Frid’Eh Update #36 | Teren Gerber | Brought to You by Troy Lee Designs

Frid’Eh Update #36 | Teren Gerber | Brought to You by Troy Lee Designs

By Billy Rainford

Hello and welcome to Week #36 of the DMX Frid’EH Update this week brought to you by Troy Lee Designs Canada. Once again, I find myself on the road heading to a race on a Friday afternoon. I’m currently passing through Ohio on my way to the first round of the inaugural Supermotocross Playoffs at Z Max Dragstrip near Charlotte, North Carolina. It’s weird because I never go south this way but come home this way all the time. I usually power down I-75 all the way to Florida and then work my way home up I-95 so I can stop in at Club MX. Google Maps always sends me home from there the same route I’m taking now in the reverse direction.

Having said that, this will be another relatively brief Frid’Eh Update as I’ve left myself without much time to do the 12-hour drive from London and get a decent night’s sleep before the racing starts up in the morning.

I got lucky with the lead photo this week, and I’ll tell you why. Teren Gerber from Alberta is #36 for the 2023 Canadian Triple Crown Series but he hasn’t lined up for a National event yet. Fortunately, he was also #36 back in 2019, so I have a bunch of photos of him running the digits and found one to use for the lead this week.

We’ve gotten to know Teren pretty well over the last few years. He was always a pretty shy guy to interview, but we pushed through that and he’s opened up in conversations with us a bunch of times since those days.

He looks to have found a new passion with racing mountain bikes lately, so we were sure to ask him about that in our conversation this week. Here’s our interview with the rider from Coronation, AB:

Direct Motocross: OK, let’s first back up to 2022 when you raced the entire 250 MX season and finished 15th to get #36 for the 2023 season. Can you sum up 2022 for us before we move on?

Teren Gerber: Yeah, 2022 was a good year, but it definitely had its ups and downs as usual. I always tend to put a lot of pressure on myself so obviously I wanted better results, but I did have a career best moto finish with an 8th in Moncton. 

But then you had to get some ACL surgery last December. What happened?

Yeah, so I’ve had a torn ACL for a few years and decided that it was time to get the surgery. Reflecting back on the injury I should have had surgery when it first happened, but I guess you live and you learn. Haha.

And then last time we talked you were hoping to race a 450 in the western portion of the Nationals in 2023. What happened there?

Yeah, I was really hoping to do the west rounds this year but my knee wasn’t feeling the best on the bike. I just had a lack of mobility and I was on a new bike. So in the end I wasn’t 100% comfortable and decided to not race.

I know I saw you somewhere this summer. What races were you at and what were you doing?

Yeah, so I still went and watched the races that were close, Edmonton and Calgary. It was great to see everyone and cheer on all the buddies.

And you’ve really been getting into the MTB racing scene. What have you been doing there?

Yeah, over the winter sitting on the couch recovering from knee surgery and something excites me about racing MTB’s. I was watching a bunch of YouTube and it got my really pumped to try out that style of racing, so I started doing all the enduro races I could make it to and really enjoyed them. I have ridden mountain bikes for fun the past few years and mostly used it for cross training. We also have a lot of good trails just outside of Calgary that are great to ride.

I always joke with younger riders that they will end up racing bicycles at some point. Have you always cycled or are you really ramping that up?

I have always ridden bikes here and there as a kid, but growing up I lived so far from the mountains that I never really thought about it. But now that I live in Calgary it makes it a lot easier. The sport is so much fun and I’ve been really enjoying it. I’m definitely gonna keep doing it.

I also see that you’ve been back on a dirt bike recently. What have you been doing as far as MX goes lately?

Yeah, I was still riding a few times over the summer. Not as much as I was hoping to but once I went all in on mountain bikes it felt like I didn’t have much time for it anymore. I was riding at the track in Calgary. The new Yamaha 450 has been good. I definitely will need some more seat time to get used to it but I really like being on the 450.

Are you still busy farming? What kind do you guys do?

The past few weeks I’ve been back at my parents’ place working on the farm. We only do grain farming and we rotate each year between canola and wheat. We are on canola this year and harvest will last another month or so.

What are your winter plans?

As of right now I’m not really sure. There are a bunch of ideas going through my head. Haha. Hopefully, I’ll get to travel somewhere to get some mountain biking in and also find a job for most of the winter to pay for my expensive habits.

And how about your 2024 racing plans? Will you be back at the races?

I want to keep racing the Canadian enduro mountain bike series and also hope to race some more motocross. We will see but I enjoy both sports and hope to keep doing them.

What are your plans for the future as far as work goes? 

Right now I haven’t found what I wanna do for a career yet. I’m sure I’ll figure it out sometime but until I figure it out I’ll keep doing the things that I love to do.

Hey, would Eli Tomac have been able to run with or beat Jett Lawrence this summer?

Oh man, that’s a tough question. It’s hard to bet against either of them but I might have to put my money on Jett. His style was flawless and was so dominant in every aspect. But it would have been great to watch if Eli was able to race!

OK, thanks for catching us all up this week, Teren. Good luck in the future and who would you like to thank? 

Yeah, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to do this interview with me, Mountains Edge, Troy Lee Designs, Lifestyle drywall, my girlfriend, and my parents.

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Supermotocross Playoff Round 1 Saturday

Ultra-Talented Field of 65cc World All-Stars Announced for Opening SuperMotocross World Championship Playoff Round

22 Elite Amateur Racers Ages 8-12 to Showcase Sport’s Youngest Stars

ELLENTON, Fla. // MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (September 7, 2023) – As the anticipation continues to build before motorcycles take to the track at Concord, North Carolina’s zMAX Dragway to officially begin preparations for the inaugural SuperMotocross World Championship Playoffs, the SuperMotocross (SMX) League has confirmed the field of exceptionally talented amateur youth racers that will comprise the 65cc World All-Stars. This 22-racer field of the sport’s youngest stars, ranging from ages 8 to 12, will share the spotlight with the 60 professional racers that make up the 450cc and 250cc divisions in the SMX Playoffs with a special showcase race between the first and second set of motos on Saturday, September 9.

Headlining the field of 65cc All-Stars are a trio of AMA National Champions from the 2023 Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship this past August from Tennessee’s famed Loretta Lynn’s Ranch. The youngest of this group, 10-year-old Jaydin Smart, from Berry Creek, California, captured the 65cc (7-9) Limited division championship aboard a Cobra, while 12-year-olds Easton Graves, from Walker, Louisiana, and Jackson Vick, from Highland Village, Texas, both rode KTMs to the 65cc (10-11) and 65cc (10-11) Limited titles, respectively.

Complementing their success at Loretta Lynn’s, Graves and Vick also represented Team USA during July’s 2023 FIM Junior Motocross World Championship in Romania along with another All-Star entrant, 11-year-old Eiden Steinbrecher, from Fair Oaks, California. Graves led the way for the team with individual runner-up honors in the 65cc class.

“We are excited to see the fastest youth racers in the world take on the racetrack at zMAX Dragway,” said MX Sports’ Tim Cotter, Director of the Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship. “While several of these riders were crowned national champions this past August at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch for the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship, the rest of the field is also very competitive. That means it’s anyone’s game in Concord.” The 65cc World All-Stars represent 13 different states, from California to Florida and in-between, and will line up on the starting gate for their Main Event on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. PT / 4 p.m. ET with an eight-minute plus one-lap moto.

65cc Amateur All-Stars Entry List #3 Beckham Smith // Canyon, Texas // KTM #4 Jaydin Smart // Berry Creek, California // Cobra #14 Landon Lee // Midland, Texas // KTM #16 Gavin McCoy // Clever, Missouri // Cobra #23 Austin Keller // Orlando, Florida // KTM #24 Eidan Steinbrecher // Fair Oaks, California // GASGAS #28 Seth Kemnitz // Corona, California // GASGAS #29 Brayton Kreglow // Panama City Beach, Florida // Yamaha #30 Brody Bircher // Montverde, Florida // KTM #31 Easton Graves // Walker, Louisiana // KTM #41 Camden Scoggin // Lebanon, Tennessee // KTM #70 Jackson Vick // Highland Village, Texas // KTM #80 Easton Kerby // Spencer, West Virginia // KTM #81 Brycen DeJonge // Lakeway, Texas // KTM #83 Kylan Stewart // Belton, South Carolina // KTM #89 Whalyn Ballenger // Naples, Florida // GASGAS #127 Joseph Vicari // Oxford, Michigan // KTM #132 Gavyn Welzien // Orlando, Florida // Cobra #234 Colt Whitaker // Greensburg, Indiana // GASGAS #260 Abshur Hall // Morganton, North Carolina // Cobra #674 Anderson Waldele // Lizella, Georgia // KTM #698 Carter Gray // Saint Clairsville, Ohio // Cobra

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Cole Thompson Heading back to Australia

Cole Thompson from Brigden, Ontario, will be heading back to Australia to race the 3-round Fox Australian Supercross series where he finished 2nd last season.

EVENTS

• ROUND 1: ADELAIDE, SA October 7
• ROUND 2: NEWCASTLE, NSW November 11
• ROUND 3: MELBOURNE, VIC November 24

Cole said he will go there and back for Round 1 and then stay in Australia between the final 2 rounds.

He also said he’ll be returning to race Monster Energy AMA Supercross with his Heartbeat Hot Sauce team again to compete in 250 West. This coming season, they will have a 450 for him to race select eastern 450 rounds where it makes sense to do so. Last year, he tried it on his practice 250 and it just wasn’t enough, so this should make for a competitive year for him.

Good luck to Cole and his teams.

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We’ll have Noel Flatters from Superfine Media at the final round of the AMSA Championship at Wild Rose in Calgary on Saturday. He’ll be the one taking the reins of the DMX Instagram page from Alberta while I do the same from North Carolina, so be sure to check it all out.

OK, I can see that I’ll already be driving well past midnight and track walk is bright and early at 8:00am tomorrow, so I’d better get back on the highway just in time to hit Columbus rush hour…

Have a great weekend, everyone.