memorable moment is?

I would say there’s been a few hometown nationals on the East Coast that would be up there. Just all around great days with amazing support.

And now you have to tell us what your racing plans are for this summer.

Winging it at this point. There’s one thing I always do is race my dirt bike. My body is relatively healthy and I feel alright. I’m sure you’ll see me lining up a few times.

And looking back, what is one piece of advice you’d give a new Canadian Pro rider?

Make sure you’re having fun and do it for the right reasons.

You don’t live in Vancouver but you’re pretty close. Do you love it or hate the city?

Hate it. To be honest, I don’t like leaving home. Lol.

OK Davey, I hope we see you somewhere soon. Thanks for chatting with us this week and good luck with little Jack. Do you want to thank anyone before you go change that dirty diaper?

I’d like to thank everyone that has been supporting me along this journey: Brent and Trevor Carlson, Mike at International Motorsports, Matrix, Husqvarna Canada, 100%, Mobius, my beautiful fiancé for being so supportive of all of these adventures that I drag her on, and last but definitely not least – you, Bill. Thanks again.

---

2022 DMX Awards – The DMXies

By Greg Poisson and Billy Rainford

It’s time for our annual DMX Awards – The DMXies. The OSCARS have been handed out so it’s time to follow suit and crown some riders. Now grab your gowns and tuxedoes and let’s get to it.

Most Dominant Pro Rider 

Dylan Wright. Dylan also won this award in 2021 but how can we not pick the rider who just won every moto in the 450 MX class?! We can’t, so no big surprise to start off this year’s awards. Congratulations, Dylan.

Biggest Surprise 

Marco Cannella. 2022 was Marco’s year to shine in the 250 class but things didn’t go well for the likeable rider from Waterdown, Ontario. The youngsters in the class have definitely upped their game and then Marco’s elbow injury took him out of competition. We’re still hearing rumours but for now we’ll say he’s decided to step away from the sport for at least this year. We wish him well in whatever he decides to do in the future.

Most Improved Rider 

Daniel Elmore: Daniel has always been fast but we think last year he showed he has the potential to become one of our elite 450 guys. He’s now got the chance to shine on the TLD SSR GasGas team and is again down at Club MX getting ready for the season. With all the necessary tools and support in place, we look forward to seeing what Daniel can do this season.

Greg was pushing hard for Quinn Amyotte for this award this year, so we need to make mention of him here.

Feel Good Story of the Year

We have to go with Westen Wrozyna on this one. Westen stepped away from Pro racing and won himself a couple FXR PreMix titles for fun on the 2-stroke. He stepped up and in for Kevin Tyler on the MX101 team and did very well, finishing 8th in 450 MX, 3rd in 250 AX/SX and 2nd in Open Pro AX/SX. He did whatever the team needed from him and did it with a smile on his face. What the future holds for him is still to be decided (he’s stepping away from Pro racing), but that was fun to watch last season.

Best Interview

Mitchell Harrison: As good as Mitchell is with the fans at the races, he’s just as good with us whenever we ask him for some time. He’s honest and forthcoming and understands that people want to hear what our pro riders have to say, so he takes the time to give us great interviews. Thanks, Mitchell.

Best Style – The Jeff McConkey Award 

This award is a tribute to the late Jeff McConkey. As Jeff always said, “Looking good is 4 quarters of the battle!” Nothing was more important to him than looking good on the track and in the pits. He was a character that will never be matched. So, with Jeff in mind, we’re giving the Best Style Award to Jake Piccolo for 2022. As a photographer, you always need to keep one eye on whatever Jake is doing on the track because you don’t want to miss a thing. His oppos are now legendary and a fixture in slow motion video clips from wherever he is training. Looking good while going fast were the two things that impressed Jeff the most and we think he’d be happy with our choice this year.

Best Intermediate 

Tanner Scott was the dominant yellow-plated rider this year. He went undefeated in his Junior year at the TransCan in 2021 and then was in position to do it again in the Intermediate class this year, but came up just short. We still think he was the best of the up-and-comers in 2022.

Track of the Year 

Whispering Pines in Kamloops, BC. It was great to be back in the Mountains and it was the first national with fans and no masks! 

Best National 

We’re going to give this one to the gang at River Glade this year. Whenever we head east as far as Moncton, the whole region seems to be abuzz. This past summer, I remember commenting that I was actually bumping into people as I walked around and had a hard time finding a spot along the fences when I tried to watch from inside them with the spectators. We get to see the many different cultures as we cross Canada and it’s always a great weekend in the maritimes. Sure, they’ve toned down The Klattapult to the point where it doesn’t deserve the name anymore, but we won’t hold that against them…too much. See you in 2023, everyone!

Best Battle 

We liked anything #22 Tyler Gibbs was involved in during the Supercross/Arenacross portion of the season in 2022. He grew up racing the tight confines of the Future West Moto Arenacross series and brought that aggression to the Triple Crown Series. As far as we saw it, he never did anything to draw as much attention as he did at each round, riders just didn’t seem ready to protect the inside lines and got upset when Tyler made what we saw as classic indoor moves.

Congeniality Award

This guy has been given Most Improved Rider a couple times and now he’s getting the Congeniality Award for the second year in a row, but I don’t know how you can argue against it. It seems he’s friends with every other rider we talk to and has fun racing and hanging out in every situation. Quinn Amyotte can always be counted on for a smile and some positive remarks, even about his competitors.

Amateur Rider of the Year

Tanner Scott: Tanner proved he’s got the potential to take his talents to the Pro level and we’re going to find that out when the series starts this year. Tanner was always the favourite to win whenever he lined up in 2022, so he gets the nod.

Rookie of the Year 

Sebastien Racine, Wyatt Kerr, and Zach Ufimzeff all turned full-time Pro riders in 2022. All three of them did very well and should be proud of their efforts and improvement. Having said that, Sebastien stood out from the others and could always be counted on as a podium threat (he got 3!) at every round. Seb gets Rookie of the Year for 2022.

Female Rider of the Year

(Copy/Paste) Is there any question? Eve Brodeur. This award likely has her name etched onto it until she decides to hang ’em up. Looking ahead to this coming season, Eve will have the returning Jamie Astudillo and Avrie Berry to contend with, so this could be her toughest challenge yet.

Pro Rider of the Year

Dylan Wright: We try not to duplicate winners in our DMXies, but we’d look silly if we didn’t pick the rider who won every moto (without a good ACL!) and led Team Canada at the MXON again. He turned heads all around the globe and we hope to see him continue this trend moving forward. His come from last ride at the Sand Del Lee national had to be one of the most impressive rides we’ve ever witnessed in person. We thought for sure the streak was over. Congratulations, Dylan.

Person of the Year

This award is always a tricky one because it can come from any number of angles. So many people give this sport their all and choosing one person who gave more than the others is sometimes a struggle. For 2022, we’re going to give the award to Derek Schuster. Derek is co-owner of the Gopher Dunes facility. After he allowed his star rider to race the MXGPs in 2021, he let both of his riders race at Red Bud for the MXON this past year. He travelled over to Europe twice in 2021 and hosts what you could argue is the best MX National of the year on an annual basis. Behind the scenes, Derek voices his opinion in the managers’ meetings and tries to do what’s best for the sport and its riders. Congratulations, Derek, now hop in the DMX Van and let’s go to the Detroit Supercross!

---

Congratulations to all the winners in 2022. Feel free to voice your opinions in the comment sections in the various places. We realize there are countless stories that take place throughout the season and we do our best to pay attention and make these choices with the information we have. We just want to tell everyone that we appreciate all of your efforts and look forward to another stellar year of racing in 2023.

---

We’ll have to leave this week as it is. We’ll have a bunch of things up on the site from Press Day as soon as we get back to London. Thanks for reading and enjoy the racing this week.