By Billy Rainford
A look at some of what happened in the world of Motocross over the weekend with a heavy dose of story-telling thrown in…
Driving to Boston, Massachusetts, from London, Ontario, for one day of Monster Energy AMA Supercross racing may seem a little bit crazy to the average person. And you know what? It is.
It made more sense when I was going to be there for Press Day Friday as well as the racing on Saturday, but when Friday’s riding was cancelled due to, yes, more rain, even I questioned the rationality of making this road trip. Not only that, but my plan is to also drive south down the dreaded I-75 to Nashville, Tennessee, this coming week! (I’d like everyone to do whatever they can to put it out there in the universe that the old #DMXVan makes it for at least one more lengthy road trip).
Google Maps said the drive was 9:30 from my door to Gillette Stadium Super Parking, so off I went at around 10:30am on Friday.
The drive to Niagara Falls is pretty boring. I was instructed to take the Rainbow Bridge which gives you an up-close view of both Niagara and Horseshoe Falls to your right going east.
I, of course, got the stickler at the border and watched as he gave the seemingly shortest line the full treatment before letting them pass into the USA. He did the same to me and then simply said, “Have a safe drive” and let me go.
Then, to my surprise, I learned that this particular bridge is free to cross. Cool.
Next, I found myself in downtown North Tonawanda, NY. This seemed strange. Why was I at the 4 corners of a town I’d heard of back in the 1990’s because there was a triathlete competitor I was always up against from North Tonawanda, and it’s one of those names you remember. His? Nope. All I remember about him is that he was very strong on the bike and looked a little like the guy from The Hills Have Eyes.
Originally, Google told me I’d be arriving in Foxborough at around 8pm. Suddenly, I was seeing midnight! What happened? Since I was on a backroad route now, I assumed there must have been some sort of accident or hold up on the interstate so I imagined all the time I must be saving taking this route.
A little farther down the road a lightbulb went off in my head – I should check my Google Maps settings…
Yep, I was set to “Avoid Tolls.” Dammit!
A quick fix and I was doing a u-turn at the next street and heading back to the interstate and saving myself at least 4 full hours! Whew.
The drive across New York State is entirely a thruway with tolls. There are no booths anymore so they just scan you as you drive past the cameras. I have no idea what the drive will end up costing, but I’m hoping there’s an international loophole that sees them ignoring Ontario plates. Ya, I know, those days are gone and I’ll be getting a surprise bill in the mail in no time, I’m sure.
Without bicycles crammed into the van, I’ve got loads of room back there for the double bed, trifold mattress and blankets. It was actually quite luxurious! I made it to a rest area close to the stadium and a Planet Fitness and hunkered down for the night. If you plan these things, #vanlife isn’t so bad at all. And truthfully, it’s the only way to make ends meet, so it’s just what I do.
I hit the gym, had a shower, and headed over to the stadium with plenty of time. Unfortunately, security doesn’t always have things sorted out, so they made me turn around and park in the “tailgate party” area. It was actually right beside the Super Parking so it wasn’t worth creating a fuss about and I just looped back and parked the van.
I walked through the pits, said hello to a few people, like Sylvain Brodeur at the Partzilla PRMX pits, and headed for the Photo Den.
I didn’t have a camera unpacked so I didn’t spend a lot of time wandering the pits as I cut through. It’s always funny how walking into one of these places always takes a few minutes to get your bearings. “Now, what do the bowels of this stadium look like? Ohhh, it’s THIS place!” I seem to go through the same thing every weekend.
New Yorker Jordan Wilsey from RussOgraphy was there to help out DMX with coverage, so I was looking forward to getting together with him for his first Supercross with Photo Credentials.
We decided to hit Track Walk separately and meet up at the safety meeting to be held immediately afterward. I did a loop of the track with my phone, and you can have a look here if you didn’t on Saturday morning:
I headed over to the safety meeting and found “the new guy” sitting in the front row like a full on newb. We laughed about it with Sean Brennan and Joe Webber from Feld Entertainment and went on with the meeting.
That’s what happens on Race Day Morning for us down on the floor.
It was great to have some help from Jordan Saturday, It’s cool to have someone new to see the action through a different lens. I’m sure you could tell whose shots were whose throughout the event. All photographers seem to shoot a little differently from others.
I usually concentrate on trying to get the “news” out while most others on the floor are shooting photos not worrying about the story because that’s someone else’s job once the shots are taken. For us here in Canada, we end up having to be Jacks of all trades.
Jordan has a nice eye for the “arsty” stuff so watch for more of his stuff to come out on our Instagram and Facebook pages over the next few days.
I’ll be in Nashville on my own, but he’ll take the reins in Philadelphia the following week.
Thanks, Jordan, and I hope you had a blast shooting your first big SX race.
We had 3 Canadians to keep an eye on at this round. Here’s how they all did:
SX Futures:
#138 Dylan Rempel KAW – Partzilla PRMX
Q – 10th
Main – 11th
Dylan got squeezed out from his inside gate off the start. He managed to work his way through a bunch of riders along the inside in turn 1 and actually came out in a decent position. Unfortunately, he had an incident before the finish line jump on lap 1, went down and ended up way at the back of the pack. Did he give up and cruise? No, he did the exact opposite.
Dylan is really progressing as a Supercross rider and you can see that he is no longer simply trying to make the obstacles, he’s racing the tracks now.
He pushed and climbed his way up to 11th place at the flag. He won’t be happy with 11th, but he should be content with how he rode and the never-give-up attitude he showed us all.
#800 Preston Masciangelo GAS – MXTire.com TCR Racing
Q – 15th
Main – 15th
Preston was just 2 gates over from Dylan on the line. He got a better jump and headed into turn one mid-pack. He got shuffled back and came around to end lap 1 in 15th place. He was in battles the whole time but slid out and went down in the middle of the race. Preston doesn’t have nearly the amount of time on a Supercross track and is still finding his way in this different type of racing. He’s got a ton of talent and if he keeps at it will make that next step and move his way closer to the front. It’s all about progression and Preston will continue to do that.
I shot a bunch of video of our guys in Foxborough and will get to work on that this afternoon. Here’s a look at the results:
450 Class:
#551 Guillaume St Cyr KTM – Nortaq Construction, Junior Mecanique, Berubegmc, O’Neal
Q – 40th
Heat 1 – 18th
LCQ – 20th
I managed to grab Guac in the tunnel after the LCQ as he and Anna were heading back to the pits:
Results and Points:
Nashville this coming weekend is another East/West Showdown, so it’ll be my first chance to see Canadian Heartbeat Hot Sauce Solitaire rider #71 Cole Thompson in action.
I’ve passed my 12:00 Eastern Time deadline after getting home and sleeping like a baby until a little later than I’d planned this morning. Watch for some more coverage from the weekend that actually saw #2 Cooper Webb tie #18 Jett Lawrence in points at the top of the 450 class! We’re in for a good final 4 rounds!.
I said a few weeks ago that I didn’t think Jett would lose the points lead again this season, and I guess I’m still sort of right. Let’s see what happens this week…
Have a great week, everyone.
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