By Billy Rainford
So, I woke up to a snowstorm this morning. In like a lamb out like a lion, I guess. We hit 20C here a couple weeks ago and it was enough for us to turn our outside water on and kick the dirt bike over in the shed. It was a big day. Now I sit here as the snow falls and actually starts to accumulate! However, I refuse to shovel this close to April. I’m just not doing it.
But for all I know this is just happening in London and it’s sunny and dry outside my city. I’ve been happy not to be driving anywhere in the van this past week, so I haven’t ventured out past the city limits. Is it nice out there?
This big news over the weekend was that Parker Eales from Maple Ridge, BC headed to Seattle to compete in his first-ever Monster Energy AMA Supercross at Lumen Field. I don’t even know what “Lumen” is, but they have naming right s to a massive stadium. Be right back, I’m going to hit the Google machine…
From Lumen.com:
Lumen is a multinational technology company that enables companies to capitalize on emerging applications and power the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR). This revolution is redefining how we live and work, creating an unprecedented need for an advanced application delivery architecture—designed specifically to handle the complex and data-intensive workloads of next-gen technology and businesses.
That’s a lot of jargon.
Anyway, Seattle in late March is a risky prospect at an outdoor stadium. I lived in the Pacific Northwest (Vancouver) for 11 years and I know what the chances of a dry day are at this time of year…slim.
Parker’s Lower Mainland buddy, Kyle Springman, was with him to help out and he also sent us over a few photos and updates throughout the day/night. Thanks for that, Carl. I’ll see you in Kamloops for a Sneaky Weasel drop-off.
Here’s a look at Parker’s day in Seattle (Kyle Springman photos):
Qualifying: 38th
On to the night show…
Heat 1: 18th
On to the LCQ…
LCQ: 16th
We’ll be sure to have a chat with Parker as soon as we can today. I tried to get Kyle to do a video interview on his phone but they were off to an after party that Kourtney Lloyd from Cycle North up in Prince George, BC put together, so we know they had other things on their minds. I get it. We’ll make do with a podcast interview.
Qualifying back in 38th meant he was under the racing 8 ball right from the get-go. He was forced to start from way on the outside and was in tough to parlay that into a qualifying spot directly from the heat and then would have a poor gate pick for the LCQ. Your fate is sealed from qualifying and that’s something every new SX racer has to learn the hard way.
That first Supercross is something Parker will remember for the rest of his life. Sure, he’ll always be nervous before any future SX he does down there, but they won’t compare to what he just went through on Saturday.
For a guy who was at the “crossroads,” he sure bit off a lot at the top level of our sport! Congratulations, Parker.
Tyler Medaglia and Shelby Turner GNCC Round 4
Tyler Medaglia was back in action this week at Round 4 of the GNCC Racing series – Tiger Run in Union, South Carolina.
Coming off a big win the week before in the Full Gas Enduro Series, Tyler had Jim Edgar and ‘Pops‘ Edgar on hand to help out again.
Here’s a look at the XC1 Pro results:
| 01. XC1 Open Pro – Bike – Class Results | ||||||
| Place | Nbr | Name | Hometown | Brand | Laps | Elapsed |
| 1 | 001 | BENJAMIN M KELLEY | HARWINTON, CT | KTM | 7 | 03:02:24.719 |
| 2 | 003 | JORDAN ASHBURN | LIVINGSTON, TN | HQV | 7 | 03:03:50.379 |
| 3 | 739 | TREVOR BOLLINGER | MORGANTON, NC | HQV | 7 | 03:05:00.393 |
| 4 | 342 | CRAIG B DELONG | MORGANTOWN, PA | HQV | 7 | 03:09:15.110 |
| 5 | 314 | GRANT BAYLOR | HONEA PATH, SC | GAS | 7 | 03:09:47.019 |
| 6 | 515 | TYLER D MEDAGLIA | CANADA, // | GAS | 7 | 03:11:45.539 |
| 7 | 206 | JOSHUA M TOTH | WINSTED, CT | KTM | 7 | 03:11:50.771 |
| 8 | 375 | RUSSELL BOBBITT | JEFFERSON, GA | KTM | 7 | 03:22:29.659 |
| 9 | 773 | RIKARD HANSSON | SWEDEN, // | GAS | 7 | 03:23:08.531 |
| 10 | 523 | LAYNE MICHAEL | BOONVILLE, NC | YAM | 3 | 01:20:06.612 |
My key takeaway from these results is that Tyler was in a 3-hour battle with Josh Toth. I can’t even imagine what that’s like to be at full gas for that long and be in an actual battle. They finished 5 seconds apart, so you know it was full on to the flag.
I did a couple 3-hour enduros back in my day, but in hindsight, they were just long cruises through the woods for me at a pretty low heartrate.
Shelby Turner was in South Carolina and finished just off the podium in 4th at this round. Here’s a look at the WXC results:
| 18. WXC – Bike – Class Results | ||||||
| Place | Nbr | Name | Hometown | Brand | Laps | Elapsed |
| 1 | 444 | KORIE STEEDE | BELOIT, OH | KTM | 4 | 01:47:10.850 |
| 2 | 409 | BRANDY RICHARDS | LAKE HAVASU CITY, AZ | KTM | 4 | 01:47:15.358 |
| 3 | 713 | TAYLA JONES | AUSTRALIA, // | HQV | 4 | 01:47:28.859 |
| 4 | 501 | SHELBY A TURNER | CANADA, // | KTM | 4 | 01:52:42.718 |
| 5 | 212 | PRESTIN RAINES | TRAVELERS REST, SC | YAM | 4 | 01:58:17.299 |
| 6 | 572 | MARINA CANCRO | HUNTINGTON, NY | YAM | 4 | 02:02:47.772 |
| 7 | 637 | EDEN NETELKOS | JACKSONVILLE, FL | HON | 4 | 02:03:14.494 |
| 8 | 310 | KAYLA ONEILL | GREENWOOD LAKE, NY | KAW | 4 | 02:03:16.710 |
| 9 | 584 | SHERYL B HUNTER | EAST HAMPTON, CT | HQV | 4 | 02:04:46.679 |
| 10 | 650 | RACHAEL ARCHER | NEW ZEALAND, // | YAM | 4 | 02:06:05.270 |
| 11 | 406 | TAYLOR JOHNSTON | BUSKIRK, NY | KTM | 4 | 02:13:45.980 |
| 12 | 483 | ELIZABETH PEREZ | SPARTANBURG, SC | HQV | 4 | 02:14:07.932 |
It’s also cool to see Eden Netelkos in action, finishing 7th. Eden used to race our Canadian WMX series.
You can look at the full results HERE.
You can watch the replay of the full day on Racer TV:
I just checked the weather here and it’s currently -9C! The sun is out but the snow has covered the grass again. It’s going to be 14 by Thursday so there’s still hope we’ll be on our bikes this weekend. Hey, Derek Schuster, how are things over there at Gopher Dunes?
Speaking of the upcoming racing season, Donk from Dialed MX posted a photo of some of the race motors he’ll be prepping for the season. Cool stuff. Check it out from his IG page:
If you zoom in there you’ll see Liam O’Farrell and Marco Cannella‘s (among others) names on them. It’s almost that time, folks!
2022 Canadian Triple Crown Series
We’ve still got a couple teams that we’re waiting to announce their plans for the 2022 Canadian Triple Crown Series and then we’ll know what we’re dealing with as far as challenges for the two titles go.
In the 250 class, #4 Jake Piccolo will be looking to repeat as champion. He’s currently back down at Club MX in South Carolina putting in the laps. It certainly worked for him last season so it’ll be interesting to see what he shows up at round 1 with.
I chose him to win the title last season and I don’t see any reason yet to change my mind for this upcoming season. If he shows the speed and consistency that he did last year, I don’t think anyone can run with him. I know that will likely piss off (and maybe motivate) a few riders, like Marco Cannella and Ryder McNabb, but as the old cliché goes, “If you wanna be the champ, you gotta beat the champ,” so let’s see how this goes.
Here’s how the top 10 played out in 250 MX in 2021:
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Darien Sanayei won’t be back and Tanner Ward has moved up to the 450 class. Julien Benek is going to want to put his name in this conversation. Sam Gaynor is back up to the 450 class and Daniel Elmore is fast but he’s also taking his speed up to the 450 class. Quinn Amyotte is back and should be up a lot higher if they can sort out their reliability issues from last season.
Assuming Davey Fraser doesn’t compete in the entire series, that’s 5 riders out of the 250 conversation for 2022. That leaves some nice room for new riders to step up and make names for themselves, like Sebastien Racine and Jeremy McKie. I’m curious to see where Wyatt Kerr fits in here too.
Tyler Gibbs should be a consistent top 3-5 rider on his new team, so add him in there. I also know he didn’t like to read that because he wants to be fighting for wins. I’m not saying it’s not going to happen, we just have to wait and see him do it first.
And the 450 MX class:
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Dylan Wright is looking to make it a 3-pete in the 450 class and I don’t see why that shouldn’t happen. He showed dominating speed last season and I only see a healthy Jess Pettis as the rider who can show him a wheel and even take wins from Dylan this season.
Jess has started training with Ryan Hughes out in California with fellow Canadian Noah Viney, so it will be interesting to see what this does for his program.
At this point, Marshal Weltin won’t be brining career #2 back to Canada in 2022 and Cole Thompson will only crisscross the country this summer if a deal makes sense.
Tyler Medaglia is returning for the full MX season as is Shawn Maffenbeier, so we’ve got these guys to be right there fighting for podiums and wins if Dylan or Jess have problems. You can add them to the list of riders upset with me for saying that. I hope they both prove me wrong because I want to see some great racing up at the front. They are both like fine wine, after all.
We’ll see Parker Eales out west and Tim Tremblay in the east, likely. Tim is always dangerous at any race he shows up at but without doing the entire series (?) he won’t be a factor in the overall points outcome and the same goes for Keylan Meston who will be racing sporadically in Canada.
Just like in the 250 class, there is room for new riders to make names for themselves in the big bike class. There are also still rumours floating around about some other riders planning to come north this summer. If the border restrictions continue to lighten up, I think we’ll definitely see a few American license plates in the pits this summer which will be great.
OK, have a great week. I have decisions to make about whether or not to dust off the damn shovel or not. I’ll get in touch with Parker today so watch and listen for a new podcast interview up on the site and on all the usual podcast supply sites.
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