Monday Morning Coffee

By Billy Rainford

Hello and welcome to another Maritimes edition of the Monday Morning Coffee. I’m currently sitting in the Travelodge in Moncton at the Magnetic Hill exit, which just happens to be Exit 450. Seems about right. You’re familiar with what Magnetic Hill is, right? I think it’s a Latin term for ‘Biggest Tourist Trap in Canada!’ Seriously, have you been? I have…3 times.

OK, so the first time was when I was just a little kid. I’m not really sure I knew what I was seeing back then, but I’m sure my poor parents just pulled in because it’s just one of those things you do when you pass through this area of the east.

I pulled through again in the Buick Electra Estate Wagon back in 2009 and again this week with James…just to say we did.

Yep, we did it.

We didn’t even really know if we were doing it right! There are instructions posted on a sign to the right when you pull in, but there was a bit of a line-up and we didn’t want to wait. It’s so unspectacular that we did a 3-point turn half the way down…er, I mean up and tried it the other way. If it wasn’t free, I’d tell you not to waste you money. Let’s just say that you get your money’s worth.

We also took a trip around Cape Breton Island on the Cabot Trail. It’s another trip we did as a family back when I was a kid. James Lissimore had never done it before, so we took Wednesday and went for it. James is from BC and I lived there for 11 years, so driving along a coast, looking at hills/mountains isn’t as amazing as it would have been had we both come from, say, Saskatchewan, but it was still a worthwhile day of cruising and coffee drinking. It’s a little like driving around the coast of Maui without the palm trees…or sharks…or waves…or Uke music…

It was good day of getting away from moto for a few hours to recharge the batteries. Thanks for the pics, James.

MXGP of Belgium

Loretta Lynn’s Starts Today! Sorta…

It’s time to hit the track at Loretta Lynn’s for some practice today. We’ve got a pretty fair-sized handful of fast Canadians competing this year. Although I’m typing this from Moncton, NB and about to hop into the DMX Van and drive to London, ON, I’m very tempted to turn left and head to Hurricane Mills, TN for a couple days before having to be in Deschambault, PQ this weekend. Is it doable? Almost anything is DOable…

Anyway, good luck to everyone competing this year, and I really hope you can handle the heat and humidity…and the one mud moto that always seems to come down there. Here’s a list of Canucks competing in 2016:

53 Nick Denniston – 250 C/450C

28 Shane Mercieca – 250 C/250 C Sr. (12-16) Ltd.

91 Blair Nauta – 250 C Ltd.

81 Kobi Cox – 250 C Jr. (12-16)

71 Carter Hutcherson – 450 B/College (16-24)

42 Austin Watling – 450 B/College B Ltd.

74 Cole Wilson – 450 C

44 Kennedy Lutz – 450 C/Women (14+) Amateur

17 Ryan Gauld – Junior 25+/Vet 30+

13 Brenner Lammens – 51 (4-6) Ltd.

22 Preston Masciangelo – 65 (7-9) Ltd./65 (7-11)

46 Tanner Scott – 65 (10-11) Ltd.

79 Cameron Wrozyna – Mini Sr. 1 (12-13)/Mini Sr. 2 (12-14)

52 Jake Tricco – Supermini 1 (12-15)/Supermini 2 (13-16)

46 Marco Cannella – 125 (12-16) B/C/Schoolboy 1 (12-16) B/C

84 Tanner Ward – Schoolboy 1 (12-16) B/C/Schoolboy 2 (13-16) B/C

67 Emma Saarela – Girls Sr. (12-16)

That’s 17 pretty fast riders, right there! Good luck to everyone. We’ll be sure to scour the results sheets every day and post results here on the site. Getting there is half the fun…now it’s time to perform!

Team Canada MX Kaven Benoit Jersey (and more) to Support the Effort

Although the team has been picked and we’re looking good, the work to get Team Canada to Italy isn’t done yet. You can bid on this signed Kaven Benoit Team Canada jersey and help ensure the guys get to the race.

Head over to their EBay site to check out all the cool stuff you can bid on to make your office look great and help get our guys over to Italy.

Here is the Instagram post from @teamcanadamxon:

River Glade National

OK, we’re going to be posting lots of coverage from this past weekend at River Glade (yep, the have it as two words on their sign at the track), but we have to touch on it a little here, at least.

Here are a few things:

#164 Dakota Alix won both Royal Distributing Holeshot Awards giving him the Triple Crown. $200 x 2=$400 x 2=$800 for getting around the first turn…first. Not too shabby.
There were 41 MX2 riders and 36 MX1 in Moncton.
#4 Cole Thompson was as far back as 13th on lap 2 in the first moto. He came back to 6th.
River Glade has been holding races since 1977. You couldn’t miss the tee shirts!
#15 Shawn Maffenbeier ran out of tear offs in the first moto and said he had to just sort of “feel” his way around.
#11 Kaven Benoit grabbed the first Royal Distributing Holeshot Award and then #118 Davi Millsaps yelled at him as he almost slid into him while making an early inside pass. It wasn’t an angry yell, more of a “Oh no…look out!!!” sort of yell.
#1 Matt Goerke had troubles and set out in last place in the first moto, and then later fell. He made it up to 7th.
The battles between #5 Tyler Medaglia and #3 Brett Metcalfe have been the best ones to watch in MX1 lately.
#19 Morgan Burger came from outside the top 30 in the first moto all the way up to 9th.
#28 Keylan Meston was a solid 8th in MX1 and probably thought he was alone on the track.
Metcalfe was closing in on the #800 Mike Alessi/Kaven Benoit battle late in the first moto.
Regular top Intermediate rider, #771 Cedric Moore, crashed early in the first MX2 moto and had the bike land hard on his calf muscle and took a DNF. He set out in the second moto but is listed as a DNS. Hope he’s better for this weekend at Deschambault.
Maffenbeier had some sort of motor issue as he set out on the sight lap for the second MX2 moto. He headed out in the race and just rode until the bike started working again. He went from outside the top 30 to 8th.
#20 Jess Pettis was up in 5th spot and went flying off the track and had to fight his way through some slop to get back on track. He still managed 6th.
The late 2nd moto battle between #34 Westen Wrozyna, #199 Jason Benny, #53 Taylor Arsenault, #42 JC Bujold, #52 Vincent Lauzon, and #312 Joey Paul was a a great one.
Alix actually missed first practice with some bike issues.
#185 Max Tannenbaum is from Georgia and was up in the top 10 in the first moto until lap 12 when he fell and couldn’t get his bike re-fired. He came back for a solid 9th in the 2nd for 17th overall. He should be at the final 2 rounds, so that’s who #185 on the Suzuki is, when you ask this week. These are his first “real Pro races.”
#6 Cade Clason slid out early due to rear brake failure. He raced basically the whole thing with no brakes and still got 8th.
Alessi was up in 3rd spot in the second moto but had no rear brakes either. He slid back a little but still took 5th.
The battle between #529 Broc Loftus and #38 Jay Burke was a really good one in the 2nd MX1 moto.
Goerke got by Benoit and Medaglia got by Alessi on the final lap.
Davi Millsaps called River Glade the best track of the series, so far.
Did anyone else notice how much younger Dave Hewitson is looking these days? What’s his secret?
Did you listen to the PODCASTS from this weekend? Some of them got a little out of hand. You should listen. Click HERE. “I live in a VAN down by the RIVER!“
Tyler Medaglia won the Josh Damery Memorial as the top-finishing Maritimes rider.

Tyler Medaglia gets the Josh Damery Memorial as top Maritimes rider.

Those are just a few of the things that happened…that I noticed.

OK, it’s about that time to check out of this hotel and hit the road. We’re still not 100% sure if we’ll take the usual way home around Rivière Du Loup or venture south through the USA. I’ll just start the van and see what happens. I hope you have a great week. See you in Deschambault!

Monday Morning Coffee