Monday Morning Coffee
By Billy Rainford
It’s a little warm for coffee…
Welcome to the start of another week. I hope everyone got out and enjoyed some of the warm summer weather we experienced this past weekend. There was lots going on and, up until Thursday, I thought I was going to hit the beach for one last day of beach volleyball before the eastern swing of the Rockstar Energy MX Nationals kicks off this coming weekend at Gopher Dunes. Once July 11/12 hits, we are full-on for the rest of the summer until we all find ourselves at the last Pro race of the summer at Walton Raceway. That’s always a bittersweet week.
Anyway, when Josh Snider from Redemption Racing mentioned he needed to go to RedBud to talk to MX Sports and Racer X kingpin, Davey Coombs, I figured I may as well go too. There goes my last weekend away from the races!
NB: Watch for the Redemption Racing Fly Dragon KTM rig and team to makes its way to Indiana for the final round of AMA Outdoor racing the week after Walton.
I fired off a very last-minute request for media credentials and crossed my fingers. I seem to think I’m taking this weekend off every summer, and every year I find myself sending the MX Sports guys an email begging for an 11th-hour photo vest for RedBud.
When the alarm went off Saturday morning at 3:30am I definitely had second thoughts about the whole ‘RedBud and back in one day’ idea. Oh well, I’ll sleep in late August. I picked Josh up 10 minutes late at 4:10 and off we went looking for my first coffee.
We were making great time in the #dmxvan but with Josh wanting to stop at the water park in Sarnia and then needing to stop into Frankenmuth for a new Christmas tree ornament, we fell off pace a little. Yes, I’m kidding. I warned Josh I was going to say that.
We actually made great time and it was almost 5 hours to the minute that we were pulling into the hallowed grounds of RedBud Track and Trail. I didn’t have high expectations for my press credentials as I couldn’t be sure anyone at the other end had even received my email request.
Have you been to RedBud? Have you been when it actually falls on the 4th of July? It’s definitely a unique stop on the Lucas Oil AMA Outdoor Motocross tour.
The racing is one thing, but the fans can supply some of the best entertainment at RedBud. Is it just me or could this be Keylan Meston’s long-lost brother? – Bigwave photo
We went straight to the Will Call entrance and hoped for the best. To my surprise, my name not only appeared on the list but it wasn’t even added to the bottom of the sheet in pen. It was printed out on the official sheet! Although media contact Brandon Short looks like he hates everyone (I thought it was just me but I hear it’s the same for everyone.), I want to thank him for honoring my very late request for credentials. Thanks, Brandon. In we went.
Thanks for taking care of DMX again, Brandon.
We’ll have a bunch of photos up on the site later this afternoon so I won’t go into details here now. Be sure to check back later for what I hope will be an interesting mix of race and people photos.
It was great to see John John Pauk and his dad at RedBud. He was also the only Canadian racing this year. – Bigwave photo
Hey, guess what? Wait, let’s check the score first:
We bought a new van for Direct Motocross and it turned out it had a bent left tie rod and I blew the tires on the way west for round 1. Then, a rock hit the windshield out west and there is a nice crack slowly making its way across directly in my line of sight. Now what, you ask?
So, we’re driving home after a long day of AMA Pro Moto and I start getting a little tired so Josh gets behind the wheel in relief for a couple hours. As the light fades and fireworks can be seen blasting off in all directions, my eyes close and I just about drift off for a well-needed nap. Suddenly, I’m jolted upright as Josh jumps on the brakes as a huge deer appears directly in our path. Closer…closer…
Just as Josh determines the deer isn’t moving and swerves right past the hind end of the big-but-dumb animal, it decides to lunge back that way. BANG! The only funny part about this whole thing was Josh’s reaction when contact was made. All he said was, “AS IF!” as he brought the van to a stop at the side of the road. I actually laughed right away. How couldn’t I?
I jumped out to see if the deer was lying in the middle of the road, but it managed to wander away just as a huge semi rolled past flashing its high beams at us. Josh, of course, went straight to checking for van damage. There was a foot-long mark of what can only be described as ‘deer snot’ along the front right quarter panel. It didn’t look bad at all.
When we pulled in for gas, we took another look and, sure enough, there’s a dent and a scratch. Damn!
OK, so that’s three things that have happened with my brand new van. That’s it, right? We’ll see. We’re heading to Gopher Dunes later this afternoon to check out the Pros who will take advantage of some time on the track before the weekend. Clear the roads, please!
Yes, it definitely could have been A LOT worse. Of course, missing the deer entirely would have been much better…
RedBud Results
250
450
When the people in the car parked next to us asked how much Ryan Dungey would win by, I actually called Justin Barcia for the win. – Bigwave photo
It was really cool to sit on the tailgate of the DMX Van as people walked in and through the gates. We were parked right alongside the roadway that everyone walked to get in. It was amazing how many people read the side of the van and then made comments. There are a lot of people south of the border checking out the Canadian scene! Thanks to everyone who had nice things to say about the site.
WCAN Results
I couldn’t find any at the time of this column.
Nick Jones Injury Update
Yet another Loretta Lynn’s hopeful is down and out! Unfortunately, Nick Jones took a hard fall and did some pretty serious damage to himself. Fortunately, there was no spinal damage and Nick will make a full recovery. This is from his Facebook page:
Wishing you a speedy recovery, Nick.
It’s a Girl!
Congratulations to Rebecca and Trevor Carlson on the birth of their first child, a baby girl named Tensley Grace Carlson.
OK, it’s time to load up the video gear and head over to Gopher Dunes to watch some Pros get some time on the famed sand track. We’ll have a video edit up on the site as soon as we can, so check back for that. At this point, they’re calling for around 10mm of rain this coming Sunday. Although forecasting is much easier in these parts than it is out on the coasts, there is still a chance this will change as the week moves on. Fingers crossed, the rain moves out and we get a classic ‘triple-H’ weekend of racing at The Dunes this weekend. – Hot, Hazy, and Humid!
Thanks for reading and I hope that got you through a nice cup of coffee…
From TheWeatherNetwork.
