Frid’Eh Update #29 Presented by Scott Motosports
By Jeff McConkey and Billy Rainford
Week #29 belongs to St. Phillippe, Quebec, rider, Jeremy Pronovost. – Bigwave photo
We’re marching deeper and deeper into the summer of 2015 and now we’re heading into the quaint town of Deschambault, Quebec. The town sits on the St. Lawrence River just 40kms west of Quebec City, on the north side of the river. It seems appropriate that week #29 belongs to St. Phillippe, Quebec, rider Jeremy Pronovost.
A couple years ago, the Duroy Motovan EVO rider came to the Deschambault round of the nationals and pulled off an impressive 9th place finish on his #384 KTM. He came back last season on the #58 KTM and actually grabbed a 3rd place in the first MX2 moto! His 10th in the second gave him his best Pro finish of 5th overall! It’s pretty safe to say, he’s looking forward to this weekend, this crowd, and this track.
He banged his head pretty good at the beginning of this Pro season and even had to sit out the first round in Kamloops due to post-concussion vision-related trouble when his heart rate went up during practice.
Here’s a look at how his season has been going so far from the www.mxnationals.ca website:
Pronovost currently sits in 14th position in the MX2 standings, but look for him to start closing the gap on the next few riders ahead of him as the summer rolls on. We caught up with him this afternoon between motos at the ECAN at the Deschambault track:
Direct Motocross: How has your summer racing been going for you so far?
Jeremy Pronovost: This summer as been pretty tough. The top 10 guys are really fast and I’ve been struggling with the long motos, but I’ve been doing better every weekend.
What has been your favourite event or track?
I really liked Sand Del Lee. The track was good this year. They did a great job. And Calgary was really fun!
Is Deschambault your favourite track? You’ve done REALLY well there in the past.
Yes, Deschambault has been my favourite track since always! Every time I ride there I do good. I hope this weekend is going to be a good one because it’s always fun to do good in front of your home crowd.
You’re racing the ECAN today. How is it going and who else is racing?
It’s going good. I won my first moto and a bunch of fast Intermediate guys are here, like Bujold, Dallaire, and Arsenault. Thos guys are killing it!
What are your goals for this year?
Top 10 would be perfect. This year has not been the season I wanted but I’ll keep pushing until i get in that top 5.
Thanks for taking the time to do this! Who would you like to thank?
I would like to thank my mom and dad, Duroy Racing, KTM Canada, Motovan, Oakley, and Twice.
Jeremy Pronovost served notice in 2013 at the Deschambault National by taking 3rd in the first moto! His 3-10 gave him 5th overall. – Bigwave photo
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Jeff McConkey
Hey, guys. The CMRC Rockstar Energy MX Nationals are in full swing and heading further East. This weekend the series stops in Deschambault, Quebec. As we all know, Quebec goes crazy for any sort of motorsports, especially motocross. The great province of Quebec has produced some amazing talent over the years. Names such as Jean Sebastion Roy, Marco Dubé, Simon Homans, Carl Vaillancourt, and the next great French Canadian rider, Kaven Benoit.
The Kaven Benoit Era
Kaven won the MX2 Championship last season and he looks to be on his way to repeating this season. He has great fitness, a ton of talent and is a great guy, to boot. The sky is the limit for this guy. I really can’t see anyone beating him straight up for the title this season. He and his 250 2-stroke KTM are the perfect fit for each other. He is in his first year of a 2-year contract. Next year he will move to the 450 class and become an instant threat. I really do believe he will be fighting for wins right away. The big question, is who is next in line to represent the factory KTM team in the MX2 class?
To quote Zoolander, Royal Distributing Fox Racing KTM Canada’s Kaven Benoit is so hot right now! – Bigwave photo
The Ottawa National
The Sand Del Lee round went off last weekend, and like always, Kevin Tyler, Johnny Grant and crew did an amazing job. They really do take pride in their product and it shows. They gave the racers a great track which allowed for some great racing for the fans. Benoit was our MX2 winner while Brett Metcalfe took the MX1 class. In Women’s East National action, #1 Eve Brodeur was once again perfect. I really think that our 3 current points leaders will be our Champions come seasons end. But that won’t cause any of the other competitors to back down. Here are my Deschambault predictions:
MX2
1st Kaven Benoit: You just can’t bet against Kaven right now. He will take both holeshots and win both motos.
2nd Jeremy Medaglia: Jeremy had his best ride of the year last week in moto 1. He knows he can run Benoit’s pace and will be gunning for the win.
3rd Shawn Maffenbeier: Shawn has looked good the last 2 weekends and I feel it will continue this weekend.
Jeff sees the solid finishes of Rockstar OTSFF Yamaha’s #14 Shawn Maffenbeier continuing this week. – Bigwave photo
4th Blake Savage: Blake was under the weather at SDL, but the week before at Gopher he looked really good. I expect him to be himself this weekend with a solid 4th.
5th Jimmy Decotis: Jimmy will be good like always, but I just think his starts will be off a little bit.
MX1
1st Brett Metcalfe: Brett is riding real well right now and I see him and Goerke splitting moto wins.
2nd Matt Goerke: Goerke will be hard to beat, but I see him winning moto 1, and finishing 2nd to Metcalfe in moto 2.
3rd Cole Thompson: Cole will be super-smooth as always, and right on the heals of the top 2.
4th Colton Facciotti: Colton will fast, but I just don’t think he has a win in him this weekend.
And he’s got the defending champ, Colton Facciotti, down for 4th.
5th Tyler Medaglia: Tyler will get 2 great starts and ride his ass off, just like he does every weekend.
Short and sweet for me this week. I will see you at the races, and always remember to #smileforBC!
Billy Rainford
Thanks, as always, Jeff. Your predictions are very rarely right, but we appreciate how you don’t let that stop you. You’ve chosen the safe route this week with Benoit and Metcalfe as your choices, so it will probably increase your win percentage, but we’ll see.
I remember thinking things would get easier once we got to the eastern rounds, but this driving schedule is pretty grueling! We’ve already put over 15000kms on the #dmxvan and that will surely increase drastically as we head back and forth to, basically, Quebec City and then all the way to Moncton, NB and back! We need to hit up a gas station for sponsorship! Wait, be right back…
How great would a fuel sponsor be?! Hint, Hint.
Future West Canadian Arenacross Championships Schedule
Yes, I realize it’s only July right now, but fall will be here before you can say, “Wow, is it fall already?” and that means Canadian Arenacross! Here’s a look at the revamped schedule that will again keep it from interfering with any Monster Energy AMA Supercross and might snag a few more names this season:
Scott Champion to Race Canadian AX for Cycle North
The Cycle North Powersports gang has really taken to this Canadian Arenacross thing! With defending 450 champion, Ross Johnson, scheduled to race again this fall (where it doesn’t conflict with the German SX series) they have again upped the stakes and hired fast indoor American rider Scott Champion as Ross’ teammate.
In 2014, Champion finished the 250 West Supercross series in 13th and then last year he placed 16th – he’s got some indoor skills and should make things at the front interesting out in BC this fall.
Scott Champion is coming to Canada to race the Canadian Arenacross Championships for Cycle North Powersports. – Bigwave photo
MMRS Madoc National is Coming!
Every year, the MMRS Madoc National hits the small town northeast of Toronto and draws some big names for some big $$$. This will be the 5th annual race and it should be as big as ever. If you’re a Pro racer traveling the Rockstar Energy MX National series, don’t go home just yet! Point the rig toward Madoc, Ontario, and cap your summer off with one of the best-run events on the Canadian calendar. You won’t be disappointed.
National Arenacross Tour is Coming
We’ve been talking about it for a few months now, and it looks like we will finally see an official press release on the upcoming National Arenacross Tour that will take riders from beautiful venues across Canada early next week. T’s are being crossed and I’s dotted, but we can tell you that Royal Distributing will be the presenting sponsor and I think we’ll see a major energy drink in the title position.
The national Canadian Arenacross Tour Press Release is coming…
Introducing #456 Jean-Christophe Bujold
We went out on a limb and shot a few video clips of young, up-and-coming Canadian moto star, JC Bujold, last weekend at the Ottawa National just in case he would up being the top Intermediate in the MX2 Pro/Am class. He was, and we shot this short interview with the Quebec rider. Check it out:
Introducing #456 Jean-Christophe Bujold at the Ottawa MX National at Sand Del Lee from Directmotocross.com on Vimeo.
Intermediate rider, #456 Jean-Christophe Bujold, talks about his second-ever Rockstar Energy MX National where he finished top Intermediate rider (21-17 19th) against the top Pro riders in MX2 at the Ottawa MX National at Sand Del Lee.
Sunday, July 19, 2015
World Junior Championships
Team Canada has returned from El Molar, Spain for the 2015 FIM World Junior MX Championships. Jake Tricco competed in the 85cc races and Marco Cannella in the 125cc motos. They both made it into the main races, so that was the first hurdle. Carl Bastedo sent over a few updates while they were there. Here is the final one for you to get a sense of how it all went.
Watch for interviews with the racers and team management soon here on DMX.
Thanks for sending those reports over, Carl. Sorry for the strange format. I have no idea how to deal with ‘Pages’ content…
Ottawa National Wrap-Up Video
Thanks to the support of Canada’s Motorcycle and FXR, we’ve been able to shoot these recap videos each week. Andy White and I are the talking heads on-screen each week and, try as we might, we just can’t get these things down to shorter than 15-18 minutes, so if you’re looking to find out how the weekend went and see some footage by Mitch Goheen from Just Giver Productions, check them out on the Monday or Tuesday following a national. Here’s the one from Ottawa:
Direct Motocross Sand Del Lee Round 6 Recap from Just Giver Productions on Vimeo.
Faces at the Races
We had a ton of fun with Faces at the Races this week. – Bigwave photo
That’s muti-time Canadian champion, JSR, pushing his son’s bike back to the pits last Saturday at Sand Del Lee. Be sure to check out Faces at the Races HERE, if you missed it. We had some fun with it this week.
The ECAN at Deschambault
It’s ECAN time at Deschambault! Here is the schedule for the weekend that leads to the Pro National Sunday:
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.directmotocross.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/horaire_ecan2.pdf”]
Good luck to everyone competing, and we’ll see you Saturday!
A Week at The Medaglia’s
Currently residing in the ‘I Love this Video!’ category, this video Derek Schuster took of brothers Tyler and Jeremy Medaglia from this week at the family’s place in Kemptville, Ontario, pretty much sums up what the past 20-some-odd years have been like. And yes, it’s just as you would imagine. This is awesome!
Best of luck with this little terror, Heidi and Tyler! Definitely a chip of both your blocks!
Canadian Teams Heading to Final AMA National in Indiana
We’re pleased to announce that there are currently two Canadian teams considering making the drive to the final round of the Lucas Oil AMA Outdoor Championships at the Ironman National in Crawfordsville, Indiana, August 22.
So far, the Redemption Racing Fly Dragon KTM team and the Honda Canada TLD GDR team have expressed an interest in taking their full team and rigs to the race to line up against the best riders in the world. Both teams have stated that if they are going to do it at all they will have their entire support staffs and rigs there to do it properly. There’s no point committing to one of these events and not do it the right way; just making it into the motos is tough enough!
We’ll keep you posted on how this plays out so you can make your travel plans…
Another chance for Colton Facciotti to compete south of the border? – Bigwave photo
Riders Return to Action at Washougal – Canard, Alessi, Davalos…
OK, I’m just going to let our friends down at Racer X do all the heavy lifting on this one. For a full rundown on ‘What to Watch‘ for this weekend at Washougal, click HERE.
Quebec Supercross Series
Whether you’re aware of it or not, the Quebec Supercross Series is happening. This must be the best kept secret in Canadian moto, right now! There is not race this weekend but the series resumes next weekend in Malarctic, August 1st. Wow, that’s way up closer to Val-d’Or and Rouyn-Noranda! Here’s a look at the Pro standings:
Pro Lites
PRO
OK, it’s time to get some rest before heading east on the 401/20 to the north side of the St. Laurence River to the small town of Deschambault. It’s going to be an all-nighter with Mitch Goheen and Jeff McConkey in ‘Dave the Van.’ What could possibly go wrong? Have a great weekend and be sure to check in with DMX on Twitter @directmx and Instagram @directmotocross for updates throughout the weekend. We’ll be heading straight back at the end of the day on Sunday so give us a few minutes to gather our thoughts before the photo reports etc. get posted. We’ll do our very best though.
Here we go again! See you at the races…
