#TBT MotoX Hunter: Van in Jan (From Racer X Canada)

We’ll be traveling to Calgary today for the final two rounds of the Canadian National Arenacross Tour Presented by Royal Distributing so I went online last night and did a quick search for something that I got my teeth wet in back over 10 years ago. I was known in the Racer X Canada circles as the ‘MotoX Hunter.’ It was a funny play on another famous ‘hunter’ of the time and Jason T. Griffiths thought it would be appropriate for mainstream moto journalism. Anyway, I took the ball and ran with it and hit any moto-related event I could think of out on the west coast.

Here’s a short report I did from the 2005 Vancouver Motorcycle Show.

MotoX Hunter: Van. in Jan.

January 28, 2005

By Billy Rainford

In the darkness of winter it is hard sometimes to believe that Canada is a motocross nation. In an attempt to find some kind of moto-life in our frozen land we sent Racer X Canada contributor Billy Rainford out to the Vancouver Motorcycle Show. What he found was interesting but it wasn’t really the subject we were looking for. Here is his Billy’s first MotoX Hunter report.

This is not my beautiful West Coast.

Let me start by saying that the “Vancouver” Motorcycle Show is the biggest misnomer this side of Abbotsford. Not to discredit the event but it would be like having the Toronto Motorcycle Show in Guelph or the Montreal Show in Sherbrooke. The Tradex Centre in Abbotsford, which is out in the Fraser Valley, was the venue for this year’s event. Undeterred by the drive and crappy road conditions, Rupert [the dog] and I jumped into “The Spanish Fly” [it was a 1993 Chrysler Grand Caravan] and made the trek east on the #1 Highway to Abbotsford.

Normally a straightforward one-hour drive, this trip was to be closer to two. Southern BC has been hit by an unusual amount of snow followed by an odd number of sub-zero-degree days—and if you’ve ever driven in Vancouver when there is a chance of snow you know how poor the drivers are. Needless to say, we passed at least 10 cars (most of which ironically were SUV’s) in the ditch at about 30 KPH.

However, once we got closer to the Tradex Centre I was pleasantly surprised at the number of vehicles heading in both directions. Despite the weather, the motorcycle show was an obvious success.

I found parking a few kilometers away, I left Rupert to guard the van and started the trudge to the building. Within the first 5 minutes I must have seen 20 West Coast Choppers shirts and 15 Orange County Chopper hoodies. We’ve got it all wrong people… apparently the Discovery Channel is the place to be if you want your two-wheeled sport to flourish. Does that make sense to anyone?

Using my new press credentials I went right through the gate without paying a cent. Hmmm, what other perks could I swing on the inside? After my first loop of the place it was quite clear that motocross had taken a side-car seat to the cruisers, choppers, and crotch rockets. Not one to give up easily, I did another lap to see what I could sniff out.


This guy promised me every holeshot but after it was up to me.	The show had some great draws including this one that gave you a choice of 3 big prizes.

After an hour or so of unsuccessful snooping around for anything mx-related, I did what any other journalist would do in the situation—I looked for hotties to photo. One thing about bike shows is there’s rarely a shortage of material in this field. Remember I was wondering about further perks a while back? Well, let’s just say that a few Racer X Canada stickers on my gear and girls will strike a pose at the drop of a hat! I spent the rest of the afternoon shamelessly going from booth to booth with my camera at the ready.


She’s actually writting “Racer X Canada.com”	Part of operation “Sell that Chopper,” I guess

I walked around as long as I could looking for motocross stars but sadly couldn’t find any so I decided to saddle up and ride on out of there. Rupert had waited in the van long enough so it was time to head back to the city…or was it? I knew that if I made a left and kept going south I would hit warm weather eventually! Oh well, this crazy weather couldn’t last much longer so I got in line and headed back into Vancouver after all.


Maybe I’ll switch to Amsoil!	…and buy a new Yamaha!

Just as I thought, the snow has since melted but now it’s been raining hard for the last ten days. You know it’s bad when Vancouverites only venture out to Starbucks three times a day. We’ve even had mudslides and it hardly stopped raining for the Snowboard World Championships up at Whistler. The practice tracks all look like Anaheim 1. It can’t last forever; the sun will come out sometime in May for sure. At least we don’t have to shovel this stuff.