Frid’Eh Update #35 | Austin Jones | Presented by FXR Moto
By Billy Rainford
It’s Week #35 of the DMX Frid’Eh Update Presented by FXR Moto. Like last week, we’re at Gopher Dunes all day today for the final weekend of racing in the 2021 Canadian Triple Crown Series Supercross season. When this weekend is done, it’s on to local races, MXON, Future West Moto Arenacross, and then Monster Energy AMA Supercross.
There are a few things to talk about so we’ll be sure to get to those after the interview with this week’s honouree, #35 Austin Jones.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see Austin run the #35 this season, as a freak illness kept him away from the races. Of course, we ask him about that and we’re happy to learn that he’s now back on the bike again.
Here’s what he had to say when we got in touch with him this week:
Direct Motocross: Hello, Austin. Since this is your first Frid’Eh Update interview with us, we’d better start at the beginning. How old are you and where are you from?
Austin Jones: I’m 20 and from Perth, Ontario.
How did you first get into Motocross?
I got a Honda z50 from my uncle when I was around the age of 8 and just bombed around the yard on it. 2 years after that I got a KTM 65 and started to race.
What was your first number and why did you choose it?
My first number was 23. I had a friend that lived up the road from me that I looked up to and he had always told me his favourite number was 23. When I figured out I needed a number to race that was the number I went with and it’s stuck ever since.
What other sports do you do?
I play a bit of golf. My brother’s a pretty good golfer so I go out a few times a month with him when I have time.
How were you in school? What was your favourite subject?
Long story short, I didn’t stand out in school, but I enjoyed it. My favourite subject was auto class, for sure.
Who did you come up through the ranks battling?
On mini bikes I was battling with Bjorn Viney, Thomas Rendall, and those guys. Once I got onto big bikes I got out of the racing scene for a couple years and came back to battling with mainly Jamie Powell and Mikael Savard.
What was your best amateur race?
This one would probably go to TransCan of 2020. Not many people knew who I was until then. I landed on the podium in all 3 Intermediate classes that week.
You’ve been under the wing of Kevin Tyler and the MX101 gang a long time. How did that start and how has that it going?
I’ve always been a local of SDL and spent many days there. I knew the best place to be was under Kev’s wing. In the early months of 2020 I had just came back from Florida and felt I had really improved so I talked to Kev a bit and we had figured out Luke (Renzland) wasn’t coming up so he started helping me out a bit and it’s all gone up from there. It’s been going great ever since I got on the bike. I’ve felt at home and felt like I belonged on blue.
We haven’t seen you on the track this season (we did at Deschambault). Can you tell us about that and how you’re doing now?
2 weeks before the first race I started struggling with energy and sickness and thought it was just a flu or something. I tried to keep riding through it but I was getting worse so I went to the hospital. Turns out I had mono which caused my spleen to enlarge and caused my liver to have some pretty serious issues. My liver problem stayed longer than my mono which is why I didn’t get to race the last few races.
What’s the plan for the future?
I’ve been starting to ride regularly again recently and I’m going to get back onto the program and put in a few solid months. Once the new year comes I’m going to head back to Dreamland and train with Kody (Renzland) for a few months.
Good luck getting back at it. Thanks for taking some time with us today. Who would you like to thank?
My biggest thank you goes to KT and MX101. Without Kev I wouldn’t even be racing. He gave me a chance I think any dirt bike kid dreams about and to have the year I just had and him still be behind me means a lot. A big thank you also goes to my my family, the Powell family, Cale Foster, MX101, FXR, 6D, Gaerne, AG headwear, Yamaha, SSS and everyone else who supports me and the team.
Click HERE to check out the 2022 moto kits from FXR Moto.
Marshal Weltin to Miss Remaining SX Rounds
No sooner had we received the Press Release from the Thor Kawasaki Pro Circuit team on Wednesday when Marshal Weltin broke the news of his shoulder issue on his Instagram page.
Marshal says he suffered a “freak incident” on Sunday and made an already injured shoulder worse to the point where he’s now going to take the time necessary to have it fixed surgically.
Here’s his post from his Instagram page:
Things to Watch for at Supercross Rounds 3 and 4
By Billy Rainford
As we head into the final two rounds of Canadian Triple Crown Series Supercross to determine champions, here’s a quick look at a few things to keep your eyes on at Gopher Dunes.
450 Class
#2 Marshal Weltin tied with #15 Jess Pettis for 2nd (39 points behind #1 Dylan Wright) in the 450 MX portion of the series and took the Triple Crown Points lead after his 2nd place finishes at Rounds 1 and 2 of the SX portion of the series last weekend at Gopher Dunes.
With Dylan hurting himself on Friday and there being 2 points-paying Mains per night, Marshal found himself in the lead for the Triple Crown title by 7 points over SX stand-out #16 Cole Thompson.https://www.instagram.com/p/CTSN5XrFcFe/embed/captioned/?cr=1&v=13&wp=658&rd=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.directmotocross.com&rp=%2Fthings-to-watch-for-at-supercross-rounds-3-and-4%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A2865.2999999821186%7D
We’ll have more information on this as we get it from Marshal and the team. Here’s a look at the 450 points:
| 450 PRO SX POINTS |
| Place – Name Number – Hometown8/27/2021 Finish8/28/2021 FinishTotal Points1st – COLE THOMPSON #16 – BRIGDEN, ON1st1st1002nd – MARSHAL WELTIN #2 – , SOUTH CAROLINA2nd2nd86 (-14)3rd – CASEY KEAST #32 – KELOWNA, BC3rd4th74 (-26)4th – WESTEN WROZYNA #100 – NEWTONVILLE, ON9th3rd67 (-33)5th – DAVEY FRASER #11 – LANGLEY, BC4th5th64 (-36)6th – YANICK BOUCHER #38 – HEARST, ON6th6th57 (-43)6th – PARKER EALES #31 – MAPLE RIDGE, BC8th7th57 (-43)8th – TOMMY DALLAIRE #33 – , QUEBEC7th9th52 (-48)9th – RYAN DERRY #26 – TORONTO, ON 10th8th49 (-51)10th – ETHAN OUELLETTE #192 – CAMPBELL RIVER, BC11th10th44 (-56) |
| TRIPLECROWN SERIES 2021 |
| 450 PRO POINTS |
| Place – Name Number – Hometown7/2/2021 Finish7/4/2021 Finish7/10/2021 Finish7/11/2021 Finish7/18/2021 Finish8/1/2021 Finish8/2/2021 Finish8/15/2021 Finish8/27/2021 Finish8/28/2021 FinishTotal Points1st – MARSHAL WELTIN #2 – SOUTH CAROLINA3rd4th1st3rd3rd3rd2nd3rd2nd2nd3892nd – COLE THOMPSON #16 – BRIGDEN, ON4th2nd4th5th4th6th4th2nd1st1st382 (-7)3rd – DYLAN WRIGHT #1 – QUEBEC1st3rd2nd1st2nd4th1st1st5th 373 (-16)4th – JESS PETTIS #15 – PRINCE GEORGE, BC 2nd1st3rd2nd1st1st 5th 303 (-86)5th – TYLER MEDAGLIA #5 – BROOKFIELD, NS 7th5th6th6th14th2nd3rd4th 236 (-153)6th – PARKER EALES #31 – MAPLE RIDGE, BC11th10th10th11th9th8th5th7th8th7th231 (-158)7th – LIAM O’FARRELL #21 – BRANT, ON9th9th8th8th7th7th10th6th 192 (-197)8th – SHAWN MAFFENBEIER #3 – KAMLOOPS, BC5th7th5th4th5th5th 189 (-200)9th – YANICK BOUCHER #38 – HEARST, ON18th20th11th9th11th9th6th14th6th6th174 (-215)10th – RYAN DERRY #26 – TORONTO, ON13th15th12th17th10th14th8th9th10th8th164 (-225) |
Not that anyone had anything for Cole Thompson in the 450 SX class before Marshal stepped away, but the loss makes Cole’s win that much more inevitable. Watch how easy the #16 makes things look this weekend on Fox Sports or the Flo Racing app. It’s impressive and really makes you wish he was still lining up south of the border during the winter months.
We still have what should be a pretty intense battle for runner-up honours in the class between two unlikely participants. #32 Casey Keast finds himself with some great support from PRMX in the 450 class and #100 Westen Wrozyna landed a coveted spot as a fill-in rider on the MX101 team.
These two kept everyone on the edge of their non-existent seats at rounds 1 and 2 and they both believe they are the ones who belong on that second step. Keep an eye on this battle this weekend.
#11 Davey Fraser just keeps going and going. For some reason, it’s easy to miss him out there. He isn’t at the pace of the podium guys, but he looks to have the rest of the pack covered. His fight to hold off #31 Parker Eales was a great one. They may not be going for wins, but there are some fierce battles back in the pack.
Speaking of Parker, he did one of his patented come-from-nehind moves this past weekend and it will be nice to see what he can do with a good start this week.
#38 Yanick Boucher finds himself in 6th place in the standings. He ends up on his own a lot out there and seems to be picking up this SX game pretty quickly. I liked the whoops speed I saw in his practice sessions during the week, so watch for him to shine if the section is longer this week.
Behind him, I think #26 Ryan Derry and #33 Tommy Dallaire will be close to each other this week. Ryan was our Most Improved Rider for the 2020 SX season and Tommy wasn’t happy with his performances last week. Let’s see how they do at rounds 3 and 4.
#192 Ethan Ouellette keeps getting to the first corner in the lead but then forgets to go left. If he can somehow get himself to the inside and slowed down and stay up front to the Royal Distributing holeshot line, he could see the pace of the frontrunners and move up the ranks.
250 Class
The 250 class is where are the actions seems to be this season. Without exaggeration, we’ve got 6 or 8 riders who could take the win every time the gate drops! It seems to be a battle to see who makes the fewest mistakes.
Here’s a look at the points in the 250 SX:
| SXTOUR 2021 |
| 250 PRO POINTS |
| Place – Name Number – Hometown8/27/2021 Finish8/28/2021 FinishTotal Points1st – MARCO CANNELLA #46 – WATERDOWN, ON 1st3rd872nd – JAKE PICCOLO #30 – ABBOTSFORD, BC 5th2nd80 (-7)2nd – DARIAN SANAYEI #157 – , CALIFORNIA4th1st80 (-7)4th – TYLER GIBBS #22 – DEROCHE, BC2nd9th72 (-15)5th – TANNER WARD #84 – WOODSTOCK, ON 6th4th65 (-22)6th – GUILLAUME ST-CYR #25 – VICTORIAVILLE, QC3rd10th62 (-25)7th – JULIEN BENEK #50 – MISSION, BC8th5th58 (-29)8th – QUINN AMYOTTE #19 – BLACKSTOCK, ON7th7th57 (-30)9th – SEBASTIEN RACINE #212 – CASSELMAN, ON 11th6th47 (-40)10th – DANIEL ELMORE #39 – TELKWA, BC12th8th46 (-41) |
Obviously, #46 Marco Cannella would love to end this season on a high note, after the struggles he had in the MX series. He’s got 7 points on a tie between #30 Jake Piccolo and #157 Darien Sanayei. These two traded wins at round 2 and will be in this to the end on Saturday night.
Behind these 3, #46 Tyler Gibbs has shown that he’s got some great SX skills. He earned his AMA Pro License through the Supercross Futures program in the US and can take a win in any Main, as long as he keeps the mistakes to a minimum.
We’ve yet to see #84 Tanner Ward up where he belongs in this series, but I’m sure he put the time in this week and will be fighting to land up on the podium this week.
#25 Guilaume St Cyr is also a stand-out in Canada when it comes to indoor skills. He’s definitely most happy on these types of tracks. He runs with the top riders and should be in this fight for wins again this week.
#50 Julien Benek has maybe been the most impressive rider to watch out there. His whoops speed is something to see, so be sure to watch him this week. If he can somehow get a start he has winning speed out there.
#19 Quinn Amyotte looks like he should also be in this fight, but he’s found the ground and that has resulted in lower finishes than he should be getting. Let’s see if he can clean up his game and get up in this fight this week.
We won’t be seeing #212 Sebastien Racine this week, as he told me last week that he’s heading back to school and they just won’t make the trip west again this week. I’ll admit that he looked a bit like a fish out of water on Friday but then came back and looked like a completely different rider on Saturday. His improvement was obvious and he’ll be fun to watch for years to come.
See you there!
Connor Stevenson Wins 2 SX State Championships
Congratulations to #11 Connor Stevenson on his Colorado State Supercross Championships.
The Canadian-living-in-Colorado took wins in Schoolboy 2 and 450 B.
Check out the Maple Leaf proudly displayed on his helmet! Nice, eh.
Photo Credit: Jack Jaxson
Team Canada ISDE Interviews
We’ve been talking with Team Canada ISDE Co-coordinator Lee Fryberger every morning after the day’s racing over in Italy. The plan is to do it again today while I’m at Gopher Dunes for Supercross so I’m crossing my fingers that the cell service is still decent at around 10:30 or 11 this morning.
I just texted back and forth with Lee and he said that Tyler Medaglia, Kade Walker, and Jared Stock will all be on this roundtable chat with him today, so this should be fun on the day before the final round Saturday that will see the guys ripping up the MX track for the finale.
If you’d like to get caught up on how things have been going over there, here are the previous 4 podcasts:
Day 1:
Day 2:
Day 3:
Day 4:
OK, I just got off the phone with all 4 World Trophy Team members in Italy. I’m going to be late getting to Gopher Dunes, but that chat was worth it! I’ll try to get it posted up before I head out the door.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
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