Direct Motocross Frid’Eh Update Presented by Loudmouth Intakes
By Kyle Carruthers, Jeff McConkey, and Billy Rainford
Week #9 belongs to Idaho…an, Morgan Burger. Bigwave photo
Welcome to week #9 of the DMX Frid’Eh Update Presented by Loudmouth Intakes. We’ve gotten to know this rider pretty well the past few years. He hails from Idaho and has become a staple in Canada, earning a career high #6 for 2013. If you’ve been watching Supercross this season, you may have noticed the #544 trying to make his first-ever main event. We grabbed him for a quick chat today to find out what he’s been up to since we last saw him at Walton Raceway back in mid-August:
[2014] was definitely a roller coaster ride. Everything came together very last-minute for me so I started the first couple rounds still trying to get my suspension dialed, so it was kind of a headache. The first couple rounds are my favourite and I was kind of bummed out that I couldn’t do as well as I usually do at tracks like Kamloops and Calgary. Altogether, it was just a really fun season traveling with a group of buddies in the good old Black Pearl. I feel like I could have been 8th in the points but I just had some bad luck here and there.
It just comes down to the confidence level. All those guys ahead of me and Dylan (Kaelin) are all on good bikes and I’m basically doing a privateer effort. It gets a little stressful during mid-week and all those guys have to focus on is getting to the track and riding a dirt bike. We have to figure out where we’re going to ride during the week, what kind of diet we can be on during the week, when and where we can exercise, getting to the track and making sure our bikes are good to go. It seems like those guys have to worry about a lot less. I could be wrong because there are two sides to every story.
After I came home from Walton I just kind of took a step back and relaxed for a little bit and hung out with some friends. I took a little bit of time off the bike and I got together with the same group form the summer and went and hit a couple races, like Dodge Am and all that. I did pretty good at Dodge and it felt pretty good to cap the year off.
Morgan has yet to make a Supercross main and that is what he’s shooting for. – Bigwave photo
[Supercross] is one of those lifetime goals that everybody has when they start riding dirt bikes. I did a little bit last year and had some up and down luck. I wanted to give it one more year and see how I do. There are so many more fast guys in the class this year compare to last. Hopefully, I’m going to do Santa Clara and try to cap that off as a childhood goal.
[Next summer] is what I’ve been trying to work out. Nobody has really been knocking at the door to offer me a ride which is understandable for a 9th place finish. It’s still kind of up in the air. I really want to travel with the whole RMX crew and do the Black Pearl moto, but we haven’t really lined anything out. I’d really like to come up to Canada again.
I’d like to thank Rocky Mountain Cycle and Sled, Insiduous Designs, OTW Safety, Rekluse Clutches, Acerbis, Scott, Strikt Gear Company, DrD, Devol Suspension, the Barnett Family, Red Boat Media, Spec Bolt, VP Fuels, Maxima, Verasty Clothing, Knobby Underwear, Flo Motorsport, Frenchie at C4MX, and my mom, dad, and my family.
Week #9 is brought to you by the guys at Loudmouth Intakes.
Week #9 is brought to you by Justin and Brendan Goldstein out of Palm Coast, Florida, and their Loudmouth Intakes system. If you’ve never heard of this little beauty engineer Justin developed for bikes and quads, you owe it to yourself to check them out. You will not find an easier or less expensive way to make an improvement to your ride.
I found this great write-up on them and their Loudmouth Intakes system framed on the wall in Brendan’s office here in Palm Coast. It’s from Motocross Action (November 2008):
MXA Five Star Rating for These guys???
Remember Justin and Brendan from Loudmouth MX? They came out to Glen Helen a few months ago and started pestering the MXA crew with a new air filter that Justin had designed. Though the Loudmouth system was head slapping simple in concept, it delivered the goods an lo and behold the brothers were able to walk away with a highly coveted five star rating in the November issue of Motocross Action.
Well done, guys. That was 7 years ago! Why haven’t you checked them out???
Kyle Carruthers
Yes, I am a little jealous right now of everyone who is down south riding. Between following Billy’s photos from GPF to seeing Jack Wright who won the ‘DMX Full Circle Award’ at the MMRS national head down for his free week at County Line MX I really I couldn’t get any more ticked off that I am sitting here in the cold still shoveling snow. To really top it off, I stopped in at Xtreme Toys yesterday in London to also find out that owner John Roney had also left for GPF. Yes, I may be one of the select few still here, or at least that is how I am feeling! The good news is that the temperature is looking warmer for the long term forecast and before you know it the sands of Gopher will thaw out and we will be riding up here once again.
Officially being a few months away still from the start of the Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals, the silly season talk is still going for some teams. We should get the final rosters a week before round one, right guys? I was talking to my good friend Gareth Buchanan from MXF Racing out of Alberta. Gareth has some big things in the works that he is trying to put together right now with two well-known riders out of the states who both could run top 3 up here on any giving track and possibly make a run at the title. Although I am sworn to secrecy on names, both of them would bring a lot of exposure to our series. Let’s just say one likes to goon ride from time to time. As any team has to, Gareth is currently just working on organizing sponsors and getting the proper things aligned to commit to all ten rounds of the series. If you’re interested in getting involved with this program or for more info on what MXF Racing is working on contact mxfracing313@outlook.com and Gareth just may tell you what he’s up to!
Jeff McConkey
Hey, guys. It’s Friday once again and it is finally starting to warm up. As we get closer and closer to March Break, more and more Canadians make the long trip south to start riding. Whether it be Florida, Georgia, on the East or California in the west, you are surely to run into many Canucks. Before making the journey and throwing a leg over a bike, make sure you have all the proper insurance needed. Don’t be caught with your pants down when it counts most. Southern Ontario racer Christian Sparks’ father John has been fighting and improving daily in a Florida hospital after a scary crash. It sounds like John and family are ready to make the trip back to Ontario and continue on their long journey. Please continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers, and if possible be sure to donate and help a great cause. Everything little bit helps. http://www.gofundme.com/johnsparks
Royal Distributing Fox KTM Canada Intro
Last weekend I was fortunate to make the trip to Montreal to meet and hangout with the great crew at KTM Canada. It started off with lunch with KTM’s Clody Lapointe, Chris Pomeroy and son Ayrton. After a quick lunch we headed back to headquarters and the meetings began. Clody (she spells it 3 different ways herself!) and new race team manager JSR ran us through a really informative presentation on History, Branding, Marketing, Social Media, and Contracts. Most meetings are super boring, but honestly Clody and JSR and Fox Canada’s Jason Moore killed it and the time flew.
After the meetings came time for the new team to have a few photos and videos taken of them. By this time everyone could hear Palms’ belly growling and we were off to dinner. I was instructed to follow JSR and Pomeroy to dinner, and if you think JSR hauled ass on a race bike…you should see him drive to dinner in Montreal traffic. WOW! I really believe I deserve some sort of award or maybe a ribbon for just making it to dinner on JSR’s tail. I’ve always been a fan of JSR on the track, but I can honestly say he is just as great off the track. It was really nice to get to chat with the Canadian G.O.A.T. and hear what he had to say.
After a nice dinner, it was time to head out for some Go Karting. Once again, I was told to follow JSR, this time I brought Jay from Fox with me, so I wouldn’t get lost alone. We arrived at the track in one piece and signed in and got ready for battle. We had a 15-minute qualifying heat on the slower karts before a super-fun 15-minute main in faster karts. It was a ton of fun to crash and bang with all the talent on the track. MX2 champion Kaven Benoit was the cream of the crop with Women’s East Champ Eve Brodeur‘s father Sylvain right on his tail. I myself was pretty brutal, but achieved my goal of not being last and beating Palms.
In the end, it was a great time had by all and I would like to thank Clody and everyone at KTM for the invite.
P.S. I see how Kaven Benoit has such a great-looking girlfriend. Who wouldn’t like a guy that wears his jersey out on a Friday night. (Haha) Sorry, Kaven.
Daytona SX
Daytona SX is this Saturday night and every point from here on in counts. I think there will be some shake-ups in both classes and can’t wait to watch. Here are my predictions:
250 East
1st Jeremy Martin
2nd Marvin Musquin
3rd R.J. Hampshire
4th Anthony Rodriguez
5th Matt Lemoine
450 Class
1st Blake Baggett
2nd Ryan Dungey
3rd Ken Roczen
4th Jason Anderson
5th Chad Reed
Well, that’s it for me this week. Check out my ‘Out Of The Blue‘ with Taylor Wright and my ‘On The Radar‘ with Dillon Murphy. Have a safe weekend and always #smileforBC!
Billy Rainford
Thanks, guys. I’ve been down at GPF all week after the Atlanta SX. The weather has bee great until today. If it makes you feel any better, it is pretty chilly and raining here in Dayton right now, AND it turns out I have been battling a flu! Nope, I haven’t had one since I was a little kid. DOn’t even remember when it would have been. All I know is that it makes living in an RV pretty difficult. Fortunately, we’re hanging out in the beautiful and spacious digs of Brendan from Loudmouth Intakes here in Palm Coast, Florida. It’s about 30 minutes north of Daytona International Speedway on I-95.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, these moto road trips are amazing – you get tons of content for the site. The problem is you never have time to do anything with the content you’ve amassed! I’ve got so much video to edit, so many photos to look at, and stories to tell but there just isn’t enough time in a day when you’re driving from place to place.
For example, yesterday we left GPF pretty early in the morning on our way here. Well, of course we had to stop into WW Ranch to check out the facility Jeremy Medaglia was raving about when he got back the other day. Then we headed into Palatka to check out the setting for the first round of the GNCC Championship. You know, the one Tyler Medaglia will be competing in on Sunday. Then we continued our drive to Palm Coast and arrived late at night. Today we wanted to check out Daytona so we cruised the strip as the 74th Annual Bike Week is just firing up. Well, we had to pop in to see Scott ‘Donk’ Donkersgoed at the first round of the Geico Endurocross that happens tonight around 7. What I’m trying to say is that I haven’t had time to actually do anything with the material. It also means that there should be lots of interesting things posted up on the site in the coming week or two as I make my way back to snowy Ontario via Club MX in South Carolina. Basically, there just aren’t enough hours in a day!
We stopped into WW Ranch near Jacksonville, Florida, to grab a bunch of shots. – Bigwave photo
Then we went to Palatka to check out the GNCC site. – Bigwave photo
We saw Donk today with his rider Mike Brown getting ready for the first round of the Geico Endurocross Championships in Daytona. – Bigwave photo
And, of course, we had to drive through downtown Daytona as the 74th Annual Bike Week gets underway. – Nicholson photo
Tomorrow is, of course, the Daytona SX so we’ll be busy all day with that awesome event. Following that is the Ricky Carmichael Amateur SX Sunday/Monday and the Tyler medaglia’s GNCC over in Palatka on Sunday. This time I REALLY mean it…see you at the races!
