Frid’Eh Update #21 | Liam O’Farrell | Presented by KTM Canada

By Billy Rainford

Brought to you by KTM Canada

Week #21 belongs to South African native Liam O’Farrell. | Bigwave photo

Welcome to Week #21 of the DMX Frid’Eh Update this week brought to you by KTM Canada. Today, I’m off to Whispering Pines to check out some of our top pro riders taking advantage of a bit of practice on the track outside Kamloops, BC that will play host to round 1 of the 2022 Canadian Triple Crown Series MX Nationals on June 5th.

With that in mind, let’s get to our interview with this week’s honouree, #21 Liam O’Farrell from South Africa. Liam is our working man pro rider. He’s married, he’s a dad, and he works more than 40 hours a week. And yet, he still manages to battle up near the front of the pack on a weekly basis in our 450 pro nationals.

He came here from South Africa and quickly fell in love with the place. I remember hanging out with him quite a bit as we both traveled across Canada back in 2009. He rode for the Orange Motorsports KTM team and I was doing Pirate Radio at the Nationals out of the back of a 1989 Buick Electra Estate Wagon.

Since we were confined to the east the past couple years, he was able to race the full series. That’s something he simply won’t be able to do this year as we’re going across the country again.

The key to Liam’s longevity has to be attributed to his physical conditioning. No matter what else is going on in his life, he always shows up ready to go the distance. In fact, if you ask any of the riders on the track who they’d least like to see behind them late in a hot Gopher Dunes moto, I’m sure the majority of them would say Liam.

Let’s have a quick look at his 2021 season:

Here’s what he had to say this week:

Here’s what Liam had to say. | Bigwave photo

Direct Motocross: Hello Liam. I’m going to start this one way way back. There are probably a lot of people reading this that never even knew you were from South Africa. Can you just remind people how you came up through the SA ranks before coming here?

Liam O’Farrell: Born and raised in South Africa and my dad got me into racing when I was 5. I grew up racing MX and Harescrambles but ended up pursuing a career in MX. Back in South Africa it is a lot easier to race both 250 & 450 classes in the same year, and in 2007 I was able to win both championships. Then I felt like it was time to try something new.

And why did you end up in Canada anyway?

From a young age, my goal was to compete overseas. I really wanted to go to Europe but I wasn’t able to get enough money together and didn’t have any good contacts. Instead, I got lucky to get hooked up with a South African family in Canada that was into racing. Kerim Fitzgerald had told me good things about the series, so I was excited to come and see it for myself.

Liam earned national #8 at the end of the 2009 season. | Bigwave photo

What was your best finish on the National circuit here?

Best race weekend was 2nd at Deschambault 2014 and my best season was 6th last year.

You are one of the riders who actually benefitted from the series being stuck in the east. With a full-time job, a wife, and a baby, I’m guessing you wouldn’t have gone west? Were you glad you were able to compete in the whole series?

2010 was the last time I was able to go west and do the full series; I never expected to get a chance to do it again. I was very happy to be able to do it again. An 8th in 2020 and 6th 2021, I mean, that’s amazing!

You did the MX portion of the series last season and finished 6th overall in the 450 class. Your best finish was a 6th. Can you sum up your 2021 season for us?

I was pretty consistent all year, I was a 9th-place guy for the most part. My standout race was last moto at Gopher. The track was insanely rough and the rain made it way worse. Getting 6th there before anyone was injured felt special to me. I was happy to get 6th for the year but 3 guys got hurt and it’s a little bittersweet. I guess that’s moto though.

And then you didn’t line up for the Supercross portion. Not a big SX guy, eh? What is your Supercross history?

Not my thing. I think my only SX race was Montreal in 2012. I tried again in 2020 but I’m far too old to try learn SX; I never felt comfortable. It took the fun out of it for me.

Montreal Supercross 2011. | Bigwave photo

Can you tell everyone what it is you do for work?

I mainly work residential new construction, installing ACs, fireplaces, and gas lines. I also replace old furnaces, stuff like that.

You’re pretty lucky to have a boss who is so understanding about your motocross needs. Did you talk him into getting involved or was that done on their own?

Well, his son, Travis Knoop, was a really good amateur racer – he and (Marshal) Weltin were rivals growing up. Unfortunately, he quit after a really big injury. Then when I came to work for him, we started talking about going to the races again and it got Travis back into racing again too. So far it’s been a lot of fun.

What did you get up to over the winter, besides working? Did you get down south for any riding?

I didn’t get up to much. I wish life was a bit more exciting but work and kids take up most of my time. Also, with the COVID rules I was a bit limited to what I could do. I wasn’t able to go south this year. Pam got a new job in the fall, so we didn’t really want to go away…and have you seen the price of gas?!

I’m living it, Liam! And now what’s your plan for this upcoming summer season?

Just doing east coast Nationals and the [Ontario] west series Provincials. Now that the lockdown is over and race weekends are more spread out for me, I’m going to spend some time at cottages and beaches. Just enjoy some other summer activities other than racing.

Although he hasn’t been west since 2010, watch for him when the series heads east this summer. | Bigwave photo

Are you a moto dad yet?

Not yet, Sully is very into bikes but he’s only 2. Sloan likes riding her Stacyc but she isn’t very interested in racing.

How much longer do you think you can keep racing in the top 10 of the Nationals? Better question: How the hell can you keep running inside the top 10 in the pro Nationals???

In not sure. I honestly think it’s just my fitness. Look at my qualifying times, my speed is not that great anymore but I seem to get stronger as the race goes on. And I guess we’ll see this year of I’m still able to get top 10’s. I have been talking about this being my final year doing Nationals but I’m still undecided.

How have your pre-season local races been going? How did you like the Auburn Hills track? Did you like it as much as everyone else seems to?

Auburn was awesome. I have been there but it rained every time. It was definitely worth the wait. The races have been good, I have some work to do still but I’m happy to still be battling with these guys half my age.

OK, Liam, thanks for answering all our questions. Good luck and we’ll see you at the races soon. Is there anyone you’d like to thank?

Priority Mechanical, Priority MX, Apex Cycles, Fxr, Dialed MX, KTM Canada, OGs, Forma Boots, MD Distributions, MP1 Suspension, Dirtcare, and Renegade.

2022 Fox Raceway Entry List Includes 4 Canadians

Round 1 of the Lucas Oil Pro Nationals at Fox Raceway in Pala, California, will include 4 Canadians.

250:

430 William Crete HSK

943 Noah Viney HON

450:

170 Keylan Meston HSK

515 Tyler Medaglia GG

Podcast | 2022 Canadian MX Nationals Preview | MRM and Canadian Kawasaki

Billy Rainford, Greg Poisson, and Hayden Halstead preview the upcoming 2022 Canadian Triple Crown Series Motocross Nationals and give their thoughts on what we can expect to see this summer across Canada.

Brought to you by MapleRidge Motorsports and Canadian Kawasaki.

Spotify:

Apple Podcasts

SoundCloud:

Find this podcast on the platform of your choice.

Podcast | Daniel Elmore Takes US through Getting His Bikes Stolen and Staying Focused on 2022

#13 Daniel Elmore from Telkwa, BC talks about having 2 of his bikes stolen at Club MX this past winter and what it took to get his program back on track to go racing the 2022 Canadian Triple Crown Series Motocross Nationals despite the setback.

Presented by Atlas Brace.

Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/3xju49m5OiVaAGhL8yv5yh?si=uUi9809ISMi1MRmXRj32pQ&utm_source=oembed

Apple Podcasts

Find this and the rest of our podcasts on your favourite platform.

Jess Pettis Ready to Go for Round 1

Jess Pettis suffered an injured wrist in a weird crash at Glen Helen as he was preparing for the 2022 Canadian MX National which left him with a plated radius in his right arm. He said it would have healed on its own but they treated it like a collarbone and put the hardware in to speed up the process.

He’s back on the bike and says he’s looking forward to round 1 at Whispering Pines in Kamloops, BC next weekend. Like Hayden Halstead said in our Preview Podcast, never count Jess out, even coming off an injury.