Monday Morning Coffee
By Billy Rainford
And we’re off! The eastern swing of the Rockstar MX Nationals is underway, and what have we learned? Well, Lets start with the Women’s East Nationals:
Women’s Round 1 top 5: Eve Brodeur, Jacqueline Ross, Shannon Fleming, Julia Krzemien, Kim Normandin|Spikman photo
Let’s break this down a little…
Defending champion, #1E Eve Brodeur, came into this series as the rider to beat, we know that. However, adding excitement to the series this season is returning Women’s champion, #734 Jacqueline Ross. It’s no secret that J-Ro has found herself in some dark places fighting some very formidable foes, the past few years; she’s quick to mention it on the stage.
Last time we saw her, she was at Deschambault on the same 2008 KTM 144 2-stroke that she won her title on. This year, her dad purchased a 2011 KTM 250 2-stroke off a woods rider and began making some changes to it so she could be competitive on motocross tracks. They made the drive to Ingersoll from Florida, after setting up a GoFundMe account and working extra shifts at the pizza/grill restaurant she works at. It’s a pretty touching story, really.
Meanwhile, Eve has been flying around the continent racing the WMX Series in the states and headed into round one will all her ducks in a row. You can make this some kind of a Rocky story, if you want, but we can just call it a classic underdog battle. Sure, Jacqueline is a past champ, and we all know she is one of the fastest female riders to ever race a dirt bike, but she did not, probably, come in as the odds on favourite (despite Jeff’s predictions). Add to this mix a fast, young Connecticut rider named Shannon Fleming, and we’ve got ourselves a very fast top 3!
Anyway, there’s nothing else you can do as a racer other than put in the work and wait for the gate to drop, as it always will. What happens next will take care of itself – you ride as fast as you can, cross the finish line, and accept the result. That’s really all there is to it, folks. No need for excuses, the results are the results.
Eve got out to the lead early in the first moto with Jacqueline in second but loosing ground. #2 Kim Normandin surprised a few spectators when they saw her out on the big Honda 450, but she seemed to lug it around the track at a good pace. Fleming was behind her , followed by #98 Julia Krzemien.
At the flag, Eve crossed the line with a 22-second lead over Jacqueline and then Julia 25 seconds behind her with Brittany just 2 seconds off her rear wheel. Eve proved she was the one to beat, and Jacqueline was a solid 2nd, but not up at the front where she wanted to be.
Eve grabbed the second moto holeshot and was off to the races. However, this time it seemed Ross had a little more to give and slowly closed the gap as they weaved through the lapped riders (which were plentiful, given the speed discrepancy). Julia was pressuring #265 Brittany Gagne for 3rd when she went down and fell back.
At the half, Brodeur was leading but Ross had her in her sights until she fell in a 180 right-hand turn and took quite a while to get the bike fired again. Since they were so far ahead of 3rd place, she was able to get going again and keep her 2nd spot, but the damage was done and Brodeur motored off to a perfect day (1-1). She ended up 42 seconds ahead at the flag. Ross had 13 seconds on Fleming in 3rd, who had Gagne on her rear wheel.
In the end, Eve proved she will not give up this title easily. She looked pretty flawless out there…and her bike sounds amazing! Jacqueline Ross gave a pretty powerful speach on the stage, touching on her past troubles and hoping to use motocross to get her through the other side. Shannon Fleming will have motos where she’s closer to these two but I think she will be in tough for 3rd at the rest of the rounds – it will be a good battle for wins between Eve and Jacqueline and a good battle for 3rd between Fleming, Krzemien, Normandin and Gagne.
We now head to Ulverton this coming Saturday. It should be good. Watch for a photo report coming later on the site.
Southwick National
Gopher Dunes National
I won’t have time to go through the motos for this round of coffee, so I hope you just grabbed a medium…
I’m actually off to the sports medicine clinic for a follow-up visit to discuss my knee options. Lat time all they gave me was some barbaric treatment that involved cutting my tibia in half then adding a wedge and a plate to move the weight more to the outside of the joint. When I asked if this would make me able to run again, he said no. Um, let’s not cut my bone in half for no reason, thanks. Anyway, I have to get over there soon, so we’ll keep this short.
Here are the results (there’s lots to talk about for the photo report to go up later today):
Gopher Dunes National|RESULTS
Sunday, July 10, 2016
Gopher Dunes
Courtland, Ontario
Results
MX2 Podium: Cole Thompson, Dylan Wright, Dakota Alix|Spikman photo
MX2
1. 4 Cole Thompson KTM 1-1
2. 17 Dylan Wright YAM 3-3
3. 164 Dakota Alix KTM 2-4
4. 15 Shawn Maffenbeier KTM 5-2
5. 101 Mark Worth KAW 4-6
6. 20 Jess Pettis YAM 6-6
7. 18 Brad Nauditt HON 9-7
8. 35 Hayden Halstead YAM 8-8
9. 42 JC Bujold HON 11-9
10. 34 Westen Wrozyna KAW 10-11
11. 171 Ryan Lalonde YAM 13-13
12. 52 Vincent Lauzon KTM 12-15
13. 199 Jason Benny KTM 14-14
14. 53 Taylor Arsenault KTM 17-12
15. 50 Alex Jeffery KTM 15-17
16. 14 Jeremy Medaglia HON 7-DNF
17. 71 McCoy Brough HON 15-18
18. 69 Ryeley Gallup KTM 34-10
19. 447 DJ Burmey 21-16
20. 655 John John Pauk HON 19-21
21. 657 Justin Wolf HON 25-19
22. 165 Matt Klann HON 18-36
23. 771 Cedric Moore KTM 22-23
24. 228 Maxime Pepin YAM 26-20
25. 601 David Watzka YAM 20-26
26. 525 Daniel Mills HON 29-22
27. 76 Guillaume St Cyr YAM 23-25
28. 47 Dylan Delaplace YAM 38-24
29. 98 Jason Abernethy YAM 24-33
30. 849 Brad Wilson YAM 33-27
31. 87 Kyle Springman YAM 28-28
32. 77 Justin Roney HON 27-29
33. 110 Brock Kelly YAM 30-30
34. 150 Mitchell McColl YAM 32-31
35. 818 Davin Grose YAM 35-32
36. 293 Blake Copeland KTM 36-34
37. 118 Christopher Da Silva YAM 31-37
38. 471 Logan Karnow KAW 37-DNF
39. 37 Drew Roberts KTM 39-DNF
40. 36 Davey Fraser HSK 40-DNF
MX1
MX1 Podium: Matt Goerke, Brett Metcalfe, Davi Millsaps|Spikman photo
1. 1 Matt Goerke YAM 1-3
2. 3 Brett Metcalfe YAM 4-1
3. 118 Davi Millsaps KTM 3-2
4. 2 Colton Facciotti HON 2-6
5. 11 Kaven Benoit KTM 5-4
6. 800 Mike Alessi KAW 6-5
7. 5 Tyler Medaglia HSK 8-7
8. 6 Cade Clason KTM 7-8
9. 27 Shawn Robinson KTM 9-9
10. 19 Morgan Burger YAM 10-10
11. 28 Keylan Meston YAM 12-12
12. 26 Riley Brough HON 16-11
13. 68 Taylor Ciampichini HON 13-15
14. 38 Jason Burke YAM 15-14
15. 21 Kyle Swanson YAM 17-13
16. 33 Eric Jeffery KTM 12-18
17. 904 Jarett Pesci KTM 14-17
18. 85 Derek Ouimet HON 18-19
19. 702 Gabriel Tremblay HON 25-16
20. 873 Dusty Humphries HON 20-22
21. 78 Michael Fowler KAW 23-20
22. 529 Broc Loftus YAM 19-26
23. 267 Travis Ouimet HON 28-21
24. 96 Tallon Newman HON 21-27
25. 882 Dylan Kirchner KTM 22-30
26. 136 Derek Hamm HON 30-23
27. 546 Tylor Skodras HON 27-24
28. 352 Alex Harvill SUZ 24-35
29. 569 Dylan Ziolkowski KAW 26-25
30. 675 Jamie Hajgato KAW 29-28
31. 317 William Darling SUZ 40-29
32. 339 Michael Thacker KTM 31-31
33. 157 Ryan Batman KTM 35-32
34. 152 Chad Dawson HON 33-33
35. 414 Mason Morris KTM 37-34
36. 224 Dana Krause HON 36-36
37. 722 Joseph Smutny HON 39-37
38. 924 Quinton Camp KTM 38-38
39. 562 Lane Gagne YAM 34-39
40. 980 Chad Hussey YAM 32-40
OK, this was a brief edition of Monday Morning Coffee, I know that. I just have to go try to talk some eggheads into sending me for some stem cell knee work! Wish me luck, and have yourselves a great week. See you in Ulverton!
