Frid’Eh Update #2 Presented by Mongoose Machine

DMX Frid’Eh Update #2 Presented by Mongoose Machine

By Jeff mcConkey, Dawn McClintock, and Billy Rainford

Week #2 belongs to #800 Smartops MotoConcepts rider Mike Alessi. – Bigwave photo

Hello and welcome to the DMX Frid’Eh Update #2 this week presented by Mongoose Machine. Week #2 goes to the rider from California who came north to make the Rockstar Energy MX Nationals something to remember in 2014. Each week you knew #800 Smartop MotoConcepts rider Mike Alessi would have the speed to win, but would he have the luck to get it done? Week in and week out, both he and Honda Canada TLD GDR rider #45 Colton Facciotti (among others) would go at each other tooth and nail. In the end, it was Facciotti who scored more points but won fewer motos. It was a year for the books and we all hope Mike and the team decide to make the trip north again in 2015 to make this another amazing summer for Canadian moto.

We got in touch with Mike to get to the bottom of what he’s been up to since we last saw him at Walton Raceway and find out if we’ll see him lining up in Kamloops this coming season:

DMX: Hello, Mike. Would you mind giving us your overall impression with how your season in Canada went?
Hey, Billy. I really enjoyed racing up in Canada this year. I wasn’t sure what to expect going in considering the only place I had ever been in Canada was Toronto and it was usually cold. I was pretty happy about my season. There are things that were out of my control that happened, but overall it was a great experience.
What did you like/dislike about our series? Was it different from the AMA?
I felt like the series overall is run really well. Mark (Stallybrass) and his crew were very professional. I really liked how he listens to the riders and tries to accommodate everyone. I feel this is something that other series can learn from.
What did you do after you guys left the final round up in Walton, Ontario?
After the final race at Walton, I went with my team owner and his family to New York City. We stayed a little less than a week there. I’ve never experienced NYC like that. Usually, we fly in and fly out so it was fun to be a tourist.

Alessi won more motos than any other rider and was crowned ‘King of Walton’ at the final round of the series. – Bigwave photo

What have you been up to since then?
After a little down-time and recovery then it’s back to work. Back to training and riding, getting ready for the Supercross season. I did a race in Sweden which was fun.
OK, the question we’re all asking…Will you guys be back next summer??? What are your current plans?
I would love to come back to Canada and race this summer. It’s still in talks about what the team is going to do at this point.
What was the most memorable thing from your summer in Canada?
I think my most memorable day was in Calgary 2^nd moto. It was my wife’s birthday that day and I told her I would win for her birthday. I couldn’t let her down. Even after getting stuck in the gate, I feel like that is the best I have rode in a really long time.

Mike’s most memorable moment from the Canadian series was his come-from-behind win at round 3 in Calgary. – Bigwave photo

With you, Colton Facciotti, Matt Goerke, Brett Metcalfe, and Cole Thompson (among many others), 2015 would probably be the most competitive series we’ve ever seen. Would you like to be a part of that group? What is the determining factor on where you race next summer?
That is a really good group coming to Canada next year and it just shows how much the series itself is growing. As we get closer to summer the team will be making a decision on what we will be doing with our summer.
Thanks for taking the time to do this with us. Who would you like to thank?
Thank you, Billy. I’d like to thank my team Smartop MotoConcepts for all they do. Mike Genova is a great person and he has stuck with me for over 3 years.

Well, we didn’t get the answer we wanted, but it’s good to know that Canada is still a possibility for Mike and his team. Best of luck in the rest of your Supercross season, Mike. We’ll be sure to keep pestering the team in an attempt to sway their decision and get them to BC next spring.

I guess we’ll just have to wait to find out if we’ll see any more of this in 2015. – Bigwave photo

This week, the Update is being brought to you by the great team over at Mongoose Machine. More and more riders are using them for their performance needs and running the Rekluse clutch system. Be sure to check them out online at www.mongoosemachine.com and see what they can do for you.

This week’s Update is brought to you by Mongoose Machine.

Jeff McConkey

Hey, guys. Welcome to another Frid’Eh Update. Here in Southern Ontario we had some nasty cold weather. What a great week for ‘Bossman’ Billy to head south and relax on the beaches of Cuba. Although I am a little jealous, I will say you deserved a non-moto vacation, Billy. I hope you brought me back a lousy T-shirt. Just like the weather Billy was enjoying on the beach, it was heating up in Phoenix for round 2 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series. We had a great battle in the 450 class and it gave us a first-time winner. It was really nice to see the respect between race winner Eli Tomac and runner-up Ken Roczen.

Before the season, there was a lot of talk about which high profile 450 rookie would do the best.  The top 4 that entered the 450 class are: Factory Honda’s Cole Seely, Red Bull KTM’s Dean Wilson, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Baggett, and Rockstar Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson. Out of the 4, we have two Regional 250 SX Champions and two 250 National Champions and whole heap of wins. So far this season, Jason Anderson has a podium and a solid 6^th place finish and leads the pack of rookies. Dean Wilson has set some fast qualifying lap times but has thrown some serious anchor in the mains. Cole Seely cruised to a heat race win but hasn’t worked his way through the pack like he did on 250’s. And last but not least, Baggett has 2 solid finishes and flies the lone flag in the Yoshimura semi. In my opinion, Anderson will be a front-runner all season-long, Wilson will eventually figure it out and hover around the podium. As for Baggett, I feel he just needs to make it through 17 rounds and get to the Outdoors, where he will open some eyes. Last but not least is Seely. I feel he will tease us with some great heat races and semis, but will not make all 17 rounds and will completely disappear for the outdoors.

In West Coast 250 action Cooper Webb cruised to his first of many 250 SX wins. He is full of confidence, on a great bike and will be very tough to beat. Just a tad behind Webb, I see Justin Hill, Jesse Nelson, Tyler Bowers and rookie Aaron Plessinger. Interesting thing after last week’s main event: Former Canadian MX2 champ Austin Politelli wrote an open letter, in which he basically apologized for giving up during the main event. Austin has tons of talent and speed, but I doubt his fitness and heart. This is the same guy who “left” his team halfway through the 2014 Canadian National Series. Motocross is dangerous, there is no doubting that. But if you can’t handle the pressure, I know there are a ton of guys close in speed and talent that would give an arm to be where Politelli is. Let’s hope this is an eye-opener and Austin digs deep and shows that he wants to be out there.

Staying with 250 SX, it was released this week that female star Vickie Golden will be racing East Coast 250 SX. I am a huge supporter of Ladies in motocross. I know Vickie scored enough points to earn the right to ride SX through the ‘Road To Supercross’ program. I just don’t feel like it is a good idea. I’m just worried she will get hurt. She is super-talented and from social media, seems to be strong and fit. I just don’t think she will fare well. Anyways, I’m sure I will receive some flack by saying this, but oh well. Let’s hope she makes it out safe.

Round 3 goes back to Angel Stadium in Anaheim. Let’s hope the action stays hot and doesn’t let us down. Here are my predictions for A2:

A2 Predictions

250 West
1^st Cooper Webb
2^nd Justin Hill
3^rd Aaron Plessinger
4^th Tyler Bowers
5^th Zach Bell

450 Class
1^st Trey Canard
2^nd Eli Tomac
3^rd Ken Roczen
4^th Jason Anderson
5^th Justin Barcia

That’s it for me this week. Be sure to check out a cool ‘On The Radar’ with Boston Calder and keep your eyes peeled for my upcoming ‘Out Of The Blue’ with Danika White. Have a great week and always remember to #smileforBC!

Dawn McClintock

We all know it’s not cheap doing the nationals, traveling from one side of the country to the other when you are a privateer. Pretty sure guys like Jay Burke and Jared Stock could throw some hard numbers at you that would knock your Aunt Connie’s socks off. Hayden Halstead did the East portion of the nationals last year and his goal is to do the complete series this year, coast to coast. The Halstead crew is being proactive and holding a little fundraising party. They have their tickets printed up and their venue booked for anyone interested in going. There’s a fun night of music, dancing, and games planned, and if any of you know Hayden’s mom, there will be an amazing spread of food as well. Everyone is welcome and tickets are available in advance or at the door. They have an event page set up on Facebook you can join right HERE.
Also, anyone wishing to add to the silent auction, they are taking donations.

Location: Navy Club, 54 Wadsworth St., Brantford, ON
Date: March 7th
Time: 7pm-1am

Billy Rainford

Thanks for all that, you guys. Welcome to the 2^nd week of the Frid’Eh Update. Like Jeff mentioned, I have been taking my first non-moto trip since 2003. Now I’m not here to sulk about that or boast about the fact that I’m missing out on the ‘Arctic Cold Front’ that we are apparently missing back in my neck of Canada. Today was the worst day of our 8-day stay and the mercury dipped a little below 27 degrees C so we headed into Havana for a little history lesson.

I was pleased to learn that amid the strict government control over pretty much everything that there is actually some motocross to be found here on the island. We didn’t see anything other than the silly 50cc scooter we rented yesterday or the fully clapped-out Jawas and no-name brands from China spewing out smoke and holding up traffic as for as you could see.

I even had Emily take a photo of me blasting a berm on the scooter off the side of the highway, but the USB cord doesn’t seem to want to talk to my Mac so I will have to bore you with an elbows-in, leg affectedly out, scooter berm shot at a later date…and you know it’s coming!

Anyway, we’ve also had a couple growing pains this week with our new website host service and it conveniently locked us out of the site every time we tried to open our DMX email. I only mention this because I don’t want anyone to think our amount of content had dropped for any other reason than a technical malfunction that had better be sorted out when I get back on Canadian soil!

Jeff McConkey has been really stepping it up and doing a lot of interviews and opinion articles. I just want to apologize to him for not being able to post them all as soon as I receive them. Don’t worry, folks. There will be an onslaught of content first thing in the coming week.

I will keep it relatively short this week and get back to my final day here in the heat. Here are a few items that came across the DMX desk this week:

GDR Red Rider Support Program Update

I just wanted to give you all a heads up that we have announced that I will be running a second program this year for Kyle Keast and Westen Wrozyna. It will be named the Red Rider Support Program. Kyle and Westen will join Colton Facciotti and Jeremy Medaglia at GPF in February to train until spring and then the two of them will travel together to the nationals. They will be pitted in a separate Fun Mover trailer at the races.

Kyle Keast and Westen Wrozyna will be on the Red Rider Support Program with GDR in 2015.

5-Lap Sprint with Shawn Robinson

By Jeff McConkey

Hey, Shawn. How’s it going?
Hey, Jeff. It’s going good, thanks.

What have you been up to so far this winter?
Well, after the season got done, I did a couple local races then started working for my dad until a week ago. I did not do too much this winter so far, just got things figured out for bikes and piling my money to come down south.

The news is out, and you will be riding Orange for 2015. How did the switch to KTM come about?

Yeah, I will be on orange for 2015. I have been on blue for a long time, so I figured why not try something new. After nationals got done, Mirco Vachon the mechanic from Duroy asked me if wanted to try a 450. So we met at a practice track, and that’s when I tried it. And it all started from there.

Can you tell us about your new deal?
My  deal is  with Duroy KTM. I will be doing all the nationals and some provincials.

What are your plans for the rest of the winter?
My plan is to stay at GPF (Georgia Practice Facility) for the winter. I just got here last night, so I am going to  spend the winter with Jeremy and Tyler Medaglia.

What can we expect from the #33 KTM this season?
You can expect not so many DNF’s. I would like  to be really consistent this year and we will see what happens!

Thanks for the quick chat, Shawn. Is there anyone you would like to thank?

No problem, Jeff. I would like to thank Duroy KTM, my dad, Drummond Fuel, and Matrix. And I am working on other sponsors right now, so if  anyone wants to help, please contact me. (laughs)

Thank you.

Shawn Robinson will be riding for Duroy KTM in 2015. – Photo supplied by Robinson

OK, like I said, nice and short from me this week. I am on very tenuous internet here in Cuba and things could go south in a hurry. Have a great weekend and enjoy A2! See you at the races…