The Story Behind the Photo (Video) | Jared Petruska Edmonton 2012

The Story Behind the Photo (Video) | Jared Petruska Edmonton 2012

By Billy Rainford

We’re heading back to Edmonton, Alberta, for Round 1 of the 2023 Canadian Triple Crown Series MX Nationals at RAD Torque Raceway on June 3rd. The track used to be called Castrol Raceway and in 2012 #68 Jared Petruska didn’t have the day he would have liked.

Jared and Dominique Petruska were married a years back and they’ve also had a new addition to the family, a baby boy named Tate. I was looking for some old footage from the races at Edmonton and came across this short video clip of Jared in a bit of distress so I dragged it over to the desktop to see if he’d like to tell us what was going on.

It was also a great opportunity to reconnect with Dom and Jared. I’ve got quite a few memories a can draw on from these two, but the one we always seem to laugh about seems to be when I drafted Jared the entire time on a road ride outside Calgary. Good times.

I asked them to sum up the video clip (I was standing under an umbrella and recording) and to also let us know what’s going on int their lives these days, so here’s what they had to say:

So, I think this was second moto, Edmonton (Castrol Raceway) back in 2012. Track was VERY hard-packed and it happened to dump rain for half an hour before the moto, so the track was extremely slippery. I think I had a decent start – this was 11 years ago so it’s a bit fuzzy – I got a rock stuck in my back brake and I tipped over 2 corners before the finish line on the first lap. I tried to get the rock out in the midst of getting back on my bike but didn’t.

The finish line was a pretty decent size at the time but with my back brake dragging I had to hit it wide open and completely lost my back end off the face. Dom was there watching from behind and says my bike went one way and I went another. Thankfully, I was fine but when I went to pick up my bike my exhaust and subframe were mangled.

When I looked up at the jump I saw a few others do the same thing the next lap. Kris Perzan was my mechanic that day (he’s wearing the red TLD shirt). I think that’s Brett Lee (it’s Matt Lee) pushing my bike off but I’m not 100% on that and I do not know who the other guy in the photo is. This feels like forever ago!

As far as what we’ve been up to, life is pretty different these days than what it was in that photo. After the 2021 season, Dom and I took a step back from moto and it’s been nice to change up the pace and spend more time home with friends and family. We’ve gotten more into mountain biking which has been a lot of fun – E-Bikes are a game changer and Whistler is a yearly must-do trip.

Last July we welcomed a baby boy into our lives and he’s 9 months old now and keeping us on our toes! Dom says it won’t be long before he’s got us back at the track but we’ll see. Nothing too exciting happening … just washed up and raising a child. LOL.

Thanks for taking the time to talk with us this week, you guys. I’m sure there are a lot of people reading this who are happy to hear you guys are doing great. Maybe we’ll see you at the Calgary round this summer.