Frid’Eh Update #42 Presented by RMR Online Outlet

By Jeff McConkey and Billy Rainford

Week #42 belongs to Quebec rider, Jean Christophe Bujold | Bigwave photo

Welcome to week #42 of the DMX Frid’Eh Update. It’s hard to believe but this means there are only about 10 weeks left in 2016! Wow, where does time go? If you are young, you have yet to appreciate the way time seems to speed up as you age, but you’ll understand it soon enough, believe me!

We’ve known Jean Christophe Bujold for a long time now. It’s been fun watching his progression through the amateur ranks to now when he has finally made it up to the Pros. He’s always been on people’s radar as one to watch and now it’s time for him to prove his worth at the highest level of the sport.

He surprised us and showed up at the first round of the 2016 Rockstar Energy MX Nationals in Kamloops and had an impressive first moto, taking 14th. The second moto didn’t go as he’d hoped and his 14-36 gave him 22nd overall. He went back home to Quebec and skipped the next couple rounds, but showed up in Calgary for round 4 and finished 10th (7-16). That was a great result!

He finished the season with a 15th in MX2. Here’s a look at his season:

We grabbed him for a chat today to get his take on his first season in the Pro ranks and find out what his plans for the future are. Here’s what he had to say:

Direct Motocross: Hello, JC. Let’s back up to the start. How did you get into motocross?

JC Bujold: I start motocross mostly because of my dad. He was doing motocross for fun and then at 4 years old he got me a PW 50 and year after year we just like this sport more and more.

As a little guy, what was your motocross dream? To make it to Supercross in the USA?

I didn’t know what to expect from myself because when I was young I was not the fastest on the track but still yes to be one of the best in the world was a dream and even today it’s still the same dream.

Who impressed JC the most this past summer? “My dad. He was on it. [He] really worked hard on the bike and everything to get me the best equipment and in the best shape to be there!” | Bigwave photo

You had your first fill season as a Pro in 2016. How did it go for you?

Was a good season for me. I did two race out west and it was a nice experience… and I was coming back from my broken femur. I guess with the couple bad luck I had during the season I am proud of myself and will ride with the number #29 next year.

What was your best race this past summer?

My best race, for sure, was the first round in the east at Gopher Dunes. [In the] first heat, I did 11th and the second one I did 9th for 9th over all. Really proud of this one.

What was the biggest difference you noticed racing the Pro class compared to all your Amateur races?

The start. I couldn’t have a good start all season long and I was coming back after the start, but in amateur the starts are not the same thing.

Were you happy with your finishes this summer?

I am happy with my results but I need to practice my starts for the next season and the results will be better.

What is the main thing you’ll try to improve for 2017?

I guess I already answered in the other question, my starts, but also need to practice some heats on a turn track without crashing.

What did you get up to after the Rockstar Energy series finished?

I race in the Challenge Quebec Association for the end of the championship and then was doing motocross in the trails for fun.

What are your winter racing and training plans?

Me and my dad are thinking to send me maybe 1 month at the Club57 during January.

JC’s best race last season was round 5 at Gopher Dunes where he finished 9th overall | Bigwave photo

Who impressed you the most this summer at the races?

My dad. He was on it. [He] really worked hard on the bike and everything to get me the best equipment and in the best shape to be there!

What are your goals for next season? Are you staying in MX2?

It will only be my second season in Pro, so yes I will stay in MX2, but I want to do all the season west and east to do a couple of top tens.

Thanks for taking the time to talk with us today, JC. Good luck and who would you like to thank?

I want to thank my dad, my mom and my sister who are always cheering, also Claude Ste-Marie-Sport, Motovan, Honda, Oakley, KB5 and everyone… thanks to you also, Billy!

Good luck with your training this winter, JC.

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Jeff McConkey

Hey, guys. Happy Friday. For being the off season, we have a fair bit going on up here in the Great White North. Round 1 of the Canadian National AX Tour was last Saturday in Sarnia, Ontario. The AX Tour crew runs a great program, and I was a little disappointed in the amateur turnout. I’m hoping it was due to the fact that last weekend was Thanksgiving. Round 2 goes off this Saturday in Barrie Ontario. We have a ton of racers of all ages and skill in Southern Ontario, so I am expecting full gates. Before you know it, winter will be here and every racer in Ontario will be bitching about how bad they miss riding. Here’s your chance.

Canadian National Arenacross Tour

I guess the big news in Sarnia last week was the addition of Colton Facciotti, and the loss of Matt Goerke. Colton decided to race the opener just a few days prior, and it was a good choice. He looked really good on both bikes and I really hope he can make it to more rounds. With Matt Goerke out due to injury, OTSFF Rockstar Yamaha brought in veteran Chris Blose. Chris instantly made an impact and won both the AX Pro main and the AX Lites main. Another rider who looked great in Sarnia was the #12 of Steven Mages. Steven was a hair off the pace in both mains finishing 3rd, but rode fantastic in the Clash for Cash passing Blose clean on the last lap for 2nd. All in all, it was a pretty solid first round. The guys from AX Tour have been doing this a long time, and run a very well-oiled program. I’m pretty excited for round 2.

Canadian AX Tour | Round 1 | RESULTS

Hiawatha Horse Park

Sarnia, Ontario

Saturday, October 8, 2016

AX Pro (10 Laps)

1. 101 Chris Blose YAM

2. 2 Colton Facciotti HON

3. 12 Steven Mages KAW

4. 701 Karl Normand KTM

5. 34 Westen Wrozyna KAW

6. 313 Kyle Swanson KAW

7. 471 Logan Karnow HON

8. 864 Austin Haught YAM

9. 614 Bennet Amyotte YAM

10. 955 Michael Smith KAW

11. 5 Brock Leitner KAW

12. 17 Seth Green YAM

13. 33 Timothy Patterson YAM

AX Lites (10 Laps)

1. 101 Chris Blose YAM

2. 2 Colton Facciotti HON

3. 12 Steven Mages KAW

4. 34 Westen Wrozyna KAW

5. 424 Austin Watling HON

6. 471 Logan Karnow HON

7. 46 Marco Cannella YAM

8. 313 Kyle Swanson KAW

9. 5 Brock Leitner KAW

10. 17 Seth Green YAM

11. 184 Tanner Ward KTM

12. 955 Michael Smith KAW

13. 77 Justin Roney HON

14. 559 Jake Jones YAM

15. 33 Timothy Patterson YAM

Clash for Cash (20 Laps)

1. 2 Colton Facciotti HON

2. 12 Steven Mages KAW

3. 101 Chris Blose YAM

4. 707 Karl Normand KTM

5. 471 Logan Karnow HON

6. 5 Brock Leitner KAW

7. 46 Marco Cannella YAM

8. 424 Austin Watling HON

9. 34 Westen Wrozyna KAW

10. 313 Kyle Swanson KAW

11. 864 Austin Haught YAM

12. 614 Bennet Amyotte YAM

Monster Energy Cup

Speaking of excitement, who else is excited for the Monster Energy Cup? Ryan Dungey is back, Ken Roczen is debuting his HRC Facorty Honda. Some riders are back from injury, others are on new rides, and a few are still fighting and auditioning for the very few rides available.Everyone is making a big deal about the 2017 Honda 450 that Roczen will be riding. People are saying it’s an amazing bike, blah blah blah. It could possibly be the best, or the worst bike for ’17. Good or bad, Roczen will be a front-runner on talent alone. I myself am excited to see what happens.

As excited as I am for Monster Cup, I’m also a little bummed out. There is some serious talent not lining up this weekend. As I was scrolling through the Entry List, I noticed quite a few names that are main event guys. My count may be off, but I’m counting around 10 top level guys lining up this weekend. That means lots of ‘filler.’ It’s not the end of the world, but I for one wanted to see Cooper Webb on his new 450 Yamaha ride, Trey Canard on his new Red Bull KTM, and Justin Barcia on his new JGR Suzuki ride. Either way, it will be a great event, and here are my overall predictions:

Monster Cup

1st Cole Seely

2nd Ryan Dungey

3rd Ken Roczen

4th Eli Tomac

5th Marvin Musquin

If you want to see who’s IN and who’s OUT, Racer X did all the leg work and put together a comprehensive list that you can check out HERE.

2017 KTM Off-Road Media Launch

Switching gears to off-road, Billy and I were lucky enough to be invited to the 2017 KTM Off-Road Media Launch this past Wednesday. The launch was held at the Cochrane’s Off-Road Facility near Brighton, Ontario. We were all told to meet with our gear bags at 9am. Everyone but Billy remembered their gear, and I just can’t let Billy off the hook for this one.

The day started off with a brief introduction, and then the riding began. They had us go in 2 groups of 4, and had each of us spend a good amount of time on each of the 4 models they had brought. Claudie Lapointe and Marc Brunet from KTM had set us up a pretty fun 4km loop that wasn’t too difficult, we just made it look that way. Billy and I will touch on each individual model and our thoughts on the bikes early next week.

A big thank you to Claudie, Marc, and everyone from KTM, who made this day happen. It was a ton of fun, and I actually learned quite a bit. Now that I’m an off-road specialist, maybe it’s time for me to take another stab at racing The Cord?!

We got to ride at the KTM 2017 Off-Road Media Launch this past Wednesday | Bigwave photo

Motopark moves in at County Line in Florida.

That’s it for me, but before I go, Motopark has announced the opening of MP at County Line in Fontaine, Florida. The details haven’t been released yet, but you can just imagine the possibilities. Be sure to check out Shrader’s ‘Out of the Blue‘ with Émilie Lessard and Gamma Powersports ‘On the Radar‘ featuring my good buddy Kyle Sheppard.

Have a great week and I will see you in Barrie. I hope Billy doesn’t forget the camera gear like he forgot his MX gear bag. Just kidding, Billy, at least I didn’t say anything about how much you stalled the bikes…

Billy Rainford

Haha, thanks for all that, Jeff. I am the first to admit that we are mediocre riders, at best. But hey, at least I wasn’t always just mediocre, Jeff! No, you definitely owed me that dig after I focused on your little crash during the ride day on the KTMs. Of course, the one time you actually hit the ground is the time we strap the WASP Cam on the top of Peter Marcelli‘s helmet for a lap behind us. It was a great day of riding and although neither of us is going to head out and do well at an enduro race any time soon, it was a ton of fun.

Like Jeff, I’d like to thank the gang for making a fun-but-easy loop for us to ride and get a feel for the differences between all the bikes in the 250cc Off-Road line up. Oh, what’s that you say? You haven’t seen the video? Well, you’re in luck, here it is:

2016 Challenge Quebec Points | Overall

Pro Class

Women’s A Class

Supermini

Have fun at the season-ending party this weekend, everyone.

The Corduroy Enduro | 2016 Results

Now that Jeff and I are such experienced off-road riders (wink, wink), we realized we didn’t post the results of from the race that rekindled Jeff’s love of wet logs and oddly shaped rock crossings. Here are the Pro and Women’s A class results from ‘The Cord,’ September 24-25:

We found these results at www.offroadontario.ca.

Maybe next year, eh Jeff?

Future West Arenacross Championships

So far, top Pro riders scheduled to compete in the series include returning multi-time champion, Ross Johnson, Davey Fraser, and Shawn Maffenbeier.

And now for something completely different…

MXF Racing Rig For Sale

We are selling our race rig. As in life, things change and with no support and kids getting older and taking their new life’s paths, it’s time to make some changes. It’s going to be hard to see it go, but not really feasible just for one vet racer.
If interested, please contact Gareth Buchanan: tmkproductionservices@telus.net

MXF Rig

MXF Racing Rig For Sale.

Costa Rican Motocross Championships | Cole Thompson Update

screen-shot-2016-10-14-at-1-37-58-pm

2016 Canadian MX 2 champion, Cole Thompson, has been competing in the 2016 Costa Rican Motocross Nationals. There are 2 rounds left and Cole has headed to Central America to race this weekend at Pista Los Alpinos.

Cole did, in fact, hurt his hand at the last round he competed in and just got back on the bike this week. He was feeling OK on the bike so they made the decision to race this weekend, according to his brother, Justin.

Trying to find more information on the series using Google Translate has proven difficult. I found out that when they get to the final round, “each rider will eliminate its worst two heats,” so this should help Cole in the title chase.

Obviously, Cole’s hand and his illness kept him off the track last week at round 1 of the Canadian AX Tour in his hometown, so it’s great to hear that he’s back up and running.

screen-shot-2016-10-14-at-1-55-10-pm

As you can see, Cole has won every round he’s been at. Good luck this weekend, Cole.

2016 Zwarte Cross Came and Went without us Knowing!

No, I really have no idea what the heck is going on here, but it just might show up on your updated Bucket List!

Get a load of this nonsense! It happens in July. HERE is the website.

Zwarte Cross 2014 – Aftermovie 2014 from Zwarte Cross on Vimeo.

I have nowhere to go after that video. It’s time to load up the #DMXVan and head 40 minutes north of Toronto to the Molson Centre in Barrie for round 2 of the Canadian National Arenacross Tour. Be sure to check in Saturday night at 7pm EST to catch the Valvoline AX Tour LIVE broadcast where Andy White, Ryan Gauld, and I will bring you all the action from above the track and on it.

Oh, and for those wondering when we’ll have a video edit done from our Team Canada experience over at the 2016 Monster Energy MXON in Italy, well, my Mac Book Pro apparently had an inherent defect that caused a recall that I am now past date on. I can’t edit the content to the extent I want, so I’ll have to wait until I can get this situation sorted out. My computer shuts off as soon as I try to do anything other than plop video into the timeline. It needs a little more attention than that.

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend, everyone.