Wyatt Kerr Talks about the New Deal for His Pro Debut in 2022

Wyatt Kerr Talks about the New Deal for His Pro Debut 2022

By Billy Rainford

Cambridge, Ontario’s Wyatt Kerr just announced his new team for 2022. The TransCan at Walton Raceway champ will head to the Pro ranks in the new year and plans to compete in the entire Canadian Triple Crown Series.

We got in touch with him to find out how it all came about and learn what his plans are for the coming months and into the future.

Direct Motocross: Hello, Wyatt. How’s it going?

Wyatt Kerr: It’s been going good, man. Just keeping busy…working lots and riding when I can when the weather permits it.

We’ll get to the big news in a second, of course, but tell us what you’ve been doing since our official season ended?

I finished out the local series and have been riding and mountain biking. I finished up road biking, put that bike away, and now I’ve just been working lots. I’ve been working full-time since September and just saving up enough money so I can make it south and stay there for as long as possible to just be ready for next season. That’s all that’s been on my mind is to just get ready for next year and keep that path going.

What is it you do for work?

I work at Groundhog Contractors. We do a lot of construction and heavy equipment operating. We’re always busy and jumping around southern Ontario. There’s a lot of traveling as well. We’re normally up in Grand Valley and Uxbridge or wherever.

Do you run heavy equipment?

A little bit, not much. I’ll run the skid steer and the front loaders, but I’m normally just a labourer, so lots of work.

Take us quickly through your 2021 season,. Were you happy with how it went?

Ya, I was really pumped how the season went. We had a lot of ups and downs, but overall it was a great season. We were able to pull off a championship at Walton and I had a bunch of good Pro finishes as an amateur racing in the Pro series, so that was a lot of fun. It was a good experience and I learned a lot.

Going into next year, I’ve got my sights set on the top 5 in the Pro class. I really want to get in that and achieve that. I’m ready to put in the work and I’ve been doing that.

Wow. There’s gonna be 10 guys in the top 5!

(Laughs) It’s gonna be a good year.

You mentioned Walton. You won our DMX Total Devotion Award by Club MX last year. You guys really had your hands full there. The award comes with a free week at Club MX. What are your winter training plans?

Ya, we’re planning on extending that. Maybe a month or so, maybe more. We’re not sure yet. I’m going to head down to Florida probably the second week of January. I’ll stay with Dana Krause again and keep training. I’ll get tons of seat time on the new bikes.

I think on the last month after Freestone, I’ll be at Club for a little and try to stay there for a month or maybe more. We’ll see.

Let’s talk about the new bikes and team. You’re over to a new colour. Talk about how this all came about and what it all means.

Well, Walton helped and one of my sponsors was there, Chris Eagan from Guaranteed Comfort. He saw what we went through and wanted to help more. We were waiting for something to happen that kind of wasn’t planned out and then he kind of stepped up and was like, “Let’s just do it on our own.”

We tried to get onto a different brand rather than what we’re on, but the opportunity came up to ride those bikes and Chris was, for sure, on it. We just kind of pulled the trigger and he got a couple bikes and we’re still getting a couple more, so we’re just going with the flow now.

Since I’ve been riding these bikes…it’s been a big learning curve, especially coming from the Japanese bikes. I really liked my Yamahas and I really liked my Kawasakis. I never really had any issues with them. I loved how they felt and how they handled.

This switch was just more so what we could get our hands on and what was available, so we made the switch. Chris was really good with it and he helped us out a lot. Shoutout to Edmond Ellis – “Chef.” He really put this all in motion, but, these bikes, they’re fantastic. I love them. They’re a little bit different. It’s obviously a huge change, especially for our program, but, overall, I’m really looking forward to what the changes bring and what’s to come from it.

So, is this specifically a dealership deal, because you haven’t said the name of the brand yet?

Ya, so this is kind of a dealership deal. Hudson Motorsports in Tilbury is really helping us out. Chris kind of sourced out the first bikes from all over. We had a lot of deposits down across North America and these two just came up so we went and got them. They shipped the one in and then we drove to Montreal to get the other one.

We had to make a change with our dealership. Everyone was good about it and everything came together OK. There are no sore relationships. Everyone is still friends and that’s the main thing that we wanted. We wanted to keep every healthy relationship that we have.

Hudson is going to be sourcing our bikes now. They’re helping us out a lot. I’m going to be running KTMs but there’s no support there yet, that I know of. We’re still kind of waiting to hear back.

So, going to the Austrian brand just has a totally new feel?

Ya. The steel frame, I can feel the difference there and just the steel frame and air forks. We got some different suspension set up now. It’s just a lot of change. A lot of good change and change is always good.

You mentioned a bit about your winter plans. You’re working your butt off to make some money before heading south.

So, we’re gonna get down to Florida and mainly just ride as much as possible, do a couple cash races, and get as much seat time on these new bikes as possible. We’re on a 350 and a 250. We’re going to put as many hours as we can on the 350 and keep the 250 for races.

It’s in the air still but we’re going to try to do amateur day at the Daytona Supercross in Open A and 250 A and then I’m planning on hitting Freestone as well and just doing that whole Underground and then Freestone. I want to do as much racing as I can with the fast guys and just get a little more experience with running that pace.

Then I’ll try to get to Club for an extended period of time. We had the Devotion award and that got us the free week and then we’re going to try to extend that for probably a month at least.

And then you’ll come home in the spring when the weather warms up. Then we’re heading coast to coast with the Nationals. Is your plan to do the entire series in 2022?

Oh ya. I’ll do my best to make it to every single one. I want to be out to BC, Alberta, Manitoba, and try to hit every single round to get as many points as possible and get that top 5 overall on the season. We’ll see what happens. I’m pretty confident in my ability and if I want it I can go get it. I’m gonna do my best to make that happen.

How far away in Canada have you been to race?

(Laughs) The farthest I’ve been in Canada is probably just Deschambault in Quebec. My good friend Zach Ufimzef is from BC and we’re going to go there…he drove here so I’ve got to drive down there. I only got to know them this year. We parked beside them at Gopher (Dunes) and they’re such great people.

Anything else we need to talk about?

Hmm, I’m not sure. A lot of change. I’ve still got some more stuff to come out and figure out, and more posts to make, so that’s kind of it. New bikes, new number. The #34 looks good on the bike, that’s for sure. I really like how the bikes came out this year. Running the white plastic, it looks really good.

OK, well, thanks for chatting with us. Good luck this coming winter and next season. Who would you like to thank?

I’m looking forward to what’s in store for next season. Have a good one, Billy.

Sponsors:

Chris Eagan
Andy Kerr
Edmond Ellis
Funnelwebfilterontario
Funnelweb filter
Hudson Motorcycles
Seco seat cover
Hall Race Fuel
Atlas Brace
Mobius Braces
Matrix Concepts Canada
Renthal Moto
KTM Canada dealer support
OGs Optics
Dana Krause
Kelsey Fox
Trunk_tough
Dialed.mx
DnD Moto
Yorkac
Lennox AC