Monday Morning Coffee Opinion Column

By Billy Rainford

I hope everyone had a great weekend. We’re currently buzzing along heading west on the 401 after a long few days at the ECAN and the MX National at Motocross Deschambault. Emily is putting in a nice shift in the driver’s seat as I drink my coffee and recap our time in Quebec.

I have to start out with a gripe. We’ve got a GoPro Hero 9 and I have to say it’s been nothing but trouble. Yes, it has some really cool features, like very good video quality and stabilization software that leaves me shaking my head at how effective it is. However, none of these “advancements” matter when you go to download your files only to find out that they have been mysteriously corrupted or disappear from the card altogether, seemingly at random.

Of course, I’ve gone online and read endless complaints from other users, so there is definitely a problem at their end. I usually assume I’m doing something wrong but this time it’s not me it’s them.

You can probably see where this line of thought is going.

I sat down at my laptop last night after riding a GasGas electric-assist MTB from Country Corners that Steve Simms let me use for my MTB Lap of the MX Deschambault track and then doing a 40-minute “Walk and Talk” in the pits looking forward to posting it all up to YouTube. I grabbed all the files and transferred them over and got ready to edit them a little in Final Cut Pro and then send them to our channel.

I did the MTB Lap first so that was the one I went for. Unfortunately, the files didn’t seem to be there! I know I recorded because I saw it showed 14:23 on the screen when I ended it after my lap. The Walk and Talk files were there so I went back into the GoPro SD card to check for the lap files.

Suddenly, NONE of them were there! Not even the walk and talk!

After taking a few seconds to talk myself down from completely losing my s#!t, I looked back at the list of files on my laptop and saw that I still had the W&T but not the MTB lap. Man, technology really sucks when it doesn’t work.

I covered a whole bunch of things in that loop that I didn’t repeat in the W&T so I’m pretty upset about the whole thing. I’ve been online for most of this drive so far trying to download recovery software to no avail. This most recent MTB Lap is lost. All that sweat for nothing. Thank you to Emily for putting in a long driving shift.

This particular model of the GoPro has really been one headache after another. From the Quick Capture not working to corrupt files, to glitchy functions, I have to assume the newer model has addressed these things. To be honest, they may have lost DMX as a customer. I’d entertain the idea of looking at a different brand, even though saying “GoPro” in the action cam industry is like saying “Kleenex” in the nose blowing industry.

If you haven’t watched this week’s “Bigwave’s Walk and Talk” brought to you by the Canadian Race Tech service centres, here it is:

Podcast:

Full results and updated points can be found HERE.

Let’s have a quick look at some things from the Round 7:

FXR PreMix:

  • #28 Sam Gaynor had to work for this win! #7 Bobby Gravel was all over him and then #115 Zachary Rousseau was on pace in the second moto. It was good to see him have to fight.
  • It’s interesting to see how fast the younger riders look in their respective classes and then see just how fast a top 10 Pro rider is. These other kids are young and will be up there in the Pro class before we know it.

WMX East:

  • I con’t believe how close in speed Eve Brodeur and Jamie Astudillo are. Eve made a nice inside pass on Jamie right in front of me. They talked about it on the podium and Eve apologized, but I don’t see anything to be upset about in my photo sequence. Good, tight racing.
  • #36 Avrie Berry lost touch with the lead 2 and ended up riding alone for most of her time out there.
  • I keep mentioning how much I enjoy watching #192 Amalie Croteau ride and now I see that she’s listed as DNF-DNF. I didn’t see what happened but I hope she’s OK.
  • The WMX class during the ECAN really learned what safety rules are this week. There were 8 riders disciplined after not following the rules of the yellow or red cross flags. I even saw some tears!

250 Pro/Am:

  • #43 Clayton Schmucki crashed hard in qualifying and knocked himself out for a short while. He got himself up to his feet with some help but his dad said he doesn’t remember the actual crash. It’s nice how the brain does that for us. Good luck getting back up to health, Clayton. You won’t find a nicer family in the pits.
  • #126 Kaven Benoit probably shouldn’t have even been on the gate but he really wanted to race his home race. He was in the physiotherapy building on Saturday and then went out and grabbed 4-3 for 4th place in a ton of pain. That’s how champs are made, kids.
  • #1 Ryder McNabb did what he had to do. The pace at the front was fast and Ryder doesn’t have to push it anymore to win this title. He’s got a 33-point lead with only 2 more motos left to race at Walton Raceway.
  • if only #8 Mitchell Harrison didn’t have his issues at the first round. He’d definitely hang it out to be in the hunt for this title. His plan is to race the indoor portion of the series too and likely repeat as Triple Crown champion in the class.
  • #23 Josiah Natzke came close but will come up short in this championship hunt. He’ll be disappointed with himself but should hold his New Zealand head high.
  • It was great to have #4 Jake Piccolo back at the races. He wasn’t his usual fast and flashy self but you could see instances of when he thought about turning it up. He’s getting back up to speed and I bet we see him almost back to normal at the final round in a couple weeks. He tried a same line/outside pass on #14 Quinn Amyotte and found the ground on Sunday.
  • #613 Jimmy Decotis showed up again to race his 125 2-stroke in the 250 class. It was a 125 because that’s all they allow in the 250 class in the AMA Pro Motocross Championships and his plan is to race it at Unadilla. He was solid up in 5th place in moto 1 but then left the line like 20 seconds after everyone else in moto 2. He charged all the way up to 11th and ended up 9th on the day. He even did the big double.

450:

  • #5 Tyler Medaglia headed out in moto 1 with a bike smoking almost immediately. He didn’t make it around 2 laps before having to take a DNF. It was a tough blow but they managed to swap a motor out of a. bike from a local dealer after making a dealer trade and he made it out for moto 2 and grabbed 3rd in it for 10th overall. Tough break but a good story.
  • #84 Tanner Ward was back up in the 450 class this week and snagged a very impressive 3rd in moto 1. He got a bad start in moto 2 and was moving up until he smashed into a flagging stand and actually took out one of the corner posts! It took a while to get going again but he did and finished 9th for 5th overall.
  • #20 Jeremy McKie showed up with new support from Marc-Antoine Genereux and his Saint Césaire dealership and looked really good on his home track, taking 4-5 for 4th overall. I headed over to his pits for the Walk and Talk but they had already packed up and headed home.
  • #1 Dylan Wright and #15 Jess Pettis showed their speed on Sunday. They battled for a good while and gapped the rest of the field by 1 minute in moto 1!
  • The #18 Parker Eales / #936 Andy Truyts battle was another great one in moto 1. They were wheel-to-wheel for most of it with Parker getting the better of him in the “big guy/full time worker” battle. We’ve been playing it up every week and I was hoping to stir something up, but I found them yukking it up together at the end of the day! Oh well, I’ll try again at Walton…

MXGP of Finland

Vantaa

Kate Kowalchuk was over in Finland this weekend posting some great shots and stories on our Instagram page. Be sure to scroll through our page to see some of her captures and stories. Jeffrey Herlings was back in action after his broken neck took him out of action for a while. Having him at the races definitely adds interest over here in North America.

MX2 – GP Classification
Pos Nr Rider Nat. Fed. Bike Race 1 Race 2 Total
1 80 Adamo, Andrea ITA FMI KTM 25 25 50
2 516 Laengenfelder, Simon GER DMSB GAS 22 22 44
3 72 Everts, Liam BEL FMB KTM 20 18 38
4 96 Coenen, Lucas BEL FMB HUS 16 20 36
5 24 Horgmo, Kevin NOR NMF KAW 18 14 32
6 44 Elzinga, Rick NED KNMV YAM 14 16 30
7 79 Coenen, Sacha BEL FMB KTM 12 15 27
8 51 Oliver, Oriol ESP RFME KTM 15 12 27
9 253 Pancar, Jan SLO AMZS KTM 9 11 20
10 261 Talviku, Jorgen-Matthias EST EMF HUS 10 10 20
11 22 Braceras, David ESP RFME KAW 13 6 19
12 122 Mc Lellan, Camden RSA KNMV HON 11 5 16
13 338 Olsson, Filip SWE SVEMO HUS 8 7 15
14 207 Cazal, Xavier FRA FFM GAS 6 8 14
15 517 Gifting, Isak SWE SVEMO GAS 0 13 13
16 125 Weckman, Emil FIN SML HON 0 9 9
17 42 Rainio, Sampo FIN SML KTM 5 3 8
18 505 Lüning, Arvid SWE SVEMO GAS 7 1 8
19 18 Voxen Kleemann, William DEN DMU KTM 3 4 7
20 524 Varjonen, Miro FIN SML HUS 4 2 6
21 325 Alfarizi, Delvintor INA IMI HON 2 0 2
22 596 Lehtinen, Eliel FIN SML KTM 1 0 1
23 312 Osterhagen, Haakon NOR NMF FAN 0 0 0
24 93 Geerts, Jago BEL FMB YAM 0 0 0
 
MX2 – World Championship Classification POINTS
Pos Nr Rider Nat. Bike Total ARG SAR SUI TRE POR ESP FRA LAT GER INA INA CZE BEL FIN SWE NED TUR ITA GBR
1 80 Adamo, Andrea ITA KTM 619 9
20-20		 3
16-15		 6
20-22		 8
22-22		 8
22-16		 6
16-20		 7
20-20		 3
16-18		 8
20-22		 0
20-14		 7
22-20		 10
8-25		 7
18-8		 5
25-25		 – – – – – – – – – –
2 93 Geerts, Jago BEL YAM 559 10
25-25		 10
22-25		 8
14-20		 7
25-14		 10
25-25		 10
22-22		 0
0-0
–		 0
8-14		 4
16-20		 10
25-25		 5
25-20		 10
25-25		 8
0-0		 – – – – – – – – – –
3 72 Everts, Liam BEL KTM 532 7
16-8		 5
12-13		 5
13-15		 6
20-20		 7
0-10		 1
14-15		 8
22-18		 7
18-13		 9
22-25		 8
22-22		 6
15-18		 8
4-15		 6
16-18		 7
20-18		 – – – – – – – – – –
4 74 de Wolf, Kay NED HUS 501 5
15-11		 9
25-22		 9
22-18		 3
16-18		 5
20-22		 7
18-18		 10
18-16		 10
25-25		 0
10-11		 5
12-12		 4
18-13		 6
20-18		 5
0-0
–		 – – – – – – – – – –
5 516 Laengenfelder, S. GER GAS 492 8
13-16		 8
20-14		 0
16-16		 10
12-25		 9
16-18		 8
25-25
–
–
–		 7
18-11		 8
16-22		 9
18-22		 8
20-20		 10
22-22		 – – – – – – – – – –
6 198 Benistant, T. FRA YAM 462 6
22-13		 7
18-20		 10
18-25		 9
18-16		 3
8-13		 5
20-16		 9
25-22		 8
22-15		 6
18-20		 9
15-18		 3
13-12		 0
0-0		 0
0-0
–		 – – – – – – – – – –
7 96 Coenen, Lucas BEL HUS 461 3
0-12		 4
15-18		 0
15-5		 4
14-12		 2
12-14		 9
15-0		 3
14-25		 5
0-22		 7
25-0		 10
25-25		 1
14-16		 0
13-13		 9
22-22		 0
16-20		 – – – – – – – – – –
8 39 Van De Moosdijk, R. NED HUS 433 4
18-14		 2
13-16		 7
25-13		 5
15-15		 6
18-20		 4
11-13		 5
16-14		 9
20-20		 10
16-16		 0
13-15		 9
20-15		 4
12-0
–
–		 – – – – – – – – – –
9 24 Horgmo, Kevin NOR KAW 395 2
12-22		 6
14-12		 0
12-14		 2
10-13		 0
9-15		 3
13-14		 1
15-12		 0
15-16		 0
0-0		 6
14-16		 0
12-11		 3
22-12		 4
14-15		 2
18-14		 – – – – – – – – – –
10 253 Pancar, Jan SLO KTM 273 0
11-9		 0
9-11		 3
11-12		 0
8-11		 4
15-11		 2
5-12		 0
5-10		 0
8-3		 3
15-15		 0
11-13		 0
11-14		 0
6-5		 0
0-0		 0
9-11		 – – – – – – – – – –
MXGP – GP Classification
Pos Nr Rider Nat. Fed. Bike Race 1 Race 2 Total
1 3 Febvre, Romain FRA FFM KAW 25 22 47
2 61 Prado, Jorge ESP RFME GAS 20 25 45
3 259 Coldenhoff, Glenn NED KNMV YAM 18 20 38
4 91 Seewer, Jeremy SUI FMS YAM 22 16 38
5 84 Herlings, Jeffrey NED KNMV KTM 13 18 31
6 243 Gajser, Tim SLO AMZS HON 15 15 30
7 10 Vlaanderen, Calvin NED KNMV YAM 16 14 30
8 89 Van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL FMB HON 12 13 25
9 161 Östlund, Alvin SWE SVEMO HON 9 12 21
10 43 Evans, Mitchell AUS MA KAW 10 11 21
11 189 Bogers, Brian NED KNMV HON 11 9 20
12 303 Forato, Alberto ITA FMI KTM 14 3 17
13 71 Spies, Maximilian GER DMSB KTM 7 7 14
14 226 Koch, Tom GER DMSB KTM 8 5 13
15 6 Paturel, Benoit FRA FFM YAM 0 10 10
16 37 Krestinov, Gert EST EMF HON 6 4 10
17 142 Haavisto, Jere FIN SML KTM 1 8 9
18 919 Watson, Ben GBR ACU BET 3 6 9
19 747 Sihvonen, Miro FIN SML HUS 4 2 6
20 52 Gerhardsson, Albin SWE SVEMO HUS 5 0 5
21 87 Brumann, Kevin SUI FMS YAM 2 1 3
22 651 Matikainen, Juuso FIN SML HUS 0 0 0
23 529 Nissinen, Pekka FIN SML GAS 0 0 0
24 121 Silander, Emil FIN SML GAS 0 0 0
25 70 Fernandez, Ruben ESP RFME HON 0 0 0
26 221 Joergensen, Mathias DEN DMU YAM 0 0 0
 
MXGP – World Championship Classification
Pos Nr Rider Nat. Bike Total ARG SAR SUI TRE POR ESP FRA LAT GER INA INA CZE BEL FIN SWE NED TUR ITA GBR
1 61 Prado, Jorge ESP GAS 720 10
25-15		 10
25-15		 10
25-20		 1
25-20		 5
25-15		 10
22-16		 10
18-20		 9
22-20		 10
25-25		 7
25-20		 10
25-22		 10
20-22		 6
20-25		 10
20-25		 – – – – – – – – – –
2 3 Febvre, Romain FRA KAW 622 6
22-16		 6
10-18		 9
20-22		 10
9-18		 6
22-20
–		 4
20-25		 6
15-22		 6
15-20		 10
22-25		 8
22-25		 8
25-18		 9
25-22		 9
25-22		 – – – – – – – – – –
3 91 Seewer, Jeremy SUI YAM 550 0
4-20		 4
15-14		 5
1-16		 7
5-16		 7
16-18		 8
13-18		 9
25-22		 0
14-16		 9
22-16		 9
20-22		 7
18-18		 9
22-20		 7
16-18		 6
22-16		 – – – – – – – – – –
4 259 Coldenhoff, G. NED YAM 525 4
14-7		 9
16-25		 1
13-1		 2
13-15		 0
18-14		 5
18-15		 0
12-15		 7
18-18		 4
18-22		 8
18-16		 4
20-20		 6
18-14		 10
22-20		 7
18-20		 – – – – – – – – – –
5 70 Fernandez, R. ESP HON 489 7
16-25		 5
0-10		 2
16-13		 8
20-14		 10
14-22		 4
16-22		 5
16-18		 8
20-3		 5
20-18		 6
16-15		 9
16-16		 7
15-15		 4
10-15		 8
0-0		 – – – – – – – – – –
6 10 Vlaanderen, C. NED YAM 477 5
10-11		 3
20-16		 4
18-14		 0
15-9		 8
13-16		 2
14-13		 6
13-16		 4
16-14		 2
14-10		 5
15-18		 5
14-14		 4
16-25		 8
18-16		 3
16-14		 – – – – – – – – – –
7 84 Herlings, J. NED KTM 418 1
18-22		 8
22-22		 8
15-18		 4
12-25		 9
20-25		 9
25-25		 8
22-0		 10
25-25		 7
1-0
–
–
–
–		 1
13-18		 – – – – – – – – – –
8 303 Forato, A. ITA KTM 350 0
12-8		 0
13-12		 7
9-15		 0
16-6		 0
12-6		 6
15-14		 7
0-0		 5
13-15		 8
16-14		 0
14-13		 3
13-13		 2
4-11		 0
15-14		 2
14-3		 – – – – – – – – – –
9 92 Guillod, V. SUI HON 276 2
7-9		 0
4-3		 3
14-12		 6
14-10		 1
11-12		 1
12-10		 3
14-14		 0
6-13		 3
13-8		 1
11-12		 6
15-15		 1
10-0
–
–		 – – – – – – – – – –
10 6 Paturel, B. FRA YAM 204 0
8-10		 1
8-7		 0
11-6		 0
11-0		 0
10-7		 3
0-12		 0
0-12		 3
0-0
–		 4
13-10		 2
12-11		 0
11-0		 0
8-10		 4
0-10		 – – – – – – – – – –

Canadians at Loretta Lynn’s

We’ve got some Canadians to cheer for at this year’s Loretta Lynn’s Amateur MX Championships. You can find the full Entry List HERE but here’s what I found:

Open Pro Sport:

22 Preston Masciangelo

61 Noah Viney

250 Pro Sport:

22 Preston Masciangelo

61 Noah Viney

250 B Ltd.:

95 Evan Stewart

250 C:

11 Easton Genest

450 B:

52 Brock Henry

450 B Ltd.:

95 Evan Stewart

450 C:

11 Easton Genest

54 Shelby Rempel

50+

22 Milt Reimer

1 Mike Brown (They have him listed at from Canada. We’ll take him!)

65 (10-11) Ltd.:

18 Parker Hatt

55 Talon Medaglia

65 (10-11):

18 Parker Hatt

Mini Sr. 1 (12-13):

66 Tyler Kirby

Supermini 1 (12-15):

48 Jayden Riley

Supermini 2 (13-15):

48 Jayden Riley

Girls (11-16):

18 Hannah Cole

94 Kiana Kurtz

27 Brandy McLarty

If you know of more, please let us know.

You can watch all the action on Racer TV

Live Timing HERE

OK, we’re just east of Toronto and it’s my turn to drive. Have a great week. It sounds like the upcoming race at Frankin MX in Quebec this weekend is going to be a little more competitive than usual. I spoke with a few Pro riders and they plan on staying in Quebec and racing it.

Have a great week, everyone. I’ll get to work as soon as I get home and out of the driver’s seat.

See you at the races… | Bigwave photo