Frid’Eh Update #46 | Marco Cannella | Presented by Yamaha Motor Canada

Frid’Eh Update #46 | Marco Cannella | Presented by Yamaha Motor Canada

By Billy Rainford

Welcome to Week #46 of the DMX Frid’Eh Update this week presented by Yamaha Motor Canada. There have been quite a few developments over this past week that will see me changing plans and going in a direction I wasn’t expecting. More on that later.

Marco Cannella is career #46 here in Canada. He’s a rider who’s been under the magnifying glass since he was a little kid ripping around on a 50cc. He’s one of a few fast riders who came up at the same time on the Ontario circuit and around the US Amateur National scene.

He headed into the 2021 season with the 250 MX title all but pinned to his back, if you were to listen to any of the Canadian moto writers. I was guilty of thinking he would be the one to beat, but, in the end, I picked the rider who did end up taking the 250 MX title, Jake Piccolo.

Marco was either winning the race or struggling; there didn’t seem to be a middle ground for him last season. Of course, I asked him about that in our conversation this past week.

Here’s a look at his 2021 Canadian Triple Crown season:

He ended up having to come from behind to tie young Ryder McNabb in points for 4th overall in the Triple Crown points race at the final SX of the season.

Here’s what Marco had to say when we got in touch with him this week:

Direct Motocross: Hey, Marco. 2021 seemed like an interesting one for you. You came in as the odd-on favourite to take the 250 MX crown but you had an up-and-down series. Can you tell us about it from your perspective?

Marco Cannella: Hey, Billy. Yes, I definitely came into the 2021 season with some high expectations from a lot of people. Mainly high expectations from myself as the two guys who finished in front of me the year prior had moved up to the 450 class. I knew I’d be in title contention.

Everything happened so fast, with the series being so short. I felt like Walton 1 went pretty well for me, coming from 22nd to almost passing for second on the last lap and missing the overall win by 1 point that day.

Next thing you know there’s 75 points on the line the next day in 45 minutes of racing. 15-minute motos I don’t think is meant for professional motocross races. We train so hard all year to be ready and they brought us back to amateur-length motos. Regardless of that one moto can lose you a lot of points. I had some tough luck moto 3 but I figured we could still come back in the points.

The next weekend at Gopher Dunes we had bike problems on Saturday which basically took me out of the championship by the second weekend of racing. I mean, I felt good the rest of the year getting some moto wins but stuff happens and things didn’t go my way this year. But I felt I learned a lot which is only gonna make me that much stronger going into 2021. 

And then we headed into Supercross and you were either taking the checkered flag or having issues. How would you say the SX portion of the series go for you?

The SX portion went pretty well for me. I felt prepared coming into round 1. I liked the track and it was nice to get an overall win, finally, and the the red plate on my bike.

I had a decent points lead going into the final weekend of racing and ripped a great start moto one, but we all know what happened in the third corner… Lol. Some people aren’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it is what it is.

We were all pretty close in speed that weekend and I gave it everything I had. To come up short of the championship sucks but that’s motocross – only 1 person can win and, hopefully, I can be at the top next year. 

What have you been doing since the series ended? Are you working for your dad (Sam Cannella) still or doing something else?

Since the season ended I’ve been taking some time off just to reset and rest the body. I’ve been working with my dad and another contractor which has been fun learning new stuff. And working always gives you a better perspective on how good we have it as racers. Even when the going is tough, getting to ride a motorcycle for a living isn’t too bad.

How’s the cycling going? Any new bikes coming or going over there? 

There’s always new bikes rolling though my place. I just picked up a new bike and trainer the other day. Probably time to sell off a couple of them but for now I like having them around. They’re like pieces of art to me.

Mini O’s is next week. I remember you racing there. Do you miss the amateur national days? What was the best one you ever did?

I always loved the big amateur nationals, but you don’t realize how much fun they really are until you don’t get to go to them anymore. Of course, my best memory would be winning my championship at Loretta Lynn’s but I always loved racing at Freestone and Daytona. Pretty cool experiences getting to travel around with my family and race against the best kids. Walton was also one of my favourite amateur races. They used to prep the track unreal and it would get some of the best lines I’ve ever seen.

Where and when will you train down south this winter?

This all depends on when we are going racing, and where my teammates are planning to go as well. It’s always better to train all together so that is still up in the air at this point. 

We heard rumours you were going to race the Future West Moto AX series but then we heard you were going to focus on doing some AMA Supercross instead. Are you going to make that happen? What’s the plan?

I was trying to work some stuff out to do the full east coast series. A lot is still a question mark as far as what kind of support I can put together to get to the races. Regardless of that, I still wanna try and hit a couple races even if it’s just me driving to them in my van on my own. I think it would be a great experience.

This is a contract year for you. What do we think is going to happen for 2022? Are you and Kevin Tyler going to go for an extension?

Well, I still haven’t delivered KT a number one plate, sadly. I don’t think he would have stuck behind me this long if he thought I couldn’t do it, though. I’ve been super happy with the team and the bikes so I can definitely see another year on blue. 

Another rumour was that you may end up being their 450 guy. Is that something you’d like to do or do you think you still have unfinished business in the 250 class?

I definitely have unfinished business in the 250 class. I’m only 21 and I want a championship before I move to the 450’s, so I’m planning to be in the same class for next year. It would have to take something crazy to see me on the 450.

Hey, if we lined up the Canadian Pros in a road cycling race, how would the top 5 look? Let’s say, in a 40K race.

This is a tough one. Cycling is so much about strategy that who knows what would happen. I’d think me and ol T-Dags (Tyler Medaglia) battle for p.1. I’d probably put Tommy Gun (Cole Thompson), even though he’s not as into cycling as we are, battling with us, too, because, man, he puts a lot of time in on the bicycle. It’s pretty impressive, actually. Maff (Shawn Maffenbeier) is strong af, but we all know he’s a mountain bike guy. From personal experience, my old pal, Austin Jones, is a master drafter so he could be in the slipstream for 39.95k and pop out of nowhere, trying to take all the glory. Haha. Top three: T-Dags, me, Tommy. 

OK, say hello to your folks for me. Good luck with the winter season and who would you like to thank?

Thanks, Billy, I will for sure. I just wanna say thanks to Kevin and the MX101 team for giving me the opportunity to go racing this year and all my people, you know who you are, thank you.

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50th Annual Mini O’s

As I said in the opening paragraph, things have changed and it looks like I’ll be able to head down to Gainesville, Florida, again to check out some amateur racing at the 50th Annual Thor Mini O’s at Gatorback.

With all the craziness going on in BC right now, the Future West Moto Canadian Arenacross Championships have been put on hold until January. More on that later.

We’ve got some fast riders down south planning to race next week, so it’s always a great trip down the I-75 to Florida.

I messaged with Sebastien Racine and asked him who else was down there. He said Tyler Kirby, Payton Morningstar, Brennen Schofield, Jeremy Mckie, Nathan Snelgrove, Justin Burge, and Malia Garant, off the top of his head.

You can watch the entire week live on Racer TV again, starting with 6 hours on Saturday for Supercross practice.

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Future West Moto Canadian Arenacross Championships Postponed

I just want to take a moment to wish everyone out there in BC all the best with this flooding recovery. I know our good friend James Lissimore is basically living on an island at his place there in Abbotsford. With more rain in the forecast for next week, let’s all hope they can get this under control.

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Podcast with 1984 Canadian Champ and MXGP Contender Mike Harnden

One of the coolest parts of this gig is getting to talk with racers from bygone eras, riders who made a difference and carved a special niche in our sport. I’m pretty old and that means my personal interaction and memories of MX go back pretty far. No, not as far as some, but far enough that I can go back to the early 1980’s and remember seeing many of our greats in action.

One such rider is Mike Harnden from Oshawa, Ontario. Mike was one of the riders who always made a splash when they showed up at an event I was also racing. Of course, I was always a few classes below Mike, but I have distinct memories of finding out he was at the same race as me and being pretty pumped. I’d line the fences and watch him turn laps at speeds I could only dream of.

Well, fast forward a few decades and now I get the chance to interview him for one of our History of Canadian Motocross podcasts.

Mike was a very timely interview because he is the last rider to head over to Europe to race more than 1 MXGP event before Dylan Wright just did it.

I’d always heard Mike was an interesting interview full of wild stories, so I was really looking forward to our conversation. He didn’t let me down.

He didn’t want to tell his “burning van” story again, but I dragged it out of him. He painted quite a picture of it in all its detailed glory. You have to hear it.

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